Refuel less, more electric? Interesting used plugins up to €15,000

With its starting price of just under €22,000, the Dacia Spring is currently the least expensive electric car in the Netherlands, but we can well imagine that this small electric city rascal does not meet everyone’s wishes. Going on holiday with the four of you? Good luck. For electric B-segmenters such as the Opel Corsa Electric and Peugeot e-208 you already tap €35,000. Would you like to drive a car that you can fill up at the pump, but would you still like to be able to drive several tens of kilometers electrically? Then the plug-in hybrid is an interesting alternative, but that plug party doesn’t start for less than about 36 grand. Cars such as the MG E-HS, the Renault Captur (and until recently the Mégane Plug-in Hybrid), the Kia Ceed/XCeed and Mitsubishi ASX, together with the Mazda MX-30 R-EV, are virtually the only plug-ins that change hands for less than 40 grand. But what does the second-hand market have to offer if you start hunting for a plug-in hybrid with a budget of up to €15,000?

Still quite a bit! Plug-in hybrids, just like fully electrically powered cars, have been around for quite a few years now. We went looking for plug-in hybrids with 15,000 virtual euros in our pocket and found a nice selection of plug offers, some of which you might have forgotten.

Chevrolet Volt/Opel Ampera

Do you like to appear a bit stubborn? Then the Chevrolet Volt or Opel Ampera might be perfect for you. The strong drop-shaped duo came on the Dutch market in 2011, which means that the oldest copies are now about 12 years old. Time flies. About 1,100 copies of the Chevrolet Volt were delivered new in the Netherlands, and more than 5,000 of the Opel Ampera. It is therefore not surprising that we only find a small selection of Chevrolet Volts in our used car finder. The Volt adventure starts from just under €10,000 for a copy with more than 230,000 kilometers of experience. For a Volt with just over 100,000 kilometers of experience, you will have to pay around €11,000 to €13,000.

The Ampera range is a lot bigger. We find 35 copies in the used car offer on AutoWeek.nl. We find specimens with more than 300,000 kilometers of experience for prices under €8,000. Prefer an Ampera with less experience? No problem. Copies with just under 2 tons on the counter are available from about €9,000 and we find countless Opel Amperas with less than 150,000 kilometers of experience for prices of €12,000 to €13,000.

What the tech GM twins had to offer you new? A 150 hp plug-in hybrid powertrain with an 86 hp 1.4 petrol engine and a – in the later years – 16 kWh battery pack with which you could travel up to 80 kilometers electrically. On paper. Of course – as with the other plug-ins in this list – it is always the question of what is left of it.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

With the Outlander PHEV, Mitsubishi no longer knew where to look. Various dealerships rented extra space to temporarily accommodate the huge influx of Outlander PHEVs that were brought to the Netherlands. Mitsubishi sold no fewer than 8,000 units between 2013 and 2015. But as eagerly as the plug-in SUV was initially sold, it became so quiet around the model later. The tax benefits that once made the Outlander PHEV so attractive fell in line with the car’s success. Next year, a new Outlander PHEV will finally come to our country, but which can no longer match the enormous numbers of its predecessor in the Netherlands.

Mitsubishi has regularly given the Outlander PHEV technical updates over the years. From around €11,000 you step into a ten-year-old Outlander PHEV with just under two tons on the clock, although we find considerably more copies in our used car range that cost around 13 grand and have between 2 and 3 tons of experience to have. Outlanders PHEV up to €15,000 are almost always the earlier versions with a 203 hp plug-in hybrid powertrain that includes a 121 hp 2.0 four-cylinder. The 12 kWh battery in those Outlanders was good on paper for an electric range of up to about 50 kilometers.

Toyota Prius Plug In Hybrid

The new Toyota Prius is only available as a plug-in hybrid in the Netherlands. The previous generation Prius was available as a regular Hybrid and as a Plug-in Hybrid, but that was not even the first generation Prius that was available with two powertrains. The third generation Prius that was sold in the Netherlands between 2009 and 2016 also had a Plug-in Hybrid. Huge numbers have not been sold in our country, but if you look a bit, you can certainly find a couple in the price range of up to €15,000. The pluggable Prius party starts in the used car range at AutoWeek from just under 12 grand for a 2013 copy with about 225,000 kilometers on the clock. Those who are willing to pay a little more should also be able to find copies up to €15,000 with well under 2 tons on the counter. Just look at this or this one!

The third generation Prius had a 99 hp 1.8 as a Plug-in Hybrid and 82 hp of electric power, good for a system power of 136 hp. The modest 4.4 kWh battery was – new – good for a range of up to 25 kilometers.

Ford C-Max Energi

You may have completely forgotten about it, but Ford delivered a plug-in hybrid variant of the second generation C-Max in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2017: the Energi. At the time, it also supplied an electric variant of the Focus: the Focus Electric. The Ford C-Max Energi has a 137 hp 2.0 petrol engine and a 120 hp electric motor, together good for a system power of 185 hp. The 7.6 kWh battery was supposed to give the car an electric range of up to 44 kilometers when new. Plugging around in a second-hand C-Max Energi – which was not available as a larger Grand C-Max by the way – is possible from around €8,500. Then you drive a copy from 2015 with just under 300,000 kilometers on the clock. The offer is decent. For example, there are also enough copies with less than 150,000 kilometers on the counter for about 13 grand.

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron

When ‘e-tron’ at Audi was still the designation for a plug-in hybrid powertrain, the brand supplied a plug-in version of the previous generation Audi A3, among other things. The plug-in hybrid Audi A3 of the previous generation was, just like the current model, only available as a Sportback. Under the hood of the model delivered from 2014 is a 150 hp 1.4 turbo engine that, together with a 102 hp electric motor, gives the hatchback a system power of 204 hp. The 8.8 kWh battery pack – in new condition – should be good for a theoretical electric range of up to 50 kilometers.

In the AutoWeek used range we find A3’s Sportback e-tron from around €13,000. These are specimens with a 3-tonne experience. Those who pay something should also be able to find used A3s Sportback E-tron up to €15,000 with odometer readings of 200,000 or even just below.

Volkswagen Golf 1.4 GTE

Prefer the same powertrain as the A3 Sportback e-tron, but packaged less ‘premium’? Then you can start the hunt for sister model Volkswagen Golf. From 2014, Volkswagen supplied a plug-in hybrid version of it called GTE. That Golf GTE has the same plug-in hybrid hardware on board as its cousin from Ingolstadt. So here too a 204 hp powertrain, good for an electric range of up to 50 kilometers.

Used copies in the range on AutoWeek change hands from around €11,000-€12,000. Even for that money, these are specimens with two to three tons of experience. Used Golfs GTEs with less than 200,000 kilometers on the clock can be found for a little more.

Volvo V60 D6 Plug-in Hybrid/Twin Engine

They once drove past you in droves on the left – and sometimes right -: the plug-in hybrid versions of the previous generation Volvo V60, but by now most of the Netherlands have exchanged for other home countries. These V60s are also the only plug-ins with a diesel engine in this list. The Volvo V60 D6 Plug-in Hybrid – which was later renamed D6 Twin Engine -, like so many other plug flavors in this list, managed to attract the business driver with addition discount. The D6 treated its owner to a 215 hp 2.4 five-cylinder diesel and a 70 hp electric motor on the rear axle, good for a system power of 280 hp. The 11.2 kWh battery had to be good for a theoretical electric range of 50 kilometers. The V60 D6 Plug-in Hybrid/Twin Engine is by far the fastest rascal on this list. After all, you can accelerate to 100 km / h in 6.1 seconds. What about the D5 Twin Engine? It also had the five-cylinder diesel, although the power of that machine was reduced to 163 hp. The electric motor remained the same as that of the D6 Plug-in. The system power: 231 hp. Also more than enough of course.

In our used car range we find the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid from €6,900. Mind you, then you will get a copy with more than 500,000 on the clock. Just run in, or so you seem to have to say with a Volvo with a high mileage. Do you – understandably – feel better at a lower mileage? Can also. For amounts of up to around €10,000-11,000 we mainly find V60’s D6 Plug-in Hybrid with between two and three tons on the clock. Those who are willing to pay €13,000 or more should also be able to find D6s with about two tons of experience. We do not encounter Volvo’s V60 D5 Twin Engine.

Which plug-in hybrid would you consider and which not? Or does a plug-in seem like nothing at all to you? That is of course also possible. Do let us know in the comments!