2nd car, upgrade the MPV, or get an occasional taxi
Discussion
Help me decide/persuade me (provide an excuse so my mind agrees with my heart) that this deal is right for me...
Current situation... we have a very aged, 55 plate 7 seater that serves our needs as a family of six.
However, most of the time the car is under-occupied. We only all travel together on the weekend to my parents.
2.5 miles away
RFL is £260 pa
Does 37-40mpg
We do 9000 miles/year
Insurance is about ~£650
Has a 4 months MOT to go
Could probably sell it for £1k in current market, perhaps more after fresh MOT but it's likely MOT will require a few hundred to be spent.
My capital is tied up but I'm good with paying for monthly and I've only ever done that with 2 leases I've had in recent past. Never PCP.
Option 1 - change to just one 5 seater car
The car in question i've been looking at via Salary Sacrifice is a NIssan leaf 40 @ £280 over 36 months all maintained and insured with 10k miles/pa
Parents place is only a little over 2 miles away. Occasionally I walk/cycle it if weather is good. The walking route (45 mins) is not ideal in the dark as it's a little off the beaten track. Sticking to roads/streets would increase the walk to 60 mins. Needless to say the wife could drive the Leaf and take the kids.
A taxi would be ~£7 each way. Local bus network still requires a fair bit of walking at each end.
Plan falls apart a bit for modestly longer trips of 10 miles which we may do once a month. I could get the bus for that.
Legalising e-scooters would make all this so much easier.
Option 2 - add a 2nd car
Same deal Nissan Leaf which becomes main car. We just keep the 7 seater for weekends, accepting the high fixed costs. Thank of fuel would last us 3- 4 months.
Option 3 - replace with a newer 7 seater
I'm keen on having an EV. The only remotely decent 7 seater EV (or even PHEV) I'm seeing is for the Mercedes EQB.
The best deal (again Salary Sacrifice so maintained & insured) seems to be £625/month but over 4 years. It's quite a lot of money but that's how the market currently is. With long lead times I would have to place an order now-ish
The immediate benefit being not having the fixed costs of the current 7 seater which is about £1k/year.
In a little over 4 years time, our eldest will be ready to take his driving test and hopefully get his own car/moped
Anything else I haven't considered?
P.S. I'm due to get Solar Panels soon so charging via Solar or off-peak wil drastically reduce fuel bill.
Current situation... we have a very aged, 55 plate 7 seater that serves our needs as a family of six.
However, most of the time the car is under-occupied. We only all travel together on the weekend to my parents.
2.5 miles away
RFL is £260 pa
Does 37-40mpg
We do 9000 miles/year
Insurance is about ~£650
Has a 4 months MOT to go
Could probably sell it for £1k in current market, perhaps more after fresh MOT but it's likely MOT will require a few hundred to be spent.
My capital is tied up but I'm good with paying for monthly and I've only ever done that with 2 leases I've had in recent past. Never PCP.
Option 1 - change to just one 5 seater car
The car in question i've been looking at via Salary Sacrifice is a NIssan leaf 40 @ £280 over 36 months all maintained and insured with 10k miles/pa
Parents place is only a little over 2 miles away. Occasionally I walk/cycle it if weather is good. The walking route (45 mins) is not ideal in the dark as it's a little off the beaten track. Sticking to roads/streets would increase the walk to 60 mins. Needless to say the wife could drive the Leaf and take the kids.
A taxi would be ~£7 each way. Local bus network still requires a fair bit of walking at each end.
Plan falls apart a bit for modestly longer trips of 10 miles which we may do once a month. I could get the bus for that.
Legalising e-scooters would make all this so much easier.
Option 2 - add a 2nd car
Same deal Nissan Leaf which becomes main car. We just keep the 7 seater for weekends, accepting the high fixed costs. Thank of fuel would last us 3- 4 months.
Option 3 - replace with a newer 7 seater
I'm keen on having an EV. The only remotely decent 7 seater EV (or even PHEV) I'm seeing is for the Mercedes EQB.
The best deal (again Salary Sacrifice so maintained & insured) seems to be £625/month but over 4 years. It's quite a lot of money but that's how the market currently is. With long lead times I would have to place an order now-ish
The immediate benefit being not having the fixed costs of the current 7 seater which is about £1k/year.
In a little over 4 years time, our eldest will be ready to take his driving test and hopefully get his own car/moped
Anything else I haven't considered?
P.S. I'm due to get Solar Panels soon so charging via Solar or off-peak wil drastically reduce fuel bill.
ZX10R NIN said:
Option two makes the most sense especially when you're only using a tank of fuel every 3-4 months, it'll be even longer if the Leaf becomes your main car.
Yes I’m now considering option 1 and 2.Thinking logically, the lease for the EQB is quite high and it would still be under occupied most of the time.
May just put order in for the Leaf once I find out lead times.
There are a few options for EV 7 seater. They're mostly van based. Starts with the eNV200 and then you have choice of Stelantis vans available with 50 or 75kWh packs. Efficiency won't be great due to size of them. Maybe consider a hire car/van if doing longer trips.
I've seen people do option 2. It rarely ends well. Low mileage and old car often meals flat batteries and things start to seize up. Of course it can be done, but depends on your appetite for hassle.
https://www.leaseloco.com/car-leasing/vauxhall/viv...
https://www.leaseloco.com/car-leasing/nissan/e-nv2...
I've seen people do option 2. It rarely ends well. Low mileage and old car often meals flat batteries and things start to seize up. Of course it can be done, but depends on your appetite for hassle.
https://www.leaseloco.com/car-leasing/vauxhall/viv...
https://www.leaseloco.com/car-leasing/nissan/e-nv2...
Some options here for EV 7 seaters
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/electric/best-7-seat...
if you could swing a Tesla Model S with the rear seats option, that would be good I reckon.
Option 1 wouldn't appeal to me - seems little point owning a family car that can't accommodate the whole family, makes it a hassle to visit your parents and leaves you without a car you can all travel in if you want to go further afield together.
There's also an Option 2b where you sell the current car, and get a Leaf plus another ~10yo family hatchback. Then take both cars when you want to go somewhere en famille. Could probably get something with £30 RFL and decent reliability (Japanese) for say £5k?
If you can't find a 7 seat EV in budget and don't want to run two cars, I suggest giving up on the EV idea for now. You could consider replacing the current car with a Multipla or Honda FR-V for something perhaps slightly smaller & more economical, although still comparable on tax.
EV Berlingo / Ritter / Combo are available with 7 seats at Leaf sort of money.
Leaf plus older MPV is working fine for us though, not for seats but for camping, family bike trips, tip runs and the few times a year we need two cars. A service, MOT, tax and insurance is still cheaper than hiring when we need one.
Leaf plus older MPV is working fine for us though, not for seats but for camping, family bike trips, tip runs and the few times a year we need two cars. A service, MOT, tax and insurance is still cheaper than hiring when we need one.
thanks all. The stelantis/PSA range (and eNV200) all look a bit too boxy/van like.
Tesla would be nice but they're not cheap. There was a time when the Model S in 7 seat could be found for under £40k but not many about now, let alone 7 seat version.
I guess I am being pedantic by insisting on an EV, that doesn't look like an MPV, but yet still won't fit our needs.
The deal on the leaf is just too good not to take though.
Tesla would be nice but they're not cheap. There was a time when the Model S in 7 seat could be found for under £40k but not many about now, let alone 7 seat version.
I guess I am being pedantic by insisting on an EV, that doesn't look like an MPV, but yet still won't fit our needs.
The deal on the leaf is just too good not to take though.
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