Posted on 08/22/2014 8:50:27 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
So the wife & I are thinking on taking the plunge. I commute about 75 miles a day round trip to work & back. Based on that, I pay over $410 in gas/month on a paid car that is just getting more expensive to maintain.
Any other FReepers who are owners care to give your experiences?
Is it worth it?
BOL!: “98 Dodge Durango...we get 9 mpg city...20 hwy....BUT, I can go anywhere on or off road, haul whatever I need, and lay down rubber and smoke like a NASCAR Driver...hehehehe!”
Our younger son got an early inheritance, my big Ford Bronco, OJ Simpson model with the big V8 5 years ago. He gets about 12 mpg in town which is minimal driving and about 15-17 mpg on the road.
At first due to pressure from enviral whackos, he considered getting a so called eco friendly vehicle. He put new tires on the Bronco and had the yearly smog test which it passed. The owner of the smog shop told him to keep the vehicle until it stopped running in about another 100,000 miles pluse the original 100k, and if he decided to sell it, to contact his shop first.
He is an avid bike rider and rides his bike to and from work when the weather permits and puts maybe 5k miles on each year. Most of his drives are one a lot of 2 lane roads, where a lot of people in the enviral whacko vehicles are often in head ons or slamming into a tree. They end up seriously hurt or killed. If it is a head on with similar vehicle, the driver of the big pickup or suv walks away or drives away. Not so with those in the smaller beer cans posing as cars.
The town he lives in has a great Ford dealer, and the head mechanic loves the Broncos and service is minimal, low cost and excellent.
One of his fellow bike riders is a cpa and told my son that he would be wasting big money to buy a $25-30k+ vehicle to be green. He gave him a spread sheet to prove the point.
Often when he parks his Bronco to go bike riding, he will have a business card or a sheet of paper under the windshield wiper on his side offering to buy his Bronco.
My wife’s, car is a 2011 camry hybrid. Great car.
Whoever came up with the idea of timing beltsunami should be flogged.
I don't care who ya are - that's funny right there!
A cat o’ 9 belts. Then put on a rack and pulled in both directions by timing belts.
Interesting review
We have owned our Leaf since May 2011. We have loved the car but are now getting quite concerned. My husband drives the car, on average, 20-40 miles/day to and from work and running errands, mostly 100% on city roads. We live in San Diego, so no issue with winter weather and we live 7 miles from the ocean so seldom have daytime temperatures above 85. Originally, we would get 65-70 miles per 80-90% charge. Last fall we noticed that there was considerably less remaining charge left after a day of driving. He began to track daily miles, remaining “bars”, as well as started charging it 100%. For 9 months we have only been getting 40-45 miles on a full charge with only 1-2 “bars” remaining at the end of the day. Sometimes it will be blinking and “talking” to us to get to a charging place ASAP. We just had it into the dealership. Though on a full charge, the car gauge shows 12 bars, the dealership states that the batteries have lost 2 bars via the computer diagnostics (which we are told is a different reading from the car gauge itself) and, that they say, is average and excepted for the car at this age. Everything else (software, diagnostics, etc.) shows 100%, so the dealership thinks that the car is functioning as it should. They are unable to explain why we can only go 40-45 miles on a charge, but keep saying that the car tests out fine. If the distance one is able to drive on a full charge decreases any further, it will begin to render the car useless. As someone else recommended, in retrospect, the best way to go is to lease the Leaf so that battery life is not an issue.
That's probably the least of your worries. No heat in winter, can't use the lights too much, battery degrades over time, can't get a full charge without rewiring your garage, etc.
Then the answer is obviously no.
Don't do it.
Because batteries are not ready for prime time. Try again in 10 years.
Get a diesel.
VW has some really nice ones......................you’ll be glad you did.................
Broncos are SO COOL! The one on the LONGMIRE show on A&E is perfect. We have been looking for one for our youngest son who is now stuck driving mrs p6’s old Saturn.
He’d also go for an F150 or older Ranger. The 4x4 comes in really handy with our winters.
Another Durango is in the mix but admittedly a used one will need a transmission, probably ball joints and other front end work. On a Durango that is a given, LOL!
I do almost all my own work so it isn’t THAT bad just a PITA.
A Bronco is much more reliable and WAY cooler!
Please read post 109
Interesting....we’re looking at a lease in any case.
But good read.
Thanks!
Yes very telling!
Would you depend upon this car to get to work, or do you have another if it failed to charge one night?
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