My 2006 Civic is on its last legs, after developing a nasty rattle in 1st/2nd which has been diagnosed as a bearing in the gearbox, so looking at ~£800-1k for a reconditioned box including fitting. This along with various other niggles (suspension needs a refresh, sticking brake calipers, AC doesn't work etc.) has led me down the route of looking for a replacement.
An EV seems to make sense, vast majority of driving will be a daily 25 mile round trip to work and back, plus local driving during the week, e.g. Shopping etc and probably 3-4 times a year a long motorway trip, I've worked out it would "save" me ~£180/month in fuel/tax/insurance. I have driveway parking, so no issues with charging.
So the options I've been looking at are a Zoe or Leaf. The Zoe would be HP or a loan over 5 years, the Leaf would be a 48 month lease through work's salary sacrifice scheme (it's out of budget otherwise).
Cost wise, the Leaf lease would be ~£50-60/month more than the Zoe, however there's no deposit required, so I'd have maybe £1k cash from selling my car which would cover just under half the difference over the term.
Sensible head says the Zoe, since it is cheaper and I would own it at the end, however the Leaf does appear to be the better car, plus the idea of a single payment and hassle free "ownership" does appeal! (all servicing, tyres etc is included).
I guess the other thing to consider is with EV tech still in early stages, do I want to keep the car for 5 years and have the responsibility of ownership, or would it be better to have the ability to just give it back?
I have considered used, looked at a really nice 2016 Leaf the other day, but came to the conclusion that the ~80 mile range was just too low to be practical, so it would need to be a new model.
The cheapest option would obviously be to repair the civic, but how long do I keep throwing money at it before enough is enough?
I've considered a hybrid, but I don't think the cost savings would be enough to make it worthwhile?
I could also spend a couple of £k on another 10 year old car, keep it for 2 years and repeat, but tbh it would be nice for a change to have something decent that's going to last and not have the constant worry of it throwing up a huge bill out of nowhere! I figure with the cost saving in fuel, tax etc. £150-200/month is a bargain for a brand new car
In this situation would you buy the Zoe or lease the Leaf, anything I haven't yet considered?
An EV seems to make sense, vast majority of driving will be a daily 25 mile round trip to work and back, plus local driving during the week, e.g. Shopping etc and probably 3-4 times a year a long motorway trip, I've worked out it would "save" me ~£180/month in fuel/tax/insurance. I have driveway parking, so no issues with charging.
So the options I've been looking at are a Zoe or Leaf. The Zoe would be HP or a loan over 5 years, the Leaf would be a 48 month lease through work's salary sacrifice scheme (it's out of budget otherwise).
Cost wise, the Leaf lease would be ~£50-60/month more than the Zoe, however there's no deposit required, so I'd have maybe £1k cash from selling my car which would cover just under half the difference over the term.
Sensible head says the Zoe, since it is cheaper and I would own it at the end, however the Leaf does appear to be the better car, plus the idea of a single payment and hassle free "ownership" does appeal! (all servicing, tyres etc is included).
I guess the other thing to consider is with EV tech still in early stages, do I want to keep the car for 5 years and have the responsibility of ownership, or would it be better to have the ability to just give it back?
I have considered used, looked at a really nice 2016 Leaf the other day, but came to the conclusion that the ~80 mile range was just too low to be practical, so it would need to be a new model.
The cheapest option would obviously be to repair the civic, but how long do I keep throwing money at it before enough is enough?
I've considered a hybrid, but I don't think the cost savings would be enough to make it worthwhile?
I could also spend a couple of £k on another 10 year old car, keep it for 2 years and repeat, but tbh it would be nice for a change to have something decent that's going to last and not have the constant worry of it throwing up a huge bill out of nowhere! I figure with the cost saving in fuel, tax etc. £150-200/month is a bargain for a brand new car
In this situation would you buy the Zoe or lease the Leaf, anything I haven't yet considered?
