Buying a car and paying for a full manufacturer warranty for a new for old battery replacement is most definitely a smart decision on an older EV. The battery is the most expensive component on any older EV and being able to get a brand new replacement for something that costs about £10k fitted by a main dealer for what is £50 a month makes a lot of sense as it greatly extends the life of the car and resale value for considerably less than the cost to yourself. If only you could get an actual full manufacturer warranty on an old 1l highly strung turbo, there is a reason they don’t offer them and its not lack of demand. And no, third party warranty aren’t worth the paper they are printed on for anything expensive once you are past the initial sale period.
You’ve completely ignored that assuming you can home charge (which roughly two thirds of the UK can do even before we get to on street charging using lampposts and the like) its going to be considerably cheaper to run. Current UK average petrol price is 151p per liter, assuming 60mpg (which is optimistic) that’s about £18.28 for 160 miles vs. £3.6 for the electric car. Its far more likely you’ll be getting nearer 50 unless hypermiling in optimal conditions, in which case you’d be using Eco mode in the Zoe and doing the same light touch you’d be getting 190 miles for that same £3.6. If you are doing any sort of miles then you are going to be saving thousands over the lifespan of the car, my son is saving enough that the monthly loan cost for his nearly new car (was six months old) works out as zero with the money he saves vs. a cheap petrol car he could have purchased for his £3k deposit and no loan. I know which is the considerably better and more reliable car of the two options.
Are you actually doing a regular commute more than 160 miles? As that’s going to be over 3 hours a day in the car, more like 4 with traffic. The amount of people that actually do that are tiny and they aren’t usually driving little 1l fiestas to so, they usually have already switched to electric as its a saving of hundreds per month in fuel and probably thousands per year in company car tax as they tend to be company cars due to the excessively high mileage. If you aren’t doing over 160 miles a day commute then the range is absolutely enough as you can charge each night if you really have to.
You can tell you’ve never actually driven an EV if you think your car is faster in real world driving, being faster to 60 from a standing start is pointless as it rapidly becomes about who will drive a higher top speed. Its 0 to 30 and in gear acceleration that is actually useful. No straight ICE can match an EV of the same bracket & price point for those performance stats as an EV has 100% instant full torque and no gear changes to worry about. Besides, I was thinking of the R135, which you can almost squeak into now.
I wouldn’t be buying anything other than an EV now, they are just better suited to modern driving. ICE cars and especially hybrids have gotten too complicated to be worthwhile long term purchases in order to meet the latest emissions standards. They are also ticking time bombs (outside high end collectables) for depreciation and costs.