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Original poster

To ask if you'd buy an electric or petrol car in these circumstances?

235 replies

minniecoop · 07/04/2025 10:40

I'm looking to buy a 2 to 5-year-old old car. I work from home, and the car will mainly be used for short local journeys on the weekend. Maybe once or twice a year I will travel 100 miles to see family, but I'm more than happy to stop off to charge the car and have some lunch, etc. I have a driveway and so I can charge the car at home.

I'm really not sure whether to go for electric or petrol. Petrol is obviously more familiar as it's all I've known, and as I drive so little I've never really noticed or been bothered by fuel costs. I would fill my car up with a tank of petrol and it would last me weeks. I'm looking at MINI Coopers specifically.

Would you go with an electric car or buy a petrol car for (probably) the last time before they're no longer made?

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 07/04/2025 10:57

Caspianberg · 07/04/2025 10:56

Electric.
Having had one 3 years now, we have never had an issue charging it. I have no idea why some people talk about no chargers about, that simply isn’t true.

100miles is also nothing for almost all electric cars. Ours would easily do 100miles there and 100miles back and we wouldn’t need to charge it at all.

I have had one for 2 years and had to queue for a charger once, for 10 minutes

Caspianberg · 07/04/2025 10:56

Electric.
Having had one 3 years now, we have never had an issue charging it. I have no idea why some people talk about no chargers about, that simply isn’t true.

100miles is also nothing for almost all electric cars. Ours would easily do 100miles there and 100miles back and we wouldn’t need to charge it at all.

Hoppinggreen · 07/04/2025 10:52

If you can charge at home then go electric
I did and would never buy an ICE car again unless there were very good reasons why I had to

SoSoLong · 07/04/2025 10:52

Electric as long as you can charge at home.

GasPanic · 07/04/2025 10:51

I think electric is only worth it if you can a) charge on your drive b) recover the cost of the battery by doing lots of miles.

So for example if you had to do 40 miles back and forward to work each day and could charge on the drive that would be worth it because your fuel bill would decrease a lot to recover the extra expense of the battery over time.

If you get the BIK then obviously they are worth it too.

I am not sure about hybrids, I have one. Yes most of my journeys are battery only, but I probably do not do enough mileage to cover the extra cost of the battery. Hybrids are also a lot more complex than either petrol or electric, so likely to go wrong more easily and be more expensive to fix. A hybrid is like having an electric with one of the key electric car benefits removed (cheaper maintenance).

BoldBlueZebra · 07/04/2025 10:46

I’d go petrol if you live outside of a city there’s just not the infrastructure to support electric vehicles en mass at the moment.

Gettingbysomehow · 07/04/2025 10:44

However, hybrids are a lot better as you have petrol backup should anything go wrong.

MesmerisingMuon · 07/04/2025 10:44

My parents have gone for an electric car and also have solar panels so it's charged for free.

They do mostly local driving with the odd 200 mile cross country trip where they stop en route to charge. They've had no issues.

I think my next car will be electric too.

Gettingbysomehow · 07/04/2025 10:43

I would never buy an electric car, there is just not the infrastructure to support it. I'd end up stuck down some country road or other with no charging point to be seen for miles. The UK just is not ready for it.
There was a documentary on a while back with some proper horror stories.

NorthernSpirit · 07/04/2025 10:42

I’d only invest in an electric car if you have the ability to put a charging point in at home.