Electric car thread

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Originally Posted by MarcusBrody

Touring_Sedan said he was shopping at a time when dealers were still wringing the last dollar out of the supply chain.

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Right, but he's still acting like that's still the case.

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Originally Posted by MarcusBrody

I was just pointing out that the EV9 has become a much better value proposition as it's dropped to below MSRP selling prices.

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You got that right! Across the EV board, there are finally deals to be had. Both used AND new from what I'm seeing, depending on what you want of course.

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Originally Posted by MarcusBrody

The only thing that I think I'd really miss on the base model vs the higher trims is the memory seats. My wife and I are very different sizes. We both drive one of our vehicles now, but it isn't too bad as the seat adjustment is manual so I basically put the seat almost all the way back and almost all the way down and she does the opposite. Being able to just slide it is faster/less annoying than having to wait for the seat motor.

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Just looked it up on the Kia website and you're right! Integrated memory system (where it's tied with the key fobs I think) is only available on the Land and GT-Line. That's a pretty glaring oversight if you ask me. Most my cars since freaking mid-90s models have had that feature! I thought that was pretty standard these days. Even my lowly old Chevy Trailblazer had that. My '96 DeVille had that. Good catch, Marcus. That's annoying.

There was an EV9 Land as the show car outside of Costco last night. With the Costco discount, it was down to $57+k, but that was with 3k in bullshit dealer "installed" add-ons (window tint in a vehicle that you can't even order without tinted windows from the factory). Those type of things make me angry to a greater level that is reasonable given the final price.

The other thing about EV9 model optioning is that like most SUVs today, as you go up in trim level, the wheels get bigger and the sidewalls smaller. I have desire for 21 inch wheels on a family hauler SUV, ore even 20 inch wheels. I'd prefer the base spec 19s for as much sidewall as possible for pot holes and dirt roads.

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Originally Posted by Dromond

Comes with free bible, AR-15 and ticket to Mars

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Now that's funny

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Originally Posted by MarcusBrody

There was an EV9 Land as the show car outside of Costco last night. With the Costco discount, it was down to $57+k, but that was with 3k in bullshit dealer "installed" add-ons (window tint in a vehicle that you can't even order without tinted windows from the factory). Those type of things make me angry to a greater level that is reasonable given the final price.

The other thing about EV9 model optioning is that like most SUVs today, as you go up in trim level, the wheels get bigger and the sidewalls smaller. I have desire for 21 inch wheels on a family hauler SUV, ore even 20 inch wheels. I'd prefer the base spec 19s for as much sidewall as possible for pot holes and dirt roads.

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.000000000000001% of EV9's will ever see gravel, let alone a dirt road. Lightweight wheels and lightweight tires without 8 inch sidewalls are much better for range. Range sells. Suzie Soccermom isn't taking the Kia on the Rubicon Trail.

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Originally Posted by Touring_Sedan

.000000000000001% of EV9's will ever see gravel, let alone a dirt road. Lightweight wheels and lightweight tires without 8 inch sidewalls are much better for range. Range sells. Suzie Soccermom isn't taking the Kia on the Rubicon Trail.

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I think you have that backwards, and that smaller wheels with more sidewall generally lead to increased range.

”Wheel diameter can also make a big difference. Using coast-down resistance data Tesla submits to the EPA for efficiency testing, Fenske calculated that the range of a Model 3 Performance driven at a consist 75 mph was about 40 miles less with 20-inch wheels than with 18-inch wheels. Smaller—bit still significant—differences were shown for the Model S Performance and Model X Performance as well.In other words, if you want to minimize emissions, get tires with thicker sidewalls.”

https://www.greencarreports.com/news...-vehicle-range

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Originally Posted by Touring_Sedan

.000000000000001% of EV9's will ever see gravel, let alone a dirt road. Lightweight wheels and lightweight tires without 8 inch sidewalls are much better for range. Range sells. Suzie Soccermom isn't taking the Kia on the Rubicon Trail.

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I can see how it would work in theory, but have almost never seen an EV that gets a boost in range from the larger wheel option (all things being equal). The Rivian R1S drops range when it goes from 22-20 inch wheels, but I strongly suspect that's mostly due to the AT tires that come on the smaller wheels rather than the EV tires on the big wheels. Most base models with smaller wheels seem to have better range, though I haven't yet found a perfect comparison as the upper trims generally add other features that bring extra power/weight. Edit: looks like J. Barron DeJong found the data.

And I wouldn't call 19 in wheels "small". I personally prefer them for general driving any anything less than stellar roads, not just dirt road driving (which I concede I probably do more than most given where I live/my hobbies).

Bloomberg sez

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The Trump team is looking for policy leaders for the department to develop a framework to regulate self-driving vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

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Belongs in the Elon thread but that’s no longer here.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/meet-t...facebook-uncle

Fake charging port so you can e-park close to the Applebee’s…excellent

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Originally Posted by MarcusBrody

The other thing about EV9 model optioning is that like most SUVs today, as you go up in trim level, the wheels get bigger and the sidewalls smaller. I have desire for 21 inch wheels on a family hauler SUV, ore even 20 inch wheels. I'd prefer the base spec 19s for as much sidewall as possible for pot holes and dirt roads.

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That shit is infuriating. One of the main reasons I didn't get a limited trim for my Ioniq5 (not much of an SUV at baseline even though it's considered one), no fucking way I'd want to drive on 20" if I can get 19", and I'd much prefer smaller. I was looking for compatible 18" wheels for winter tires until I found OEM 19" wheels for cheap. Not super pumped about the 235/55R-19 tires, would have much preferred something taller and narrower on an 18" rim.

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Originally Posted by Boissal

That shit is infuriating. One of the main reasons I didn't get a limited trim for my Ioniq5 (not much of an SUV at baseline even though it's considered one), no fucking way I'd want to drive on 20" if I can get 19", and I'd much prefer smaller. I was looking for compatible 18" wheels for winter tires until I found OEM 19" wheels for cheap. Not super pumped about the 235/55R-19 tires, would have much preferred something taller and narrower on an 18" rim.

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Totally agreed. Rim sizes are out of control these days. Expensive tires and easily damaged rims are annoying and entirely unnecessary.

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Going from Bondurant, WY to the Smiths in Evanston Wy (162 miles) at anywhere from 5 to -12 degrees this morning in my ioniq 5 was not fun. Left at 330 (to make it to work in Utah a a reasonable time). Pulled into the electrify america with 12%, but I ran almost no heat and throttled down to about 62.


I picked up the Comma AI auto pilot thing. Cost about a grand with black friday right now. Outside of turns it pretty much did the whole drive with no driver inetraction needed. Not sure if it's worth it but I like tech.

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Originally Posted by NBABUCKS1

Going from Bondurant, WY to the Smiths in Evanston Wy (162 miles) at anywhere from 5 to -12 degrees this morning in my ioniq 5 was not fun. Left at 330 (to make it to work in Utah a a reasonable time). Pulled into the electrify america with 12%, but I ran almost no heat and throttled down to about 62.


I picked up the Comma AI auto pilot thing. Cost about a grand with black friday right now. Outside of turns it pretty much did the whole drive with no driver inetraction needed. Not sure if it's worth it but I like tech.

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Thanks for the honest TR. Guess I'll need to hang on to at least 1 gasser for my winter road trips to MT. Sounds like that journey would be a giant PITA with a family in tow. Especially getting through WY apparently.

Hey NBA, just curious why you bought that car? I travel a lot in winter in the mountains and that was/is why I haven’t gotten an ecar.

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Originally Posted by MontuckyFried

Totally agreed. Rim sizes are out of control these days. Expensive tires and easily damaged rims are annoying and entirely unnecessary.

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In a lot of cases you'd have to put smaller (insufficient?) brakes on to use smaller wheels. As everything has gotten heavier and more powerful bigger brakes are the result.

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

In a lot of cases you'd have to put smaller (insufficient?) brakes on to use smaller wheels. As everything has gotten heavier and more powerful bigger brakes are the result.

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That explains 17" not 20+. Insufficient for track days, sure, but go ahead and start doing track days on stock brakes and report back.

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Originally Posted by plugboots

Hey NBA, just curious why you bought that car? I travel a lot in winter in the mountains and that was/is why I haven’t gotten an ecar.

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I wanted an EV because they are fun to drive. I have a truck as backup when I know it'll be a massive pain to take the ev somewhere or I need to haul stuff like my tractor or building supplies


When EA opened that Evanston station it made it possible for me to make it to my cabin. In the spring/fall/summer it's a breeze, but come winter and a headwind you start getting nervous as their really is no diversion.

I have winter tires on it and for when I take short trips to the resort or into jackson to ski I'm taking my ev almost every time. Unreal grip with low center of gravity and snow tires.

I also went on a trip to teton valley on saturday. Temps around 40-50 degrees. My range was close to 300 miles on a full charge for that trip with great efficiency. It can be such a crapshoot on the range factor.

Picked up a lightly used Mach E GTPE a few weeks ago. Some initial thoughts.

It's stupid fast. I expected it to be fast off the line, but I'm more surprised at how quick it accelerates at highway speed. 70 -> 90 feels almost as quick as 10 -> 30.

I'm still getting used to driving a computer. On one hand, it's cool how much you can customize - there are a ton of features that are programmable to some extent or another. And for the most part, the interface is fairly intuitive. On the other hand, it feels like Ford tried too hard to push every single toggle into the center screen console. There's a few commonly used things that I'd like to see as stand alone buttons. For example, the steering wheel heater should just be a button on the steering wheel.

I bought a Chargepoint charger that plugs into a welder plug that I already had in my garage. Aside from some minor annoyances when initially setting up the chargepoint app, that works nicely. It was pretty easy to set everything up to charge on a schedule to avoid peak surcharges. And it's certainly nice to throw 50-60% charge into the car for around $2.50.

The car has a few little widgets that I'm liking. There's a nice spot to put your phone that has wireless charging built into it. The headlights have an auto-high beam mode, which seems to work well. Wireless android auto is really nice. And the car automatically figured out the tire pressure sensors when I switched to winter tires/wheels. At first I thought the push button door handles were kind of dumb, until I realized that my 4 year olds are able to operate them - it's nice they can get into the car themselves without me having to open the door for them. I also like that the frunk is pretty big. I haven't really put it to use yet, but I think it'll be good for transporting stinky bike gear in the summer.

There's also some quirks that I'm less excited about. There's a funky transition at low speeds where it switches from regenerative braking to just braking with the actual brakes. It's often not smooth. My wife's hybrid Sienna has a similar issue, although it presents differently in that car. The Mach-e also has 20" wheels, and this particular version has big enough rotors that I can't go to a smaller wheel. That really cut down on my options for winter tires. I also find the click wheel drive selector to be annoying. Mostly if I'm doing a 3 (or 5) point turn, quickly toggling between drive and reverse is apparently beyond my capabilities. I end up in park, or neutral, or I turn the wheel the wrong way so I'm still in drive. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it's doing a good job of making me feel old and incompetent.

My use of this car is almost exclusively commuting; often around 40-50 miles in a day, occasionally around 100 miles. If I need to go farther than that, we have my wife's minivan or a big pickup truck. But especially knowing what I know now, there's no way I'd buy an e-car if it was my only driving option. Especially in colder weather with a roof box and snow tires on, my max range is maybe 160 miles. Which is totally fine for my purposes, but also means that the broader viability of electric cars seems pretty limited until battery tech gets much, much better. And the constant range anxiety kinda sucks. I never really paid attention to the gas gauge on my car; I drove it, and when the light came on, I'd fill it up. Unless I was somewhere particularly remote, the gas gauge didn't warrant much attention because there's gas stations everywhere. But with the electric car, I find myself constantly assessing the battery percentage and range. Partly, I'm sure, because this is a new car for me and I'm getting used to it. But partly because you can't just charge up anywhere, and if you run out of juice, it's a much larger pain in the ass than if a car runs out of gas.

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Originally Posted by plugboots

Hey NBA, just curious why you bought that car? I travel a lot in winter in the mountains and that was/is why I haven’t gotten an ecar.

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The main reason I bought an E car is because it pollutes less. I hate the pollution the SLC valley. I've also done similar similar drives to what NbaBucks just did and it bit me in the ass when it super cold. My wife also had a bad experience in the cold on a separate trip to Jackson. I care more about pollution though and we don't often go to Jackson.

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Originally Posted by toast2266

Picked up a lightly used Mach E GTPE a few weeks ago. Some initial thoughts.

It's stupid fast. I expected it to be fast off the line, but I'm more surprised at how quick it accelerates at highway speed. 70 -> 90 feels almost as quick as 10 -> 30.

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Ha, awesome. Instant torque at any speed is so fun.

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Originally Posted by muted reborn

The main reason I bought an E car is because it pollutes less. I hate the pollution the SLC valley.

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So far today I’ve encountered 6 diesel trucks idling and two Draper moms just sitting in their cars idling and texting away and it’s not even 11am.

I do believe you’re the only person here that gives a shit. These people are just clueless morons. File under shit that annoys me.

Anyone lease recently? Shopping for an around town appliance. Quotes I have are below.

IONIQ 5 SLE: 363/mo, 0 DAS, 24k total miles, 24 mo
bZ4X XLE: 352/mo, 0 DAS, 30k total miles, 39 mo

Anyone here driven a Mach e? We are looking at selling our camper so I could swap my pilot for an electric. I don’t like the controls setup on the Tesla and the Y just doesn’t drive very well imo. The ford supposedly drives better and base more room than the ioniq 5 or ev6.

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Originally Posted by Mazderati

Anyone lease recently? Shopping for an around town appliance. Quotes I have are below.

IONIQ 5 SLE: 363/mo, 0 DAS, 24k total miles, 24 mo
bZ4X XLE: 352/mo, 0 DAS, 30k total miles, 39 mo

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Currently at 330/mo for either of these. Same terms. Probably going to bite on one but seeing some ridic Lightning deals so checking them first.

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Originally Posted by carlh

Anyone here driven a Mach e? We are looking at selling our camper so I could swap my pilot for an electric. I don’t like the controls setup on the Tesla and the Y just doesn’t drive very well imo. The ford supposedly drives better and base more room than the ioniq 5 or ev6.

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Bought one about a month ago. Mini review is a few posts upthread.

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FWIW, the Ioniq is supposed to be the much better car.

https://www.caranddriver.com/ranking...ectric/compact

Did you drive a non gt version?

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Originally Posted by toast2266

Bought one about a month ago. Mini review is a few posts upthread.

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