[SkaredShtles]

After all your The Dude Abides memes, I should have known you were a bowling connoisseur.

Spalding Bowl - Eat, Drink & BOWL. Family friendly.

Visit Our Fantastic Family Friendly Bowling Centre – Children’s Parties, Corporate Events, Arcade Machines, Food & Drink.

spaldingbowl.co.uk

 

[Toshi]

may have a new car in which to travel to boot



because of course

Magic 8 ball is pointing to yes. Papers signed

between adding this to insurance and the lease cost this will cost about $80/mo x 24 mo. edit: $83.60 to be precise.

Or what driving 450 miles or so would cost in the Land Cruiser just for gas.

:acceptable:

(2024 bZ4X XLE AWD, 24/12 lease, $4,409 off MSRP + $799 dealer fee, 50% RV, 0.00001 MF, $16,250 TFS lease cash, $5k CO tax credit separately claimed at tax time as rolling it in would put net cap cost below residual.)

 

[canadmos]

congorats on the new car, with built in eyebrows!

 

[Toshi]

I think it looks like a stormtrooper

 

[Nick]

use sunscreen.

 

[gonefirefightin]

is there a milage cap?

 

[Toshi]

is there a milage cap?

24/12 lease. 12k/yr

 

[gonefirefightin]

24/12 lease. 12k/yr

ah, missed that. seems like a tasty deal for sure

 

[gonefirefightin]

no dealer anywhere near me is giving deals even close to that it seems.

 

[Toshi]

Rode to and from Folsom as promised. Great infrastructure but for the last 3 blocks, literally.

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Again harkening back to my pinned post: rode 10 mi each way to drop off my middle kid’s skis just now, so as to not be part of the car infrastructure equation for this. (There wouldn’t have been traffic to be a part of at this hour.) And Denver/Commerce City/Adams County made this trip possible...

www.threads.net

 

[Toshi]

no dealer anywhere near me is giving deals even close to that it seems.

and the local dealer who extended this deal now has 0 available inventory. (11 of this model and trim on the website but per my co-worker who emailed my sales guy all spoken for. which makes sense. people respond to incentives!)

 

[Toshi]

use sunscreen.

is this in response to my dark looking post-Mexico nose? I'm not worried about the basal and squamous cell cancers associated with sun exposure. evidence re melanoma and sun exposure is surprisingly weak, especially since I rarely burn given being kinda bronze colored at baseline.

Sun exposure and risk of melanoma

As skin cancer education programmes directed to children and adolescents continue to expand, an epidemiological basis for these programmes is necessary to target efforts and plan for further evaluation.To summarise the epidemiological evidence on sun ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

@johnbryanpeters any input?

 

[Toshi]

background: I had to protest my 2023 CO taxes to get them to grant me the (then only $2k! went to $5k in July 2023 but I was too early) state EV credit for the short-lived EQB. so I'm going to nip that in the bud and answer their questions for 2024 taxes:

the $80k/$35k bits are because the CO credit is not applicable to vehicles over $80k MSRP (not selling price, straight MSRP), and there's an additional $2.5k if it's $35k or less. GVWR because there are higher credits for 10,000+ GVWR vehicles, etc.

 

[Toshi]

not warm today

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Babysuit kind of weather again

www.threads.net

 

[Toshi]

dashcams are now gender fluid apparently

OvaMan. ok then



edit: works ok. $35 including the microSD card. won't work with car 5V via USB-C and a USB-C to -C cable, but works fine with its 12V-to-5V transformer. routed cable nicely along windshield surround.

 

[Toshi]

@Pesqueeb

The Diary of a Settler of Catan

March 3 Yesterday, after three fortnights at sea, we made landfall in Catan. Here we will make our new lives. Upon stepping off the boat we fell to...

www.mcsweeneys.net

 

[Toshi]

Still not yet a coat hanger

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

A lifting day Starting with squat: I either start with squat or deadlift these days, whatever I did last the prior time (so as to not have to reset). Got a bit hung up on that 7th rep. Heels trying to rise—will be mindful of that in later sets On to the next set

www.threads.net

I shall stop posting these but will let you all know if I stop lifting 2x/week

Right (repaired) knee with a bit of a twinge in the deadlift sumo sets. Will keep an eye on that

 

[Toshi]

@gonefirefightin

View attachment 210269

probably just going to do it unless I get a better actual quote. won't begrudge him making his money.

update for y'all, since I know you're waiting with bated breath:

not moving forward with this outfit for now. awaiting quotes from contractor buddy of one of my online frens (who in turn is a developer here in Denver, and is the brother of one of my former residents here at work. whew), and from the landscape firm run by the guy whose plowing company handles the mountain house driveway.

both quotes should be in by next week, in theory.

 

[Toshi]

quick math time:

CO's EV tax credit is $5k for this year for vehicles $35,000-$80,000 MSRP. add $2.5k for vehicles < $35,000 MSRP. (there's also an extra $600 ex $250 processing fee tacked on if one signs over the credit to a dealer this year or the next.)

in 2025 it drops to $3.5k. 2026: $1.5k. 2027: $1k. 2028: $500.

the key part is that the $2.5k add-on persists through all of these years. so if my hare-brained Kona Electric lease idea turns out to be a good idea and I want to repeat it come two years from now I'll definitely want to drop to the < $35k cheap/slow/lower range SE trim. if I can stack a Hyundai loyalty discount on the transaction (if they're doing it--in some years recently it's been as much as $2.5k!) or do it early in December 2025, or both, then it'll be another smashing deal. if interest rates and thus money factors drop as well then that'll also sweeten the pot more.

for 6 months I could have two Konas potentially, in other words. hoard all of the cheap cars.

made my calendar reminder for when I do this all again. good thing I like this adversarial process

the sweet spot will be of another 24 mo lease on a < $35k MSRP EV given the CO credit's structure/sunset schedule as above. shall still be a $5k (or $5,350 if signed over as part of transaction but taxed then?) credit then.

the question then will be whether the prevailing price climate has evolved such that we have lots of options (things look positive what with the EX30's debut, continued Kona Electric existence, Kia EV3, etc.), and whether AWD sneaks in at that price point (less clear for sure on this point).


edit: decided I shouldn't be cheap. so still will aim for Dec 1, 2025… but for an EV with AWD, heated wheel, heated seats, 2" hitch availability as baseline screening criteria.

 

[Sandwich]

How do you like the breezyfox so far?

Trying to see how I can get close…

 

[Toshi]

How do you like the breezyfox so far?

Trying to see how I can get close…

it's fine

eldest kid thinks stereo sounds nice

wireless CarPlay is key. Qi charging pad for phone in center console (up top, not down by feet like horrible minivan implementation).

drives fine. adaptive cruise works. just had to get used to different button layout

as noted in car thread haven't quick charged it and probably never will. 7.2 kW on board AC charger is more than adequate for our uses. I think I'll only charge it at home periodically like a gas car: with the PHEV minivan it's always plugged in when arriving at home. but this one, maybe once or twice a week.

wife doesn't like C pillar size. doesn't bother me for over the shoulder head checks. front visibility good. has blind spot monitoring and all that. only rear camera on XLE trim, but for the price, again, not complaining there.

 

[Toshi]

Kids all fit in back

Bonus shot of my babylove coloring away between courses

 

[Toshi]

Snau

shoveled. Kind neighbor did sidewalk already. Note Amazon delivery driver path I made

heavy slushy shit that packs up into walls if you kick the shovel a bit while vertical

new place in life for Land Cruiser. On battery tender in driveway

 

[Toshi]

to the mountain tomorrow

shall park at MJ. probably lap Olympia on my frontside Stöcklis for a few hours. then jet home. none of this pond skim business at the base for the final day

no 12/120V power in the hatch area makes both teh baby jeebus and my heated boot bag cry

 

[Toshi]

As I’ve written I probably will never fast charge the Busy Forks due to my use case

But if I must for some reason I get a year free with EVgo. Totally didn’t know this going in, and kind of stumbled upon it while going through settings in the Toyota app.

No stations outside the metro on the way to Winter Park. So really of limited utility to me personally. Last shot is of my home EVSE idling away after 39 kWh injected into the battery in the comfort of my own garage—the true way to go.

 

[Toshi]

shall head up and get a few hours of skiing in at Winter Park in a bit. first mountain trip with the new EV.

Skied

over the shoulder iPhone vid because I forgot to charge the GoPro, whoops

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Ski day 22. Unless timing of future storms lines up with free days this’ll be my last. But I said that last week, didn’t I? :-D GoPro died after about 6 seconds of running (my fault for not charging it or the external pack) so I held my iPhone up like a goof in 0.5x zoom for a bit to get...

www.threads.net

Busy Forks was a good ski shuttle. 58% SOC there, 40% back at home. Adequate

 

[Toshi]

just willingly immersed myself in the hot tub even though the water is cloudy

as it wasn’t cloudy an hour ago and I thereafter added too much hardener and calcium bicarbonate at once to dissolve in nicely over this elapsed time. no smell either

running the jets now and will run them on high when I exit, too


edit: 90% less cloudy this morning when I checked on it. chemistry yo

 

[Toshi]

Busy Forks was a good ski shuttle. 58% SOC there, 40% back at home. Adequate

so this Busy Forks lease has reinforced that when I need to drive, I do like driving electric, snappy, modern driver-aid-equipped, CarPlay-integrated vehicles.

I do have the long-paid-off Land Cruiser literally just sitting on a battery tender in the driveway. this is the high point for CO EV tax credits, too.

put these things together and I think I'm ready to let the Land Cruiser go… for an EV that'd functionally replace both the PacHy and the Land Cruiser together. it'd have to be near-minivan size in terms of people- and stuff-carrying. it'd have to be AWD so as to fill the Land Cruiser's storm-time ski shuttle role.

two vehicles that are either available now or should be this year are the Kia EV9 and VW ID.Buzz (LWB US-spec version). on paper the EV9's size is much like the Land Cruiser:

but that 3rd row looks way too cramped for normal size humans in reality from Alex on Autos-turned-Auto Buyer's Guide's video. also note that if I got the 6 passenger variant for ease of 3rd row access then I'd only have half of the already marginal cargo area behind the 2nd row to work with for ski day boot bags and all that junk.

not going to work.

the ID.Buzz has the annoying Nissan Quest-/SUV-style fold forward seats, which might be unavoidable given the MEB platform skateboard just not having room for minivan-style seat "wells", if you will. so its cargo room is marginal.

but as per Kyle's video on it the 3rd row looks fully usable. worlds better. (and those sliding doors, of course.)

the tumble mechanism on the bench second row looks good enough for 3rd row access, so I'd go with the bench model so as to not give up a seat (versus either the LC or the PacHy, when shuttling parents visiting, etc.). one of the two third row seats would live semi-permanently in my garage unless needed, and I could pull the other for ski day baggage and cram the kids in the 2nd row if it came to that.

that'd work, in other words.

 

[Toshi]

as for how much and when:

VW still says "2024" vaguely, but given their June 2, 2023 intro event and Car and Driver saying June 2024 ship date summer seems reasonable.

there will be ADM at the start of sales, no doubt. and ain't nobody got time for that nonsense. so I'll wait it out until the sooner of when VW introduces reasonable 24/12 lease terms (as reported via the Edmunds lease forums, my new favorite friend) and ADM is in the past. maybe the fall? completing a deal this calendar year would be the best as the CO EV tax credit drops down $1,500 come Jan 1, 2025.

I'd get the PacHy appraised at CarMax and Carvana and then bring it to VW as a trade to offset sales tax +/- get a check back from the transaction. would go one-pay on the lease if VW finance does that for lower MF. edit: VW reportedly takes off 0.0006 MF for one-pay per post #48.

and then I'd sell the Land Cruiser on IH8Mud (edit: or rather list it on BaT and post the link on IH8Mud), once this was all completed and the car in my garage.

this is the plan. it likely will change many, many more times. but for now I am mentally ok with this, including selling my precious Land Cruiser for the second time.

 

[Toshi]

and for the hecklers out there, my debt service is currently 30%. and that'll drop about 3.5% more in a few months when my (privately refinanced due to PSLF rule changes) student loan debt is finally paid off.

given that I'm well insured I'm ok with this, and my car shenanigans are truly just noise vs the big picture.

 

[SkaredShtles]

 

[Nick]

Skied

how do you like the Stocklis?

 

[Toshi]

how do you like the Stocklis?

I love them. they feel forgiving yet don't chatter, they like to do every radius of turn seemingly and aren't insistent on just one radius, they have cool high viz yellow graphics. they are a bit hooky now that I tuned them up all sharp at 2 degrees bevel but just enough to be entertaining

7/5 no ragrets. excellent frontside tools.

 

[Toshi]

the e-bike really is a great commuting tool. better than being (electric) traffic in a car when the weather’s even half decent.

 

[Nick]

the bike really is a great commuting tool.

agree!

 

[Toshi]

agree!

heh

the key thing about the e-ness of it, to me, is that it reduces the time difference for a commute of my route/length (7 mi by bike, 8 mi by car each way) to something entirely negligible if existent at all.

so it comes down to just weather/clothing, really.

if I were someone super fast on acoustic bike like @6thElement maybe this wouldn't be a concern

 

[Nick]

it reduces the time difference for a commute of my route/length

I get it, just busting your chops. I'm a fan of any bike for commuting.

acoustic bike

please don't do that.

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>
if I were someone super fast on acoustic bike like @6thElement maybe this wouldn't be a concern

You *would* be, in short order, if you rode your non-electric bike.

 

[Toshi]

You *would* be, in short order, if you rode your non-electric bike.

but I wouldn't

because physics, yo

 

[SkaredShtles]

but I wouldn't

because physics, yo

Nonsense. Don't sell yourself short. Pedal harder.