Fun to drive EV?!

Author
Discussion

Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Hi.

I have a £20k budget for a daily car, the car needs to be fairly quick, have a decent size boot 380 litres +, but most importantly it needs to be fun! I know the answer is usually some sort of Tesla, but I don't like the exterior or interior of Tesla's.

My thoughts so far....


Jag I Pace HSE/First Edition

Fast, apparently fun, but some people say don't buy one because of JLR??


Polestar 2 duel motor

Fast, but I'm not sure if they are much fun?


Cupra Born V2 or higher

Nippy, quite fun but crappy touch screens?


Renault Megane Techno or higher

Nippy, quite fun but will it deprecate like a stone?



So what would you buy?

Kermit power

29,469 posts

220 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
What constitutes fun for you? What sort of roads are you going to be on?

I've come to the conclusion that there's probably no such thing as a fun EV to drive, not because they're EVs per se, but because they're likely to be too quick and have too many electronic driver assistance tools to be fun on any public roads at speeds you're likely to be able to drive at.

I'd be inclined to spend a bit less on the EV and also get something old with narrow tyres that can be fun at slow speeds.

paradigital

964 posts

159 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
I found the i3S to be a good fun drive. Not too powerful, light for an EV, skinny economy tyres, RWD.

They aren’t a good long distance option though, but they are good for a B road flit.

Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Kermit power said:
What constitutes fun for you? What sort of roads are you going to be on?

I've come to the conclusion that there's probably no such thing as a fun EV to drive, not because they're EVs per se, but because they're likely to be too quick and have too many electronic driver assistance tools to be fun on any public roads at speeds you're likely to be able to drive at.

I'd be inclined to spend a bit less on the EV and also get something old with narrow tyres that can be fun at slow speeds.
I already have a fun car, what I want is a daily that is also a bit of fun, but like you say it doesn't seem all that possible.

Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
paradigital said:
I found the i3S to be a good fun drive. Not too powerful, light for an EV, skinny economy tyres, RWD.

They aren’t a good long distance option though, but they are good for a B road flit.
Unfortunately the boot size is closer to 38 litres than my want of 380+ litres

paradigital

964 posts

159 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Carfanatic44 said:
Unfortunately the boot size is closer to 38 litres than my want of 380+ litres
I did miss the boot size requirement, but the hyperbole is a little OTT.

38L > 260L = 222L difference
260L > 380L = 120L difference

It's massively closer to your requirement than it is 38L biggrin

The RWD Model 3's are also a decent steer, not overly powerful, well balanced, and lighter than the equivalent ICE 3-series.

Jimjimhim

1,500 posts

7 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
paradigital said:
Carfanatic44 said:
Unfortunately the boot size is closer to 38 litres than my want of 380+ litres
I did miss the boot size requirement, but the hyperbole is a little OTT.

38L > 260L = 222L difference
260L > 380L = 120L difference

It's massively closer to your requirement than it is 38L biggrin

The RWD Model 3's are also a decent steer, not overly powerful, well balanced, and lighter than the equivalent ICE 3-series.
Missed the bit about Tesla's too lol

paradigital

964 posts

159 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Jimjimhim said:
Missed the bit about Tesla's too lol
No, saw it, I just think you need to compromise somewhere as you appear to want the moon on a stick with a paltry budget.

Big Nanas

2,053 posts

91 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
paradigital said:
I found the i3S to be a good fun drive. Not too powerful, light for an EV, skinny economy tyres, RWD.

They aren’t a good long distance option though, but they are good for a B road flit.
I've had one for nearly 4 years, and it's been brilliant. Genuinely good fun little light weight car to have fun in.

But dont underestimate its long distance ability. We travel from Surrey to Northumberland twice a year, which is a round trip of around 1000 miles, and the i3s has handled it well.

Not as easily as some of the other longer-range EVs, but for a couple of long journeys a year it's been brilliant.

Re the boot size. Im a wheelchair user, so I need extra boot space. The i3s makes it tight, but it's been amazing how well you can pack things.

I would at the very least, give it a test drive.

Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
paradigital said:
No, saw it, I just think you need to compromise somewhere as you appear to want the moon on a stick with a paltry budget.
I thought £20,000 for a fun daily was a fairly reasonable ask, I wouldnt say it was asking for too much.

Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Big Nanas said:
I've had one for nearly 4 years, and it's been brilliant. Genuinely good fun little light weight car to have fun in.

But dont underestimate its long distance ability. We travel from Surrey to Northumberland twice a year, which is a round trip of around 1000 miles, and the i3s has handled it well.

Not as easily as some of the other longer-range EVs, but for a couple of long journeys a year it's been brilliant.

Re the boot size. Im a wheelchair user, so I need extra boot space. The i3s makes it tight, but it's been amazing how well you can pack things.

I would at the very least, give it a test drive.
The I3 is too small for me, but thanks for the suggestion.

samoht

6,272 posts

153 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
The Megane is front-drive, which I dislike especially with electric torque. Your other three suggestions sound promising to me.

Steve Sutcliffe has raved about the Polestar 2 Performance Pack ( The Intercooler (£)) - "I love the way it steers and stops, and the precision with which it goes round corners. The chassis has an extraordinary blend of balance and effortless maturity to it", although the PP cars seem to start from £28k.


The next thing up I was thinking is a BMW i4 but they're still around £30k.

essayer

9,604 posts

201 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Carfanatic44 said:
I thought £20,000 for a fun daily was a fairly reasonable ask, I wouldnt say it was asking for too much.
I’d be worried about iPace borkage, probably going to chuck a few big bills at you, but by all accounts a good steer


Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
samoht said:
The Megane is front-drive, which I dislike especially with electric torque. Your other three suggestions sound promising to me.

Steve Sutcliffe has raved about the Polestar 2 Performance Pack ( The Intercooler (£)) - "I love the way it steers and stops, and the precision with which it goes round corners. The chassis has an extraordinary blend of balance and effortless maturity to it", although the PP cars seem to start from £28k.


The next thing up I was thinking is a BMW i4 but they're still around £30k.
I've seen reviews of the Megane and it seems to be a good car. I've also driven one and I found it to be pretty good.

Most of the reviews of Polestars seem to be performance pack equipped, which is a little frustrating, quite a lot talk about lifeless steering feels and more of a safe but maybe boring drive, typical Volvo I guess.

DMZ

1,558 posts

167 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
I-Pace is the obvious choice out of those. Drives really well.

Uncle boshy

348 posts

76 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
I’ve not driven one, but I’ve seen good reviews of the Kia ev6 for driving fun, might be worth looking at

Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
essayer said:
Carfanatic44 said:
I thought £20,000 for a fun daily was a fairly reasonable ask, I wouldnt say it was asking for too much.
I’d be worried about iPace borkage, probably going to chuck a few big bills at you, but by all accounts a good steer
What's borkage? Is that what goes wrong with them?

Carfanatic44

Original Poster:

49 posts

2 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Uncle boshy said:
I’ve not driven one, but I’ve seen good reviews of the Kia ev6 for driving fun, might be worth looking at
I'm not sure if my meagre budget will stretch that far

Jag_NE

3,099 posts

107 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
For the drive and great practicality, the ipace by a mile.

Only caveat is you’d be mad to have one without the JLR extended warranty which is about 800 a year.

Factoring in the overall value and low running costs it’s a great choice

samoht

6,272 posts

153 months

Monday 23rd September
quotequote all
Carfanatic44 said:
What's borkage? Is that what goes wrong with them?
borken = broken

The batteries have issues, if your has then the max charge is software-capped to 70 or 80% of full until your local Jaguar dealer can replace the cells that are failing, for safety. Unfortunately the dealers are mostly terrible, have no incentive to care since they're losing the franchise soon, and parts supply is intermittent, so many owners have been left with hobbled batteries for months. Oh, and they can leak around the windscreen.

I think the poor dealers are a bigger bugbear than the actual car problems.