Seeking Advice on a Car for Infrequent Use [8k - 13k]

If you have a driveway get an EV like a Nissan Leaf, you can pick one up for €5k with decent range remaining

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/price-drop-nissan-leaf-2015-11-bars/34240205

Spend a bit of the extra on a home charger, and start looking up electricity rates

It's literally the cheapest form of except walking or cycling

If you'd like to be able to go beyond 100km then consider getting a PHEV, however you'll still ideally want a home charger to make the best of it

I bought an 07 Prius with new nct for €2k recently. Plenty of them out there for less than €5k.

Its not as if your leaving the car sitting for weeks at a time.

Dang, having a home charger does make life a lot easier with an EV

If you're in an apartment block or managed estate then I'd enquire with the management company about installing your own charger

It only works if you have designated parking

Unfortunately the councils will likely say no to installing a charger for on street parking

Checkout a site called Plugshare and see what chargers are available in your area. With the mileage you're doing you could probably get away with one charge a week, so living off public charging is doable, although not necessarily the cheapest alternative

I would give serious consideration to a PHEV if there's a cheap charger nearby, you'll at least have the option of both

Regarding reliability, there's not much more reliable than an EV, many drivers have gotten through years of ownership without replacing any components, only minimal servicing

As for leaving the car for a few days without using it, there's a lot of myths around this so let me try to clear it up

Charging a battery up to full puts it under stress, and the longer it's left like that it will accelerate degradation

It's generally better to try to leave the car at a lower percentage (~80%) if it's sitting idle for a few days and only charge to full if you know you'll need it

Now begs the question, how big a problem is it? And the answer is, probably not a big one

If you were to charge the battery to full and leave the car idle for a week, every week, then after a few years you'd likely see a couple of percent more degradation than other cars

If you charge the car to full one night thinking you'll be doing a long journey the next day, then cancel your plans, don't worry about it. It isn't going to do any noticeable damage

The engine itself is fairly bullet proof. I’ve bought a couple of them with over 230,000 miles.

There is a way to test the hybrid battery in the infotainment system, I would recommend doing that, and make sure it works correctly during the test drive.

Same with the gearbox, make sure it selects all gears and operates smoothly.

A Yaris or Auris is a safer bet, but I just much rather the Prius being an automatic hybrid.

No automatic gearbox, no hybrid system, cheaper parts

A hybrid Auris has the same engine and gearbox as a Prius

Yes but the majority of Auris’s in OP’s budget will be manual petrols I’d imagine.

OP is 6 foot 3

This thread is right up my road. Looking to get a 2nd car as the main one (1.4Tsi Octavia) will be away at the office a lot more. Small runaround (possibly) needed to cart the sprogs around to activities and quick trips to the shops etc. 10km radius driving. Dont have a driveway so wont go EV route for this case.

Don't have the height concern and 5k was my initial budget so Yaris or similar. Never considered Prius but would they ultimately use a bit more juice being larger petrol engines or it tips in favour due to the lower speeds along the journey?

Would going up another 2k to get the likes of the Aygo above be sensible for generally younger car reasons like NCT?

Appreciate any help, thanks!