The Car thread

[adam1]

On 14/04/2026 at 13:14, Tommy G said:

Chipsaway are good

 

https://www.chipsaway.co.uk/local-car-body-repairs/leicestershire/hinckley/

They did a very good job. Highly recommend.

 

Does anyone know of a reputable firm who do replacement [smart] car keys? Ideally not the dealer (VW).

[The Bear]

Anyone used Chips away for alloy wheel refurb? Wondered what they are like and how pricey they are. 

[Raj]

On 14/04/2026 at 13:14, Tommy G said:

Chipsaway are good

 

https://www.chipsaway.co.uk/local-car-body-repairs/leicestershire/hinckley/

I got a quote from them and it was circa £320 +VAT.

 

Russells Smart Repairs

 

The above quoted £180.

 

[moore_94]

Anyone used a BYD Sealion 5 at all?

 

Looking to swap my car at the start of next year (personal not company) and have started looking around at hybrids and full electrics

 

I can charge a car at work or can easily sort a charger for at home

 

Currently drive a Renault Kadjar and I don’t think I would want to go much smaller

[JonnyBoy]

3 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Anyone used a BYD Sealion 5 at all?

 

Looking to swap my car at the start of next year (personal not company) and have started looking around at hybrids and full electrics

 

I can charge a car at work or can easily sort a charger for at home

 

Currently drive a Renault Kadjar and I don’t think I would want to go much smaller

 

Haven't driven the 5 but have driven the Sealion 7 - excellence version is a really solid car, really nice drive and full of tech. I really rate the BYD's 

[Legend_in_blue]

Anyone on here have any experience of driving the BMW iX1 or Audi Q4?  Second hand they are looking well priced, deciding on whether or not to go EV as I've had enough of £30 of diesel in the tank per week and the fact that it stinks.

 

Thought of hybrid but not convinced.  A decent spec PHEV Sportage for example is equivalent to an iX1 on price more or less.

[Grebfromgrebland]

38 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

Anyone on here have any experience of driving the BMW iX1 or Audi Q4?  Second hand they are looking well priced, deciding on whether or not to go EV as I've had enough of £30 of diesel in the tank per week and the fact that it stinks.

 

Thought of hybrid but not convinced.  A decent spec PHEV Sportage for example is equivalent to an iX1 on price more or less.

If you can charge at home and do less than 200 miles on normal day get an EV and never set foot in a petrol station again.

[Robo61]

22 minutes ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

If you can charge at home and do less than 200 miles on normal day get an EV and never set foot in a petrol station again.

Agree 100% with this you won't look back

[fox_favourite]

29 minutes ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

If you can charge at home and do less than 200 miles on normal day get an EV and never set foot in a petrol station again.

Definitely agree. I have an VW ID.3 which I got when it was just under 3  years old and a home charger. I do mainly runs around the county/city for work and I have never looked back. £2-3 changing which lasts 1 week/10 days pending on mileage. Nimble around town and smooth and hassle free. I do the odd run to Oxfordshire and it gets there and back even in the winter. I came from a diesel Sportage and the silence from that is something I enjoy.

 

Yes, I do wish it had more mileage in the winter months but you adapt. But it really depends on your use case. If you do a lot motorway, but always go home a q4 has decent range from what I know, so you'll be all good. Only use public charging as an emergency and even that isn't too bad. Sainsbury's is the easiest I've found out of all options.

 

I genuinely don't think I'll go back to ICE car again, but that's just me others maybe different 

 

 

Edited 22 June by fox_favourite

[Legend_in_blue]

I think it's the feeling of, what if you turn up and there's no chargers available.  I've read the infrastructure is better abroad and cheaper so Im thinking if I'm driving abroad then I'll need to top up over here first.  How easy is that?  Longest trip would probably be from here to central France and back.  

 

Im happy with week by week daily driving, and the setup at home is not an issue, but have these question marks over longer holiday trips 3 or 4 times a year whether in this country or abroad.

[Tommy G]

The bonus of an EV is advanced climate cooling conditions in this heat. 

[fox_favourite]

18 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

I think it's the feeling of, what if you turn up and there's no chargers available.  I've read the infrastructure is better abroad and cheaper so Im thinking if I'm driving abroad then I'll need to top up over here first.  How easy is that?  Longest trip would probably be from here to central France and back.  

 

Im happy with week by week daily driving, and the setup at home is not an issue, but have these question marks over longer holiday trips 3 or 4 times a year whether in this country or abroad.

To be fair, some EVs have some great range now, especially the bigger ones. 

 

If you're not entirely sure, then get a hybrid. But you can plan your route via a charging place. Supermarkets like Sainsbury's and Tesco do fast charging cheaper than service stations. But I've used one to top up on a long drive, so as long as you plan then no biggy. 

 

I can't comment on charging abroad as I have never driven abroad, someone else might the of help there. 

 

How often will you do those trips? Like I say EV isn't for everyone and doing longer journeys might be more suited to hybrid.

Edited 23 June by fox_favourite

[danny.]

20 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

The bonus of an EV is advanced climate cooling conditions in this heat. 

Yea so nice. Just whack the climate control on 15 mins before you get back in, game changer. Same in the winter too. 

[The Bear]

In 5 years of EV ownership and public charging only, I've never once turned up to a set of chargers and they've all been busy. 

[Robo61]

2 hours ago, The Bear said:

In 5 years of EV ownership and public charging only, I've never once turned up to a set of chargers and they've all been busy. 

Ditto though only 4 years for me. Charging infrastructure is improving daily and there are now significantly more public chargers than there are petrol stations. 

[Zear0]

On 22/06/2026 at 09:47, moore_94 said:

Anyone used a BYD Sealion 5 at all?

 

Looking to swap my car at the start of next year (personal not company) and have started looking around at hybrids and full electrics

 

I can charge a car at work or can easily sort a charger for at home

 

Currently drive a Renault Kadjar and I don’t think I would want to go much smaller

Not a Sealion, but I’m driving a Seal U-dmi and it’s great.

[FoyleFox]

11 hours ago, The Bear said:

In 5 years of EV ownership and public charging only, I've never once turned up to a set of chargers and they've all been busy. 

3 years for me. And, it was a couple of years ago. The amount of new chargers going in now is immense. Plus, Tesla have opened up at least 50% off theirs. 

 

I was at Eveything Electric last weekend. I was impressed by the BYD collection. Opted not to test drive as, the only 2 I liked were too big to be suitable replacements, if we change in a couple of years. The new Ionic 3 looked smart. 

[Tommy G]

Testing an iX3 and iX on Friday - amazing reviews on the iX3 but I think the lead time is long and my company car is up in December so might not be an option. Looking at the A6 etron and might test drive the BYD sealion 7. Loved the i4 but it's too small in the back and tops out at 200 miles of range 

[The Bear]

Have you seen those Rivian monstrosities? Absolutely awful looking things and another in the long line of cars that are too big to be driven on UK roads. 

[UniFox21]

On 23/06/2026 at 21:17, Robo61 said:

Ditto though only 4 years for me. Charging infrastructure is improving daily and there are now significantly more public chargers than there are petrol stations. 

They would need to be, average stop at a petrol station probably a few minutes compared to significantly longer at electric chargers 

[The Bear]

24 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

They would need to be, average stop at a petrol station probably a few minutes compared to significantly longer at electric chargers 

You've fallen into completely the wrong way of thinking about the way EVs should be charged. So many people do the same so you're not alone. 

 

Electric cars are best charged while they're sat there parked up doing nothing. Either at home, work or wherever you happen to be travelling to. Cars spend most of their time parked so it's the obvious way to go about things. 

 

Service stations are there for long journeys only. And who knows what sort of range we'll have in future battery tech. There's no reason they can't do 700+ miles per charge and some already do IIRC. They just need to become mainstream over time. 

[UniFox21]

2 minutes ago, The Bear said:

You've fallen into completely the wrong way of thinking about the way EVs should be charged. So many people do the same so you're not alone. 

 

Electric cars are best charged while they're sat there parked up doing nothing. Either at home, work or wherever you happen to be travelling to. Cars spend most of their time parked so it's the obvious way to go about things. 

 

Service stations are there for long journeys only. And who knows what sort of range we'll have in future battery tech. There's no reason they can't do 700+ miles per charge and some already do IIRC. They just need to become mainstream over time. 

I do picture the charging as you would with a ICE at a petrol station, rather than like you mention and with any other battery device - just leaving it to charge. 

 

With current tech limitations, charging isn't on par with the current speed of petrol/diesel refueling, but as you say no reason we can't have infrastructure where it is norm just to park and charge up

[FoyleFox]

Lots of it is just planning, which just becomes second nature. Now, admittedly, our only regular long journeys are Gatwick and Heathrow. We set off with a full battery, stop at Toddington for a coffee and comfort break (which we'd do anyway) and top up. Park for the holiday and then do the reverse on return. 

We did Northumberland last year, same mo, comfort break and lunch with charging. No issues at all. 

With the newer, faster charging stations, we're finding we're having to stop the charge last at through coffee. The new ones are making it a significantly easier operation. 

 

Edited 24 June by FoyleFox

[Jon the Hat]

On 23/06/2026 at 03:33, Legend_in_blue said:

Anyone on here have any experience of driving the BMW iX1 or Audi Q4?  Second hand they are looking well priced, deciding on whether or not to go EV as I've had enough of £30 of diesel in the tank per week and the fact that it stinks.

 

Thought of hybrid but not convinced.  A decent spec PHEV Sportage for example is equivalent to an iX1 on price more or less.

We’ve got an iX3 and love it, the iX1 is newer tech than ours and a little smaller but a wonderful car.  The Audi felt a little smaller inside to me.

[BKLFox]

On 24/06/2026 at 09:00, Tommy G said:

Testing an iX3 and iX on Friday - amazing reviews on the iX3 but I think the lead time is long and my company car is up in December so might not be an option. Looking at the A6 etron and might test drive the BYD sealion 7. Loved the i4 but it's too small in the back and tops out at 200 miles of range 

I commented on the iX3 a few months back after sitting in 1, I think come tomorrow night you’ll sadly be regretting testing it especially if the lead times don’t fit into your current scheme, it blew my mind honestly, 🤞 for you.