Have we ever been in a worse car buying era I don't know where to turn next.

Car_54

Baldytyke88 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

A day trip to the coast requires no more charging if you get stuck in traffic or if you don’t, you may even use less battery capacity when slowed down by heavy traffic. 

With a posible 200 mile round trip, it would be unwise not to charge it at your destination, you make make it home or maybe not.

Nowhere in the UK is more than 70 miles from the coast.

motorguy

midimanuser said:

I am lost and don't know what to do next. 
Buying an electric car now is like buying an iPhone from Apple and buying a pertol car is like buying something that I could no longer sell.

What on earth do you do? 
I can't even buy anything in the hope that it would become a classic for fear of it being outlawed from the road in time. 

 

 

Having a broadly similar dilemma myself.

Just sold my M2 and really at a loss as to what to buy.

Budget is literally £5,000 to £35,000 but (a) want a car that i want (ie, i dont just want a car for the sake of it), (b) dont want to blow my brains out in depreciation and (c) has an "interesting" drivetrain.

What petrol cars there are from say, 2020 onwards tend to be blown four bangers so as dull as dishwater or a "hot hatch" which i'm not sure i want, if you do go six or 8 cylinder you risk big depreciation as they seem to be crazy money (expect to pay nigh on +£10K more for a 3.0 litre petrol over a 2.0 litre petrol) and if you do go electric then its likely a pretty dull drive. 

Choice here in N. Ireland is extremely limited also.

I think the golden age of the petrol engine is behind us, and the best of the EVs are yet to come.  Feeling like i'm caught in the middle.

born_again

RogerPensionGuy said:

If we were so worried about the environment, we wouldn't be buying so much new stuff from China or other places and using very very unfriendly environmental transport systems to aquire shinny new stuff and keep short-term in many cases and then bin it as financially cheapest anywhere in the world as we currently do. 

EVs are fine, but a total lack of joined up thinking introducing them, many people only need small range keeping environmental damage low, but because public charging network is problematic and cost is often double petrol or diesel equivalent, it's a problem.

Most new cars are purchased by companies and now we are seeing these 2nd or 3rd hand EVs well in the second hand market, but private buyers aren't so keen, so EV 2nd hand values are dropping like stones and blowing the confidence of private buyers buying new, just look on Autotrader EVs less that 500 miles, thousands of pre-reg EVs being offloaded at 20, 30 & up to 40% off RRP, I feel sensible EVs at 30% below RRP are generally okay on value, remember EVs are cheaper to make than ICE cars.

Now the UK government are possibly pushing PHEVs, the show just gets better, heavy cars going around deciding to use electricity or petrol on price and convenience. 

The EV introduction will continue to be a great show for many many years. 

Maybe I'll keep my 20 year old reliable petrol car that does 45MPG and costs me so little to operate, unless the government introduced another scrappage scheme and I buy a heavy 400+mile range EV and crush my current car.

Crazy times in which we live. 

Happy Xmas time all the same. 

That is due to manufactures pre reg cars so they do not end up with the £17K emissions fines.
Going to be a lot harder for them to do that next year.

But fiddle is already on Kia have delayed deliveries of EV3 that were due before Christmas. They are sat at Immingham & will be delivered in January...

mgfvvc

letom said:

Ultimately we are being pushed towards an inferior product, it's best to just be honest about this

Ultimately this is nonsense.

Battery electric vehicles are superior in most respects, but everyone obsesses about range, charging times and exaggerated battery degradation issues.

For most people the range of an EV is sufficient for 95% of journeys. The two real problems are charging infrastructure for those without easy access to a driveway or travelling more than 200 miles in a day and manufacturers over complicating EVs instead of producing simple affordable EVs.

henry24

If EVs are superior then why do people have to be forced to buy them, if they are any good people there would be waiting lists instead we have manufacturer's having to restrict sales of ICE cars hopefull that someone will buy a ev

motorguy

henry24 said:

If EVs are superior then why do people have to be forced to buy them, if they are any good people there would be waiting lists instead we have manufacturer's having to restrict sales of ICE cars hopefull that someone will buy a ev

Fear of change, perceived extra purchase cost, dont feel they have to, range anxiety.

mgfvvc

subjecttocontract said:

Can electric cars tow a trailer, boat or caravan ?

Yes they can, but longer distances can be a challenge.The improved torque characteristics can be beneficial, but the range reductions can be a bigger issue than with ICE vehicles and charging stalls are rarely designed to accommodate trailers or caravans.

subjecttocontract said:
I didn't think we had electric commercial vehicles with sufficient range for everyone ?

Most commercial vehicles don't travel that far, so EVs may be suitable for the majority, if not everyone,

subjecttocontract said:

Some people living in flats and terraced houses can't have a home charger so EVs aren't suitable for them.
We still have a long, long way to go yet.

EVs don't necessarily need a home charger, but other solutions aren't widely deployed yet, so yes, there's still some way to go.

henry24

But if they are better them things wouldn't matter but at the moment they aren't better 

WellKnownSid

henry24 said:

But if they are better them things wouldn't matter but at the moment they aren't better 

Have you driven one?

henry24

No interest in even trying one, I have a diesel which I'm very happy with