Your Experiences Of Electric/hybrid Cars

[MantaRay]

Good? Bad? Indifferent? Better or easier to drive? Would you go back to a conventional vehicle?

What do you most like & dislike about them?

[anaxcrosswords]

Have had my Honda CR-Z sports hybrid for about 2 years now and honestly can’t imagine myself driving anything else. It has masses of personality and, because you don’t see many of them on the road, it tends to attract comment. Funny thing is, it was the only one within my budget and the only one in white. Don’t know why – and bear in mind that as a bloke I don’t buy cars based on colour! – but the white version seems to be the most visually pleasing.

PLUS POINTS:
It’s gorgeous. It’ll cruise happily at 100+ mph (which I did on unrestricted European roads) and still return 50+ MPG. Switching from Normal to Sport mode gives a satisfying little kick of power. It has excellent traction control – a year or so back I hit a patch of newly surfaced road on a corner (workman hadn’t even had time to place warning signs) and the way it kicked in and saved my day was very impressive. And it just feels great to drive.
NEGATIVES:
No spare wheel – instead there’s a puncture repair kit which even my Honda garage says is close to useless. Acceleration from zero is modest to say the least; I’m guessing 0-60 is around 12 seconds (but who needs it anyway?). On the other hand, kicking down to accelerate from 40 or 50 is very good if you drop a gear.

[Baldric]

I'm not a Tree-Hugger, and have no intention of becoming one, so it's not going to happen!

[bhg481]

I'm waiting for all the enthusiastic comments when batteries need replacing. My cousin was told by his local Honda dealer that they expect the batteries to need replacing after 5 years at a cost of £5000.

[ukbod2015]

The only one thats realistically competitive with a regular car is the Tesla but unfortunately that checks in around £90,000.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

The BMW i3 range extender is a fun car with good performance and a 0-40 time to match an M3.....the i8 is very good with performance almost up to M5/M6 territory.Agree with bhg...however dont buy contract hire instead and resale/battery issues wont be a worry.

[mikey4444]

I can just about understand the enthusiasm for hybrid cars but electric cars are plain daft ! I see them occasionally on the M4 in South Wales, and they are always being driven slowly, in the inside lane, presumably because the drivers are afraid to go any faster, in case the battery runs down !

They were a good idea when it came to delivering milk, but that is as far as it goes. I go to Cornwall a few times a year, and it takes me about 4 hours to drive to Lands End in my Fiesta, but the journey would take at least 12 hours in an electric car....just what is the ruddy point ?