[canadmos]

Canceled my ID.4 reservation just now, informed by my drive today. I'd rather have an Ioniq 5. Less busy interior, quieter, and my gripe about the speedometer layout would be obviated by the HUD on the Premium.

The Ioniq 5 is a bit more expensive than the ID.4 when in the nice, glass-roof Premium trim. This, in turn, shall inspire the creation of… A Spreadsheet. In this I shall map out options at and within financial spitting distance of the $55k Ioniq 5 AWD Premium.

Things I must have:

- EV, or at least a PHEV with 30+ miles of range
- AWD
- at least equivalent interior width to the Ioniq 5
- heated seats and wheel
- glass roof
- 2" hitch
- not associated with Elon Musk
- good front headroom
- plausibly available this year

Things I would like:

- unencumbered knee room
- ventilated seats
- good rear headroom
- 3rd row

What are the order lead times on these down there?

I got laughed out of the local Kia dealership when I asked about the Niro.

Toyota next door was similar, with no new cars on the lot. 9-12 month wait for anything hybrid. I think I'm leaning more and more towards that silly Corolla Cross hybrid.

Also sucks about Musk and Tesla. Even if Tesla was a great company, it's disappointing that they have that dark cloud hanging above the top of it.

 

[Toshi]

That's the thing, no clarity on lead times since the dealers don't know what they're getting. Everything's in this stop motion limbo from supply chain this and that + Ukraine (apparently a source of wiring looms).

But realistically I was thinking 4-6 months for Ioniq 5, 8-16 months for an ID.4, which again I liked less anyway.

 

[Toshi]

Wild card in all this is clearly availability of any/all of these ostensible options. Also note that Toyota is sunsetting on their Federal tax credit.

Net price for all of these would be -$10k except for Toyota/Lexus, which would likely be -$5750--unclear if they've officially hit the cap.

 

[Toshi]

Did a minute's worth of filling out forms on cars.com, and there are a few dealers (remote from me--would ship) with the Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV in stock in the trim I'd want.

$6,587 Fed credit (since 13.8 kWh pack doesn't max it out) but still $2k more from CO. 2 row, but a few inches more space than the Ioniq 5 in most measures.

30 miles electric, 32 MPG from a little 1.6T 4 banger. Looks much better than the nominally 3 row Sorento, IMO.

hmmmmmmmmmm

do I do it?



edit:

I'm thinking that I really should hold out for a full BEV since we already have the one PHEV in the household. And the Ioniq seems a reasonable enough option.

I will poke around and see if any Q4 e-trons exist in the wild around me, at least.

edit 2: the lumpen Q4 e-tron is an ID.4 in different clothes. Yeah, nah.

 

[Toshi]

Short version:

I accidentally a Mercedes-Benz. Hopefully delivered by the end of the calendar year

Long version:

I test drove a Bolt EUV today and it was far too small and cheap feeling. Was spritely to drive at least, like a go kart. New dashboard is nice but everything else not nice

I then went to Mercedes-Benz of Denver and configured out an EQB 350 with a sales guy. Yes, the 3rd row would be kids only but that’s really what I need and it hits my other wishlist items for about $6k more than a fully loaded Ioniq 5. It’d let me sell the Land Cruiser… again.

Anyway, configured it out and then we discussed a deposit. Sales guy mentioned they had been doing $5k ADM on EQB 300s and $10k (!) on EQB 350 orders. I balked, but as I got up I mentioned I’d put a sizeable non-refundable deposit down then and there if and only if they’d commit in writing to selling at MSRP, no markup.

They bit. I signed. I put a deposit down. And hopefully by the end of the year I’ll have a custom spec EQB 350 in my garage. I’ll trade in the Land Cruiser if the automated algorithms are generous and sell it privately (BaT likely) after delivery otherwise.

 

[dump]

Haven’t seen any of those around here yet. Only thing similar so far is the iX of which I’ve seen a handful. (Qtron doesn’t count imo)

 

[Toshi]

Haven’t seen any of those around here yet. Only thing similar so far is the iX of which I’ve seen a handful. (Qtron doesn’t count imo)

I don’t think they shipped in North America yet.

Why do you discount the e-tron? It’s quite nice and isn’t just a Q5 with a battery. It’s just overpriced, imo.

 

[dump]

I don’t think they shipped in North America yet.

Why do you discount the e-tron? It’s quite nice and isn’t just a Q5 with a battery. It’s just overpriced, imo.

Gotcha.

Yeah, it’s a whole other beast from the q5. I suppose I shouldn’t comment as I haven’t ridden in one, but the visual of the thing to me is closer to a bloated station wagon than what people call suvs today. Sort of like the ev6. Lines are all blurred, and that’s probably the only way they could get efficiency in check… but as a result, it doesn’t seem very suv.

 

[Toshi]

You’ll really dislike the styling on the new Q4 e-tron then. It’s a soap bar for sure.

 

[dump]

You’ll really dislike the styling on the new Q4 e-tron then. It’s a soap bar for sure.

Ha, soap bar is a great descriptor. I don’t mind the styling, it looks cool, but it says something less than suv in my view. Functionally, there’s also an issue as you demonstrated with your headroom clearance in the rear seat. What proper suv has problems with that!? What is this, a Porsche 911?

 

[Toshi]

The EQB is a more honest shape yet still has a 0.28 Cd. I am guessing we are going to use it preferentially whenever we don’t need the bit of extra room that the minivan provides.

 

[canadmos]

Other than those weird egg shapes "suvs", Mercedes does the rear hatch/door correctly.

I had no idea that Subaru exists. Holy shit is it ugly.

I saw an ad yesterday that GM will pay to install a level 2 charger, which is cool?

 

[Toshi]

They'll pay to put a 240V 50A line and a NEMA 14-50R, if you have an empty breaker slot on your panel. That's about a $500 value. Level 2 EVSE itself and screwing it into the wall is not included.

 

[canadmos]

Ah, I clearly did not read the hidden fine print. Their advertisement made it sound otherwise, which I'm sure is deliberate.

Also read this and saw the comment about no charger needed, if you have that cable. Again, more hidden fine print.

 

[Toshi]

Yeah, their standard portable EVSE is compatible with both 120 and 240V with a plug adapter. But it's 24A on 240V iirc, under the on-board charger's potential power.

 

[Toshi]

19k-Mile 1998 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S 6-Speed

Bid for the chance to own a 19k-Mile 1998 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S 6-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #77,353.

bringatrailer.com

Ooh. Nice blue over cream leather. 1998 993 C4S. 19k miles!

That’s going to be $150k, I bet.

 

[Toshi]

Elder baby girls are apparently having a good time at their weeklong sleepover camp up at Keystone

here’s the eldest (still clinging to the mask) with her best friend.

 

[Toshi]

Headed up tomorrow. Got my Leatt and Troy Lee D3 packed.

 

[Toshi]

Fun times. I suck at jump trails. Goal by end of season is to have pace and confidence enough for Rainmaker. I'll start by working back my confidence on Spicy Chicken.

On the upside, we did take a full run down Trestle DH, and that was old school tech goodness up my alley.

 

[6thElement]

Fun times. I suck at jump trails. Goal by end of season is to have pace and confidence enough for Rainmaker. I'll start by working back my confidence on Spicy Chicken.

On the upside, we did take a full run down Trestle DH, and that was old school tech goodness up my alley.

Spicy Chicken is one of my favourite trails there. I can cope with the tables on that one and I can't jump for shit. Rainmaker is beyond my non-existent skills.

 

[Toshi]

Spicy Chicken is one of my favourite trails there. I can cope with the tables on that one and I can't jump for shit. Rainmaker is beyond my non-existent skills.

Yeah, I get weirded out when I can't see landings. Spicy Chicken doesn't weird me out.

Let's learn to jump this year, eh

 

[Toshi]

my sweet middle child hiked Lenawee yesterday! Looks like from the Keystone side towards A-Basin. They started before dawn.

I don’t know why she was unhappy in this last one. But happy in all the other ones! They got to pick which hike to do.

Tomorrow off to Keystone to pick them up.

 

[Toshi]

In time shifting my work yesterday it distilled down why I stay at that job even though it has its frustrations and inequities: on a light volume day doing my allotted share of the work takes me about 2.5 hours… including dinner with wife and Baby Aya

If I can check a Friday off my box via half an hour Thursday night and two hours Friday evening plus riding all day Friday that sounds good to me.

I can only do this radical time shifting when I’m on a specific combination of assignments (outpatient-only CT/MR, and not on any noon conferences), but when the stars align I’m going to do this as much as I can.

The astute reader will also note that not all days are light. It can be twice as busy easily if not more. But you all can do that math as well.

 

[Toshi]

Mah baby girls loved their camp. (Third girl here is our honorary fourth child, Mariko’s best friend.)

They are all tanned, tired, dirty, disheveled, and happy.

 

[Toshi]

 

[Toshi]

Come on, Kia, introduce some more EV9 details so I can plan what to get past the EQB

(I’m thinking the ID.Buzz may well be annoying a la the ID.4 due to VW’s stupid fascination with capacitive-control-all-the-things. We shall see. I do like van form factors but boxy SUVs are ok as well.)

 

[Toshi]

I rode over a rock today

my buddy’s potatocam is about as good as ericstr6’s apparently. (This from a video. Base of White Ranch.)

 

[Toshi]

Rental house in Kauai is nice. Sure glad we have mini splits in all the bedrooms. Hot and humid here. I do think I’ll be in the pool every day, yes yes.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Kauai.............think I’ll be in the pool every day, yes yes.

 

[Toshi]

Wife and I have some tubing thing tomorrow. Might do an ATV outing. I’d go on a hike given my druthers but not sure if wife and kids are game.

 

[Toshi]

Kauai is green

 

[Toshi]

 

[Toshi]

I’m thinking Costa Rica for next summer. Any tips from the peanut gallery? United flies direct DEN - SJO on Sat and Sun, it appears.

 

[Pesqueeb]

You can fly into Liberia on most domestic airlines too. Schedule changes of course, but that's how we've flown in, in the past. Arenal is pretty neat.

 

[Toshi]

Hiked Sleeping Giant East with Mariko-kun this morning. Sweaty times.

 

[Toshi]

Tons and tons of Tacomas out here on Kauai. Weird in a relatively small island. Also lots of Kias randomly. But mainly Tacomas: old, new, lifted, lowered, every kind.

Gas is $5.899/gallon, electricity is just under 35 cents/kWh (!!), the weather is mild despite being wet. One would think in this environment vehicles sold would gravitate to the highly efficient side of things, but no. Tacomas. Wranglers. Tundras. F-150s.

 

[Toshi]

My 3rd grader took CMAS this year, the CO standardized test, and got 843 and math and 850 in literacy. This is out of 850 for both. This is acceptable, I guess.

 

[Toshi]

That is my Baby Aya surfing in the left of the super zoomed in frame there

 

[Toshi]

And here is Mariko and Yuna riding the same wave. Not many waves here conducive to riding them for any great length but all kids having a good time nonetheless.

 

[Toshi]