That all changed when my trusty Ford Ka, which I’d had for 13 years, spectacularly failed when faults costing far more than the car was worth were uncovered during a nightmare MOT. When I looked around for a replacement, I quickly discovered the options were far more limited than when I last bought some wheels over a decade earlier. Back then, you could quite easily pick up a new or nearly new small car for under £10,000.
Read more: The new Chinese EV named 2026’s ‘best value car’ – £20k cheaper than a Tesla
As well as the Ka, there were models like the Toyota Aygo, Hyundai i10, Fiat 500, Vauxhall Corsa and others.
Now it doesn’t seem like manufacturers build cheap, small cars anymore. Even popular hatchbacks like the Ford Focus are gone.
I looked at buying a used car, but I’m no Mike Brewer and I feared buying something that looked good on paper but would’ve had costly or unsafe faults under the hood.
I didn’t like the idea of shelling out £20,000 on a new car, but then I happened across a deal for the BYD Dolphin Surf, launched by the Chinese carmaker last year.
I went for a test drive at my local dealership in Croydon and was impressed by how smoothly it drove, the neat, simple layout of the interior, and its angular looks – the designer is ex-Lamborghini.
The deal offered to me, which now looks to have changed to new buyers, was interesting – a deposit of just £189, with a monthly charge of £189 for four years after that at 0% interest.
The car’s five-star Euro NCAP safety rating and an eight-year warranty gave added reassurance, and it was a relief not to have to pay thousands of pounds all in one go.
A retailer discount sweetened the deal, so I went ahead and am pleased with the car, especially having used such an old motor for so long.
Cars have changed dramatically in the past decade, and it feels like stepping into a different era.
That said, despite researching the pros and cons thoroughly before driving it off the forecourt, there are a few things about electric cars I didn’t fully appreciate and wish I’d known in advance.
Whether they would’ve stopped me buying the car, which now costs £21,677.25, I don’t know. But they’re worth bearing in mind if you’re thinking of going green.
With a 43.2kW battery, BYD quotes a range of about 200 miles for the Dolphin Surf Boost model, but I always realised that was likely to be a best-case scenario.
What Car? magazine quoted a real-world range of about 165 miles, and I’d say that’s about accurate – but you have to drive efficiently and not floor it to 70mph on the motorway.
Weather conditions such as the cold and the wind can affect the distance you’ll get on a charge, and BYD’s own online range calculator shows that using the air conditioning will knock about 10 miles off the total.
What perhaps is less understood is that, to help preserve the battery’s long life, it’s best not to charge it to 100% every time, although it doesn’t matter if you do this occasionally.
It’s also better not to let it drop below 20% too often, as this can put extra strain on the power unit.
So while you can charge it up fully for longer journeys, most of the time you’ll want to plug it in every 100 miles or so to stick between 80% and 20% ideal.
For me, that’s absolutely fine. But if you’re driving long distance or your daily commute is over 50 miles, it might not be for you.
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Charging need not be complicated. If you can power up at home, it’s easy just to plug in and keep your battery full.
But I’ve found public chargers very hit and miss.
Some are brilliant – the ones at BP and Shell petrol stations, for example, are very easy to use and no different to using a standard pay at the pump. You just tap your bank card and immediately start charging.
But elsewhere I’ve had some maddening experiences that would be all the more nerve-wracking if low on power and desperately in need of electricity.
Zapmap is a great resource for showing you where every charging point is, but sometimes you’ll discover the one you’ve driven to is only for taxis.
Some just plain don’t work, whereas others are so poorly positioned the charging cable does not reach the car.
I considered using some in Poplar, near to where I work in Canary Wharf, but the parking bays are mind-bogglingly not designated for electric charging. It means petrol cars, parked totally legally, block the access.
One place I went to had eight charging stations, but only four parking bays. I’d love to meet the bright spark (pardon the pun) who thought that was a good idea.
The availability of public charging has massively improved over the past 10 years and is getting better all the time. But it’s best to find reliable places you can trust, because the worst thing is to find a station that doesn’t work when you’re low on power.
Typically, just weeks after getting the car, Chancellor Rachel Reeves slapped a 3p-per-mile road tax on electric vehicles in her November Budget.
The levy isn’t due to come in until 2028, and at the short distances I do, it should only set me back a couple of hundred pounds a year.
But it is annoying and if I were doing high mileage, it would definitely make me think twice about going electric.
Labour seems to have performed U-turns on so much since it was elected, so we’ll have to wait and see whether this actually happens.
There are a lot of questions to be answered – the Government hasn’t clarified what will happen about people who drive some miles abroad, for example.
But while I admit I’m biased, it does seem odd to put a tax on EVs at the very time the Government is trying to encourage people to go green.
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