On April 1, the government’s Clean Car Discount kicked in for new BEVs, PHEVs and HEVs, but what about used? Of course, the rebate still applies to used cars for first-time-registered vehicles, up to $3450 for a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), so we thought we’d scour DRIVEN.co.nz to see what what we could find.
With a theoretical $25,000 in hand, a budget not made easy by the high global demand pushing up used car prices, we’ve each come up with a typical example or sample of what’s available to buy, in our preferred BEV, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) and Hybrid Electrified Vehicle (HEV) specs.
Dean: 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Mitsubishi’s Outlander and Eclipse Cross PHEV siblings are both super popular, but with half the budget, a five-year-old version is great value at half the price. This 2014 Premium Package version with 150,000km offers 4WD, a bodykit, heated seats and paddle shifts from an Evo X, power front seats, reversing camera, smart key and sunroof. And not just is it $24,950, but with a used PHEV Clean Car Discount of $2300, that’s a lot of SUV for $22,650.
View all Plug-in Hybrid listings on DRIVEN
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Other models are available of course, but to any rational thinker a budget used Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) means a Nissan Leaf and that’s that. Used-import Leafs account for most of New Zealand’s BEV fleet and that’s where you get the most choice.
The later models look a lot sharper than the jellymould original, especially in the right colour. I found this 2016 facelift 30X model with the upgraded 30kWh battery and factory Leaf G alloys, in white, for $22,990.
It’s fully loaded with everything from Lane Departure Warning to heated seats and it’s had a full English dash cluster conversion. It’s done just 42,000km and the current battery state of health is 79 per cent. It also gets a NZ-certified portable charging cable for home use, so you can’t go wrong – especially with a Clean Car Discount of $3450, making the “real” price $19,540. Less than $20k, and you never have to pay for petrol again.
View all pure EV listings on DRIVEN
When looking for a hybrid under $25,000, over 2000 listings met the criteria, but this little purple number caught my eye. This 2018 Toyota Aqua S has covered just 90,580km and looks fantastic sitting on those 18-inch wheels.
Though I can’t imagine that these big wheels do the fuel economy of 3.8l/100km any good, it’s still a very impressive figure that will mean a lot of savings at the pump. Optional extras are few and far between here, but I do enjoy the contrast between the big body kit and plain black interior.
It’s listed at $22,370, but a rebate of $1676 is available, meaning the bottom line will be $20,294.