04/06/2025
My beloved Volvo C70 is finally gone! A 17 year love affair is over! For anyone considering a change of car, this story might help you!
I thought it might be useful to set out my thought process for this change!
I kept the Volvo for 17 years! It was a beautiful car and a joy to drive. It was also practical. From a financial perspective, the annual cost of driving was low. It was a well built car so the maintenance costs were low, and depreciation was no longer a factor. Car Tax was high though. My annual cost of motoring in recent years, when fuel, tax, maintenance and depreciation was about €4k.
Unfortunately, earlier this year the fuel pump went, and it failed the NCT for rear suspension issues. Repairs were going to be over €3k so it started to become a burden. I made the the decision to finally say fairwell 🥲. It was a sad day when I called into Conor and Alan at Lewis Motors to pick up my replacement. I think the lads thought I was a bit mad when I took a few photos of the Volvo and showed a bit of emotion handing over the keys!
So, what were my considerations for a change?
- The very first thing I did was take my golf clubs out of the C70 and check if they fit in the new car. Otherwise the deal was off! Any uncertainty about my mental state now gone and any fellow golf addicts out there will understand! 🏌️
- Depreciation - I wanted a car that had already taken a big hit in terms of depreciation. I didn’t want a new car, where the depreciation hit in year one could be 20-30%, or tens of thousands in real money. This is a hidden cost of motoring that most never consider.
- Full Electric - Given the generous BIK allowance, I wanted to buy a full electric, for cash, through the company. Very little BIK for me, and extremely efficient ongoing running costs. I didn’t want to add any finance or interest costs. My annual cost of motoring is extremely low now.
- I wanted a car that was slightly different, fun to drive and well equipped. No standard SUV’s appealed. I was limited by the size of my driveway too!
So, what did I get? A 2021 Polestar 2. When this particular model appeared on their website I dropped everything. This particular spec is close to €70k new, and I got it for less than half that price, so a significant portion of the depreciation is already gone. It’s a huge amount of fun to drive, at over 400bhp in this performance spec, and the wife and kids love it! It will comfortably do 400km on a single charge, so at the moment I’m only plugging it in every 8 or 9 days. I was sceptical about full electric, but I’m now a convert.
Will I keep this one for 17 years? Maybe! Let’s see how the future of motoring develops.
Key points
1) Avoid high finance payments and heavy depreciation with new cars. It just makes no financial sense
2) Avail of the generous tax advantages of buying electric through a company if you can💷💷
3) I can’t recommend Alan Lewis and the team at Lewis Motors enough. They are excellent. 👏
