Plug in Hybrid options

[Zero7]

Looking for a Hybrid for my elderly mum, she's 78 but still driving well. She has an old Corolla which is near retirement so looking for a plug in Hybrid, most of her trips are short, 2-5 miles or the odd 30 -40 mile round trip. As such I don't think a self charging one was a good option as she won't stretch it's legs on the motorway enough to charge the batteries.

She's not mentally ready to go full EV, that panic of running out of battery power, and I get that as she's elderly. Want to get something in the next month or so, looking at 2nd hand but fairly new, what would you guys recommended, sort of corolla size.

[Griff74]

Only 2 that come to mind that are Corolla sized and used PHEV’s are the Golf GTE and Audi A3 E-tron (both the same car underneath).

[Zero7]

Griff74 said:

Only 2 that come to mind that are Corolla sized and used PHEV’s are the Golf GTE and Audi A3 E-tron (both the same car underneath).

Thanks for the suggestions there will take a look, how about the BMW 225xe, which is a 2 series tourer, any good?

[Scrump]

Do you need a motorway journey to charge the batteries on a non plug in hybrid?
I thought they worked best around town where the frequent braking charges the batteries and they have sufficient stored energy to assist the ice when accelerating from standstill etc. Taxi drivers seem to like using the prius for town work.

[Zero7]

Scrump said:

Do you need a motorway journey to charge the batteries on a non plug in hybrid?
I thought they worked best around town where the frequent braking charges the batteries and they have sufficient stored energy to assist the ice when accelerating from standstill etc. Taxi drivers seem to like using the prius for town work.

My wife's old Toyota self charging hybrid didn't charge much until you gave it a run on the motorway. This was about 4 years ago so perhaps technology has moved on

[TheDeuce]

Scrump said:

Do you need a motorway journey to charge the batteries on a non plug in hybrid?
I thought they worked best around town where the frequent braking charges the batteries and they have sufficient stored energy to assist the ice when accelerating from standstill etc. Taxi drivers seem to like using the prius for town work.

I assume the point is that with a plug in hybrid, she'll likely never need to fill it up - given the very low mileage.

And on that point, I'd question why hybrid at all. Just buy her a used e-Up and tell her there's an engine hidden in there somewhere. At 30-40 miles per day max she'll never find out the truth

[Alfa numeric]

Griff74 said:

Only 2 that come to mind that are Corolla sized and used PHEV’s are the Golf GTE and Audi A3 E-tron (both the same car underneath).

We’ve got a Passat GTE which I think has the same drivetrain. It’ll do 20-30 miles on a charge, we use it in a similar way to the OP’s mum and it’s currently showing 195mpg (which obviously doesn’t include the electricity usage). If you do short journeys and keep it charged it’s ideal.

[kurokawa]

Zero7 said:

Looking for a Hybrid for my elderly mum, she's 78 but still driving well. She has an old Corolla which is near retirement so looking for a plug in Hybrid, most of her trips are short, 2-5 miles or the odd 30 -40 mile round trip. As such I don't think a self charging one was a good option as she won't stretch it's legs on the motorway enough to charge the batteries.

She's not mentally ready to go full EV, that panic of running out of battery power, and I get that as she's elderly. Want to get something in the next month or so, looking at 2nd hand but fairly new, what would you guys recommended, sort of corolla size.

GTE/A3 price range alternative would be 225xe/Mini Countryman, Kia Niro.

[Bannock]

Hyundai Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid is my favourite in that size class. There's a PHEV version of the Toyota Prius available too, been around about 8 years I think.

Or, if she would like a more vertical entry/sitty uppy car at her age, a KIA Niro or a MINI Countryman PHEV, depending on budget.

But in reality maybe put a bit more effort into convincing her to go BEV - a Nissan Leaf 40kwh can do over 150 miles on a charge, sounds like that would be more than enough for her.

[Zero7]

Great input and food for thought.

[Bannock]

If you're happy to go as old as about 2014, the Vauxhall Ampera was a brilliant car, years ahead of its time. They are still highly prized, and rightly so.

[OutInTheShed]

If it was my mum, I'd suggest sticking with something familiar.

[paradigital]

If she’s REALLY uncomfortable with going pure EV, how’s about an i3 REX?

[buggalugs]

Zero7 said:

Griff74 said:

Only 2 that come to mind that are Corolla sized and used PHEV’s are the Golf GTE and Audi A3 E-tron (both the same car underneath).

Thanks for the suggestions there will take a look, how about the BMW 225xe, which is a 2 series tourer, any good?

I have one, I like it. If I remember correctly it’s a kind of mini in different clothes. 3 cyl auto at the front, electric at the rear.

[davettf2]

Plus 1 for the 225XE. We've had ours for coming on 3 years and it does all what we want. My only concern would be the amount of tech in a modern PHEV for an elderly driver. However, the voice activated nav system is great, I just wish it wasn't so polite all the time!!!!!

Cheers
Dave

[raspy]

Zero7 said:

My wife's old Toyota self charging hybrid didn't charge much until you gave it a run on the motorway. This was about 4 years ago so perhaps technology has moved on

The tech has moved on. I used to have a 2016 Prius and even with a tiny hybrid battery, it was brillant at recouperating energy in London and suburban traffic. Most of my urban journeys ended up using battery 60-70% of the time.

I don't think your mum needs a plug in hybrid. A regular hybrid will be sufficient and hopefully cheaper to buy.

[blank]

Leon hybrid is also worth a look.

I think some of the Korean PHEVs don't have HV heaters so you can't really run them in pure EV if you want heating. This is just anecdotal so not sure how true it is.

The Leon/Golf/A3/Octavia can run almost as a full EV if you only ever did 20-30 miles between charges.

[Bannock]

blank said:

Leon hybrid is also worth a look.

The Leon/Golf/A3/Octavia can run almost as a full EV if you only ever did 20-30 miles between charges.

In which case, buy a full BEV instead of carrying an unnecessary petrol engine around and incurring the unnecessary running and maintenance costs of that. Even an old 24kwh Leaf is going to easily do 20-30 miles and more between charges and cost pretty much nothing to service, maintain and also zero in VED.

[dmsims]

Budget?

[georgeyboy12345]

Bannock said:

blank said:

Leon hybrid is also worth a look.

The Leon/Golf/A3/Octavia can run almost as a full EV if you only ever did 20-30 miles between charges.

In which case, buy a full BEV instead of carrying an unnecessary petrol engine around and incurring the unnecessary running and maintenance costs of that. Even an old 24kwh Leaf is going to easily do 20-30 miles and more between charges and cost pretty much nothing to service, maintain and also zero in VED.

What about when she needs to do a 40 mile journey?

I don’t buy the whole “unnecessary petrol engine” thing, the car also has 5 seats, but most of the time there is only 1 person in the car. Should she therefore buy a BAC Mono as the other 4 seats are unnecessary?