EVs... no one wants them! (Vol. 2)

[cerb4.5lee]

RizzoTheRat said:

cerb4.5lee said:

One of my mates has just swapped his electric Corsa for an E class diesel, because the Corsa won't get him to work and back over the winter for example. He does have a long commute though, so I can see why he's done it, but even I'm not against electric for a local runabout though, or if you have a short commute for example.

I wouldn't have picked a ICE Corsa for 150ish miles per day either, presumably he had the Corsa before the commute?

It is an odd choice for me as well. I believe he's doing around 70 miles each way, and for that I'd want something bigger and more comfortable personally. I think he was just waiting to hand the car back to be honest(but he just wanted to try electric to see), and he never had much good to say about it either. However it was the wrong tool for the job as mentioned really.

[otolith]

I took a large Christmas tree home in an MX-5 once, in the passenger side with the roof off.

[MightyBadger]

otolith said:

I took a large Christmas tree home in an MX-5 once, in the passenger side with the roof off.

Outrageous! I once transported a large Edwardian bathing chair in the back of a MK1 TT coupe.

[Mikebentley]

cerb4.5lee said:

RizzoTheRat said:

cerb4.5lee said:

One of my mates has just swapped his electric Corsa for an E class diesel, because the Corsa won't get him to work and back over the winter for example. He does have a long commute though, so I can see why he's done it, but even I'm not against electric for a local runabout though, or if you have a short commute for example.

I wouldn't have picked a ICE Corsa for 150ish miles per day either, presumably he had the Corsa before the commute?

It is an odd choice for me as well. I believe he's doing around 70 miles each way, and for that I'd want something bigger and more comfortable personally. I think he was just waiting to hand the car back to be honest(but he just wanted to try electric to see), and he never had much good to say about it either. However it was the wrong tool for the job as mentioned really.

Lee your mates a bullstter. A Corsa E will do 140 miles round trip all year long. Let’s face it he didn’t feel manly enough in it so made a story up to get out of it. The Corsa E didn’t make his billy big bks flutter. As others said wrong tool for the knob.

[JQ]

cerb4.5lee said:

(but he just wanted to try electric to see), and he never had much good to say about it either.

That's a bit like saying you want to give trackdays a go, buying a Ssangyong Rodius and concluding trackdays are st.

But you're not the only one with thick friends, mine bought a brand new plug-in hybrid assuming they'd get to work and back on the manufacturers claimed electric mileage. They didn't get close and spent most of their journeys getting 20mpg once the battery had died. They didn't like their car either.

[cerb4.5lee]

JQ said:

That's a bit like saying you want to give trackdays a go, buying a Ssangyong Rodius and concluding trackdays are st.

But you're not the only one with thick friends, mine bought a brand new plug-in hybrid assuming they'd get to work and back on the manufacturers claimed electric mileage. They didn't get close and spent most of their journeys getting 20mpg once the battery had died. They didn't like their car either.

That was where I got to with the X5 45e and X5 50e as well. I was worried that once the battery ran out, you were then left with a very heavy car leaning on a potentially thirsty petrol engine. So I gave it a swerve and stuck with the diesel X5 instead.

I'm not saying that all hybrids are like that don't get me wrong, but it is definitely something to consider with them as you say. I remember having a 530e Touring as a loan car once as well, and the battery was empty in that, so you were then left again with a heavy car using a puny petrol engine on it's own for example. It is difficult to know what is the best way to go about it really I think(keeping the battery fully charged would help a bit though I guess).

[cerb4.5lee]

Mikebentley said:

cerb4.5lee said:

RizzoTheRat said:

cerb4.5lee said:

One of my mates has just swapped his electric Corsa for an E class diesel, because the Corsa won't get him to work and back over the winter for example. He does have a long commute though, so I can see why he's done it, but even I'm not against electric for a local runabout though, or if you have a short commute for example.

I wouldn't have picked a ICE Corsa for 150ish miles per day either, presumably he had the Corsa before the commute?

It is an odd choice for me as well. I believe he's doing around 70 miles each way, and for that I'd want something bigger and more comfortable personally. I think he was just waiting to hand the car back to be honest(but he just wanted to try electric to see), and he never had much good to say about it either. However it was the wrong tool for the job as mentioned really.

Lee your mates a bullstter. A Corsa E will do 140 miles round trip all year long. Let s face it he didn t feel manly enough in it so made a story up to get out of it. The Corsa E didn t make his billy big bks flutter. As others said wrong tool for the knob.

I thought it was a very odd choice for him in the first place to be honest Mike, especially given his previous car history. It was a bit like me when I went for the F56 Cooper S as well, and most of my family and friends ripped me to pieces for having it. Saying stuff like "that's a girls car etc". I personally loved the 3.5 years I had in it though, but I got plenty of stick for it though for sure.

[Mark-C]

MightyBadger said:

otolith said:

I took a large Christmas tree home in an MX-5 once, in the passenger side with the roof off.

Outrageous! I once transported a large Edwardian bathing chair in the back of a MK1 TT coupe.

Impulse bought a deckchair once when out in the XJS ... had to drive home with both windows down and a bit of (deckchair) leg poking out each side.

A Christmas Tree or Edwardian bathing chair would need a roof rack.

[cerb4.5lee]

otolith said:

I took a large Christmas tree home in an MX-5 once, in the passenger side with the roof off.

I saw someone doing exactly that last Christmas as well. It put a smile on my face, because generally you'd associate 2 seaters as being very impractical.

[otolith]

cerb4.5lee said:

otolith said:

I took a large Christmas tree home in an MX-5 once, in the passenger side with the roof off.

I saw someone doing exactly that last Christmas as well. It put a smile on my face, because generally you'd associate 2 seaters as being very impractical.

Lots of flashes and thumbs up!

[JQ]

cerb4.5lee said:

Mikebentley said:

cerb4.5lee said:

RizzoTheRat said:

cerb4.5lee said:

One of my mates has just swapped his electric Corsa for an E class diesel, because the Corsa won't get him to work and back over the winter for example. He does have a long commute though, so I can see why he's done it, but even I'm not against electric for a local runabout though, or if you have a short commute for example.

I wouldn't have picked a ICE Corsa for 150ish miles per day either, presumably he had the Corsa before the commute?

It is an odd choice for me as well. I believe he's doing around 70 miles each way, and for that I'd want something bigger and more comfortable personally. I think he was just waiting to hand the car back to be honest(but he just wanted to try electric to see), and he never had much good to say about it either. However it was the wrong tool for the job as mentioned really.

Lee your mates a bullstter. A Corsa E will do 140 miles round trip all year long. Let s face it he didn t feel manly enough in it so made a story up to get out of it. The Corsa E didn t make his billy big bks flutter. As others said wrong tool for the knob.

I thought it was a very odd choice for him in the first place to be honest Mike, especially given his previous car history. It was a bit like me when I went for the F56 Cooper S as well, and most of my family and friends ripped me to pieces for having it. Saying stuff like "that's a girls car etc". I personally loved the 3.5 years I had in it though, but I got plenty of stick for it though for sure.

Absolutely loved my R53 JCW, the supercharger whine was addictive and it was a million times more fun than the Golf R that replaced it.

[cerb4.5lee]

JQ said:

cerb4.5lee said:

Mikebentley said:

cerb4.5lee said:

RizzoTheRat said:

cerb4.5lee said:

One of my mates has just swapped his electric Corsa for an E class diesel, because the Corsa won't get him to work and back over the winter for example. He does have a long commute though, so I can see why he's done it, but even I'm not against electric for a local runabout though, or if you have a short commute for example.

I wouldn't have picked a ICE Corsa for 150ish miles per day either, presumably he had the Corsa before the commute?

It is an odd choice for me as well. I believe he's doing around 70 miles each way, and for that I'd want something bigger and more comfortable personally. I think he was just waiting to hand the car back to be honest(but he just wanted to try electric to see), and he never had much good to say about it either. However it was the wrong tool for the job as mentioned really.

Lee your mates a bullstter. A Corsa E will do 140 miles round trip all year long. Let s face it he didn t feel manly enough in it so made a story up to get out of it. The Corsa E didn t make his billy big bks flutter. As others said wrong tool for the knob.

I thought it was a very odd choice for him in the first place to be honest Mike, especially given his previous car history. It was a bit like me when I went for the F56 Cooper S as well, and most of my family and friends ripped me to pieces for having it. Saying stuff like "that's a girls car etc". I personally loved the 3.5 years I had in it though, but I got plenty of stick for it though for sure.

Absolutely loved my R53 JCW, the supercharger whine was addictive and it was a million times more fun than the Golf R that replaced it.

That was the same for me too. I enjoyed every drive I got in the Mini, and it was such good fun. Miles more fun than the E90 330i previous to it, however the 330i was an auto though, so that hobbled it a lot for me to be fair. The 330i with the auto made it a very boring car to drive for me, and I was over the moon to get back in a manual with the Mini in comparison.

[benny.c]

Loved our R53 too. Such a hoot to drive and hands down the best £2K I’ve spent on a cheap runaround, even if it was a bit rough in places. Would have kept it if we had the space.

[uktrailmonster]

cerb4.5lee said:

JQ said:

That's a bit like saying you want to give trackdays a go, buying a Ssangyong Rodius and concluding trackdays are st.

But you're not the only one with thick friends, mine bought a brand new plug-in hybrid assuming they'd get to work and back on the manufacturers claimed electric mileage. They didn't get close and spent most of their journeys getting 20mpg once the battery had died. They didn't like their car either.

That was where I got to with the X5 45e and X5 50e as well. I was worried that once the battery ran out, you were then left with a very heavy car leaning on a potentially thirsty petrol engine. So I gave it a swerve and stuck with the diesel X5 instead.

I'm not saying that all hybrids are like that don't get me wrong, but it is definitely something to consider with them as you say. I remember having a 530e Touring as a loan car once as well, and the battery was empty in that, so you were then left again with a heavy car using a puny petrol engine on it's own for example. It is difficult to know what is the best way to go about it really I think(keeping the battery fully charged would help a bit though I guess).

Back in 2017 I was thinking of buying a Volvo XC90 T8. Had a test drive and blew through the feeble battery in minutes on a cross-country drive. It would have been totally useless for me. I bought a Tesla Model X instead. The drivetrain in that was literally from another planet at the time. It wasn’t even close.

[otolith]

MightyBadger said:

Outrageous! I once transported a large Edwardian bathing chair in the back of a MK1 TT coupe.

Most ostentatious TT interior since they stopped doing the baseball glove leather

[Sheepshanks]

Mikebentley said:

cerb4.5lee said:

RizzoTheRat said:

cerb4.5lee said:

One of my mates has just swapped his electric Corsa for an E class diesel, because the Corsa won't get him to work and back over the winter for example. He does have a long commute though, so I can see why he's done it, but even I'm not against electric for a local runabout though, or if you have a short commute for example.

I wouldn't have picked a ICE Corsa for 150ish miles per day either, presumably he had the Corsa before the commute?

It is an odd choice for me as well. I believe he's doing around 70 miles each way, and for that I'd want something bigger and more comfortable personally. I think he was just waiting to hand the car back to be honest(but he just wanted to try electric to see), and he never had much good to say about it either. However it was the wrong tool for the job as mentioned really.

Lee your mates a bullstter. A Corsa E will do 140 miles round trip all year long. Let s face it he didn t feel manly enough in it so made a story up to get out of it. The Corsa E didn t make his billy big bks flutter. As others said wrong tool for the knob.

Hmm…seen lots of comments they won’t do 100 miles in cold weather. Even if it could be stretched to 140 there’s no margin in that.

[Mikebentley]

The PHEV is an odd one. If your use case does not benefit from the set up you usually end up with a much thirstier car that’s a bit crap. I test drove an Outlander PHEV when they came out and quickly realised all the 150 mpg bks was just that. I also thought it was a crap car too.

[benny.c]

I’d like a PHEV as it would be great for most of my shorter journeys on electric only but I do need to tow fairly long distances occasionally. The only thing is, I do a 60 mile round trip once a week with nowhere to charge, which would mean realistically doing at least half of it on petrol. Which sort of defeats the object. I’ve done the numbers and it’s no cheaper than running my diesel plus there’s the added worry of potential repairs to a complex hybrid drivetrain (I was looking at the Golf and Passat and there’s some right horror stories).

Edited by benny.c on Friday 7th November 18:58

[cerb4.5lee]

Mikebentley said:

The PHEV is an odd one. If your use case does not benefit from the set up you usually end up with a much thirstier car that s a bit crap. I test drove an Outlander PHEV when they came out and quickly realised all the 150 mpg bks was just that. I also thought it was a crap car too.

Funnily enough my FiL has one of them, and at first he wasn't very impressed with it at all for the reasons you mention. He had a 3.0 V6 diesel Vectra Estate before it, and he much preferred that.

Although he has warmed more to the Outlander over time though now, but he does mainly short journeys though, but he always grumbles about how gutless it is on the motorway for example.

[SteBrown91]

I think it depends on the car. Not all PHEVs are equal.

We had a couple of Passat GTEs as pool cars at work and even with 0 miles on the battery it still averaged high 50s/low 60s to the gallon.

They aren’t gutless on petrol as the battery always keeps enough reserve to give you a boost if you press the pedal hard enough, but they were enough of a “worst of both worlds” to me that it pushed me to go for a full EV which I am still very happy with.