Mk4 E-hybrid 204 bhp

[C_ED_99]

Thinking about getting a Mk4 Leon e-hybrid. Test drove it on Saturday and thought it was OK. It was fully charged when I took it out, so most of the run was under electric (bar deliberately booting it to test acceleration up to 70mph onto a motorway via a slip road). I liked the EV torque and power.

Anything to check up on or ask about?

It's on software 1896 rather than 1940

Work is 15 miles away, with no option to charge there, its also an elevation gain of 600ft, so doubt the battery is sufficient to do the 30 mile round trip? (Especially due to the extra weight). Commute is A and B roads so mainly 40-50 mph behind other traffic.

Currently have a 1.4 TSI 150 BHP, and managing about 50mpg (long term trip says 52 mpg at present)

Is it worth hybrids nowadays with the price of electricity?

Also in Northern Ireland so less choices for electricity - no Octopus Go for example (anyone have advice I'd appreciate the input)

Any other options to consider? Should I go one last ICE or full EV?

 

[andylong]

You can plug in a an FEV at home, in a 13A socket and get all your daily miles easily, around 3kW an hour. A charging port will get you much faster charging ofcourse.
If you can't charge it at home an EV probably isn't for you.
Look around at the places you want to go see what charging is available, but you'll easily get 200 miles of range.
If you can I'd suggest full EV, running costs are so low.
Get one with a heat pump for cabin heating, you'll get much more range.
Oh and the main limiting range factor, other than the obvious is how fast you go, not, like in petrol cars stop start driving, drag coefficient is very important for FEVs, many EVs have poor drag coefficients which impacts range, the good ones have it around .25

 

[C_ED_99]

You can plug in a an FEV at home, in a 13A socket and get all your daily miles easily, around 3kW an hour. A charging port will get you much faster charging ofcourse.
If you can't charge it at home an EV probably isn't for you

Cheers for the reply, yes I should have said I've off street parking at home so can charge, obviously not got an EV charger but yeah thought 30 miles per day is likely at most ~10kWh?
So should be doable with a granny plug, but I could get a wall charger installed

 

[andylong]

3 miles per kWh should be typical, yes. Less in the winter.
Plug in the wall and you can get 60 miles on economy seven or somesuch.
My own research suggests the Kia ev6 is a great choice, very economical,vwell equipped. Tesla is better ofcourse neither are cheap.
Running costs over time are about 100 GBP a month less for fully electric Vs petrol or diesel.

 

[Shoveitpusher]

I do a 25 mile each way trip, I can charge at work most of the time. Worst I’ve had is 20 miles on electric, at present it is doing the full 25 with 15 in the battery, so in summer you should get home and back. This is usually 3 up on A roads in traffic, then a small town.
Mpg is showing high 80’s, we do a regular 300 mile trip.
I have no idea if running eco or sport makes a difference, but sport does make the car nicer to drive

 

[Kaxolo]

If you can´t charge at home Plug-in hybrids are not for you. For me the main reason, plug-in hybrids (at least most of them) are limited to very slow charging. The Leon in a street charger (the fastest you will charge) would still take around 3 hours. I can´t imagine you going every day to a charger for 3 hours. They are meant to be charged every night at home.

 

[andylong]

The charging is taken care of by the car and a smaller battery will be limited because of its capacity and the way it's used to lower charging rates. While the hybrid can take more current from the 13A socket than it can provide, it's not even double and takes the same time to charge from a 7kW outlet as a 22kW outlet.
A full EV will charge much faster from the latter outlets.
Charging to around 80% happens fast the last 20 not so much, so even tho you can provide more current it results in charging times like 6hrs from a wall socket, 4 hrs from everything else.

 

[mty12345]

If you're buying it, i'd go petrol. Depreciation on EV's is over 50% in 2 years on some of them. Petrol cars are holding their value extremely well, more like 10% in 2 years!

 

[Davehaslanded]

I’ve had my FR eHybrid for a year now. I love the car. Plug in at home & charge overnight. You get approximately 40miles EV only range, but even after switch over to ICE, it will still recharge under braking, then disable the engine when it can, such level driving where lower levels of EV drive are sufficient & when going downhill, & power isn’t needed. Without any charge in the car, I average 60mpg. Only time I usually do that is if I’m going away or I’m on a long return journey.
As for things to request; demand they update software to 1940 or later prior to pickup. It makes a hell of a difference in reliability & usability.

Any specific questions, just ask, as a lot of these replies are from people that don’t own the car. My car value hasn’t dropped at all since I purchase, due to the fact they’re struggling to get enough parts to build them. Seat have removed the eHybrid as an option currently.

 

[Fergoo]

Some great points in this thread, but just thought I'd add my two pence about the elevation gain. I took my Cupra PHEV to work yesterday on a 15 mile commute there and back. There is quite an elevation gain over the hills, but don't forget that the battery will regen quite notably as you go down the other side.

After 8 miles of my commute I was down to the mid-teens in terms of range, but then this increased by a couple of miles as I went down the hill. It used very little power and the battery was recharged by the motor, resulting in 57% of battery still being available by the time I'd completed 15 miles.

Going the other way, I'm now going back up the elevation gain and my range quickly drops from 18 miles to 4, with less than 5/6 or miles completed. However, once you start going back down the hill this increased and maintained for the rest of the journey. I finished with 6 miles of range and 17%.

Totally agree with software, mines two weeks old and came with 1900 but still has infotainment random crashes. It's booked in next week for an update.

Final point is cost, ultimately as others have said it comes down to your lifestyle and whether you can plug it in to charge overnight as to whether it's worth it. If you can't charge at home or get cheaper electric, a PHEV might not be the best car. I can (on Intelligent Octopus) and I have a commute less than 30 miles return, although you could manage with a commute of 60 miles if you can charge at work at a reasonable rate.

For comparison, in the 226 miles I've covered since owning the car, I've averaged 282.5mpg and 3.6mi/kWh.

226 / 3.6 = 62.7kWh at 7.5p = roughly £4.71. Throw on a bit extra for DC/AC conversion loss, and the less of a gallon of of fuel I've, used lets call it £10.00

A petrol at 40MPG, roughly 16p a mile = 226 * 0.16 = £36.16. So for me it's working and I should see at least a £50 reduction in cost of fuel throughout a month.

Public chargers can cost significantly more, so in my case of 3.6mi/kWh, once I hit above 57p a kWh (16p * 3.6mi/kWh) a 40mpg petrol is more economic. Most are around here are at least 45p, so I'll probably just stick to petrol if I can't charge it at home for whatever reason (which I guess is the benefit of a PHEV).

Whether that works for you and you can warrant the additional risk (more complicated/more to go wrong), the initial cost (PHEVs are typically expensive to buy) and potential maintenance costs (heavier so tires, but should be less on brakes), is something to way-up. Also don't forget as others have mentioned the range will look very different in winter.

Hope that helps and gives you some food for thought. Any questions just ask.

 

[C_ED_99]

I picked up the car today and its only on 1780, despite specifically asking the dealer to update it before I collected it

Also the battery on the spare key was dead

Driving to work I noticed popping in the radio, is that a symptom? I've seen it mention on the forum somewhere.

Will 1780 update itself or is it a dealer visit???

 

[Davehaslanded]

I picked up the car today and its only on 1780, despite specifically asking the dealer to update it before I collected it

Also the battery on the spare key was dead

Driving to work I noticed popping in the radio, is that a symptom? I've seen it mention on the forum somewhere.

Will 1780 update itself or is it a dealer visit???

That popping is a software issue. It will not fix itself. And any over the air updates will only be minor, so won’t fix 90% of the issues people have had on this forum.

You need to go back to the dealer and tell them that you want the software fixed as agreed. Any major software update has to be done by the dealer.

 

[Alex667]

And any over the air updates will only be minor, so won’t fix 90% of the issues people have had on this forum.

In fact, they tend to introduce more errors/issues than they fix as well.

 

[Davehaslanded]

In fact, they tend to introduce more errors/issues than they fix as well.

My dealer has always generally been quite good. They’ve done every update I’ve asked them too in last 9 months, under warranty. It’s a real shame so many people have had a fight with their dealerships.

 

[Alex667]

My dealer has always generally been quite good. They’ve done every update I’ve asked them too in last 9 months, under warranty. It’s a real shame so many people have had a fight with their dealerships.

I was referring to the OTA updates, not the dealers themselves.

 

[Fergoo]

As others have said it will be a dealer visit for a major upgrade, but mine didn't quibble and just opened up the calendar. Heading down there on Friday and told me to expect it to take up to 2 hours.

It's a bit of a pain, but will be worth it. The newer software is significantly more reliable (mines 1896) and other than a dozen random crashes (boots straight back up) and notifications never disappearing it works fine. Bluetooth randomly disconnects but that might be an issue with my phone.

Shouldn't happen on a new car but I just think the software in these things has become so ridiculously complicated. I could live with it, but the perfectionist in me wants it to be right.

Looks a nice motor though, love the colour and the alloys combination.

 

[oldgitdave]

Bluetooth randomly disconnects but that might be an issue with my phone.

Had my 204 Hybrid Formentor updated to 1940 last week. I still get the random Bluetooth disconnects on my phone. Every single trip it pops up:
"Dave's S22 Ultra disconnected from Bluetooth handsfree"
It's a pain when it does it during a call!
Anyone else had this?

 

[Fergoo]

Had my 204 Hybrid Formentor updated to 1940 last week. I still get the random Bluetooth disconnects on my phone. Every single trip it pops up:
"Dave's S22 Ultra disconnected from Bluetooth handsfree"
It's a pain when it does it during a call!
Anyone else had this?

Mines an S22 Ultra too.. disconnects from my watch as well though at the same time, so wonder if it's an issue with the phone and not the car.

 

[oldgitdave]

Mines an S22 Ultra too.. disconnects from my watch as well though at the same time, so wonder if it's an issue with the phone and not the car.

Mine doesn't disconnect from my watch so maybe a different issue. It did it on 1899 but never on 1896. Been think of changing my phone tbh.

 

[C_ED_99]

Is there a technical bulletin for the update?