Trying to Convince Myself an EV is Right

alan partridge aha

If a person who seemed to be minding their money you certainly went all in on your new vehicle.

Best of luck BTW, may I be so bold as to ask how much.

Stevie2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723271#Comment_120723271

North of 70k surely?

Would love to know what jobs these guys have

That's a yearly salary in a very good job.

People used to spend 25% salary on a car before, eg earn 160k, drive a 40k car, before the madness started

GTE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723271#Comment_120723271

It's interesting alright. I couldn't justify an EV if it were just a daily driver. My PHEV was doing too good a job at that. The BEV upgrade was case closed thanks to the debate here.

Things changed with the Buzz. I am going to use the as my daily driver but we will then use it as a camper for holidays. I am lucky though that a friend from work has offered to buy the Passat.

With local hotel and Airbnb holdiays so expensive and flying holidays expensive and much less attractive than they used to be, the Buzz gives us some amazing staycation and European road trips holiday potential.

With the Buzz on PCP, the accommodation cost alone of a single ten day traditional Irish or European Summer for each of the next three years equals or surpasses the entire additional cost of the Buzz over a hire purchase or car loan acquisition of an ID4. The spreadsheet rises again.

Granted, there is a balloon payment but by then we will either be sick of camping or have planned a more sustainable solution.

Could we have bought a camper? No; we have no where to park it and it would cost nearly as much as the PCP to get one in reasonable shape on top of the existing car loan. Add to that, getting the thing holdiay ready given it would only be driven occasionally.

GTE

Edit: I forgot who I was quoting here. Stevie2001 maybe.

...

I'm not being deliberately vague here, I just can't remember the numbers, but an ID 1st edition I had my eye on was 43k, financed over five years. As with my previous cars, I tend to sell them on after three years and clear the loan.

The PCP portion of the Buzz is five or six grand less than the, albeit, total cost of the ID4.

If the grand holiday experiment falls on its ass, I'll trade the Buzz in at the end of the summer, drive a Polo on pcp and be thankful I had a go at it.

We got the used Buzz Max with 10000km for 65k, much less than sticker price. It makes no sense really, the base spec Life model is 73 or so. My impression of a the various dealers I dealt with was that I could push harder than I needed to in order to get a lower price. I've read a lot here about dealers not being able to shift used EVs. I've no idea if that has anything to do with it.

tmh106

Regarding the "holiday experiment" I didn't realise the Buzz can be used as a camper van. Can the the rear seats be turned into beds? I presume you would only use it for sleeping. No cooking/toilet/shower facilities (unless you have done some conversion)

GTE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723751#Comment_120723751

Yes, there is a false floor on higher spec models, which makes a double bed base in conjuction with the rear seats when flat.

The 30cm or so under the false floor is then storage. Sleeping only, not a proper VW California job of course but the better campsites have some great facilties.

With a 10amp granny cable into the campsite electric hook up, you've quite a bit of free charging too! You can also get a 16amp portable charger which has the campsite adapter instead of the three pin.

tmh106

Thanks @GTE , that very interesting, I never realised that is an option with the Buzz. Should certainly help you recoup some of the cost if you can save on the cost of hotels. How comfortable is it as a bed, have you slept in it yet?

GTE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723770#Comment_120723770

We have some dangerous trips to some camping supply shops yet to do...

Bjorn Nyland slept in his at silly low temperatures. There are quirks to it, like there being no camping mode so the air con goes off but I've tested that multiple departure times can be used to condition the car every couple of hours.

tmh106

Thanks @GTE , happy camping in it.

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723751#Comment_120723751

There are already camper cooking kits and similar for the Buzz even though they are fairly new. I think they come with the bed etc. but are expensive.

Then remove for daily use.

unkel

I had no idea they could be bought for that much below retail second hand. That plus that it can be used as a basic camper changes my opinion of them!

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723330#Comment_120723330

Yes, it's almost like people earn more than you or I do!

It's not really madness, nobody is being approved for loans unless they can afford it. VW would tell me to jog on if I tried financing a €60k+ vehicle. PCP lends itself to owning a nicer car because you already have €10-20k deposit before financing a single cent and if you're in a position to be sitting on €10k+ you're probably doing alright with money regardless of salary.

Before PCP gained popularity the majority of people were just getting car loans instead, it's not like people are suddenly buying cars they can't afford. If anything it's more secure now as you have a deposit rather than topping up loans.

joe1303l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723639#Comment_120723639

Well done, €65K was good value. It’s a shame they don’t have 3rd row seating yet.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120725636#Comment_120725636

Yeah that's one of the things I'm holding out for

The other thing is winning the lottery 😂

I don't need the 7 seater with two kids, but we probably wouldn't be using it as a campervan and would be carrying a tent and load of camping junk around with us, so the extra boot space would be nice

Plus the option of extra seats can be handy when dragging the kids and friends to matches and such

forumdedum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120723639#Comment_120723639

If you know of an ID Buzz Max at 65K point me in it's direction. Well done on your purchase