March 5, 20179 yr IMHO I think you guys gets screwed a lot when it gets to maintenance and repairs on any vehicle. Down here I can screw only o e guy and then wont have any clients left a week later......My BMW have always treated me very well.Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk
March 5, 20179 yr 13 minutes ago, Czauto said: IMHO I think you guys gets screwed a lot when it gets to maintenance and repairs on any vehicle. Depends. Maybe when you're young, but you eventually find someone you can trust, sometimes more than one. I befriended a German autotechnician 15 years ago... but I hardly ever see him these days. I bought a Toyota you see... and over the last decade I learned to do a lot of maintenance myself :-)
March 6, 20179 yr 16 hours ago, Czauto said: It seems middelclass in the city and middleclass in the Karoo differs A LOT. I bought a vehicle whose book value was R210 k (downgraded the condition from very good to good) and bought it for R140k. Took it to the local SupaQuick and the owner who knows where I live want to know whether he should fit a 3 point link! (apparatus at the back of a tractor for attaching implements).
March 6, 20179 yr 4 minutes ago, Chris Hobson said: ... the owner who knows where I live want to know whether he should fit a 3 point link! And did he manage to fit it? Makes sense to have all farm vehicles made multipurpose.
March 6, 20179 yr 15 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: And did he manage to fit it? Makes sense to have all farm vehicles made multipurpose. This is the vehicle that the missus drives so decided to save on costs
March 6, 20179 yr On 3/5/2017 at 8:04 PM, plonkster said: Just checked autotrader. There are 8 Nissan Leafs for sale at present, many of them around 200k-250k. That's middle-class territory, 3k a month car payment type stuff. They are all 2013 models though (with very low mileage), so the question remains: How good is that battery? The older Nissan Leafs may be from the pilot research project that Nissan, Eskom and Avis Fleet Services ran by importing 10 Leafs into SA in 2013. It had a range of 135 Km with a 24Kwh battery pack. Just did a quick comparison of a couple of the electric vehicles and suprsingly found out that they all have a very similar consumption of between 5 - 5.9 KM / Kwh. Range Kwh Km/kwh Nissan Leaf 2013 135 24 5.63 Nissan Leaf 2016 172 30 5.73 BMW i3 (60 Ah) 130 22 5.90 BMW i3 (94 Ah) 183 33 5.55 Tesla Model S 426 85 5.01 I took a risk and bought a Prius that was just out of its warranty for R85 000 and i must say it has been a great investment. We achieve a fuel consumption of 22.5 Km/L but thats driving quite carefully. We also own a 1996 Isuzu KB 2.8 DT with 508 000 Km on the clock with original engine, gearbox and diff. Was wondering if anyone can advise me as to what mileage can be realistically achieved before Engine & Gearbox overhaul will be required. The vehicle has been well looked after, 1 owner, serviced every 15 000Km and has never been overheated.
March 6, 20179 yr 6 minutes ago, Carl said: We achieve a fuel consumption of 22.5 Km/L but thats driving quite carefully. If I stick to 80km/h on the highway, the Corolla (Diesel) does 24. If I stay below 110km/h it does 20. I usually manage around 17 because driving it fast is just way too much fun :-)
March 6, 20179 yr 30 minutes ago, Carl said: We also own a 1996 Isuzu KB 2.8 DT with 508 000 Km on the clock with original engine, gearbox and diff. Was wondering if anyone can advise me as to what mileage can be realistically achieved before Engine & Gearbox overhaul will be required. That depends on how good you look after it. Have heard of 1 000 000 km Isuzu's with original parts still in, bar obviously the stuff that has to be regularly replaced. 500 00 is reaching middle age, still good to go.
June 25, 20188 yr Author So almost 2 years after starting this thread my BMW i3 has done 45,000KMs. This technology is a game changer. Just the concept of not needing a "service" every year requires a mind shift. The service items for the i3 are brake fluid and vehicle check every 2 years! Having had the first i3 in South Africa for some years, it is now time to sell as the 120Ah (+-44Kwh) model is coming soon. It's amazing to me that BMW has managed to double the battery capacity of the i3 in 4 years. Mine was a 60Ah (22KW) This has been my favourite car to drive. You have to experience it to understand. It's is relaxing and thrilling at the same time and I have not gotten bored of it for even a moment! In 45000KMs the battery has lost 3% of capacity and my "fuel consumption" has been 15.7kWh/100km. My average recuperation has been 5.3kWh/100km. We pay R1 per kWh, so the car cost me R7000 to run in electricity, excluding any solar offset. In reality it was almost free. I used 50L of fuel, meaning I filled the 9L tank about 5 times. This means in the time I had the car, I drove roughly 800km's on the Range Extender petrol generator (Rex). I found that I could get roughly 120km's electric only before needing the REX. The battery lasted me 2-3 days on average, though I mostly charged it daily. The times I used the REX was mostly on long trips. The one surprise with the i3 is that it seems to pickup punctures on it's narrow eco tires. I had 3 punctures over 2 years driving in JHB. Luckily replacement tires don't cost the world (R2200 Bridgestone) and the compressor kit works fine. I had the punctures plugged, but replaced the front tires at 35000km's. The future of electric looks very bright and I cannot wait to have an i3 with double the range or to get behind the wheel of a Tesla in South Africa! Edited June 25, 20188 yr by Travis
June 25, 20188 yr 4 minutes ago, Travis said: In 45000KMs the battery has lost 3% of capacity and my "fuel consumption" has been 15.7kWh/100km. My average recuperation has been 5.3kWh/100km. We pay R1 per kWh, so the car cost me R7000 to run in electricity, excluding any solar offset. In reality it was almost free. What would be interesting is a full comparison including all components: Fuel, Insurance, Devaluation, Maintenance, and opportunity cost. For me the largest problem is a bang-for-buck one mostly caused by high opportunity cost. This would likely not be my long-distance vehicle. When I drive long distance, it is 800km -1500km a day (we sleep over if the whole family travels, if it is just me then I don't), and once I cross the border the shortest distance between main centras is 150km. There are the occasional local trips as well, which are around 350km and could likely be done fully on electricity with stops in Touwsrivier and/or Laingsburg, but mostly it's not going to work that well even with REX. Other than these very occasional trips, we hardly leave town and everything we need is within 2km of the house. One tank of fuel per vehicle pretty much sees us through. So the eletrical vehicle will potter around in town, hardly doing 5000km a year. For this I have to tie up on the other side of 650k, insure it, take the depreciation, and so forth. Meanwhile we own two cars worth around 150k combined, they have stopped devalueing (other than inflation), insurance is around 12k a year (for both), service costs around 2k for the two of them (I do it myself), and at one tank a fuel per month each maybe another 18k a year in fuel. Opportunity cost would be less than 10k (investing that money at money market rates might yield about that much). So TCO for both is below 50k a year. Don't get me wrong. I really really really REALLY want an electric car, but I simply cannot justify it at the present prices.
June 25, 20188 yr 41 minutes ago, plonkster said: Don't get me wrong. I really really really REALLY want an electric car, but I simply cannot justify it at the present prices. Plus on one that, incl the costs and maintenance of paid off-cars. There is another gremlin that we brought up in the 'Eskom Strike Tomorrow' musing thread ... what Government will do if we all go electric cars, as they will lose billions in fuel taxes.
June 25, 20188 yr 4 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: lose billions in fuel taxes It's not going to happen overnight. There will be enough time to introduce a new tax elsewhere to account for it. Remember that they also lose out on the Carbon tax paid as part of vehicle purchase. Some of it will be made back from the extra VAT income on electricity sales, but given that a much larger percentage of fuel cost is road-relted taxes, indeed... will likely cause an interesting income problem. (You could just include some of it in vehicle license costs of course... don't tell anybody that!)
June 25, 20188 yr Just now, plonkster said: (You could just include some of it in vehicle license costs of course... don't tell anybody that!) Bottom line, if electric cars become the norm, the "savings" made in fuel and services will be re-appropriated via new taxes. And as with all the taxes being paid, they all are going down a bottomless pit with no "plug" in sight And I can just "hear" the strikes coming down the road, with benefactors behind whom are driving electric cars themselves. So ANYONE who wants to make a "profit", the time is right to buy an electric car like Travis did!
June 25, 20188 yr I wish we could buy the Renault Zoe in SA, it costs around 24K Euro (so R380K) or 18K Euro with the battery rental option (so R280K) and monthly rental at 59 Euro (so R937) so the battery rental option does seem quite tempting, just to put it in perspective, with the R100K price difference a car financed over 54 months at 12% interest will end up costing you R33.8K in interest! So that's almost 3 years of battery rental paid for, just to cover the interest. And the Zoe has a real world range of around 280KM which ticks most of the boxes for me Edited June 25, 20188 yr by PJJ Added info
June 25, 20188 yr Quick one on our i3. 31000km in 19 months. 60% recharges from solar and balance free from BMW. Our Prado gathering a bit of dust. 31000km in the Prado = estimate R57000. Best thing the wife and I have ever done. Edited June 25, 20188 yr by Gerald_db Correct diesel value.
June 25, 20188 yr Check out @InsideEVs’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/InsideEVs/status/1010734273433952256?s=09
June 26, 20188 yr On 25/06/2018 at 12:11 PM, Travis said: So almost 2 years after starting this thread my BMW i3 has done 45,000KMs. This technology is a game changer. Just the concept of not needing a "service" every year requires a mind shift. The service items for the i3 are brake fluid and vehicle check every 2 years! Having had the first i3 in South Africa for some years, it is now time to sell as the 120Ah (+-44Kwh) model is coming soon. It's amazing to me that BMW has managed to double the battery capacity of the i3 in 4 years. Mine was a 60Ah (22KW) This has been my favourite car to drive. You have to experience it to understand. It's is relaxing and thrilling at the same time and I have not gotten bored of it for even a moment! In 45000KMs the battery has lost 3% of capacity and my "fuel consumption" has been 15.7kWh/100km. My average recuperation has been 5.3kWh/100km. We pay R1 per kWh, so the car cost me R7000 to run in electricity, excluding any solar offset. In reality it was almost free. I used 50L of fuel, meaning I filled the 9L tank about 5 times. This means in the time I had the car, I drove roughly 800km's on the Range Extender petrol generator (Rex). I found that I could get roughly 120km's electric only before needing the REX. The battery lasted me 2-3 days on average, though I mostly charged it daily. The times I used the REX was mostly on long trips. The one surprise with the i3 is that it seems to pickup punctures on it's narrow eco tires. I had 3 punctures over 2 years driving in JHB. Luckily replacement tires don't cost the world (R2200 Bridgestone) and the compressor kit works fine. I had the punctures plugged, but replaced the front tires at 35000km's. The future of electric looks very bright and I cannot wait to have an i3 with double the range or to get behind the wheel of a Tesla in South Africa! Hi Travis - great write-up. We are also keen for the bigger battery in a year or so. We have had 1 puncture in the 31k km driven and very slow at that. Do you know when the 120Ah is due? I would be very careful buying a used Leaf as their batteries are not thermally controlled and decay fast - up to 10% per year. Regards BTW: https://web.facebook.com/groups/2005787059640688/ South African Electric Vehicle Owners
June 26, 20188 yr 18 minutes ago, Gerald_db said: I would be very careful buying a used Leaf as their batteries are not thermally controlled and decay fast - up to 10% per year. I heard similar things. Not the 10% a year bit though, that is pretty bad. My problem is that I lack suitable mid-range travel in my daily life. I don't have it. Which is mostly a good thing too. Except for rainy days, a big old "bakfiets" like they have in The Netherlands (bicycle with a large basket, with Li-Ion assist these days) is possibly all I need for transport locally. When I do travel, it's more than 300km, often significantly more. The other day I looked at plane prices -- for a laugh -- and while it is not all that unfordable to get hold of a good old Cessna 172 or 182 or similar, or even maintaining it... the trouble is simply that they fly about 160km/h ground speed when going full tilt... and you spend all that time pre-take-off, and getting to and from airports, they can't really go much further than maybe 500km at a time (so multiple landings), so overall... might as well take the car! The ICE-powered one.
June 26, 20188 yr On 25/06/2018 at 1:13 PM, The Terrible Triplett said: what Government will do if we all go electric cars, as they will lose billions in fuel taxes. Shame
June 26, 20188 yr 1 minute ago, Gerald_db said: Shame Yes, I see that point of view, and agree in the context. But the "shame" must be aimed at us, the taxpayers. No government is going to take one on the chin where it concerns their income, and here in SA, never ever from the more affluent who can jump over the obstacles they like to throw our way, like higher taxes on fuel, by allowing us to get away in not buying said product = less taxes. That ain't gonna fly nowhere. Ps. Remember, they already did a initial test trial run to see who's who in the "zoo" by seeing who goes "ape" when they hinted along the lines, in error they claimed, by trying to link free sunlight to that thing called taxes (has Malemma ever asked if there is a word for taxes in his home language?) ... all because Eskom is taking strain and someone must pay up.
June 26, 20188 yr On 2018/06/25 at 12:11 PM, Travis said: So almost 2 years after starting this thread my BMW i3 has done 45,000KMs. This technology is a game changer. Just the concept of not needing a "service" every year requires a mind shift. The service items for the i3 are brake fluid and vehicle check every 2 years! Having had the first i3 in South Africa for some years, it is now time to sell as the 120Ah (+-44Kwh) model is coming soon. It's amazing to me that BMW has managed to double the battery capacity of the i3 in 4 years. Mine was a 60Ah (22KW) This has been my favourite car to drive. You have to experience it to understand. It's is relaxing and thrilling at the same time and I have not gotten bored of it for even a moment! In 45000KMs the battery has lost 3% of capacity and my "fuel consumption" has been 15.7kWh/100km. My average recuperation has been 5.3kWh/100km. We pay R1 per kWh, so the car cost me R7000 to run in electricity, excluding any solar offset. In reality it was almost free. I used 50L of fuel, meaning I filled the 9L tank about 5 times. This means in the time I had the car, I drove roughly 800km's on the Range Extender petrol generator (Rex). I found that I could get roughly 120km's electric only before needing the REX. The battery lasted me 2-3 days on average, though I mostly charged it daily. The times I used the REX was mostly on long trips. The one surprise with the i3 is that it seems to pickup punctures on it's narrow eco tires. I had 3 punctures over 2 years driving in JHB. Luckily replacement tires don't cost the world (R2200 Bridgestone) and the compressor kit works fine. I had the punctures plugged, but replaced the front tires at 35000km's. The future of electric looks very bright and I cannot wait to have an i3 with double the range or to get behind the wheel of a Tesla in South Africa! Great news. Awesome post.
July 3, 20187 yr On 2016/09/17 at 8:43 AM, Travis said: I have chosen the BMW i3 REX i'll wait for REGINA
September 15, 20187 yr On 2016/09/18 at 11:11 AM, plonkster said: The moment I saw your post I actually started crunching the numbers. I came to a similar conclusion, that if I was spending upwards of 4k a month on fuel it would totally change the picture. But I spend R800 on fuel in a month, the car is paid off, the kids are in schools 5 minutes away, work is 25 minutes away on roads passing through wine farms with never a traffic jam... maybe the occasional slow down because of a tractor... :-) Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk Its September 2018 with rumors of petrol and diesel increasing to the highest ever... , electric vehicles are sounding a lot better... I travel 120KM per day to Pretoria University and back home every morning and again in the afternoon, with daylight time to recharge... ps @Travis how long does it take to recharge the i3 batteries?
September 16, 20187 yr Overnight on a 3 pin wall plug or 3.5 hours on a 3 phase level 2 charger (that's for the 94Ah model we own)
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