2nd car UK import EV?

tooth*grinder

Hey folks - my self and the wife have come to the conclusion that we need a second car. We have a diesel car (civic) at the minute that I'll be holding onto (at least for now). Given she's going to be doing 300km (at most) a week (M50 commute weekdays), I thought an EV might be a good call. Our budget is about €16k, given the state of the £, I said I'd have a look on autotrader; I was pleasantly surprised at the options available. For our budget it looks like the i3, older leaf or a Zoe.

Where I'm still unsure is to which of the 3 models are best suited to our needs? Zoe is the cheapest (€10k or less) and seems to me to be 'good enough', but on the other hand, its a french electric car (great food and wine, but car electrics is not their strong point).

The older leaf's are a bigger car, but I'm seeing some bad stories about battery state in them, ideally I'd like to get 5 years at least out of the car. They seem to be plenty around for all levels of the budget. What should my expectations on the battery state/level be?

The i3 is herself's favourite based purely on looks, all the versions available seem to the ReX so they come with the VRT charge (about €800 as near as I can figure), but other wise seem to be the best EVs of the 3.

Sorry for a wall of text, but I guess what I'm asking is: €16k budget for the car, want to get at least 5 years of 300km a week out of it, what would you folks suggest I get?

Is there any major pitfalls to look out for on any of the three, or am I missing out on some other EV for the same price that I'd be a fool to ignore.

BTW - I've thought of and budgeted for the home charger separately, the way I see it, we'll need it anyways when I get rid of our diesel in a couple of years (after seeing how the VAG EVs go).

Cheers in advance for any wisdom you folks can bestow...

KCross

Watch the Zoe prices. Alot of them include a monthly battery rental so the cheap buy price has a sting in the tail with monthly battery payments.

slave1

Leaf30 suits you down to the ground, I've a 2016 and doing 550kms+ a week no bother.
The i3 is a 4 seater whereas the Leaf is a full 5 seater with decent sized boot.

Don't forget you can avail of up to €600 home charger installation grant

unkel

If she likes the i3, then why not get one?

There are plenty of battery only ones out there. That's the one she should get. As it wouldn't attract any VRT, it's a lot faster (if she cares about that) and you get the full M50 toll discount. Also you won't have to pay very expensive service charges for the REx engine. I saw the newer model (late 2016) with the bigger battery in an ad in the UK yesterday for just outside of your budget. That would be a very good buy imho.

Mike9832

I don't see much myself value at €16,000

Degraded battery Leafs, lots of battery lease Zoe's and the odd i3 ( nice car, but not the most reliable EV ever made )

Not much there i'd be inclined to keep for 5 years

I would bite the bullet and spend about €25,000 myself for a 191 or wait for brand new Zoe, Corsa, 208e which should be around that price

e-Golfs are exceptional value imo, plenty of them in the UK now for 25k, very reliable, close to 200km range

Nice place to be for 5 years and depreciation will be less on that than a 10 year old degraded Leaf in 2024 imo

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201904217194617?year-from=2019&radius=1500&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&make=VOLKSWAGEN&fuel-type=Electric&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=m52ty&sort=price-asc&price-from=20000&page=1

unkel

Good price for that eGolf alright, sterling helps a lot too. Many thousands outside the OPs budget though.

Do you not think a late 2016 BMW i3 BEV 94Ah (yes the newer model) also with 200km range at just over €16k is good value?

KCross

unkel wrote: »

Do you not think a late 2016 BMW i3 BEV 94Ah (yes the newer model) also with 200km range at just over €16k is good value?

Is it only the early Rex models that Soarer said were unreliable and the BEV versions are rock solid or are the early BEV's a risk too?

A failing BMW out of warranty is not something I'd like, so I think a confirmation on how reliable they are would be important there. I suppose the issues were resolved by 2016?

slave1

Mike9832 wrote: »

I don't see much myself value at €16,000

Degraded battery Leafs...[/url]

L30 battery packs all fine, nothing out of the ordinary regarding expected degradation (mine is 96%, a 162) unless you can post a source pointing out otherwise?

krissovo

The I3 94ah battery was designed to be at minimum 70% SOH after 15 years by BMW, the same life expectancy as the car itself.

unkel

KCross wrote: »

Is it only the early Rex models that Soarer said were unreliable and the BEV versions are rock solid or are the early BEV's a risk too?

I don't know all that much about the i3 BEV, but haven't heard about reliability problems with the earlier one. The newer generation 2016 94Ah BEV i3 car is imho a very sweet deal at a touch over €16k landed here.

Edit - just checked and the car now has deposit taken, provisionally sold. Bargains don't hang about

Linky

unkel

Another 2016 94Ah for GBP15.7k asking

Linky


Get a few hundred off and you'll land it for a touch over €17k with cheap flight, ferry, money transfer, etc.

As for comparison, the cheapest eGolf on that site is from 2015 with asking GBP17k. I know which one is the better deal!

charlieIRL

unkel wrote: »

Good price for that eGolf alright, sterling helps a lot too. Many thousands outside the OPs budget though.

Do you not think a late 2016 BMW i3 BEV 94Ah (yes the newer model) also with 200km range at just over €16k is good value?

I've a deal done on an 2019 Executive E-golf just to sign on the dotted line, main VW dealer here in Ireland and with a price I couldn't import one from the UK much cheaper when you add in flights / ferry.

Kramer

charlieIRL wrote: »

I've a deal done on an 2019 Executive E-golf

Well wear!

Nie car the e-golf, especially in exec. trim.

unkel

charlieIRL wrote: »

I've a deal done on an 2019 Executive E-golf just to sign on the dotted line, main VW dealer here in Ireland and with a price I couldn't import one from the UK much cheaper when you add in flights / ferry.

I've brought in a car with a flight for €39 and a ferry for €58

But well wear on the eGolf. It's an excellent EV!

Do you mind telling us how much it was on the road all in?

charlieIRL

Kramer wrote: »

Well wear!

Nie car the e-golf, especially in exec. trim.

I haven't got it.....yet!!

Am still terrified of the amount of finance!!!

krissovo

The Leaf's are decent enough to drive, comfy and well spec'd at SVE level. Despite all the battery issues being spouted which for most people are a non issue, in your use case it would be a good option.

I3's are great fun to drive but are jittery at speed as the steering has no dead space, skinny tires and the wind from lorry's on dual carriageways. You do get used to it quite quickly.
I found most available are "bog" spec, which is fine to live with apart from the awful Navigation system. 60 AH 2014/2015 REX's have reliability issues, the 2014 is a disaster by all accounts.

I dont know Zoe's very well, I looked at one but the standard interior Renault plastic is a put off for me and dint drive it.

EV Phil

Think this is only a 60 ah! Can be difficult to tell in 2016 model. Nothing shouts 94ah .

Get a few hundred off and you'll land it for a touch over €17k with cheap flight, ferry, money transfer, etc.

As for comparison, the cheapest eGolf on that site is from 2015 with asking GBP17k. I know which one is the better deal![/quote]

unkel

Quite right, Phil. I got confused between this car and the first one I mentioned that I linked to in another thread. Above ad doesn't even claim to be 94Ah.

How can you tell the difference?

Welcome to boards by the way