People will always blast me for this, but German cars have better ride quality, interiors and overall engineering. Durability too. What they're worse at is total cost of ownership, because of the occasional problem with absurdly expensive systems. But there's a reason people buy them even at the ridiculous prices they cost.
this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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But there's a reason people buy them even at the ridiculous prices they cost.
One way bigger reason is they're fashion statements and status symbols for people who can afford them, having nothing to due with the other reasons you mentioned. Specifically BMW, Benz, Porsche.
So which manufacturers should we look at? I'm in the market for a second EV right now. And this is my chain of thought.
My considerations are:
- Used cars only, I'm not paying 25% for the privilege of driving the car over the curb for the first time.
- No Chinese cars. They may be a good deal right now, but China is about to go do something stupid, like fight for the South China Sea or un-secede Taiwan. And then who knows what's going to happen with parts or if your car suddenly won't drive because it's a strategic advantage for China to kill as much infrastructure as possible. Besides some of the military installations (especially airbases) I visit already have areas, where Chinese cars aren't allowed in, if that becomes the entire installations I will have to walk around.
- No Teslas. I don't trust Musk to not revoke licenses or brick the car, and the QC is nonexistent. Besides I'd have to get one of those "I bought my Tesla before we knew he was an asshat" stickers.
- No Fords, that's just a rule of thumb for me.
- Range, I've had it with those stupid <50kWh battery packs. I'm not asking for much, just being able to go 300km at highway speeds. Going 90km/h and still have to charge every 150km sucks.
- Charging system must be CCS2 capable of 3 phases. Fuck Nissan and their stupid single phase type1/chademo solutions , there's no chademo chargers anywhere. And charging single phase at 3.3kW, when you're not at home, gets old fast.
I was looking at Renault Zoe, but after speaking with my local Renault dealer, who has a warranty order in for a simple spare reverse camera, and Renault for 6 months straight now, can't even tell when they'll be able to ship it. So Renault is out of the running.
So what else is there? Must be <5 years old, <20k€, and if it could have some warranty left it would be great. Hyundai Kona is starting to look pretty good right now.
Hyundai IONIQ (or the Kia EV# rebadges)?
Alternatively Volvo/Polestar, perhaps? Technically they’re partially Chinese owned - but at least a respectable International marque.
I’m a sucker for the neon-green Abarth 500e, but I’m going to wait a few years to pick one up second hand - as it’s hard to justify buying a Stellaris car new, given how quickly they depreciate here (Australia).
Tesla is trash, no QC.
I want some recommendations. Something with tactile controls and no subscriptions.
If you're in the US, wait about a year and you'll have a bunch of better options from the traditional automakers.
The thing that makes Tesla compelling to me is their charger network, and Ford, GM, etc are adopting the Tesla standard in upcoming models. I think Ford is doing the switch in 2025.
I'm a truck guy, and the F150 lightning looks way, way more compelling than the Cybertruck, because they're making what I want. A truck that happens to be electric. Ford has been making F-series trucks for over 75 years and has made a pretty refined package in that time. They took that design, put in an electric motor and used the space savings for a frunk.
That's what I want. The revolution should be in how it's powered, not in how it operates.
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1998 Toyota Tercel.
I drive the EV equivalent of this, a 2016 Nissan leaf.
It only cost 6k, 4kish with tax rebates, but it has a max mileage of like 70 miles. Perfect for our needs as a commuter car within the city.
There is a touchscreen, but that's just for audio since the gps and Pandora features stopped working after 3g cell service was phased out. There are tactile controls for audio as well.
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I like our Hyundai Kona a lot.
I loves ours too. But the Bluetooth function is totally crazy
Now this should not be able to happen but it will connect my phone to my daughter's and play out of her phone
I'm about to go look at a used Kona tomorrow. So if you please, what is crazy about the bluetooth?
How so?
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It's not a theory, all modern cars are spying on you and selling your data to anyone who will pay for it.
I’m so sick of people pretending we can consume our way out of this, it needs regulations and that’s the only way.
Yeah we know Tesla sucks
Are you actually asking for honest feedback or just upvotes?
If so, buying any used car is better. If you can get by with a 2008 accord, buy that. Better for the environment than any new electric. If you don't care about the environment and just want an electric for funsies, buy a used (whatever is well rated).
Better for the environment than any new electric.
Got any sources on that?
I don't have any data, but I'm surprised if a new electric is worse than a second hand ICE? What's your thinking behind that?
Reduce, reuse, recycle. Better to use a car that's already made then to make a new one.
That sort of makes sense, but then cars aren't stand alone things, they actively consume to travel. I guess it's a case of how much CO2 (I'm assuming we're ignoring other environment impact for now) is used in manufacture vs driving?
The second hand ICE keeps you buying new fuel though. With the EV, depending on location, most of your "fuel" is wind and sunshine, maybe nuclear.
With cars, you can't really compare the production alone, they pollute way more after the fact.
You would think that's true but after 50,000KM or so that new car is now essentially carbon neutral, while that old car is still puffing out co2
Better yet, buy a bicycle. Of course this doesn't currently work for everyone, but many people could live a better life with just a bike and don't even realize it. Deeply evaluate your own situation.
I'm not asking for anything. I just wanted to warn people so they are not stuck with a heap of junk from a company who's CEO endorses neo-Nazi political parties.
Yeah not a single dime he will receive from me. I'm not going to support a Nazi.
I'm very happy with mine but to each their own. Musk is definitely a complete asshole to put it mildly and imo the worst part of having a Tesla is the association with him. It's certainly a valid reason to not want one.
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In case anybody has to be talked out of spending that much money on a car.
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