Every now and then the Australian new car market delivers a limited window on an apparent bargain that demands close consideration, even if the car is not what I would have ever normally considered

Over the years the ones that stood out for me were:

The first iteration of the Toyota GR86 at a then AU$30,000 (just half it for rough GB pounds so £15,000)

The introduction of the Toyota Yaris GR86 locally was a 1000 cars at $40,000 (£20000) drive away (which includes road tax and insurance for a year) was supposed to last 6 months to sell out and it actually only took 2 days.

Even the Fabia 2 once had a drive away deal at only $17000, which I still kick myself for not taking up.

MG4 was on sale for $30,000 drive away just over a year ago. They have since admitted they were losing over $10k a car on that deal.

Then there are some Stellantis vehicles Jeeps, Fiats etc that have lost a huge amount of market share and they take something like $20+k off the initial offer to offload stock, but expressions involving bargepoles spring to mind.

The latest one that has caught my attention is the Cupra Formentor VZe which is being offered at $27k off list price with a $43000 drive away deal to offload a large backlog of stock imported too late for a, since closed, tax window.

This is the one with the 10kwh battery and 1.4tsi engine and is soon to be replaced with a model with double the battery and the 1.5tsi engine hence the urgency.

As a (still casual working) pensioner this is still a fair financial commitment, even if it is a bargain, and for something that is not necessarily as ideal as our current mk3 Octavia which constantly delights with its ability to swallow enormous loads. Recently have picked new chairs and garage racking where the warehouseman has expressed disbelief that the goods fitted inside the Octavia

It appalls me that a relatively small battery and electric engine can add nearly 400kg to the vehicle weight (over our car), that is has no spare tyre (a big deal for me on long Australian trips), that the vehicle economy is apparently worse than our car when in hybrid mode (judging by reports on Briskoda for similarly configured mk iv Octavia hybrids).

The savings from locally running on electric would not be as great as say the UK where your off-peak rates seem incredibly low compared to ours and our fuel is cheap compared to GB prices.

Might have to do some spreadsheet work on this one and it deserves a test drive at the very least.

Edited 17 September, 202517 Sep by Gerrycan

Indeed spreadsheet work is required. Mainly percentage of driving do you think you can do in EV mode? How much per-mile saving is there from driving on electric? Can you ever save back the initial outlay for this new car? Is there insurance cost difference?

Unless you really want/need a new car, if your current Octavia meets all your needs and you'll still mostly be using fossil fuel, then there isn't much point changing to something heavier, less efficient car for sake of saving a few pence (or cents) when driving locally.

Similarly, is there possibility of buying a cheap second hand BEV for local use? Keeping the Octy for longer trips with its spare tyre and huge boot. Between 2017 and 2022, I had this setup and was very happy with using the right car for the job.