Leaving Soon

[peterhardy]

Well, I'm going to be leaving team Skoda soon.  I'm expecting my new car on 1st March.

 

I've got my order in for a new DS3 Crossback E-Tense, the electric version of this model.  I had a test drive last week and thought it was an extremely comfortable, relaxed and quiet drive.  A bit slower than the vRS though with 8.9 seconds 0-62 and a top speed of 93mph ☹️.  To be honest, the main appeal is saving money.  I do loads of short runs and overall have averaged 31mpg at an average of 17p per mile.  The DS3 should work out somewhere around 3.5p to 4p per mile so I will be saving a fortune 😀.

 

It's proving difficult to find a true dual tariff contract that's not a rip off.  I'm with EDF now who do an electric car drivers tariff.  I've costed it out using the last full year's consumption and adding 10k miles per annum on with the electric car.  A good saving?  Not likely!!  It worked out at £28 MORE than my current single rate tariff!  Why?  Because the daily standing charges are both higher, gas is dearer and the electricity peak rate is a chunk more expensive too.  I'm gonna have to widen the net considerably to try to find something better.

 

Some of you may remember my promise when I joined the forum that I would never buy another Skoda after the experience I had with their customer service department.  I've kept my word.  Even if Skoda had a comparable offering, I wouldn't have considered it.  I'm a firm believer that the only way manufacturers will ever change is if their order books get hit.  I appreciate that one customer is neither here nor there but you can only do what you can do.

 

I wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.  I've had some good banter on here and firmly believe that this is probably the best forum I've ever been a part of.

 

Ho, ho, ho!  Peter. 🎅

 

Edited 17 December, 2019 by john999boy
Non Freedom part removed.

[shyVRS245]

Merry Xmas to you Peter and your family sorry you are leaving us and enjoy your new milk float in March 2020.

[SC03OTT]

£30k is a lot of money to spend to save money...

 

...I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. 

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, peterhardy said:

I'm a firm believer that the only way manufacturers will ever change is if their order books get hit.  I appreciate that one customer is neither here nor there but you can only do what you can do.

 

 

I couldn't agree with you more and admire you for it. Vote with your feet.

 

Regarding tariffs - I've always found that whenever someone tries to sell a product that targets a specific audience it usually means they're jumping on the 'ignorance' bandwagon and charging a premium. Companies are making a fortune out of folk thinking they're being eco friendly and saving the planet with 'green' tafiffs when all they're doing is lining the pockets of some Arthur Daley type character.

 

I know very little about Citroen, they've never appealed to me personally, but I was given an almost brand new C3 by a hire company earlier this year. Never seen a DS but if that C3 was anything to go by, they couldn't pay me to own one of those. I ended up with the impression Citroen tried too hard to re-invent the wheel with even the most basic of functions - the designers seemed to be awkward for the sake of being awkward. And then there was the road holding...

 

I can't imagine what it'll be like going from a Vrs to a Citroen? Hope you've put sea-sickness pills on your Santa list. 

 

 

 

 

Edited 17 December, 2019 by Guest

[peterhardy]

9 hours ago, Scot5 said:

Regarding tariffs - I've always found that whenever someone tries to sell a product that targets a specific audience it usually means they're jumping on the 'ignorance' bandwagon and charging a premium. Companies are making a fortune out of folk thinking they're being eco friendly and saving the planet with 'green' tafiffs when all they're doing is lining the pockets of some Arthur Daley type character.

 

You're 100% right!  I'm locked in with EDF until July, unless I want to pay £70 to leave 😮.  Hopefully there will be something better to be found once we get further into 2020 🤞.

 

9 hours ago, Scot5 said:

Never seen a DS but if that C3 was anything to go by, they couldn't pay me to own one of those. I ended up with the impression Citroen tried too hard to re-invent the wheel with even the most basic of functions - the designers seemed to be awkward for the sake of being awkward. And then there was the road holding...

 

The styling is definitely out there but I like it.  The interior is very plush with lots of good

tech.  I'm looking forward to trying something different too.  Road holding wise, the Crossback is a mini SUV so an entirely different animal with an extra 300kg of battery to cope with too.   The suspension has been reworked to handle this and the car rides well, holds the road well but is definitely no vRS 🙂.  With most of my mileage now being around town (still around 10k/year) I'm not getting the benefits from the vRS but am getting the downside, i.e. 25mpg in this winter weather ☹️.

 

9 hours ago, Scot5 said:

Hope you've put sea-sickness pills on your Santa list.

 

Good tip, I'll do that now 😂.

[themanwithnoaim]

Ffs don't ever even think about keeping a Citroen outta warranty & don't expect that bristling tech to work for the entire warranty period.

[MarkyG82]

My dad had a C8 with the fancy sliding doors.  All electric, no way of sliding them shut manually.  After someone hit the side of him the car was a writeoff due to the door rails being misaligned.  Apparently they were set in the factory and no workshop would touch it.  looked fine from the outside bar a little dent.  impact was circa 5mph.

[J.R.]

My new (to me) Skoda Yeti was a write off from a front end impact that had deployed all the 3 front airbags and ruptured the dashboard in doing so.

 

Cost me £800 in total to repair it properly, no bodges and i now have a half price vehicle, 1/4 price compared to what it would be in France.

 

The only visible damage was broken slats in the plastic radiator grille and a very slight scuff/scratch mark on the front bumper that I have reused, even the sacrificial polystyrene impact absorber between the plastic bumper and the inner bumper iron was re-useable.

 

The hidden damage was a very minor compression to one of the longerons to the bumper iron which is actually the first sacrificial replaceable crumple zone before the main chassis member, where the bumper iron had moved back initially it had perforated the aircon condensor.

 

Normally I would have straightened the hidden bumper iron but given it was a crumple zone and only £60 to replace I did so, the aircon evaporator cost another £60, as much as the tiny plastic inner radiator grille 🙁

 

As soon as an airbag is deployed then its an uneconomic repair as far as the assessors are concerned, there must be hundreds of serviceable vehicles written off every year most of which will find their way back onto the roads again thanks to the efforts of the Polish and other Eastern European small businesses that break scrapped vehicles that mainly come from the Uk in the first place (mine was destined for there) and recondition things like the airbags, seat belt tensioners, dashboards etc that are then sent back to their compatriots running small businesses in the UK.

[shyVRS245]

1 hour ago, themanwithnoaim said:

Ffs don't ever even think about keeping a Citroen outta warranty & don't expect that bristling tech to work for the entire warranty period.

As the former owner of 4 Citreons there is some truth in this statement.

[silver1011]

Peugeot and Citroen are connected via the PSA Group.

 

I've little experience of Citroen other than a Cactus hire car recently, but if the J.D. Power surveys are to be trusted then the days of laughing at Peugeot's reliability is almost as redundant as those who used to laugh at Skoda.

 

Quite why the gap between Peugeot and Citroen is so high is anyone's guess though...

https://europe.jdpower.com/press-releases/2019-uk-vehicle-dependability-study

[silver1011]

18 hours ago, peterhardy said:

I've got my order in for a new DS3 Crossback E-Tense, the electric version of this model.

 

Had to Google image that one, quite a few DS models coming out at the moment, its hard to keep up!

 

 

[wyx087]

Nice one! Good choice switching to EV. The style is....... interesting. But it's certainly a lot better than my frog-eyed EV. 

 

I'm with Bulb on Economy 7. I get 7.6p/kWh during E7 and 14.6p/kWh other times. Standing charge is slightly higher but overall they are one of cheapest when I do comparison.  PM me for a Bulb referral link, you and I both get £50 credit. 

 

If you estimate 4 miles/kWh, so 10k a year will add about 2500 kWh to your electricity bill. But this addition is at off-peak rates. Plus you can also move dishwaser and laundry to the offpeak, every little helps. 

For example. I've got solar panels on my roof. My EV drives 10k a year. I use 3000 kWh night time and 1200 kWh day time for economy 7 comparisons. 

 

Overall, at 8p/kWh, you should be looking at 2p per mile. 

Finally, for any UK EV driver, zap-map will be your best friend  

 

18 hours ago, SC03OTT said:

£30k is a lot of money to spend to save money...

 

...I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. 

But from a monthly expense point of view, the EV will probably save money. 

 

OP said 17p for petrol to 4p for electricity is a saving of 13p/mile. Over 10k miles that will be £1300 a year. 2 years that's more than price difference between the RRP of vRS and DS3. 

[Phil245]

Isn't Citroen going to be Fiat now.....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50834384

 

Good luck on the customer service front then.......🙄

[shyVRS245]

50 minutes ago, Phil245 said:

Isn't Citroen going to be Fiat now.....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50834384

 

Good luck on the customer service front then.......🙄

FIAT in good company at the bottom of that list with Prestige brands, Audi, BMW and Jaguar doh.

[jwruk2]

11 hours ago, peterhardy said:

 

You're 100% right!  I'm locked in with EDF until July, unless I want to pay £70 to leave 😮.  Hopefully there will be something better to be found once we get further into 2020 🤞.

 

 

The styling is definitely out there but I like it.  The interior is very plush with lots of good

tech.  I'm looking forward to trying something different too.  Road holding wise, the Crossback is a mini SUV so an entirely different animal with an extra 300kg of battery to cope with too.   The suspension has been reworked to handle this and the car rides well, holds the road well but is definitely no vRS 🙂.  With most of my mileage now being around town (still around 10k/year) I'm not getting the benefits from the vRS but am getting the downside, i.e. 25mpg in this winter weather ☹️.

 

 

Good tip, I'll do that now 😂

 

 

Bulb cover exit fees, might be worth a look? If you use a referral link you get £50 joining bonus too, so shameless plug for mine - www.bulb.me/joelr7920

[wyx087]

To be totally transparant, I think should mention the referrer also gets £50 if you use their link.  

 

Shamlessly, here's my referral link:  www.bulb.me/wuyanx3253

Edited 19 December, 2019 by wyx087

[peterhardy]

Bulb works out at £60 more for the year compared to my current tariff, when gas usage is included.  Even with the £50 referral cash it's still not gonna save me any money.  Thanks for the suggestion though 🙂.  I think the better deals tend to appear as spring/summer starts.  I'm going to keep a close eye out and check any offers carefully.  It's just as well I love spreadsheets 😁.

[penguin17]

22 hours ago, themanwithnoaim said:

Ffs don't ever even think about keeping a Citroen outta warranty & don't expect that bristling tech to work for the entire warranty period.

TBF; my parents have had a MY11 DS3 1.6 THP Sport from new and it's only needed servicing and consumables.  They must have got one that was built on a Friday 😁

 

(not a bad little car too, nice to drive) 

[peterhardy]

Just now, penguin17 said:

TBF; my parents have had a MY11 DS3 1.6 THP Sport from new and it's only needed servicing and consumables.  They must have got one that was built on a Friday 😁

 

(not a bad little car too, nice to drive) 

 

Jeez, a positive comment.  Steady on now! 😁

[peterhardy]

Two weeks to go!

 

Pod Point are coming to fit my wall charger next Tuesday and I get the car on monday 2nd March.  I hope the installation is better than their email response.  I asked a couple of queries via email three weeks ago, got an instant acknowledgement, nothing since.  Chased up after a week, another acknowledgement but still no response.  I've rang them this morning, very fast pick up from the 'out of hours' team at 8:50am (???) who took my info and queries and said they would pass them on to HQ for them to call me back.  No call as yet...

 

My spare set comprising totally unused OEM Gemini wheel with Michelin PS4 tyre and OEM jack kit is now for sale in the classified section, if anyone is interested.

 

Cheers, Peter.

Edited 17 February, 2020 by peterhardy
Can't get the month right :-0 Thanks to shyVRS245.

[shyVRS245]

9 minutes ago, peterhardy said:

Two weeks to go!

 

Pod Point are coming to fit my wall charger next Tuesday and I get the car on monday 2nd August.  I hope the installation is better than their email response.  I asked a couple of queries via email three weeks ago, got an instant acknowledgement, nothing since.  Chased up after a week, another acknowledgement but still no response.  I've rang them this morning, very fast pick up from the 'out of hours' team at 8:50am (???) who took my info and queries and said they would pass them on to HQ for them to call me back.  No call as yet...

 

My spare set comprising totally unused OEM Gemini wheel with Michelin PS4 tyre and OEM jack kit is now for sale in the classified section, if anyone is interested.

 

Cheers, Peter.

I hope August is not in 2 weeks time otherwise I have missed my 17 day holiday in Hawaii in April and 1 week in Scotland in June. You have time to edit your post.

[peterhardy]

7 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

I hope August is not in 2 weeks time otherwise I have missed my 17 day holiday in Hawaii in April and 1 week in Scotland in June. You have time to edit your post.

 

Thanks 😄.  If I had a brain, I'd be dangerous!

 

17 days in Hawaii and then a week in Scotland... I'm not jealous, much 😁.

[peterhardy]

Hi everyone!

 

I thought it would be good to provide an update about my experience with the new car, for anyone thinking about getting an EV:

 

The car itself - very happy with it!  Ride and refinement excellent.  Tech very good and all works.  Buttons not the best for responsiveness and menus for everything as they all seem to be doing.  I love the driving style of an electric car.  Don't need to use the brake pedal much, with regenerative braking, instant response and serene driving experience.

 

The best bit - Being tight, I try to use free charging as much as possible.  Most bigger supermarkets offer this now and many towns have free charging points available too.  I'm hoping to get a few days in Scotland next month where rapid public charging is all free!  Working out my mileage since getting the car on 02/03/20 and the end of June, working out what I've actually paid for electricity in that time (via the Pod Point App), gives me an equivalent mpg figure of 250!!!  This is better than I ever expected.  If I get to Scotland next month I will do around 1,000 miles.  I will fully charge before I leave and then when I get home.  All of the 1,000 miles inbetween will be free.  It's crazy, isn't it?

 

I understand and appreciate that the government will look to replace their lost revenue once they have enough people using EVs.  I reckon there's a way to go yet for that point to be reached.  In the meantime, I'm going to take advantage of the current (geddit?) situation as much as possible.  My wallet thinks it's Christmas every month!

 

Best to all!

 

Peter.

[shyVRS245]

Nothing in life is free. The free electricity you get at the Supermarket is paid for by all the customers that use that Supermarket, it's just a sales ploy to get you to spend your £500 per month food budget there instead of one of the other Supermarkets.

[peterhardy]

2 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

Nothing in life is free. The free electricity you get at the Supermarket is paid for by all the customers that use that Supermarket, it's just a sales ploy to get you to spend your £500 per month food budget there instead of one of the other Supermarkets.

 

If I'm spending it anyway, what do I care?