Thinking of buying a PHEV

@deadl0ck If you order now, it is likely you will be offered a cancelled order due for March deliveries. A lot of people ordered Model Y but will probably not be taking delivery because the price drop reduced the value of their model 3 much lower than expected due to the high number of Model Y orders relative to Model 3 trade-ins.

They don’t even want Teslas as trade-ins right now, as they are focused on new car deliveries. Any trade-in is farmed out for offers from other dealerships. Selling privately or using the likes of zucar is the best option. Even if the trade offer is not good, the price difference makes it a no-brainer when looking to the competition.

Definitely consider a full EV, but then I was never a fan of the half way house.

<<SNIP>>

OP said 40k was his budget. Now he is being advised to buy an EV for €44k which is higher than budget but possibly still within reach. He may order this today and get it tomorrow or get it in July. Then that amazing no brainer could possibly become €49k as opposed to €40k on any other EV he gets before July, any ICE he gets todays or any PhEv he buys this year

Nobody knows what is going to happen with the grant and also nobody knows how certain any car deliveries are, be it EV or ICE.

Leading people down the garden path isn’t a nice thing to do

Like I said nobody knows anything about car deliveries. <<SNIP>>

I would be wary of a model S, one guy here had 4 batteries replaced in his, your budget would mean buying a car with only a couple of years of warranty.

I was aware of the price drop on the 3&Y and would be tempted to purchase it, even though I dislike the interior, but petrol use of my phev is only 50 euro every 2 months or so,

why bother putting myself into debt to save 600 euro a year along with the uncertainty of public charging?

You mentioned the niro, range is probably 40 km, 5.5l/100km, your 60 km trip would cost you 7 units of electricity for 40 km and 1.1 litres of petrol.

If you buy a phev expect to use some petrol.

The k3 niro is 40k and the newer k4 is 43k, bigger battery closer to 50 km, another problem with the k3 niro is heating, to heat the car it needs petrol, I cannot say for the k4.

I passed by an X ceed phev the other day driving up to Dublin in my phev, yes a long trip of 300 km return, still have 33% of my petrol I bought last month, passed by ionity, ecars and apple-green hubs without the need to relieve myself or get a bite to eat, anyway I thought it was a nice looking car for 37k.

4000 euro is a lot of money for some, sometimes it can be justified in spending more to get more, like a 100 bhp increase plus fuel savings in the case of the Peugeots above.

I would prefer to compare a long range Tesla to a phev, the price difference is on a par or better than for the phev depending on make.

Its your money OP best of luck.

OP, my 2cent considering I'm awaiting delivery of a PHEV is that I'm making a change from a Diesel. When I bought the current car in 2016 I was coming from a company car and had no trade in car, did manage to use a car for scrappage when they had it and got 0% PCP. I kept the car after 3 years so it is now my trade in. If I didn't have a trade in now, with the APR rates and the much higher prices then I would not be buying the Tucson I've ordered, just couldn't financially justify it. Afford it, yes but justify it to myself then No.

My minimum daily mileage is 38kms and IF on a good day I get 50kms from the Tucson then I'd be happy. Concern is that the car despises you trying to use hot/cold air in the climate control and reverts to Hybrid/ICE out of full EV mode. However, I will still see a benefit from fuel savings based on my general usage. I will also be taking this PHEV to France(if it turns up) and of course irregular longer journeys. Sometimes I have to visit a customer(with mileage rates) so that will help cover a tank of petrol here and there.

Will a BEV be better? Yes, could I afford what I wanted BEV-wise when I ordered the Tucson, in the spec I wanted? No. With the Tesla price drop did I think of a Tesla M3? Yes, as it was cheaper but two things stood in my way. I didn't want to haggle for a trade in price as I knew Tesla wouldn't entertain my car and I had no interest in privately selling it and the other thing was I just don't like the look of the Tesla M3. Yes, I know people also think that the Tucson is butt ugly so hey ho. Did I consider other EVs? I did but I did the wife-test(she is also paying towards it but will never drive it) and pointed out cars "Do you like that car?" If it looks nice and she gets heated seats then I'm okay to order it except my list of requirements is much longer.

I'd give the phev a skip at this point. I sold mine in the summer. It did it's job of getting me to an EV but the only reason I bought it was I couldn't afford an EV at the time. If you have 40k then you are not in the sane boat.

The constant charging will play havoc with the already small battery. If you are doing 50km round trips daily then you will be charging 2-3 times a day. That's 600-1000 full charge cycles a year. In comparison if you get a model 3 it's more like 50-70.

Model 3 and Y are decent prices now. There are some cheaper options too. Depends on what size you want. The MG Model 4 for example is in the 28-36k range and is a great car.

My phev has a 12.8kw battery I think.

I get 50km.

That will happen in most case. Some others have very underpowered electric motors so may require the engine to kick in to accelerate hard or even maintain motorway speed

Other phevs will have settings to run on only electric or only petrol to suit your journey.

Motorway is not the best usage case for Phevs unless you can cover your full daily commute on battery only.

An important thing to remember with phev is that for them to work out for you, you really need to charge them every night and use the full battery every day.

I suspect many owners fail to run them like this, and often don't bother charging them each night and just use them like a petrol car.