Damn, if you did I forgot and there are just too many posts to run back over.
Though you must have used a different URL as Discourse didn’t do its usual thing of letting me know it had previously been posted to the thread.
I’m leaning Audi S3 way at the moment - not as balls on turbo-nutter as the RS3 or the Civic Type-R (though the latter, being FWD rather than AWD is slower) but it seems to be about the right blend of performance, sophistication and wallet-bending.
But, then, an EV pulls by - not belching out exhaust fumes and I sway the other way again.
Totally randomly found ourselves ahead of an EV6 pulling into the local supermarket on Saturday - took the opportunity to ask the driver about the car. On the one hand he loved it, on the other apparently there were *loads* of teething issues.
Which could be anything from the relatively trivial to the definitely worrying (such as problems with coolant flow around the battery).
Another thing putting me off the EV6 a bit at the moment is that you used to be able to spec the car with a heat pump, it seems that option is no longer available on the configurator - presumably ahead of the launch of the full blown GT version (which will have a heat pump as standard), but that is going to be a bit too full fat for my wallet.
I expect to buy an EV sometime in the next year or so and being a bit of a forward planner () , I installed a charging box three weeks ago. I decided on a Wallbox (which is one EDF is pushing) but installed by a local Sparks. That means I don’t get the Government grant but in total it was still slightly less expensive than EDF and I have the support of my local bloke.
I used it a couple of times with the hybrid we have and no problems but last week the box started indicating a problem. I called my Sparks and he came and checked it out, all of his work was spot on. We called Wallbox and their local representative visited me the next working day, excellent guy, and said the box was faulty and needed to be replaced. So far, so good.
Today I received an email (below) that shows a total lack of urgency by the vendor. Suppose I had installed the box, traded in my ICE for an EV and was now dependent on my EV. I’d be up the swannee.
Yes, their engineer explained that the process would be that they’d send me s new box and then dispatch someone to install it. So far no sound. What if I was using an EV to commute a fair distance? I’d be stuck.
Small news is that I’ve (surprisingly) taken delivery of my xc60 hybrid. All good but slightly perplexing is the many and diverse networks of charging points. So far I’ve a total card and a kiwhipass and it seems I can use my vinci péage badge. Each with an app…actually no kiwhipass only has a website🙄. So far mostly I charge at home as the thought of sitting on the forecourt of a total garage for a few hours does not sound very appealing. As expected hotels are getting in on the act too - fair enough most recently they wanted 6€ for a charge when I know that with EDF my cost is around 2€. Suffice to say I didn’t bother. Anyway learning by doing…
At least it is a hybrid, but it is not encouraging.
I heard on the BBC that it is almost impossible to buy a new EV in the UK and sales of second hand ones have gone through the roof.
One of the mechanics at the Mercedes garage in Macon has just re-iterated what we already knew, ie. our 2003 220 Break and the model after that were the last of the really reliable models Mercedes made. Since then the bodywork is much thinner and they have trouble with all the fancy electrics.
Good news for both of us Stella.
Yes - getting to know the charging points certainly is a learning curve! Actually we never bother with rapid charging - that’s the beauty of a plug-in hybrid (given the current infrastructure).
Most of our local journeys (shops, restaurants, ferrying the kids around, etc) we can do all-electric with home charging; days out we only bother to charge if we’re stopping for lunch or something - and it’s brilliant around here (Brittany) because most places either have free parking for paid charging or free charging in paid car parks - either way you always drive straight into a free space.
Not only are you powering your car somewhere between a third and a sixth of the cost of fossil fuel, you are saving time and money parking as well! (Although this benefit may, of course, decline if demand for charging points rises faster than installations - as it probably will.)
I don’t know about RHDs but can buy EVs (and ICEs) here, but not necessarily with the options you want due to chip shortages. I was given a three month lead time for an MB EQA but if I wanted memory seats it would be 2023 because the tiny chip that needed was u available. The BMW i4 has a seven to ten month lead time. Teslas a bit quicker (no pun intended). I’m going to try out an IONIQ 5 too, but no idea of delivery. Given where we are in the year I’d wait for a ‘23 car anyway.
Personally I think the last bulletproof Mercs were the W124 based ones. I had a E class company car in South Africa in the mid nineties that took us all over SA, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia without missing a beat. Places that would make a modern SUV blanch. I replaced it with a new CLK in 1998 but dumped that quickly for R129 SL (W124 based) which I kept for the next fifteen or sixteen years. I sometimes regret having sold it but it’s handling was of another era.
I think it all went wrong for MB when they acquired Chrysler. I guess they thought they could bring quality to the quite innovative US brand, but in fact the opposite happened. Though FIAT and Chrysler seem to be jogging along happily together now.
You can still charge slower at home from a std lead, not ideal but sufficient to cover some of the distance to a faster public charger. I would of course pass the cost back to the units suppliers.
Hmm, you cant buy a car because of a chip shortage not just an EV. The price of 2nd hand EV’s has always been high right from the begining. They retain their value much better. BBC talking rubbish.
I suspect it is a bit too soon to really judge whether EVs ingeneral depreciate slower or faster than equivalent petrol vehicles.
For starters most are in upmarket segments where cares often depreciate more slowly anyway
For another most of the models are very new (with a few notable exceptions), so there aren’t many in the 2nd hand market.
The new market is also very restricted at the moment - as stated availability of new models is limited (both ICE and EV) which is having a knock-on effect on used prices.
It’s just not a great time to be buying a car at present.
PS: also, if @corona is right and exciting technologies are just round the corner which will bring lighter, faster charging, higher capacity and more long lived batteries the price of the current crop of EVs could drop like a stone.
That’s a worry, but how long should one hold on? I’ll be seventy next year so probably haven’t got that many new cars ahead of me (though I’ve been justifying purchases on that basis for a decade now).
I honestly don’t know. I’d like a “nice” car before I retire and in an ideal world would get 20 years out of it (my current car is 16 years old of which 15 have been in my hands), but I’m not sure I can guarantee that out of an EV even with my relatively low mileage these days, and I probably only have room for one properly nice car in the budget.
Yes. But when one gets to the stage of loosing friends and thinking “old Bert would have loved one of those” or “Fred always fancied a XXXX” logic and common sense tends to give way to a cape diem feeling. As usual, timing is everything, the trick is to run out of money just after you’ve gone (all loved ones having been provided for of course).
My dad (he’s still around but we don’t talk much - families eh?) used to say - “you come into the world with nothing, if you can leave owning a few bob you’re up on the deal”.
I just dont see that happening for a good few years as the latest versions are some way off the mass production. There will be batteries available for older models for a good while. Old nissan leaf’s batteries are being changed and get a better battery than the earlier versions and still holding their value.
) , I installed a charging box three weeks ago. I decided on a Wallbox (which is one EDF is pushing) but installed by a local Sparks. That means I don’t get the Government grant but in total it was still slightly less expensive than EDF and I have the support of my local bloke.
As usual, timing is everything, the trick is to run out of money just after you’ve gone (all loved ones having been provided for of course).
