Renault Zoe; battery owned vs battery leased

liamog wrote: »

It's an ideal position for properly placed chargers, it's just a pity that Nissan chose to put it one of the most easily damaged areas of a car and that infrastructure providers haven't updated their layouts.

yep - thats got me thinking . placing it on the front and if you have a tip with a car in front and its broke the flap thats no good and all that air and driving rain and everything facing towards the front of the car as your driving it cant be good either, in those kind of circumstances I can see why it is a better design to put it in the conventional area where fuel would normally go into a car.

on another note , these charging stations how does the cable come out of the station ? - do you just pull it and when you let go it recoils back like a hoover cable does with auto cord rewind and like the petrol hose does in a petrol station pump?

liamog wrote: »

Back to OPs question, how long do you intend to keep the Zoe for? The points about the cost being worth it, and the potentially problematic depreciation are quite valid. For me, if I was keeping the Zoe for less than 2 years, I'd probably gamble on a battery lease. Yes it will be worth less than a battery owned one, but I'd have to look at is the €1,920 of battery lease, more or less than what I'd expect to lose on the value of the car compared to a battery owned version. Based entirely on gut feelings I think the changeover is around that 24 month mark.

difficult for some people when they first buy their car how long they plan to keep it for . I suppose maybe one should know and plan ahead how long they intend to keep the car .
The battery owned Zoe i was looking at on DD seems so much good value for the money , as I think the only cheapest BO zoe i have seen near to that before was around 13grand mark - the mrs is like "why are they selling it cheap? - whats wrong with it?" .. I am thinking maybe the seller is thats what they want for it ... and it is a private sale as well.
i dont get this BMS update thing (is thats what its called) I think it were an update to be done on the older Zoes around that vintage of around 2015 wasnt it, something to address the issue of it not charging fully or not charging at all or something like that I think i read - how, if you were going to see a used Zoe, would one know if that was ever done? how could they find out and if it wasnt done and you bought the car can you as the new owner still get that carried out FOC by renault after you bought it?

regards sitting too high up - the drivers seat on the wifes 2016 Clio 4 has a lever on the drivers seat (dont think theres one on the passenger seat ) but basically the one in her clio you can pump it up or down with this lever ... nearly all the way down to the floor , but i personally like sitting up high in the drivers seat myself - the Zoe would have the same lever on the drivers seat as well wouldnt it ? ... or are you talking about how the actual car itself sits up high on the road?

liamog wrote: »

Its hard to describe, it's not so much the position of the seat in the cabin as it is the overall tallness of the car relative to it's width. The car just didn't feel as well grounded as the e-Up! it's been about two and a half years since I decided so sorry if I can't be a little clearer . The other thing is the e-Up! feels quicker than the Zoe I was comparing it too. The motor's were near enough the same, but the Zoe is about 275kg heavier. The e-Up! has a certain go-cart feel about it.

thats alright - yes it most probably to do with suspension as well , the VW more than likely has better suspension than the Zoe and sits better - I am on a clio group and some have lowered their clios to make it sit lower , I dont think the suspension has never been the strongest plus on renault cars .

The e-up more than likely feels nippier as well because on looks it looks more compact on the outside than the zoe . - my daughters partner has a Corsa 2011 and same engine size as the wife's 2016 clio and both non-turbo and i think same bhp (75bhp I think it is) but his Corsa feels quicker than the Clio

punisher5112 wrote: »

Wouldn't touch anything with battery rental, resale will be near impossible imo

(if i liked it) I couldnt even think/see myself selling it on again (especially if I got it on 5 years HP!) -
I like the idea that on battery rental that you can get recovery as many times as you like (I think even if you had recovery built in with a fully comp insurance there is a limit to how many time you can use it in a month)
And the 70% thing, that if you are paying for battery rental, renault ensure / guarantee your battery at 70% - so that if it falls below that they can replace the defective cells (or the battery) to bring you back to 70% levels - and I think I read somewhere if you have battery rental you dont have to pay the extra for the disposal of the car like you do with a battery owned (maybe I read that wrong?)

liamog wrote: »

The point was to get in touch re a test drive and then see if they could source a smaller batteried model for you from the UK. At least give them a shout and see what they say.

oh right - yes good Idea . , and if I were to test drive a 50kw zoe , everything else will bethe same as a 22kw older model would it?

you know , like a 50kw zo - is the only difference the range and the bigger battery and everything still the same? - like the way the car drives on both and controls etc?

thanks

liamog wrote: »

Not a single EV driver here has said it's worth it, trust us, it's not. You will not need to use a recovery service more than your normal comprehensive insurance covers, and you really don't need to worry about the battery degradation for a few more years.

ah, right - the only other issue is that the battery owned ones are expensive / hold their value and then make buying much more expensive ... so then again out of my budget The other week I saw a battery owned 2014 or 2015 on DD for 8,700 - first off that was unusual and alarm bells rang (like what was wrong with it going that price for BO) and then the next thing it was a private sale and at least if you get from a dealer/forecourt you should have some kind of warranty after buying - you have nothing really with a private seller i shouldnt think.

MarkN wrote: »

The interior of the 50 is fully upgraded and a lot of the dash is based on the new Clio. Underneath the skin, it’s a lot of the same car but the interior is a total refresh.

thanks, so in terms of driving though same gearshift (is that what they call it in an automatic car?) in the 50 as the older 22kw and same feel to driving? - same suspension feel or has the 50 been upgraded on the 50? - same front drivers seat ie confort / support? or has that been improved in the 50 as well?
and does the 50 feel more responsive to drive thanthe older zoe or has just the range increased with the later (but still shape as the old) zoe? can you tell me?

thanks

MarkN wrote: »

Hey Andy - I haven't driven the older version so I'm not sure on some of the questions. It feels very nippy, a little bit of wheel spin at times but torque steer is nicely managed overall. In eco mode there's still enough power too, was hard to see if it had any true energy saving though. A motorist in a CLK coupe tried to have a little go at a set of lights against it and the Zoe just pulled and pulled away.

The driver and passenger seat still don't have height adjustment, there's a bit of lumbar support, manual adjustment.

I've put together a video of the car here, it will show you around a bit hopefully. If you've any other questions I'll try help.

many thanks for the reply, brilliant I shall watch that video later on today thanks.

stesaurus wrote: »

If you're serious then stick a post up on one of the FB pages and ask if there are any Zoe 22kWh owners nearby.
I'm sure they'd give you a spin and let you have a look around. Might even be one or 2 thinking of selling.
Your budget seems tight so if I was you I'd go battery owned and a private sale. A dealer will only give you a 6 month warranty anyway.

good idea - i mentioned that to the mrs a couple of nights ago and she reckoned if it was other times out of this covid times there may have been someone local with a zoe willing to let me have a drive of it in a car park or something but she reckoned people might be wary at this time.
Kearys in Cork seem a great dealer at the moment in my estimates they seem really good - they say 2years warranty on renault selection cars as standard and they pay the first 12 months of the battery lease. they really sound like a good dealer. Anyone else on here used them or know of them? - the one i was looking at (2014) has (well I think) high mileage @ 95,026 km (thats quite high isnt it especially for a BEV?) but thats my budget , I suppose if it were much less mileage it would be another grand or more on top - and 2014 is getting on a bit in years , but again budget and this will be my first venture into owning an electric vehicle - at least there will be no issues with timing belt not being changed or worn exhaust lol

unkel wrote: »

For sure if they reckon they've found a fool who will take over their battery lease

Yes! - I would be that 'fool' .. only because of budget at time of buying .. sure we could all look back after years of having it and say 'bloody hell - look at all that I paid in battery rental alone!' - it was the same when I was growing up we never ever bought a telly or video outright we always rented and and years later when we looked back on how much we paid on renting a telly we could have bought it 3 times over!