Electric cars.

Last month in Whitehaven was Leyland Nationals 50th anniversary with over 30 buses from around the country on show. Most of these buses were probably made just up the road at Lillyhall.

Leyland National, LN50 event. Plus the line up at the old factory. - YouTube

I was in town that day, I was well surprised how many people turned up.

 

Thanks for posting that gks. Oh happy memories, I remember at East Kent we had a fleet of brand new Nationals, us drivers were given an A4 sheet of instructions on how to drive them and not to thrash them. I managed to get just over 70 mph on one I was driving back empty

 

Well I went an ordered a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 SE Edition 5dr on a 48 month personal contract hire, 8k annual mileage. The car will be delivered early July as the only colour available is, Jade white, all other colours will be late 22 delivery.

The total cost for the 48 month contract comes out at £10,151 which includes road fund licence for the duration of the contract.

Yet the same car on a 2020 plate with 9997 miles on the clock, doing a 48 month PCP, with 8k annual mileage would cost me £11,058.

Used CORSA VAUXHALL 1.2 SE 5dr 2020 | Lookers

Due to the shortage of new cars, second hand cars are more than holding there money, the above car is £12,899. Yet on most of these, value my car sites, the true value of the car is probably between £9500 - £10500

 

Well, after receiving our new car I have since sold the VW UP. I sold the car through a website called, motorway.co.uk. Apart from having to take loads of images, it was quite straight forward, they valued the car at £6485, the car went live at 9.00am Friday the 2nd September and by mid afternoon I had a call from a dealership that they had purchased the car. He informed me that a driver would come to collect the car the following Monday and if the car was as described, a deal would be done at the asking price. The driver confirmed on arrival the car was exact to the description and images and the funds were transferred within minutes.

Out of curiosity, I checked the dealers website and 2 days later the car was up for sale at £7899. Whoever buys the car will end up paying £2434 more than what I paid for the car in May 2020, I still have the invoice, price £4,554.17 vat £910.83 total £5465

Just goes to show how we are still feeling the affects of lockdown with demand outstripping supply, I had a reserve of £6350, so I was well pleased they did not try to knock me down.

 

I did look at them, also cazoo and carwow but the valuation was a good few hundred less. I was well impressed how quick the car sold. When I had to phone them to activate the car for online sale they told me a reserve of £6350 was still a good price for a car that is high in demand, it was still better than the other sites valuation.

 

I am a member of the Honda Jazz forum and the guys who bought new Jazz models last year are being approached by their dealers who offer to repurchase them for more than the original purchase price.

 

Prices are out of control in Germany as well. Seems like a lot of people want to buy used cars now instead of new ones.

I already dread the moment when my wife wants to have a third child. Our sturdy Skoda Fabia Combi (Station wagon) won't be able to handle it.
And with Skodas newly announced S7 BEV Family Van still years away (let alone used) it will be a tough one. Those family cars are EXPENSIVE. Especially when you don't know how long you will be able to drive them...

 

There is still quite a lead time for new cars, as for a new VW UP, not sure. I know a new Polo is about 20 weeks, which is probably the shortest delivery date of the VW's.

When the VW UP came out in 2012 it had a starting list price of £6500 today it is about £14000, they have cut down on the petrol version models, so hard to say like for like. The £14k is the cheapest one they do now.

The VW Group announced record profits for 2021, even though they sold less cars, which was the same for Merc's BMW's and Tesla etc etc. The VW Group have been prioritising the manufacturing to premium and luxury models to boost revenue, so no surprise budget cars are so much more expensive. According to websites like, "buy a car" etc, new cars have gone up in price on average by 30% going by PCP contracts. The VW Group announced that all new combustion engine cars will go up an extra 1.5%, making the combustion engine car more expensive compared to an EV and not that EV's have dropped in price. But what worries me most, they are going to adopt a policy of quality and margins over volume and market share. Getting a new car for sub 20k in the near future could soon be a pipe dream for many of us.

VW Group to Axe 60% of Its Models Across Brands, Puts Focus on Premium and Electric Cars - autoevolution

 

There is a piece in the Telegraph regarding the range of an EV.

The truth about electric car range: how far an EV will really go on a full charge (telegraph.co.uk)

If I took out a contract on an electric Corsa, which would of cost me an extra £8960. Also, with a WLTP of 175 miles, we would not of got to Lincoln Uni on one charge. Going by the above link, at best a Corsa e will do 140 miles. A return trip to Lincoln is 448 miles, so 2 full charges would be needed. I doubt I could get there and back on a single tank of petrol, but a splash and dash would be sufficient.

 

EV range is like mpg. Everyone drives differently and gets different mpg. With anticipation and careful management of your energy, it is possible to make big improvements. I am on a Jazz forum and the majority of owners of a similar model to me get about 40 - 45 mpg. I have had mine for just over 6 years, have driven 61.5K miles in that time and have a calculated average mpg of 55.5 mpg, so with an EV I would likely get WLTP or possibly better.

 

My Mrs was telling me about her work colleague and how a fire caused by an e-scooter has left her dad in Newcastle hospital and totally gutted their home.

The e-scooter could actually be owned by the council which you can rent, it had been left outside the property and has exploded. Most times when I go into town, I have seen these e-scooters just abandoned on the street, most people said it was only a matter of time before there was an accident.