High mileage what car thread
Discussion
Sunday afternoon speculative thinking time!
I'll be moving about 40 miles north of my current home in July (all being well), and will be on my own, so my mileage is going to skyrocket. From about 8000 a year now I think I'll easily hit 20K or more. This is based on a few local journeys for shopping and regular weekly trips for kids, band rehearsals, nights out and so on, the average journey being 60 miles one way mostly on the A1(M).
As a result I will need to decide whether to run my current vehicle for a time, or look at something more economical but with some purchase cost to amortise (or a lease, but I can't make the numbers work at all).
In my budget I'm ignoring tyres, as it's pretty close on cost between alternatives, and insurance for the same reason. I will have solar panels in my new home, with a type 2 charge point, and I work from home a lot so can charge in the day time. I've also ignored road tax, again the difference is small.
I need an estate, 4x4 or decent size hatchback. Figures below include fuel, depreciation and servicing.
My current thinking:
Current car: 2003 L322 Range Rover 4.4 petrol with an LPG conversion, on about 130K miles. On a run I can get 15MPG on LPG, so about 32MPG equivalent. I can continue to run it but I think I'll kill it pretty quickly with 20K a year. Budget would need to include £1800 a year for unexpected failures (gearbox, suspension, cooling system) and £1000 for servicing. Cost about 37ppm
Option 1: Mercedes E300 hybrid, 2014, about £17K. Comfy, large, economical on a run (60+ MPG). If I finance the whole cost, 44ppm. Excluding finance (I may have the cash), 23ppm. Assuming 7K depreciation. Distronic cruise would be nice to reduce driving stress.
Option 2: Vauxhall Ampera, 2012-2014, range extender LEV, about £12K. With finance, 31ppm. Without, 18ppm. These figures worked out assuming 40 miles per battery charge, then 45MPG after that. 6K depreciation.
Option 3: Tesla Model S 85, 2014 model (not the performance model). £48K. The big benefit of this is never having to think that any journey will cost me an extra 50 quid! Also I would want Autopilot 1 to reduce the driving stress which should work well on the A1, I go past the Supercharger at South Mimms all the time and I'm a geek and want one! However... I won't have the cash for to purchase outright. Best I could do would be to find maybe 20K then finance the rest. Works out at 60ppm assuming 12K of depreciation over 3 years. I'll get a lift or rent a car for long journeys where the charger network doesn't support the journey, but I can't think of one I've done in the last years where that would be the case.
Have I missed anything? Any alternatives? Clearly I want the Tesla, but I think the best compromise is the Vauxhall.
I'll be moving about 40 miles north of my current home in July (all being well), and will be on my own, so my mileage is going to skyrocket. From about 8000 a year now I think I'll easily hit 20K or more. This is based on a few local journeys for shopping and regular weekly trips for kids, band rehearsals, nights out and so on, the average journey being 60 miles one way mostly on the A1(M).
As a result I will need to decide whether to run my current vehicle for a time, or look at something more economical but with some purchase cost to amortise (or a lease, but I can't make the numbers work at all).
In my budget I'm ignoring tyres, as it's pretty close on cost between alternatives, and insurance for the same reason. I will have solar panels in my new home, with a type 2 charge point, and I work from home a lot so can charge in the day time. I've also ignored road tax, again the difference is small.
I need an estate, 4x4 or decent size hatchback. Figures below include fuel, depreciation and servicing.
My current thinking:
Current car: 2003 L322 Range Rover 4.4 petrol with an LPG conversion, on about 130K miles. On a run I can get 15MPG on LPG, so about 32MPG equivalent. I can continue to run it but I think I'll kill it pretty quickly with 20K a year. Budget would need to include £1800 a year for unexpected failures (gearbox, suspension, cooling system) and £1000 for servicing. Cost about 37ppm
Option 1: Mercedes E300 hybrid, 2014, about £17K. Comfy, large, economical on a run (60+ MPG). If I finance the whole cost, 44ppm. Excluding finance (I may have the cash), 23ppm. Assuming 7K depreciation. Distronic cruise would be nice to reduce driving stress.
Option 2: Vauxhall Ampera, 2012-2014, range extender LEV, about £12K. With finance, 31ppm. Without, 18ppm. These figures worked out assuming 40 miles per battery charge, then 45MPG after that. 6K depreciation.
Option 3: Tesla Model S 85, 2014 model (not the performance model). £48K. The big benefit of this is never having to think that any journey will cost me an extra 50 quid! Also I would want Autopilot 1 to reduce the driving stress which should work well on the A1, I go past the Supercharger at South Mimms all the time and I'm a geek and want one! However... I won't have the cash for to purchase outright. Best I could do would be to find maybe 20K then finance the rest. Works out at 60ppm assuming 12K of depreciation over 3 years. I'll get a lift or rent a car for long journeys where the charger network doesn't support the journey, but I can't think of one I've done in the last years where that would be the case.
Have I missed anything? Any alternatives? Clearly I want the Tesla, but I think the best compromise is the Vauxhall.
Don't get me wrong, I like the E class, and the Ampera satisfies most of my inner geek. What puts me off keeping the RR is the amount of time it will be getting serviced or fixed. It's not a cheap car to pay someone to work on, although I do most myself these days when I have time.
Maybe I should amortise the purchase cost over more than 3 years, I just figure adding 60K to a used car would be about the sensible limit for reliability.
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