The Automobile Thread

BonsaiNut said:
5 years cash payback, assuming no residual value.

That was ten years ago... when electricity was cheaper. Now I am saving about $5000 per year. My house isn't even that big, though I have a pool and an EV. My average electricity bill is a little under $100 per month all year. December is expensive, and June I usually pay nothing.
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Saving 5k on solar? My yearly house hold electric bill is probably in the $500-600 range using AC to be comfy too. And I don't have solar. Highest month this year was maybe $90.
 
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Runs with Scissors said:
Solar power on my roof will never make sense for me.

My utilities are electricity, water, sewer and trash on one bill, every other month. My last bill, after running the AC almost continuously for a month, was $510 on a three-bedroom, 1,800 square foot single family house. For everything. Electricity for August to October was $300, and that's the highest for the year. My average two-month utilities are $350 for everything. It would take more years than I have left to make it pencil out.

EDIT: The actual electricity cost (for TWO months) was less, without the BS add-ons:
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An electric vehicle would be even worse.
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I paid 2/3 that for the entire year, with a housewife of Orange County descent and a toddler, and I have only 8 panels. You can spend $6k and get it back in 5 years if you tried and definitely reduce human-induced climate change and maybe sell the house for $10k more when you leave CA.
 
DangerDirtyD said:
I paid 2/3 that for the entire year, with a housewife of Orange County descent and a toddler, and I have only 8 panels. You can spend $6k and get it back in 5 years if you tried and definitely reduce human-induced climate change and maybe sell the house for $10k more when you leave CA.
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Sorry, but you can't put solar on a house for $6K. Not if you want the refrigerator to work, anyway.
 
Runs with Scissors said:
I don't own one, but I've driven them since the city for which I work has them as fleet vehicles. After driving them, I can guarantee I'd never own one.
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i test drove one. It sucked all joy from my soul. No amount of fuel efficiency is worth the joyless driving experience of a Prius.

When riding road, I always get nervous when I see a Prius, knowing that the person in the front left seat is thinking about everything but driving. It never fails, a Prius turning right will pull out in front of you every time.
 
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tick said:
So here’s an EV anecdote to illustrate the current state of range. Last week my wife got a drywall screw in a tire of her Outback, and she had to drive to Santa Clarita from Orange for a meeting. I hadn’t charged the Bolt the night before, but it had 135 miles of charge and there is a fast charger in Burbank.

i test drive one. It sucked all joy from my soul.
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I can drive an EV to Golden Eagle. I can ride Golden Eagle. Then I can suck wind to make the drive home. This is why e-cars are right up there with e-bikes. It won't get me where I want to go and back.
 
tick said:
i test drive one. It sucked all joy from my soul. No amount of fuel efficiency is worth the joyless driving experience of a Prius.

When riding road, I always get nervous when I see a Prius, knowing that the person in the front left seat is thinking about everything but driving. It never fails, a Prius turning right will pull out in front of you every time.
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Boy,talk about auto profiling!?!? Sheesh;);)
 
Runs with Scissors said:
I can drive an EV to Golden Eagle. I can ride Golden Eagle. Then I can suck wind to make the drive home. This is why e-cars are right up there with e-bikes. It won't get me where I want to go and back.
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Sorry, i inadvertently posted before finishing...

If it matters, I do Orange to Big Bear and back in my Bolt, no charging required. The wheels have to come off the bike to fit in the back, otherwise it’s ideal.

The one day trip to Kings Canyon and back took longer than I’d like, but I did make it. 700 miles in a day is still a bit of an adventure.
 
tick said:
Sorry, i inadvertently posted before finishing...

If it matters, I do Orange to Big Bear and back in my Bolt, no charging required. The wheels have to come off the bike to fit in the back, otherwise it’s ideal.

The one day trip to Kings Canyon and back took longer than I’d like, but I did make it. 700 miles in a day is still a bit of an adventure.
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Glad it works for you. My requirements are simple: It has to climb the Grapevine and/or Cajon Pass at 70 mph, and it has to get me to at least Bakersfield or Las Vegas without stopping, and said stop must be 5 min or less. Less than that and I'm neither interested nor impressed.
 
Runs with Scissors said:
Glad it works for you. My requirements are simple: It has to climb the Grapevine and/or Cajon Pass at 70 mph, and it has to get me to at least Bakersfield or Las Vegas without stopping, and said stop must be 5 min or less. Less than that and I'm neither interested nor impressed.
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I totally understand wanting to spend as little time as possible in Vegas or Bakersfield.
 
Runs with Scissors said:
Glad it works for you. My requirements are simple: It has to climb the Grapevine and/or Cajon Pass at 70 mph, and it has to get me to at least Bakersfield or Las Vegas without stopping, and said stop must be 5 min or less. Less than that and I'm neither interested nor impressed.
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Only time needed is to take a bathroom break. Eating anywhere from so cal to Vegas is a big gamble.
 
buggravy said:
Since we're deep diving into EVs here, I guess I have news. As @herzalot suspected, we just pulled the trigger on an e-Tron. Took delivery yesterday. I genuinely feel pretty conspicuous driving around in (and sharing about) a car that had the window sticker that this car did, but after generous discounts from the dealer, Audi incentives, and fed and state rebates & credits, we effectively got it for around 23% below sticker. That doesn't even factor in the conservative gas savings of between $3K - $4K per year compared to the car that I'm replacing, or reduced maintenance costs. I'm sure there will be some bumps along the way, and the sheer amount of gadgetry and gizmos that can malfunction does give me some pause. As a long term car enthusiast, this car is really the polar opposite of what has generally turned me on when it comes to cars, but I am just beyond impressed and excited about it so far.
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Excellent... do report back in a year or so and let us know the highs and lows!!!

buggravy said:
And, pouring out a sip for this one. This was my first "nice" car, and I have poured a ton of energy and resources into it in terms of modifications (and problems encountered as a result). Moving it out of the garage, and onto the street was hard. It sits there now awaiting the appointment for the long task of returning everything to stock to get ready to sell. As much as it pains me, it will also be nice to be free from the mods vs. dealer/warranty song and dance. I do feel like I'm constantly looking over my shoulder with this one. It has also been a good lesson as to what a money pit the car mod game can be, and I think it's going to be a bit liberating to be in a car that doesn't really lend itself to that as much. Still though, for what started life as a souped up soccer mom car, it's fast, and fun as hell to drive. Also made new friends along the way with fellow enthusiasts.

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SQ5? We're kinda' looking at 2011/12 Q5s right now as those are the last years with the 3.2L NAV6. But love the idea of the supercharged 3.0 on the SQ!!!
 
tick said:
Del Taco #1 in Barstow is worth the risk...
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45035092085_1b39a6c997_b.jpg
 
buggravy said:
Since we're deep diving into EVs here, I guess I have news. As @herzalot suspected, we just pulled the trigger on an e-Tron. Took delivery yesterday. I genuinely feel pretty conspicuous driving around in (and sharing about) a car that had the window sticker that this car did, but after generous discounts from the dealer, Audi incentives, and fed and state rebates & credits, we effectively got it for around 23% below sticker. That doesn't even factor in the conservative gas savings of between $3K - $4K per year compared to the car that I'm replacing, or reduced maintenance costs. I'm sure there will be some bumps along the way, and the sheer amount of gadgetry and gizmos that can malfunction does give me some pause. As a long term car enthusiast, this car is really the polar opposite of what has generally turned me on when it comes to cars, but I am just beyond impressed and excited about it so far.
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Congratulations on the purchase. If you haven’t already, spend some time learning how to use abetterrouteplanner.com, you will find it useful. It does a good job adjusting your range for elevation changes, and it even lets you include headwinds in the range calc.
 
buggravy said:
Since we're deep diving into EVs here, I guess I have news. As @herzalot suspected, we just pulled the trigger on an e-Tron. Took delivery yesterday. I genuinely feel pretty conspicuous driving around in (and sharing about) a car that had the window sticker that this car did, but after generous discounts from the dealer, Audi incentives, and fed and state rebates & credits, we effectively got it for around 23% below sticker. That doesn't even factor in the conservative gas savings of between $3K - $4K per year compared to the car that I'm replacing, or reduced maintenance costs. I'm sure there will be some bumps along the way, and the sheer amount of gadgetry and gizmos that can malfunction does give me some pause. As a long term car enthusiast, this car is really the polar opposite of what has generally turned me on when it comes to cars, but I am just beyond impressed and excited about it so far.
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Ooooh - I missed this post. I am SHOCKED - shocked I tell you. (pun intended)

Congrats! Jealous again... Can't wait to see that bad baby with a proper rack on the top for surfboards, snowboards and bikes. Don't be like the other SoCal posers who won't put a rack on their "shiny new SUV..."

Oh and you can't put a roof rack on the Tesla "SUV" because of the fancy doors. So where are the yuppies putting their SUPppies?
 
Cyclotourist said:
Excellent... do report back in a year or so and let us know the highs and lows!!!


SQ5? We're kinda' looking at 2011/12 Q5s right now as those are the last years with the 3.2L NAV6. But love the idea of the supercharged 3.0 on the SQ!!!
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Will definitely report back on the e-Tron. Re: Q5s, it's a great platform. Sounds like you've researched the 3.2, but my unsolicited advice would be see if you can find a '13 with the 3.0 that fits your budget. '13 was the facelift for that generation, so you get some additional features and nice upgrades. Most notably, the 3.0 is an absolutely stellar motor, and from what I understand is Audi's most reliable motor ever. The only difference in the 3.0 from the Q5 to the Sq5 is a more conservative ECU tune. For $800-$900 you can get a Stage 1 tune from most of the major players that would have you at 400 crank horsepower, and the 3.0 will happily and reliably make that kind of power for 100K+ miles. One guy on another forum I frequent is at 160K on his tuned Q. If you really want to go crazy it's not that hard to get to 500 hp with more aggressive dual pulley tunes, but even for the cost of used 3.0 and a stage 1 tune you'd have one hell of a sleeper.
 
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Cyclotourist said:
SQ5? We're kinda' looking at 2011/12 Q5s right now as those are the last years with the 3.2L NAV6. But love the idea of the supercharged 3.0 on the SQ!!!
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I have a 2009 Q5 s-line 3.2 l 6 cylinder. S-line is only a trim package, not a performance bump. I have 151,000 miles on it. It has been a great car, with a few expensive repairs (water pump, fuel pump). Well worth it. Best driving, best fitting car I've ever owned. Great in snow and challenging conditions. The facelift given the Q5 s (whenever it was - 2013?) was definitely necessary. Unlike @buggravy, I didn't see any need to soup up the car to make it faster. I like big horsepower too, but I never felt my car needed to be quicker or faster. I may have had a different opinion if I lived at altitude. It is noticeably slower off the line in Denver - as is every car.

Dirty Q5c.JPG

oh, and good illustration of why headlight washers are a must in Colorado.
 
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