They are not making this the easy no brainer decision I had hoped for
(they = combination of government & Tesla). Perhaps someone can help me with this.
Current situation: Looking to swap my 44k miles, 2l petrol 2011 Seat Leon, which is wholly owned, chipped to 250bhp and in good nick. For ease of reference, its basically a curvy Golf GTi. Its our primary long distance car, and we also have a 4yo Suzuki Swift for city driving. We only do about 8-10k miles a year in the Leon, but when we do go in it, its often loaded with a roofbox and either towing a small boat, or with bikes on a towball mounted bike rack. It's getting on and some problems are starting to show, worst of which will likely lead to a clutch needing replaced at some point in the future, and the wheels seem to be getting harder to balance each time I swap between winter and summer tyres.
We are based in Edinburgh, and most miles are done up and down to Inverness (163 miles of potentially pretty nasty weather), beyond that to Ullapool, and down to the Skipton area. The Inverness trip is of particular concern as I don't think that in the winter or on a windy day the SR+ will make it without a stop for a charge (checked via a better route planner), the other ones we would be stopping any way, and going south there are more superchargers.
So looking at LR, or RWD LR, which is potentially £49k worth of car, without FSD. Guessing £45k for RWD LR, waiting to hear if its available.
I had convinced myself at around £40k this is all fine, paying to access the future, save the planet etc. But,
- no towball (I think it needs to be in place when you buy the car so your VIN plate gets the approval stamp),
- no hatch back (this will be my first car since my first 1.0 corsa I had at Uni that I can't get a fridge, or a rubble sack of gardening waste in)
- it doesn't even save me much as we don't do enough miles (checked actual data and I spend £1000 on petrol in the last year),
- tax is MORE than my current fossil burner
- servicing will save some, but I'm not clear on what the M3 reqs are other than 'not yearly'? Looks like brake fluid every 3 years and a battery coolant every ????
These are all somewhat addressable (could put a towball on the swift which would uncomfortably address some scenarios, the total luggage space is bigger, so could drop the roof box possibly and put bikes on the roof [urg, the range hit on that one!], live without the hatch, money is just money for fuel and tax etc). But these seem like a hell of a lot of compromises for a £50k car!
Please help me justify this - I really want an M3, but am having a hard time selling it to myself after seeing the prices this morning. What am I missing?
Avendit
