Adaptive cruise control to maintain speed… Lane keeper jerks are scary… arrives at destination less tired… 🤔

You’re not having a good sleep during your commute are you mmannerr?

mikertroid
Free Member
The whole thing was a disaster as far as he was concerned. No benefit to lugging around a heavy battery and motor setup….when it worked.

There was an investigation that found huge amounts of plug-in hybrids were being handed back (after x years) with the charging cable still in its original packaging. They were/are just a big tax swindle

We have a new Ford Puma with the 1.0 litre 155hp ecoboost engine. It’ll cruise all day at 70mph doing around 2200 revs and giving us just over 57mpg at the same time!

There was an investigation that found huge amounts of plug-in hybrids were being handed back (after x years) with the charging cable still in its original packaging. They were/are just a big tax swindle

In this chap’s case he’d fully charged his car.

Certainly for the OP’s needs a hybrid doesn’t make sense.

There was an investigation that found huge amounts of plug-in hybrids were being handed back (after x years) with the charging cable still in its original packaging. They were/are just a big tax swindle

I’m sure there’s some truth in that, but also confident many will have plugged in to a tethered wall point. My wife’s ID3 still has the cable unused in the boot, but it’s charged once a week…

I don’t have a PHEV, but they make a lot of sense for me. 90% of my days are under 20 miles when I don’t commute, but big miles on the other 10%.

520D v 530D was the decision I had to make back in 2017. As I said before ended up with a pre-registered 520D. The run-flats were the worse thing about it. If you get the option to ditch those, I’d take it. Also defo SE over M.

Us out of town folk should be driving Diesels

No, EVs are fine there too really. The only justification for ICEs now is if you can’t afford a decent EV or if you can’t charge at home. And that last one is debatable.

mikertroid
Free Member
In this chap’s case he’d fully charged his car.

Not doubting it, was judging the car (companies) rather than the driver

iamtheresurrection
Full Member

I’m sure there’s some truth in that, but also confident many will have plugged in to a tethered wall point. My wife’s ID3 still has the cable unused in the boot, but it’s charged once a week…

I don’t have a PHEV, but they make a lot of sense for me. 90% of my days are under 20 miles when I don’t commute, but big miles on the other 10%.

That makes sense for an EV, but not one of the PHEVs with a joke range. With PHEVs (like everything really) you need to look at the whole driving picture. Yes really short journeys are covered, but when your economy then plummets below 30MPG on longer runs is it really worth it?

Still a massive BIK swindle mind 😉

The only justification for ICEs now is if you can’t afford a decent EV or if you can’t charge at home. And that last one is debatable.

Or that they don’t make a desirable EV? The choice is between an SUV which is next to useless, or a rehashed Vauxhaull Vectra-lookalike Tesla. Both of which wouldn’t suit my needs range-wise anyhoo.

Affordability IS an issue for most of the country. Zero cost to continue with my setup. My next few cars will be ICE. maybe when H2 comes in, it’ll be worth a look.

I’ll wait out and enjoy my practical. ICE estates in the meantime.

You’re not having a good sleep during your commute are you mmannerr?

No, this WFH thing is robbing my daily naps at the wheel.
I’m actually talking about my holiday drives, 850km per direction. Usually there are some queues because of the caravans and lorries – passing them is not always an option.

No, EVs are fine there too really. The only justification for ICEs now is if you can’t afford a decent EV or if you can’t charge at home. And that last one is debatable.

Or if you tow a caravan?

The choice is between an SUV which is next to useless,

Why is an EV SUV next to useless?

Or if you tow a caravan?

They do exist as well. If we can afford it when the current EV goes back, we’ll get an EV for towing.

Has anyone done caravanning with electric cars? Seems like a lot of faff.

If you have a caravan hitched, how will it be possible to use the majority of public EV chargers? They only have space for a car, so you’d be unhitching the caravan to get into the bay, and presumably finding somewhere to leave the ‘van. Then hitching it back up again.

I guess if you’re used to the logistics of caravanning, then adding stays at caravan sites with a charger within the towing range of your EV becomes part of the ‘fun’? Seems like a lot of hassle though.

Why is an EV SUV next to useless?

Well, an SUV is useless, an EV SUV even less so for me.

SUV: large on outside, less room than estate inside. Size means lack of agility on country roads (95% of my 20k miles a year). Harder to park in smaller spaces. Heavy. Basically a strange answer to a problem that didn’t exist.
Only popular because manufacturers had to invent a new segment to boost sales and people have a strange notion that being further away from ground is a good thing! 😆

If an SUV floats your boat, good for you!

EV Estate? Not seen one.

Well, an SUV is useless, an EV SUV even less so for me.

Sub-optimal, not actually useless. But EV SUVs exist because it’s easier to cram the batteries in. There’s a small and large battery version of the Hyundai Kona, but only a small battery version of the Ioniq, for example. However the Ioniq 5 is pretty big in the boot, there’s not a lot of difference between that and a smaller estate I don’t think. Also whilst EV SUVs are tall they aren’t top heavy because of several hundred KG of battery right on the floor in the middle. And they are heavy for the same reason. There are small EVs but apart from Tesla you won’t find small long range ones. I suspect Tesla are playing it loose with their battery management though, but time will tell.

The MG one is labelled an estate, by the press, not sure if it is or not.

Thanks Molgrips.

I’ll stick to the OPs methodology of a decent sized ICE wagon until something better (for my needs) than EV comes along.

Today bought a late 2019 Mercedes E Class 220d fully loaded with all the kit and toys, including adaptive cruise, self steering and parking. Even can drive it remotely from my mobile phone

Nothing really in it between that and the 5 series, except I’ve been in BM’s for 10 yrs or so, so will be a nice change. The Merc looks and feels posh, the BM was just like our 3 series.

Will be interesting to see what real world mpg it gets

That sounds good!
Colour, mileage, price?

Choosing to drive 500 miles a week is bad, but it’s potentially justifiable in many people’s minds

For two years I was occasionally doing that a day! It was for work, in a very wide variety of vehicles, though.
Now doing roughly 155 miles a week for work commute. Which doesn’t do much for fuel consumption in a 1.0 three-cylinder turbo, compared to the 1.9 diesel I used to have.
On steady motorway runs, however after two hundred miles, the available range is higher than when I started.
I don’t buy this obsession with needing a big engine for long motorway runs – a Smart fourtwo is just as comfortable and more frugal, cos I’ve done it. Definitely a lot less space, though…

This is the kind of thread people will look back on and wonder WTF we were thinking.

Also, I wouldn’t be encouraging my son to try and make it in football as a career.

At top UK football clubs, only one in 200 of those under nine make it to the senior team. There are obvious psychological effects on young footballers having to cope with not only the time demands and pressure of being part of a professional club but often the brutal rejection following years of commitment.

It also takes its toll on the body by subjecting young players to more frequent and intensive loads. Between 10% and 40% of football injuries among children and adolescents are from playing too much. Players under 14 incur more training injuries than older players and they develop growth-related disorders linked to overplaying because their skeletons and tissue are still growing.

https://theconversation.com/making-young-children-give-everything-to-football-is-a-bad-idea-heres-why-61526

https://www.insider.com/michael-calvin-shocking-statistic-why-children-football-academies-will-never-succeed-soccer-sport-2017-6

SUV: large on outside, less room than estate inside. Size means lack of agility on country roads (95% of my 20k miles a year). Harder to park in smaller spaces. Heavy. Basically a strange answer to a problem that didn’t exist.

My OH has a Kia Sportage. It’s got no larger footprint than my 3 series, certainly more space inside, weighs less, easier to park has you’ve more ‘visibility’ and tows 2.2t vs 1.8t of my 3 series.

The only disadvantage is it’s heavier on fuel, with near enough the same engine size & power. But since it cost £10k less for a higher spec, still cheaper overall.

But what EV can tow 2.2t (horse trailer & horse), as we’d be interested?

Today bought a late 2019 Mercedes E Class 220d fully loaded with all the kit and toys, including adaptive cruise, self steering and parking. Even can drive it remotely from my mobile phone

Does it have a sunglasses holder?

Had plenty of 220CDI Mercs. Never got more than 50mpg average out of them but that included town driving. On a long run mine would usually be good for 60+mpg if i did 70-75mph. My collegue had an Eclass version and was pretty similar figures to me.

Today bought a late 2019 Mercedes E Class 220d fully loaded with all the kit and toys, including adaptive cruise, self steering and parking.

Mine is a 2.1l diesel and is pretty shit on fuel but the later models have a better engine and a 9 speed gearbox which I think will help. I get 48 on A roads doing my best (which is pretty good) and the best I’ve seen on a motorway is 50 but that was only about 40 miles. It does apparently get better. And on the motorway apart from the engine note which you can’t really hear if you have the stereo on it’s barely distinguishable from the v6 so there’s no real reason to get the bigger engine IMO. I’d call that a decent choice.

I’ve also got daft big wheels which means I can only get sporty noisy uneconomical tyres for it which probably knocks 3-4mpg off. You’ll probably get mid 50s at least.

Also, I bet you never use self parking. Far too much trouble!

But what EV can tow 2.2t (horse trailer & horse), as we’d be interested?

Tesla Model X, BMW iX. Hope you have deep pockets 🙂

I rented a 2018 or 2019 e class (hybrid diesel estate with a stupid lump in the middle of the boot floor) with self steering – found that it required a really firm grip on the wheel to consider that you were still paying attention (otherwise it’d drop out). I foudn this uncomfortable enough that it made use of the feature unpleasant, so I gave up. It might be that the one I had was a bit broken..

There was an investigation that found huge amounts of plug-in hybrids were being handed back (after x years) with the charging cable still in its original packaging. They were/are just a big tax swindle

I don’t doubt it for a moment.

A couple of my old neighbours had those PHEV Outlanders, I never saw them plugged in, a lot of my clients have BMW PHEVs, again they don’t plus them in. It’s £500 – £1000 for a home charging station, but you get the reduced BIK whether you plug them in or not, and in fairness, they still work as self-charging hybrids if you don’t charge them.

A PHEV would work well for me, I could go days, weeks even without ever starting the ICE, sadly, especially at the moment, I can’t afford one, the PHEV version of my car would cost me about £20k more than the value of mine, or I could lease it for merely £576 a month.

So just a further update.

Avg MPG appears to be high 40’s and on motorways mid 50’s. No engine noise on the motorway at all but it is a bit noisy putting your foot down etc.

Mercs just dont have ergonomics or common sense nailed like BMW do, especially for the passenger to change radio channels etc.

The revelation for me is the self driving modes. At the weekend I drove from Stockport to Wrexham without touching the accelerator or brake once (after getting on the motorway) it even slows you down for roundabouts and accelerates out of them automatically.

The auto steering thing is ok but it does wander occasionally, but just being able to indicate and it changes lane is a good gimmick!

In terms of the original brief it certainly fits the bill. Motorway driving is so much easier and more relaxed.

but just being able to indicate

that’ll take some getting used to, after years of driving BMWs

Mercs just dont have ergonomics or common sense nailed like BMW do, especially for the passenger to change radio channels etc.

One of the things I like about my Merc is the driving ergonomics, it’s one of the main reasons I like it. I am not sure about yours but the passenger can access all the same buttons and use the command knob in the exact same way I can.

Yep I don’t think I could do without my driving assists now. Mine isn’t quite as intelligent, adaptive cruise control has to come off for roundabouts etc but the lane keep assist and cruise control make a 7hr trip to Scotland a breeze.

but the passenger can use the command knob…

The small boy in me had a little titter at that… 🤪