I’ll subscribe to this thread.

After losing very nice D2 in an accident it looks like D4s and D5s are almost all diesel which is a big no no for me. No high spec examples too (even adaptive cruise is rare, never seen D4 with ACC and B&O). Nothing decent in 20k range. Even stretching it to 30k all you can have in A8 world is diesel and low spec. They also all look pretty awful after subtle elegance of D2.

Tried to look at Porsche Cayenne/Macan, but not convinced yet.
Volvo looks good outside, but cheap interiors. Not really premium segment.
Lexus LS460 looks too jap to me.
Newer A6s and Q7s are nice, but are all diesel :-Q

Electric cars are just not mature enough.

I need to be more open minded. Tough times.

Why is Diesel a big NO ???

I'm curious rather than arguing!

Interestingly after looking at Environmental concerns, I've just struck the V10 S8 off my list.....It's AWESOME and I'd love it and could afford the money to run it. The 319 g/km is more of a NO....Not the tax but the amount released :-(

My D3 isn't good either at 288 g/km but the LPG means it's a 1/3rd better so maybe 191 g/km

However the D4 3.0TDI has a better than my old car in 0-60 and just 174 g/km.....So that's piqued my interest if I could find a good spec???

I'd TOTALLY go for a Tesla, but at £30k for the cheapest 2nd hand, I'm not prepared to tie that much capital up in a car and leasing costs interest, so again nope!

Diesels are more complicated than petrol and I’m all about long term reliability. Lots of things that can break. Most ULEZ compliant diesel cars will have AdBlue, which is just another system with sensors, tank heating for winter conditions, etc. etc. I can only imagine how much will it cost if system will fail.

For me large displacement atmospheric petrol engine with manual gearbox is ideal.

D3 S8 V10 will have high rpm on top gear and I love low rpm on motorways.
I think on D4 this problem was solved on S8 and it has top gear for quiet cruising and fuel economy.

Tesla doesn’t provide lifetime warranty for battery (only 8 years warranty) and that kills any desire to invest 30k+ in 5 years old Tesla. I can only image how much needs to be spent for battery replacement when it fails.

Yes, battery is a big problem on electric cars, I believe new one for Tesla is about £10k.

I was looking to see if there is something cheap that will do 100 miles on charge. Nissan Leaf came closest, new models will do 100 miles on charge, old ones only did 50-60 on full charge when new. I was looking at the cheapest ones starting at £6k, 8 years old batteries are only about half capacity and only do 30 miles to charge. New battery is £5k or £2.5k for refurbished. The refurbished is still built from used good cells as the cells do not fail all at the same time, they scrap(or recycle) bad ones and use the good ones to rebuild batteries. They are still old cells so I would be surprised if refurbished battery last much more than 2 years. Another option is to lease a battery, for Leaf I found battery for £79/month up to 7500 miles per year, or £129/month up to 15k miles. And still would be only about 60 miles per charge on the old Leaf.

Cannot see it working for me, £2k buys you nicer internal combustion car and if I spend £4k in fuel in 2 years I will still be better off after 2 years than buying old Leaf, and I cannot see myself buying 30k car and even less so used unless I earn £100k+ per year. 1-2 months wage for a car seems about right for me.

Must admit i've not had a Diesel.....And yeah, cheap old petrol cars, particularly these beasts have spoilt me!

My GF is currently contemplating the Vauhaull Ampera, it's the 1st generation Chevy Bolt. It's actually a hybrid, but the small petrol engine is more a very smart range extender. 35-45 miles of EV range, but the petrol then adds electric charge and can do about 300miles on petrol. It's a slightly odd but very smart almost electric and petrol vehicle all in one.
Ideal for her ~15 mile commute, but also good for the 35 miles between us and for going further distance if and when she wants. 95% of the time it'll be all electric!!! But since she suffers anxiety anyway, range issues are completely negated :D

Also about £10k secondhand for a £35k car :love:

Think i'm probably just going to continue using my D3 4.2 with LPG as anything else is costly or worse for my situation!