If you have a long driving commute, what car do you have?

[sundaynightflight]

I'm spending about £75 a week on fuel travelling circa 500-600 miles and would really like to reduce this.

I can order a new company car in March. Any suggestions for cars which are comfortable on a long commute but which might help me with a fuel cost saving? I think I'm averaging 40-50 mpg at the moment.

Have considered the Nissan Leaf (we have charging points at work) but I'm nervous about the range on a 90 mile round commute.

90 miles, as in 45 miles to work & 45 miles return home?

An electric car is going to be able to cover 45 miles it’s range is 168
Hyundai Kona Electric Has a range of 279

On tests the vehicles did 80% and 90% of manufacturers range so 120 for the leaf and 250 for the Kona

Don't believed advertised miles per charge. They are like advertised MPG... nonsense

Real world reduce it by a third. If it says 200 then expect say 130. Expect less in cold if using heating etc

Yes 45 miles there and 45 miles home but I don't think my house would be suitable for an electric charging point due to my parking not being right next to my house. So I'd need to get to and from work on one charge IYSWIM. The Kona looks great though. I'm still not sure if 150 miles range would be cutting it fine if I ended up sat in traffic or the weather was cold though...

Oh and factor in having a charging point fitted at home as well which are not cheap

Kona has a real world of 250. Problem is if you want one you needed to order it a year ago to get one this March.

I have a friend with a Leaf. She drives around 75 miles from her house to mine but does charge it before return (there's charging stations at the railway station two mins from my house). Not sure how far it would go on one charge.

I do a 90 mile round trip to work. I have a Kia Ceed estate, one of the eco models, and get around 57mpg (I monitor mine)

Op have you looked to see where the nearest charging stations (to your house) are?

Why not have a duel fuel?

@ivykaty44 there's a lot of charging stations about ten minutes from home but they would only really be useful for the weekend. From the cars I've looked at (BMW 2 series and Mini Countryman SE) the hybrids are not any more efficient than my existing car for long journeys. I could be wrong but looks like hybrids are best for short journeys with the occasional long journey rather than for daily long commutes.

I have a Peugeot 208 allure and it does 85mpg so falls into the zero road tax category. It's classed as a super mini but it has 5 seats, a decent sized boot, bluetooth etc. It's a diesel (the horror) but I can fill up with £20 of diesel and it will last almost a month.

For you, 90ish miles a day would mean you were using just over a gallon so about £5 a day so it would cost you about £25 a week, maybe £30 to factor in sitting in traffic and the odd extra few miles here and there.

People seem to hate diesels now a days but they can do more miles than petrol so I look at it like I need a lot less diesel than I would petrol and that's surely a good thing? The petrol equivalent of my car will only do 60mpg (advertised) so probably about 55mpg in reality

@YappityYapYap 85mpg is incredible! Thanks, will have a look.

I've been looking at the Audi A3 which do 83mpg combined. There's a VW golf which is the same too.

My friend had a Renault Zoe (electric) and my husband regularly drive BMW i3 for work and they seem stressful to me, especially if you wouldn't have a charge point at home. Charge points are often offline or only very slow ones are available. To me, I'd be stressing all the time about running out of charge, not dating to use the heaters or driving really slowly to save the battery.

Sundaynightflight I have a duel fuel petrol/lpg
It’s not a hybrid electric /petrol

Lpg works out half the price of petrol, many taxi drivers have fuel fuel this way as the cost of lpg makes it very economical for them and it’s so widely available everywhere

I have a Vauxhall Astra diesel estate, I’m averaging 60mpg mixed urban/non urban driving.

I considered a self-charging hybrid rather than a plug-in but my type of commute (mostly motorway) meant that I'd mostly be using petrol so it seemed pointless.

I had been thinking of a Huyundai Ionic or Kia

In the end I just got a standard petrol car.

I think by the time I've paid it off (5 years) hopefully the technology will be better that I can get a full electric one.

Viva. I also have a Vauxhall Astra estate 😀 but petrol/lpg only lpg is approximately 55p liter

If the budget will stretch then get a Tesla, the range on ours is over 200 miles. I really really love it!

I would consider an eco petrol or hybrid if I were you. A friend of mine has a Golf Blue Motion and he averages about 70mpg. Another friend had an admittedly old Leaf and a 50 mile round trip to work. She said she had to charge it every day, particularly in winter and there were some days she had to choose between getting to and from work or being warm. She didn't have charging points at work.

I know someone that's recently driven to Scotland with one of the electric Jaguars. He said it was a bit touch and go in places as there weren't enough charging points so they were often being used.

At least with an eco petrol you'd be able to find somewhere to refill a bit easier.

Electric is definitely the way forward, but unless you can afford one of the higher range ones I'd wait until the technology improves.

What about a plug in GLE or GLC? They can do 66 and 31 miles on electric alone but then run on fuel. Very comfy, adjustable seats too.