Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

and less likely to be stolen, the frameless windows on Subarus are a major thief magnet

having said that both my partner and I have Subaru, but cover is cheaper as a result of home and contents through the same insurer

I am actually quite tempted to stay true to my own roots and buy a fast golf, particularly after watching the MCM episodes on Moogs revo’d daily.

To be honest I should probably concentrate on shipping our stuff out of our apartment here and actually moving before getting carried away window shopping for cars, we should be out there by the end of October #brexit

Double post

Yes finally! No idea what all this love for old bangers is about.

My folks are after a new car, so considering an EV. They’ve asked for my thoughts, but TBH I have very little idea.

My gut says a PHEV over a full fat EV. But that is probably the “what if fear” over charging points. Thoughts? I also worry about battery as it won’t be used much in London.

Also what to look at? Needs 4/5 doors, but there are only two of them and much of it is city driving. However, they do drive to France a lot and need a reasonable amount of space for ferrying random shit and bringing back cases of wine and cornichon.

Initial thoughts are VW and Nissan, but what else to look at?

Does anyone actually have an EV or PHEV?

Cheers.

do they have off street parking and are they prepared to install a bunch of charging noise?

Meanwhile outside my hotel in Suzhou

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BMW i3 rex? Battery for most of the driving, petrol engine as backup. Prob quite spacious with just two in the car

At least two of the lamp posts in their street (regular resi street parking bays) are now fitted with plugs - so it'll just be a case of flighting for those spots or driving to one of the other dedicated charging bays nearby and flighting for those.

This is also the thing that puts me off pure EV, even if I think that almost all their driving could be EV.

Central Committee's meeting?

BTW did you ID the car on the terrible pic I sent you the other day?

BMW i3 rex

Cheers. Will look. Internet is saying it'll be discontinued tho.

Mom mobile recommendations pls.
Clean. Green. Estate preferred.
Capable of nipping around south london really quickly and then putting the miles in for trips to scotland/somewhere.

This looks prick imho

How green? Budget? Buy or Lease?

Out the box I’d suggest a Skoda Octavia
Plenty of owners rate them highly, reliable VW running gear, decent load space for 2 kids stuff (maybe even dad bike stuff too).

What's the deal with
buy vs lease vs subscription
?

Electric would be nice right?
Otherwise petrol then diesel.

Buy = pay £ get full ownership

Lease = pay deposit + monthly fees and borrow car for 2yrs (probably)

Finance Options = more complicated and you need to look at the numbers... but basically you pay the car off monthly

TBH if you want to buy a new car, even with a decent discount for buying all in one go, it probably makes more economic sense to finance.

I don't want a new car.
That's bonkers.
Happy with a used car.

Think the Rex version will be, but you can get a 94Ah one which I think is quite a good combo.

Looking at car subscription:
£300 a month.
What's the cost of owning used car per month with weekend mainly usage. Generally....

For an 07 Saab 9-5 that has had quite a bit of work it levels out at about £200 per month incl tax and insurance. In Sweden that is, but it’ll give you an idea.

Insurance is about £50 of that, same for tax

~£150p/m excluding buying the car

Annual Costs

Insurance £500
Tax £150
Parking permit £100
Service & MOT £200

Total: ~£1kp/a

...so say add £15p/w on fuel as an average ~=£800 gives you a cost of ~£150p/m

So a subscription service looks better value as there's no outlay for a car and the car maintenance is included?
If you're not a petrol head tinkerer and you just see it as a transport device.

Picked up a cheap 2012 535i. Mrs likes it. It’s big, relatively swift and very comfy. Just fitted a new water pump and hoses which is par for the course for BMW. Six cylinder turbo and 8sp auto is a nice combo.

And yet no photos...

Pfft.

It’s off getting cleaned. I’m curiously uninspired by it - our old 03 530i that I backed into an underpass wall was way cooler.

From pre clean..

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