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At least I am no longer working – that used to be an easy 27k miles a year (sometimes well over 30k)….imagine being hit with a mileage bill for £14,280!
Oh, forgot about the drive to Wife’s dad’s early April, she’s desperate to see him as he’s just been diagnosed stage 4 cancer and is frail, so they estimate 3-4 months tops – palliative care only as he’s too ill for chemo. She can’t get away sooner as she’s a teacher – no hols outside term time. That’s 1200 miles, then same again for the funeral…could fly & rent a car, but its a logistical pain in the arse with her guide dog, far easier to drive.
Back to London in April for the marathon, but we are flying down for that as she’s working, so fly down with dog Friday night, fly back straight after the run on Sunday, home after midnight and back at work first thing Monday morning – she’s crazy…lol.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
28p a mile would scupper things for more people than very high mileage users. Rural dwellers would end up paying over. Given a lot of disabled are not cash rich it would be pretty difficult for them to find the big sums to pay – and prove difficult for Motability to get back from non-payers too.
As a rural dweller, I do 12-13000 miles a year, not hard when the nearest decent supermarket is 27 miles away and same for almost all shops. Hospital 37 miles away and wife has been admitted 3 times this year already – add in the outpatients visits afterwards and I’ve been going there several day a week since before christmas.
Wife is training for the London marathon, the only decent stretch of paths/road to run on are…yup…27 miles away. Local roads are too dangerous to run on and she needs a decent 16-18km stretch. She has a treadmill for shorter runs, but not really suitable for 3-4 hour sessions. Speaking of that, we are off to Inverness for the 1/2 marathon this weekend, that’s 250 miles or more easily. Wedding event the following week, another 80-100 miles for that, soon adds up.
Call it 12500 miles a year, that’s £2100 overpayment – hardly buttons when private lease firms allow you to adjust the mileage for a relatively small monthly increase (around £500 in total over 3 years to go from 10,000 to 15,000 miles seems about average).
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
All the big car hire firms are slated on Trustpilot, although one star is pretty dire – Europcar managed 1.6 , Enterprise 1.7, Hertz 1.3…
I have only needed Motability car hire once, a Quashqai back in 2018. Was pretty flawless, apart from them categorically stating on delivery no dogs in the car….the disabled user who is on the Motability lease is blind with a guide dog…couldn’t make it up…
I said dogs going in the car, anything less is full on disability discrimination. Never heard anything more about it.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
When its time to change cars, I road test my shortlist of 6-7 and then take my wife with for the choice on the final 2. This time that was the Ioniq 5 Ultimate and the EV6 GT Line, both with flush handles.
Wife was not amused by the EV6. She’s virtually blind, so she couldn’t find the manual opening flush handles – let alone the faf of operating them one handed.
She didn’t see the point in paying for the extra tech pack on the Ioniq 5, until she learned it was the only way (at that time) to get electric pop out handles – which she needed to find and open the door. Hyundai changed the spec on the Ultimate and now include pop out handles on the base Ultimate, no packs needed.
Its a worrying trend, started by the likes of Tesla on its Model S in 2012, its not for aerodynamics, more for the look of the car.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Yup, lovely car, but that key…my god, its hideous.
Whoever thought putting the emergency manual key on the keyring separately needs a stern talking to with a waggly finger!
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I’d agree on the C10, but the B10 seems to get fairly positive reviews.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I think there are, on some cars, phantom drain issues. That, plus they do fit very small and crappy 12v batteries as the cranking amps/big power not needed. I don’t understand why they don’t just fit a lithium battery – well, I do understand, it’ll probably be 50p more expensive!
Kia /Hyundai had problems early 2021 with their charging regime for the 12v, it basically didn’t allow for it to be charged often enough and, when on charge, it was for a short period only, so loads went flat. They updated the software and included a lot more 12v charging sessions which solved the issue (unless you had a component causing 12v drain – see phantom drain above).
I’ve had a Kia Soul since mid 2021 then an Ioniq 5 since Jan 2025. Neither has had any issues with the 12v. But I do spend a fair bit of time in Utility mode – and that defaults to charging the 12v when on, so I may be helping the battery cope with any suboptimal conditions.
No ICCU issues for me so far – 11,500 miles…touch wood…avoid black cats etc…
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Yes, fine in a pinch, but not as good as a dedicated pump. I have a Ring RTC1000 cordless one for home use, saves mucking about with plugs/leads, quick on top ups and easy to use. Set the digital display to the pressure you want, hit start, wait till stops…done. It also remembers your settings , so once set for the correct pressure, just plug and go.
I also got a combined tyre inflator/battery jump starter that I keep in the car, also easy to use, but slower as its a small unit. I got it mostly to have a jump starter for the apparently inevitable EV 12v death…but never had any 12v issues yet in over 4 years & 54k miles, even though Hyundai/Kia are apparently terrible at looking after the 12v battery.
Come to think of it, I have another one similar to the OEM one in a Slime kit I’ve never used and a very small 12v one I used to carry/use on my motorcycle..sheesh, I am awash with the things!
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Looking at images of stock MG pumps its the same as the ones I got in my Citroen and in my Kia, both would pump up tyres without the goo.
I used it a few times, both to raise low pressure and to inflate punctured tyres with the goo. Very easy to use, it can take a while to inflate as its only got a small piston.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
There’s much higher charging losses on a granny, you don’t get all the watts you use…and they typically charge at 10a, not the 13a you assume. So you’d get 2.3kw per hour before losses, probably lucky to see 2kw after losses, or 16kw supplied for a spend of 18.4kw.
7kw chargers also have losses, but they are a bit less and not so noticeable as a much lower % of overall consumption.
Plenty of data on this on Speak EV.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Never mind cars @Abercol your wife is truly amazing. You must be very proud of her. What an incredible woman.
Yup, very proud. She’s blind and running the marathon in support of Guide Dogs. Her personal trainer was roped in to be her guide runner – he got no warning, poor soul. She applied to guide dogs as a charity runner for 2026, thinking there’s no way she’d get in as people wait years for a place, only for them to accept her the next day. At that point (September 2025) she’d not run at all. Now her long training runs are 2-2.5 hours, 9-12 miles. She’s booked in to run a couple of half marathons in Feb & March before the main event in April.
I’ve already been told that after the marathon she will switch to long distance open water swimming…and has already signed up for the triple loch quest with Go Swim with 750m as a starter over summer…sheesh.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I am another not if you can’t charge at home vote…
125 miles a week means 7-8 day charge cycles in winter for the cars you’ve chosen. 64kw in the Countryman is about 180-200 miles in winter, thats charging to 100%. Maybe a bit less if open road, bit more if town based. Aircross would be even worse as Stellantis just don’t seem to get a grip on excessive winter consumption & EV database lists cold weather range as 150miles, so 10% to 90% would only give you a weeks driving. Also, as others have said, short trips in the cold can use more because you need to heat the cabin each time – especially bad are several short trips over a day, you may do 15 miles but lose 30 miles of range.
My son does not have a home charger, he has a Tesla and as such gets to charge off peak at 36p. He also uses that time to do some work on his laptop which his work allows as a part of his working day, so its not lost time for him. I know he changed his car to a Tesla once he moved job and no longer had workplace charging for his 45kw ZS EV, it just needed plugged in too much/was slow to charge compared to his 75kw Model 3. He loves it and has no plans to go back to petrol.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I like my EV. A lot. This is is my second one. 54,000 miles covered without any issues so far
Just today, I drove in the snow 20 miles to drop my wife off for her wee jog… that’s a 2 hr run for her. Was told not to go away as she’s been ill (hospitalised just before xmas) and wasn’t sure if she’d need assistance/collecting from the roadside. So I sat in the car, heater on 21 deg, seat heat on, reading my book. 2hrs 20 mins later (why is it always longer…lol) she came back, I’d used 2% of my 80kw battery, so that’s 14p to be toasty the whole time without worrying about leaving an engine idling or using lots of fuel. Outside temp 1 deg, weather app says feels like -9 due to wind chill.
I do this a lot as wife is training for the London Marathon, so gym 3 times a week and running at least 3 times a week, none locally as we don’t have any facilities or quiet enough roads on our doorstep. In fact, she’s already said there will be another run at 1pm tomorrow after I take her to Dundee for her echocardiogram.
Would I buy a second-hand one – yes. My son is on his second EV, not had any issues at all with either of them. He only changed to get a bigger battery (I did tell him at the time…lol).
I’m not EV mad, drive what you like, I may not be in an EV for my next car, time will tell…
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Just my wife and I on our own this year (and the dog of course, who has her own treats in store). First time ever.
Merry Xmas one and all.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Forgot to add…yes, such penny pinching makes me think about what else have they shaved all of the profit off of and how they may deal with warranty work. Not a fan.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Never been charged for an inflation kit before. My 2015 Grand Picasso was the first car I had with out a spare wheel, no inflation kit on collection, I went back to the dealer and they gave me one out of a huge box full of them, I guess they just forgot to put one in.
Every other car after that has had one, used them too – and Kwik Fit will give you a free replacement goo canister via Motability – worth remembering as they are a few quid otherwise.
I have my own small portable tyre repair kits, a remnant of my motorcycling days, both screw in plugs and the worm type tyre plug kit – used both over the years during motorcycle trips and they work very well (perhaps not so well on cars without a jack!)
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Nah, not defensive, just giving my experiences with the same car (slightly worse consumption due to AWD). Been EV since mid 2021, not going back unless it becomes crazy expensive.
If you can charge at home its a great saving over petrol prices, I was paying £3500 a year on diesel when I went EV in 2021, my first years bills were just over a 1/4 of the cost.
DumfriesDik is correct, the load shifting of household electric along with charging has seen me average 16.5p per kw since moving to Octopus. That’s better than I was getting on a fixed deal in 2019.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
If you are charging at home on a smart tariff, then your overall fuel costs compared to ICE is very low, even with the odd long trip and exorbitant public charging fees.
I’ve done 10,000 miles in my Ioniq 5 84kw AWD this year, that includes two long trips of around 2000 in total, one to the lake district and one to the South of England from NE Scotland. My total “fuel” bill is just under £500. Your bill in your 1.2 petrol 500 mile for £60 car is £1200. My car’s average consumption is 3.2 m/kw, but I don’t drive below 70 on main dual/motorway routes, usually sit at 75 or above. All my refuelling was done at Tesla (without subscription) except one Gridserve fill in Ashford, Kent (no nearby Tesla units).
We’ve also done a lot of 2-300 mile jaunts where I’ve just charged up, driven to the likes of Glasgow and back (240 mile trip) and arrived home with plenty left. I was surprised at one such trip in summer, covered 265 miles and arrived home with 84 miles left. Admittedly it was hot, the route was mostly 60mph A & B quiet Scottish roads, but still impressed).
Your example is also flawed if you have home charging, you set off full, so your first 200-250 miles are covered by your initial £5.60 home fill.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I don’t really use mine much, prefer mirrors and eyeballs, but then I’m an old fart, so learned to drive before electric windows and central locking became a thing, let alone cameras and parking sensors.
Having said that, had a reversing camera on all my cars since 2005, 360 deg this time.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Not sure what we will do, we can easily buy a car outright, new or used (prob 1-2 yrs old, same as we used to before Motability came along) will see what the scheme looks like in 2 years time. Hell, at this rate, average AP will be £10k, except for the Dacia Spring. Wife’s salary sacrifice is Tusker – not cheap, they are a rip off, so that’s unlikely.
It will be interesting to see how they “promote” British built – artificially high AP’s on everything else I expect.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
If I spill a drink in my car that’d be the only time I’d done so in my 60 years on this earth. I’ve always “strongly discouraged” eating and drinking in all of my cars, family know we don’t do drive-thrus. Been that way since my first car. Funnily enough my father was the same – EEK, I’m becoming him….arrgh.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I’ve had 9 tyres in one lease – Grand Picasso returned at 74,000 miles 3 years and 3 months old. never got asked about it and never knew there was a limit.
3x punctures. Kwikfit said couldn’t be repaired. Worn out 2 sets of new fronts and a set of rears.
As for EV’s chewing tyres, that’s daft. Kia Soul EV, 42,000 miles, two fronts only at 34,000 worn out. Pretty much the same sort of mileage I got from the S-Max that followed it. They were much the same power/weight wise as well. Current Ioniq 5 at 10,000 miles, tyres still well over 1/2 tread. I’d expect mid 20,000s at a minimum.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
You’ll be fine Joss, had my Ioniq 5 for nearly a year now, 10,000 miles in and no issues other than the silly rattly boot (there is a Hyundai warranty fix for that – but why has it not been rectified at the factory!) which I fixed with 2 2″ bits of Velcro and a 1″ bit of duct tape in under 2 minutes. Saved me 2x 1 hour trips to the dealer (nearest is 30 miles away) for something so simple.
Car’s been great.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Having organised the add-on contracts for my employers HR I can tell you that the only unusual and incidentally worthwhile items on there are the non-contributory pension (usually reserved solely for upper management – nice to see it cover everyone) and the free health insurance – ditto on usually free for upper management, screw the rest of ’em typical PLC approach.
The employee discount scheme is a crock of shite, but costs the firm nothing, companies approach you to offer this to your staff. Subsidised gym, Cycle to work, health schemes aside from free private healthcare/wellbeing are all part of any half decent firm’s HR offering nowadays & again are pennies to offer. Salary sacrifice is common too – every man and his dog offer it – take a look at Tusker though, the costs on a lease are stupidly high and only make sense if you are on a huge salary looking to offload as much 40% tax hit as possible. We actually want all staff to use this as it reduces Motability’s NI contribution so actually lowers costs for them (and subsequently us).
Son works for an American plc, gets all of the above, free gym, except the non-contributory pension. He does, however, gets a free £15 deliveroo voucher each day for lunch. He bought his own car as it was loads less than the same offering via salary sacrifice. As for wages, the lowest paid member of his firms staff earns £36k per annum (the receptionist I think).
The health screening/dental care is roped in with the private healthcare, it’s only a few quid more per annum for the firm. Wife used to have it in her old job – she got free glasses too if I recall. That was a small architects firm.
I’m not standing up for Motability, just letting you know that a lot of these perks are pretty standard in modern plc’s and indeed the public sector. My wife is a teacher, her employer, the local council, offer all of the above apart from free healthcare and pensions (the death in service is only 3x her salary, not 4…). Thats how I know about Tusker as thats her work salary sacrifice scheme lease firm.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I’d take one over a Dacia Spring – better built and more tech, bigger battery, more power…but otherwise no. Yes its cheap, but so is a 3yr old Suzuki S-Cross with 7 years warranty left. It might cost a wee bit more to run, but let’s face it, you’d not buy a Leapmotor T03 for big annual mileages, so the cost difference wouldn’t be that great.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
