Best EV Car – New Electric Car Reviews

ELECTRIC vs PETROL CAR – which is REALLY cheaper?? Mini vs Mini review | What Car?

Is an electric automobile REALLY more affordable than a fuel vehicle? We take the brand-new electrical and the brand-new fuel on a road trip to find out.

Save thousands on your next brand-new car with What Automobile? at

New videos are published to What Vehicle? each week. Don't miss out on a single one. Subscribe now:

Visit our website at

What Vehicle? is the UK's most significant car-buying brand name and has actually been assisting Britain's automobile buyers make buying choices for more than 40 years. Our tests are extensively regarded as the most relied on source of brand-new cars and truck recommendations.

This channel brings you trusted evaluations on all the new designs on the market, all the most recent first drives, reader evaluations, and great car-buying advice.

All reviews are available in full online at Whatcar.com – the UK's leading car-buying site, offering relied on reviews and data on every brand-new automobile. The site likewise offers advice on automobile leasing, new cars and truck offers and brand-new and used cars and trucks for sale.

Follow What Automobile? here:
LIKE What Vehicle? on Facebook:
FOLLOW What Car? on Twitter:

Check out our complete video catalog:

Posted

in

by

EVCarNew

Tags:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

74 responses to “ELECTRIC vs PETROL CAR – which is REALLY cheaper?? Mini vs Mini review | What Car?”

  1. @graemetaylor629 Avatar
    @graemetaylor629

    well good luck trying to sell these overpriced cars, £40000.00 for a mini ffs

    Reply
    1. @jrmaty Avatar
      @jrmaty

      Ikr. Kia EV3 is larger, better controls in the cabin, has a WLTP of 379 miles, and for the middle spec, costs less than the Mini…

      Many many more, cheaper, better options – the cost is the Mini badge tax, I guess

      Reply
    2. @da_great_mogul Avatar
      @da_great_mogul

      It’s not 1959 anymore.

      Reply
    3. @airjaff Avatar
      @airjaff

      ​@@da_great_mogul wake up 40k for a mini is a straight joke

      Reply
    4. @crumbschief5628 Avatar
      @crumbschief5628

      As they pointed out, there’s only £1,500 difference. If you charge at home at 7p only, they are the same price as the electricity is only £720 over 3 years.

      New cars are expensive now, and mini is more so

      Reply
    5. @JohnMccabe-kr7du Avatar
      @JohnMccabe-kr7du

      My sister just bought a 21 electric mini for 20,000 euro from BMW dealer.
      Seemed like good value to me

      Reply
  2. @garrycroft4215 Avatar
    @garrycroft4215

    If you only do 200 miles a day 73,000 a year or less then you will change at home for 8p kWh or 2p per mile and like me never use public charging.

    Reply
    1. @siraff4461 Avatar
      @siraff4461

      Thats not how people’s lives work though, is it? They do little mileage each day commuting and school runs, etc then a few large trips now and then for holidays/visiting family or whatever.

      Reply
    2. @garrycroft4215 Avatar
      @garrycroft4215

      @@siraff4461 true, making even more sense to go electric for the 48 weeks and then hire a large fossil burner for when you want to drag a caravan to Cornwall and back a couple of times a year 😹 this save having a Range Rover for 52 weeks to do the shopping & school run. Saves a fortune too.

      Reply
    3. @Pete_1986 Avatar
      @Pete_1986

      @garrycroft4215 all your savings will be lost to depreciation when you evebtually sell your electric vehicle.

      Reply
    4. @garrycroft4215 Avatar
      @garrycroft4215

      @@Pete_1986 there’s no chance of me ever selling my electric car.

      Reply
    5. @Pete_1986 Avatar
      @Pete_1986

      @@garrycroft4215 those batteries don’t last forever…

      Reply
  3. @xntrix Avatar
    @xntrix

    Having driven the new one, keeping my 2020 electric … must add, it’s my first ev and it’s more or less fantastic in every way – it costs peanuts to run, lets add, son just had a simple oil service in his Abarth and was relieved of 800 for the privilege the Mini had its last, let’s call it a service as Mini do … 48 was the bill 🎉🎉 think you are missing this vital piece of info … I had a mail shot from Mini regarding their petrol cars, offering what they called an amazing value offer, a service FROM 750 😱😱😱😱 My Mini is comprised as the all are, I do not go on Motorways ( or would have got a Tesla) but the build quality, driving fun, looks and costs are outstanding, it goes further than they say on a charge, I only charge at home, so hardly noticeable on my electric bill – this old style petrol or ev, me thinks will increase in value once you consider the new one is uglier, not as well made and the screen is just irritating 😊

    Reply
    1. @xntrix Avatar
      @xntrix

      PS 40000 in on my Mini, brakes look brand new, have ripped through front tyres if I am being honest 😂😂

      Reply
  4. @pixie706 Avatar
    @pixie706

    If we are all expected to use electric cars then something radical will need to be done about public charging starting now.
    We are not all priveledged to have home charging possible.

    Reply
    1. @85NickT Avatar
      @85NickT

      It’s not necessarily just a privilege issue, some of the most expensive property in most cities will be those Georgian terraces that are all over the UK. Those streets are often lined with £100k cars, but they don’t have off-road parking and you’re lucky if you can park within 100yds of your house most of the time. The policy of sticking the fingers in the ears and pretending not to notice that nearly 30% of UK homes can’t charge at home is questionable at best.

      Reply
    2. @crumbschief5628 Avatar
      @crumbschief5628

      We are not expected to all drive electric, whoever told you we are. But we expect all new car sales to be electric by 2030/35. That means there will still be a lot of petrol and diesel cars on the road until 2040-50.

      Now go read the national grid plans that we are ahead of schedule on. We are phased migration over the next 25 years.

      Reply
    3. @danharold3087 Avatar
      @danharold3087

      @@85NickT Not disagreeing but that still means 70% could be driving electric and charging inexpensively at home. Much more so with solar. In other words lets not get distracted by the minority case.

      Reply
    4. @benholroyd5221 Avatar
      @benholroyd5221

      ​@@crumbschief5628that’s slightly disingenuous. Yes we won’t all switch over in 2030/2035, but any individual looking to buy a new car, and increasingly be forced to.

      I’m not worried about grid infrastructure, electric demand has dropped over the past 10 years by a greater amount than evs are expected to add, so the infrastructure is already there.

      Re off street parking. Yes it’s not purely a wealth thing, but there is a strong correlation, and it does need addressing. EVs are reaching TCO parity, we shouldn’t be shutting poor people out of the cheaper transport option.

      Reply
    5. @sargfowler9603 Avatar
      @sargfowler9603

      @@85NickT It’s 44% BTW

      Reply
  5. @davidbraun2923 Avatar
    @davidbraun2923

    I think you need to buy a new calculator charging from home at night is a third of the price of during the day (because 7p is a third or 22.4p) so an overnight charge should be about £10.50 for the same 150KWh you used to get £33.63 during the daytime charge!

    Reply
    1. @ians3328 Avatar
      @ians3328

      Presume he was adding in the expensive top up too ?

      Reply
    2. @sargfowler9603 Avatar
      @sargfowler9603

      Tomato Energy is only 4.7p from 00:00 to 06:00

      Reply
    3. @siraff4461 Avatar
      @siraff4461

      Did you miss the bit where he said that was the top up? They would still have to use the public charger while out because it couldn’t make it back without.

      Reply
    4. @stevejewiss532 Avatar
      @stevejewiss532

      @@siraff4461 No, they stated that an overnight charge of 7.5 p would be 25 quid. They got it wrong, and even if you had to charge using public chargers you wouldn’t use the most expenaive chargers either, you’d use Tesla at 35 p

      Reply
    5. @siraff4461 Avatar
      @siraff4461

      @@stevejewiss532 No they didn’t. Again try listening to what they’re actually saying.

      Reply
  6. @spannerbracket Avatar
    @spannerbracket

    For those wondering, if you only charged on a 7p/kwh overnight tariff like Octopus Intelligent Go. 36,000 miles would cost £720. Bringing the final cost to £22,904. Which probably explains mini’s pricing strategy. They effectively cost the same. Electric mini is cheaper if you have access to solar.

    Reply
    1. @sargfowler9603 Avatar
      @sargfowler9603

      There’s depreciation to consider too. It all really depends on your personal circumstances and how far you need to go and how many miles you’ll cover in a year.
      For some people the savings are enormous and ownership of an EV will be easy if you charge at home.
      For others, the savings are negligible or even negative and it will be a pain to own.
      Best do your research before buying.

      Reply
    2. @chrisnewman6062 Avatar
      @chrisnewman6062

      @@sargfowler9603 Depreciation is from the purchase price too – not list price which a lot of comparisons miss out on – tending to focus on list price only vs what you can haggle out of the dealers

      Reply
    3. @richardstreet2104 Avatar
      @richardstreet2104

      The point that is never mentioned when they refer to 7p/kwh overnight charging tariff is the fact that peak rates, when you typically use electric for your house etc, is higher than the standard tariff. Therefore, if you offset the increased costs for the peak use charges your overnight rate is most probably nearer 15p/kwh

      Reply
    4. @djtaylorutube Avatar
      @djtaylorutube

      ​@@richardstreet2104It’s not a fact which is missed because it’s not universally true.

      Reply
    5. @tomholmes3411 Avatar
      @tomholmes3411

      ​@@richardstreet2104OVO charge anytime 7p/kw for my car and 20p/kw for the rest of the house

      Reply
  7. @Whatshisname346 Avatar
    @Whatshisname346

    ‘Now we’re going to do this completely fair comparison test by pick the most expensive charger we can possibly find and then pretending it’s the same for everyone all of the time’

    Reply
    1. @siraff4461 Avatar
      @siraff4461

      Like the most expensive petrol when the car could easily do the journey on a tank of the cheapest around?
      Amazing all these ev flag wavers missed that one.

      Reply
    2. @sargfowler9603 Avatar
      @sargfowler9603

      You see, that’s the difficult thing to work out. Everyone is different and what may be good for you will be bad for someone else. With ICE cars, you know what you’re getting and petrol costs are pretty much the same everywhere. Roll in an EV and you have either very cheap motoring or twice as expensive as petrol motoring. That’s what makes it difficult to work out.
      I feel sorry for the guys on WhatCar because they were bound to upset some people.

      Reply
    3. @steveknight878 Avatar
      @steveknight878

      @@siraff4461 They should have started with a full tank on the petrol, bought at their local garage or whatever, and a full charge on the EV. The petrol car would not need to be filled during the journey, but they should then fill it when they get back home. Similarly with the EV – full charge to start, one small top-up of about 40 miles during the journey, then charge up at home overnight. It would have been much cheaper with the EV.

      Reply
    4. @steveknight878 Avatar
      @steveknight878

      @@sargfowler9603 Um – how do you get ‘or twice as expensive’? It is actually fairly simple to work out. If you only charge on public chargers, even without using the cheaper ones, or membership ones, it will cost a similar amount for an EV or an ICE car. Charge at home, overnight, at least some of the time, and it will be very much cheaper with an EV.

      Reply
    5. @sargfowler9603 Avatar
      @sargfowler9603

      @@steveknight878 Public rapid chargers are 80p/kwh. To get 49 miles (assume 3.5miles per kwh) will take 14kw (14*80p) = £11.20 .
      An ICE vehicle will easily go 49 miles on a gallon of petrol. This will only cost £6.22 (4.54 * £1.37).
      You really, really need to charge an EV at home or for 40p/kwh or less otherwise an ICE may well be cheaper.

      Reply
  8. @paulleonard1296 Avatar
    @paulleonard1296

    Why didn’t you charge at the 35p destination chargers in the Bullring car park? Why didn’t you get a hotel with chargers?

    Why didn’t you factor in servicing costs?

    Why didn’t you compare lease deals?

    Such terrible journalism.

    Reply
    1. @Popdog76 Avatar
      @Popdog76

      Cos they are still biased and that would make the EV far better

      Reply
    2. @starvictory7079 Avatar
      @starvictory7079

      ​@@Popdog76Yes, very poor.

      Reply
    3. @lockonandfire Avatar
      @lockonandfire

      Surely the fact they didn’t/weren’t able to use the best options for charging is better, as that’s a more realistic scenario? Sometimes chargers aren’t working or aren’t available, and they’ll have to use whatever is around.

      They also did factor in servicing, a comparison which the EV handily won.

      Reply
    4. @siraff4461 Avatar
      @siraff4461

      Why did they use service station fuel when they could easily have done the journey on a tank of the cheapest? Why does anyone use expensive chargers ever?
      Maybe its because people don’t plan every journey like a military operation and in fairness shouldn’t need to to get a normal price.
      Servicing is included with new minis – or at least it has been for the three I’ve bought in the past so thats equal.
      Insurance certainly isn’t though. I have a lot of no claims and a very long driving history but was still quoted almost double for the electric. For me thats still not all that much – though its a bit cheeky – but I can imagine if someone already pays a high premium (say they live in London or whatever) then its likely to be quite the setback.

      Reply
    5. @sargfowler9603 Avatar
      @sargfowler9603

      @@paulleonard1296 So you have to plan ahead for EVs, can’t just turn up somewhere. Get a hotel that has chargers even if they cost more, cos you’ll save on petrol right? Servicing is needed for EVs too you know. Some people buy cars but I know you never, ever buy EVs because they go down more quickly than Starmers popularity.

      Reply
  9. @wayneoxborough351 Avatar
    @wayneoxborough351

    A more relevant test would be to compare the costs of charging at home 90% of the time and using it as a commuter car. People don’t buy minis for road trips in the real world.

    Reply
    1. @sargfowler9603 Avatar
      @sargfowler9603

      So true, most journeys are short distance charged from home (if you can). But longer journeys will be no cheaper than an ICE and probably more stressful.
      Most people want a car that can do both, it’s just another factor to consider.

      Reply
    2. @siraff4461 Avatar
      @siraff4461

      True but that also brings mileage down because most minis don’t do 12k per year.

      Reply
    3. @rui569 Avatar
      @rui569

      They did compare several use cases, including the case for home charging.

      Reply
    4. @jamesraisonx Avatar
      @jamesraisonx

      These guys always absolutely clueless on running costs of an EV lol. 36000 miles for the MAJORITY of EV owners will be approx (36,000 miles/3.5miles per kWh * 7.5p per kWh) + perhaps 60 quid a year in public charging= £771 + 3*60 = approx £950 over the 3 years. These guys declared approx 2100 or 2200 I believe? So over 100% out. And I feel like I’ve watched 3 or 4 of videos where they have tried to do example running cost calcs and every time there are miles out!

      Reply
    5. @alanwayte432 Avatar
      @alanwayte432

      @@jamesraisonxnumpty did you not listen, they are absolutely spot on, all that burger grease during your shift at McDonald’s is destroying your brain cell

      Reply
  10. @streetbeefy Avatar
    @streetbeefy

    Those costs are way off.
    7p /kwh on an overnight tariff in a 5 hour window with octopus would cost £3.50 and would put in roughly 35kw of energy into the battery. The useable battery capacity of that mini is 49.2 kwh.
    So where on earth do you get £25.03 for 7p/kwh charging from? That would equate to 357 kw of energy into the battery? Get your figures correct before coming out with more confusing costs for people and making more EV propaganda.

    Reply
    1. @RandomNoob Avatar
      @RandomNoob

      I do around 600-700 miles a month (average about 8000 a year), my charging costs are around £15 a month or £180 a year, this is on EDF Go Electric at 8.9p, something is definitely off with their calculations.

      Reply
    2. @waynesimpson2074 Avatar
      @waynesimpson2074

      As soon as I saw the costs on video at 29.30 I thought I’d go straight to the comments section here. This is a video by a major motoring journal organisation who specialize in practical motoring advice, how could the professional journalists and editorial staff not understand this basic error?
      I have an Ioniq, it does 5 Miles per KiloWatt Hour consistently, I charge at 7.5p per KwH overnight. If I went 250 miles I would use 50 KwH …so multiply that by 7.5 pence and I would have spent £3.75?
      My annual fuel bill in my ICE car was £2,500 , its now less than £250 for my EV. I have a dedicated credit card for fuel so I can keep track of myself, the card provider wanted to know why I had stopped using the card 🙂

      Reply
    3. @siraff4461 Avatar
      @siraff4461

      Watch it again and actually listen to what they’re saying this time.

      Reply
    4. @ridley68 Avatar
      @ridley68

      ​@@siraff4461 have done, what’s your point?

      If the mini does 3.5m/kWh and the journey is 279miles then the cost @7p/kWh is £5.50 not £25

      Reply
    5. @baznowhere1204 Avatar
      @baznowhere1204

      Well misleading on cost of charge. If he could have got home to charge he would have. He couldn’t because didnt have range so no choice but to pay rates charged by service station chargers. Notice how the figure for that wasnt published

      Reply
  11. @mikadavies660 Avatar
    @mikadavies660

    Whilst “mini” is not practical and it’s clearly overpriced… But Mini lovers will find this video very useful information. 👍

    Reply
  12. @crm114. Avatar
    @crm114.

    I’m fortunate enough to be able to charge at home and my EV can easily do 200 miles on a 90% charge even in Winter. So like most EV drivers who can charge at home, I do 95% of my charging at 7p per kWh which works out at less than £200 to travel 10,000 miles.

    Reply
    1. @ArslanAndArslan Avatar
      @ArslanAndArslan

      £200 for 10000 potential miles but your range is limited to a maximum distance of 100 miles from your house otherwise your costs skyrockets my friend 🚀

      Reply
    2. @solidus784 Avatar
      @solidus784

      ​@@ArslanAndArslan how often do you have to make a greater than 200 mile round trip in a day?

      Reply
  13. @jedoka Avatar
    @jedoka

    Why not do a test where you live with an EV for a week, charging at home on an overnight tariff – with a single longer trip included in the test. That is how most EV users would use their cars? Most people average around 20 miles a day to and from work with perhaps a longer trip (say 150 miles there and back) at the weekend to see family or go to an event.

    Reply
  14. @encodersofia Avatar
    @encodersofia

    30:22 Obvious conclusion: buy a several years used ev at the same price as used petrol car and continue with the lower running costs from there (if you have the means to charge at home)

    Reply
    1. @steveknight878 Avatar
      @steveknight878

      It is what I have done. 2nd hand 2021 Leaf n-connecta, it had done 12000 miles, battery in excellent condition, saves me a ton of money in fuel.

      Reply
  15. @admol73 Avatar
    @admol73

    A real world test and they do a road trip. Ridiculous from a channel that is meant to know their cars.

    Reply
  16. @stephenwensley9328 Avatar
    @stephenwensley9328

    How did they manage to get £25 for overnight charging at 7p on the electric Mini. You get 5 hours at 7p these days, or 35kWh at £2.45 which be 70% of the battery on the larger battery mini or 90% on the smaller battery and you aren’t going to be starting from 0 (or charging to 100% unless you have a road trip planned). Most EV drivers are going to charging on overnight AC 90% of the time. On those rates you’d be spending about £500 to fuel the Mini for 12k miles, whereas the petrol vs would be 5x that

    Reply
  17. @siraff4461 Avatar
    @siraff4461

    For crying out loud. Can you people about to type the same daft comment please watch and actually listen to the video before telling us all about 7p/kWh being the only price they should pay?
    One after the next all seemingly with ear muffs on after seeing the cost – which is completely legitimate given the use situation they were in.

    Reply
  18. @leebonesteak36 Avatar
    @leebonesteak36

    My wife bought the electric mini from new in 2021 and has just changed it to the new petrol mini in 2024.
    She sat into her new mini and saw the range of 680km and breathed a sigh if relief.
    She was hounded by range anxiety and couldn’t take it any more.
    We are based in Ireland and the range was absolutely shocking.
    She was told that the range was 250km which turned out to be 180km.
    We have a holiday home in Rosslare that is 168km from our house and it caused her no end of worry.
    She absolutely loves the styling of the mini and has had a Mini since 1991. 33 years!!!!
    (she is waiting for an electric VW Beetle to come around so she can switch to one of them for practicality.

    Reply
    1. @logant6490 Avatar
      @logant6490

      Why did she buy an ev with short range?

      Reply
    2. @GlassActivist Avatar
      @GlassActivist

      So she bought the wrong electric car for her needs? Also, this version is better than the previous.

      Reply
    3. @Malpriorvids Avatar
      @Malpriorvids

      ⁠​⁠​⁠@@logant6490she loves the styling of the Mini and has had them for 33 years! Try reading the post!!!!

      Reply
    4. @Malpriorvids Avatar
      @Malpriorvids

      @@GlassActivistshe didn’t buy the wrong EV for her needs, she bought an EV which no one needs.

      Reply
    5. @logant6490 Avatar
      @logant6490

      @@Malpriorvids styling is of little use if the car you buy leaves you riddled with range anxiety

      Reply
  19. @fasteddiegr Avatar
    @fasteddiegr

    Very well presented, as usual. I really appreciate the fact that you guys talk as if you are addresssing adults and don’t feel the need to switch into amateur comedic chatter, as some others do for some reason. Thanks

    Reply
  20. @MrSensible2 Avatar
    @MrSensible2

    You’ve made a good case NOT to buy a Mini regardless of how it’s powered!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *