Would a m3 work for me or should I stick to a diesel

[Xdeanyy]

Just got a Y here with no home charging available to me.

I do a few 200 mile trips a month and then maybe on average about 200 miles on a normal "no road trips" week.

Charging was my biggest concern the week before delivery. It's not even an issue. I don't even think about it. I've not gone below 20% yet. I've not had to supercharge once (excluding delivery day). Just charge at work for .20 per KWH or home for 0.35KWH.

Financially, can't speak to your specific but based on my payments, I'm sure it would be much cheaper to go EV.

Tesla model Y long range costs me £250 per month, inc tax (company pay the rest)

A 3 series to a similar spec would have cost me about £500 per month inc tax, and the company paying the rest.

So guessing tax benefits and stuff all far outweigh the the ICE option.

Just try to pick a LR model if you can. They're faster too!

 

[WannabeOwner]

I would say that on longer journeys experience in an air suspension MS vs the coil suspension M3 or MY that the OP is considering is not comparable.

Indeed. However the original (2015) MS I had didn't have Air. I don't know what MS had back then, nor how much improved comfort the MS suspension gave back then (compared to e.g. Golf), but that was the time when I was making my long journeys. I've had the air suspension MS since 2019, but that coincided with dramatically reduced annual mileage esp. since lockdown - persuaded clients / colleagues to stick with Zoom/Teams meetings rather than wasting 4 hours a day just travelling to visit them! Definitely noticed a quantum reduction on driver fatigue on long journeys when I moved from Golf to MS in 2015,

My personal view is that I didn't notice a significant differences when I moved to the newer MS, although the salesman did reassure me that Air Suspension was "night & day" better!

I think it is worth high mileage drivers considering how tiring small cockpit / cheap springs is on long journeys, and the benefit of reduced noise of EV, whether AP/similar reduction in driver workload contributes - plus the enforced 20 minute EV refuelling breaks every couple of hours - and also larger cabin and more sophisticated suspension.

 

[Overworked]

….

I did speak to my accountant and to be honest he did not give me a clear answer for which one is better for me.

Going back to the Y I have test drove a y and a 3 and I think the 3 would suit me better.

The accountant should tell you the cost/ benefit / tax options of taking a BEV vs ICE and the lease/purchase/ cost options.

That advice should have been clear, get a BEV.

The accountant does not tell you which one is best for you - that is your call. From all you say a M3LR will cover your needs. But other cheaper makes will suffice if your max daily range is 200 miles.

There is an app ABRP that you can put your standard journeys into, and change the vehicles and it works out your charging stops and cost options, when I did that before my purchase I realised that the charging stops were where I stopped anyway for a comfort break!

 

[bc1979]

I have a 186 miles round trip in a Standard range that I do once a week, pretty much all on motorways.

Only one arrived home with less than 10%, I had 9%. That includes cold weather and rain.

 

[Adopado]

I think it is worth high mileage drivers considering how tiring small cockpit / cheap springs is on long journeys, and the benefit of reduced noise of EV, whether AP/similar reduction in driver workload contributes - plus the enforced 20 minute EV refuelling breaks every couple of hours - and also larger cabin and more sophisticated suspension.

I really think that the stops ... and the mindset required, is probably what makes the the biggest difference to driver fatigue. I always used to "press on" with no stops no matter how long the journey. Nowadays I plan to have a stop on long trips and it seems to change the whole character of the drive. Usually I am also driving at a more moderate speed for reasons of efficiency! I now prefer this pattern of driving and arrive feeling more relaxed.

 

[yessuz]

Hi can someone help me please I am a director of a small ltd company just me and my wife and need to change one of our cars. I currently drive around 25-30k and currently looking at a bmw m340d personally. My question is would I save money by getting a m3 Lr

My biggest journey is around 200 miles.

Can I claim all charging costs back and if I lease I take it I can claim 50% of the vat back I can’t afford to buy outright.

Any advice would be good thanks

it works just fine.
I do ~25k miles a year.
My office is ~160 miles away from home and I go there once a week (I charge at work once arrive)

it takes me between sub 50% to 55% (depending on time of year) to arrive there driving 2 mph above speed limit on AP.

there's a lot of super chargers and other charging facilities on the road.

Just remember one most important thing that you have to change your mindset. by this I mean:
- in diesel you used to (I presume) to drive from full to empty and then fill up full tank.
- in EV you start with full and you fill to full ONLY if it is needed for your journey. Otherwise you top to to the required battery level with is required to reach your destination/home where it will charge over night. So for example if you have 10% battery when arrived to Super charger and you need another 5% to reach home, you just top up additional 10% max (or less) and you will charge remaining over night at home.

treat it as mobile phone - where you charge it most of the time? At home, at night, when you sleep.

Oh, and another thing - Every stop at services when you go for a leak + buying coffe - is about the time you need to charge your battery from 10% to 80% at suppercharger which is ~25 minutes.

 

[yessuz]

P.S. - this guy does 1000km challenges with Evs and has data spreadsheets with times.

take a look and notice what is his stops strategy

 

[Rooster6655]

So you shouldn't have a problem with 200 miles in the LR even in winter, if you can charge at home then the running costs will be cheaper than the BMW and the BIK payments will also be cheaper so in that situation it would be cheaper. The lease payment would likely be more money based on the higher cost of purchase so worth comparing these factors.

It works perfectly well in many situations but there are many situations in business where you just do not have to think about just starting a car and go. Tesla isn’t one of that car. You can see many discussions on this forum around holidays, europe trips and airports and charging related to this.

If you charge at home and have a full charge every day, I don't see it as an issue to go anywhere especially with the availability of superchargers, I don't even check for long journeys. There is no problem leaving a the car at airports or in a car park for a few weeks, just make sure it is left with a decent charge amount and that sentry Mode is turned off, the only people who have issues are the ones that didn't have enough charge to start with or leave sentry mode on.

 

[WannabeOwner]

The lease payment would likely be more money based on the higher cost of purchase so worth comparing these factors.

And insurance ... Tesla don't make slow cars ...

My rule-of-thumb is that EV saves £100 per month for each 10K miles driven in a year (more if you bother to get the best EV Off Peak rate AND can fully charge within that period - someone doing 200 miles a day is more likely to need Ecocnomy-7, and thus not get the bestist-possiblist off peak rate)

So a 30K mile p.a. driver would save £300 a month ... putting £300 a month into Finance / Insurance should buy you a LOT more car