Family EV, lease or second hand?

[Althalus]

So the time has come to get our first EV. We have finally moved somewhere where we can easily fit a charger so almost all charging with be at home on cheap night rates.

I currently have a cupra formentor vz2 310 4wd that I brough new 32 months ago and has lost about £450 a month in depreciation. It has not been a great ownership experience.

I really like the polestar 2 but we need something with a bigger boot than the formentor for prams and child junk and holidays to devon etc.
My daily commute (4 days a week) is actually pretty minimal at around 10 miles each way but we do longer distance road trips every month or so.

This gives us two options.
A second hand ev for around 20-25k using the equity still in the formentor. I'm thinking something like a second hand EV6 which should still have 4-5 years warranty left and offer a reasonable balance of range and power with the twin motor versions. Hopefully there will still be some equity left in the car when we come to change.

The alternative is a 2-3 year lease with a new ev for around 350 a month and release the equity left in the formentor to do work on the house etc.

I'd ideally like something that is at least vaguely nice to drive and a dual motor LR version of which ever ev we settle on.

What would you look at and would you lease or buy?

[CMTMB]

IME, unless you intend to keep the car for a very long time then leasing makes the most financial sense and leaves no uncertainty. You'll know your total costs from day one. I was in a similar position a few months ago and went for a cheap lease deal on an Ioniq 6.

[Dave Hedgehog]

EV6 wave for £27k with full 7 year warranty and £500 contribution if you take out the finance

https://used-uk.kia.com/used-car-details/used-kia-...

GT line for £28.5k with full 7 year warranty and £500 contribution if you take out the finance

https://used-uk.kia.com/used-car-details/used-kia-...

[SWoll]

£25k will just about get you into a 3.5 year old BMW iX, which is going to be a lot more car than £350 a month on a lease will get you and after 3 years should retain at least half it's value, so cost you less overall.

Edited by SWoll on Friday 10th April 11:45

[Pistonheadsdicoverer]

Model Y or the Ariya as well?

[a311]

I’d be looking at it through the Formentor depreciation lens and trying not to take that hit twice. A used EV6 dual motor makes a lot of sense as someone else has already taken the biggest whack, plus you get the space, range and still something decent to drive. My only hesitation is used EV values still feel a bit of an unknown possibly, and the tech is still moving on quickly as well, so I’d be wary of sinking 25k into another depreciating asset that could feel dated faster than expected.

I was in a really similar spot and ended up talking myself into just carrying on leasing. For me it was more about keeping the cash free for house stuff, holidays and life rather than tying it up in a car. Leasing, to me at least, makes the most sense if you can jump on a genuinely good deal, which usually means going in with a mindset of wanting a spec and size that suits your use case rather than being fixed on one exact model. If the right deal comes up I’d be happy to let the lease company wear the residual risk, not worry about where values are in 3 years, and just enjoy the cheap overnight charging.

[RotorRambler]

I purchased privately as keep long term.
In Sep 24 I bought a 6 month old Enyaq for £29k (Ex Skoda, 5k miles, all options I wanted like opening roof / full leather etc, supposedly £47k new)
Also took out their finance and withdrew a few days after, that got me 2 services & £1k off, keep the perks.
Suits me as i’ll keep it 10 years.
8 year battery warranty.

I’m sure leasing is sensible, but I just don’t like.

[SWoll]

a311 said:

I was in a really similar spot and ended up talking myself into just carrying on leasing. For me it was more about keeping the cash free for house stuff, holidays and life rather than tying it up in a car. Leasing, to me at least, makes the most sense if you can jump on a genuinely good deal, which usually means going in with a mindset of wanting a spec and size that suits your use case rather than being fixed on one exact model. If the right deal comes up I d be happy to let the lease company wear the residual risk, not worry about where values are in 3 years, and just enjoy the cheap overnight charging.

We went the other way and after 5 years of leasing EV's decided to buy used (3 years old) this time last year. Put a couple of grand in and financed the rest over 2 years via HP at a decent interest rate. At this point have plenty of equity in the car and no commitment to keep it any longer than we want to. If an amazing lease deal pops up we may well sell up, pay off the HP and bank the rest. The current plan is to have it paid for by the end of the year and then run it for a year or two past that point and enjoy having no monthlies to worry about.

Horses for courses of course.

Edited by SWoll on Friday 10th April 14:56

[Basil Brush]

On the PS2, I can fit as much in the boot as I can in our Touareg. The boot floor lifts out so it's much deeper than it looks.

[FourGears]

Enyaq?

[a311]

SWoll said:

We went the other way and after 5 years of leasing EV's decided to buy used (3 years old) this time last year. Put a couple of grand in and financed the rest over 2 years via HP at a decent interest rate. At this point have plenty of equity in the car and no commitment to keep it any longer than we want to. If an amazing lease deal pops up we may well sell up, pay off the HP and bank the rest. The current plan is to have it paid for by the end of the year and then run it for a year or two past that point and enjoy having no monthlies to worry about.

Horses for courses of course.

Edited by SWoll on Friday 10th April 14:56

Yeah that does sound like the sweet spot to be fair, and that’s exactly what kept leading me back towards the Kias as well. I’ve got an ID.7 Tourer at the minute and I’d happily have another, but I wouldn’t really want to go much lower on range now I’ve got used to it. That’s part of what makes the EV6 such a sensible used buy as it still gives you a flexible family car feel rather than feeling like a compromise.

I’ve leased the main family car for over 10 years now and I’d rather not think what that’s cost over that time, but I suppose you take the hit somewhere, either straight depreciation or the opportunity cost of money tied up that could be sat in savings or investments. One of the things that talked me out of buying this time was our mortgage is up in 12 months, so I’d rather hedge a bit more cash in case rates are still high. As you say, very much horses for courses.

[SWoll]

a311 said:

Yeah that does sound like the sweet spot to be fair, and that s exactly what kept leading me back towards the Kias as well. I ve got an ID.7 Tourer at the minute and I d happily have another, but I wouldn t really want to go much lower on range now I ve got used to it. That s part of what makes the EV6 such a sensible used buy as it still gives you a flexible family car feel rather than feeling like a compromise.

I ve leased the main family car for over 10 years now and I d rather not think what that s cost over that time, but I suppose you take the hit somewhere, either straight depreciation or the opportunity cost of money tied up that could be sat in savings or investments. One of the things that talked me out of buying this time was our mortgage is up in 12 months, so I d rather hedge a bit more cash in case rates are still high. As you say, very much horses for courses.

I don't really see the opportunity cost as a thing. When buying a 3 year old example outright via HP over 2 years costs the same a month as leasing a new one over 3 years there is no difference in cash availability, other than the fact you have far less commitment should an opportunity arise and you end up owning the car at the end of the shorter term so greater choice.

As above if we keep ours for 2 years after it's paid for we can then overpay significantly on mortgage/pensions for that period should we choose to without a car payment to take into consideration.

[JNW1]

Althalus said:

A second hand ev for around 20-25k using the equity still in the formentor. I'm thinking something like a second hand EV6 which should still have 4-5 years warranty left and offer a reasonable balance of range and power with the twin motor versions. Hopefully there will still be some equity left in the car when we come to change.

I appreciate you're quoting the EV6 just as an example but in reality how well would they be able to carry the sort of stuff you're talking about? Might be wrong but I seem to remember comments on another thread which suggested the usable boot space isn't actually that great unless you fold the rear seats down?