EV general discussion

How do we feel about petrol car valuations and depreciation over the next few years?

Currently I've got a Merc E350 Coupe which I adore, beautiful spec with the night edition, 20" Alloys, and a stunning colour. Really enjoy it.

But I'm conscious with kids in the near future I'll need something bigger and more practical than the coupe. We've got an EV Charger at home already, and I think EVs just make a lot of sense in terms of the petrol savings etc.

But there's no EV I particularly love atm that I would want to buy for the long term.

Current plan is to (sadly) sell the merc, and get a BYD Seal on a 3 year lease. Once that's gone back around the end of 2028, hopefully buy a long term EV.

I think the main driver to doing this now, rather than in a year or two is because I'm concerned that as more and more EV infrastructure gets built and more people start coming around to buying EVs, the value of my petrol car will depreciate significantly.

What do we think? Am I making a sensible decision or a stupid one?
 
MrRockliffe said:
Final resolution email from VW about my ID.7 written by AI:


Can’t even take the time/make the effort to write a personalised email.


Please think twice about getting a VW :-)
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It really sucks for you but from their point of view any rejection request has to come from Alphabet not you right? I do understand where they are coming from.
 
chanjy said:
It really sucks for you but from their point of view any rejection request has to come from Alphabet not you right? I do understand where they are coming from.
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The whole thing is dumb, I didn’t actually request to reject the car - I’ve been requesting a suitable courtesy car, having been offered a 1L Polo.


I’ve basically just been trying get their support with having my car fixed but they keep pushing me to Alphabet who gave me a final resolution letter months ago, with no further support offered.
 
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MrRockliffe said:
The whole thing is dumb, I didn’t actually request to reject the car - I’ve been requesting a suitable courtesy car, having been offered a 1L Polo.
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I do feel your pain. I had to get some work done on my last car, a 7 seater SEAT Tarraco, the SEAT dealer offered a Mii as a loan car whilst they had mine for a few days, they'd also lost the charging cable for it and i'd also never used an EV before! Ended up agreeing on a Leon.
 
kefkef said:
I do feel your pain. I had to get some work done on my last car, a 7 seater SEAT Tarraco, the SEAT dealer offered a Mii as a loan car whilst they had mine for a few days, they'd also lost the charging cable for it and i'd also never used an EV before! Ended up agreeing on a Leon.
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I could tolerate a polo for a day or two, but given they had my car for 5 weeks last time and didn’t successfully fix the issues, I have no idea how long they’ll need it this time.
 
Minato said:
What do we think? Am I making a sensible decision or a stupid one?
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Based on your post which clearly shows you like your current car and are pretty apathetic to the idea of getting the BYD I'd say it was a bad decision.

There is more to life than running costs, which is why you currently drive a Merc E350 Coupe and not a Fiat 500.
 
Minato said:
How do we feel about petrol car valuations and depreciation over the next few years?

Currently I've got a Merc E350 Coupe which I adore, beautiful spec with the night edition, 20" Alloys, and a stunning colour. Really enjoy it.

But I'm conscious with kids in the near future I'll need something bigger and more practical than the coupe. We've got an EV Charger at home already, and I think EVs just make a lot of sense in terms of the petrol savings etc.

But there's no EV I particularly love atm that I would want to buy for the long term.

Current plan is to (sadly) sell the merc, and get a BYD Seal on a 3 year lease. Once that's gone back around the end of 2028, hopefully buy a long term EV.

I think the main driver to doing this now, rather than in a year or two is because I'm concerned that as more and more EV infrastructure gets built and more people start coming around to buying EVs, the value of my petrol car will depreciate significantly.

What do we think? Am I making a sensible decision or a stupid one?
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i think it is hard to be sure... i mean, things could go that way OR OTOH just as likely really good examples of ICE cars may hold their value well for those people who will inevitably hold out with the logic of ICE till i die (or have no other option).

When i was in a similar position (nissan 350z) despite pressure from the mrs i kept my car till the last possible moment.... only once the baby was a week off being born did i replace it.

That said.... knowing the amount of crap babies come with, as well as having owned a couple of coupes myself (fiat) you are right in so far as it will likely not be practical enough as a family car once kids come. You really want 4/5 doors (getting a baby out of a car seat in the back in a 2 door car is not fun), and probably ideally a hatchback or SUV or estate for the buggies, prams and all the other crap they need.

TLDR if it were me i would hold on to the car you love as long as possible and take your chances on residuals.
 
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Minato said:
How do we feel about petrol car valuations and depreciation over the next few years?

Currently I've got a Merc E350 Coupe which I adore, beautiful spec with the night edition, 20" Alloys, and a stunning colour. Really enjoy it.

But I'm conscious with kids in the near future I'll need something bigger and more practical than the coupe. We've got an EV Charger at home already, and I think EVs just make a lot of sense in terms of the petrol savings etc.

But there's no EV I particularly love atm that I would want to buy for the long term.

Current plan is to (sadly) sell the merc, and get a BYD Seal on a 3 year lease. Once that's gone back around the end of 2028, hopefully buy a long term EV.

I think the main driver to doing this now, rather than in a year or two is because I'm concerned that as more and more EV infrastructure gets built and more people start coming around to buying EVs, the value of my petrol car will depreciate significantly.

What do we think? Am I making a sensible decision or a stupid one?
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It's an odd choice to make unless your Merc E350 is costing you a fortune in warranty renewals, depreciation, and maintenance , or it's on a PCP and you don't want to pay off the GFV etc.
Given the above are you actually going to be saving that much, if anything, if you leased a BYD Seal, it's ~£17k for 3 years/10k miles PA for the Excellent version, I highly doubt your depreciation and running costs on the E350 will come close to that. Have you actuality worked any of this out yet?

We went the opposite way in 2019, we had a Merc Coupe, and really wanted an EV but Merc had none at the time, so ordered a Hyundai which was on a mental cheap deal, meaning we got to try out the EV even though it wasn't ideal car, it very much surprised us how good it was. Have you test driven any or just gone purely on looks
 
Journey said:
It's an odd choice to make unless your Merc E350 is costing you a fortune in warranty renewals, depreciation, and maintenance , or it's on a PCP and you don't want to pay off the GFV etc.
Given the above are you actually going to be saving that much, if anything, if you leased a BYD Seal, it's ~£17k for 3 years/10k miles PA for the Excellent version, I highly doubt your depreciation and running costs on the E350 will come close to that. Have you actuality worked any of this out yet?

We went the opposite way in 2019, we had a Merc Coupe, and really wanted an EV but Merc had none at the time, so ordered a Hyundai which was on a mental cheap deal, meaning we got to try out the EV even though it wasn't ideal car, it very much surprised us how good it was. Have you test driven any or just gone purely on looks
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Yeah so I bought the merc for 33k when it was 2 years old with 28k miles on it from Mercedes Used Approved.

Crunching the numbers, insurance being about equal between both:

Merc is 500/yr servicing MOT and minor repairs or bits that spring up eg brake pads, 160 road tax (was much higher before), 200 a month petrol. Total about 3k /yr.

Looking at autotrader etc it's worth about 22k atm so it's lost 11k value in 4 years, call it approx 3k/yr.

So for the next 3 years if depreciation continues at current rate or a bit slower it'll cost me 18k or thereabouts.

In contrast the BYD Seal is the design with metallic paint, 3+35 lease, 300 admin fee. 424 a month. No road tax or MOT. 300 service once every two years. No petrol. Finance already approved.
So that works out to around 16.8k if I remember my spreadsheet numbers correctly.

Obviously if the merc depreciates less it could be slightly better value, but by then it'll be a 9 year old car (19 plate originally) with about 60k miles on it. And if EVs are much more prevalent as I suspect I do wonder if the depreciation will be a lot higher. Plus chance of bigger repairs or faults increases with the age of the car.

I test drove the BYD seal yesterday as there's a showroom close to me. It's nice, good interior and comfortable. Very quick, even faster 0-60 than my 300bhp coupe. I wouldn't say it's any better or worse or a drive. A few bits I liked, a few things that aren't as nice eg the presence of a pillar between windows that my coupe doesn't have.

But overall I'd be happy with it for 3 years no problem.
 
Minato said:
Nah Tony Goldstone said it ***** the pension.
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yes it does do a number on the pension contributions as the £££ is taken pre-pensionable salary
only worth it when you're a senior consultant maxing out the £60k/yr contributions

Minato said:
Also is there any board on this forum you don't regular on :p
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OCUK is the fountain of all knowledge :P
(and also personally looking to buy an EV too :cry: )

Minato said:
No road tax
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PS: if the leasing co aren't paying for the road tax, EVs registered since the start of this tax year are subject to VED and luxury car premium (if applicable) as well!
Pre-Apr '25 EVs now have to pay VED
 
tamzzy said:
PS: if the leasing co aren't paying for the road tax, EVs registered since the start of this tax year are subject to VED and luxury car premium (if applicable) as well!
Pre-Apr '25 EVs now have to pay VED
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Just double checked to be sure
Car pre reg June 2025 and they have confirmed as usual they're paying the road tax so should be fine I think.
I've just gone ahead and signed the forms and confirmed the order. Only a few left in stock on the deal.
Think the above posts have sort of helped me convince myself it's time to move on.

Also I drove my Coupe like an absolute **** and enjoyed every minute of it. But I reckon that'll come back to bite in future if I don't get rid now!
 
Minato said:
Just double checked to be sure
Car pre reg June 2025 and they have confirmed as usual they're paying the road tax so should be fine I think.
I've just gone ahead and signed the forms and confirmed the order. Only a few left in stock on the deal.
Think the above posts have sort of helped me convince myself it's time to move on.

Also I drove my Coupe like an absolute **** and enjoyed every minute of it. But I reckon that'll come back to bite in future if I don't get rid now!
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You sound very similar to me, I had a 640D coupe that I relished, hung on to that car for almost 11 years. When my lad was born years ago I managed to avoid changing it by getting the other half the more sensible car :D. However, the car was getting on a bit, over 160k miles and the maintenance bills getting on for £2k if not more, each year.

So I traded the BMW in for an ex-demo Seal Excellence, a very nice car indeed and I'm quite happy. Now that I've done almost a thousand miles in it and tested the various drive modes and settled in to it, I have to say it's not as good as the BMW to drive (handling, control) but I knew it wouldn't be. Expect the same coming from your Merc.

You should have got the Excellence model though, mainly for the upgraded suspension and HUD and not for the 523hp. No, not the 523hp. Not required at all :cry:.
 
MrRockliffe said:
Continuing to have issues with the ID.7 and no end in sight.



Starting to consider alternative options if I can get to a reasonable resolution.


IX3 at the top of the list at the moment.


Writing off every VW product for obvious reasons, and actively trying to avoid anything VAG if possible.



Biggest concern with the IX3 is range, as I find the range on the ID.7 very useful due to long trips and multiple days away from home.



Prefer not to charge out and about if possible due to costs, time and issues I’ve had with public charging.



The i4 ticks all the boxes but it’s REALLY ugly and refuse to have anything that ugly on the drive, nor be seen in one.



Won’t go near a Tesla.



Polestar appeals but Chinese owned doesn’t fill me with much confidence.
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Why no tesla?
 
MrRockliffe said:
Because of Mental Musk - I refuse to support him out of principle
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I tried a few Teslas on test drives, first in 2020 and then in 2022. On both occasions it was ultra easy to dismiss them as they were objectively terrible cars. Their reputation was totally undeserved in my opinion. Now I won’t even test drive them out of principle because of Musk.

When I was asked previously “why not Tesla”, I had to go into some detail as to why. Terrible build quality, bland interior, terrible suspension. Now I just say “Musk” and people understand.

Similarly I now try to avoid directly buying Chinese makes and controlled brands. BYD, MG, Volvo, Polestar etc. I just can’t support brands from a country that actively supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

We have a C40 lease that ends in April and it was ordered in 2021. At least it was made in Belgium.
 
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tamzzy said:
Righty-ho, just booked my Tesla self-service test drive for Thursday :o
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I did one because there's some great deals on them atm.

Absolutely bizarre design choices recently. You have to swipe the touch screen to change from drive to reverse, and there's no indicator stalk anymore. Put me right off.
 
MrRockliffe said:
Because of Mental Musk - I refuse to support him out of principle
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It's built in China. Likely with Chinese parts.
Dont be one of those people who thinks buying a tesla is a direct link to musk. Its ridiculous.

I've had 1 person shout nazi at me so far, and a couple spat on my car whilst mumbling some nonsense about musk.
Oh and it was keyed.

These people are pathetic. Musk has nothing to do with the UK... its just stupid.
 
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