Small car for work Petrol or an EV/PLEV

[anonymous-user]

My brother has bought my IS250 off me as he does more mileage and would get better use from it than I currently would doing 3-4K a year. As the commute to work is only short I was thinking of either a small petrol car or possibly an EV. I’ve a budget of £16k as I’m looking to keep the car for around 5 years or more. But if I can save some money that would be great. Some options

Good on Fuel
Reasonable Servicing Price
Cheap Tax
Gadgets
Reliable
Holds its value

I’m open to options so any advice would be great.

[colin_p]

An electric bicycle.

[anonymous-user]

colin_p said:

An electric bicycle.

I can’t carry power tools and hand tools on that now.

[dhutch]

I guess it would help if we knew the commute length, and any other requirements, one of long drives? How many tools?

[anonymous-user]

dhutch said:

I guess it would help if we knew the commute length, and any other requirements, one of long drives? How many tools?

Okay apologies commute is 10 miles a day. Tools are just hand tools and some drill boxes.

[Summit_Detailing]

Renault Zoe and a charger installed at home...job done.

Cheers,

Chris

[Pica-Pica]

rdb85 said:

colin_p said:

An electric bicycle.

I can’t carry power tools and hand tools on that now.

You can.They may not be thief-proof, if that’s what you mean.

[ZX10R NIN]

None are going to be depreciation proof so get that out of your head, they're mundane transport so buy the car that suits your needs (boot space/spec/performance etc) best then go from there.

The thing is your circumstances could change so maybe pick something that's adaptable so for me it'd be a hybrid/plug in hybrid.

[A500leroy]

up! gti

[anonymous-user]

A500leroy said:

up! gti

They do look like fun. Boot is too small though.

[anonymous-user]

ZX10R NIN said:

None are going to be depreciation proof so get that out of your head, they're mundane transport so buy the car that suits your needs (boot space/spec/performance etc) best then go from there.

The thing is your circumstances could change so maybe pick something that's adaptable so for me it'd be a hybrid/plug in hybrid.

Any recommendations?

[ZX10R NIN]

335i Active Hybrid

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

IS300h F Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Q50h

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Kia Niro 4

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Optima PHEV

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

[Dav72D]

Vauxhall Ampera

[ZX10R NIN]

+1 to that suggestion

[anonymous-user]

I will have a look, the thing is though I would imagine with the plugin hybrids that you would at some point need to use the petrol?

I’ve seen a few but I don’t know what they are like the 330e, GTE and C350e

[ZX10R NIN]

It's the same set ups as when you were asking for your dad so go & take a look at that thread again if you're not sure.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Saturday 4th April 21:23

[anonymous-user]

Dav72D said:

Vauxhall Ampera

I’ve not seen them. I will have a look, I don’t think they were very popular and I can seem them being hard to sell on and not hold their value much.

[anonymous-user]

ZX10R NIN said:

It's the same set ups as when you were asking for your dad so go & take a look at that thread again if you're not sure.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Saturday 4th April 21:23

Oh yeah I will take another look. He ended up ordering a Leaf but he’s got to wait to collect it.

[anonymous-user]

The other importance is the service costs. Having the Lexus I know the service costs were high. So I’m looking to either get a service plan or one that is not several hundred pound from a main dealer.

[anonymous-user]

The Ampera does look interesting having watched a few videos, they are also quite rare, I’ve certainly not seen one. I know Vauxhall don’t make them no more so my worry with that would be the costs of not only servicing as I assume it to be quite a complex car but also any issues and problems that may arise. Also would they keep their value as Vauxhall’s are know to drop dramatically in price.

I do like the idea of a Range Extender as I was looking at I3 that have them. Is there any other cars that use the same Range Extender Technology?