Diesel vs Leaf vs Prius

aFlabbyPanda

Looking for peoples thoughts please. We have a 161 Octavia that gives us 55mpg (~5.1l per 100km) but due to the recent rise in fuel prices we were looking to change. A used 40kwh Leaf fits our budget. We plan to add a charger at home and have access to one in work too, we go to the office 2 days per week (tue & thur). We do about 80km a day in short 10 to 15km journeys broken up between morning & evening and less on weekends.

My wife is mainly concerned about range & the challenges with charging etc so then we started considering a Prius (PHEV are too expensive for us) but from reading it seems we'd be lucky to see the same 55 or so MPG from it.

Does it look like the leaf would work for us without too much inconvenience? Our main goal here is control the recurring costs, eg fuel vs electricity,

Atlantic Dawn

The Prius might match or better the Octavia in urban driving but not on the open road. I wouldn't touch a Prius purely because of catalytic convertor thefts from them, wouldn't be able to relax parking it anywhere in public.

whippet

the cheapest car you have is always the one that you own. If you don't have finance on the Octavia why would you change ? you would need to be doing massive miles to claw back any saving on the purchase of the car on fuel with a new car.

With regards to the range on the leaf .. the Leaf40 would be no issues at all with that sort of routine.

tobottherobot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118915546#Comment_118915546

As a leaf owner, I'd be inclined to agree that keeping the Octavia is a good shout. But if you want a change and the outlay is not so steep, then the Leaf is a good option. A 40kWh leaf would do ~180km or so I think so perfect for what you need

aFlabbyPanda

Yes there is finance on the Skoda. Changing to the leaf adds about 100€ pm or less if we pick an older 2018 model (still 40kwh. We are hoping the EV then saves diesel bill. Current spend is around ~350pm.

whippet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118916042#Comment_118916042

€350 per month on all expenses ?

€100 per month extra would be the equivalent of say 50L diesel ... how much are you spending on diesel per month at the moment ?

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118916768#Comment_118916768

Tax and maintenance be higher on ghe daysul too.

OP. You say your 80km daily is split into shorter journeys. If the car is home between journeys it could be charged an then even a 24 Leaf would do the job. At €100 extra per month, I'd be inclined to go for the 40 Leaf and not worry about DPF issues because of your short journeys.

Old diesel

Is the run to the office included in the 80 kms????.

And if not what is the distance of that journey

aFlabbyPanda

@Old diesel Yes the 80 includes office, about ~11km from home/school.

@...Ghost... We did look at the 30kwh version too which is even cheaper and yes the car would either be at home or work between the journeys so could be charging, we do gym/school/work in the morning which is 3 trips of 10 or 15km depending on the day and the same in the evening.

e.g home>gym>home>school>home or home>gym>home>school>work, and then the reverse in the evening.

@whippet I should have been clearer, we are paying 250€ for the Skoda finance, average has always been 275 in diesel up till recently but March alone was 350 and April is looking the same due to extra work trips now the office has reopened. So recent outgoing of 600€ PM. We are just trying to reduce that however we split it between new car costs (we may consider outlaying some cash to reduce repayments) and the fuel/electricity cost.

JPup

Advantages of prius would be automatic transmission, quieter drive, lower air pollution, lower maintenance costs and you should save a bit on fuel costs but that is probably marginal (petrol currently cheaper than diesel but not sure if that will last). Is that enough to warrant changing? It would depend on the cost involved I think.

Best bet would probably be to do a test drive and compare directly.