Upgrading from an old petrol 1.8 car - PHEV/EV or a Diesel for the short to medium term?

Sounds pretty ideal for an EV. Look at the Nissan Note e-Power thread. I listed a bunch of EVs for under 40k there. It’s a short enough thread, but skip anything the OP wrote.

I have to say I had no issue with a Nissan Leaf and 3 kids in the back, including a full size baby seat. No problem especially for shorter journeys. Ordering most EVs now, you will be waiting several months, but any EV new will cover your needs as you have posted them.

So if you're looking for something RAV4 sized in a BEV then you're probably looking at an ID.4 or Enyaq or EV6.

Unfortunately that blows your 35k budget out of the water

However it's worth considering that any of those cars will be much cheaper to run so taking on a car loan for a year might not be bad economics

Also the waiting list is quite long so it's possible you'll have more money saved by then

If you're looking for a car sooner and can't go above €35k, then unfortunately you'll probably need to make some sacrifices on space or range

Peugeot e-2008, Hyundai Kona, Nissan Leaf 40 and Hyundai Ioniq 38 should all meet your range needs and probably fit into your budget

RAV4 PHEV for 35k? Add another 20k.

From my experience as a RAV4 PHEV owner, after the recent increases announced charging from the grid and running the car on electricity will be around 2 times cheaper vs petrol. That would save you ~€130 a month, ~€1500 a year, that's the best case scenario, assuming the ratio of 1L of petrol to 1kWh won't change and +90% of your mileage is EV. Is it worth it? Not in the short term for sure as you need to pay a premium price for the PHEV, I guess you will start seeing first savings after 3-4 years, assuming the price per kWh won't be €1 😂. But with you budget, I would be going with option 1 and looking to upgrade the car later, most likely to BEV.

Was gonna say the same. Option 1.5 :-)

Your short journeys suit a PHEV and you could pick up some solar electricity if the car is at home for a few hours a day.

Battery grant for solar PV has been discontinued. You'll be paying full market price for a grid tied battery and the extra cost for hybrid inverter vs regular one.

To be honest I would go PHEV over a Diesel.

Ok you might get a better diesel car for your 35k. Remember diesel only works best if you are ding a decent long run regularly to see the return but at 18000km a year, i wouldnt think you are there. Yes i know you say 100km twice or 3 times a month. But nearly any BEV would cover that also.

The newer model 2019 Rav4 Hybrid might squeeze in, which I would pick over a diesel, a step up over the older rav 4 size wise.

But you would get a nice newer Outlander with the 2.4 engine for the money.

I have a 330e now 2 weeks and 600km, it suits me, engine came on and I never noticed, do I care if I could have got 800 mpg instead of the 700 mpg, not really.

The car cost me 18000 euro, my options for up to 20 k electric, are zoe, leaf and i3, which in order, its small, crap battery and 4 seats, my mpg will go down when I go on a long journey but 50 euro it will cost is very small when I think of the arseing around at a charger.

For the op and 35k budget blowing it on an EV, when he can install solar and spend the rest on a cheaper-to-run car makes much more sense to me than worrying about some smoke,

To suggest that an ice car is far better because of image or whatever you think is going on is bordering on pathetic, especially when the 330i is slower, less fuel efficient, and more expensive,

Much better to stick to the old reliable rubbish like hauling around a heavy battery or some other crap.