The new Fabia Estate costs only £13 740. ONLY!!! People who say things like this don't live in the world that I live in!
Derrick - Llanberis
Yes the Skoda is expensive, I have managed to get a discount of £2,600 off the list price though which brings it down closer to it's real worth. I never said it ONLY cost £13K.
In 3 years time, this type of vehicle will be worth around 50% of it's new value, so mere mortals will be able to afford one second hand. I am lucky in that I can justify the cost because I will run it as a company car, also I will save around £7,000 in fuel plus £800 in road tax over 3 years when compared against my current inefficient vehicle, based on 15,000+ miles a year.
15,000+ miles a year is a reality for thousands of working people and families, so depending on what your life circumstances are, the real world could be anything. Another point I was trying to make was that lots of companies provide a company car as a benefit to their employees. In the past these have been high value high polluting status symbols such as BMW, Mercs, Volvos etc, expensive to buy and run, for the employee there has always been a personal tax charge (around £3600 average) per annum. The government provides a tax incentive to choose a lower cost, low polluting, efficient car over a more expensive wasteful car. Such a car could be the Skoda Fabia, or the equivalent, VW Polo, Ford Fiesta etc. I would have chosen an electric car, but their range and high price means they are not feasible (at the moment). The tax charge on the Skoda is 13% providing a personal tax charge to the employee of only £350 per year (basic rate tax payer), this is about the cheapest way of running a car I've ever heard of!
I'm not expecting to get 83mpg myself, these are official figures that are provided for every new vehicle and tested by the appropriate official body (I think it is the combined average from 94mpg extra-urban and 61mpg urban), there has to be a baseline from which to compare all vehicles somewhere. But given the official figures, I would expect to be averaging 70-75mpg, still not bad, hopefully. I will be able to update you all later in the year when I take delivery.
In my part of the country there is very little congestion, most roads are dual carriageway and country with a bit of motorway thrown in, I hardly see a traffic jam day-to-day, so this car, at this point in time, in my circumstances is right for ME. It may not be right for everyone, what world do you live in Derrick ?
PS - I know this is getting a bit off topic, however my original post was related to the OP's debate opening on the economies of ebikes. My perspective is based on my real-world experience in looking for a new, efficient, low polluting, money saving car vs an ebike, I don't own ebikes to save money because I can't save enough vs car costs because of my personal circumstances. Therefore my reasons for owning ebikes maybe totally different to the majority of ebike owners - right, I'll get me coat!!
