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?
Funny, I went to cars.com before posting and they showed me much different pricing.
I must live in a rich zip code.
Son in law has one for daily 100mile commute. Great mileage and very nice car.
Timing belt changes at 60,000 miles are a thing of the past. I believe most if not all cars are using timing chains which do not require replacement under normal conditions.
Many other non-electric vehicles are a better buy by a large margin.
The VW jets TDI (Diesel), for instance. 50+mpg at a reasonable cost and it is a great car.
Electric vehicles get an equivalent of about 110mpg. That’s it. Toss in their high price and they get less than 40mpg in equivalent cost.
“If you look at cars.com, Nissan Leaves are selling at under $20K. Probably after the tax break, but still nowhere near the 30K”
You may well be right: I was quoting the “Build a Car” list price (pre- tax incentive) from the Nissan Leaf website. If there is significant discounting going on at the dealership level, they become a much better buy.
Because I live in the North East, cold-weather decrement of battery function makes a car with the Leaf’s quoted range a non-starter unless it could be charged at work.
““The Nissan Leaf looks like you lost your man card.”
Even if I put a Gadsden Flag & NRA sticker on it?”
Hell, you could put a hot chick in a bikini on the hood and still lose the man-card.
My car has 135k miles and I haven’t changed anything except the battery, tires, and plugs. Other than things like oil and lubricants.
I love not having a car payment.
LOL, that’s a go cart! You would actually take that thing on the highway?
Buy a coal fired car? Just put a steam engine and a coal fired boiler in your existing vehicle, and viola! You have the equivalent of a plug in hybrid. That is unless you plan to mooch electricity off of your employer, via an office parking lot charging system, in which case the electricity you use should be deducted from your paycheck. Everybody has to pay for the energy they consume, and electric & hybrid vehicle users are no exception.
That $6,800 price tag is a teaser rate to sucker people into being interested. Let us know if they actually come out at that rate. Compared to motorcycles and other small vehicles there is no way they are producing a good quality vehicle at that price.
For this money (or even less) you can get a Prius. Not a plug-in. Do not focus on plug-in vehicles - batteries today are not very efficient, both in terms of stored energy and in terms of cost.
You will not be able to make the round trip in a Leaf with enough charge left to allow heater, headlights, and other loads without charging at work. However what if you cannot charge at work? What if you have to go somewhere else before or after work? Those are very real scenarios. A hybrid removes this worry from your mind.
Cost-wise, a Prius in a city will give you about 45-50 mpg. Your daily commute is 75 miles, that would burn (in worst case) 1.6 gallons that today cost $6. If you do it every work day, $6 * 5 * 4 = $133. I leave more than that in a grocery store whenever I go there. It would be diminishing returns to optimize further.
Diesel.
VW or Hyundai.
Between 50 to 60 MPG.
(Tuesday at 50mph mine returned 71mpg on a flat smooth road. ) No BS.
In my opinion, a completely electric car may be okay as a second car, to be used for local runs of short mileage. I would have serious reservations, however, about buying one as a daily driver for a 75 mile round trip commute each day. Given the limited range between recharging, what happens if you get stuck in a traffic jam for an extended period of time?
Thanks dfwgator, we think a lot a like. Seems mostly CA and Yankee Freepers like this crap. (snicker).
Quoting Office Space..... Driving something like this in Texas is a good way to get your ass kicked (or seriously get laughed at). Give me my 5.6 L V8 gas guzzling big truck any day.
It’s not “mooching” if the employer provides it as part of their benefits package.
EVs work for some people. The problem is when people make a decision to purchase based on the false notion of “greenness” rather than hard cost/benefit and return on investment analyses. I’ve yet to see a single post on this thread playing up the Leaf (or any other alt fueled vehicle) based on it being a “green” option.
And you certainly wouldn't be able to get to do two chicks at the same time, even with a million dollars. LOL!
Shoot. I get that on my 2005 Civic.
Its larger than my MG Midget and I used to fly along at 90MPH on the FL turnpike in that little deathtrap. :-)
Seriously if they get a 5 star crash rating its prolly just as safe as any other little sports car. Its so low to the ground it will never flip. Watch the video of it on snow. I am waiting for them to come to Atlanta so we can go actually look at one and sit in it.
Heaven forbid you ever get involved in a serious accident. But as far as Nissans, if you ever did..... Would you rather be in a Leaf or a Titan?
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