Yes, the prices are crazy. Even webuy are offering a grand less than I paid for my car as a pre reg…and this is 2.9 years ago. So about a grand depreciation over 12.7k miles and nigh on 3 years!
I went from a 1.5 ND1 (Icon) to 2L ND2 (30AE). My only worry about buying the 30AE was that the ride would be too harsh to live with. I really needn’t have worried… It’s a bit firmer than the Icon’s (not much), but it’s also more controlled (Icon’s ride could be slightly jiggly). I mainly drive on B roads.
Regarding power difference, I love that the 1.5 enjoys a few revs! There’s a lot to be said for being able to thrash it without going warp speeds too!
Going to the 2L, 50bhp extra combined with more willingness to rev (unlike 2L ND1) obviously makes a big difference.
If I had never driven the 2L ND2 I’d have been quite happy to stick with the 1.5, but I don’t think I’d want to lose the 2L now though…
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As above you need to drive them back to back and then again I think. I have just got my first ND2 I went to the dealer convinced I wanted the 2.0. Drove it which was great, then jumped in their 1.5 and the smile was much bigger…!.. can’t explain why just yet. It seems so fit our bumpy repaired Kent roads better and you can use all of it. It is a little short overtaking but it does get there and sounds great doing it. Might change my mind after a few years of course.
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Good write ups guys, thanks.
If you find the 1.5 slightly underpowered then an engine remap to 153 bhp makes a big difference
Ok,
Looking now at weights, it seems my '18 2L Sel-Nav is now approximately 50kg (!) lighter than the current ND2 2L, and it’s even about 30kg lighter(!!) than the latest 1.5?
Is this more ‘eco’ gizmos like stop/start (which I can’t stand, even though you can turn off) and this i-e loop?
Would I drive and experience i-eloop and think ‘man, I’m so glad I got all this, it’s so worth the 30-50KG weight gain’?
The biggest weight handicap on my ND is me getting in it 
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I have i-eloop etc on my ND and to be truthful it seems to make little difference. The engine stop and restart when used makes no difference to the driving experience. It’s there to help stop pollution when engine running and stationary so that’s a good thing. However in nearly 3 years of ownership, it has saved me the equivalent of 24 Miles of petrol, about 3 litres of fuel. It will have reduced my pollution footprint by a tad, and every little helps.
Fun can be had, the engine had stopped and I was talking to a passer-by. When then conversation had ended, I carefully pushed the clutch in and said “Car, start the engine” whilst looking at the man. The engine fired up and he stood there with his mouth agape.
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Cheers,
So, to me, I’d find none of it worth the 50kg weight gain?
For me, I’m not interested/a fan in that and turn stop/starts off the second after I’ve started a car.
Again, for me, I’ve no interest in reducing any so-called ‘footprint’ or whatever it’s called this week.
Cheers again, good points.
I’m just trying to see how I could feasibly go from a 2L ND1 to ‘potentially’ an 1.5 ND2, if one of the advantages of the ‘old’ ND1 1.5 was it was lighter than the then 2L ND1. Now it’s 30 or so kg heavier.
Of course the ND2 2L is now 50kg heavier as well.
I’m trying to justify/look forward for a potential decision, but ‘footprints’ or whatever the PC word is these days has zero interest whatsoever to me.
I need someone to tell me i-eloop and i-stop will make me literally cry with anger that I haven’t got them, to make up for the 30-50kg weight gain!
Since I wrote this I have done approximately 800 miles around the South West of Scotland and my main takeaway was that the steering weight was bugging me more than the engine.
I’ve had an alignment done (different thread) to reduce the steering weight (pull the castor back a bit) and get everything else set to a known state and am currently happy with the car again. 
The factory weighting (steering) is different on the ND1 (1.5) to ND2(2L)? I guess there’s more weight over the nose. Thing is, the 1.5ND2 is now heavier than the 1.5ND2 (and even the 2LND1), so it might not be so different if you went 1.5 again, anyway? Well, if you went ND2 1.5 I mean