I have a suspicion that ICE cars in good condition will rocket in value over the next 10 unless EVs become so much more desirable.
Isn’t that a kind of each way bet 
I don’t think it is a question of “desirable”. The sale of new cars will be banned in 6 years time {unless the motor manufacturer’s, lobby succeeds}. It will be interesting to see what happens to the ageing fleet of existing ICEs.
They showed some cables sheathed in a difficult to remove/cut sleeving which would take time and tools more sophisticated but the cost to do every charger would be prohibitive currently.
I think you’ll find that in the EU it’s in 9 yrs at the mo.
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Thanks for the correction Wozza, it gives the slower adopters more breathing space.
They might be banned, but national economics might also be a controlling factor, with Europe choosing to continue sales in the face of Chinese competition. It’s not just lobbying, but also having to manage tens of thousands made redundant if European car making stops, plus trade deficits.
Just been reading the local paper online and a hybrid car caught fire along the road from here yesterday afternoon after hitting another car which did not catch fire. I did hear the pompiers klaxon but it went over the roundabout and straight on along the road from me. Bet the owner of the hybrid won’t be buying another one in a hurry.
I think the possible reason behind more fires on hybrid vehicles is because for battery size the use densely packaged lithium ion batteries with poor to no thermal management. As we transition away from that chemistry to LFP batteries things get safer. Even those with lithium ion and active thermal management do not catch fire anywhere near as often.
Next car identified, hopefully to be ordered Monday. So this morning I tried a hybrid Mini Countryman and an electric Citroen C5 Aircross.
The mini was OK but inclined to twitch and squirrel on bumpy surfaces sometimes, however the killer was that base model comes with ONLY the single large circular screen in the centre of the car. It turned out that the dealer didn’t have a demo model available so the sales guy took me out in his personal car. Controlling things through the screen is clearly awkward, but the deal breaker is that if you want the head-up display (a small piece of sloping plastic in front of the driver with info projected onto it) then that costs another £1100 as part of a stage pack and that makes it more than £30K even at a decent discount. Someone more forceful than me might negotiate its inclusion, but I wasn’t completely convinced about the rest of the car either, so I’ll pass.
The C5 felt like quite a large car, and it’s the first ordinary car that is awkward for me to step out of because of the height and width. While the car itself was easy enough to drive, brakes were not good, with a very long travel that offered partial retardation but not actual stopping until much further down the range. I’ve been learning about this from quite a few reviews, but was surprised to find it in this car. The salesman was clearly trying to push me towards an electric model, but when we got onto range he admitted without pushing that it was a problem for longer journeys, even with a car like his own that had a book-range of more than 300 miles.
But then I got a 3rd test drive this afternoon.
A dealership in Aylesbury has just switched from Seat to BYD, and had a few pre-reg Seats left - all ‘fully loaded’ at bargain prices. The Seat Ateca is like a sported-up Skoda Karoq: I knew it was the right size, familiar with the handling, sensible and very functional physical controls instead of EVERYTHING through a screen. No navigation, but that’s what Android Auto is for. And the last one left was red instead of grey or black. Things that were less than ideal:
- if it had been diesel I’d have taken his arm off for it, but as a modern petrol it should do about the same mpg as my 4X4 Karoq.
- it has 19" rims and 225/35 section tyres. The ride was actually OK like this, but I may well pick up a set of cooking wheels & tyres on Ebay and just store these for resale time.
So to answer the question in the title, for me it’s definitely wait, but in another 5 years, that may well change.
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It’s been 3 years since I hired the Kia niro EV for the weekend for a long drive and prior to that a Tesla, just for the record even back then the 200 + mile journey was not a problem. I can only deduce he either hasn’t done a long journey or was playing it safe in sales mode, not to disagree with a customer. I bet things have improved considerably since then charging wise.
Although I don’t yet have an EV, I would look upon owning and using one in the same manner as having rooftop solar. You have to adapt your behaviour. With just a bit of thought and changing the way we do things, we have been able to make the most of the electrons flowing down from our roof and it saves us a lot of money. And the thing is, it’s fairly easy to do once you figure it out. I expect that when we do get an EV, it’ll be a similar experience.
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Yes, I expect that when we do, it will require some changes too.
Well said HB, once the network of chargers as expanded I believe a lot of these issues will vanish. To many this is still very new and home refuelling is just not in the mindset for many. I have seen quite a proliferation of home charging boxes around me and I wouldn’t class the area as the highest mindset. I was in Walton on Thames the other day and subjected to a conversation by a car spares shop owner of just how pathetic EV’s are and how the batteries are done at 5years and cannot be recycled. I had to shut down the conversation rapidly by changing the subject so I could leave.
I think you should be able to download the navigation on the Seat.
The Seat Ateca is pretty much the same as an Audi Q2, same chassis, engine & gearbox
I’ve just bought the Audi.
I bought this one for pretty much the same reasons as you.
I tested a few different cars before:
Merc’s
Class A to low down & claustrophobic
GLA nice but didn’t feel right for me
BMW
X1 nice car but didn’t feel right also didn’t like the look of it especially the front grill
Audi A3 sports back again nice car but seating position to low for me (be great for a boy racer)
Audi Q3 to big
Audi A4 electric range +/- 300km if I went up in price to a bigger battery range 500km the dealer said this would be in optimum conditions
Audi Q2 ticked all the boxes
I didn’t look or try any French cars as I’ve had new ones every 3 yrs or 90K since 2007 (all company cars).
I looked at a few other makes, Skoda, Kia, Ford… but nah not for me.
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Thanks Warren. The pre-facelift Ateca/Karoq didn’t have navigation built in, and I’ve assumed that will be true for this one too. Guess we’ll find out later. 
Your new Audi looks very tidy.
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Agreed, fortunately ours has the old grille.
Just got back from a spin in the motor, from chez nous to Chateau Chinon via Bazoches-Lormes-Vauclaix etc. Different driving styles, confort, auto, sport & manual, put her though her paces on the long windy hilly roads of the Morvan. Then back via Lorien-Planchez-Montsauche les Settons-Saint Brisson-Quarré les Tombes, quite a bit of snow comming back, but major roads are clear, some of the side roads are easily passable but had +/- an " of snow. Cussy will probably be a winter picture post card. Got back looked at the average 6.1km/100km +/- 46.3 mpg. Petrol / 150 hp.
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I’m just a little jealous, and would love to see the area in snow. Cussy was cold last. Week, down to -7 according to Meteo, and I imagine the snowy landscape looks fantastic. Hope you’re keeping warm enough on the heights of Vezelay.
The S3 has auto parking - never had the nerve.
The SU7 looks to be one hell of an interesting beast though - possibly the world’s fastest mobile phone.
https://www.carwow.co.uk/news/9741/xiaomi-su7-ultra-review-mat-watson