The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Saturday
SHOULD WE BUY OUR PLUG-IN HYBRID COMPANY CAR OR SWITCH IT?
QOur VW Passat GTE Estate is nearing the end of its lease. If we stay in the company car scheme the replacement would have to be fully electric. We love the hybrid GTE’s passenger and luggage space, but our annual driving holiday to Italy means range is also important. The Tesla Model Y is an obvious choice, but we’re not keen on its huge central touchscreen. Buying the Passat from the fleet manager is also an option, though we’re concerned about the risk of costly repairs in the future. What do you suggest?
– FG
A
The best electric car option for you will be the Skoda Enyaq iV. It is one of the most spacious EVs, with a huge boot and extremely roomy rear seats – in fact, given your Passat is a plug-in hybrid with a 483-litre boot, it has less space inside than an Enyaq, which has a boot volume of 585 litres.
Skoda has just brought out an upgrade which has boosted the range of the larger-battery Enyaq to 348 miles, which should equate to between 240 and 280 miles in the real world.
Of course, as with any EV, this will mean multiple stops if you intend to drive to Italy, but you can mitigate this by synchronising an overnight stop with a full charge. Given the Enyaq will charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 28 minutes on a charger that’s fast enough to match its 150kW top charging speed, a couple of half-hour stops at such chargers will mean top-ups will have relatively little impact on your journey.
However, keeping the Passat is a worthwhile alternative, given its second-hand value won’t be that much higher than that of a petrol or diesel equivalent – just as long as financing such a move won’t cost you too much more than the company car tax you’d be paying on an EV.
To safegaurd against concerns over future problems, you could take out Volkswagen’s All-In servicing package, under which you pay a monthly fee and get two services, two MOTs, two years’ breakdown cover and, most importantly, a two-year warranty.