Quick update for anyone in a similar situation.

PHEV: the only thing I’ve found that’s available, meets the 10% BIK rules and meets most of what we want is the Passat GTE. It’s a lot of cash tho and some analysis suggests it’s looking marginal in terms of running through the company. And it’s only 6 inches shorter than my current car.

Other: As my 520 is way under mileage and in good condition I can give it back any time for zero cost (it has 3 payments to run). As I said before they REALLY want to keep me as a customer. The only non PHEV I’d consider is the 1 series. Drove the 118 m-sport today and it’s fine and they’ll do a monster deal on a new one but that got me thinking..

… if that deal is going to cost me £x, what else can I get. Before the whole PHEV idea I was going to buy a Skoda Korac. Having been through all this, that might be where I end up.

and it’s fine

I wouldn’t be buying car that I felt “fine” about.   Maybe have some fun and go for one of those Orange Fiestas, there’s a thread on here somewhere… 😉

e-cargo bike.

Al, you really need to study your usage profile carefully before choosing the PHEV option. We looked at the Outlander PHEV several years ago but the vast majority of our trips were travelling to the south coast about 6 times a week, 28 miles each way. On a warm day, wind behind us we might just have made it one way on the battery (claimed 32 miles) which meant using fuel on the way back. Carting those batteries round reduced the fuel consumption to something like 30mpg. I got 60mpg out of my old Audi (before it failed its MOT last year) so it simply didn’t make sense. I’d use the same amount of fossil fuels in the PHEV as I would the non-PHEV.

We sat and waited it out for the eGolf which we’ve now had 18 months and have found absolutely brilliant. Someone will be along shortly to say “the range on those is S**t” and comparatively it is but it meets our needs perfectly. We can easily do the south coast round trip and since lockdown we’ve been using it to drive stuff into C. London as Laura working from home. I’ve never charged it outside the home – I can’t deal with the idea that I’m dependent on a publically available socket being a) available and b) working. We have a bigger car for the big journeys that has road tax (sorry VED) of £30 and does 60mpg.

I’ve looked at carting bikes inside the Golf – I’m sure it’s doable but I took one look and couldn’t be arsed.

So you might be better off with a small full electric vehicle for the local trips and keeping something bigger which is relatively emissions friendly for the larger ones. I mean it’s not like you’re short of parking 😉

Jag have a electric SUV that looks alright, but… it’s a Jag. And electric. Not a combo I’d be keen on.

And an SUV.

I wouldn’t be buying car that I felt “fine” about.

I’m really not bothered about it. It’s a nice car but for that money there’s probably something that suits us better.

e-cargo bike

At some point I’ll get something like that. But it doesn’t solve the problem of say driving to Preston. And I’m not sure we’d get two labradors on one 😉

you really need to study your usage profile carefully before choosing the PHEV option

It was that chat we had at BPW last year Nig that put me on this road. I think we’d be fine for most of our local journeys – prob hereford and back is the longest which is about 26 miles. I always had factored in ‘half way charging’ at a supermarket or something if necessary but I take your point about not being dependant on UK crappy infrastructure.

The problem I have is I’ve no idea about future usage. I know I won’t be using the car as much for work (and I’d already started to take the train more anyway) but I’m not sure I can commit to fully electric.

Ideally a small-ish electric and a big-ish not very expensive thing would work. Except we’re trying to get down to one car.

Maybe I’ll just  buy something cheap-ish for cash in November and see how things play out in the next 12 months.

If anyone comes back searching for a similar thread, I thought I’d post the result.

Ended up with the petrol Karoq. Decided we will go full electric when the lease expired or mid way if Skoda come up with a full electric we can trade for.

Nice choice.  Im interested to know if you found there wasnt enough choice vs cost for mid sized electric?

This is the position we find ourselves in, in that if we wait a couple of years im pretty sure a decent priced small electric suv will be easier to buy.

Pretty much. The more I looked at PHEV, the more it felt like a transitional technology. It was a significantly higher cost to find out, so we decided we’d wait a couple of year to see what a) range of electric cars are on offer and b) if the UK infrastructure improves.

I’m probably less worried about b) as I don’t think I’ll be doing that many 300+ mile drives. Again tho, a couple of post COVID-19 years experience of work will help.

There’s a chance we’ll move house in 2-3 years as well and I expect we’ll move from very rural to semi rural which might also change our driving habits.

Ok so yes exactly the same.  We’ll be doing outer London school runs during the next 3 years, so it feels sensible to a) wait or b) get the XC40 Recharge on pcp so we have options to change to full electric in 3 yrs.