Zippy, I couldn’t find it in my app but logged on via website and it gives an option to change tariff.

Says something about a loyalty tariff and it’s not presented if I’m not logged on so looks like you need to be on Octopus already

I locked in

Thats interesting, like a drug I’m hooked on the ~30% discount off svr that tracker offers on elec (~20% on gas).

Am I being naive and should be anticipating a high risk of both svr and tracker shooting up this winter? I guess nobody can say

I like the sound of the big engined BMW, is it shocking on the smaller little pootles? – i ask as the Op sounded like s/he does alot of them and only a few trips stretching the legs a bit further on longer trips.

I’m way too influenced by money hence freezing my nads off on a little moped but I reckon if the Op isn’t then something like that could be rather nice…consider it a “last chance to see drive” decision.

As range has been mentioned recently above, I don’t think it was mentioned that another disadvantage of PHEVs seem to be that they run out of both electric and petrol pretty quick (i.e. small fuel tank).  At least on my wife’s Outlander

Whatever you do don’t ever buy a campervan! 

Hold up, that’s a good point.  What if I can’t afford a hotel room and plan to sleep in my car?  And how’s that any different to pulling a campervan up for a night on the way somewhere? (phrased such that you’ve not booked a campsite for example).

Edit: snap jonnyboi

@Stcolin. I have a PHEV and a EV motorbike (so small battery) . I decided the ~10% extra against std variable rate (svr) you pay for peak on an EV tariff wasn’t worth it. I’m on a daily tracker tariff which historically is 30% less than svr and it’s working well. 

My view on the OPs dilemma is going full EV if he can find one big enough to satisfy his need. I think PHEV now isn’t as attractive with so many full EV options available but of course if it’s only a financial decision the extra cost of buying an EV can see payback being a considerable amount of time if you’re not doing many miles

Thanks mattfez, yeah, that was my thinking but I’m exceedingly tight so although I’ve managed to prise the wallet open for a couple of trains so far I’ve never quite got up the courage for a taxi, instead walking the 3.5miles from the train station up into the village I live in. My logic being if I’d go for a walk in the woods for an hour, why not this to avoid a taxi fare lol

Ive pretty much gone the other way, ditched the car and commuting by a motorbike/moped and am worried about having no noclaims if I get another car in the future.

To maintain my no claims discount I’m insuring the family car in my wife’s name one year, mine the next and so on. So that there’s no more than a year’s gap in qualifying bonus.

Seems like a free lunch to me so I signed up. Not going to make me rich but money for nothing and all that. 

What it did do, was make me realise that WhatsApp has introduced channels (subscribed to Octopus channel so that I get notified of the special periods) 

@ElVino. Interesting perspective from the right side of the pond.

There’s no border control between each state right? So isn’t it a case of lowest common denominator – meaning you just go get your automatic rifle from the next state across?

I’ve had my panels up in a pigeon infested wood for 12-13 years and never had an issue, just saying.

Having said that, if I did it now, cost v risk I’d probably do it 

After Newbury 

I thought for a moment you were talking about the Battle of Newbury and wondered how old you were.  I assume you’re talking about the Hungerford Massacre – pedantic but just avoiding my brother pinging me to tell me there’s been a killing in my village :)

Which one’s that? The one they are currently building on a cliff on the Ilkley end of town?

They must have started running out of flood plains to build on  hey! :)

@brian2.  I don’t blame you, my house/garden is bigger than I want (and nowhere near the size of yours).  I have 20yrs on you and even still I have dread walking the 50yards to my office as there is always something new to add to the maintenance list.  Only regret the decisions you don’t make – life’s too short to make decisions on money alone.

I’m seeing the same out in Berkshire in a village that generally has good demand.  Properties on for last year’s prices just sit with no interest and eventually get pulled.  They’re generally affluent people that can afford to “sit it out”.

I feel sorry for those that were almost bullied onto the market in the last few years that will be forced to sell come what may when their mortgage deal comes to an end.  I feel next year this sort of thing will really kick in hopefully causing a bit of a price correction but yes, I’m in no doubt that it will benefit those-that-have more than anyone it needs to

A little bit of a tangent, but my brother is for all intents and purposes German now (interestingly he doesn’t give up his UK passport).  Since brexit he has developed a feverish xenophobia for anything English.

He takes great joy in pinging me every time there’s a stabbing death in the UK claiming it’s unsafe to be in the country.  Now, I appreciate England has got a little “stabby” recently but another factor is our media loves reporting on it.  The reply when I show stats showing Germany has 3x more instances? And (back on subject) 6x more deaths by shooting? – “tHeY’Re jUsT NuMBeRs”

I get the point you’re making, and am all for blaming religion for suffering out there, but the links don’t show that the shooter had any ties to Christianity, or any other religion.

Been with autoaid for a while, bit frustrating that their prices are increasing but understandable I guess.

Check out if groupon have an offer on them, and topcashback of £17 is well worth it.

Really useful information in the posts overnight.  It highlights that I need more thought before stepping into the gym.

It has encouraged me to sign up to a local class in my village to see if that different experience helps me set a good routine.  I have a feeling it’s having to get on my moped in the dark/misty/wet mornings to go to the gym 5 miles away that breaks my routine, more than the experience when I’m there.

All this talk did enocurage me to do 30 mins of yoga in my home gym this morning so not in vain!  Thanks for taking the time to comment everyone

Cheers All, appreciated.

I looked up “Trenbolone” thinking he may be a YouTube covering this topic :) 

Ah yes, I forget that South Oxfordshire stretches quite a way to the east of Reading also.  Sorry, good luck with your search.

Just want to piggyback and say thanks for the contributions as I want a warm, relatively smart winter jacket and some of these are spot on!

Hey, we’re North of Newbury so can’t be far off you.  I’d be happy to recommend M L Hedges @ Chaddleworth.  https://maps.app.goo.gl/5ShQQZnzeyw8YwtWA.  Mick I think has retired now but the standard of brickwork finish by his son (must be late 40s now himself) was very good on our house.  Not saying he’s got great availability mind you.

@snotrag.  Sorry, I had a 50:50 chance of recalling the correct one that works well in low temperature….and got it wrong!

.. Or just by 3 lots of mtbing gear! :)

Careful with dehumidifier if you go that route. There’s 2 types : I think it’s the condenser type that works well at very low temps. I went for this in my office-shed but it does rather limit it’s use at other times.

That said, small room, clothes horse, sheet over the top and dehumidifier blowing in works wonders for me

Truely horrific.  4?… of 20,000?!? Knowing how organised Russia is there’s not a chance that such an influx of children in this manner has resulting in abuse of any kind.  I can only imagine the psychological damage this has had on those children, let alone those left to experience the war.

Reading the report, what do you understand of the BBC’s line “However the number of those deported is thought to be much higher”.  Do they mean to move Ukranians from the occupied land?  Where to; unoccupied parts of Ukraine or to Russia – as if it’s the later surely that too is abduction.

I know it’s not what you asked but I notice trains are direct to Portsmouth/Southsea so could you ferry/hovercraft over and hire on the island?

Thanks for having an open mind, I thought so but then maybe I drive like a nun lol

There is of course the elephant in the room which is the shockingly small range meaning it really doesn’t work for many people.

My biggest gripe is that as 90% (maybe 80% now to be fair) of my miles are on fairly efficient EV it makes it damn hard to justify any cost to move to full EV! It pushed me down the route of replacing the 2nd car with an EV motorbike, that’s closer to 15m/kw but comes with its own constraints! :)

I’ve not tried that kind of optimum environment. I kind of mean on a good day (warmer, not too much stop:starting on the country roads, 50mph restriction on the motorway bit etc).

Like I say, way better options out there if miles/kw were the only consideration but nowhere near as inefficient as has been implied.

@IanC. My phev would go best case 30 miles on 7.5kw of battery, now 20 on 6kw. It’s very similar #s to what you experienced in your i4

It’ll depend on your energy use pattern. We can charge 2-3 times a day as we make a number of small trips each day (could argue we’re not carrying around a large battery that we don’t need the range for).

We find we can’t move much of our use from peak so tracker works for us

Matt, the mitsubishi battery is poorly designed compared to even the older leaf in so far as you’ll get nothing like 12/13kw charge in it as they held such a large amount back for battery mgt.

The term is “usable battery”, on a 12kw mitsubishi you could only ever put in 9kw (say 10kw to allow for loss).

Octopus tracker was <12p/kw on Sunday.

It’s aged, it’s wallowy, slow with a noisy VVT engine. The remote app is sketchy, the dealer network even more so. Oh and the controls in the door aren’t lit so useless at night (just so nobody thinks I’m a fan boy).

I still maintain if you can’t afford a full EV, or it helps to avoid owning a 2nd car, you drive majority of your miles on the ltd range it has then it’s still a viable solution. While the range is limited it is impressive that it still does similar miles/kw of normal EVs.

We bought ours 5yrs back with a large disabled elderly family member that couldnt get into normal cars, a new born with all the gubbins that comes with, a need to get out of the woods we live in which includes a very steep off-road hill. It was the same price as an equivelant without battery so I don’t regret the decision.

Yup, theres a charge button next to the save button, both next to the handbrake. I can see the logic of saving the battery till you hit a city but can’t really see a benefit in charging the battery off petrol, I’ve always assumed it’s inefficient

It’s inefficient precisely because it’s big and also not very aero. Those are disadvantages of any car, in my view 🙂

Haha, fair enough.  I was being practical, comparing it to similar cars in it’s class.  I hadn’t thought to compare it to a Nissan Micra – you are right, it’s inefficient.  Christ

It’s inefficient precisely because it’s big and also not very aero. Those are disadvantages of any car, in my view 🙂

Haha, fair enough.  I was being practical, comparing it to similar cars in it’s class.  I hadn’t thought to compare it to a Nissan Micra – you are right, it’s inefficient.  Christ

You’re right sorry, probably 184kg…

https://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1410

Yeah, I’m sure as many people hate them as like them. I’m kind of somewhere in between, just would prefer discussion was around facts than falsehoods

Yes, that was clear in my 1st post.  Why would I be providing any input into this thread if I didn’t?

I guess you thought the OP was asking people what ill conceived fallacies they’ve read about the car in question

Ineffecient on ICE? – like you say, they are big & carrying 300kg of battery so not too disappointed as a real user with 35-40mpg

Inefficient on EV? – 6kw usable battery gets me best case 24 miles / 18 winter (4m/kw or 3m/kw). For a car that size that doesn’t seem inefficient.  Naturally, if your average journey is more than this then you can look away now.

I recall that news article, it had no evidence to support it and seemed just to be driving clicks by appealing to what people wanted to hear. Even if true, they didn’t come with type 2 chargers from memory so they’re referring to 3-pin granny cables so not surprised if they weren’t used –  I could count on one hand the # of times I’ve used my granny cable.

Look, I’d be the first to admit they have a limited use case (I’d not buy one again for example as my needs have changed) but if it hits them it’s still a viable option.  It’s a little ironic that this isn’t appreciated when EV owners (I am one of these also) then get frustrated in forums with ICE drivers thinking that because EVs don’t work for their use case then they can’t work for anyone.

I’d imagine the 25mpg on petrol would more than offset any commuter savings.

OP estimates 90% of their miles being local so to avoid owning a 2nd car the PHEV sounds like a good fit to their use case.  Where’s the 25mpg coming from please? – it seems Honest John supports the 35mpg feedback from the 2 or 3 people above that have actually owned one?

i thought they were a creation purely for a company car, BIK tax dodge

And from the same paper: “Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster”

i thought they were a creation purely for a company car, BIK tax dodge

And from the same paper: “Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster”

Yup, late 2015 model owner here too.  I echo what the actual owners above are saying – 35mpg generally if you are doing a long motorway trip, apporaching 40mpg if you drive like a nun.  A bit agricultural in handling compared to similar sized vehicles I’ve been in.

My battery is about 6Kw usable battery now (come out of the factory with 9Kw usable as hold back a fairly large 25% to protect the battery).  If you’re serious you can buy a dongle (OBD) very cheaply, download PHEV watchdog on andoid and see how healthy the car you want to buy is.

If it fits your use case, it’s not a bad option if not a little dated.  For us it’s versatile enough to allow us to get rid of our 2nd carwhere no other option (that we could afford) would.