Cheapest way to get a used EV?

I’ve just arrived at a similar decision as you @molgrips

50 quid per month battery lease is just **** mental when you can get a new car for less than 200 per month.

I can seemingly get a decent ish spec Leaf on a 2 year lease for 205pcm 9 months upfront and 10k miles.

Pre/post(hopefully) Covid I was a touring musician so did have the capacity to put some mega miles on a car/need a big range. I’m not that optimistic of a return to those days within the 2 year lease, and the savings on fuel etc would mean that I could hire a little petrol car as and when needed for far away gig sand still be better off.

I test drove a few Zoë’s before we bought one. The higher power motor is definitely worth it, as is the higher trim option. The lower power and basic trim I was going to walk away as it was too slow and ungainly. Dealer had a ze40 with leather interior (for substantially more ££). I tested it on a whim and it’s now parked in our drive. Was like a different car to the basic model. It still feels high to sit in (our golf estate is a nicer place to be). But our use case was town run around and station shuttle. It’s perfect for that. We are battery lease but there is a 90% season ticket discount on parking that more than covers that cost Vs an ice car (not that wife is commuting currently).

Just test-drove a Leaf. Overall, very nice. Seats not particularly any more comfortable than the Zoe but reasonable. Overall a very well thought out car – you sit lower, but the floor is higher than usual so for example in the back there’s only just enough room to get your toes under the front seat. But much more space in general in the back – the salesman was 6’5 and he sat in the back whilst my wife was in the front and his knees weren’t even touching the seat. Leaf is not really in the same category as the Zoe – it’s a family car, the Zoe is a city car really. Leaf is less fun to drive but a better position for long distances, and somewhere I could easily sit driving all day – somewhat ironically 🙂

Although if I had it, I’d want to put up with stopping to recharge because I’d want to drive it. I got back into our hire car which is manual petrol and it just seemed so utterly primitive as to be ridiculous. Why do I have to fart about with this clutch and gear stick and what’s that horrible noise all the time?

The Leaf lease deals are nearly back down to what they were pre Coronavirus. Currently on leasingdotcom £187pm ((9m up front) for an N-Connecta spec 5000miles pa. There was also a really good deal a few days ago thru Horizon Vehicle Leasing as linked on the speakev forum.

Also Hyundai Ioniq tends to be cheap to lease and there may be quite a few 2nd hand ones on the market now

Also from speakev https://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/deals/hyundai/kona-electric-hatchback/100kw-se-connect-39kwh-5dr-auto/3964737/85299897/

what’s that horrible noise all the time?

Wind

But more important than all this nonsense above What happened to the mighty Prius.

The mighty Prius is no more. Long years of loyal service and much restored performance following its battery refurb came to a sad smashed up front end on Monday. I’m broken up tbh.

Just discovered that both Hyundai options have more range than the Leaf. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal except for the fact that the 150 mile round trip to my parents’ is right on the limit of the Leaf’s likely range on a good day driven carefully. Would be a lot easier in a Kona or an Ioniq.

Apparently the Hyundai have CCS charging ports which is going to be more popular than the Chukademus one on the Leaf?

Thereæs still loads of Chad points locally, but it’s going to die at some point.

My neighbour has a Mazda CX-30, my ex has the MG- ?? Both of those are nice enough, price is right even though the range is meh…. Which battery Kona – the 64?
I’ll likely buy new next year – but not very sure what at all

Which battery Kona – the 64

No, the smaller one. It’s the only one available on the lease deals. I have no need for any more range than that because it’s a second car runaround. But at that mileage allowance, and that range, I could do most of my driving in it and the Passat would be only used for me at work and for holidays.

^That Kona lease is tempting.

Following this thread with interest. We’re looking to get rid of our diesel estate in favour of an EV. Test driving an Ioniq on Friday, already had a go in the MG5 EV which was nice enough but the lease deals on it aren’t very competitive for some reason.

Chademo wouldn’t worry me for a 2-3 year lease, but I’d be wary of buying a Leaf as a 10+ year prospect. Arguably you’re better served with it now (motorway services Ecotricity tends to have more chademo and it’s more reliable) but you’ll lose out on using Ionity and some of the future expansion. Almost all new cars are CCS now so that’s what will be prioritised.

Good point Simon – they’re unlikely to lose support in a couple of years.

Armed with a bit more knowledge I went back to zapmap and the majority of chargers I’d use on the way back from my parents have both connectors.

Well this is turning into a wild ride. The silly cheap deal from last night went before my credit application could come through (or it never existed in the first place…), and all the other Kona deals have pretty much been snapped up too. That leaves me with the Leaf, or an Ioniq which is better equipped, nicer in the back, but less cool looking inside. It should in theory be more aero but doesn’t get any more range than the Kona according to the WTLP.

The lady on the phone also said that the shorter term leases (24 months) are cheaper because they are less popular – and they are less popular because they are currently silly cheap and people think the renewal is likely to be more.

Given the number of hot deals that appeared and then disappeared today demand for leases might be high in April 2023.

Best thing I have ever seen on any car: On the Kona (and I think all the Hyundais) when you select ‘sport’ mode the nice smart blue and white dials on the digital dashboard fade out and are replaced with black and red boy racer style instruments. Made me laugh far more than it should have!

Ordered the Ioniq.

One less noisy smelly vehicle giving me asthma, thanks. 🙂

Well it came yesterday. Today my wife did the usual commute/school run in it, after I reset the stats, and it got 5.2 miles per kWh. Not too shabby.

As well as not having a cream interior which let’s face it is a deal-breaker for us!

Why do people have white or cream interiors? Especially Motability cars, they get filthy, but we get in Volvos, Mercs, BMW’s etc from the likes of Arval, and most show signs of wear even after less than a year.
I s’pose it’s cos it’s someone else’s car, so doesn’t matter. Except to the next owner…

@nixie is yours the signature model and is it the r or q 90? Just trying to get my head around Zoe’s, pretty close to buying a signature nav 2017 plate q90 42kwh. Leather heated seats with adjustable limber support, sounds s lot better than the lower spec ones