Time for an end-of-term report for my S4 - which went back to the leasing company last week.
Total distance covered: 35,303 miles
Fuel used: 5427.49 L
Fuel cost: £6753.46
Fuel cost per mile: 19.1p
Worst economy over a tank: 21.5 mpg
Best economy over a tank: 32.87 mpg
Longest range: 394 miles
Biggest fill-up: 55.49L
Average economy: 29.62 mpg
The majority of my miles are at 70mph or a tiny bit more, officer on a 100 mile daily commute.
Tyres: 3.
One rear replaced after 1 month - 2000 miles - (pothole puncture) £186
One front replaced at 15000 miles (pothole puncture...) £226.74
Other front replaced at 18108 miles at service (near legal limit) £198.60
At hand back, fronts 75% worn, rears 90% worn
Note: in the 3000 miles when I had one front on 80% worn and the other new, there was what I thought to be a slight imbalance, but was probably the diff complaining - sorry car! After the other front was replaced, it was all smooth again.
Service: One at 18108 miles. £476.21 (plus the tyre mentioned above) Nothing else done.
Front pads were 50% worn at 18k miles (so probably 35% worn really) so would have been tired by the time I gave the car back.
Next service was due in 1200 miles when I handed the car back
Original lease cost £12,633.60 for 20,000 miles
I bought an extra 12000 miles when I had done about 26000 miles and negotiated a rate of 9.97pence per mile (£1196.36)
Excess mileage 3252 at contracted rate of 15.58ppm (£506.53)
Chargeable repairs: Refurb one alloy wheel - £36.
So total cost over term for lease, fuel, tyres and servicing: £22213.50, or 62.9p per mile
The asked if I wanted a purchase price at the end of lease, and they offered £30,350, which I actually think was pretty fair.
Faults: Rear washer nozzle packed up at about 30,000 miles - didn't bother getting it fixed.
What was good:
The performance
The noise
Nothing fell off
LED lights
Virtual Cockpit
What was not so good
#1 without a doubt is the gearbox - you can excuse it if you are a fanatic, but there were lots of occasions where it just didn't respond at all how I'd have liked in either Drive or Sport auto mode - sometimes a bit dangerous. Realistically I probably drove the majority of the time with the gearstick popped to the left and used the paddles. More predictable and a bit more engaging.
There were two Google Earth outages for a number of days
The wheels were a pain in the **** to clean. On the bright side I had my house refurbed last year and had an outside hot tap put in (ostensibly for dog washing) but I found that a hot water jet wash got them cleaned up pretty well
I'll add more as I remember it...