Would you spend a good chunk of £ on a pure ICE car now?
Would you spend a good chunk of £ on a pure ICE car now?
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Discussion

7heGeneral

Original Poster:

347 posts

165 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Hi all,

Probably been posted before, but I'm not sure. I'm currently in the market for a car - (this isn't another what car thread) & I'm hesitant in spending the ~£30k that it currently seems to cost to buy one that I'm interested in.

My hesitation comes from the fact that I'm based in London, going to be in a ULEZ zone pretty soon & I tend to keep my cars for 3-4 years at a time. I'm concerned that rules will change & as we get closer to 2030 the general public will be more and more careful with buying a pure ICE especially with all the messaging being pushed out by govt - which will only increase as we get closer & then I'll be stuck with an SUV that nobody wants to buy.

Part of me thinks when Euro7 comes in 2025, those in power will move the goalposts for ULEZ & other similar zones, whilst the other side of me thinks that there are a tonne of £100k+ motors (Range Rovers etc) being sold still that would fall foul of these regulations if pushed through & surely that can't happen. I'm also thinking fuel industry lobbyists will be working overtime and delaying/postponing the deadline. The country certainly isn't ready for everyone to be running on electric cars just yet - will we really be there in ~7 years? I'm not sure we will.

What do you think & what would you do in my position?

Thanks!


CrgT16

2,515 posts

135 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Hybrid might cover both bases. Either self charging or plug in.

Outside London but what you want. If you are buying with a view to sell soon then hybrid might be easier to sell than electric.

Bodo

12,557 posts

293 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Why not lease a car, and let the leasing provider take the risk?
Offering low cost leasing is an appropriate way to push cars into the market without compromising the list price; and it is good practice for years: the first owner will have the car for the same cost for three years, that the then used car buyer will spend financing it after you're finished with it.

This of course does not work, if the demand is higher than the supply - no incentive for the car manufacturer to make good offers.

For orientation, every monthly leasing cost less than one percent of the list price is a good start.

samoht

7,147 posts

173 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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To answer the question, yes, I just did.


In terms of urban restrictions, Paris plans to ban all diesels from next January, and all ICE vehicles (petrol, diesel or hybrid) from 2030
https://urbanaccessregulations.eu/countries-mainme...

That's the most aggressive set of restrictions I'm aware of, all other cities seem a lot less strict.

So buying a Euro 6 petrol now and expecting to sell in 2027 seems fine to me. At least, I'd worry about a lot of other things before I worried about that. The idea of saying that people have to buy a basically brand new Euro 7 car to drive into London would be extreme, even with the current ULEZ implementation there are plenty of 15+ year old cheap cars you can get that are eligible.


sherman

15,143 posts

242 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I think I am on my last ICE car.
My next daily driver will most likely be a hybrid of some sort.

If I was buying new today. I would buy a hybrid if I was buying one car for everything.

Reciprocating mass

6,055 posts

268 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I wouldn’t I just put in tap water and throw it in the freezer !


blearyeyedboy

6,796 posts

206 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I'm thinking of I were to buy another ICE car, that I'd but something small, simple and cheap to maintain. Larger toys are going to be tricky to keep on the road unless they're extremely coveted after... and my pockets aren't that deep. hehe

If I were wealthier I'd be looking for a low mileage BMW i8 or Alpine A110 in a tasteful colour and looking after it. I wouldn't expect either to depreciate much.

On my budget (Maybe £12-15k fit my next car?) I'm thinking about a desired-enough FWD bit hatch. I'll lose money but not my shirt if someone wants a track car.

bloomen

9,821 posts

186 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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If I planned to stay in London, and continue driving there, I wouldn't be betting on a bright future for my ICE ride. It would depend on how rapidly I chopped and changed my vehicles.

Who knows how things will pan out, but I wouldn't want doubt hanging over a major purchase, and if an actual cutoff date does materialise it wouldn't really matter if it was years away. Subsequent buyers will pay accordingly.



swamp

1,014 posts

216 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I had a plugin hybrid Peugeot 3008 as a hire car last weekend, and its fuel economy was terrible. I know you're meant to charge them at home, but that wasn't an option for me so it had to run 100% on petrol as the battery was empty.

Interestingly I had a 'normal' Peugeot 3008 hire car in January, and that was brilliant. The rental invoices include the distance, so checking the fuel bills on my credit card and doing a bit of maths I was able to make a direct comparison: the pure ICE worked out at 7p/km but the plugin hybrid was 12p/km...!

Milemuncher

558 posts

142 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Yes, in fact I just have.

I do far too many miles and too many of my trips are long distance to do anything else.

I’m sure I’ll have an EV at some point in the next few years but they don’t make any sense for me right now.

ETA it’s a diesel and it replaced a hybrid! The mpg on the hybrid when doing distance didn’t work for me.

DaveH23

3,355 posts

197 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I always find threads like this interesting as other than friends/family in company cars I don't know anyone who doesn't own a traditional Diesel/Petrol.


MisterBigglesworth

460 posts

75 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I would lease or PCP it on a 3 year deal.

That way you are only on the hook for what you use and if the bottom falls out of the market it’s the finance companies problem to take the loss.


bloomen

9,821 posts

186 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
swamp said:
I had a plugin hybrid Peugeot 3008 as a hire car last weekend, and its fuel economy was terrible. I know you're meant to charge them at home, but that wasn't an option for me so it had to run 100% on petrol as the battery was empty.

Interestingly I had a 'normal' Peugeot 3008 hire car in January, and that was brilliant. The rental invoices include the distance, so checking the fuel bills on my credit card and doing a bit of maths I was able to make a direct comparison: the pure ICE worked out at 7p/km but the plugin hybrid was 12p/km...!
I've pondered hybrids. I've only really got two distances - 50 miles or several hundred miles.

I'm not sure whether the amount of 50 mile journeys will outweigh the thirst on a multi hundred mile trip.

Many of these hybrids seem to have fuel economy that would be ensure no one would buy them if they were stuck with the engine only.

And I do wish they'd drop the 'this BMW 7 series does 162 mpg. If you charge it every time you stop and only do 20 miles a time.'

7heGeneral

Original Poster:

347 posts

165 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
Interestingly we've just sold a hybrid, a Lexus IS300h - & for our usage it was brilliant. 42+mpg pretty much throughout the 3 years we had it. Whilst the mpg isn't the greatest on a run, the excellent mpg locally more then makes up for it.

Now in the market for an SUV for the higher seating position & the vast majority of the nicer ones in my budget (Q5, X3, XC60 etc) are diesels. I'd go as far as saying <10% of these SUV's on the market are petrol.

I'm pretty convinced I'll be buying a Petrol or maybe another hybrid (Lexus NX?), but was just trying to gauge what fellow PHers are thinking with regards to going the ICE route vs all electric. Whilst we have a driveway & charging isn't a sticking point, we do 200+ mile journeys fairly often and we just don't fancy playing range roulette.

Trying to stay away from leasing, as the wait is pretty long for a new car. Very few cars are available quickly and I needed to get another car yesterday.

wyson

4,033 posts

131 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I want to lease an electric drive hybrid for 2 years(Honda ehev, Nissan e power). I think it will offer the best of both worlds for now, lots of short hop city driving with longer day trips on the weekend.

I exclusively brought outright before, but think car prices are going to drop alot in the next couple of years, especially as the new chip fabs commissioned during Covid start coming online in 2024.

I also don’t want to get into an electric car just yet because of all the nightmare charging network stories, but ideally would head this way sooner rather than later.

Also, the tech is all over the shop now. Everyone seems to be struggling with all the sensors and software. I also wonder how long they will support the software and provide updates. Just waiting for the first stories now about cars that someone hacked using a phone app and just drove away.

I was thinking leasing might be the best option until things start to shake out. The next 10 years are going to be very interesting for sure.

Terminator X

20,198 posts

231 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
ULEZ only impacts diesel cars and old diesel at that afaik. Plenty of life in ICE yet imho.

Haven't the govt blocked the latest ULEZ roll out?

TX.

PastelNata

4,419 posts

227 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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I bought a low mileage 2019 BMW Z4 M40i as my last ICE car - paid for it cash and not fazed by the spend. I already have a Hybrid that I've owned for the past 5 years.

I chose a Roadster because it is a fun car and could conceivably continue to be a weekend toy well into the future.


Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

157 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Simple answer

Move out of the sthole that London is

popeyewhite

23,008 posts

147 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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Why on Earth wouldn't I buy an ICE car? By far the most popular car, and will be until they've mostly rotted away. a great shame and a huge mistake to get rid of them. EVs simply shift a problem elsewhere.

Hants PHer

6,506 posts

138 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
Well, I spent a good chunk only today on a ICE car - a used one, mind, but still over £20k. My view on fully electric cars is that we're too early in their lifecycle, which puts me off. There isn't the infrastructure and I'm not convinced about the technology just yet. I have finished for good with diesel, but can see myself sticking with petrol powered cars for some years to come, especially since I never drive in That London.