Pingu

The EV that I would consider is a used BMW i3 with a range extender. The range extender is a 600 cc modified motorcycle engine. If you do the calculations like the video guy, it probably isn't a good buy, but it is a nice car. There are a few available in the Vancouver area on autotrader.ca.

For the price, you get a 33 kwh battery and 168 BHP electric motor. The range is 183 km on the battery, and 290 km with one tank of gas in the "range extender". If you get the range extender, it is a 647 cc gasoline motor. Volt/Prius/Ioniq PHEVs have much smaller batteries and much larger gas motors. If I had a spare $60,000, this is the car I would buy. Top Gear says, The i3 remains the best premium small EV out there. Hard to argue against. Just be prepared to pay proper money.

Check out the BMW i3.

Congratulations on the PB! Maybe 5000 next year?

Since all the comments on this thread recommend repairing your car, I'll mention some of the problems you could face in the future. EGR valve plugging Clutch fork punch through Reluctor ring breakage Turbo failure Mysterious electrical problems You have a 9 year old car with a 15 year old design which is driven only short trips. Are you feeling lucky?

I don't consider the smart to be disposable. Once your electrical problem is diagnosed, it will be fine again. Unfortunately the smart is prone to small problems that are hard to diagnose and expensive to repair. We replaced our smart at 140,000 km with a Mitsubishi Mirage, before the smart had any expensive problems.

OP said that her independent mechanic couldn't get wiring diagrams. She never said that Mercedes couldn't get them.

Congratulations on getting the "greenest" car available. Kiwi green is even greener than smart's stream green. lol. See you on the Mirage forum. I'm MiMi.

The main negative that I find is that the steering doesn't self-centre very well. There is a dead zone, maybe 20 degrees left and same to the right, on the steering wheel. If your turn the steering wheel in that area, it just stays there. It isn't really noticeable in city driving, but I notice that more steering is required on the highway. Some people don't even notice it, but I find it annoying. Most people seem to getting better than the new 2015 ratings of 6.4 and 5.3 l/100 km. After 10000 km, we've averaged 5.1. If you're interested, check out mirageforum.com or shortcut the home page by going to mirageforum.com/forum.

After 10,000 km on the Mirage, fuel consumption is 5.1 l/100 km. With approximately the same driving, the 2006 smart averaged 3.9 l/100 km over the time we had it. An auto group in Australia voted the Mirage as the best micro car of the year. Consumer Reports named it automobile turkey of the year. Of course it does have good points and bad points. One nice thing compared to the diesel smart is that the powerful electric booster heater gives warm air very quickly.

I've flown to Glasgow and to Manchester on Air Transat. The seating was fine. I think they have made changes in the last few years. You can compare seating at http://www.seatguru.com/charts/generalcharts.php

Mike, I was actually driving the Mirage. You missed it because you can't see a mirage at night. lol. Nice to see everyone again and catch up on what's happening.

Sure -- short drive for me. Or I could just walk.

I'm interested. Probably any time and any place, I'm smartless of course. Have you contacted For2? Seem to prefer non-smart vehicles these days!

For the Mirage, fuelly.com has an average of 5.6 l/100km. On the Mirage forum, there are many that are much better than that. For a balanced review of the Mirage, you can read this review.