A cheap to run car?

Arklight

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201903226159826

SkyFred

We have a Ford Fiesta Econetic from 2009. Not sure what the values are now but have never had a car which is cheaper to run.
It’s free to tax, silly low insurance and sees over 60mpg with town driving.
All the repairs have been very economical especially tires at around £35 per corner

worried_jim

Arklight wrote: »

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201903226159826

A sound suggestion. Dull, boring and as reliable the sunrise. Motoring won't get much cheaper.

Arklight

worried_jim wrote: »

A sound suggestion. Dull, boring and as reliable the sunrise. Motoring won't get much cheaper.

At only 82,000 miles that ones barely even worn the engine in yet as well. That's a bare minimum of 10 years trouble free motoring until you even need an oil change.

peter_the_piper

Kia Picanto, also cheap to tax (mines free but new ones are a small amount)

Average about 45-60 mpg and insurance about £230 for 4 named drivers and business use.

DrEskimo

worried_jim wrote: »

A sound suggestion. Dull, boring and as reliable the sunrise. Motoring won't get much cheaper.

Just for fun I estimated the running costs on that Nissan over 5 years and compared that to my used Zoe EV, which is just 2yrs old with 5k on the clock, obviously automatic, quicker/very fun to drive around town, has sat nav, reversing camera and sensors, BT calls/music streaming, DAB and the ability to pre-heat.

Even assuming a rather pessimistic resale value of my Zoe in 5yrs time (the car is currently appreciating...) I still only see a saving of £2k over the whole 5yrs.

The cost of fuel over just 5k p/a and VED alone is more than £5k more in running costs, not to mention less consumables (e.g. no replacement brake pads/discs) and cheap servicing (around £89 per year). Probably more as I've assumed a rather high price per kWh on the EV charging.

That also assumes no repairs on the Nissan at all. For £867 I could maintain the car warranty for the whole 5 years (battery will be under warranty for another 6yrs).

It really is quite incredible how cheap EV motoring is....! I thought it wouldn't even get near a car worth £599...

Obviously my car cost considerably more to purchase, but nevertheless...

wgl2014

DrEskimo wrote: »

Just for fun I estimated the running costs on that Nissan over 5 years and compared that to my used Zoe EV, which is just 2yrs old...

It really is quite incredible how cheap EV motoring is....!..

I would quite like an EV as my next car and had looked at the Zoe as an option however the battery lease seems to negate most of the savings and battery owned models are few and far between.....

DrEskimo

wgl2014 wrote: »

I would quite like an EV as my next car and had looked at the Zoe as an option however the battery lease seems to negate most of the savings and battery owned models are few and far between.....

I am a strong advocate against lease batteries as well.

Not only do I think (well...can prove!) they are a false economy, they are also causing massive confusion in the used markets. The only time leasing makes sense is for very short ownership and low miles, by which point you might as well just lease the entire car.

It took me over 6months to find a used 41kWh Zoe that was battery owned for a good price (i.e. enough of a saving from discounted brand new). The majority of nearly new ones on sale are priced higher than you can order a brand new one for, and the 1/2yr old ones tend to only be slightly cheaper due to low supply. There were also so many cars incorrectly labelled as battery owned, which weren't. It became a chore just knowing what to look for and constantly calling RCI to check.

I even went to a few auctions and they were selling for close to what some dealers were advertising them for.

In the end it was a main dealer in South London that had it up for a reasonable price, and adding the £1,000 deposit contribution by using finance (and promptly settling after) finally got it to a price I thought was fair.

Prices are already rising again though, and the deposit contribution has been cut to £500!

almillar

Just for fun I estimated the running costs on that Nissan over 5 years and compared that to my used Zoe EV, which is just 2yrs old with 5k on the clock, obviously automatic, quicker/very fun to drive around town, has sat nav, reversing camera and sensors, BT calls/music streaming, DAB and the ability to pre-heat.

Even assuming a rather pessimistic resale value of my Zoe in 5yrs time (the car is currently appreciating...) I still only see a saving of £2k over the whole 5yrs.

The cost of fuel over just 5k p/a and VED alone is more than £5k more in running costs, not to mention less consumables (e.g. no replacement brake pads/discs) and cheap servicing (around £89 per year). Probably more as I've assumed a rather high price per kWh on the EV charging.

That also assumes no repairs on the Nissan at all. For £867 I could maintain the car warranty for the whole 5 years (battery will be under warranty for another 6yrs).

It really is quite incredible how cheap EV motoring is....! I thought it wouldn't even get near a car worth £599...

Obviously my car cost considerably more to purchase, but nevertheless...

All sound, except you're ignoring the costs of any reliability issues - on the Almera it'll be cheap to sort, or scrap it and start again. On the Zoe, there are some very expensive parts, with big waits, that only a few Renault mechanics can work on. You should definitely keep that warranty up to date!

DrEskimo

almillar wrote: »

All sound, except you're ignoring the costs of any reliability issues - on the Almera it'll be cheap to sort, or scrap it and start again. On the Zoe, there are some very expensive parts, with big waits, that only a few Renault mechanics can work on. You should definitely keep that warranty up to date!

Yea I will be, which is why I added the caveat that you could extend the warranty for the entire 5yrs at £289 per year. My car has 2yrs still remaining of the original 4yr warranty, so it's just a further 3yrs to cost in.

So if the Almera requires a repair of >£800, you are looking at the cost of a replacement (another £600), or the cost of the repair, which will basically offset the additional warranty cost.

I've been pretty hard on the Zoe, and used circumstances that flatter the Almera. If you were to do around 10k miles and use a more realistic cost per kWh of 7p, rather than 10p, then the savings start to amount closer to £10k over the 5yrs. That also assumes no rise in fuel costs!