About to throw in the towel

Motorsport3

Member
Messages
869
Guilty as charged :( it was a very cool combo and I’ll miss the GS dearly, but my better half couldn’t gel with the CC box and I convinced myself pre-purchase that it would be driveable for her in auto mode. The purists would kill me of course, but it would have been a keeper had they built it with a ZF auto.

sorry to hear, worthy effort though!
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,039
There are a lot of incentives going EV.
My employer is introducing either a tesla/polestar tax incentive deal.
They need to sort out somehow the payment for "fuel" for business usage, when charging at home, as the current "wet fuel" method with business mileage tax reclaim is very good.

100% agree on the fuel card piece. I also think they must have an incentive a so can normally pick a car up for value if 40k with no contribution from me but it will let me order a Polestar up to the value of 50k without me putting any contribution.
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,119
Had a couple of E39's and both were fantastic cars and looked good as well.
The best van I had was the E34 tourer which was an amazing car along with doing many duties especially as Rally Car service barge and for towing the speedboat.
Best banger has been my little Renault 4 that I paid 3,000 Euros for and many saying how much ???
Currently worth double and when I give her a fresh coat of paint triple.
 

Tallman

Member
Messages
1,833
You will enjoy the i3 - it zips through traffic like there is no tomorrow with that instant electric torque. I got mine a few weeks ago and thoroughly loving it. It was supposed to be Mrs Tall’s car but she hasn’t set foot in it yet :D. Get one with the right options - adaptive cruise control for traffic and adaptive Led lights if you live in the countryside. Also they increased the battery so make sure you get the 120 Ah. I charge it from the plug at night which works fine, but you can get a fast charger if you need it. Red is nice too

100160
 
Last edited:

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
Had mine for two years, and Its good. I have the older version with the bike engine in the boot and that makes longer journeys much easier to cope with. But on a supercharger with the Ac/DC combo it charges in like 20 minutes so its been pretty easy to live with and touch wood quite reliable. suspension is not the best but you get used to it.
100163
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
I am also thinking of a Polestar 2 as a daily drive company car as it will save me money but the more I look into the range I am now thinking it may not be the way to go. They say 299 miles but in real terms it’s between 170 and 210 depending on the weather and that would mean charging every two days with my commute to work. Work are getting electric chargers and if they do it may make sense.

Yes without access to a fast charger they are still limited when you have a longer journey and no time to stop (34 hours to charge on a 3 PIN socket. You may be able to run a cable from your office via the window if your cable is long enough and that would probably refill what you use one way until a charging network is in place there.
Tesco at Chepstow would fill it up for fee (empty to full in 11 hours), or in a couple of hours for your return trip, or again via a home charger or 3 PIN for 21/34 hours, but an over night would top you up to full again even via 3 PIN if you dont want to go anywhere else.
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
You will enjoy the i3 - it zips through traffic like there is no tomorrow with that instant electric torque. I got mine a few weeks ago and thoroughly loving it. It was supposed to be Mrs Tall’s car but she hasn’t set foot in it yet :D. Get one with the right options - adaptive cruise control for traffic and adaptive Led lights if you live in the countryside. Also they increased the battery so make sure you get the 120 Ah. I charge it from the plug at night which works fine, but you can get a fast charger if you need it. Red is nice too

View attachment 100160
how do you find the suspension on b-roads when you are giving it a bit of herbs as they say? It is well behaved? I am wondering if my car needs new shocks?
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,039
Yes without access to a fast charger they are still limited when you have a longer journey and no time to stop (34 hours to charge on a 3 PIN socket. You may be able to run a cable from your office via the window if your cable is long enough and that would probably refill what you use one way until a charging network is in place there.
Tesco at Chepstow would fill it up for fee (empty to full in 11 hours), or in a couple of hours for your return trip, or again via a home charger or 3 PIN for 21/34 hours, but an over night would top you up to full again even via 3 PIN if you dont want to go anywhere else.

Thanks Pete…Yes Tesco could help but I thought you could only leave the car there for an hour ?

The work piece wouldn’t work unless I let all them loaded lorries drive over the cable….

Best option for me is when we get the chargers in work as that sort it out but still think that there is some way to go on range before these cars make perfect sense as daily drives.
 

Tallman

Member
Messages
1,833
how do you find the suspension on b-roads when you are giving it a bit of herbs as they say? It is well behaved? I am wondering if my car needs new shocks?
The roads here are pretty good, but it has definitely got fairly hard suspension that I feel on the one bumpy road I drive on - like hard bouncy, not soft bouncy.

I also have the REX (range extender = petrol generator in the back for charging the batteries worth an extra 80 miles) but I believe in Europe the last model didn’t have that option anymore. It does give a little extra piece of mind, but so far I haven’t even touched 50% battery use in a day.
 
Last edited:

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
Range and changing times... very few 150kwh chargers about, so younare still stuck with a minimum of 45mins for any real range... not the best option when you just want to get on.
 

Tallman

Member
Messages
1,833
Range and changing times... very few 150kwh chargers about, so younare still stuck with a minimum of 45mins for any real range... not the best option when you just want to get on.
If the i3 is your only car you may have a point - but having an EV just means planning a bit more. If like me you have it as a second car it is no problem as i have never even been below 50%. This includes school run x2 (20 miles a pop), errands during the day in town, going to the golf course (20 miles round trip). I find that I suddenly use my other cars a LOT less. Then with current petrol prices I drive at 1/6th the cost per mile compared to my petrol or diesel cars. It’s a no-brainier really (for me at least).
 

Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,110
I’ve found the same with my 330e. I don’t have a regular commute, so last month with few non-teams client meetings I used two tanks of petrol with the rest electric. That gave me 88 mpg over 1200 miles. If I could go electric I would for the daily, my boss has a Tesla and has been all over for his terrible golf habit plus taking his kids to Eurodisney and is completely sold.

If you have a 200 miles range and a 100 mile commute charging at home at 32 amps should be more than enough to be back at 100% the following day.
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
If the i3 is your only car you may have a point - but having an EV just means planning a bit more. If like me you have it as a second car it is no problem as i have never even been below 50%. This includes school run x2 (20 miles a pop), errands during the day in town, going to the golf course (20 miles round trip). I find that I suddenly use my other cars a LOT less. Then with current petrol prices I drive at 1/6th the cost per mile compared to my petrol or diesel cars. It’s a no-brainier really (for me at least).

I totally agree, but Andy and I have a similar distance to commute 120+ with nothing at the other end except a domestic supply. Getting to work takes long enough without factoring in the extra stop.

My home supply will not give enough power for a fast charger, hence I went for the hybrid and unless the tax payer wants to fund a charger and my amps at work, then a work charger will not be on the cards either.
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
This post struck a chord with me… my car is almost exactly the same as your wagon, but with the 3.0i lump. I’ve had it for 8 years and it’s easily the most reliable car I’ve ever had… but with 222k on the clock she’s showing her age. I’m expecting to pick her up from my specialist this week - don’t expect to see much change from a £1200 bill… reconditioned ABS control unit after a trio of warning lights and a pair of rear-suspension air bags.

Having a Mazzer has desensitised me to these costs, but it doesn’t change the fact that the latest bill is probably the value of the car… and north of my average yearly spend! There’s rust in all the usual places, but… it’s the best looking estate (in my opinion) ever made, drives beautifully and the engines good for another 100k. Yes it drinks oil, but it’s a part of the family and that straight six still sounds glorious - I can’t bring myself to trade in this old hound for an electric sausage dog.

View attachment 100139
View attachment 100140View attachment 100141

I love the E39 Touring and it would be one of the few things I would change AndyKs old E46 325i which is my daily driver at the moment. Strangely it too uses oil has a few rusty bits but is lovely to drive and isn't costing me a fortune to run
 
Last edited:

markp4200

Member
Messages
331
I bought mine new 8 months ago. There were plenty of discounts available.
No regrets at all. Just have to get used to the range thing, but it's like learning a new skill.
I don't particularly like those with the little noisy petrol top-ups - too much like hybrids!
 

BennyD

Sea Urchin Pate
Messages
14,994
This post struck a chord with me… my car is almost exactly the same as your wagon, but with the 3.0i lump. I’ve had it for 8 years and it’s easily the most reliable car I’ve ever had… but with 222k on the clock she’s showing her age. I’m expecting to pick her up from my specialist this week - don’t expect to see much change from a £1200 bill… reconditioned ABS control unit after a trio of warning lights and a pair of rear-suspension air bags.

Having a Mazzer has desensitised me to these costs, but it doesn’t change the fact that the latest bill is probably the value of the car… and north of my average yearly spend! There’s rust in all the usual places, but… it’s the best looking estate (in my opinion) ever made, drives beautifully and the engines good for another 100k. Yes it drinks oil, but it’s a part of the family and that straight six still sounds glorious - I can’t bring myself to trade in this old hound for an electric sausage dog.

View attachment 100139
View attachment 100140View attachment 100141

Part timer; I've got a 2004 E46 320D Touring that will be going through 345k tomorrow. It still gets over 60mpg on a run and runs like a Swiss watch. I got the injectirs done at 300k and got it chipped at the same time. I just can't get rid of it, it's part of the family now.