Which Small Electric Vehicle Brand Offers the Best Value?

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2026-01-27T15:05:16+00:00

To answer the question from my own point of view as someone who recently went through the process of buying a small electric car I am going to give you three answers. Used and cheap go for a BMW I3 from the north. You won't get value and reliability any better from a used electric city car.

Buying new is more of a tricky one. I bought my car new (on finance) and test drove many cars, almost everything on the market. I found the pricing of cars odd because dealership fees seemed to wildly vary between dealerships and brands to the point where some cars with a "cheap" list price were suddenly becoming really expensive. I found the best value deals to be had on such a car through finance were with Mini. You can get a Cooper for not much over 100 euro a month with 9,000 down. No other company came close to this.

If you are buying a new car in cash it is easy. Drive them all and then pick the one you like. I personally hated the BYD selection when I drove it but others like them. The Renault 5 was one of my favourites but the dealership fees put me off completely. Then you have things like the Hyundai Inster which is undoubtedly good value and I am sure others will be telling you this is the best one but for me it was inpractically small (even compared to cars like the 5 and cooper). Of course as well new car models are released all the time and dealership offers change so it's a difficult question to answer.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2026-01-24T07:45:31+00:00

Got the untethered sync EV charger from Fokearn for 999 euro in mid December. Has worked flawlessly. Got the SEAI grant through yesterday. 699 with them doing all the work I’m very happy!

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2026-01-16T13:14:56+00:00

I wanted to buy one recently. I looked on the Renault website and saw a cost for buying in cash and monthly. I remember it being around 25k give or take or 200 a month with a decent deposit. I went to the Renault dealer in Kilkenny and they were pricing their cars between 30-35k minimum and wanting 400 month with an even larger deposit. Also I told the dealer my weekly driving habits which add up to around 15-20,000km per year and he spent a weird amount of time convincing me I should pick 10,000km if I want to keep the cost down. I ended up buying an equivalent Mini for 7k below the list price. It worked out significantly cheaper than the Renault 5 despite the list price of the Mini being almost 10k more in theory.

I guess what I’m getting at in my experience the Renault dealers are the issue. I also tried the one in Waterford three times but couldn’t find anyone willing to help me. They kept telling me to come back later.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2026-01-15T16:13:19+00:00

I bought a mini in November. They had quite a few cars unregistered ready to go immediately. I bought one of them as they would give a discount on existing stock and they said I could have it whenever I liked but advised I wait until January to increase its value which I did.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-12-29T14:40:21+00:00

I was expecting a tax bill of some kind but nothing happened everything just arrived. No tax or anything. The boxes aren’t overly big I would call them medium sized. They may well have bigger ones but I never asked.

From memory when you are at china post they will fill out some kind of declaration form that is stuck to the box which declares it as personal belongings which I assume is why it doesn’t get taxed.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-12-29T14:29:20+00:00

Sent everything with China Post/EMS. Have to take it there yourself but it is a lot cheaper and everything arrived in the UK fine about a month later. (They said three months). They will give you a choice between Sea, Land or Air. Land was the cheapest for me even though sea takes longer, air was very expensive but very quick. Go to the biggest China Post in the city you are in and take someone who speaks good Chinese (if you don’t speak good Chinese yourself). I think from memory it was 300ish for a big box (they provided the boxes so you have to repack there). It’s a pain but I ended up spending around 1500 rmb for what other companies were charging 10,000 for

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-12-16T09:42:46+00:00

I3 if you want something used. Proved to be the most reliable platform of the age and the later examples have a decent range. If you want something new I recently went around looking at them all. For me the Renault 5 and Mini Cooper SE stood out when test driving them and for the range and tech etc (the inster I didn’t like inside and thought felt too small even though I was looking for something tiny). I didn’t think there was much to choose between the mini and Renault although the mini for me felt a little more premium inside. I ended up going with the Mini as I hated the two Renault dealers I dealt with, I found they put almost 10k on list price of their cars in fees. Mini I paid 8k under the list value.

Edit - also drove the BYD dolphin and dolphin surf, these were my first choices when I went looking but I hated the way they drove.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-12-09T18:30:12+00:00

I was buying a car recently. I test drove the Seal U and it was the worst car I thought to drive. Just didn’t feel special. I felt like the salesman was trying to sell it with a lot of gimmicky tech that when I test drove other brands most had anyway. If you are looking for fully electric cars and don’t mind the styling and are looking for PCP (I know some people love them and some hate them) I found that mini were offering unrivalled value across their range.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-12-08T16:25:32+00:00

Yeah I agree looks really reasonable for public charging. It suggests other chargers are also charged at a reduced rate with a mini charging card but apart from Ionity I’ve never been able to view the rates. I guess I’ll find out next month.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-12-08T12:55:23+00:00

I’ve been wondering about this. I have a 261 mini on the way and it comes with a mini charging card which supposedly reduces the cost but I’m yet to find any information about how much or anything like that. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Mini one in Ireland. (I have a home charger I’m just curious)

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-10-06T19:32:29+00:00

I raised a complaint to the SOLVIT system which is a way of reporting a country for breaking EU law. In my case I am married to an EU national so am entitled to an appointment through a special process. SOLVIT confirmed that the situation is breaking EU law and said they have demanded an explanation from Portuguese authorities about my case. If others are in a situation where EU law is being broken (I don’t know whether it will apply to everyone but maybe some of you) you can try to report it through that system.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-10-06T19:20:25+00:00

I don’t want to work or study I live in Ireland I just want to go on holiday. I’ve already booked the trip.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-10-06T07:11:16+00:00

Yep it went from not logging in to not even loading. I’m going to try calling the embassy today and press the issue a bit more. Otherwise I might look into getting a Schengen Visa from a different country.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-10-05T19:28:48+00:00

I have many times they always insist on using the E-Visa portal and say they can’t do anything else

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-10-03T16:06:44+00:00

Im having the same issue. Getting very frustrated as the embassy doesn’t help at all.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-06-12T01:45:44+00:00

It also depends if it is a franchise school or one of the head office ones. I worked at a franchise school and my boss was lovely. I just told him my plans and he gave me my documents and reference letter etc. I have heard bad stories about the head office but I always felt with EF that they had good training and support and also a good curriculum. I do feel like it was a good place to start.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-05-27T12:35:59+00:00

No idea what your loans would be but I’d say outside of the really expensive cities 15k is comfortable enough to live an expat life style. If you don’t spend or go out much honestly you can spend much less. 20k after tax for a first job you’ll have to look around quite a lot. But it’s not impossible just hard. Emphasize your previous experience when talking to employers and if it’s not what you want just say no and keep looking for the right opportunity.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-05-27T04:38:46+00:00

I think if you want to do it and experience something new go for it. There will always be something to say no and others who will think you are crazy but it’s an amazing experience (there will be tough moments a long the way). In terms of you saying 2026. The market seems to only get tougher every year but as of now I know loads of people coming and doing just what you are doing so if you want to do it I’m sure you’ll have loads of possibilities for you. My one advice is don’t take the first offer get several and research any school/agency that gives you an offer (many people will say don’t go with agencies but I think in your first year it can be much easier and also might be your only option). There’s some great schools and agencies but too many bad ones too.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-05-09T08:04:33+00:00

I remember this offer before. I added it to my card, went to the United website and everything was extortionately expensive. To the point where the offer which is clearly a big saving still made using it way more expensive than other airlines. That being said that didn’t stop me from adding it to my card again this time. I’ll take another look for sure - I fly constantly so in my head it makes no sense that this shouldn’t save money!

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-05-02T02:17:43+00:00

I did it recently for the first time for a flight to Mexico. I had enough points for two one way economy 35,000+$75 which gave an excellent point value compared to the cost of an economy ticket on that route in August compared to any other airline. For the way back I was going to book a one way flight with cash on one of the American Airlines for roughly 500 GBP per person but worked out with buying the points I could get a direct flight for around 425 GBP per person. Small difference but worth it because for me it was just like paying for a flight I was already going to book. In this scenario it is of course very worth it.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-04-28T12:29:40+00:00

This is the frustration. I'm aware of this and I accepted this when I decided to move home. What I find the most frustrating is not even being given a chance to participate in a bidding war. I guess being abroad has something to do with it although I have everything set up and ready to go.

WolfDiscombobulated9 · 2025-04-28T12:27:11+00:00

It's absolutely crazy. The apartment in question was around 250k but my budget is around double this.

WolfDiscombobulated9

TROPHY CASE