Anyone done a 360 in terms of cars (Nissan Leaf to VRS 220)

[Rockdirt]

I just have, the wife use the term ‘****’ when I told her...Nissan Leaf just went back last week, collect a 15 plate Octavia VRS this weekend...I realise my running costs are about to go north quickly, but I just fell in love with the car when Test drove it

 

I shall have to hide the MPG 

 

oh oh and new here so Hi 

[wyx087]

Why would you do that!

 

The Leaf, though not as sporty or nice looking, drives MUCH better than my Octavia. It doesn't hang about, no waiting for power to come, instant electric torque. Corners well also, thanks to low centre of gravity.

 

EV's total cost of ownership is also astonishingly low.

 

Only reason for Octavia (or any fossil fuel car) would be if you regularly drive ultra long distances. The Hyundai Kona EV can do 300 miles on one charge, so you'd have to drive over 250 miles every single day for fossil fuel to make sense.

[StevesTruck]

Depends, one of our vans does that few miles that replacing it with an EV didn't make sense, as the additional cost of the vehicle outweighed the amount of diesel we'd have to put in the existing one 

[Rockdirt]

2 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

Why would you do that!

 

The Leaf, though not as sporty or nice looking, drives MUCH better than my Octavia. It doesn't hang about, no waiting for power to come, instant electric torque. Corners well also, thanks to low centre of gravity.

 

EV's total cost of ownership is also astonishingly low.

 

Only reason for Octavia (or any fossil fuel car) would be if you regularly drive ultra long distances. The Hyundai Kona EV can do 300 miles on one charge, so you'd have to drive over 250 miles every single day for fossil fuel to make sense.

 

I fully accept it was not a sensible decision, and we did think about paying the GFV on the Leaf but I guess I got my head turn (bit like leaving your wife for the 20 year old) 

 

will keep it for 2 years then might go to a Kona (currently 9 month waiting list btw) and small inside

[zeddicus]

Well I have done a kinda 360, not a car I own but a future lease!

 

I was going to get the cheap 1.0Tsi Skoda Octavia SE Tech lease (I think you commented on my other thread, @Rockdirt, welcome BTW!) but changed my mind and have instead switched to a 245bhp Golf GTi Performance! Double the displacement and more than double the BHP, albeit not quite half the acceleration! 

 

Does that count?! 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

Only reason for Octavia (or any fossil fuel car) would be if you regularly drive ultra long distances.

 

Senario: I have two cars 1: an electric car which is nearing empty and it's now on recharge. and 2: an Octavia Vrs which has less than a gallon of fuel left.

 

I get a phone that I need to be somewhere fast (could be work related, could be relative in hospital, whatever).  Which car do I use?

 

There are many benefits to EV, but to say the only reason you need an ICE is if you drive ultra long distances is ignorant.  If anyone has an EV, then until the day comes along when it can be recharged in an instant  (replacement batteries could be one solution) then you have to accept there are times when the car is unavailable - even for short journeys.

 

The Octavia? Well I can call in to a petrol station en-route, or if there is none, use fuel from the emergency petrol canister I have stored in my garage.

 

Edited 25 January, 2019 by Guest

[wyx087]

10 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

Senario: I have two cars 1: an electric car which is nearing empty and it's now on recharge. and 2: an Octavia Vrs which has less than a gallon of fuel left.

 

I get a phone that I need to be somewhere fast (could be work related, could be relative in hospital, whatever).  Which car do I use?

 

There are many benefits to EV, but to say the only reason you need an ICE is if you drive ultra long distances is ignorant.  If anyone has an EV, then until the day comes along when it can be recharged in an instant  (replacement batteries could be one solution) then you have to accept there are times when the car is unavailable - even for short journeys.

 

The Octavia? Well I can call in to a petrol station en-route, or if there is none, use fuel from the emergency petrol canister I have stored in my garage.

 

I was in that scenario ~May 2018 (IIRC). It was end of Friday, the small battery Leaf had 20% battery after my commute, only good for <20 miles. I received a message and I needed to go 40 miles round trip. Octavia had more than enough fuel for this (I never let it run too low), the EV obviously doesn't. Guess which car I took.

 

I took the EV, because I can recharge rapidly (pun intended, rapid charger, get it? :p ). I arrived 10min later due to needing to recharge, not much difference if I needed to buy fossil fuel.

 

Not trying to understand new technologies and insist in your old ways is ignorant. But the tech isn't new at all, the EV was first released in 2011, many rapid chargers were installed all over the place by 2013.

 

 

Biggest benefit is EV can be recharged at home. So range anxiety is non existence for us. The car always has a full charge in the morning, rarely need to visit public chargers. Unlike the Octavia where I still need to keep an eye on the fuel gauge and spend time standing around waiting for the car to refuel.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

 

Guess which car I took.

 

I took the EV, because I can recharge rapidly (pun intended, rapid charger, get it? :p ). I arrived 10min later due to needing to recharge, not much difference if I needed to buy fossil fuel.

 

Not trying to understand new technologies and insist in your old ways is ignorant. But the tech isn't new at all, the EV was first released in 2011, many rapid chargers were installed all over the place by 2013.

 

 

Biggest benefit is EV can be recharged at home. So range anxiety is non existence for us. The car always has a full charge in the morning, rarely need to visit public chargers. Unlike the Octavia where I still need to keep an eye on the fuel gauge and spend time standing around waiting for the car to refuel.

 

You're defending the indefensible.

 

If your EV is almost empty and you get phone call that your kid has been in an accident and has been taken to hospital...   I'm not sure waiting on a rapid charger would be welcomed. Even if you were to wait until you had enough juice to get you there, you better hope their EV bay isn't in use, or indeed hasn;t broken down  - where are you going to plug in your rapid charger?

 

As per above, there are advantages and disadvantages to everything in life, but to suggest that ICE benefits only those who cover ultra long distances is nonsense.  If you have an EV, you must accept there are times when your car cannot be used. 

 

 

[Wet Kipper]

A 360 takes you all the way round to the direction you were heading in originally.

Do you mean a 180 which now points you in the opposite direction ?

[skomaz]

I've kind-of done a 180...   My daily driver has gone from a 2.2 diesel Honda Civic Sport to a 1.0 petrol Suzuki Swift Hybrid.   Totally happy with the Swift and a far better car (IMHO) that the Civic (but then the latter was quite old)...

[skomaz]

2 hours ago, Scot5 said:

 

Senario: I have two cars 1: an electric car which is nearing empty and it's now on recharge. and 2: an Octavia Vrs which has less than a gallon of fuel left.

 

I get a phone that I need to be somewhere fast (could be work related, could be relative in hospital, whatever).  Which car do I use?

 

 

Scenario 1 is why we are keeping our Octy 4x4 for as long as possible - my daughter has health issues that can sometimes (often) mean an immediate response is needed in all weather conditions...

[Rockdirt]

2 hours ago, Wet Kipper said:

A 360 takes you all the way round to the direction you were heading in originally.

Do you mean a 180 which now points you in the opposite direction ?

 

Well that is not embarrassing at all  esp as last night I spent an hour going through a practice maths sats paper with my 10 year old. 

[ahenners]

5 hours ago, Wet Kipper said:

A 360 takes you all the way round to the direction you were heading in originally.

Do you mean a 180 which now points you in the opposite direction ?

 

Glad it wasn't just me thinking the same 

[ChoonDoode]

Until they're able to develop a charging solution which doesn't take a long time, the only electric powered vehicle to make any sense is a hybrid. The eco of having the electric to do the stop start traffic situations, but the ease of switching to a petrol or diesel engine when needed. 

 

An electric car would make sense for a person who was able to, for example, drive to work, charge it whilst on shift and then again once they're home. However, as I've seen working around the country and has been pointed out above, there just isn't the availability to charge electric cars. Even in places, such as London, the amount of charging points is limited compared to the amount of petrol stations. It does make a mockery of them promoting ULEZ's and us using greener cars.

 

Another reason a lot of people wouldn't choose an electric car is their poor range. The Nissan Leaf claims a combined range of 168 miles. My bike with only a 20 litre tank, can easily get over 200 miles of range. So if I needed to go to London in an electric car, I'd be forced to stop half way down the M40. If there's a proper charger at a service station, you'd potentially be on your way in around an hour, but if you're forced to use a standard mains plug, you're not continuing for hours. A journey which would usually take 4 odd hours, would end up taking potentially 7 hours.

[vRS-Mati]

19 hours ago, Wet Kipper said:

A 360 takes you all the way round to the direction you were heading in originally.

Do you mean a 180 which now points you in the opposite direction ?

 

But maybe going from a petrol originally then to the EV and back again class?  

[Gaz]

Oh I do so like threads like this.

 

A Leaf was a very strong contender when I last changed cars.   I wanted to not like it, but found it a very impressive bit of kit.  But I still ended up buying the vRS all the same.

 

When my Wife last changed her car, she test drove an Auris hybrid.  Again, an impressive car, and I found myself thinking 'I could have one of these'.  Given MrsV6TDI's home to work is 1.2 miles the Auris, or a Leaf, were sensible options.  She bought a Polo 1.8 GTI Turbo, and loves it.

 

Horses for courses, and at least we considered our options, but are both very happy with our respective choices.

 

Happy vRS'ing

 

Gaz 

[Gizmo]

38 minutes ago, V6TDI said:

Oh I do so like threads like this.

 

A Leaf was a very strong contender when I last changed cars.   I wanted to not like it, but found it a very impressive bit of kit.  

 

Likewise, we test drove the Hyundai Ioniq and the new Leaf for SWMBO’s Yeti replacement.

 

We eventually went for the Leaf and 6 months later the Mrs loves it so much she said she wouldn’t have a non EV ever again.

 

It’s not perfect, no car is but with a realistic 100+ mile range in the winter (150 miles in the summer) driving it like a diesel car (she is not an economical driver and likes the car nice and warm... so it is also pre-heated before every journey, so she gets into a warm car, and uses the heated seat and steering wheel most of the time) it is more than ample for all of her journeys.

 

I know when I change my car the VW ID will be looked at very seriously (ID. is a highly automated electric car that will cover a distance of 400 to 600 kilometres on a single battery charge. The production version of the ID. is due to be launched in 2020 at a price on a par with comparably powerful and well-equipped Golf.... = 250 - 370 miles and £19 - £25K)

[ExSEAT]

On 25/01/2019 at 10:17, wyx087 said:

 

EV's total cost of ownership is also astonishingly low.

 

Only reason for Octavia (or any fossil fuel car) would be if you regularly drive ultra long distances. The Hyundai Kona EV can do 300 miles on one charge, so you'd have to drive over 250 miles every single day for fossil fuel to make sense.

Can you elaborate on these for a non educated non EV owner?

 

Im seeing articles about huge depreciation and honest john has a comparison for similar cars which shows break even points. For some cars the break even is around 90,000 miles for having the EV. A lot less if you need to drive into london everyday of course. 

 

I only do 6-7k a year, I dont think it would work for me. My 'fossil' fuel car just completed 315 miles on a full tank with a claimed 75 mile range remaining. No stopping for 315 miles to plug it in (I only know of 2 chargers in my town) or coming home from work worrying about having the heater on and then plugging it in outside in the rain! Oh and the leaf more than likely runs on fossil fuel anyway, just not as directly as ICE cars 

[Gizmo]

21 minutes ago, ExSEAT said:

Can you elaborate on these for a non educated non EV owner?

 

Im seeing articles about huge depreciation and honest john has a comparison for similar cars which shows break even points. For some cars the break even is around 90,000 miles for having the EV. A lot less if you need to drive into london everyday of course. 

 

Used EV’s are supposedly holding their value better than ICE cars (according to owners... I haven’t personally checked this)

‘Fuel’ costs will be at least half of an economical petrol or diesel, no RFL, almost no servicing costs (unless you take it to the dealer who will charge you £150 for a screen wash top up, visual check and 12 months breakdown cover)

 

22 minutes ago, ExSEAT said:

I only do 6-7k a year, I dont think it would work for me. My 'fossil' fuel car just completed 315 miles on a full tank with a claimed 75 mile range remaining. No stopping for 315 miles to plug it in (I only know of 2 chargers in my town) or coming home from work worrying about having the heater on and then plugging it in outside in the rain! Oh and the leaf more than likely runs on fossil fuel anyway, just not as directly as ICE cars 

 

You get a home charger fitted for free or nearly free (government grant) providing you have off road parking and charge from home, so you can basically start every journey from home with a full battery.

Charging in the rain isn’t an issue  (with a home charger)

Electric produced by fossil fuel in the UK is next to nothing, have you never heard of solar power or wind turbines?

 

I do love it when people who know nothing at all about EV’s quote the fossil fuel or poor charging infrastructure argument.

 

If you genuinely know nothing then do a bit of research, @ 135 miles per week you are an ideal candidate for an EV (providing you can park off road or have a local charger)

[ExSEAT]

1 minute ago, Gizmo said:

 

Used EV’s are supposedly holding their value better than ICE cars (according to owners... I haven’t personally checked this)

‘Fuel’ costs will be at least half of an economical petrol or diesel, no RFL, almost no servicing costs (unless you take it to the dealer who will charge you £150 for a screen wash top up, visual check and 12 months breakdown cover)

 

 

You get a home charger fitted for free or nearly free (government grant) providing you have off road parking and charge from home, so you can basically start every journey from home with a full battery.

Charging in the rain isn’t an issue  (with a home charger)

Electric produced by fossil fuel in the UK is next to nothing, have you never heard of solar power or wind turbines?

 

I do love it when people who know nothing at all about EV’s quote the fossil fuel or poor charging infrastructure argument.

 

If you genuinely know nothing then do a bit of research, @ 135 miles per week you are an ideal candidate for an EV (providing you can park off road or have a local charger)

 

If you had read what I asked instead of going straight to patronising mode you would have seen that the opening part of the post was openly accepting I dont know enough about EVs and would like to know more.

 

Amateur google research shows the leaf as one of the fastest depreciating cars. Autotrader shows 2016 leafs for sale ranging from 11,500 all the way up to 17k, for a reason I dont understand. I see that starting prices can be upwards of £30k. Which is 7k more than the price of my car before extras. As servicing is included with my car, and tax is circa 200 a year I still have 6,500 left for fuel. How does that make any sense? My last VRS lost around 8k in three years. Im open to where the savings will come from, genuinely.

 

The cost isnt really the main issue, I dont drive every day. I wouldnt want to drive a car that is a huge compromise when i do. Thats before we start on looks, performance and convenience.

 

Uk power generation hovered around 50/50 fossil vs low carbon. How do you avoid that dirty electricity? 

 

[Jaco2k]

Oddly, my friend that has Leaf is really doing a 360 - he started out with a Kia Soul (fully electric), then got a Nissan Leaf (which he currently has and doesn't much like) and he is going back to the Kia Soul

[Ootohere]

@Jaco2k

Is he getting one of the new ones when available with a decent range?

The e-Niro looks like it will do the business, but it is over a month yet before the order books open in the UK, then supposedly only 1,000 to the UK in 2019.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/461751-2019-kia-e-niro-review-what-car-video

 

[Jaco2k]

He is from Norway, so I guess their market is quite different

[Ootohere]

Could well be. 

I tried the current Soul EV before looking to buy an Ex Demonstrator and could not get 80 miles out of it.

 

 

[Jaco2k]

Yeah, he said he is getting the next gen one.