ICE Vehicles: General topics

DT

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Umm, if my primary CC records are correct (as I don't think I used a different card), the last time we put gas the 4xe was 3 weeks ago ... and it's still 98% full.
 

DT

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Side note: I've told people that you can sell your leased car, they just want it paid off for the residual amount + outstanding payments. Well, we did a couple of buy offers (through Carvana for example), the DD is coming back $7500 over the buyout/residual :cool: So instead of just handing over the keys, it's being sold, we pocket the money, on to the next lease.

OK, so ...

Because the DD/RT was within the last 30 days of the lease, a 3rd party couldn't do a dealer purchase, only the leasee, i.e., us, so about 6 weeks ago, we bought it outright, with the expectation of selling to Carvana, Vroom, etc., we figured at worst case, break even.

Then, since we had it, and were waiting on the title, and had a couple of Orlando trips planned, and it's insured, has a current registration, heck, we drove it both times. the title took all that time, 6 weeks, they're apparently horribly backed up at the DSMV, plus, you know, Florida.

Well, the title showed up today, finally (I saw the title status change online last week, so figured it was inbound), we immediately hopped onto Carvana, processed it again, and even with the extra mileage it went up, by a decent amount, like instead of $7500, it's going to be right around $9K in our pocket.

Woot!

Uploaded docs/title, waiting on confirmation a day or two, then schedule a pickup.
 

quagmire

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I will cross post here since this is the more appropriate thread. But picked up my 2021 Model 3 LR this morning. I had sold my 2017 Camaro SS back in April when the trade in value went from $23,000 in November to $37,000 at time of trade in to Carmax. Never thought I would sell the Camaro, but hey life is unpredictable! Put the order in for the Model 3 same day. I have never been a fan of white cars and if it was a flat white, I would have shelled out another $1000 for the blue or midnight silver metallic( red would actually would have been my second choice, but I refuse to spend $2000 on paint). But I love the metallic white paint on the Model 3 and it was free so win-win. I loved the white interior, but cleaning it scares me despite saying they are fairly stain resistant and easy to clean, but stuck with black.

I loved how it drove on the way home and had the Tesla Wall Connector installed back in April and worked flawlessly. Only issue upon delivery was a clip broke that held the plastic trim around the frame of the drivers seat so it is unsecured. They didn't have the part in stock so they ordered it and mobile tech will come out and fix it. Convenient anyway since I ordered the Homelink part and they will have to come out to install that so whatever as long as it is an easy fix.

Anyway, just dropped it off at the PPF/Ceramic coating place. So Tesla-less at the moment once again. Getting the full front end done, side rockers, and full rear trunk in Xpel and then doing Ceramic Coating on top and everywhere else. tempImagee3Lm9V.pngtempImageWYQXiV.pngtempImage85e4iR.pngtempImageqTnJgS.png
 

Eric

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I will cross post here since this is the more appropriate thread. But picked up my 2021 Model 3 LR this morning. I had sold my 2017 Camaro SS back in April when the trade in value went from $23,000 in November to $37,000 at time of trade in to Carmax. Never thought I would sell the Camaro, but hey life is unpredictable! Put the order in for the Model 3 same day. I have never been a fan of white cars and if it was a flat white, I would have shelled out another $1000 for the blue or midnight silver metallic( red would actually would have been my second choice, but I refuse to spend $2000 on paint). But I love the metallic white paint on the Model 3 and it was free so win-win. I loved the white interior, but cleaning it scares me despite saying they are fairly stain resistant and easy to clean, but stuck with black.

I loved how it drove on the way home and had the Tesla Wall Connector installed back in April and worked flawlessly. Only issue upon delivery was a clip broke that held the plastic trim around the frame of the drivers seat so it is unsecured. They didn't have the part in stock so they ordered it and mobile tech will come out and fix it. Convenient anyway since I ordered the Homelink part and they will have to come out to install that so whatever as long as it is an easy fix.

Anyway, just dropped it off at the PPF/Ceramic coating place. So Tesla-less at the moment once again. Getting the full front end done, side rockers, and full rear trunk in Xpel and then doing Ceramic Coating on top and everywhere else. View attachment 5968View attachment 5969View attachment 5970View attachment 5971
Congrats, beautiful car all the way around. Looking forward to a Tesla as my next purchase as well, I wanted to rollup my negative equity in my current car into the purchase of a new Tesla but they weren't having it, they said "we don't do that" so I went to the BMW and bought a 2020 5 series instead, because they "did do that". Once that lease is up though and I'm fully paid off I'll be getting the Tesla.
 

DT

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Uploaded docs/title, waiting on confirmation a day or two, then schedule a pickup.

Pickup went smooth, made $9000 vs. just turning over the keys after the lease.

Having 3 cars forced me to sort out the garage, so it's great, now we have both cars in the garage - again (well, have since the Wrangler picked up a couple of months ago) - but still need to put up some new ceiling storage, clear out a few more things.

Jeep down to the point today, it's just so dang fun, so easy to toss in the SUP board, hit the low tide, paddle around ...

Gas part of the 4xe hasn't moved, going on like 4 weeks since we're 99% on battery when we use it :)
 

DT

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OK, made a drive by type post about this, but figured I'd ramble about it a little in the appropriate thread :)


1623444535824.png



I don't mind saying, that while it's dozens of different factors, coming together, @quagmire is not, NOT, some small part of it. Actually several folks like him, who kind of had an epiphany, and that includes people - again, like me - who have a long history of performance cars / muscle / imports.

A guy just got his M3P delivered, and his previous cars were vehicles like a Hellcat, hahaha, he wrote this:

I have previously owned several modified Hellcats, a Viper T/A, a Trackhawk, a C7 Grand Sport and an Alfa Romeo Giulia QV for good measure. Honestly... up until yesterday/today....I thought I had driven fast.

I had a 700+ HP Supra, a few Vettes, my two GTs, but mostly have been doing the convertible performance thing for the last 10+ years, but once we got the Wrangler, that scratched that itch. Speaking of ...

The 4xe was a massive tip towards this decision, it just made me want to go all in. With the 50a outlet (and a 40a charger) in the garage, we're set, and not going to gas station, and paying ~$1.50 for ~30 miles of range in the 4xe is just fucking fantastic.

For me, it was battery yard blower ...

Then I added some additional tools by Greenworks, a string trimmer, a pole saw, so nice, one pack for multiple tools and jobs. Then, at the moment I needed some gas for the mower, I got a Woot ad for a Greenworks mower, yes, two packs, another charger, 60% discount, I'm all in!

And when the option for a PHEV came up to replace the DD/RT going off lease, one that would be quick, super fun (like be able to remove the top, drive through 30" of water ...) it was perfect, and then I was totally on track to go with a BEV to replace my car, it'll be a perfect match, a medium sized 4-door sedan, super high tech, nasty quick, full on BEV + a PHEV for when we need an ICE backup, and do the things it's superlative at doing.

More later :D
 

quagmire

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OK, made a drive by type post about this, but figured I'd ramble about it a little in the appropriate thread :)


View attachment 6000


I don't mind saying, that while it's dozens of different factors, coming together, @quagmire is not, NOT, some small part of it. Actually several folks like him, who kind of had an epiphany, and that includes people - again, like me - who have a long history of performance cars / muscle / imports.

A guy just got his M3P delivered, and his previous cars were vehicles like a Hellcat, hahaha, he wrote this:



I had a 700+ HP Supra, a few Vettes, my two GTs, but mostly have been doing the convertible performance thing for the last 10+ years, but once we got the Wrangler, that scratched that itch. Speaking of ...

The 4xe was a massive tip towards this decision, it just made me want to go all in. With the 50a outlet (and a 40a charger) in the garage, we're set, and not going to gas station, and paying ~$1.50 for ~30 miles of range in the 4xe is just fucking fantastic.

For me, it was battery yard blower ...

Then I added some additional tools by Greenworks, a string trimmer, a pole saw, so nice, one pack for multiple tools and jobs. Then, at the moment I needed some gas for the mower, I got a Woot ad for a Greenworks mower, yes, two packs, another charger, 60% discount, I'm all in!

And when the option for a PHEV came up to replace the DD/RT going off lease, one that would be quick, super fun (like be able to remove the top, drive through 30" of water ...) it was perfect, and then I was totally on track to go with a BEV to replace my car, it'll be a perfect match, a medium sized 4-door sedan, super high tech, nasty quick, full on BEV + a PHEV for when we need an ICE backup, and do the things it's superlative at doing.

More later :D

Ha!

Congrats! Car Thread 2.0 will now turn into, " DT's complaining of where is his VIN" thread and will need Car Thread 3.0. :D ( almost subtle joke, but man is it frustrating to see reddit and TMC filled with angry people over the EDD changing on a daily basis). Just set your expectation of delivery being September 30th, you will be fine.

I already miss my car after dropping it off at the PPF/Ceramic coating installer. But in the 20 miles that I drove it, I barely pressed the pedal maybe 40-50% down and I was blown away at the speed. Now mind you this was my actual first drive of the Long Range version. All of my drives in the Model 3 and Model Y have been the performance trim when I was test driving back in April. The performance version is just insane in acceleration, but Long Range is still no joke. Now add in the acceleration boost.....
 
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DT

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Ha!

Congrats! Car Thread 2.0 will now turn into, " DT's complaining of where is his VIN" thread and will need Car Thread 3.0. :D ( almost subtle joke, but man is it frustrating to see reddit and TMC filled with angry people over the EDD changing on a daily basis). Just set your expectation of delivery being September 30th, you will be fine.

I already miss my car after dropping it off at the PPF/Ceramic coating installer. But in the 20 miles that I drove it, I barely pressed the pedal maybe 40-50% down and I was blown away at the speed. Now mind you this was my actual first drive of the Long Range version. All of my drives in the Model 3 and Model Y have been the performance trim when I was test driving back in April. The performance version is just insane in acceleration, but Long Range is still no joke. Now add in the acceleration boost.....

Yeah, I have zero expectations about delivery and actually hoping there's enough time for a new Tax Credit to kick in (if it's the one proposal, that could be as much as $10K).

The performance is pretty nuts, and it's a totally different feeling, especially when combined with the [relative] quietness.

Yours came with a J1772 adapter right? My plan is to use our Grizzl-e charger with the Jeep and the Tesla, but it needs a J1772-to-Tesla adapter. It's a 40a (on a 50a circuit), so that should hit ~35 miles per hour on charging.
 

quagmire

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Yeah, I have zero expectations about delivery and actually hoping there's enough time for a new Tax Credit to kick in (if it's the one proposal, that could be as much as $10K).

The performance is pretty nuts, and it's a totally different feeling, especially when combined with the [relative] quietness.

Yours came with a J1772 adapter right? My plan is to use our Grizzl-e charger with the Jeep and the Tesla, but it needs a J1772-to-Tesla adapter. It's a 40a (on a 50a circuit), so that should hit ~35 miles per hour on charging.

The nice thing about the tax credit bill is that it will remove the 200K vehicle cap on the current law and making it effective after May 24th for new deliveries. So if that language is maintained through signing, even I will be eligible for the $7500 tax credit. It going to $10K will be for deliveries after December 31st, 2021 as currently written.

I think that is what I like about the performance of the Tesla's. It's a silent speedster that you don't expect it where a vehicle with a V8 or Turbo 6 cylinder, you expect speed with the noise( not complaining about the sound of an engine cause that is what I miss most about my Camaro is the sound of the V8). It doesn't handle as well as the Camaro, but still drives really well and not just a straight line machine.

Yeah it comes with a J1772 adapter.
 

DT

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Car went from, delivers in X days, to an actual date range, July 07 - July 27
 

bunnspecial

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I'll be interested to see your Tesla impressions, @DT . It's no secret that I'm not a Tesla fan, but I've enjoyed seeing the comments from a few of the car guys who can look at it objectively and not be blinded by the brand.

Glad to see yours is treating you well, @quagmire and will be interested to see your impressions as things go along.

I'd be interested in going to an EV especially for my 30 mile commute to work. It gets even more attractive when you consider that we have charging stations there. None the less, it's a bit less than practical for me now since our 70 year old house has 100A service with 30A of it taken up by the AC and 4x 15A spread through the rest of the house(everything that can be-the stove, water heater, furnace, and dyer-is gas). I'm all for upgrading the power service, but for now that makes getting an EV less practical since I can't do a dedicated 240V charger. A PHEV might be an option also, but again probably not now.

Meanwhile, I'm still piddling away with the MG, which may not be fast but is a heck of a lot of fun. Right now, I'm still SLOWLY finishing up what started out as an adventure fitting poly bushings to the rear end. It ended up with a lot of rear axle refresh work. I hope to finish it this week, but I'm waiting on my bubble flare tool to hopefully FINALLY run the rear brake lines I killed in taking things apart(and probably needed to be done a long time ago). I'm also fighting with getting one of the old rubber bushings out.
 

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I'll be interested to see your Tesla impressions, @DT . It's no secret that I'm not a Tesla fan, but I've enjoyed seeing the comments from a few of the car guys who can look at it objectively and not be blinded by the brand.

Glad to see yours is treating you well, @quagmire and will be interested to see your impressions as things go along.

I'd be interested in going to an EV especially for my 30 mile commute to work. It gets even more attractive when you consider that we have charging stations there. None the less, it's a bit less than practical for me now since our 70 year old house has 100A service with 30A of it taken up by the AC and 4x 15A spread through the rest of the house(everything that can be-the stove, water heater, furnace, and dyer-is gas). I'm all for upgrading the power service, but for now that makes getting an EV less practical since I can't do a dedicated 240V charger. A PHEV might be an option also, but again probably not now.

Meanwhile, I'm still piddling away with the MG, which may not be fast but is a heck of a lot of fun. Right now, I'm still SLOWLY finishing up what started out as an adventure fitting poly bushings to the rear end. It ended up with a lot of rear axle refresh work. I hope to finish it this week, but I'm waiting on my bubble flare tool to hopefully FINALLY run the rear brake lines I killed in taking things apart(and probably needed to be done a long time ago). I'm also fighting with getting one of the old rubber bushings out.
I have a 100-mile range EV (2016 VW e-Golf) and I use it for commuting. I use it with a regular 120V plug. It charges slowly, but fast enough for my needs. I’ve also found very little battery degradation in my 5 years of ownership, perhaps from only using the slow charging. If your average is 60 miles a day, you will be fine starting out with the slow charging from the 120V
 

quagmire

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I'll be interested to see your Tesla impressions, @DT . It's no secret that I'm not a Tesla fan, but I've enjoyed seeing the comments from a few of the car guys who can look at it objectively and not be blinded by the brand.

Glad to see yours is treating you well, @quagmire and will be interested to see your impressions as things go along.

I'd be interested in going to an EV especially for my 30 mile commute to work. It gets even more attractive when you consider that we have charging stations there. None the less, it's a bit less than practical for me now since our 70 year old house has 100A service with 30A of it taken up by the AC and 4x 15A spread through the rest of the house(everything that can be-the stove, water heater, furnace, and dyer-is gas). I'm all for upgrading the power service, but for now that makes getting an EV less practical since I can't do a dedicated 240V charger. A PHEV might be an option also, but again probably not now.

Meanwhile, I'm still piddling away with the MG, which may not be fast but is a heck of a lot of fun. Right now, I'm still SLOWLY finishing up what started out as an adventure fitting poly bushings to the rear end. It ended up with a lot of rear axle refresh work. I hope to finish it this week, but I'm waiting on my bubble flare tool to hopefully FINALLY run the rear brake lines I killed in taking things apart(and probably needed to be done a long time ago). I'm also fighting with getting one of the old rubber bushings out.

Will do.

I mainly focused on Tesla when looking at an EV. Reason? Infrastructure and performance. CCS will probably become the norm and standard among plugs, but right now the Supercharger network is hard to beat not to mention the user interface with the chargers. Superchargers? Just plug in and good to go. I watched a few videos of what I think are just general EV fans than Tesla fanboys( like Out of Spec motoring) and their experience with Electrify America and others seem dreadful. Have to download their app, sign up, etc in order to use the charger. Or the charger is broken or has a communication issue with the car( Mustang Mach E which could be fixed with software). The experience with Tesla's seems to mirror Apple due to the integration they have of doing everything themselves and that appealed to me greatly.

I wanted something that could at least be comparable to the Camaro in terms of performance. The ID.4 didn't check that box. I also do not like the ID.4's interior. The Mustang Mach E is the first one really to be an affordable EV that can rival Tesla's performance. I should have probably at least given the Mach E a look, but again seeing a lot of Mach E reviews run into charger issues scared me aware there. I also don't like the vertical setup of the screen. Will probably give it a look anyway down the road as my mom is interested in an EV. She is more interested in the Model Y, but the Mach E being more like a traditional car in the interior setup may end up appealing to her more.

I also love how Tesla constantly updates the vehicles. Which is certainly a weird position knowing @DT vehicle could feature new feature that mine doesn't have despite both being "2021's" if he gets one delivered in the third quarter. 4th quarter Model 3's gained the heat pump and double pane glass, 1st quarter Model 3's gained new headlights and center console, and 2nd quarter Model 3's seemed to gain a new battery pack going from 79 kwh to 82 Kwh and the trim on the door got changed around. Heck with the Model Y at least, they are constantly improving on how the structure is built going to a single casting for the rear subframe and are working towards the same with the front. Now they also remove things too which can suck such as radar and lumbar on the passenger seat for 2nd quarter Tesla's. But I do love how Tesla doesn't sit still and they constantly work on improving the vehicle.

Tesla's though are by far perfect vehicles nor perfect as a company. Despite the hype and crap Tesla may sell in terms that since they don't have dealers and sell the cars directly, it helps improve the experience for the customer. In some ways it does because the ordering and delivery process was very easy and painless. But despite controlling their service centers and should be able to make the experiences consistent, it's not. It is still very much like the dealership experience. It's a crapshoot whether your local service center is any good or the sales agent you get assigned is any good( if you even know who is your SA). Have a question? Often enough seems like a lot of them don't even bother answering. And for those that do, the information they provide can vary depending on who you ask. One may say, " Oh you will definitely get your car in July!" when chances are low given how Tesla does deliveries. Another may say apply for financing the moment you order despite delivery being 3 months out and the offer expiring and will require another hard pull. The correct answer IMHO, is to select paying via cash cause it does seem profile completion plays a role in how the computer system assigns a VIN. But once a VIN is assigned then have your SA( or call Tesla customer service in case of a bad SA) open the payment section back up to select desired payment method(lease/third party financing/financing through Tesla). Communication overall seems to be Tesla's weak point. I can somewhat understand from a human perspective of why the experience can suck. Given the lack of service centers Tesla currently has, they are massively overworked given one service center has to handle a crap ton traffic as people have to drive 3+ hours to get to their closest ones. Tesla really needs to build more to help take the work load off their current locations. Also VIN assignments seem random at times. A person could have ordered on 4/5 and had completed their profile and another person order the exact same configuration and for the same location for delivery order on 5/15 with their profile completed. The 5/15 order could get their vehicle first. Which to me doesn't seem right. Now based on my own experience, I will say the worst thing about the Tesla experience so far is the, " You will pick up the car on our terms or we will give the car to someone else" policy. You have 3-5 days to pick up the vehicle( again on their terms of the window of dates they choose) or they reassign that VIN to another order. That is a load of BS especially for a person like me where my career has me away from home for 4 days at a time. I got lucky and my window fell within my off days, but it could have easily fallen on days I was working and faced the, " Oh too bad, we can't hold it" and had my vehicle yanked from me and put back in the line.

And obviously build quality needs major upping. It seems like Tesla is accepting letting issues get sent to the customer and hope the customer accepts delivery and again lets the overworked service centers fix the issues instead of preventing/catching it at the factory or prior to delivery. All so they can pad their delivery numbers for that quarter. My issue with the seat trim was blatantly obvious and should have been caught. It certainly hampered the experience of picking up my new car. It is somewhat is alleviated by the fact the repair should be simple enough and can be done by their mobile service techs. And they had to come out anyway to install the Homelink device in my Model 3 so they were coming out anyway. And as long as the repair is done properly and correctly, long term perspective small issue and I still very much love the vehicle. There is also small headliner fitment issues on my Model 3 where one section of the headliner isn't completely mesh with another section and is hanging down just a tiny bit. But it's not big enough of an issue for me to deal with it where there could be more issues caused than just leaving it alone. Heck my Camaro had its headliner start sagging down by the rear windshield which looked far worse. How the Model 3 is is far better. Shouldn't still be happening and for me go, " Well I will live with it", but I will.

But in my opinion and perspective, if you want to go EV and have the money for a vehicle in the Model 3/Model Y price range with how the market currently stands, Tesla is the one to go for. And Tesla damn well knows it hence why there is no quick action being taken to fix their customer service/experience. Demand is by far outstripping supply right now and they know if I got fed up and wanted to cancel, there are a crap ton of people behind me waiting in line for my spot and vehicle. This won't be lasting for long as competition is finally starting to enter the market and the infrastructure gets improved so Tesla will have to improve if they want to remain competitive. But they should be working on it now to make sure the ones that are buying, will want to stay with Tesla vs bail in 5 years when the market has drastically changed on the choice you have for EV's and gotten sick and tired of Tesla's BS.
 
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quagmire

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I have a 100-mile range EV (2016 VW e-Golf) and I use it for commuting. I use it with a regular 120V plug. It charges slowly, but fast enough for my needs. I’ve also found very little battery degradation in my 5 years of ownership, perhaps from only using the slow charging. If your average is 60 miles a day, you will be fine starting out with the slow charging from the 120V

My commute is about the same. I still elected for the 240V charger because when I did an overnight test drive of the Model 3, I plugged it in with the standard 120V charger and ran the climate control and heated seats to see the power draw and it wasn't enough power to do that and keep the battery charged. Plus in winter, power draw is higher due to cabin and battery heating. So wanted the extra power capacity to do that without draining the battery at the same time.
 

DT

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@bunnspecial

Yeah, as you no doubt remember, I've been, 1) a skeptic of EVs in general, and 2) pretty outspoken about Tesla specifically. I'll be the first to admit, my current perspective is a pretty big reverse, but let me ramble about it for a bit.

Umm, first let me read quag's post, hahaha, I had this sitting in the editor, planning on coming back to it all day, but I think now I might be able to just go, "Yes, see above ..."
 

DT

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I will say this right up front: outside of a PHEV or HEV, where the charger infrastructure isn't such a big deal, today, and likely through really close to my planned ownership period, I'd say Tesla has a pretty decent lead in that aspect [of EV ownership].
 
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