New Car buying experience

[Lynn]

Originally Posted by Xplantdad

Sorry to hear, Lynn

Such is life. Right? Hey, considering how good my life is, I will take a few dents in the Hyundai. Can't believe I even admit to driving a Hyundai; and an EV Hyundai at that. I am sure that just pisses off some of the guys on this site. Sherri and I think it is pretty cool driving to work using energy equivilent to 2 cent per mile, which is about what the electricity works out to be. 36c or less each way. Heck, my biggest problem with this car may be how to keep the gas in the tank from going stale. Better go get some Sta-bil.

Besides, we have some nice weather coming up, so while it is in the body shop, I will have a perfect excuse to drive the SL55 AMG to work with the top down. May even drive the Z/28. Definitely not gas savers, but fun just the same.

[Xplantdad]

Some of the painless dent removal folks are amazing...There were more than a few local cars that got damaged during this hail storm in 2010-and after they were done, you couldn't even tell!


Be safe, Lynn!

[Lynn]

We got the hail damage repaired. All done PDR. There is a local guy that took out a few small dings in my black SL55, so I was confident he could take the 65 dents out of the roof of this white car. Had it done in two days.

We have put 1100 miles on the car and used one gallon of gas. Most of that was on the first day we drove it, as we had a bunch of errands to run that day. Since then, it has been mostly just too and from work. Drive to work. Plug it in. Drive home. Plug it in. On those days, we use zero gasoline. The cost of electricity has stayed very steady at about 1.8 cents per mile; so still cheaper than gas even if gas is less than a dollar a gallon. I never use E10 if I can help it, so the cheapest I can get gas around here is about $1.40.... for now. But come on, you know it will go back up when everyone goes back to work.

I realize the plug in hybrid isn't the car for everyone, but for us, this works out really well.

[Woj]

Interesting story. I'd like to know how much your electric bill has gone up. The price for a new car is certainly interesting. For short commutes, probably a great deal.

[Lynn]

I can tell you that for the short trip home, the electric costs 34.08 cents a day.

I bought a cheap meter that monitors the electric useage in KW hours. Averages 4.8 on those days we just drive home. Our cost is 7.1 cents per KWh.

[Lynn]

Well, electricity has gone up a bit. Can't see the difference in our bill, as the amount used by this car pales in comparison to our HVAC bills.

Rates have increased from 7.1 cents to 10.5 cents per KWH. So, now the trip home costs us 50.4 cents. That translates to about $11 a month. I think my first post stated the trip was 22 miles. It isn't; it is 22 minutes. Trip is just a tick over 18 miles. By contrast my 83 BMW 745i, which gets 24 mpg (ONLY if I keep my foot out of it, which I rarely do.... I am being generous here). I have to burn premium as I run 11 psi boost. Last fill up was $3.89. If I keep my foot out of it, it costs $2.91 to get home from the office, about 5.7 times as much.
I still drive the bimmer quite a bit, just because I like it.

[Keith Seymore]

Thanks for the update.

Your commute sounds like what I did with a Chevy Volt for 4 years - 33 miles one way, so with 40 miles range I could drive to work, re-charge, and drive home without using any gas.

If I got called out of my swim lane then I could deviate to run errands and not have to worry about running out of range.

Originally Posted by Lynn

With all the talk about electric vehicles lately, I have been doing some research. I realize this is a sore subject for some, but for me, I am ready to embrace some of the new technology.

Sherri and I commute 22 miles to work together 99% of the time. Every once in a while we need to take two cars, but that is rare.

A few years ago I bought a really cheap beater Prius, just to see what hybrid life was like.

Etc

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Sherri made the comment a while ago: “That was a very pleasant buying experience.” It really was. Everyone was respectful, it went smoothly, and we were in and out in less than two hours. Her car is white.

Man! You had me until right there!

(lol)

[Lynn]

What can I say? It was the only one in Oklahoma.

I will post a long term update in the next few days.

[HerminaShumate]

Thanks for sharing this topic here. It looks like a good story so far. Carry on!

[Lynn]

I know this is primarily a muscle car site, but thought I would update my post from nearly three years ago when we bought Sherri a Hyundai Ioniq Plug in Hybrid.

I only learned of the Ioniq Plug in Hybrid a week or two before we found this one. As stated in my initial post, with the dealer discount (it was a left over 2019) and the two tax credits, one Fed and one State, our out the door price was effectively $17,000. Three year bumper to bumper warranty, and lifetime warranty (for the original purchaser) on the HV battery. Regardless of what you read about the new “lifetime” batteries, I seriously doubt they have a life expectancy beyond 10 - 12 years.

Because we have a relatively short commute (18 miles each way) the plug in hybrid is the ideal commuter car for us. Leaving it plugged in to a regular 15 amp 110 outlet over night (normally only needs about 4 hours to fully charge) then driving to work on that charge, we normally use zero gas. Then we plug in at the office, and 99% of the time, we are fully charged again before we head home. We have EASILY cut our overall gasoline usage 90% plus.

I still don’t know why the gubbment isn’t pushing THIS technology to make the transition to electric.

We drove it to MCACN in 2021. We NEVER plugged in after leaving home. We still averaged 51 mpg. Because the back seat folds down, it is more of a hatchback than a sedan with a trunk. It just doesn’t look like a hatchback. While at MCACN I picked up four ralley wheels and tires from Joe (highperf69) along with some other parts. When we pulled around to load the parts, Joe asked where we were going to put everything. Then I folded the seats down and there was more than ample room.

I change the oil and filter at 7500 mile intervals. I feel silly doing that. I told Sherri the other day that the gas engine probably doesn’t have the equivalent to 5000 miles on it yet, even though the odometer is closing in on 43,000. I replaced the air filter, just because the maintenance schedule says to. You can barely tell the air filter was used. The cabin filter was way dirtier than the engine air filter. Only other maintenance has been rotating the tires (2x). The brakes still don’t have any appreciable wear. I can see them going 200k. That’s because when you first touch the brake pedal, it doesn’t engage the brakes at all (it does in a panic stop, but not with normal stopping pressure). Instead, the inverter (or something... I probably have the terminology incorrect) slows the car down and converts that energy into a charge for the HV battery.

The only issue we have had (other than Sherri running over a truck tire tread on the interstate at 85 mph) was the charge cord. Whoever designed it obviously didn’t take into account that I would be using it outdoors in the sun all day every work day (at the office). No UV protection and it started breaking down pretty badly. Plus the three prong end gets plugged into two different outlets (one at work and one at home) that face opposite horizontal directions, so that back and forth bending made it start to separate. We stopped by the Hyundai dealer to check on my son’s 2015 Santa Fe (whole different story for another thread ... but also a good outcome) and I showed the cord to the service advisor. He got on the phone and ordered a new one for Hyundai ($1200 part) and it was replaced under warranty.

Sherri really likes this little car. As stated above, she had a run in with a tire tread on the interstate. It broke the air dam, the lower bumper cover, the belly pan and knocked off the petcock drain on the plastic radiator tank. That was the last week of September. My body shop of choice could not get us in until December 3. I cleaned up the plastic on the radiator, and epoxied a small plate where the petcock had been so we could drive it in the interim. During the week she was without her Ionic, she had to drive either the Mercedes or my old BMW. She really missed her car. I am shocked at how tight and taut it is and how well it handles. She has had two BMW MRoadsters, so she knows what a good handling car feels like.

Not much to bitch about here. I will definitely keep this car long enough to get a new HV battery under the warranty. Will probably end up as my granddaughter’s first car. She turned 3 in September.