Small PHEVs?

A2Ztech

A2Ztech

A2Ztech

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I am looking for a Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle of around the size of a Fiesta, Polo, etc. with reasonable carrying ability but I can't seem to find such a car. In point of fact, most PHEVs seem to be pretty large.

I do not want a Tesla, Polestar, BMW, etc. pure EV because I have to drive down to Devon from time to time to visit relatives and I don't want to be stressing about not being able to find somewhere to charge a full EV; nor do I want some sort of SUV tank. Much of my driving is in the local London area and I do have off-road parking.
 
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Certainly the Audi A3 E-Tron, Golf GTE and Seat Leon E-Hybrid are possibles; I believe that there is a Mini Countryman PHEV available as well?
I would be interested in anyone's personal practical experience of any of these.
I am not particularly interested either in BMW or Mercedes - just personal bias ;)
 
I got a leon phev fr last year, essentially the golf gte - and its (just) ok - quite nice to drive generally, reasonable kit for the base model and good to have the choice to use electric only on shorter journeys and use it as a hybrid on longer. Acceleration is pretty rapid when it combines the engine and battery and the extra weight isn't too noticeable, but the boot is pretty compromised.

Charing times are pretty terrible - fasted it'll fill the 12.8kwh battery is about 4hrs, 6 if you don't have a 'fast' charger & that'll take you around 25-30miles in the real world (vs 36claimed). The ICE isn't bad when it works but it can be flakey, resetting randomly and sometimes the connected features just give up the ghost - usually due to the seat (/vag) auth systems failing.

So yer, OK car but not sure its worth getting the plug in over a standard small petrol.
 
What are the real world running costs like? Eg for a long run when you can’t charge, and also when you can run it nearly always on electric?
 
I've found uncharged runs tend to be around 48-55mpg (unless really pushing when i've had it down to 33) so not bad from a 1.4 petrol hybrid, but not amazing either.
 
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A2Ztech said:
I am looking for a Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle of around the size of a Fiesta, Polo, etc. with reasonable carrying ability but I can't seem to find such a car. In point of fact, most PHEVs seem to be pretty large.
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PHEV's are all pretty large because fitting an electric motor capable of moving a car, batteries capable of delivering enough range to make plugging it in worth it. Plus, a petrol engine, gearbox and fuel tank of a traditional car - all takes up quite a bit of space.

IMO the only small 'PHEV' that really pulls off the right balance is an I3 REX. Otherwise, you're probably better off just getting a standard ICE.
 
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Is the BMW i3 REX actually available in the UK? I can't seem to find out anything about it - e.g. Spec and Price.
I am not crazy about anything as "obvious" (and tempting to a thief) as a BMW but I guess that it is worth considering.

edit: According to Wikipedia "The BMW i3 is a car which was manufactured by German marque BMW from 2013 to 2022"
 
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They stopped making it but there's plenty available 2nd hand.

If you are going to use the plugin but regularly (have you thought much about how you will charge it on the street) then the Leon, GTE and I3 are good options. However you will not gain much benefit over the petrol only ones (at an increased price) so they haven't sold well
 
Is this a private buy or a company car? PHEV make no sense privately. As a company car the Merc A250E comes in at the 9% mark for tax.

The octavia and 308 are also available as PHEV now.
 
One problem with 'reasonable carrying capacity' is some cars lose boot space if you go for a hybrid, due to needing to fit in a battery in addition to the engine etc (basically what Bug One said).
In smaller hatchbacks, this seems even more likely because they are already likely to be pretty compact and hence the boot is one of the obvious targets to be shrunk.
 
There's the 308 and Astra stellantis jobbies,

Mazda MX30 r-ev might be similar in spirit to an i3 rex though a bit bigger with 100 litres more boot, might be too suv
 
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Thanks for that sandys, I will certainly have a look at it.

I spoke yesterday to someone whose brother owns and drives a BMW i3 REX; he says that the twin-cylinder petrol engine is "noisy". However, I will still look around for one 2nd hand.

Incidentally in reply to people who have asked:
whether I am looking for a "private buy or a company car", I am a private buyer.​
why I would want a PHEV or perhaps an EV, the answer is two-fold:​
a) I care about the environment​
b) I live in London​
and
I do benefit from off-road parking . . . as I mentioned in my original post ;)​
 
I gather (from Green Car Reports) that The "occasional power loss" on the BMW i3 REx has led to a class-action lawsuit by some owners in the USA.
I wonder if BMW's ceasing production of the REx i3 is in any way connected with that?
I saw an i3 (not the REx version) today, it really is very small.
On balance, that is a No for me.
 
Do you have any kind of budget? If the i3 is too small then maybe a 3008 hybrid would be more suitable. You're looking at nearly new to get the PHEV version though.
 
A2Ztech said:
I am looking for a Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle of around the size of a Fiesta, Polo, etc. with reasonable carrying ability but I can't seem to find such a car. In point of fact, most PHEVs seem to be pretty large.

I do not want a Tesla, Polestar, BMW, etc. pure EV because I have to drive down to Devon from time to time to visit relatives and I don't want to be stressing about not being able to find somewhere to charge a full EV; nor do I want some sort of SUV tank. Much of my driving is in the local London area and I do have off-road parking.
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if it were me it would be hard to look betyond an I3 REX.
almost 100 miles pure electric range and a little (600cc iirc) petrol motor.
i fancy one as our 2nd car ,(albeit we could probably ditch the petrol engine)

I know they look small on the outside but they are a little bigger than you would otherwise think.

on the larger side what about an ionic?
 
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Bug One said:
Do you have any kind of budget? If the i3 is too small then maybe a 3008 hybrid would be more suitable. You're looking at nearly new to get the PHEV version though.
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The Budget question is an obvious one and clearly I would like to minimise the cost of changing my car - having said that I don't really have a particular figure in mind.

However, I am more or less determined to move away from a pure ICE vehicle but I do want to be confident that I can complete a journey of some 300 miles without EV range anxiety and I also want to be able to carry four or five people in comfort and on other occasions to cart stuff to the recycling centre, move some furniture, collect DIY stuff, etc.

bigmike20vt said:
If it were me it would be hard to look beyond an I3 REX.
almost 100 miles pure electric range and a little (600cc iirc) petrol motor.
I fancy one as our 2nd car, (albeit we could probably ditch the petrol engine)

I know they look small on the outside but they are a little bigger than you would otherwise think.

On the larger side what about an ionic?
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The IBM i3 REx is definitely out; even BMW seem to think it was a lemon.

The Hyundai Ioniq is certainly one of the cars I am considering; I have heard good things about Hyundais in general.
 
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