[JanC]

Greetings to all happy owners! I am picking up my MX-30 in moonshine white next Monday in Germany. I took demonstration car with 15km driven and pretty much full equipment, coming with sunroof, whether that will have any use in Finland. I did put myself into the challenge, will drive around 1000km on motorways to bring it home. I planned so that I am not under time pressure. Our first EV, looking forward to live with limitations and benefits

 

[MX-30_Yorkie]

Exciting adventure, keep us posted on your journey!

 

[VivaMazda]

Greetings to all happy owners! I am picking up my MX-30 in moonshine white next Monday in Germany. I took demonstration car with 15km driven and pretty much full equipment, coming with sunroof, whether that will have any use in Finland. I did put myself into the challenge, will drive around 1000km on motorways to bring it home. I planned so that I am not under time pressure. Our first EV, looking forward to live with limitations and benefits

Are you planning to do the whole trip in one go? Or do a stopover? Please keep us updated. Just knowing how to pay for the charger in Germany sounds like a challenge. But you make the European market work. The law of least resistance makes most of us stay home rather than finding the best deal. Well done! Hyvää Soumi!

 

[JanC]

Regarding the deal, it was pretty simple decision for me - we calculated in which case it makes sense financially, and we agreed with my partner that if the cost is higher, it does not make sense yet to go electric. But as the calculations were clear (including the journey cost, yearly maintenance cost, import taxes, insurances etc.), and there still one "long haul" car in the family, we just went for MX-30 with no worries for range. I need to mention though I am Mazda fan generally, I feel it is always a lot of car for the money.

I have signed up for the Chargemap card, which apparently has good network of stations in Germany/ mainland Europe. But indeed for fun I will try more options along the way, find the cheapest options etc Itinerary is with two days stop on the way in Prague, but then drive to Lubeck harbour with one hotel night for sure. I will have around 48 hours for Prague-Lubeck including the rest time.

 

[MX-30_Yorkie]

Sounds like a mini-break holiday rather than a car collection - well done.

I agree on the deal - electric just about makes sense now in all ways.

 

[VivaMazda]

Regarding the deal, it was pretty simple decision for me - we calculated in which case it makes sense financially, and we agreed with my partner that if the cost is higher, it does not make sense yet to go electric. But as the calculations were clear (including the journey cost, yearly maintenance cost, import taxes, insurances etc.), and there still one "long haul" car in the family, we just went for MX-30 with no worries for range. I need to mention though I am Mazda fan generally, I feel it is always a lot of car for the money.

I have signed up for the Chargemap card, which apparently has good network of stations in Germany/ mainland Europe. But indeed for fun I will try more options along the way, find the cheapest options etc Itinerary is with two days stop on the way in Prague, but then drive to Lubeck harbour with one hotel night for sure. I will have around 48 hours for Prague-Lubeck including the rest time.

Looked at Praha Lübeck on A Better Route Planner. Appr 680 km they suggest 8, I kid you not, charging stops presumably using the Autobahn.
That sounds insane. 7 hours driving 4 hours charging.
Why go superfast to charge superslow???? The algorithm is flawed for this route. Go slow enjoy the ride would be my humble suggestion.

 

[JanC]

It seems there are some kind of algorithms in planners which may calculate efficient charging time, maybe shorter stops at expensive chargers etc. I will definitely take it easy, look the options for every next charging, and enjoy slower drive in northern Germany, which I never visited

 

[ElectricMonkey]

I have signed up for the Chargemap card, which apparently has good network of stations in Germany/ mainland Europe. But indeed for fun I will try more options along the way, find the cheapest options etc

I Germany I would recommend to use EnBW Mobility+. They have decent tariffs, you can use their app basically everywhere and so far it has been a reliable and smooth service.

Recently, I switched to E-ON Drive only because of the special offer for Mazda customers, but I am not sure if it is just Mazda Germany Deal.

Keep us updated about your amazing road adventure!

 

[JanC]

Hi guys, I did write a message about the journey, but seems too long and is waiting already two weeks for moderator approval. So i try to copy paste it in smaller pieces.

My journey is completed, landing in Helsinki in few minutes. I drove 1400 km in different weather conditions, mostly on highways, but around 300 km on side roads. On the way, I visited two UNESCO sites well worth to see- Schwerin and Lübeck

My average consumption for the trip was 16.5 kWh/100 km. There was a nice learning curve how to be more gentle with power pedal. Quite clearly, highway pushed the consumption up despite the maximum speed of 110km/h (indeed sometimes you need to go above that speed and you pay for it from range credit..). But the side roads and traffic lights allowed to recuperate much more, so at the times I was gaining up to 4-5 km.

 

[JanC]

I am very happy with the car, it is not so sporty as MX would suggest, but I guess its the price for electrification- compromise between battery capacity, car weight and power curves. On the other hand, the acceleration when needed was always there, just once up the hill I hit the upper limit. I loved all the features, straightforward controls, and in a way intuitiveness and simplicity.

Charging was smooth experience overall, although German charging prices are quite high (and charging stations therefore empty..). I used several apps for planning, but only chargemap.com for payment. In Czech Republic, e.on had the simplest system how to charge and pay without registration.

While now on ferry, I created the excel table with trip price calculator, where you can fill in your data and compare directly. Interestingly in Finland it is well worth it to drive on electricity. In Czech Republic, it makes sense only if you have hungry petrol or diesel. That may be explanation why some countries like Germany or Czech Republic are low on the list of countries by "electric enthusiasm" compared to Nordics.

 

[JanC]

At home I developed the table further - I now have also direct comparison including yearly cost (like insurances, regular maintenance, road tax) in the 1km driven price (with option to change yearly km to see the difference). With prices in Finland, and if driving only 10.000 per year, MX-30 saves 1300 EUR over CX-5 2,2 diesel. With 20 000 km per year, the difference is already 2000 EUR. EV is the clear winner

 

[Royal]

Strongly considering in joining the finnish MX club by buying my own. Just doing the math and really thinking about that 200km range. But a story like this makes me belive that one could actually survive owning one. You wouldnt happen to have that excel file laying around to help me make the final decission?

 

[JanC]

Hi, find the file attached. If you have any questions, just let me know. I am quite new into excel tables, it was my first one with calculations, so hopefully the logic is kind of understandable. Also the cells are not locked etc. But for me it works. There is no purchase price included in the calculations, you have to do your considerations yourself in this matter. I would say big part of our decision was that we came across the literally new car at 44% discount. The new market price of any EV otherwise is not very encouraging...

200km range is something you have to be ready to accept mentally. In reality of the capital area transport, I did not see any limitation yet. You can even commute from as far as Turku to Helsinki I would say, but indeed you have to charge both ends. So far we have charged twice at home, otherwise we were quite lucky to find spots at free charging stations But this will change with more EV on the roads. GOOD LUCK!

Link to download from onedrive:

Electric or fossil.xlsx

Microsoft Excel Workbook

1drv.ms

Strongly considering in joining the finnish MX club by buying my own. Just doing the math and really thinking about that 200km range. But a story like this makes me belive that one could actually survive owning one. You wouldnt happen to have that excel file laying around to help me make the final decission?

 

[VivaMazda]

Strongly considering in joining the finnish MX club by buying my own. Just doing the math and really thinking about that 200km range. But a story like this makes me belive that one could actually survive owning one. You wouldnt happen to have that excel file laying around to help me make the final decission?

EPA rates it at 161 km or 100 miles which is more realistic in Finland during winter. If this is your only car and you frequently do longer trips would advice against it. If you have another car easily available this could be your everyday workhorse. And a great one too. Also over the years range will decrease but not dramatically.

 

[JanC]

EPA rates it at 161 km or 100 miles which is more realistic in Finland during winter. If this is your only car and you frequently do longer trips would advice against it. If you have another car easily available this could be your everyday workhorse. And a great one too. Also over the years range will decrease but not dramatically.

I agree, in winter the range will go down and my guess would be 160km realistically (if you don´t intend to switch off the cabin heating ... funny idea in Finland :-D). Now our consumption is around 16kwh, but we really adjusted our driving habits. More sporty drive will definitely reflect in range. We are now able to get range for full charge slightly above 200km.

Our decision making process was including the second car, basically long range diesel, which we can use for long trips around Finland, towing trailer etc. Since I brought the car, we used the diesel once. I am Mazda fan, so take me with reserve. But I love MX-30.

 

[Royal]

Thank you, ill be playing around with this for a while .
Im actually curious of the thought process in the puchase you had. (sorry for hijacking your thread)
So lets say ill get past the issues I had in the last text. What was your process in the resale value part or did you guys worry about it at all?
Basically im thinking if i sell it away in 3-4 years. will the market be flushed of Evs running that 500km and this will be worth a cup coffee. And not he good one but
your euroshopper kind.

Went to the local reseller today to kick some tires. It does look funky now doesnt it

 

[JanC]

No worries about hijacking, it is public topic!

I did worry about the range, but then practical thinking won. First of all, how many times per week you drive more than 200km a day (160 in winter)? Second - is it good to spend 40.000 EUR+ and get electric car with 400km range (350 at best in winter)? Easy answer was NO. We had two diesel cars, and we decided to sell the better one (to get "cash back"), and just keep the other older car for long trips when needed once or maximum twice a month. So it was pretty simple that way.

Financially, we were thinking as I said above about getting best "cash back" from one car, and simply put the money into EV. Indeed I expect the difference between sales price of old and cost of new to be somewhere around 5000EUR (as per my calculations, it can pay back in 3 years though with lower operating cost..).

Resale value of the EV - I think we are in very good position, because we managed to find car really massively cheaper than new with exactly 15km on the counter. We were evaluating if we would sell in two years, or just keep it if we really like to live with it, because it will have the usage value. But that is undecided of course. And the question of the future markets - it is hard to predict, my guess is there will be high demand and lack of the EV´s on the market, but if we sell we would need the replacement anyway (and I may not be so lucky anymore with hard to believe price..).

 

[Royal]

A proper test drive tomorrow. Exiting

 

[VivaMazda]

Good luck with your test drive!

When it comes to economics there are a few basics to bear in mind:

1 Your financial situation. If we all had limitless resources many families would be buying a BMW iX right now. It looks great but will set you back 100 000 Euros, at least. Insurance will be pricey.

2 Cars will always be an expense and not an investment. And thats just the way it is.

3 If you drive a lot liking your car will make your daily grind a lot nicer. So buying something economical that you dont really like might end up making you miserable and ultimately
a waste of money.

And what about the MX-30?

Its very easy to like and yep it will make your commute and daily errands more enjoyable. Its downright cheap to insure. Service is cheap. Fuel is cheap in comparison to fossil cars.
This boils down to low costs of ownership. The gamble is second hand value. Mazdas tend to do OK in that respect though. It costs about a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a BMW ix for instance. The MX-30 is likelier to run without major problems than a brand new BMW. Weird but true.

So what I m trying to say here is while money obviously matters buying with your heart as well is money better spent. For me at least.

Maybe not for you?