@AzzaL14 I’ve just spent ages on a very in-depth reply, reviewing various options, but it’s disappeared 🙁
I have the MHEV GTLS. MPG is poor, especially for my mostly short, start-stop, hilly drives; about 27mpg in autumn, 25mpg winter. Long motorway run was 42mpg.
GPF clogged up about 1,200 miles and currently clogged up at about 1,800 miles.
It’s hard to say what I think you should do as we all have different needs. There is only one other car on the scheme that I would have. It’s the Tucson Ultimate plug-in hybrid, but I’d need to add the Tech pack (£1,500). So I’d be looking at £7,099 which is unaffordable and not worth it imo. Therefore my option is to keep the Sportage, or leave the scheme. At the moment I’ll keep the Sportage, being the fully loaded GLS it has features that I require (memory seats, 3D “birds eye” view, adaptive cruise control) plus others I don’t need, but would miss (heated and cooled seats, semi-autonomous steering, etc). I also only drive about 5,000-6,000 miles/year, so as poor as the mpg is, I’d never recuperate the extra AP of the Tucson with the savings made on fuel.
Maybe the Qashqai has everything you want, if so, then get the Qashqai. But I’m guessing that you prefer the Sportage, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking for people’s thoughts.
My advice would be get the Sportage, it’s already available, and if the gpf clogs up, request a change. Unless, of course, the mpg is your main issue. I think you’ll get just under 50% better mpg on the qashqai. I previously spend about £900/year on fuel. The Sportage is 50% worse, so that would be an extra £1,350 over 3yr lease. For me, I’d rather pay £1,350 more for the Sportage with equivalent mpg of a Qashqai, than an actual Qashqai (hope that makes sense).
When I buy cars I keep them for a long time. I would definitely not purchase a MHEV Sportage/Tucson, but with what’s currently available on the scheme, I wouldn’t choose anything else.
I will be keeping my Sportage, but can’t rule out ending the contract early if the persistent problems wear me down any further. I’ll also be keeping my eye out for any new additions to the scheme that might be suitable.
Hope that’s been of some help. It’s really hard being rushed in to a decision.