Worth looking at used Ioniq 28kwh?

Sacho · 13-08-2020 1:48am #1

I'm looking to buy our first car here in Ireland for me and the wife, and the idea of an EV seems very appealing. I'm a total noob - never owned a car before, and my wife is more of a "user" than an enthusiast, so I was drawn to the lower maintenance of EVs. Plus, no exhaust fumes, better for the environment, seems like it's the way forward in the coming years.

I have a pretty short commute(40-ish km roundtrip), and I don't really know much about drive quality, so I initially set my budget to "cheap" and my sights on 2013+ leafs and zoes. Unfortunately, it seems like the old Zoe is a trap due to the battery lease. I also read up about some of the leaf's shortcomings, and started thinking about longer weekend trips, plus having the freedom to relocate further from work, and that got me looking at more options.

After scouring this forum(and a bunch of youtubers and review sites) for more information on EVs, I am really hyped up about the Ioniq classic(28kwh). It seems like the car really punches above its weight, and compares especially favorably vs the leaf - better efficiency almost matching 40kwh variants, great array of features, battery cooling, CCS charging, etc - I'm sure you know better than me. Of course, that comes with a much heftier price tag(18-20k), but depreciation is the key metric here, so I'm willing to put up extra money upfront if it ends up being a good deal. The Ioniq is kind of scraping my budget ceiling though - I really can't justify tying up much more than that in a car, so I'm a bit hesitant.

I saw the happy chatter about the Ioniq seemed to die down during this year - maybe it's new models sucking up all the attention, maybe everyone already knows how good it is and is happy with it, but it does worry me a bit that I'm missing something.

With all that in mind, would you recommend buying a used Ioniq at this time? Do you think it would keep its value going forward, or is the next gen of EVs coming in significantly better and threatening to tank the prices of the first gens? Are there any other options in the price range that I should pay attention to? I saw some Zoes with owned batteries and a BMW i3 fall in the 15-20k range opened up by the Ioniq, but I haven't focused my attention on them yet. Would it be better to just go for a cheapy leafy to get a feel for EVs, and then upgrade in a few years to the cars coming out now? Any advice appreciated.

Pekarirska · 13-08-2020 7:10am

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/nissan-leaf-2013/24547719
https://www.electricautos.ie/vehicles/hyundai/ioniq/kildare/2615936

You can get 3 Leafs for the price of one Ioniq. Is your weekend driving worth €13k difference?

dubrov · 13-08-2020 7:38am

Pekarirska wrote: »

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/nissan-leaf-2013/24547719
https://www.electricautos.ie/vehicles/hyundai/ioniq/kildare/2615936

You can get 3 Leafs for the price of one Ioniq. Is your weekend driving worth €13k difference?

You can't compare a 2013 car with a 2017 one. Most cars will lose about 60% of their value after 4 years

graememk · 13-08-2020 7:50am

The ioniq is very highly spoken of in the ioniq thread, even though it's 28kwh battery it's really efficient and fast charging.

It would match or even beat a 40kwh leaf.

It has had very low depreciation so far compared to other cars. A 2017 model will still have 2 yrs warranty with it too.

I think that ioniq is a former boardsie members car too. (Or maybe I'm mixing them up)

Black_Knight · 13-08-2020 7:54am

Hi there. You'll find it hard for anyone here to say a bad word about the ioniq28. Great car, and as you say, punches above it's weight.

The lack of chatter about the ioniq this year likely stems from
1. The new ioniq38 has very little love here (high price, marginally increased range, much reduced charging speeds) so I don't think anyone here has one.
2. Less new owners of the ioniq28. It seemed like every couple of weeks someone would post saying they bought a new one, but for whatever reason that's stopped on the forum. Early buyers tend to post here, when EVs start becoming normal, Joe soap doesn't post about it. Leaf thread would be similar.

I've owned my ioniq for about 15 months now. I looked at leafs briefly, but for all the reasons you mentioned (and the looks) I passed on it and focused on the ioniq. Love the car though! Would certainly recommend it, but there's nothing wrong with a leaf given your driving. If you're looking for a reason not to buy a leaf, I think you've your mind made up already. If you can, get the car you want, don't settle.

I3 is another lovely car. Some say it's a bit Marmite, but I like it! For 2, it's perfect size too, and much better finish than the leaf.

If there's kids on the horizon, I'd such focus more towards the ioniq. It's done us perfectly so far, though with baby 2 any day we'll reassess in the next few months.

Black_Knight · 13-08-2020 7:56am

graememk wrote: »

I think that ioniq is a former boardsie members car too. (Or maybe I'm mixing them up)

You thinking of kramers one? His was a black 2019 for around 24k I think. Mad it's not sold yet.

slave1 · 13-08-2020 10:09am

From being in the same situation a few years back we went for a L30.
By all means go for the Ioniq but for me it was the right decision based on
Reliability, zero issues and many others will attest to a rock solid car, no 12v problems or missed charging episodes
Remote app, for this reason alone I would avoid the Ioniq, nothing like heating your car from your phone, I'll never have another car that does not have this feature.
Pricing, you should have change purchasing a 2016/2017 Leaf versus an Ioniq

Finally, I'd import and if so stretch to the Premium SE model, well worth it

Good luck with your hunt!

listermint · 13-08-2020 10:15am

slave1 wrote: »

From being in the same situation a few years back we went for a L30.
By all means go for the Ioniq but for me it was the right decision based on
Reliability, zero issues and many others will attest to a rock solid car, no 12v problems or missed charging episodes
Remote app, for this reason alone I would avoid the Ioniq, nothing like heating your car from your phone, I'll never have another car that does not have this feature.
Pricing, you should have change purchasing a 2016/2017 Leaf versus an Ioniq

Finally, I'd import and if so stretch to the Premium SE model, well worth it

Good luck with your hunt!

remote heating is a gimmick. Ive yet to be anyway remotely cold or even slightly cold in any car in this country that warranted preheating. Electric heated seats are just as good. We dont have the climate that warrants never buying another car again without preheat tbf...

Laviski · 13-08-2020 10:44am

listermint wrote: »

remote heating is a gimmick. Ive yet to be anyway remotely cold or even slightly cold in any car in this country that warranted preheating. Electric heated seats are just as good. We dont have the climate that warrants never buying another car again without preheat tbf...

Obviously you don't drive early mornings or your parked in a garage. There are plenty of nights where car is frozen over and looking forward to the winter to come to to use this gimmick to pre heat the car.

eagerv · 13-08-2020 10:47am

Laviski wrote: »

Obviously you don't drive early mornings or your parked in a garage. There are plenty of nights where car is frozen over and looking forward to the winter to come to to use this gimmick to pre heat the car.

We love the pre-heating on our Ioniq 28, using the timers on the car..

unkel · 13-08-2020 11:31am

Welcome to boards, Sacho! You have clearly done a good bit of research, so fair play to you. It also seems like you are not in a hurry to buy, which is good. Why don't you go test drive a Leaf, i3 and Ioniq? And try an eGolf too. All good EVs and which one to go for depends on your needs and budget. The Ioniq will have far more motorway range than any of these though, so bear that in mind. If you regularly do a 400km trip, you don't want a 2013 Leaf that would have a range of only about 40-50km @120km/h...

My previous car was an Ioniq 28kWh that I bought from new and owned for 3 years. It is an excellent EV that really punches above its weight in terms of range, charging speeds, usability and performance. I would highly recommend one. If your budget can stretch, there is a top condition black 2019 one for sale with electricautos.ie for €23k iirc which is good value for money, it was owned by one of the regulars in here. Or aim to get a decent 2017 one with lowish mileage for around the €19k mark

slave1 · 13-08-2020 11:45am

listermint wrote: »

remote heating is a gimmick. Ive yet to be anyway remotely cold or even slightly cold in any car in this country that warranted preheating. Electric heated seats are just as good. We dont have the climate that warrants never buying another car again without preheat tbf...

You don't rise the same time as me nor live near me, plenty of mornings our car is frozen solid and same at going home time so I enjoy just hopping in with a clear windshield and away I go, no scraping ice and no seeing my breath in the car.

I honestly can't believe you have never been even remotely or slightly cold in your car in this country ever that warrants preheating, that just beggars belief

slave1 · 13-08-2020 11:48am

2018 Premium SE Model here at £17.9k, straight import with no VRT

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007221558574?aggregatedTrim=Premium%20SE&sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&fuel-type=Electric&make=HYUNDAI&model=IONIQ&year-to=2019&year-from=2018&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&radius=1500&postcode=sw1a1aa&page=1

KCross · 13-08-2020 11:48am

listermint wrote: »

remote heating is a gimmick. Ive yet to be anyway remotely cold or even slightly cold in any car in this country that warranted preheating. Electric heated seats are just as good. We dont have the climate that warrants never buying another car again without preheat tbf...

Another one here in favour of remote heating. Use it all the time in winter.

15mins before i leave work i flick it on and the window is clear and warm car. I see others around me wiping their windows or waiting for the a/c to do it.

I'd agree its not a reason to rule a car out of a purchase decision but its not a gimmick, imo.

charlieIRL · 13-08-2020 4:41pm

Can't believe you don't use pre-heating Listermint, its great on cold mornings coming out to a warm car - especially on the school run! I know last winter was mild but they won't always be like that!

Sacho · 13-08-2020 4:46pm

Thanks for all the advice and recommendations! I'll definitely take unkel's advice and test drive as many cars as I can before the purchase(as long as the lockdown doesn't get in the way..). You've given me a little bit more courage to try and go for the more expensive choices.

I forgot to ask one thing in my initial post - what is the maintenance expertise like for EVs in Ireland? Is there a reasonable number of mechanics up to speed on working on EVs? Is there any make whose authorized dealers are sparse, or just kinda suck? I assume the Leaf and maybe the Zoe do OK, due to their popularity(there'd be plenty of complaints if not), but what about the more niche ones like i3, ioniq? Or is this perhaps not really a concern, as most of the maintenance work is pretty basic and ICE knowledge transfers over?

Pekarirska wrote: »

You can get 3 Leafs for the price of one Ioniq. Is your weekend driving worth €13k difference?

Your point's well taken, and is one of my main worries, but I hope a car like the Ioniq would hold on to more of its value. Researching the depreciation of some EVs has been absolute hell though - the data sets happily mix battery owned and battery leased Zoes together, and most of the Ioniq data I could find mixes the hybrid variants together with the EV(?!). Depreciation is also non-linear and the oldest Ioniqs are at the age where most cars seem to slow down from the initial rapid loss in value. Or maybe I'm just trying to rationalize a big luxury spend, I don't know

Black_Knight · 13-08-2020 4:54pm

EV maintenance is pretty trivial, but to maintain your warranty (depending on the car) you'd need to keep getting dealer services. My latest ioniq service was €140, previous ones im told would be €100 or less.

Independant EV services likely do exist, but limited. I'd imagine any which exist now are knowledgeable, and perhaps more so than some of the service engineers in dealerships. As ICE mechanics make the switch, that's when I imagine you'll start to see poor examples of EV servicing.

Regular serviceable parts (suspension, brakes, pollen filter (I know :rolleyes:) etc) all transfer over from ICE servicing. If I had an EV out of warranty, i'd likely just get it checked every couple of years for basic car maintenance. Judging from my last service, they just visually inspect, and then plug in diagnostics into the car.

Worth looking at used Ioniq 28kwh?

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