Electric Vehicles: General topics

I think of the two hands off system Supercruise is the only one to not have rear ended stopped vehicles in it's lane.
Every weekday morning i drive down deer creek road, then down arastradero, then down Hannover. I pass a zillion tesla R&D buildings and every car on the road is a tesla, mostly employees. Some with manufacturer plates. They all seem to be driving with their own hands and feet (becomes apparent when I am alongside them and they are making a right angle turn). They don’t eat their own dogfood.
 
I was. Sirt of a mishmash there - some of them are not designed from the ground-up as electric, and have compromises (like insufficient interior space). Some are nice. I’ll probably go cheaper next time, though, I think. Honestly, it just amuses me every time I use Elon’s superchargers for free or I get a text message or phone call from Tesla begging me to buy a new car, and my tesla is still chugging along, so I’ll probably wait until the battery dies or something.
Agreed, this is a pretty accurate assessment IMO. I drove BMWs for years before getting my Tesla and one thing I have to give them is that their controls, mostly tactile of course, are fantastic and intuitive to use. Of course they are a car manufacturer whose been at it for over a hundred years so this makes sense. In a lot of ways the Tesla touchscreen interface is clunky and nonsensical, maybe as you would expect for a new car maker who's essentially built a car around a battery and a new proprietary OS.
 
Agreed, this is a pretty accurate assessment IMO. I drove BMWs for years before getting my Tesla and one thing I have to give them is that their controls, mostly tactile of course, are fantastic and intuitive to use. Of course they are a car manufacturer whose been at it for over a hundred years so this makes sense. In a lot of ways the Tesla touchscreen interface is clunky and nonsensical, maybe as you would expect for a new car maker who's essentially built a car around a battery and a new proprietary OS.
Yeah, but the crazy thing is that the tesla controls used to be quite good! (Though, of course, the steering wheel and buttons and stalks were sourced from Mercedes back then, I believe). My tesla is very comfortable to drive - i can even signal for a left turn without looking at my steering wheel! :-). Even the center console screen interface used to be much better, before a stream of increasingly shitty updates.
 
Yeah, but the crazy thing is that the tesla controls used to be quite good! (Though, of course, the steering wheel and buttons and stalks were sourced from Mercedes back then, I believe). My tesla is very comfortable to drive - i can even signal for a left turn without looking at my steering wheel! :). Even the center console screen interface used to be much better, before a stream of increasingly shitty updates.
I'll give you that, it's nice and comfy (even my little model 3) and most of the basics are ease to use. However, IMO it can't compare to iDrive in the BMW, that is beautifully simple and intuitive when it comes to navigating through everything, most notably because you never have to take your eyes off of the road to use it, that will never be the case with a dynamic touchscreen. Tesla has crippled that now, if you use either FSD or AP and take your eyes off the road, even for a glimpse either to the glove compartment or your phone, for example, it will ding you with alarms and disengage. Apparently, they feel you're better of swerving around in your lane while you take 5 seconds to reach for something instead.
 
I'll give you that, it's nice and comfy (even my little model 3) and most of the basics are ease to use. However, IMO it can't compare to iDrive in the BMW, that is beautifully simple and intuitive when it comes to navigating through everything, most notably because you never have to take your eyes off of the road to use it, that will never be the case with a dynamic touchscreen. Tesla has crippled that now, if you use either FSD or AP and take your eyes off the road, even for a glimpse either to the glove compartment or your phone, for example, it will ding you with alarms and disengage. Apparently, they feel you're better of swerving around in your lane while you take 5 seconds to reach for something instead.
Yeah, we’ve had an X5 and currently an x3, and Idrive is nice. Tried it on the new electric 5-sized SUV (i5? I forget the name), and it’s gotten a little strange :-). Much more powerful than it used to be, but there’s a lot of horizontal scrolling stuff going on now. Still better than having to reach for the screen - 90% of the time, when i try to switch radio settings, the screen thinks i pressed the wrong button in my tesla
 
Yeah, we’ve had an X5 and currently an x3, and Idrive is nice. Tried it on the new electric 5-sized SUV (i5? I forget the name), and it’s gotten a little strange :). Much more powerful than it used to be, but there’s a lot of horizontal scrolling stuff going on now. Still better than having to reach for the screen - 90% of the time, when i try to switch radio settings, the screen thinks i pressed the wrong button in my tesla
Particularly hard if you have shaky fingers, everything feels like a moving target and I have to peck at it several times sometimes.
 
Every weekday morning i drive down deer creek road, then down arastradero, then down Hannover. I pass a zillion tesla R&D buildings and every car on the road is a tesla, mostly employees. Some with manufacturer plates. They all seem to be driving with their own hands and feet (becomes apparent when I am alongside them and they are making a right angle turn). They don’t eat their own dogfood.
Yeah, I was more referencing the recent NTSB investigation that found the Ford Mach-E that killed a CRV owner was using Bluecruise.


Though it isn't absolving Tesla for their poor marketing with relation to AP/FSD.
 
So I finally but the bullet and bought a new car. CPO 2023 Volvo XC60 B6 AWD Ultimate Dark. For 2024 they dropped the more powerful B6 which is what I preferred, the mild hybrid version of the previous T6 engine. Am I asking for trouble now with a mild hybrid with a supercharged and turbocharged engine… maybe?

Denim Blue over Charcoal leather. I don’t usually like blue cars, but Denim blue is gorgeous. The “Dark” trim has the black grill and such which I think looks more modern than the standard chrome.

As an Ultimate it’s loaded- 360° cam, HUD, pano roof, upgraded seats and dash, real wood trim, all the modern safety stuff, Volvo’s new Google-based infotainment.

I’m picking up this weekend. I think I’m going to add the OEM load bars. I’m a little concerned about its 21”’wheels in driving on Boston’s pot hole riddled roads… I might pick up a pair of 20’s at least for the winter. At they are not the 22” wheel option- I think those would get wrecked quickly.

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So I finally but the bullet and bought a new car. CPO 2023 Volvo XC60 B6 AWD Ultimate Dark. For 2024 they dropped the more powerful B6 which is what I preferred, the mild hybrid version of the previous T6 engine. Am I asking for trouble now with a mild hybrid with a supercharged and turbocharged engine… maybe?

Denim Blue over Charcoal leather. I don’t usually like blue cars, but Denim blue is gorgeous. The “Dark” trim has the black grill and such which I think looks more modern than the standard chrome.

As an Ultimate it’s loaded- 360° cam, HUD, pano roof, upgraded seats and dash, real wood trim, all the modern safety stuff, Volvo’s new Google-based infotainment.

I’m picking up this weekend. I think I’m going to add the OEM load bars. I’m a little concerned about its 21”’wheels in driving on Boston’s pot hole riddled roads… I might pick up a pair of 20’s at least for the winter. At they are not the 22” wheel option- I think those would get wrecked quickly.

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Congratulations, looks like a nice rig!
 
I have been driving Mom's Prius lately. It is an '02 (first year she could get one) with 53K on it, and it moves pretty decently. There are times when I think it probably should be using electric but it prefers to be using the gas motor – the electric should have been a stronger motor, I think. EPA spec rates it at 41mpg highway, but I have consistently been getting over 50, probably because I prefer not to use the freeway.

Then, the other day, I went somewhere in the trusty old Focus (which is a couple years younger but more driven), and that thing got all picquish from sitting a lot and wanted no prisoners. I never thought of the Focus as a sports car, but it sure acted like one.
 
CPO's are all I will look at for the wife and offspring. The warranty is just too good to pass up.

Yeah, with rare exception buying brand new is very hard to justify given the value of CPO. Lettering someone else take the initial depreciation hit while also getting a longer warranty, in some cases significantly longer.

Volvo’s current CPO warranty isn’t as good as it once was- an extends the the original 4yr/50k to 5yr/unlimited. This is a mild hybrid so those components are 8yr/100k. When we bought my wife’s CPO S60 I believe it was 7yr/100k.

It’s funny because one of the Boston area dealers had a “New” 2023 XC60 that was actually a loaner/demo with 6,000 miles. Not exactly “new” in my book but they can say that since it was never registered. They were asking $63k which was the MSRP in 2013. I asked for real price and they came back with $56,000 and then tried to shame me into being ungrateful for their generous offer. I sent them CPO listing with the same trim and options and similar mileage being listed around $50,0000. The salesperson tried to justify a $6000 difference by saying their car had 1000 less miles. For $56,000 I probably could probably get a new 2024 after negotiations.

The dealer I ended up working with was great. I think I negotiated a very good deal for myself. Having shopped around for some time and having records of past listing’s definitely helped.

I would have preferred the dark brown leather but I can’t be too picky buying CPO. I also would have liked the air suspension option but that’s a very rare option (I’ve seen 1 in the last couple months of looking) and in terms of long term ownership probably for the best not to have. Any car with it is 100% going to have problems at some point and it’s never cheap to fix.

I’d like to replace my wife’s car which is a 2013 S60 T6 AWD. It’s been a great car and doesn’t even have 100k but I’d like to have a car with modern amenities and safety systems (blind spot monitoring is basically it’s only modern safety tech). I tried to get her a new car a couple years ago but she’s not really a car person and thought it unnecessary to replace a perfectly good car.

We’re planning on hopefully starting a family in the near future so I do want to replace the S60. I really do like the new S60 but my wife will likely need something bigger. She might actually end up taking the XC60 but that might be too small too. Everyone I know with a kid though usually quickly finds their small SUV (ie X3, Rav4, Q5) too small for their first child and all the stuff they need to lug around.

Our friends were visiting us from out of town and had a rental Mazda CX-90. I’ve got to say, the products Mazda has been putting out lately are quite impressive. I think it competes better with premium vehicles like the MDX and XC90 than mainstream options like a Highlander or Pilot. But it has an inline 6 with RWD based AWD and surprisingly good handling which makes it feel more like a BMW SUV than the family hauler it is.

Back in college when my wife, at the time GF, had a Prius she would drive her parent’s 2002 Land Cruiser in the winter. She loved that thing. Maybe she’ll be interested in the new Land Cruiser / Lexus GX. I just think it’ll be a years before you can buy one without being on a waiting list and paying some crazy dealer markup.
 
General question, has anyone ever rented an EV in Europe? There seems to be a few options to rent an EV vehicle, and they have a pretty substantial charging network, but I am still hesitant as some of the trips will exceed the range of the vehicle. Also I have never heard of some of the brands they have available to rent, but the little bit of googling I did seem to indicate they are good vehicles.

I am sure that the European's are a few years ahead of us, but I am still just that much more skeptical of renting one in a foreign country. One interesting note was they don't require you to return it with a full charge, except in Sweden where you are required to bring it back with a 80% charged battery.
 
My cousin has been studiously looking at EVs, so I looked over what there was out there and came up with the one that I think is what I would get: the Nissan Ariya looks like a decent value with good range for the price (the 2024 Venture+ claims a bit 300 miles). Mostly I look at the cockpit, as that is what I would be in my face, and it looked most appealing, especially with its analog-format gauges. So I went down to a dealer to look at one in person.

I have a '04 Focus and have also been using a '02 Prius lately. Sitting in the Ariya, I swear, that thing feels enormous inside. Would take a bit of getting used to. There were no sales people about – probably occupied with others – so I was only able to just look it over.
 
What do you guys think of the scout trucks?

Posted about it in the Tesla thread, though it (and really all my recent car posts) should be here. :p

At any rate, yes, fantastic, did this:

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Though we also did this :D

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So we'll see.
 
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