The starship enterprise

 

Seriously though I wouldn't it fulfills the kitchen appliance role perfectly,next car for me when funds permit/children go away is

A circa 1988 e34 with the old "senior six" fitted just to keep the range rover company.

Oh and a Citroen DS................

On 04/07/2018 at 19:19, donny1972 said:

Wouldn't have a land rover or range rover near me lol 

Needs to be qualified

You do of course mean anything after about 1998........

On 03/07/2018 at 12:37, donny1972 said:

As the owner of an Octavia 3 vrs tdi I have been pretty happy with this car and having owned it for nearly 2 years had very little trouble apart from a sticky clutch pedal now and then. However I am thinking of changing but just cant decide and to be honest nothing is really jumping out at me. So i would like to ask the owners on here what would you go for  if you were thinking of changing your car? My budget is £16k max. 

What's the car used for? Daily you can't go wrong with what you have now if you've had no issues.

 

16k there's a lot of cars around for that money. If like me the car is hardly used, first gen rs3. V10 m5. Rs6 etc etc.

 

But for daily can't go wrong with the octy. I love my 245. Ticks all the boxes and my first new car so love the connectivity and comfort. 

I really fancy a saloon rs3 in the coming years but very happy with the 245.

I've had 3 Octavia's (and two Fabia vRS's) some private, some company cars. I'm looking at the Kia Optima Sportwagon PHEV. Makes sense as a company car due to the low emissions and thus cheaper to run than Octavia 2.0TDi I have now. The spec list is huge and Skoda don't even make a hybrid, never mind a PHEV.I know the Superb is coming but it is too late, and it is too big for my hiking trips to the Lake District.  Plus it is time for a change from Skoda. For a private car I'd adore a Dodge Challenger.

8 minutes ago, HotVRs said:

I've had 3 Octavia's (and two Fabia vRS's) some private, some company cars. I'm looking at the Kia Optima Sportwagon PHEV. Makes sense as a company car due to the low emissions and thus cheaper to run than Octavia 2.0TDi I have now. The spec list is huge and Skoda don't even make a hybrid, never mind a PHEV.I know the Superb is coming but it is too late, and it is too big for my hiking trips to the Lake District.  Plus it is time for a change from Skoda. For a private car I'd adore a Dodge Challenger.

MD of a large company runs a BMW 7 series as a weekend toy but was telling me the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV SUV he uses as a company car makes perfect sense for him because he pays very little company car tax per month even though in the real world he struggles to get 40mpg from it. Mitsubishi claim it averages over 150MPH. Laughs hysterically!!!!!!!!!!

Edited 10 July, 20187 yr by shyVRS245
Sorry should have said 150MPG!

6 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

MD of a large company runs a BMW 7 series as a weekend toy but was telling me the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV SUV he uses as a company car makes perfect sense for him because he pays very little company car tax per month even though in the real world he struggles to get 40mpg from it. Mitsubishi claim it averages over 150MPH. Laughs hysterically!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm assuming he doesn't plug it in? Otherwise he's get some miles just from the electricity. I don't know what the Mitsubishi PHEV does but most PHEV's now can do at least 30 miles without ever starting the engine (assuming non motorway) if you plug it in. None of them do the figures quoted, but on the European cycle, and using the plug-in capability they get crazy MPG figures, like 170+. The end result being about £100 a month more in the pocket of a company car driver than with a 2.0 TDi. The rules are absurd but we just have to work out our way of benefiting from them.

Edited 10 July, 20187 yr by HotVRs

16 minutes ago, HotVRs said:

 

I'm assuming he doesn't plug it in? Otherwise he's get some miles just from the electricity. I don't know what the Mitsubishi PHEV does but most PHEV's now can do at least 30 miles without ever starting the engine (assuming non motorway) if you plug it in. None of them do the figures quoted, but on the European cycle, and using the plug-in capability they get crazy MPG figures, like 170+. The end result being about £100 a month more in the pocket of a company car driver than with a 2.0 TDi. The rules are absurd but we just have to work out our way of benefiting from them.

Told me he CBA to plug it in at home and pay for the electric out of his own pocket and no provision at work to plug it in either, so always running the combustion engine. His BMW has the 4.4litre petrol V8 as he wants to save the planet!

I had an Outlander PHEV before the vRS TDI, I agree with the MPG, 30 to 40 depending on how you drive it, best electric range was about 26 miles, air con / heating / motorway speeds you’ll be lucky to get 16 miles electric.

 

There is no incentive for those who have company fuel to plug them in. I was in that situation but plugged in at work for the environmental and cost to the company but most because I enjoyed the silent travel. The fuel tank is tiny too so lots of visits to petrol stations. Boot is tiny compared to the Combi but it’s really easy to drive.

 

Although they’re really nice and aside from the slight issue of price, I don’t know if I could stand the faff of charging a Tesla as I do 20k miles a year and some longer 200 mile trips. Great for normal running and if you have time. I’m not so sure for work. Locating and loitering around superchargers is a bit of a time waster.

 

I’ve got a hankering for a Passat GTE estate but they’re a bit rare and still too expensive but seem a better compromise.

Golf GTE drivetrain seems good. Around 110 MPG on a run. Standard equipment and bootspace is bad though...

11 minutes ago, mumphie said:

Golf GTE drivetrain seems good. Around 110 MPG on a run. Standard equipment and bootspace is bad though...

 

110MPG is pure fantasy though. MPG isn't a useful measurement with hybrids because it completely ignores the electricity consumed. 

32 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

110MPG is pure fantasy though. MPG isn't a useful measurement with hybrids because it completely ignores the electricity consumed. 

 

Uh, you can infer how far you can drive on a tank of fuel from it... Regardless of whether you're running on petrol or electricity, the combination of the drivetrain allows that level of fuel economy, therefore giving you a theoretical range....

2 hours ago, ahenners said:

 

110MPG is pure fantasy though. MPG isn't a useful measurement with hybrids because it completely ignores the electricity consumed. 

 

1 hour ago, mumphie said:

 

Uh, you can infer how far you can drive on a tank of fuel from it... Regardless of whether you're running on petrol or electricity, the combination of the drivetrain allows that level of fuel economy, therefore giving you a theoretical range....

 

We have 3 x Golf GTE's and 2 x Passat GTE's at work. They get plugged into regular 13 amp outdoor sockets at work or at colleague's homes and charge in 3-4 hours. 

 

Based on fuel alone, they frequently display 100+ mpg figures, but are very vulnerable to varying driving styles and types. 30 miles on electric only is indicated with a full charge - in practice I don't think any have ever done more than about 22, even when trying.

 

The oldest, a 66 plate Golf, has 75,000 miles on it. A Nov 2017/67 plate Passat has 45k up already, no faults to report on either to be fair.

 

BIK/company car tax is very low on these.

 

The only big downside is 10k mile service intervals - they can't be changed to variable either, according to VW  

 

Oh, and the near 9 month wait for one...

I think it is fair to claim over a 100 mpg for PHEV if the daily driving profile is close to the distances involved in official tests. Especially if the vehicle has access to domestic and business charging facilities. Of course charging the company vehicle at home is at the driver's cost.

The 5 vehicles are business owned and naturally the business would be happy to charge at work which may not be the case if an excessive number of employees with privately owned EV/PHEV vehicles requested access to the firm's electricity.

Longer journeys in the PHEV's would not be so complimentary.

It would be interesting to know the overall consumption of the 45k Passat?

Edited 10 July, 20187 yr by Gerrycan

9 hours ago, mumphie said:

 

Uh, you can infer how far you can drive on a tank of fuel from it... Regardless of whether you're running on petrol or electricity, the combination of the drivetrain allows that level of fuel economy, therefore giving you a theoretical range....

 

Well, yes. But it's an overly simplistic view, it's a figure achievable only through using more of an alternative "fuel", the consumption of which is often ignored or not stated.

 

I only ever see people talking about MPG figures on hybrids, when in reality you need the kWh figures too in order to get the full picture.

 

I once achieved over 70mpg for a journey in my petrol VRS. True story, I genuinely did. The bit I'm failing to mention is that I drove the first 2 miles on petrol and for the remaining 8 I got towed by the AA. But hey it did 70mpg right?!

Edited 11 July, 20187 yr by ahenners

1.5 tsfi dsg octavia :-)

The Superb is supposed to be coming out in 2019 with the Passat GTE drivetrain but a bigger battery, this would be ideal for myself as a great mix of load luggability and a bit more electric range for my normal commute. 

 

Just the issue of cost I suppose, though one does wonder about the long term reliability / risk and cost of repairs in the long run. PCH / PCP I suppose?

22 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

Longer journeys in the PHEV's would not be so complimentary.

It would be interesting to know the overall consumption of the 45k Passat?

 

You're right. It does a 180 mile commute every week day, a mix of about 40% dual carriage/motor way and about 60% single carriageway A road.

 

Early morning is obviously pretty clear and *ahem*, 'reasonably quick'...the journey home is late afternoon and pretty slow, lots of overtaking, slowing down then speeding up etc.

 

Showing 42mpg overall...probably worse than a diesel, but less than half the company car tax - go figure!

Edited 11 July, 20187 yr by pist0nbr0ke

15 hours ago, ahenners said:

 

Well, yes. But it's an overly simplistic view, it's a figure achievable only through using more of an alternative "fuel", the consumption of which is often ignored or not stated.

 

I only ever see people talking about MPG figures on hybrids, when in reality you need the kWh figures too in order to get the full picture.

 

I once achieved over 70mpg for a journey in my petrol VRS. True story, I genuinely did. The bit I'm failing to mention is that I drove the first 2 miles on petrol and for the remaining 8 I got towed by the AA. But hey it did 70mpg right?!

 

The Golf GTE I'm talking about has never been plugged in - it's only ever charged the batteries from the engine, so in this particular case, I would say it's fairly valid and as accurate as VW's onboard avg fuel economy readout is.

33 minutes ago, mumphie said:

 

The Golf GTE I'm talking about has never been plugged in - it's only ever charged the batteries from the engine, so in this particular case, I would say it's fairly valid and as accurate as VW's onboard avg fuel economy readout is.

 

In that case then MPG is a true MPG. What's the mpg figure like then without any mains electric charge assistance? It can't be anywhere near the 110 MPG you claimed on a run? That's practically double what a standard Golf petrol could obtain with less weight.

Edited 11 July, 20187 yr by ahenners

11 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

In that case then MPG is a true MPG. What's the mpg figure like then without any mains electric charge assistance? It can't be anywhere near the 110 MPG you claimed on a run? That's practically double what a standard Golf petrol could obtain with less weight.

 

It's my sister's car, so I haven't had a drive yet - although I played with the digital dash (overrated).

 

It's just got the standard 1.4TSI in it, so would expect high 40s to mid 50s? Don't even think it's the ACT which would've been a really nice combo.

 

Take-off from stationary is impressive!