Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: tunnie on 26 January 2026, 11:43:50
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So my new company car arrived just before Christmas, it's a 2025 i4 M60. I get this via Lex Leasing and it was to cheap to ignore really.
I added just a couple of options of an upgraded sound system, tow bar and active cruise control. (BMW love extras)
Headline Stats:
- 601bhp
- Dual Motor
I've already done over 1,000 miles in it. My thoughts?
- It's fast, it's ****ing fast, did I mention it's fast?
- Any speed any time, instant torque that all EV's give.
- Not lost a traffic light drag yet.
- It's very, very comfortable. It comes with adaptive ride (air) and it's 18's alloys with decent amount of side wall mean a very, very smooth ride.
- Super silent around town as you would expect.
- It's excellent at the outside lane cruise, very quiet and smooth.
- Active cruise is great, even comes to a stop and goes again without any involvement from me. Makes for relaxing busy motorway sections.
- Pre-conditioning is something I like way more than I thought I would, coming out to a toasty warm car every morning at 7am is nice.
- Unlike other EV's the touch screen madness is limited, still has traditional iDrive, with buttons etc.
- Easy to disable stupid EU rules, speed limit warning, active warnings/steering intervention etc is very easy to disable. Either 1 button or 1 click in a shortcut.
- I added a towbar, so I can use a rear mount bike rack, makes it easier for hauling bikes. It's electric as well and folds away at the press of a button.
- It's a 3 year lease, so nothing to worry about. Tyres, maintenance, insurance, service etc all included.
- I've only charged it once away from home, mainly to test the discount from BMW. But worked without any issues.
For me it's incredibly cheap, both in fuel (£0.07 kWh) and the cost of the car itself (£450/m) - Costs me around 65p to get to work now.
(https://i.ibb.co/MxhrsLhR/Car1.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/C3HrCWZH/Car2.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/fdmcyWp4/Charge.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/h12r5LJh/Bikes.jpg)
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Sounds like a very capable motor, Mark. I wouldn't say £450 a month is cheap, but for what you're getting it's certainly good value. Enjoy 👍
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Superb colour too.
But then I do like shiny things!
:y
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Road test in Autocar magazine last Wednesday, so still in the shops for sale. :y
They gave it 4 stars, and said it went like shit of a shovel.
Nice car in a great colour. :y......looks very similar to the I-Pace in Italian racing red, or 'firenze' as they like to call it these days.
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Lovely looking car & a great colour.( same as wifes Toyota)
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How big is the usable battery?
Even TB must admit you have done well for a 'useless student'... >:D
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So my new company car arrived just before Christmas, it's a 2025 i4 M60. I get this via Lex Leasing and it was to cheap to ignore really.
I added just a couple of options of an upgraded sound system, tow bar and active cruise control. (BMW love extras)
Headline Stats:
- 601bhp
- Dual Motor
I've already done over 1,000 miles in it. My thoughts?
- It's fast, it's ****ing fast, did I mention it's fast?
- Any speed any time, instant torque that all EV's give.
- Not lost a traffic light drag yet.
- It's very, very comfortable. It comes with adaptive ride (air) and it's 18's alloys with decent amount of side wall mean a very, very smooth ride.
- Super silent around town as you would expect.
- It's excellent at the outside lane cruise, very quiet and smooth.
- Active cruise is great, even comes to a stop and goes again without any involvement from me. Makes for relaxing busy motorway sections.
- Pre-conditioning is something I like way more than I thought I would, coming out to a toasty warm car every morning at 7am is nice.
- Unlike other EV's the touch screen madness is limited, still has traditional iDrive, with buttons etc.
- Easy to disable stupid EU rules, speed limit warning, active warnings/steering intervention etc is very easy to disable. Either 1 button or 1 click in a shortcut.
- I added a towbar, so I can use a rear mount bike rack, makes it easier for hauling bikes. It's electric as well and folds away at the press of a button.
- It's a 3 year lease, so nothing to worry about. Tyres, maintenance, insurance, service etc all included.
- I've only charged it once away from home, mainly to test the discount from BMW. But worked without any issues.
For me it's incredibly cheap, both in fuel (£0.07 kWh) and the cost of the car itself (£450/m) - Costs me around 65p to get to work now.
Congrats, its a lovely looking thing and a real bargain for what you got! :y
Pre-heat is the best thing for me, car being warm and not having to scrape the windscreen is a massive perk! I also find it really useful on days out with the kids - such as yesterday where they're cold and tired by the end of the day. Pre heat with the app, bundle the kids into a nice warm car; they're asleep in 10s flat and I get a peaceful drive home 8)
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Not tried the pre-heat thingy on Mrs Opti's I-Pace, or the heated steering wheel.
But I grew up with ice on the inside of the windows, so such things have a touch of the 'nancy boy' about them. :D
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Looks nice enough, but not in the same league as your old Senator. :D
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Sounds like a very capable motor, Mark. I wouldn't say £450 a month is cheap, but for what you're getting it's certainly good value. Enjoy 👍
Well £450 is cheap I feel when it includes the car, with zero down payment. All insurance costs all maintenance costs including tyres etc. All I have to do is put electric in it.
Only cheaper if you go bangernomics and run something very old, but these days I don't have the time to maintain things and spend a weekend sorting out a car.
I was probably spending £200+ alone in fuel per month before this, so can't do it much cheaper!
So my new company car arrived just before Christmas, it's a 2025 i4 M60. I get this via Lex Leasing and it was to cheap to ignore really.
I added just a couple of options of an upgraded sound system, tow bar and active cruise control. (BMW love extras)
Headline Stats:
- 601bhp
- Dual Motor
I've already done over 1,000 miles in it. My thoughts?
- It's fast, it's ****ing fast, did I mention it's fast?
- Any speed any time, instant torque that all EV's give.
- Not lost a traffic light drag yet.
- It's very, very comfortable. It comes with adaptive ride (air) and it's 18's alloys with decent amount of side wall mean a very, very smooth ride.
- Super silent around town as you would expect.
- It's excellent at the outside lane cruise, very quiet and smooth.
- Active cruise is great, even comes to a stop and goes again without any involvement from me. Makes for relaxing busy motorway sections.
- Pre-conditioning is something I like way more than I thought I would, coming out to a toasty warm car every morning at 7am is nice.
- Unlike other EV's the touch screen madness is limited, still has traditional iDrive, with buttons etc.
- Easy to disable stupid EU rules, speed limit warning, active warnings/steering intervention etc is very easy to disable. Either 1 button or 1 click in a shortcut.
- I added a towbar, so I can use a rear mount bike rack, makes it easier for hauling bikes. It's electric as well and folds away at the press of a button.
- It's a 3 year lease, so nothing to worry about. Tyres, maintenance, insurance, service etc all included.
- I've only charged it once away from home, mainly to test the discount from BMW. But worked without any issues.
For me it's incredibly cheap, both in fuel (£0.07 kWh) and the cost of the car itself (£450/m) - Costs me around 65p to get to work now.
Congrats, its a lovely looking thing and a real bargain for what you got! :y
Pre-heat is the best thing for me, car being warm and not having to scrape the windscreen is a massive perk! I also find it really useful on days out with the kids - such as yesterday where they're cold and tired by the end of the day. Pre heat with the app, bundle the kids into a nice warm car; they're asleep in 10s flat and I get a peaceful drive home 8)
Yes same, we went to my Grandma's for new years and left at 1AM. Outside it was cold and frosty and I just sent request to the car to warm up 10 mins before. All nice and warm and no defrosting! .
How big is the usable battery?
Even TB must admit you have done well for a 'useless student'... >:D
83.9 kWh (81.1–81.3 kWh usable) *according to Google.
So far, I've not pushed it on range, it's rare I do big miles, but 50-70 miles a day is quite often.
Road test in Autocar magazine last Wednesday, so still in the shops for sale. :y
They gave it 4 stars, and said it went like shit of a shovel.
Nice car in a great colour. :y......looks very similar to the I-Pace in Italian racing red, or 'firenze' as they like to call it these days.
Most reviews complain about the weight, it is very heavy at 2,300kg's odd. But that also helps squash the bumps ;D
Looks nice enough, but not in the same league as your old Senator. :D
Nothing beats that, I still do regret selling that.
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Not tried the pre-heat thingy on Mrs Opti's I-Pace, or the heated steering wheel.
But I grew up with ice on the inside of the windows, so such things have a touch of the 'nancy boy' about them. :D
one of the best features, so nice coming into a warm car. You almost don't need a heated seat or wheel
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Not tried the pre-heat thingy on Mrs Opti's I-Pace, or the heated steering wheel.
But I grew up with ice on the inside of the windows, so such things have a touch of the 'nancy boy' about them. :D
one of the best features, so nice coming into a warm car. You almost don't need a heated seat or wheel
Perhaps I'll give it a go. :)
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Sounds like a very capable motor, Mark. I wouldn't say £450 a month is cheap, but for what you're getting it's certainly good value. Enjoy 👍
Only cheaper if you go bangernomics and run something very old, but these days I don't have the time to maintain things and spend a weekend sorting out a car.
Even then, if you do big miles you'd struggle I think. Obviously don't know what your lease is, but for us, we pay £550 ish pcm to do 25k/yr (4yr lease). Running a banger we'd spend:
£343 per month in diesel (40mpg)
£20 per month for tax
£20 for servicing (2.5 regular services per year, plus belts, water pumps etc - this is a DIY price and I'm not convinced you wouldn't spend more when things wear out)
£45 for insurance (the galaxy currently costs £39, so added a bit as its only insured for 10k/yr)
£15 for tyres (assuming a full set every 40k at £70 a corner)
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£443 just to run an old car
The only extra costs on the ev are electricity (2.3p/mile for me - excluding any freebies from work) =£49pcm to do 25k/yr.
So, over 4yrs and 100,000 miles the banger would have to be purchased and any problems/failures fixed for £156 per month. I'd say this was very unlikely to work out in favour of the banger, particularly as something in the £1-2k bracket probably wouldn't give you the 40mpg average you'd need to keep the fuel cost down and would probably need a big chunk spending on it to bring it up to snuff.
Even if it did *just* work out financially, you have to want to lie under the car, fix all the problems etc to save what amounts to a few quid a month, vs driving round in a brand new car with someone on the end of the phone to fix any issues for you.
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Fantastic looking car :y
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Ok, I give in, it's cheap ;D
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Sounds like a very capable motor, Mark. I wouldn't say £450 a month is cheap, but for what you're getting it's certainly good value. Enjoy 👍
Only cheaper if you go bangernomics and run something very old, but these days I don't have the time to maintain things and spend a weekend sorting out a car.
Even then, if you do big miles you'd struggle I think. Obviously don't know what your lease is, but for us, we pay £550 ish pcm to do 25k/yr (4yr lease). Running a banger we'd spend:
£343 per month in diesel (40mpg)
£20 per month for tax
£20 for servicing (2.5 regular services per year, plus belts, water pumps etc - this is a DIY price and I'm not convinced you wouldn't spend more when things wear out)
£45 for insurance (the galaxy currently costs £39, so added a bit as its only insured for 10k/yr)
£15 for tyres (assuming a full set every 40k at £70 a corner)
------
£443 just to run an old car
The only extra costs on the ev are electricity (2.3p/mile for me - excluding any freebies from work) =£49pcm to do 25k/yr.
So, over 4yrs and 100,000 miles the banger would have to be purchased and any problems/failures fixed for £156 per month. I'd say this was very unlikely to work out in favour of the banger, particularly as something in the £1-2k bracket probably wouldn't give you the 40mpg average you'd need to keep the fuel cost down and would probably need a big chunk spending on it to bring it up to snuff.
Even if it did *just* work out financially, you have to want to lie under the car, fix all the problems etc to save what amounts to a few quid a month, vs driving round in a brand new car with someone on the end of the phone to fix any issues for you.
This was exactly my thoughts, plus on this side it's a brand new car
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£450 PCM for a brand new 600 BHP all wheel drive BMW sounds pretty cheap to me.
I would have thought a figure closer to £800.
Did you pay a large deposit?
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£450 PCM for a brand new 600 BHP all wheel drive BMW sounds pretty cheap to me.
I would have thought a figure closer to £800.
Did you pay a large deposit?
Nope
£0 deposit on work scheme :y
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£450 PCM for a brand new 600 BHP all wheel drive BMW sounds pretty cheap to me.
I would have thought a figure closer to £800.
Did you pay a large deposit?
Nope
£0 deposit on work scheme :y
Clucking bell.....sounds like a good deal.
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That's really cheap, that is! ;D
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Clucking bell.....sounds like a good deal.
They are currently an extremely good deal for those of us who Ms Reeves currently likes to ream out via PAYE. The 'trick' is that the net cost is low because we would otherwise be giving the money away in Tax. My car for example has a scary gross lease cost of something like £1150 per month, but because there's no way I could get to keep all of that, the net cost of having it as a company car is much lower.
Arguably you could put the gross amount into a pension and run a cheaper car - but where's the fun in that ;D
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Clucking bell.....sounds like a good deal.
They are currently an extremely good deal for those of us who Ms Reeves currently likes to ream out via PAYE. The 'trick' is that the net cost is low because we would otherwise be giving the money away in Tax. My car for example has a scary gross lease cost of something like £1150 per month, but because there's no way I could get to keep all of that, the net cost of having it as a company car is much lower.
Arguably you could put the gross amount into a pension and run a cheaper car - but where's the fun in that ;D
I thought you were an accountant? :o
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You will have to bring it round one day tunnie :y, looks a decent enough car and at a good price - had you bought with your own money, depreciation would be wiping out a fair chunk of that monthly cost, and general wear/tear items the rest.
I've found all beemers a little too stiff for around the last 15+ years, and that tends to aggravate by back issues, but not sat in a milk float version. So would be good to flatten your battery give it a go.
We must be due a curry, if you can arrange an overnight pass away. Hmmm, curry, beer, pissing around with cars... ...just like the old days ;D
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You will have to bring it round one day tunnie :y, looks a decent enough car and at a good price - had you bought with your own money, depreciation would be wiping out a fair chunk of that monthly cost, and general wear/tear items the rest.
I've found all beemers a little too stiff for around the last 15+ years, and that tends to aggravate by back issues, but not sat in a milk float version. So would be good to flatten your battery give it a go.
We must be due a curry, if you can arrange an overnight pass away. Hmmm, curry, beer, pissing around with cars... ...just like the old days ;D
.....and women.
Always good to get a leg-over after a night out. :)
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Lovely car Mark, enjoy. :y
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You will have to bring it round one day tunnie :y, looks a decent enough car and at a good price - had you bought with your own money, depreciation would be wiping out a fair chunk of that monthly cost, and general wear/tear items the rest.
I've found all beemers a little too stiff for around the last 15+ years, and that tends to aggravate by back issues, but not sat in a milk float version. So would be good to flatten your battery give it a go.
We must be due a curry, if you can arrange an overnight pass away. Hmmm, curry, beer, pissing around with cars... ...just like the old days ;D
.....and women.
Always good to get a leg-over after a night out. :)
Your getting too old for all that nonsense now. Your approaching 70, and it might cause your old ticker to cry enough. :)
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Clucking bell.....sounds like a good deal.
They are currently an extremely good deal for those of us who Ms Reeves currently likes to ream out via PAYE. The 'trick' is that the net cost is low because we would otherwise be giving the money away in Tax. My car for example has a scary gross lease cost of something like £1150 per month, but because there's no way I could get to keep all of that, the net cost of having it as a company car is much lower.
Arguably you could put the gross amount into a pension and run a cheaper car - but where's the fun in that ;D
This was my hardest bit, that gross figure could go into my pension. So in some ways, that is what it costs me. But my pension is doing ok I feel for my age right now. I also need a car and I've already done 1,500 miles in it. While I could maintain a banger for a little bit less, I really have zero spare time these days with 3 kids all doing clubs at weekends, sleep overs etc.
Hopefully get rid of the mortgage in the near future and then I could up figures again. Even with this though, I still still be contributing 20% of my salary and 9% comes from my employer into my pension.
The way I look at it is, if I asked the lovely government for some money instead, I'd get £450, or I can have this car. So far, loving the choice I've made!
Lovely car Mark, enjoy. :y
Thanks, the only bit I don't like is when I have to unplug the car in the morning and it's been raining. My hands get all wet sorting the cable out and have to back inside ;D
You will have to bring it round one day tunnie :y, looks a decent enough car and at a good price - had you bought with your own money, depreciation would be wiping out a fair chunk of that monthly cost, and general wear/tear items the rest.
I've found all beemers a little too stiff for around the last 15+ years, and that tends to aggravate by back issues, but not sat in a milk float version. So would be good to flatten your battery give it a go.
We must be due a curry, if you can arrange an overnight pass away. Hmmm, curry, beer, pissing around with cars... ...just like the old days ;D
Yes, we must book that in. I need to pop up to Brackley to raid the loft at my parents. My little suspended railway project is coming along and I think I have more stuff in Brackley.
This i4 comes with the adaptive ride option, combined with 18's I think the ride is incredibly smooth. My old 435i was fine on the motorway but to firm on rough B and A roads. This is near perfect if I'm honest for me and when you pop it in sport it firms up nicely.
It is a heavy car though and even I notice that....
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This i4 comes with the adaptive ride option, combined with 18's I think the ride is incredibly smooth. My old 435i was fine on the motorway but to firm on rough B and A roads. This is near perfect if I'm honest for me and when you pop it in sport it firms up nicely.
Its not so much the smoothness of the ride, but the firmness that seems to knacker my back. Thats how I've ended up with a pair of Jags, due to lack of any other viable options, and not my first choice.
Often my XJ isn't that smooth, as there aren't many points in time that all 4 wheels are round, but I have no issues doing distances in that, either driving or as a passenger. The seat in her XE is getting tired - base spec car so shitty seats, and its now 150k and I'm guessing the previous owner made me look skinny - but again no issues doing fair distances in that (although never done more than 200 miles in one journey in it).
The ride of yours is more curiosity than anything else. Its unlikely I'm going to be buying a milk float any time soon. My limited mileage makes it uneconomical (and our EV scheme is currently a bit wank on pricing), and her mileage is creeping into the territory of having to stop and charge during the day, which isn't ever going to happen. Additionally, she knows all too well the pitfalls and related costs of owning an EV.
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This i4 comes with the adaptive ride option, combined with 18's I think the ride is incredibly smooth. My old 435i was fine on the motorway but to firm on rough B and A roads. This is near perfect if I'm honest for me and when you pop it in sport it firms up nicely.
Its not so much the smoothness of the ride, but the firmness that seems to knacker my back. Thats how I've ended up with a pair of Jags, due to lack of any other viable options, and not my first choice.
Often my XJ isn't that smooth, as there aren't many points in time that all 4 wheels are round, but I have no issues doing distances in that, either driving or as a passenger. The seat in her XE is getting tired - base spec car so shitty seats, and its now 150k and I'm guessing the previous owner made me look skinny - but again no issues doing fair distances in that (although never done more than 200 miles in one journey in it).
The ride of yours is more curiosity than anything else. Its unlikely I'm going to be buying a milk float any time soon. My limited mileage makes it uneconomical (and our EV scheme is currently a bit wank on pricing), and her mileage is creeping into the territory of having to stop and charge during the day, which isn't ever going to happen. Additionally, she knows all too well the pitfalls and related costs of owning an EV.
Lets plan a date when I can come up for a curry and you can have a blast in it. :y
Officially, this i4 M60 on paper is a £75k car. Not that anyone pays that! BMW were offering 35% to Lex on the build slot, which explains why this was cheaper than a Tesla which had a list price of £50k on LEX monthlies.
The gross cost is high, but it's my tax band that makes it very cheap.
I will also admit that as soon as you need to charge away from home, it makes little sense. I get a discount from BMW making it 0.45p kWh from Ionity, but that only lasts 12m and even at that price, running a petrol is cheaper! Not sure I'd own an EV, to replace MrsT Mummy bus yet.
99.99% of the time, I will be able to charge at home to cover all my miles. So at £5.50 a "tank" it's fine from home.
Discounted Ionity is "£36" a tank and normal fast chargers you are looking at £65+ a tank.
But not that I use a tank, because I plug in daily....
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Officially, this i4 M60 on paper is a £75k car. Not that anyone pays that! BMW were offering 35% to Lex on the build slot, which explains why this was cheaper than a Tesla which had a list price of £50k on LEX monthlies.
I do wonder how BMW does the pricing on its lease cars sometimes. My iX is similar base price of c£75k (iX M60 is something like £115k :o), but the monthlies of Octopus can fluctuate by >£200 pcm. I managed to get it at a fairly low ebb, but I don't think I could have the same car again if my lease were coming to an end soon. :-\
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I can't wrap my head around the maths. Surely there's a price to pay somewhere :-\
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Officially, this i4 M60 on paper is a £75k car. Not that anyone pays that! BMW were offering 35% to Lex on the build slot, which explains why this was cheaper than a Tesla which had a list price of £50k on LEX monthlies.
I do wonder how BMW does the pricing on its lease cars sometimes. My iX is similar base price of c£75k (iX M60 is something like £115k :o), but the monthlies of Octopus can fluctuate by >£200 pcm. I managed to get it at a fairly low ebb, but I don't think I could have the same car again if my lease were coming to an end soon. :-\
I think BMW offer build slot discounts, when I called up to find out more they said no one really buys the "bonkers" model. They go mid range.
I specified a mid range eDrive 40 i4, with adaptive ride and few other bits. Came out £50/m less than the M60. So I thought why not! ;D
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I can't wrap my head around the maths. Surely there's a price to pay somewhere :-\
Its a tax avoidance scheme*, so that's where the money is... ...rather than give to Rachael, it goes towards a car.
*to clarify, NOT a tax evasion scheme.
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Not tried the pre-heat thingy on Mrs Opti's I-Pace, or the heated steering wheel.
But I grew up with ice on the inside of the windows, so such things have a touch of the 'nancy boy' about them. :D
one of the best features, so nice coming into a warm car. You almost don't need a heated seat or wheel
We tried the 'preconditioning thingy' last night before driving to the supermarket...... preheated car for about forty minutes.
Car was good and warm with no misting up to clear away. :y
However, car was not plugged into the zappy and lost 3% of charge.....94% down to 91%. Hmm. ???
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Pre heating is always going to use a lot of electricity.
But if plugged in and car outside, it's nice to have a warm car on an icy morning.
One of my old works transits had a diesel powered preheater that heated the coolant and had a coolant aux pump, and had a timer to set it. It fired up just before I used to get up, so by the time I'd shit/showered/dressed, it was lubly jubly, all windows defrosted, and nice and warm in it.
It did flatten the battery if I had a few days off, and forgot to turn the thing off though ;D
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I can't wrap my head around the maths. Surely there's a price to pay somewhere :-\
Its a tax avoidance scheme*, so that's where the money is... ...rather than give to Rachael, it goes towards a car.
*to clarify, NOT a tax evasion scheme.
In simple terms, I could give Rachel a £1,000. But if I decide that I'd rather have the money instead, into my bank, I'd see less than £400.
But instead of going into my bank, I ask for a car instead. A very fast car. ;D
No doubt this loop/avoidance will change, but for now it works and I'll take it.
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Not tried the pre-heat thingy on Mrs Opti's I-Pace, or the heated steering wheel.
But I grew up with ice on the inside of the windows, so such things have a touch of the 'nancy boy' about them. :D
one of the best features, so nice coming into a warm car. You almost don't need a heated seat or wheel
We tried the 'preconditioning thingy' last night before driving to the supermarket...... preheated car for about forty minutes.
Car was good and warm with no misting up to clear away. :y
However, car was not plugged into the zappy and lost 3% of charge.....94% down to 91%. Hmm. ???
40 mins feels excessive, in the morning it's plugged in so no issue.
At work, I ask it to warm up about 5/10 mins before I get to the car. Usually nice and warm!
Mine does have a Heat Pump though, which is supposed to have less effect on the drive battery for heating