The lease of my current company car, a Kia e-Niro (or Niro EV), comes to an end in December this year. That means I was eligible to pick and order a new one this summer! Let me take you on my journey so far (including the reveal of the car I ordered).
The constraints
As always, and unfortunately, there are some constraints. For me this meant I am only able to pick a Battery Electric Vehicle (100% EV), since that is our company policy. Also, the budget was capped at €900 a month, which basically means all cars with an MSRP of under €50,000 qualify. And, last but not least, the car should be available (and delivered) by December. This might not sound like a big issue, but is in fact not the case for all marks and models as I will show later.
Desk research
As an EV-enthusiast that also watches a lot of EV-related YouTube channels, I'm pretty much informed about the EVs that are available these days. Nevertheless it's always good to browse around a bit and get a feel of the details.
I also made a "wish-"list of characteristics, functions and options I desired the new car to have - realising that there probably wasn't a car that ticked all the boxes within the constraints.
Visiting dealerships
The next step was visiting some close-by dealerships. Based on the desk research, I wanted to visit Volvo (EX30), Smart (#3), MG (4) and Tesla (Model 3 and Y). On the way I however also passed by the Renault and Peugeot dealerships, so I took a look at some of the Frenchies too.
As I'm usually driving the car alone, one of the things that struck the most is the fact that many of the EVs are just very big (or fat). I knew the average size of new cars has increased a lot in the last decades, but standing next to a couple of the cars (especially indoors) makes this really obvious. I'd personally prefer a hatchback or sedan over a SUV, which by now is the most common type of car (and for EVs even more so...). To that extend, cars like the Renault Scénic and the Peugeot e-3008 really fell of the list and the Model Y dropped a couple of places.
At the same time, I do transport 4/5 people and/or multiple bikes a couple of times a year. Although I didn't want that to influence my decision too much, I did take this into account. This is probably what many people do and why the end up buying those roomy SUVs in the end... That said, the lack of proper leg room in the Volvo EX30 (together with the widely reported disappointing instrument cluster/tech) was a reason it went off the list for instance.
Test drives
After the visits, there were four cars I wanted to test drive, the MG 4, Smart #3, Tesla Model 3 (I already drove the Y earlier) and the Kia EV3. The latter however is only announced and not yet available to test drive. That, and the fact that the delivery date moved to "start of 2025", made the EV3 unfortunately disappear from the list. I say unfortunately since my current experience with Kia is very positive and I'm sure the newly announced car is going to be a good runaround and success, but I just want to experience the drive first (and need the car by December).
MG 4
First of the lot was the MG 4. I was positively surprised by the nice drive and features the car had. It drives solid and de ACC and regenerative breaking (one pedal driving) worked smooth. Downside was the instrument cluster, which sometimes needed to be pressed pretty firmly and also wasn't that intuitive and user friendly in my opinion.
Source: MGmotor.eu
Tesla Model 3
Next up was the Tesla Model 3. The first real mass market EV and still the most common on the roads here in The Netherlands. As expected, the drive was amazing and the tech in the car is just unbeatable. Only downside is the fact that the indicator stocks have been removed in this new "Highland" version of the car, which makes indicating a bit of a hassle (I guess they don't have roundabouts in California...).
Source: Tesla.com
Smart #3
Last one was the Smart #3 (don't know why there needs to be a hashtag in the name by the way...). First thing to mention is that Smart changed their concept from tiny city runabouts to proper (family) cars on the same platform as other brands from the Geely automotive group. The car does look good and the drive is decent as well. However, the adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist (or whatever they called it) is pretty underwhelming, especially if you just come out of a Tesla. Also the "hard" regenerative breaking was just very weak (this turned out to be a setting that could be changed, but I couldn't find in the system). All in all a mixed experience, but bad enough to move the Smart from the list.
Source: Smart.com
The decision
That being said, it is clear only the MG 4 and Tesla Model 3 (the Model Y just felt too big for daily use) made it to the final decision. Pro's of the MG 4 are the price (and, hence, the benefit in kind I pay monthly) and the larger battery. Pro's of the Model 3 are its efficiency, the ride and the whole Tesla ecosystem (tech and phone-integration and supercharger network). Even though I had to mentally flip a witch to choose a product that is in so many ways related to and associated with Elon Musk - his recent actions and statements are so far off from my personal opinions and beliefs - I did give it a go in the end: it is going to be the Tesla Model 3 Highland!
Not a surprise?
For people knowing me, this choice is probably not a surprise. Already in my introductory post on Hive, I mentioned that I entered the Crypto-space partly to invest (or gamble) my way towards a Model 3. I even made a series of posts about it to track my progress based on my investments and the - ever changing - price of the car (unfortunately I cannot easily find the last post I did about this; does anyone know a way to properly search through your Hive-posts???).
Many things have changed since that time (January 2018), most prominently my job and the fact that it comes with a lease car/EV, but the (by now refreshed) Model 3 is still one of the best value for money EVs money can buy (given the budget).
Final choices and current status
Now that the car was chosen, the final choices needed to be made. I didn't want to spend more on accessories that reduce the efficiency, so I went for the "standard" 18-inch wheels. For practical reasons, I did however go for a tow-hook.
With respect to the looks, I do like the car to stand out to the enormous amount of either black or white Model 3s that can be found on the road. Therefore I decided to go for the Ultra Red instead. The partly white interior isn't for me, so I did stay with all black.
Finally, I didn't go for any of the more enhanced software options, Enhanced Autopilot or Full Self Driving. The base version already has the options I need, and the extra's don't weigh against the additional costs for me. Especially FSD, of which most isn't even road legal in the EU.
Well then here it is, my car to be:
Status
At the moment the lease company agreed to my choice and now my employer has to do the same. Then, hopefully, the car will be ordered and I'll be driving around in it somewhere in December. I'll keep you updated!