Rented a Chevy Bolt in Vegas and it was incredibly fun to drive. My father has problems getting in and out of cars that are low to the ground, so I can’t get one while he’s alive, but I’d consider a crossover that has a similar feel if I were in the market for a new car.
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Any EV will be fun to drive. It’s a totally different experience. My mom got a Bolt EUV this year and loves it. It is more of a crossover, larger than the Bolt, and likely the best value EV on the market currently. May be worth looking into.
Ideally, I’d be looking for a new car at least three years out, so plenty of time for them to get the second generation Bolt out there.
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I love EVs and am a huge advocate, and it infuriates me daily seeing the anti-EV propaganda washing thru the media, BUT…
If you can wait 3 years, do it. The EV/ICE trade-off is marginal right now. In 3 years, it won’t be marginal.
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Costco Auto program and True Car are basically the same I think. I’ve used both. It’s still somewhat of a pain in the ass and you still have to go to the dealership to pick up and deal with their finance people attempting shenanigans, but it is much better than emailing a bunch of dealers and trying to play them off each other to get the best possible price unless you’re the kind of person who likes that kind of thing.
I agree with this. If you need a new car now then there are plenty of good EV options, but it’s only going to keep improving exponentially going forward. Also should have a much better non-tesla fast charging infrastructure in a few years, and a lot of manufacturers will have transitioned to NACS plugs by then.
I will say to anyone considering an EV, having the ability to charge at home or work is almost a must. The convenience of leaving home with a full “tank” every day or every few days can’t be understated, and is generally much cheaper than charging at a public charger.
I’ll be driving ICE for the foreseeable future because I can’t imagine getting permission from my landlord to set up charging equipment, even if it’s just an extension cord.
I checked one website which gave me an estimate of 25 hours of driving and 40 hours total including charging for a drive to Las Vegas in a Bolt. It was 33 hours in a recent model Tesla. Ideally, I would want an EV that can do that in under 30.
Definitely one downside of the current generation bolts is their charging speed caps at 50kw, as opposed to 250kw+ that Tesla and others reach. Makes it less ideal for long trips for sure.
If you have a garage it can’t hurt to ask or offer to go 50/50. Eventually, it will become a feature that keeps people out of the unit if the rental market is ever in the renter’s favor again…
Do not have a garage. Would need to run cord across a common driveway to get to my spot and that’s if she’s feeling generous about giving me the electricity.
Yeah, that’s a different story, they’d have to start creating reserved spots and installing outlets, that’s going to expensive.
I’m driving my mom’s car this week while she is out of town, it’s a 2020 Honda crv, and I really hate how new cars are basically impossible to drive without practice. The amount of beeps and warnings I get is really distracting. Even using a backup camera is hard if you’re not used to it. An automatic lift gate is a pain in the ass if you don’t actually need it.
I have rented a few cars recently that had stuff that felt out of left field. Like, a shifter that’s a knob that you turn. This used to be America.
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I’m definitely skeptical of manufacturers overcomplicating cars, especially when putting important features on the infotainment screen, like HVAC controls. I had to take a load of trash to the dump recently. Pulled my truck in, shut it off, emptied it in about 2 minutes. When I restarted it the infotainment screen said “radio is updating, please don’t drive vehicle until complete.” Well fuck you I can’t exactly stay here. I drove almost 15 minutes home with no radio or ability to change heater/defrost settings. Not cool. Not to mention the occasional drives where the thing just exhibits various glitches.
Many cars already have the capability to perform updates to the radio over the air like that. Some can update things like engine controller that way, or will be able to in the very near future. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, all those emissions recalls that just require a dealer to plug a computer in and push button, then bill $50 to $100 for will be a thing of the past. It can just be done overnight. But on the other hand it’s another level of complexity and point of failure pushed down to the customer.
There are certainly better safety features now because of technology, but the big tech thing that definitely makes cars WAY less safe than they used to be is everything being put on a screen. Not only is there just more stuff to distract you from the road, but you can’t manage controls by feel anymore. I’m just thankful I have basic radio controls on the steering wheel (and I have a ten-year-old car, so there’s not much on the screen compared to new cars - it’s really just radio).
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With some cars it feels like they flipped a coin to see what goes where. On my wife’s CRV the temperature is a regular dial, the fan control is physical up/down buttons, then there’s a physical “climate” button that brings up the head/foot/defroster/AC options on the touch screen. Yuck.
Newer hondas have a default feature now to turn off the engine everytime you come to a stop. very annoying.
That’s got to hurt the 0-60 time
A lot of new cars have that feature. It can usually get you another 1MPG city on fuel economy tests. Generally customers fucking HATE it. Your heater and AC don’t work right with the engine off, and there’s a noticeable delay and start flare when restarting the engine.
There’s usually a button to turn it off, but it only stays off for that key cycle. The reason for that is that regulations exist around alternative drive modes (like how some cars might have a sport mode, or eco mode button). Emissions certification only gets done in alternate modes if they retain their settings after key cycles. So there’s an incentive to always have those modes reset to default on the key cycle.
Ram and Jeep vehicle have their E-Torque vehicles, which is basically a 48V motor attached to the engine, and its primary purpose is to allow for a smoother restart of the engine during those shutoffs. It works pretty well, and most customers don’t even realize their engine is shutting off and back on.