What do you daily drive? ICE vs. hybrid vs. PHEV vs. EV
Discussion
Currently EV. If I still had the longer weekly commute I'd be changing it for an EV with better range (my eGolf will only get you 90 miles or so in winter, 120 in summer) like an MG5 or Kia Nero.
When it goes back next year though I'll be getting a £1500 shed as the petrol savings don't stack up against the monthly cost any more.
When it goes back next year though I'll be getting a £1500 shed as the petrol savings don't stack up against the monthly cost any more.
Got an EV as my daily driver and would never go back to an ICE car for the purpose of going to and from work. Do around 20k miles a year to and from work and generally running about. Even if it cost the same to run as a petrol/diesel I still wouldn't change back, it's just nicer/easier/more relaxing to drive.
Still have a big V8 for weekends though.
Still have a big V8 for weekends though.
My daily is petrol GR Yaris, but I WFH a couple of days a week then London the rest, so the daily doesn't do many miles in all fairness. I have a weekend toy again petrol GT4.
Wife has a new Merc GLA 220D but has just semi-retired so doesn't do anywhere near the mileage she was previously.
We currently have no reason to change to EV but it is something we have discussed if we both retired and basically dropped to two cars, commuter (EV) and something fancy (Porsche GT of some ilk).
Wife has a new Merc GLA 220D but has just semi-retired so doesn't do anywhere near the mileage she was previously.
We currently have no reason to change to EV but it is something we have discussed if we both retired and basically dropped to two cars, commuter (EV) and something fancy (Porsche GT of some ilk).
Couple of petrol cars, one turbo, one supercharged, both can be used every day and are fun rather than functional. Plus motorbike for additional fun. I'm looking forward to EV motoring when the charging network is standardised and I can charge faster. Was tempted by a Tesla because charging is so much better than other cars, and will look again now I've seen how many 350Kw chargers the French are installing on main roads, staggering to see compared to the UK.
I have a V12 ICE (sports car), a PHEV (Range Rover) and a full EV (Tesla Model X).
The EV gets the most use as it is so easy even on long journeys. Instant torque makes making progress effortless. Little to no servicing.
The PHEV probably does the next most miles as it does local duties on pure electric, any long journey where charging might be a challenge or we don't want to stop for any long period (e.g. when I have my dog and guns aboard), or any offroad work.
The fun car gets used when we, well, want to have fun.
The EV gets the most use as it is so easy even on long journeys. Instant torque makes making progress effortless. Little to no servicing.
The PHEV probably does the next most miles as it does local duties on pure electric, any long journey where charging might be a challenge or we don't want to stop for any long period (e.g. when I have my dog and guns aboard), or any offroad work.
The fun car gets used when we, well, want to have fun.
Fun car is a twin turbo V8 and that isn't going anywhere.
The daily we recently changed from petrol to EV and absolutely would not go back. For our use case of mostly short hops around town, plus the occasional jaunt further afield but almost always less than 150 mile round trip, it is just simply better.
Charge at home, so never have to visit a filling station and after 4 months we have never needed a public charger, incredibly smooth, always have maximum torque available, near 1-pedal driving with regen on maximum, and obviously much cheaper per mile. We bought ours at 4 years old and it wasn't even significantly more expensive than an equivalent ICE, plus a good bit cheaper than hybrid. I can't see myself ever buying an ICE family car again.
The daily we recently changed from petrol to EV and absolutely would not go back. For our use case of mostly short hops around town, plus the occasional jaunt further afield but almost always less than 150 mile round trip, it is just simply better.
Charge at home, so never have to visit a filling station and after 4 months we have never needed a public charger, incredibly smooth, always have maximum torque available, near 1-pedal driving with regen on maximum, and obviously much cheaper per mile. We bought ours at 4 years old and it wasn't even significantly more expensive than an equivalent ICE, plus a good bit cheaper than hybrid. I can't see myself ever buying an ICE family car again.
T_S_M said:
Got an EV as my daily driver and would never go back to an ICE car for the purpose of going to and from work. Do around 20k miles a year to and from work and generally running about. Even if it cost the same to run as a petrol/diesel I still wouldn't change back, it's just nicer/easier/more relaxing to drive.
Still have a big V8 for weekends though.
You might have hit the nail on the head there. This is the ideal scenario but if you want to do everyday useability and fun car in one package due to budgetary/space constraints, it gets trickier. Quite fancy a mk7 Fiesta ST or Toyota GR86. An EV would probably be "better" for the commute but I can't think of an EV/hybrid currently available that would offer more fun.Still have a big V8 for weekends though.
BMW i3S possibly? Probably not though and more challenging for the longer journeys that I need to do.
Leon R said:
georgeyboy12345 said:
PHEV - I do ~7000 miles a year of mostly stop-start city driving with the occasional long trip thrown in. It has saved me literally thousands of pounds per year in fuel costs vs a petrol. I love it.
Your previous car must have had absolutely terrible fuel economy for a PHEV to save you thousands per year at 7000 miles pa.white_goodman said:
T_S_M said:
Got an EV as my daily driver and would never go back to an ICE car for the purpose of going to and from work. Do around 20k miles a year to and from work and generally running about. Even if it cost the same to run as a petrol/diesel I still wouldn't change back, it's just nicer/easier/more relaxing to drive.
Still have a big V8 for weekends though.
You might have hit the nail on the head there. This is the ideal scenario but if you want to do everyday useability and fun car in one package due to budgetary/space constraints, it gets trickier. Quite fancy a mk7 Fiesta ST or Toyota GR86. An EV would probably be "better" for the commute but I can't think of an EV/hybrid currently available that would offer more fun.Still have a big V8 for weekends though.
BMW i3S possibly? Probably not though and more challenging for the longer journeys that I need to do.
I’ve got a 2024 Astra PHEV.
It’s the 1.6 180ps auto so isn’t exactly sluggish, however there are downsides.
It will only do about 300 miles on a tank of petrol, and that’s not because it’s bad on fuel it’s because it’s the size of a thimble.
The EV range is about 30 but I can’t charge at home and the public charging network isn’t that great. It does have a battery hold function but that makes the petrol engine really uneconomical.
If I run it empty it does about 45mpg, if I run it on battery hold it’s nearer 30 and if I fill the tank and battery it does nearly 60mpg.
Mine is mainly as it’s a company car and the BIK is much cheaper on a PHEV.
It’s the 1.6 180ps auto so isn’t exactly sluggish, however there are downsides.
It will only do about 300 miles on a tank of petrol, and that’s not because it’s bad on fuel it’s because it’s the size of a thimble.
The EV range is about 30 but I can’t charge at home and the public charging network isn’t that great. It does have a battery hold function but that makes the petrol engine really uneconomical.
If I run it empty it does about 45mpg, if I run it on battery hold it’s nearer 30 and if I fill the tank and battery it does nearly 60mpg.
Mine is mainly as it’s a company car and the BIK is much cheaper on a PHEV.
I have a Mazda MX-30 EV, yes the one with a range of 130 miles. It perfectly suits my needs of 25 miles a day, four days a week. It costs less than £2.50 a week to charge off-peak. It does everything I need for a commuter car. It's quiet, comfortable, has heated seats and steering wheel for the colder months, no clutch pedal in traffic, and Apple carplay, it's generally a nice place to be.
Mazda contributed £7000 towards the deposit, offered 0% interest finance and supplied and fitted a Pod Point 7kw wall charger FOC as part of the deal.
My wife has a 2018 Audi A3 e-tron which means she can commute 25 miles a day in EV mode and should she need to go on longer trips she can use the hybrid system. We use this car as the family car for long journeys or weekends away. It's more than capable of achieving in the region of 60MPG+ in hybrid mode on the motorway. Best of both worlds.
We can swap cars should one of us need more range that day, but we're both more than happy with our cars, if we didn't have access to a driveway and a 7KW wall charger then it would have been a no-go on either car and we'd both still be in Petrols.
I have nothing against ICE powered cars of any form as I believe they still have their place in this world, you just need to ensure you buy the car(s) that best suits your needs.
I am looking at getting an older Petrol hot hatch or coupe as a weekend toy/project but for daily life living in the south of England I'll stick with EV.
Mazda contributed £7000 towards the deposit, offered 0% interest finance and supplied and fitted a Pod Point 7kw wall charger FOC as part of the deal.
My wife has a 2018 Audi A3 e-tron which means she can commute 25 miles a day in EV mode and should she need to go on longer trips she can use the hybrid system. We use this car as the family car for long journeys or weekends away. It's more than capable of achieving in the region of 60MPG+ in hybrid mode on the motorway. Best of both worlds.
We can swap cars should one of us need more range that day, but we're both more than happy with our cars, if we didn't have access to a driveway and a 7KW wall charger then it would have been a no-go on either car and we'd both still be in Petrols.
I have nothing against ICE powered cars of any form as I believe they still have their place in this world, you just need to ensure you buy the car(s) that best suits your needs.
I am looking at getting an older Petrol hot hatch or coupe as a weekend toy/project but for daily life living in the south of England I'll stick with EV.
Edited by RED5RACING on Thursday 27th June 15:59
My Current vehicle is a 4.5 year old VW caddy maxi life 2.0 diesel, i do about 20k a year so diesel has always been the choice but the lease had already been extended so i needed to order a replacement,
As we no longer needed 7 seats but did need a big boot i've ordered a suzuki swace hybrid which is a toyota corolla in drag, realistically should be looking at 55mpg as a minimum with cheaper fuel as well.
For my day to day driving ( roughly 40 miles a day mon to fri) an EV would be ok if i had off road charging but we also do 3 or 4 european holidays each year where we can do 500 miles in a day.
Over the last couple of years i've been keeping an eye out whilst on holiday for charging facilities in the likes of rural france. Whereas most small villages have a supermarket with an attached pay at pump petrol station i have yet to see one with charging stations and also the likes of our overnight stops at things like Ibis or Campanile hotels dont have facilities outside of the major towns.
My partner does about 5 miles a day tops so could realistically manage with an EV we will probably just run her 10 plate astra into the ground as any saving in fuel costs would be outweighed by the purchase price.
As we no longer needed 7 seats but did need a big boot i've ordered a suzuki swace hybrid which is a toyota corolla in drag, realistically should be looking at 55mpg as a minimum with cheaper fuel as well.
For my day to day driving ( roughly 40 miles a day mon to fri) an EV would be ok if i had off road charging but we also do 3 or 4 european holidays each year where we can do 500 miles in a day.
Over the last couple of years i've been keeping an eye out whilst on holiday for charging facilities in the likes of rural france. Whereas most small villages have a supermarket with an attached pay at pump petrol station i have yet to see one with charging stations and also the likes of our overnight stops at things like Ibis or Campanile hotels dont have facilities outside of the major towns.
My partner does about 5 miles a day tops so could realistically manage with an EV we will probably just run her 10 plate astra into the ground as any saving in fuel costs would be outweighed by the purchase price.
BikeSausage said:
Two dailies: Honda E EV for local driving c. 5k p.a.
Volvo V90 Cc diesel for most other journeys. About 25k p.a.
Nice work choosing the Mazda. Excellent cars from an interesting maker.
Thanks. That's a good combo you have there. Yeah, I think that MX5-aside, Mazdas are a little underrated. Nice quality/ergonomics, very pleasant to drive (better than a lot of "premium" stuff I think) but not that potent, which is funny as the original Mazda 3 MPS was one of the most potent hot hatches out there in its day and at one time Mazda sold 3 sports coupes (MX3/MX6/RX7) concurrently. I think there is a more potent turbocharged version of the 2.5 4 cylinder in our car available in other markets but not here sadly.Volvo V90 Cc diesel for most other journeys. About 25k p.a.
Nice work choosing the Mazda. Excellent cars from an interesting maker.
I'd driven a new Mazda 3 and a Mazda 6 fairly recently and both near the top of their respective classes I would say. Mazda 3 feels quite old-school Honda/BMW, as you sit almost MX5 low and the cockpit has a very driver-oriented feel and I would say that the Mazda 6 is a nicer car than an Audi A4 but neither were really the kind of car that we were after. I hadn't driven a CX5 before but decided to try one and we both really liked it. Not fast but then I'm finding more and more that you can still have a car that's enjoyable and comfortable to drive without it being fast and "sporty" and do you really want to be driving at 10/10 with the family on board?
I could really see a small EV working for me as a commuter and keep the CX5 for longer journeys. I have a Suzuki 1200 Bandit for fun right now but I don't get to ride it as much as I would like due to it being too wet/windy/cold and in the back of my mind, the roads around here are getting busier, poorly maintained and driver standards getting worse, so although I love it, I don't want to come a cropper and would get much more use out of a sports car (something like an MX5/370Z Roadster), as I could still use it if it was cold/windy/wet but I don't have the budget/space for that right now.
I’ve got nothing against EVs and could probably make one work for us as a family car but, at the moment, I simply have no interest in them - or new cars in general. I travel in a lot of Ubers and taxis and, on the whole, modern Teslas, Kias, Hyundais, Mercedes - whatever - all leave me cold. They’re just transport. I particularly dislike Teslas.
But, having been burned by new cars, I’m going through a phase where I’m enjoying formerly expensive, mid-2010s cars. Obviously this means it’s still diesel and petrol. The tech and equipment is still perfectly adequate (CarPlay etc..), the engines are powerful and the depreciation is mainly done. It’s mainly a value-for-money thing where you can enjoy a nice, big engine with a non-vegan leather interior for not much money but as the higher end EVs crash in value I do start to get tempted, particularly with an I-Pace as they’re now remarkably good value.
Anyway, as from this coming week my daily will be a V12 - making the most of it while we still can.
But, having been burned by new cars, I’m going through a phase where I’m enjoying formerly expensive, mid-2010s cars. Obviously this means it’s still diesel and petrol. The tech and equipment is still perfectly adequate (CarPlay etc..), the engines are powerful and the depreciation is mainly done. It’s mainly a value-for-money thing where you can enjoy a nice, big engine with a non-vegan leather interior for not much money but as the higher end EVs crash in value I do start to get tempted, particularly with an I-Pace as they’re now remarkably good value.
Anyway, as from this coming week my daily will be a V12 - making the most of it while we still can.
Another supercharged and a turbo. I recently had a PHEV for a day while the supercharged one had a service. I was glad to hand it back as it was just annoying to drive. I’m sure if I had read the manual the over-braked engine with throttle off could have been toned down, but to have such a tiny electric range and carrying all that weight about is just pointless. Boat-like handling was crap.
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