Maybe we need to spend TENS of thousands of dollars...
We've been unhappy with our SUV for a while. It gets bad gas mileage, and so we avoid driving it. But, this is bad for cars. So mile-for-mile, it has a huge maintenance bill, and it often leaves you in the lurch. It left me in the lurch recently because its battery was dead, probably because I didn't shut the door fully the night before (it is ridiculous that this happens. It's a hybrid; there are gazillions of watt-hours in the traction pack. It is also ridiculous that it gets bad gas mileage.)
We have 3 cars and 3 drivers, soon to be 4 drivers. On a typical day, we currently use 2 cars, sometimes only 1. On a typical day for the next year, we'll probably use all 3 much more often, because Jocelyn will probably drive and park at the train station. So the SUV will get used a lot. Unless we replace it with something different.
Then, the following year, we'll go back to our previous typical usage. What we use the SUV for is:
* Being the 3rd car, mostly in bad weather if Ken doesn't want to bike.
* Having AWD in really bad weather.
* Being the 2nd car that can go a long distance (the Leaf is getting elderly and its range is down to about 50 miles, less in winter)
* Having a roof rack to carry junk (though we do have a roof rack for the Prius.)
* Having a larger cargo area (though the Prius, being a V, has a pretty large cargo area.)
* Towing our small boats and utility trailer.
* Seating 7 (though the jumper seats are really small.)
Desiderata:
* Good gas mileage. We'd prefer a plug-in option (hybrid or all-electric), so the train station trip isn't doing the worst thing for the car (driving it while cold, not far enough to warm up).
* 4WD/AWD
* Towing, though we could violate Toyota's recommendations for the Prius, put a hitch on it, and rent a truck on those biannual powerboat repair trips (the launch ramp is only a mile away, but the shop is like 25).
* Ability to throw my recumbent bicycle in the back without needing a rack, preferably without partial disassembly.
If we get a plug-in hybrid, we'd want to make sure it wasn't stupid in winter. A lot of the plug-in hybrids have the idea that the engine should be warm when you need it -- so they run it when you DON'T need it, just to warm up. This is really noticeable in a plug-in Prius. At 20 degrees, it starts the engine at about 20mph. In summer, it starts the engine at about 60mph. Or when you run out of battery. Which would make the train station trip exactly wrong in winter. I think it should ALWAYS only start when you run out of battery, which might be sooner in winter. Ken says the nice thing about all-electric cars is they don't have an engine to start so they can't do this stupidity.
So there's not anything available that really fits the bill. There's the Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid mini-van - 7 passengers, likely big enough for bikes, but maybe not so great mileage after you're done with electric range, and no AWD. The Subaru Crosstrek plug-in hybrid, which has AWD but gets lousy mpg after initial 17 mile electric range.
And the Tesla Model S. It comes in a 4WD model. It's been around long enough to have a used market. A used Model S costs only somewhat more than a new base model 3. We'd already ruled out the 3 due to the cargo area. Pack on the options we want (4WD in particular) and it raises the used S price more, up to the price of the 3 with all the bells and whistles. But still. It's doable. Their used car sales model is a little funky, you don't test drive the actual car you're going to get, which is kind of strange. Like the Prius, the S can be fitted with a hitch intended for a bike rack, but usable (against manufacturer's advice) to tow. It would be hilarious to show up at the brush dump in a Tesla.
We're thinking about it. We had a test drive Monday of a new S. I'm kind of jonesing for adaptive cruise control.
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We have 3 cars and 3 drivers, soon to be 4 drivers. On a typical day, we currently use 2 cars, sometimes only 1. On a typical day for the next year, we'll probably use all 3 much more often, because Jocelyn will probably drive and park at the train station. So the SUV will get used a lot. Unless we replace it with something different.
Then, the following year, we'll go back to our previous typical usage. What we use the SUV for is:
* Being the 3rd car, mostly in bad weather if Ken doesn't want to bike.
* Having AWD in really bad weather.
* Being the 2nd car that can go a long distance (the Leaf is getting elderly and its range is down to about 50 miles, less in winter)
* Having a roof rack to carry junk (though we do have a roof rack for the Prius.)
* Having a larger cargo area (though the Prius, being a V, has a pretty large cargo area.)
* Towing our small boats and utility trailer.
* Seating 7 (though the jumper seats are really small.)
Desiderata:
* Good gas mileage. We'd prefer a plug-in option (hybrid or all-electric), so the train station trip isn't doing the worst thing for the car (driving it while cold, not far enough to warm up).
* 4WD/AWD
* Towing, though we could violate Toyota's recommendations for the Prius, put a hitch on it, and rent a truck on those biannual powerboat repair trips (the launch ramp is only a mile away, but the shop is like 25).
* Ability to throw my recumbent bicycle in the back without needing a rack, preferably without partial disassembly.
If we get a plug-in hybrid, we'd want to make sure it wasn't stupid in winter. A lot of the plug-in hybrids have the idea that the engine should be warm when you need it -- so they run it when you DON'T need it, just to warm up. This is really noticeable in a plug-in Prius. At 20 degrees, it starts the engine at about 20mph. In summer, it starts the engine at about 60mph. Or when you run out of battery. Which would make the train station trip exactly wrong in winter. I think it should ALWAYS only start when you run out of battery, which might be sooner in winter. Ken says the nice thing about all-electric cars is they don't have an engine to start so they can't do this stupidity.
So there's not anything available that really fits the bill. There's the Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid mini-van - 7 passengers, likely big enough for bikes, but maybe not so great mileage after you're done with electric range, and no AWD. The Subaru Crosstrek plug-in hybrid, which has AWD but gets lousy mpg after initial 17 mile electric range.
And the Tesla Model S. It comes in a 4WD model. It's been around long enough to have a used market. A used Model S costs only somewhat more than a new base model 3. We'd already ruled out the 3 due to the cargo area. Pack on the options we want (4WD in particular) and it raises the used S price more, up to the price of the 3 with all the bells and whistles. But still. It's doable. Their used car sales model is a little funky, you don't test drive the actual car you're going to get, which is kind of strange. Like the Prius, the S can be fitted with a hitch intended for a bike rack, but usable (against manufacturer's advice) to tow. It would be hilarious to show up at the brush dump in a Tesla.
We're thinking about it. We had a test drive Monday of a new S. I'm kind of jonesing for adaptive cruise control.
This entry was originally posted at https://nosrednayduj.dreamwidth.org/52729.html. Please comment there using OpenID.