Second hand EVs worth it?

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#3412114 7-Sep-2025 07:13

blackjack17:

Spent yesterday at the car yards and test drove a number of cars.

have you tested the second hand Kia EV6 with > 500km WLTP range (on highway all WLTP you multiply by 0.7 if you drive below the speed limit, multiply by 0.6 if you drive close to 110. same for ALL EVs.

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#3412165 7-Sep-2025 12:42

Batman:

blackjack17:

Spent yesterday at the car yards and test drove a number of cars.

have you tested the second hand Kia EV6 with > 500km WLTP range (on highway all WLTP you multiply by 0.7 if you drive below the speed limit, multiply by 0.6 if you drive close to 110. same for ALL EVs.

There aren't any Kia EV6 second hand in auckland (trademe), and isn't the kia quite a bit larger?

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Stu

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#3412173 7-Sep-2025 13:52

The EV6 was physically too large for our needs. We bought a second hand 2023 Kia Niro 'Water' trim instead. We've been to Whitianga, Tauranga, Taupo, and plenty of places in between. No trouble topping up at either if those locations. Plenty of ChargeNet stations in Tauranga. Plugging the car in and having a coffee and/or a pee stop is a non-issue, if required. Most of our charging is done at home with an Evnex charger. Will probably look at something with a longer range for our next car, but that won't be for a few years as the Niro is just fine for our needs. Looking forward to more travelling when the weather clears up a bit more.

There are quite a few options available, and at least one will fit the needs for you and your family.

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#3412253 7-Sep-2025 22:00

blackjack17: My wife is really concerned about range...(snip)

This is a commonly quoted 'issue' but the reality is range isn't an issue for many use cases. I'd recommend working out what her needs actually are. I brought a [new] MG ZS EV 3 years ago. Its real-world range is probably around 280-300km which isn't massive but 90% of my drive was* commuting around 24km each way. A good chunk of the rest is a 38km drive (each way) to a retirement village.

* I've changed jobs so mostly catch a train now

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#3412255 7-Sep-2025 22:09

Dratsab:

blackjack17: My wife is really concerned about range...(snip)

This is a commonly quoted 'issue' but the reality is range isn't an issue for many use cases. I'd recommend working out what her needs actually are. I brought a [new] MG ZS EV 3 years ago. Its real-world range is probably around 280-300km which isn't massive but 90% of my drive was* commuting around 24km each way. A good chunk of the rest is a 38km drive (each way) to a retirement village.

* I've changed jobs so mostly catch a train now

I do over 90km round trip to work and a 30kWh leaf is still enough for that. Daily running, unless you are pushing your vehicles maximum range it's not a big issue once you get above 40kWh batteries. Even below that it's only an issue if you do a trip and then need to do a second or didn't charge proactively.

I would like to upgrade one of our leafs as two is starting to limit options for us, but while they are still fulfilling 99% of our needs I struggle to justify spending a lot more to get only a little more benefit.

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#3412267 8-Sep-2025 07:34

New tech PHEV these days have 120km EV range and 1000km total range so most commuter use is 100% EV but can still do long range non stop economical trips. Just a matter of when these depreciate second hand into the right price range.

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#3412359 8-Sep-2025 10:39

So we tried a couple of BYDs yesterday and were seriously impressed. The dolphin and ATTO3

Both drove really nicely, very good prices for near new. My wife preferred the drive of the dolphin, myself they were similar enough that I couldn't tell.

Will be giving the sealion 6 a go as well, quite a bit more than what we were planning on spending, but does tick a lot of boxes.

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#3412360 8-Sep-2025 10:43

Looking on TM at EVs and PHEVs from BYD, Kia, Omoda etc it seems like the dealers are sitting on a lot of stock. I wonder if there's more discounting in the works to clear some of this?

The other old trick is that when it gets close to the month/quarter/year accounting period end there will be additional discounts to get stock off the books.

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#3414946 14-Sep-2025 19:32

Okay so at the moment seriously looking at the Haval H6 PHEV AWD (family car) and the BYD Dolphin (wife work car).

These two cars seems to best met our use criteria, budget and bang for buck.

Can you convince me this would be a bad decision or are there better buys.

The Haval does not drive as nice as the BYD sealion but is a good $10,000 cheaper for the awd.

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#3414952 14-Sep-2025 20:10

i see a lot of Havals around. can't be too bad.

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#3415014 15-Sep-2025 01:30

I don't know much about the H6 sorry.

Should note that Leap motor C10 is in the same segment and is discounted to $45k for the PHEV & $50k for the EV at the moment. Quite a bit cheaper than the H6, but it is RWD only.

With regards to the BYD dolphin, I consider it's list price a bit excessive for it's spec sheet. The $5k feildays month discount made things a bit better, but that is on over.

Base version is priced at $40k + ORC

It's 1505 kg empty, and gets at 70 kW motor & 340 kM wltp range.

Now realistically 70 kW is enough to get the job done, but it is underwhelming the by modern EV standards. MG4 base is just $1k more and gets 125 kW

Top trim is $49k + ORC

It gets 150 kW, & 427 kM of range, which is more in line with class norms, but now you are paying $5k more than an Omoda e5 SUV, and roughly the same as a 227 km only Ex demo Lexus UX300e.

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#3415018 15-Sep-2025 06:47

Scott3:

I don't know much about the H6 sorry.

Should note that Leap motor C10 is in the same segment and is discounted to $45k for the PHEV & $50k for the EV at the moment. Quite a bit cheaper than the H6, but it is RWD only.

With regards to the BYD dolphin, I consider it's list price a bit excessive for it's spec sheet. The $5k feildays month discount made things a bit better, but that is on over.

Base version is priced at $40k + ORC

It's 1505 kg empty, and gets at 70 kW motor & 340 kM wltp range.

Now realistically 70 kW is enough to get the job done, but it is underwhelming the by modern EV standards. MG4 base is just $1k more and gets 125 kW

Top trim is $49k + ORC

It gets 150 kW, & 427 kM of range, which is more in line with class norms, but now you are paying $5k more than an Omoda e5 SUV, and roughly the same as a 227 km only Ex demo Lexus UX300e.

AWD is high on the list. Skiing and forestry roads. Plus we drove the C10 and didn't like the way it drove. Too tank like. The sealion drove best but the h6 wasn't too far behind

We are looking at the $30,000 dolphin. Only has the 330km range but with the phev for long trips why would we need more? We checked out the MGs but honestly the quality didn't appear to be there. The rubber and plastic was oxidizing on their demo cars already.

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#3416619 20-Sep-2025 11:04

Another one that might be worth a look is the Geely Starray. Did they give you any delivery expectations or special offers on the H6 Ultra PHEV?

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#3416632 20-Sep-2025 11:28

So, to those looking at PHEV’s and have not owned an EV before my recommendation is to go full EV.

With EV’s, the maintenance required is basically nothing as nothing can go wrong with them. If you add a petrol engine on this then you’ve got 2 systems to maintain so more maintenance and more cost going forward. If your sole reason for wanting a PHEV is due to range then I recommend you step back and consider how much you’re driving in a day as you wake up each morning with that range when it charges overnight.

Not saying avoid PHEV entirely - vehicles like the BYD Shark really have their place but more don’t look at the range side of things if this is just going to be a runaround vehicle because it doesn’t matter in the majority of cases.

On longer trips, fast charging doesn’t take long as it’s more you plug in, go to the toilet and grab something to eat then come back to your car charged.

More than happy to answer questions to those who are afraid to make the full leap to a full EV. I personally live further out of Wellington and combined with my wife’s vehicle and mine we’ve done almost 90,000km in 3 years and could never see ourselves going back.

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CJT

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#3416690 20-Sep-2025 13:05

"Nothing can go wrong with them" is actually a pretty good pitch to go for a 2nd hand long range EV. My issue with buying a new EV in NZ at the moment is the pace at which next gen battery tech (more range, faster charging) is being introduced to existing models in China which will find its way here. Most new PHEV's pretty much use the gas motor as generator for the battery, yes higher maintenance costs but also cheaper upfront prices. PHEV's will take care of most daily commutes on pure EV, you can granny charge back up to 100% each night, and you have the advantage of reduced range anxiety/needing to spend 20+ minutes at a charging station if you do long weekend trips. Tough call though.

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