Help me choose a car!

[Siddalee]

In a few months time. I start a new job! Its a big step up in terms of responsibility and salary but also in terms of travel.

I currently work just 4 miles away from where I live but this new job is going to mean travelling between 40-80 miles per day (dependent upon which office I'm in) mainly on the motorway

I currently drive a small '04 diesel car and get through just one tank of fuel per month. I'd like to get a newer car which will be comfortable for longer journeys but want to keep an eye on travel cost

I'm ashamed to say that at the age of 50+, having driven since the age of 17, I've never chosen a car before! My husband has a particular manufacturer he likes, so we've always bought from their range, buying something nearly new and then driving it until we scrap it and then getting another.

But I've put my foot down- I'm having the car I want! However, I'm getting more and more confused the more I look- so please help me out!

Would a fully electric car be a good choice?
Would I be better with a hybrid car? If so what type of hybrid?

What models can you recommend?

I think a hybrid would be the best idea.

what size are you thinking of?

I mean your putting your foot down and listening to mumsnet instead of your husband..?

You need to post a budget for a start

Thanks

Although I currently have a small car for driving to work, we also have a large, estate car for days when all the family are together. I'm tall (6fT) but I'm the smallest of the four adults still living in our house- not that all four are often in the car together- so I'm looking for something on the larger size

Budget- now that could be another thread! We usually buy cars on personal loans and pay them off in 4 years, keeping them for up to 10 years before they go to the scrap heap in the sky. However, we bought our last one outright.
So since we last looked at car finance, things have moved on and it seems to be all PCP now- which I need to look into

I'm looking a monthly payment of around £500-£700 if that helps

You're likely to be doing 15,000 miles a year or more; I'd stick with a diesel to be honest (but trade up to a newer one). It'll be a lot more efficient for those longer motorway drives.

Hybrids are most efficient with lots of around-town driving; if you're mostly on the motorway, you won't get the benefit of the hybrid system in efficiency terms.

With that mileage, I'd be looking at something with comfortable seats. Some kind of Volvo or Mercedes, maybe.

The cars I've looked at have been in the £40-£50K bracket- which considering my first car cost £500 is making me 😳

Thanks- I thought that about hybrid cars too.

Yeah I think a Mercedes E-Class or Volvo S90/V90 might be good starting points.

Both exceptionally comfortable cars, well-designed seats, built to waft up and down motorways all day long, plenty of toys, and you can spec a terrific sound system. (I used to drive 55 miles a day... I got through an awful lot of albums and audiobooks.)

Diesel is the obvious answer most people will give and out of purely internal combustion engine (ICE) cars that would be the right choice but things now have changed with most models available with various forms of electrification. A mild hybrid will be charged by the ICE but give an increase in mpg. A hybrid again is charged by the ICE but gives a greater increase in mpg and can run in EV mode. You then have PHEV which you plug in as the name suggests which gives you even more EV range with the benefit of ICE too but the fuel tank size is smaller to compensate for needing to have batteries, then there is the full EV vehicles which will have a range dependent on the kWh if the battery. For instance a medium sized car with 39kwh battery should give you a range of approximately 120 miles subject to weather conditions/ other drains on the battery like radio/air con/heater/wipers etc. a larger 64kwh battery increases that average range to 180 miles. You also need to factor in costs of either installing a home charger or using a public charger whilst sitting and waiting for the car to charge.

Personally I would be looking at either a Hybrid Electric vehicle or a full Electric Vehicle.

With those distances I would not get a hybrid car. You will be paying petrol prices to drive heavy batteries around. Hybrids not good for that sort of range unfortunately.

For your budget, I'd have a look at the Honda HRV Hybrid which is brand new. Alternatively and much cheaper a lowish mileage C class merc saloon, that's 6/7 years old, diesel, that you can run into the ground by 2030.

Keep an eye on Ulez zones and emissions.

I’d look at an electric car - the Volvo electric suv or at work (NHS) we have a fleet of Kia e-Niro which doing a large daily mileage of town and country driving depending on the service. The Scottish fire brigade also uses them. They have a great mileage range.

We used to have a Jaguar XF, it was soooooo comfortable and lovely to drive on the motorway with the auto transmission.

Sold it because we realised most of our journeys were at 25-30mph and it just didn’t suit the car which was much happier above 50mph.

I felt like royalty every time I got in it.

Honda HRV has a very small back it also slopes down. Not great if OPs family are tall.

It is also gutless and noisy when going over 40mph. When I raised this with the Honda salesman he said ‘yeah, but surely you have the radio on 🤨

The CRV would be a better option along with a RAV 4, XC60, CX5 or looking at BMW, Audi or Merc 4x4s.

Hyundai gets good reviews

I drive a Range Rover and no other car has turned my head since. (well maybe an Aston Martin) It really is like driving around on a sofa.

I'd have a look at the Hyundai Tucson

Press end post too soon! It's a decent size, really lovely to drive, has lots of extras and you can get in petrol, hybrid or electric versions. Insurance is reasonable and it's well within your budget

I see your point about the HRV but was thinking op would be using it as "her" car rather than the family car. I looked at the old HRV and tbf wasn't taken with the 1.5 engine. I was hoping the Hybrid was better thinking ahead a few years.

I bought the CRV 2L petrol and am very happy with it. I also test drove a Civic Estate (discontinued) 1.8 petrol and it was very sweet but I wanted something higher and when I checked the reviews the petrol one came in behind the diesel 1.6.

The engine was truly awful. I was gutted as I loved the styling and the space with the magic seats but just couldn’t get passed how bad the engine was.

Not sure if it's still available but there was a Tesla offer that included insurance for well within your max budget, you are essentially renting it though. If you are wondering about electric a long term lease might be a good idea to see if it works - you will need a driveway to charge on though

I'd get a fully electric Hyundai Kona if you want a decent sized car or a Renault Zoe if you want a small car. Both will have the range you need.

That's a shame about the engine in the Honda HRV. I really like the lozenge-like Apple product styling of it.

If you want electric, if you're driving 300+ miles a week you'll need something with a long range if you don't want to be plugging the thing in every 48 hours.

Polestar 2 has great seats (it's basically a Volvo), range is about 330 miles I think. BMW i4 is meant to be good although I haven't sat in one, that'll do over 300 miles on a charge too. I wouldn't touch a Tesla, personally, but they do have a decent range. Skoda Enyaq has a good range if you go for one of the higher-up ones.

The new Nissan Ariya, which is coming out in the summer, will do 310 miles in the upper models.

Of course if OP doesn't have electric charging facilities at home or work it's all for nowt.

Try a full electric. My friend has an Audi etron and says it’s great. It’s had really good reviews too. Not sure which range, but it’s an SUV type car.
My dh has a hybrid rav4, we don’t think it’s that great in the fuel, so avoid.