Opinions on a new car

[Borgholio]

Well I did some test driving and visited a few dealerships yesterday. I ended up not getting a new car and instead financed my Prius. This was motivated by several factors.

1. There are currently no specials on the 2016 Prius. The monthly payments would be higher and the gas savings compared to a 2013 Prius are not enough to make up the difference. Plus, they would only give me about 75% of what my 2013 was worth as trade-in...so I'd be going in a bit upside down, which is not ideal. On the plus side, the 2016 does drive very nice. It is more comfortable, roomier, and is a smoother ride than the 2013. Plus it looks slick.

2. 2016 Volt is very fun to drive. It's has great performance and handles nice, but it is actually a compact car. It is smaller than the Prius and it shows. The front seats are a bit smaller than in the Prius (but still comfortable). The back seat...well...even my wife (who is shorter than me by a full 8 inches) barely fits. I actually scrape my head on the ceiling in the backseat. I can't even lean my head back...I bump the back of my skull against the rear window before I hit the headrest. So sadly, that's a pass. On a side note, I test drove the high-end fully loaded model, and it's rather spooky using the automatic parallel-parking feature for the first time. I kept forcing myself to resist the urge to grab control away from the car.

3. The guys at the Toyota dealership really wanted me to finance with them instead of a dealer that was closer to where I lived. They gave me a really good interest rate and a new factory warranty for only $10 per month extra. Note - this is NOT an extended warranty. I avoid those like the plague. This was a full new car factory warranty. Even though my car has 96,000 miles on it, I am now fully covered for anything bumper to bumper for another 36k miles, powertrain for 60k miles, and 150k miles for the hybrid battery and anything related to it.

So I don't have to worry about any major repairs for at least another two years, and it's transferable so I can use it as a selling point if I wanted to sell private party next year. With a full warranty, depreciation caused by mileage is pretty much moot.

So I have a year or two to wait and see what else will be coming down the pipeline. Tesla's model 3 will debut in March so I can see if that's something I want to go on the waiting list for, and Toyota is supposed to come out with their redesigned Prius Plugin later this year to try and counter the new Volt.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

The Volt EV calculations ignore that the car will be charging at night with off-peak rates. I don't know what they are in SoCal, but here the PG&E off-peak rate is $0.11 / kwh, so 18 * 0.11 = $1.98 for 50 miles. Part of that will also be free if your workplace or the places you shop have charging stations.

The Model 3 isn't shipping in 2016 from what I've read, but the 200-mile Chevy Bolt will be out before the end of the year. That's not quite enough to get you to your job and back on one charge, though, so you would need a place to charge while you work. Nissan will also bring out their second generation Leaf, which is speculated to pack anywhere from 150 to 200+ mile range. Used 2012 and 2013 Model S's will also become an option for people who aren't made of money in a couple years. Right now a 60 kwh 2013 is in the low $50K range, and the battery will be warrantied until 2020 and is upgradeable after that.

[Borgholio]

The Volt EV calculations ignore that the car will be charging at night with off-peak rates. I don't know what they are in SoCal, but here the PG&E off-peak rate is $0.11 / kwh, so 18 * 0.11 = $1.98 for 50 miles. Part of that will also be free if your workplace or the places you shop have charging stations.

Good point, I'd forgotten about that.

The Model 3 isn't shipping in 2016 from what I've read, but the 200-mile Chevy Bolt will be out before the end of the year. That's not quite enough to get you to your job and back on one charge, though, so you would need a place to charge while you work.

The Bolt is also going to be at least $5k more expensive than the Tesla, and if the Model 3 is anything like the Model S...it will look nicer than the Bolt too. But we won't know until March for sure...

As far as the range goes, my commute is actually ~120 miles round trip, so a 200 mile battery would be fine for me.

Used 2012 and 2013 Model S's will also become an option for people who aren't made of money in a couple years. Right now a 60 kwh 2013 is in the low $50K range, and the battery will be warrantied until 2020 and is upgradeable after that.

Yeah I was looking into that and there are some very nice deals on 60kwh models with very low mileage. Only problem is that being pre-owned, no leasing is available. Meaning to get affordable monthly payments, a rather good sized down payment is needed.