PHEV eg golf GTE or similar for long commute?
Discussion
My commute is about to jump such that I’ll be doing about 120 miles/day (60 each way) 3-4 times/week. About 1/3 motorway 2/3 A road. Clearly fuel cost is going to stack up so I’m considering my options.
Budget £12k ish
No charging at work sadly
The petrolhead in me would like a BMW i3 but sounds like it would be too tight on range in the winter.
I like the Mk 7.5 Golf platform. Could anyone advise if it has an “intelligent” mode? Ie so that it doesn’t use all its battery up in the first 20 miles? Will it actually save me much in petrol cost vs an ICE one? Varying mpg figures online.
Would a PHEV be a good option in the first place? There’s no EVs that appeal within my budget.
Thanks
Budget £12k ish
No charging at work sadly
The petrolhead in me would like a BMW i3 but sounds like it would be too tight on range in the winter.
I like the Mk 7.5 Golf platform. Could anyone advise if it has an “intelligent” mode? Ie so that it doesn’t use all its battery up in the first 20 miles? Will it actually save me much in petrol cost vs an ICE one? Varying mpg figures online.
Would a PHEV be a good option in the first place? There’s no EVs that appeal within my budget.
Thanks
Phev won t help much on that commute tbh
Say 30 mile range in winter, so won t get you far.
Also would need an Ev tariff to make those miles cheap.
Great on a short commute on pure electric etc
My wife has one & her usage is ideal. But in hindsight she might as well have got an Ev too, will next time.
(I have a full Ev so the cheap tariff works for us).
Shame no full Evs are to your liking. Mine does 250 miles from 100% in the depths of winter @ 2p a mile home charging..
Say 30 mile range in winter, so won t get you far.
Also would need an Ev tariff to make those miles cheap.
Great on a short commute on pure electric etc
My wife has one & her usage is ideal. But in hindsight she might as well have got an Ev too, will next time.
(I have a full Ev so the cheap tariff works for us).
Shame no full Evs are to your liking. Mine does 250 miles from 100% in the depths of winter @ 2p a mile home charging..
Had a Golf GTE. Default it will use the battery first but you can put it in hybrid mode - would make sense to run the engine if you were out of traffic so you’d waste less electricity on heating. GTE mode would always save or charge from engine to keep 10 miles in reserve for best performance. Really it didn’t make much difference how you used any of it on long trips as long as you ended the journey with an empty battery.
As others say, 120ah i3 will do fine for that commute as will
many other EVs in that price bracket. If you can charge at home then it’s a no-brainer to go EV for that.
As others say, 120ah i3 will do fine for that commute as will
many other EVs in that price bracket. If you can charge at home then it’s a no-brainer to go EV for that.
I have a 70 mile commute and I have tried:
Golf GTE
Corolla Hybrid (1.8)
VW 2.0 TDI
and there wasn’t a jot of difference between the three with the mpg v fuel cost. A lot more thing went wrong with the diesel and the Golf wasn’t without its woes too.
Moved to a high-mileage Tesla model 3 and haven’t looked back. Electric costs are a third of what you pay at the petrol station and it’s got loads of toys and features you’ll never ever need. Oh and there is absolutely nowt to go wrong.
I’m selling mine because sadly, I really can’t get on with the seating position as I’m 6’3
Golf GTE
Corolla Hybrid (1.8)
VW 2.0 TDI
and there wasn’t a jot of difference between the three with the mpg v fuel cost. A lot more thing went wrong with the diesel and the Golf wasn’t without its woes too.
Moved to a high-mileage Tesla model 3 and haven’t looked back. Electric costs are a third of what you pay at the petrol station and it’s got loads of toys and features you’ll never ever need. Oh and there is absolutely nowt to go wrong.
I’m selling mine because sadly, I really can’t get on with the seating position as I’m 6’3
As a PHEV owner, I think a PHEV is worthwhile when the majority of your journeys are within electric range, but you do enough longer trips that you think charging away from home might be a hassle.
For a daily commute you want something that can do it on electric only, and there's not many that can do 60 miles on a charge, and if charging on a 3 pin that's going to need about 7 hours charging. If it's mainly for the commute I'd look at a BEV, if you also do a lot of longer journeys where you might struggle to find somewhere to charge, a PHEV might be worthwhile.
If you go the PHEV route try and find out what they're like when the battery is depleted. Some have a fairly weedy engine intended to be boosted by the electric, so with a flat battery you're short on power and using a lot of fuel. Some (eg toyota) run like a normal self charging hybrid once the battery is low, and will keep enough battery power in reserve that it'll switch to it when stuck in traffic, so still have full power and decent economy.
For a daily commute you want something that can do it on electric only, and there's not many that can do 60 miles on a charge, and if charging on a 3 pin that's going to need about 7 hours charging. If it's mainly for the commute I'd look at a BEV, if you also do a lot of longer journeys where you might struggle to find somewhere to charge, a PHEV might be worthwhile.
If you go the PHEV route try and find out what they're like when the battery is depleted. Some have a fairly weedy engine intended to be boosted by the electric, so with a flat battery you're short on power and using a lot of fuel. Some (eg toyota) run like a normal self charging hybrid once the battery is low, and will keep enough battery power in reserve that it'll switch to it when stuck in traffic, so still have full power and decent economy.
Well this has been very useful thanks all.
Sounds like a PHEV is overall not the one.
I'm encouraged by the i3 comments - keen to know if this is backed up by personal experience? Stuff I've read says 60-70% WLTP figure or 3 miles/kWh in winter which is pretty much 120-130 miles. So it sounds like I'd be eeking it home without heaters on or music etc...
Sounds like a PHEV is overall not the one.
I'm encouraged by the i3 comments - keen to know if this is backed up by personal experience? Stuff I've read says 60-70% WLTP figure or 3 miles/kWh in winter which is pretty much 120-130 miles. So it sounds like I'd be eeking it home without heaters on or music etc...
It don't make no nevermind if it uses all the battery all at once, because it's the overall mpg that matters.
E.g. you could get 100 mpg one way which used all the battery and then get 50 mpg the other way with no battery.
Or get 75mpg one way using half the battery and 75mpg coming back. Same result.
E.g. you could get 100 mpg one way which used all the battery and then get 50 mpg the other way with no battery.
Or get 75mpg one way using half the battery and 75mpg coming back. Same result.
blueovercream said:
Well this has been very useful thanks all.
Sounds like a PHEV is overall not the one.
I'm encouraged by the i3 comments - keen to know if this is backed up by personal experience? Stuff I've read says 60-70% WLTP figure or 3 miles/kWh in winter which is pretty much 120-130 miles. So it sounds like I'd be eeking it home without heaters on or music etc...
Real world experience is 180-220 range. We got 160 once, hoofing it somewhat. Display usually shows 4.8-5.2m per kWh. We have never driven it in eco or eco plus modes. Had the car just about a year, and 12k miles so far.Sounds like a PHEV is overall not the one.
I'm encouraged by the i3 comments - keen to know if this is backed up by personal experience? Stuff I've read says 60-70% WLTP figure or 3 miles/kWh in winter which is pretty much 120-130 miles. So it sounds like I'd be eeking it home without heaters on or music etc...
If you can charge at home, then a proper EV is absolutely the way to go. 120 miles is well within the range of anything except a teeny tiny city car, or an ancient Nissan Leaf.
Be brave and just get a Tesla. There about 70 Model 3s on Autotrader in your budget, and dozens of others from other brands. You will absolutely look back in six months and wonder what the heck you were thinking of, looking at hybrids.
Be brave and just get a Tesla. There about 70 Model 3s on Autotrader in your budget, and dozens of others from other brands. You will absolutely look back in six months and wonder what the heck you were thinking of, looking at hybrids.
So I also had an i3s, probably worst case as I put 195/55R20s all around on it. Work is 35 miles away, Blackwall tunnel then up the M11. Even in winter and rain I'd get home with 50% battery so real world 140 miles. Unless you're getting straight on the motorway and sitting at 80 you'll be fine, especially in a regular i3 with the skinnier wheels.
Look at a Tesla Model 3 Long Range, they start at around £12k , looks like £15k gets you into the later facelift Chinese built cars which came with a heatpump I think and widely reported better build quality.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604201...
Martyn76 said:
Look at a Tesla Model 3 Long Range, they start at around £12k , looks like £15k gets you into the later facelift Chinese built cars which came with a heatpump I think and widely reported better build quality.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604201...
Heat pump were on cars 2021 on so the one linked doesn’t have one. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604201...
I’m selling my 2021 LR model 3 for £12K
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