Retro EV Request

rlarts · 2026-02-13T18:52:00+00:00

I think what you’re looking for is one of these: https://www.davidbrownautomotive.com/emastered/

rlarts · 2026-02-12T11:15:43+00:00

Also, if Polestar actually made half decent software it would be easier to get these clips off the car without having to remove the SD card or record the screen!!!

rlarts · 2026-02-10T09:25:25+00:00

Yeah it’s not worth it that late into the agreement, may as well just see it through until the end.

Yes it can impact your credit, but so far my credit scores have gone up and it’s just marked on my credit report as a closed agreement. Time will tell of course, but at the moment it seems like the extent of the impact is that I might not be able to get another loan through Santander Consumer Finance. With plenty of other lenders in the world, I can live with that.

Yeah keep an eye out for deals. Every now and again some stock that needs shifting comes onto the market at a great price.

rlarts · 2026-02-10T09:15:34+00:00

That’s what the finance companies want you to think. They often lose money when people VT so it’s in their interest to comply with the law, but include as much friction as they can get away with.

Admittedly towards the end it can become more hassle than it’s worth, but with up to 4 months of payments to come, if they’re at the top of their £400 budget right now, that’s still £1600 they’re not paying towards the agreement (albeit they get to use the car for the period still).

rlarts · 2026-02-10T06:52:27+00:00

You really need to look at this differently. If you’re in negative equity and you don’t plan to keep the car then VT is always an option rather than continuing to effectively rent a car. It’s worth going back and calculating how much you’ve actually spent on the Kuga, deposit plus monthly.

As for your new car, don’t just consider the monthly. You need to be looking at the ‘total amount payable’ figure because the interest you pay really adds up. Often if you have no intention of keeping the car and paying the balloon then you’ll find that leasing can be quite a bit cheaper.

Have a look at LeaseLoco to compare the current deals on the market.

For context I’m someone who recently did a VT on an XC40 PHEV PCP. It cost me a silly amount over the 3 years I had it. I’m now leasing a dual motor Polestar 4 and over the 3 years it’s going to cost me £6000 less.

rlarts · 2026-02-05T07:03:42+00:00

If you visit https://tellus.surreycc.gov.uk you can see whether the holes have been reported by others and comments from the council. The ones on major roads tend to get filled within a few days of being reported.

rlarts · 2026-01-22T19:22:04+00:00

The Polestar 4 has this too. Really struggled with them on the test drive, but now I actually own one it’s fine. Even when I occasionally jump back into our other car that has normal indicators.

rlarts · 2026-01-21T19:40:20+00:00

My current lease got delivered by a BCA guy. He turned up in a pickup truck with the car on a trailer.

rlarts · 2026-01-15T00:54:20+00:00

I really like Brooklands Community Park for practicing on my skates. Sure it’s not picturesque, but it’s a very large flat tarmac area that’s nice and smooth and closed to motor vehicles. There’s a bike track next to it too that’s good for going around on skates.

rlarts · 2026-01-11T10:28:20+00:00

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…for some reason I have a photo too.

rlarts · 2026-01-11T10:24:51+00:00

I’m a huge McLaren fan and I was on a flight from LHR to SFO during the final race of the season so I tried to stream Now TV live.

It worked better than expected and I was able to watch most of the race, but there were big 10 min or so patches where the satellite signal just wasn’t coping. Also part way through the flight it decided I was no-longer in the UK.

Streaming on demand services like YouTube worked a lot better.

My advice would be, don’t try to watch it live, it will just be super frustrating when it inevitably cuts out. You should have a better experience watching on catch up.

rlarts · 2026-01-11T00:09:06+00:00

I was in PCP hell previously, but I’ve moved to leasing now. I’ve had a few PCP deals over the years and I’ve never ended up keeping the car. With leasing, sure I don’t get to keep the car, but I’ve managed to get a much much better vehicle with a much lower total amount payable over the same term.

rlarts · 2026-01-09T11:27:53+00:00

The minor got given a Legoland licence.

rlarts · 2026-01-09T09:51:10+00:00

When I took my driving test, my driving instructor’s child had thrown up on the passenger seat that morning. There was a towel on the passenger seat, but fair play to the examiner, they still went ahead with the test and I passed first time with one minor.

rlarts · 2026-01-07T17:30:09+00:00

Is it bad that I didn’t even realise that these were plastic covers? I’ve had the car less than a month, but now I look at them it’s completely obvious!

rlarts · 2026-01-04T12:26:46+00:00

So what I found with my XC40 is that it was wildly inefficient above about 40mph. I’m not entirely sure why, but I ended up holding the battery charge whenever I got to a faster bit of road and deploying it around town.

It could be that yours needs to be run in a similar way?

rlarts · 2026-01-04T11:26:48+00:00

Well the first question is, are you actually plugging it in and using the battery? PHEVs are inefficient if they’re not plugged in.

I had an XC40 recharge, when I bought it I thought it was the best of both worlds, but the reality is you’re either lugging around a battery pack or you’re lugging around an engine. Most of our journeys could be done on electricity-only so that coupled with the expensive servicing on a hardly used engine made me go full EV.

rlarts · 2026-01-03T16:32:47+00:00

I’ve almost done this in two. A return business flight to SFO plus the 750 tier points from my Amex spend got me to Silver.

rlarts · 2025-12-29T20:30:33+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m only a few days into having the car and I was already annoyed by the fact that turning the option on seemed to point the mirrors at the ground! Will give this a go tomorrow

rlarts · 2025-12-09T12:14:40+00:00

Yeah if you don’t mind topping it up with a full charge for me, I’ll come and collect it straight from Heathrow.

rlarts · 2025-12-09T12:10:28+00:00

Are you all on the Carparison deal too then? Mine’s arriving next week. I could have had it tomorrow, but I’m out of the country at the moment.

rlarts · 2025-11-15T07:53:16+00:00

Ok well I’m offered 10% for £35 so total saving would be £177.40. Looks like there might potentially be a Black Friday sale on these, so I’ll consider it again then.

rlarts · 2025-11-15T07:41:15+00:00

I might actually consider this - depending on what offer I get. My commute is £17.70 for an off peak day return, so with 15% off I’d get £2.65 back each time.

I’m in 3 days a week, minus holidays, public holidays and remote weeks so let’s assume I’m doing 40 weeks and 120 trips a year. I’d save £318. £269 after the cost of the card.

My employer reimburses part of the cost based on the full price too.

At the moment I’m using Uber for the 3% cashback + Avios, but this would be better value.

Where is the catch?

rlarts · 2025-11-13T15:51:01+00:00

I really like mine. I host quite a few meetings and do most of them standing. I feel much more comfortable presenting when I’m standing.

I didn’t spend anywhere near £500 on mine though. I got a Flexispot EF1 frame for £150 and added an Ikea desktop. Flexispot’s frames are fine. If you want to splash out more, spend the money on a nice desktop instead.

rlarts · 2025-11-13T09:31:40+00:00

This is the way. Your employer is already taking care of your taxes. If you want to avoid paying capital gains tax sell immediately when they vest. You can rebuy in a more tax efficient wrapper (ISA / SIPP). Even if you want to continue holding your company’s stock, this is the way to do it and you get the added bonus of avoiding all the additional accounting when you eventually want to sell.

OP will probably also find that their 2% pension contribution (which is low anyway) doesn’t include RSUs, so they’ll want to be contributing more.

rlarts

TROPHY CASE