All - EV Buying Advice | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Sat 21 Jun 2025 10:01

All - EV Buying Advice - Father Dougal

Hi all,

I am new here, so please be gentle with me.

I'm in the market to replace an aging Kia Cee'd with an electric car. It will be our 2nd electric car as we already own a 64kWh Niro, which we love.

My price range is up to around £13,000 and for that I hope to get something with the lowest mileage I can get, highest range and biggest boot. But so far I cannot decide on what I want to narrow it down to. I've been looking at and considering MG's (4 & 5), Citroen EC4, VW ID3 amongst others.

We've really been spoilt by our Niro as it's the best blend of everything, however, I don't think getting another Niro is the right idea. The main requirements out of the above are boot space, the Cee'd has a boot of 380 litres and I'd like a boot a similar size or bigger, which rules out some smaller EV's and range it needs to have a real world range of over 200 miles for occasional long trips.

So, from people experience, can anyone make any suggestions for a short list I can go and test drive? Finally, I've ruled out a Leaf mainly because of the outdated DC charging and the aircooled battery, as I will be keeping this car for a very long time and I can only see the Leaf being a hindrance to this.

Thanks,

Dougal

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Sat 21 Jun 2025 12:58

All - EV Buying Advice - Adampr

Why would getting another Niro not be the right idea?

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Sat 21 Jun 2025 14:31

All - EV Buying Advice - badbusdriver

Why would getting another Niro not be the right idea?

Not only am I also curious as to why you don't want another Niro, i'm also curious as to why your 2nd EV needs to have the same capabilities as the one you already have?

Surely if having two cars, one big enough for all your needs and one smaller is the way to go?. If you need to do a longer journey or a fully loaded run to the recycling centre you take the Niro. But the smaller 2nd car would manage pretty much everything else. As an example there is a 2024 (6k miles) Corsa E on Autotrader right now just under £13k

Edited by badbusdriver on 21/06/2025 at 14:34

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Sat 21 Jun 2025 17:59

All - EV Buying Advice - Father Dougal

Why would getting another Niro not be the right idea?

Not only am I also curious as to why you don't want another Niro, i'm also curious as to why your 2nd EV needs to have the same capabilities as the one you already have?

Surely if having two cars, one big enough for all your needs and one smaller is the way to go?. If you need to do a longer journey or a fully loaded run to the recycling centre you take the Niro. But the smaller 2nd car would manage pretty much everything else. As an example there is a 2024 (6k miles) Corsa E on Autotrader right now just under £13k

I don’t think the wife would be happy if I bought the same car as her! I steal it as often as I am allowed to but it’s not ideal if she has the kids. Ideally I want something as practical if not slightly bigger or not smaller than my Ceed.

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Sat 21 Jun 2025 14:34

All - EV Buying Advice - SLO76

Of your list and requirements I’d be looking for a nice approved used ID3 58kwh. You’ll need to find another £2-£3k to get a good low mileage 22 plate from a dealer, but if you take a PCP you’ll get 2yrs VW warranty and breakdown cover plus £250 and there 2yrs servicing and Mot for £99. We’ve recently replaced a Nissan Leaf with one and I really rate it.

That all said, as a second car a cheaper but more limited 40kwh Leaf would make a lot of sense at £7-£9k if you’ve already got a Niro for longer runs anyway. We really liked our Leaf, they’re comfortable and very practical with a large boot. They’re stupidly cheap now, but I’d leave the bigger battery cars as they’re £2k plus more and that takes them too close to more modern options like the ID3. The 40kwh will do 99% of your motoring needs, the Niro can cover longer trips.

Edited by SLO76 on 21/06/2025 at 14:37

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Sat 21 Jun 2025 18:35

All - EV Buying Advice - pd

I wouldn't obsess too much about mileage on an EV, the slightly higher mileage ones are actually excellent value - whether it has done 20k. 40k or 60k makes little difference except to the price.

I'd agree on the ID3 and the LEAF. The LEAF is actually stupidly good value these days and as tough as old boots. The air cooling is actually pretty irrelevant in the UK and is more of a theoretical issue than a practical one.

Chademo might be an issue if you do loads of DC charging, if you don't then not sure it is.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 10:31

All - EV Buying Advice - John F

The air cooling is actually pretty irrelevant in the UK and is more of a theoretical issue than a practical one.

Agree. Indeed, there have been issues with old EVs when the fluid coolant leaks out and goes where it shouldn't resulting in very expensive repairs.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 11:47

All - EV Buying Advice - RT

The air cooling is actually pretty irrelevant in the UK and is more of a theoretical issue than a practical one.

Agree. Indeed, there have been issues with old EVs when the fluid coolant leaks out and goes where it shouldn't resulting in very expensive repairs.

UK ambient temperatures may well mean that air-cooling is adequate during a journey, but the ever-increasing charging rates mean that liquid-cooling is a necessity.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 12:03

All - EV Buying Advice - mcb100

The only downside for LEAF owners with air cooled batteries is on a potentially rare day when they need more than one rapid, DC, charge per journey.
Subsequent charges will be appreciably slower than the first one.
Liquid cooling lessens this effect.
Most stuff I’ve driven recently have had the ability to precondition the battery mid-journey by using the vehicle’s inbuilt navigation. Not CarPlay/Android Auto from a phone.
If the car/van knows where it’s stopping to take on amps it can work to get the battery to the optimum temperature (20-25C) to take on the fastest charge it’s capable of.

Edited by mcb100 on 22/06/2025 at 12:42

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 13:19

All - EV Buying Advice - pd

The air cooling is actually pretty irrelevant in the UK and is more of a theoretical issue than a practical one.

Agree. Indeed, there have been issues with old EVs when the fluid coolant leaks out and goes where it shouldn't resulting in very expensive repairs.

UK ambient temperatures may well mean that air-cooling is adequate during a journey, but the ever-increasing charging rates mean that liquid-cooling is a necessity.

That may be true of new cars coming out but the LEAF isn't goon to be increasing it's charge rate (which is 50 on the 40 model and mid-70s max on the 62).

I would never recommend a LEAF if you do long journeys regularly but they're good value and still do what an EV does well for local pottering and are cheap.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 13:25

All - EV Buying Advice - badbusdriver

The air cooling is actually pretty irrelevant in the UK and is more of a theoretical issue than a practical one.

Agree. Indeed, there have been issues with old EVs when the fluid coolant leaks out and goes where it shouldn't resulting in very expensive repairs.

UK ambient temperatures may well mean that air-cooling is adequate during a journey, but the ever-increasing charging rates mean that liquid-cooling is a necessity.

I see you do also get CHAdeMO to CCS1 or CCS2 adapters. Wouldn't that render concerns over the availablity of appropriate charging points for the Leaf null and void?.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 13:46

All - EV Buying Advice - Adampr

Getting back to the original question, the longer range MG5 is the obvious choice.

If you like the Niro but don't want two, maybe a Hyundai Kona or Kia Soul could work? Slightly smaller boot than you've asked for, but shape is also a factor, so worth a look?

I would avoid the C4 and other Stellantis EVe. Having leased one (a Corsa), it was fine but had a lot of minor niggles that would have annoyed me if I owned it

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 14:10

All - EV Buying Advice - Father Dougal

I don’t think the adapters are approved for use in the UK.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 14:17

All - EV Buying Advice - badbusdriver

Dunno because I haven't looked into it in depth, but it was a UK website I was looking at who were selling them (accraine.co.uk) and they describe themselves as "your EV charger specialist". I'd also point out that the adapters sold by the above are expensive items at over £700.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 17:01

All - EV Buying Advice - pd

You can get the Chademo adaptors for about £450 if you shop around.

I'm not sure of the certification but they are available and seem to work.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 20:30

All - EV Buying Advice - SLO76

We did use the Leaf for longer runs a few times, but fast charging more than once in a day really isn’t an option. It slows right down. We have used it to go down south a few times but we wouldn’t try doing more than 200 miles in a day again as it was a very time consuming faff. We could take a run down to Blackpool (don’t know why) which is circa 195 miles away with one full charge at home and a 40 min stop on the way for lunch and lekky. We’ve always managed to get a charger at motorway services despite the Leaf’s Betamax charger. As a second car, where there is another vehicle capable of covering longer runs, the 40kwh Leaf makes much sense as a cheap robust and spacious family hatch.

The ID3 can one hit this journey, but we’d still stop for a tea and a pee anyway. The hotel we stayed at last time offered free charging, so the return journey is even cheaper than the first leg.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 20:49

All - EV Buying Advice - mcb100

Rather surprisingly, the most expensive motorway services in the country at Tebay now have Tesla and non-Tesla rapids and they’re amongst the cheapest (lowest cost?) motorway charging I’ve seen.
The other option, particularly on the southbound side, is to use the ones just outside the gates of Porsche at Carnforth. Call while they’re open and use their toilets and you’ll usually get offered a cup of Porsche coffee.

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Sun 22 Jun 2025 23:31

All - EV Buying Advice - SLO76

Rather surprisingly, the most expensive motorway services in the country at Tebay now have Tesla and non-Tesla rapids and they’re amongst the cheapest (lowest cost?) motorway charging I’ve seen. The other option, particularly on the southbound side, is to use the ones just outside the gates of Porsche at Carnforth. Call while they’re open and use their toilets and you’ll usually get offered a cup of Porsche coffee.

Thanks for the tip.

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