The EV experiment has been a success and has fitted in well with the bigger picture of installing solar panels, storage batteries and running the car on either off peak or solar generated electricity. This was possible because the Mini is our second car and the X6M is available for longer runs. As the local runabout, the Mini gets used 90% of the time. It’s not a comfortable car for long trips but it is huge fun to whizz about in and the 100 (ish) mile range means that we don’t do any long journeys in it. We’ve never used a public charger. Meanwhile on the X6M front, the car is as much fun to drive and as licence threatening as ever. The driving dynamics and performance on tap haven’t got old. The car has worn its age well too. Over the past couple of years, the warranty has started paying for itself rather than providing only peace of mind. We’ve had it for nearly nine years. No complaints at all, but time marches on. We had a plan to consolidate to one car next year because time is marching on for us too. Helen is fully retired, significantly disabled and will probably only drive again in an emergency or for a very special purpose. I’m semi-retired, still operational but I’m getting more interested in ride comfort than razor sharp handling. The X6M can deliver both because when it’s not all taunt, tight and excited, it can settle down to a civilised fast canter. What it won’t do is crack 25mpg. I could probably coax 30mpg out of it but it’s impossible for me to remain well behaved for a sufficient time to achieve this. It’s not that sort of car. Now that plug in hybrids are returning half decent electric ranges, we did look at some candidates, but we kept coming back to EVs. I have been fortunate over the years to sit behind some superb engines and much as I have enjoyed making friends with them and driving them sympathetically, the instant torque of an EV and the relative refinement appeal more now. We don’t want another jacked up car, so the only realistic option was the i4. However, in the same used price range was a hidden candidate that came to my attention by accident. The spec list goes on and on. Of particular interest to me are heated, ventilated, massage seats, top spec sound system, HUD, 360 cameras and adaptive suspension. I don’t have any decent pictures of the new car. Here’s a few poor-quality ones. They don’t do the car any favours – it’s immaculate and much better inside and out than the photos suggest. Yes, it's another red one. The first EQE candidate was dark grey but it sold before I got to it. This was the second. The third, which will now not be viewed was black. Spec was more important than colour provided it wasn't Undercoat White or didn't have a poo coloured interior. Below is Beast having a kidney transplant. I’ll be selling some bits including a really nice set of winter wheels/tyres (when I get around to it) which should knock a couple of grand off the cost to change. Every little helps. Beast and I will be doing our last, one-way road trip on Thursday. If anybody is interested, they could try contacting Mercedes Exeter, although they might have already made arrangements to pass it on. It certainly won’t be for sale on their lot. In many ways the new car reminds me of my E66 AKA Cyborg. I loved that car. Helen has always been an E Class fan. She ran a W123 230TE for 25 years until it fell to bits. It’s the car I first used - with Helen's kind permission, when I went self-employed 22 years ago, before I earned enough money to get my first E39. Now that I’m more retired than working I’m kind of going back to where I started. The Mini will leave us on March 1st.
Your EV experiment looks to have worked out well for you. Really helpful to hear how other folk are adapting to the new world today approach to transport. Very early in our EV adventure, the jury is still out. I wonder if you will miss petrol stations? I’d image you got to know them well in your big red beast. I hope you have a grand time with the Merc, whilst not my cuppa, I can certainly see what has drawn you to that one.
I love the spec. At the wrong side of 55 things like adaptive suspension, massage/ventilation seats make much more sense. Our ever increasing poor roads also mean that comfort becomes more important. Sounds like you'll still have the speed if you want it. Your eco home set up also sounds ideal. We've looked at solar/battery storage not for an EV or hybrid but for our air source heat pump. Unfortunately doesn't stack up cost wise at the moment as it's the dark months when we need lots of power for heating. Hopefully that will change. We could also run one car but keep a cheap Fiesta for our daughter to drive when back from Uni. Best of luck with the new Merc
Thank you both. It took us a year to fully analyse and understand solar/batteries after installation and the up front cost is significant - he said stating the bleedin' obvious. We had a second battery installed this year and in terms of good generation versus cost and battery charging capability we're pretty much maxed out. Running an EV was a side gig but it has proved to be pain free and extremely cost effective. Our main aim was to achieve a degree of self sufficiency which would pay for itself within its life span. I guess a heat pump will come next. If the i5 was a couple of years older we would have had more used candidates to consider. The problem for me is form rather than function. BMWs look so busy now. Many of them have sticky out bits all over the place. The EQE is so sleek and clean, and speaking of clean, it will be easy to clean being that shape and height. E36 316i E36 316i E46 318 Ci E39 528i E38 735i Alpina B10 3.3 E66 750i E70 X5 4.8i F31 320d E71 X6M F56 MINI Electric Level 3 Things are about to get different!
Well I never Harry! Your decision has surprised me. I havent posted much on the forum over the past 2 years (I just watch and read most posts) because in September 2022 I jumped from a BMW petrol to a Mercedes EV. It is a Mercedes EQB 300 4MATIC AMG Line Premium. In fact we changed gradually from 2 cars to one car in 2020 but found that our 2020 X1 MSport 2.0i litre that was our "One Car" was just to noisy on every road surface except for the very smooth later tarmac surfaces. The tyre roar was just too much. Surfice to say we are now both sold on driving our Battery Electric Vehicle. In fact we will never go back. It is a lot more relaxing and so simple to drive it is unbelievable. The only caveat my wife and I had up until recently is that we needed to plan our route more carefully to ensure we have enough charge left in our battery at our intended destination to top it up to get back home. I say up until recently because there are so many Rapid Chargers being installed on major routes that things have become a lot simpler because there are more available. Having said that, I only charge away from home if I am going to go over 200 miles round trip and that still gives me 30 or 40 miles reserve so to speak. It is nice to be able to say that we can do a 220 mile trip for £5.66 when it is charged on our home charger using Octopus Go (5 hours cheap rate at 8.5p per unit) and have it put on the electricity bill. I could go on for ever, extolling its virtues, but that would get boring. Having said that after you have got everything sorted out and have the Mercedes me App installed on your phone, it is worth watching the Mercedes Youtube videos created by Nick o'leary to pick up some useful tips. The one I use the most is the What3Words App that I have installed on my phone. Once I have found my destination I send it to my Mercedes me App where my car is listed (naturally) and once in the car the message appears, and I tell the sat nav in the car (using the "Hey Mercedes" voice command) to go there. Simples. Anywhere, enjoy the car. Edit. Just read your latest reply. We have PV panels (installed 2010), Solar Thermal Panels (same time) and in 2022 had a Tesla Powerwall2 installed. As we speak, we are just finalising the Design for a Daikin Air Source Heat Pump.
Slight "Fred" drift here and I may be preaching to the converted already but be very careful if retro-fitting an Air Source Heat Pump. Our heat pump is in a new "self build" house which is massively insulated, has underfloor heating and no "holes" in the fabric of the building including no window trickle vents. Heat pumps run at a much lower temp than boilers and take time for the building to amass heat. Many people who have purely changed their gas boiler for a heat pump without alterations have found that their home is too cold and the pump is max all the time to try and keep with demand. Radiators size and pipework size might require increasing to cope with an ASHP and additional insulation/better thermal windows installed. The Build Hub forum is a great place to research: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/140-other-heating-systems/ Anyway back to the Merc EV....
This is my only major criticism of the X6M. The MPG comes with the territory and the tyre noise comes with the wide 20" wheels. I was expecting the MPG but not such high noise levels. Some roads were worse than others but anything other than recently surfaced smooth roads was a pain in the wassnames. Thank you for the YouTube tips. I've found Nick and unlike many YT contributors, his content is really informative and useful. We have the house on Intelligent Octopus Go which will just about charge both batteries off peak on the shortest day, and has a clever off peak swing in model for when an EV is plugged in. It worked brilliantly for the MINI until it didn't! I'm confident I can get it synched for the EQE and if necessary I'll get a more compatible wall box although I'd rather not. Range was also a factor for us. Our requirement is to get to London and back without charging and get to the West Midlands and back without having to stop more than once for the round trip. The quoted range (yeah, I know...) for the EQE makes this look possible. This Mercedes Me thing sounds really clever. We have found the MINI app to be flaky at times.
Actually, staying on heat pumps for a little bit longer.... Thank you for your contribution. I have to say that I'm not exactly eager to rip out the gas CH and go heat pump and I have heard the stories. We don't have mains gas where I live. The original LPG boiler was rather lacklustre from day one and didn't age well. We had a Worcester Bosch put in two years ago just before we went solar. It's good. More output for less gas consumed. I hope we'll get some good years out of it. The big question mark is what comes after that? Meanwhile, back on planet Car, I'm feeling more than a little sad as I look out the window and see the magnificent Beast sitting there all innocent. It's going to be a sentimental wrench but we are EV converts in this house. All that noise, heat, wasted energy and moving parts will not be missed. I'm lucky to have experienced it and enjoyed it for as long as I did.
I met him on the Mercedes BEV stand at the "Everything Electric South Farnborough International Show on 11th October 2024". When we started talking he said he had not thought of sending the What3Words address to the car via the Mercedes me App the way I did, and had responded in the chat to his youtube video. He was doing it manually using the Mercedes voice commands. I find it easy to make a mistake using the voice to do it because it can get the words mixed up. Yes good thinking, but there many on the EV forums that find it is a bit flakey. I have a Hypervolt V2 wall charger, but this has now been superseeded by Version 3 that appears from the emails sent to me is compatible with Intelligent. I do not think the car is!
Well @Harry what can I say? In some ways I’m not surprised given several of your previous posts suggested EV was working well for you. On the other hand, your passion for BMW and particularly more recently the V8’s make it surprising also. I am very happy for you and whilst the Merc (nor EV ownership) particularly resonates with me currently, I can see it’s exciting for you and the right time. I truly wish you all the best with it and would be delighted to still hear from you on here with your thoughts and experiences once it’s sitting on your driveway and integrated into your lives. Thank you for tempting me into 550i ownership following your great longterm reviews of Cyborg. It was your enthusiasm (and astonishing mpg at times) which gave me the nudge to get it done and tick the box!! Best wishes
Having worked for MB for the last three years they are a nice product. Other than a bit of software issues we have not had problems with EQE. Enjoy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hi Dunc. I hope my ramblings resulted in more happiness than disappointment! I’m still somewhat baffled (in a good way) that I sometimes got such good mpg out of my 750 on long runs. I once drove from Scotland to the South West at night and averaged 42mpg in an E39 528i, the same E39 that once gave me 12mpg driving around London for a day. Long and steady always does it, plus a good ambient temperature. The 750 still drove around town and cities like there was a hole in the tank. At just under two tons, the Cyborg was heavy for its time, but it’s now half a ton lighter than the new M5! That’s progress for you. Another kind of progress, if you want it and can accommodate it, is running an EV using renewable energy or off-peak juice. Last night I put 100 miles range into the EQE for £2.59. That’s about £10 for a full charge under ideal conditions of approximately 375 miles. Having to do the occasional public charge won’t be a financial hardship in the greater scheme of things. I loved the delivery characteristics of the n/a V8 and I still rate it highest with the straight six coming a strong second. The twin turbo S63 has ridiculous straight-line performance, even in a lardy X6M, and is both rewarding and addictive. It never gets old. However, the on/off nature of the delivery and its inability to engine brake (much) on the overrun were things which I adapted to but didn’t entirely like. Driving an EV flips the power consumption figures on their head. Long, fast, and steady eats amps, stop/start builds the battery’s reserves up. I live in a hilly area and drive locally on mainly B roads with gradients and twisty bits. If I’m doing a short run, the MINI can sometimes come back with more range than when it left. I have the MINI on full regen and I really like the regenerative braking. The Merc is set to coast, and it also has a creep setting. These seem to suit the car much better than strong regenerative braking, and with a notional range of 375 miles from a full charge the need for significant regen is minimised, although it’s nice to have it available at the pull of a paddle. The pickup went well on Thursday. There is one minor issue which is a niggle, will be fixed and hasn’t ruined it. What follows is a statement of the blindingly obvious: The EQE ain’t no BMW. The feedback and driver engagement isn’t there. I have driven a few E class Mercs down the years and always found them to be easy to drive, user friendly, sharp enough, quick enough and above all comfortable. The EQE sticks to this format, although it is very quick when you want it to be. I’ve only driven it in Comfort mode so far. It is a superb car, but it’s much different to what I’m used to. It will take me some time to get to know it better and so far, it is pretty much what I was expecting. It has what Mercedes calls Comfort Seats. They are very comfortable. BMW Comfort seats are better. And for those who still have an iDrive controller knob to twiddle, hang onto it for as long as you can! Other systems, such as the steering wheel touch pads and touch screens that Mercedes use are easy enough and will doubtless become easier with familiarity, but you can’t beat a knob to twiddle and positively click (I always disabled the touch pad feature of the iDrive controller when I came across one). I’m having it appraised for some film and ceramic coating next week. The plan is to run it for 6-10 years, which is our usual time frame for a car. Past battery degradation, keeping it cosmetically tip top will prevent premature aging, as it did to great effect on the X6M.
Make sure you keep it serviced within the MB network. If the battery had an issue MB will pay for it for the first seven years. We have put a battery in an EQC this year at work that was five years old. Battery was £38,000 + VAT. MB picked up the bill without question. Cheers Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks for that Alex. I'll be using Sytner Bath. MB Exeter said a service pack would be in the region of £60 monthly but I'm guessing that for an EV it might be more cost effective to pay as I go.
I’m a big fan of service plans. Be surprised how expensive the servicing is for a retail customer for the EV’s… Cheers Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thank you. I don't visit as much as I used to. My life is a different shape now. I can't envisage a day when I would wander off, there's too much history here and in our hearts too for Matt, John et al, for those of us who remember.
Please keep popping in and updating us Harry, always good to read first hand accounts of owning different makes.
