My
new car is saving me about €3,000 every year in running costs compared
with my previous motor – and that’s a conservative estimate based on
easily measurable things such as road tax and fuel as opposed to
imponderables such as maintenance and all the rest.
Deciding to sell my 1.9 litre VW
Transporter was a wrench. It had been at the centre of two fantastic
family holidays and had taken me and my family from Dublin to Rome and
back twice – that’s more than 10,000km.
But, as our “bus” was getting on and costing more and
more to maintain, it was time to look at a replacement. Given that we
were unlikely to be crossing the Continent again, I figured we could
downsize. Our motoring is almost entirely based around providing a 24-7,
on-demand taxi service to our offspring in support of their social and
school lives in Dublin. All six of us were unlikely to all be in the car
at the same time, so we could buy a five-seater; if we ever all decided
to do the Wild Atlantic Way together, a large car could be rented for
the week.
Next up was to determine the budget. We had €15,000
in savings, plus €4,600 trade-in for the beloved VW and were comfortable
taking up to €10,000 in car finance. That gave us a budget of about
€30,000, which is not too shabby by any measure.
Electric cars had intrigued me for years but their
short range and lack of a comprehensive public charging network were a
major drawback.
However, Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors
has given the sector a shot in the arm and proved that electric
cars
can be sexy (Tesla Roadster) and travel up to 500kmh between charges (Tesla Model
S). But, for now, Tesla cars are way beyond my budget – although Musk
is promising to release a Model 3 some time in the next year or so
priced from $35,000 (€33k) and with a typical range of 340km.
source: http://www.irishtimes.com
s
No comments:
Post a Comment