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Subaru Solterra. At least its not a hybrid.

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 3:05 pm
by vr4
considering picking one of these turds up. 260/mo lease with 1k down. 19000 residual value at end of lease. drove one yesterday and its really not that bad, gets up decent for even being a low hp ev. the dc fast charging speed is abysmal but i really dont care as itll never be used for any extended trips (i have a handfull of other vehicles for that) and the range is mediocre for todays ev standards. again it doesnt bother me. i just checked and over the 4.5 year ownership of my maxima ive filled every 10 days on average at 260.3 miles with an average fill up cost of 50.88 but at current fuel prices my average fill is about 65. this is also including a few road trips where the car gets significantly better range.


so my idiot-spec math has me converting that fuel cost to a lease payment. current electric rates for me are 8.79 cents/kwh. from my research it would cost roughly 10 bucks to fully charge so if i keep the same driving habits ill probably be spending 40ish on electricity and maybe 1 tank in the maxima. the turd has 240ish mile range with my daily commute being about 12 miles so i could easily keep it topped off overnight on just 120v charging (gets about 4 miles of range per hour on level 1)

to be continued....

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 3:12 pm
by Jeff V.
The biggest reason I'd hold off is because EV prices are in free fall right now. That's a decent deal, but I feel like it might still get better.

What are you going to do for a charger at home? Just trickle charge it on 120v, or pay to have a 240v installed? How's insurance compared to your other cars?

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 3:24 pm
by vr4
Jeff V. wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 3:12 pm The biggest reason I'd hold off is because EV prices are in free fall right now. That's a decent deal, but I feel like it might still get better.

What are you going to do for a charger at home? Just trickle charge it on 120v, or pay to have a 240v installed? How's insurance compared to your other cars?
addressed the charging in my edit. just 120v would be adequate for me but my breaker panel is outside next to my driveway so i can easily drop a ckt out of it and put a level 2 charger right there (ac doesnt scare me anymore). i havent looked into insurance yet but thats on my to-do list for today.

insurance an additional 440/6 months. i could drop the montero and itll be 200 instead

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 4:34 pm
by ChargerX3
We looked at full electric as well, but the prices are still too high and the electric charging stations just aren't set up well across the US, especially here in NV and parts of CA. If you only plan on short trips i think its fine, but if you need to drive 2-300 miles or more then you will have to plan differently for your trip. Personally i think Hybrids are still the best bang for buck.

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 4:44 pm
by vr4
ChargerX3 wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 4:34 pm We looked at full electric as well, but the prices are still too high and the electric charging stations just aren't set up well across the US, especially here in NV and parts of CA. If you only plan on short trips i think its fine, but if you need to drive 2-300 miles or more then you will have to plan differently for your trip. Personally i think Hybrids are still the best bang for buck.
thats the plan if i get it. use it for my daily drive short trip bs. any significant road trips would just be with the maxima. even going up to my buddys place that i consider a far drive would only use half a "tank". roughly 120 miles round trip. thats about as far as i would comfortably drive with it.

charging station infrastructure means nothing for me in this case. ill never use it as its intended. i will use it while shopping or when itll be sitting somewhere for a bit as im pretty sure it comes with a year of free charge. might as well get free fuel while i can :lol: . this car gets a shit rep because its fast charging is terrible so it would be a horrible decision for a trip.

i completely agree phev is the way to go. rav 4 prime would be my absolute go to. but...im trying to capitalize on the 9k "rebate" from washington state and that only applies to full evs under a certain price and an income under a certain level (the only time i can see where not making any money is a benefit. the cutoff is 45k/yr for a single person.)

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 5:15 pm
by ChargerX3
I get your rational with the rebate. However subtract that rebate and see where that puts you with a hybrid. There are some nice Hybrids in the 20-30k range. There is a peace of mind knowing that you spend "new car' pricing on a car that you can take everywhere, no matter the weather, or distance. A full EV cannot give you that same reassurance.

I also like the PHEV's but their additional 6-10k+ price tag doesn't pencil out over the life of the vehicle. I wanted several, but ultimately they aren't where they need to be price wise.

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 6:47 pm
by vr4
dug a little deeper. state rebate is supposed to be applied to the lease cost, not applied to the vehicle price and then lease calculated. ie....special is for 309/mo lease with 2600 down at signing. so 309x36+2600=13724. the 9k is supposed to be applied to that number bringing it to 4724 to be financed for lease at 131/mo. now if i wasnted to throw down on top of that (and probably will be asked to) figure 1500. that brings monthly payment to 90/mo. add in some taxes and fees being very generous on that makes it 110 or so.

they way this dealer did it was apply the 15250 and the 9k rebate to total cost of the vehicle. then lease calculated on that 23k remaining.

7500 fed tax rebate DOES apply due to being a lease. though toyota may be using that as part of their 15250 "lease cash" i need to look more into that one.

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 6:51 pm
by ChargerX3
Yea, sounds like you might need to verify what all goes where and how much down. Also how many years do you need to stay locked into the lease?

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 8:17 pm
by vr4
ChargerX3 wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 6:51 pm Yea, sounds like you might need to verify what all goes where and how much down. Also how many years do you need to stay locked into the lease?
yep. sent a text to sales guy after verifying thats how it was supposed to be applied.

36 month. about as long as id be willing to own one. once out of warranty i want out

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 8:58 pm
by ChargerX3
So how much will you be "all in" including your down and interest and payments for those 3 years?

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 9:57 pm
by vr4
ChargerX3 wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 8:58 pm So how much will you be "all in" including your down and interest and payments for those 3 years?
4600-5k rough guess. maybe a bit more after taxes and shit.

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2024 12:36 pm
by DCIV
I saw some Nissan ev was being leased for 120 a month. Basically they have so many of them and can’t move them that they will lease them suuuper cheap. I meant to look into it more. Maybe worth googling.


Coop

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2024 3:10 pm
by vr4
DCIV wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2024 12:36 pm I saw some Nissan ev was being leased for 120 a month. Basically they have so many of them and can’t move them that they will lease them suuuper cheap. I meant to look into it more. Maybe worth googling.


Coop
thats what caught my attention on this whole leasing an ev deal. nissan leaf is still crippled by terrible battery management. not near as bad as the old one but not great either. figure pay a little more for an awd that i could possibly use year round until the snow gets deep. based on the last 10 years i would probably have about 2 weeks a year i shouldnt use it due to extreme heat (120) or cold. not chicago cold but in the teens.

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 2:58 pm
by vr4
why i havent done it yet summed up in one easy reddit post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/electricvehicl ... e_program/

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 3:10 pm
by Chris GTO TT
This kind of thing is exactly why I scoff every time someone says "business can do these things better than business." Business only cares about making the money, not about the service actually supposed to being provided the way Government should.

Edit: don't get me wrong government has its issues too.

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 3:35 pm
by Duck Vader
That sucks.

Re: bz4x....have i lost my damn mind?

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2024 6:55 pm
by vr4
never updated this. ended up with a subaru solterra. toyota dealer still has their heads buried deep in their rectum and cant apply the rebate properly. subaru sat down, asked what i could put down and i just said whatever i needed to. 1500. came back 5 minutes later and said you cant put anything down.

163.xx/month payment. taxes, license, etc. included. no balloon lease payment at end. 300 fee to close lease. residual is just under 22k. lease special they were offering was 379+ttl. toyota special was 329+ttl. this ended up 100/mo cheaper than toyotas first offer for a higher spec car. (theyre the same car. just badge engineered)

so far i love this thing. only complaints are slightly down on power and the stock harmon kardon audio is hot garbage. its still an overgrown RC car so the down low instant torque makes it feel a lot faster than it is. itll squirt up to 50ish surprisingly quick. no problems jumping out in front of someone or if you have to move over quickly.

ill give a more in depth post later when not at work but for starters ive averaged 3.2 miles per kwh. that maths out to 108mpg equivalent.

Re: Subaru Solterra. At least its not a hybrid.

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:53 pm
by Jeff V.
Pretty cool. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the ownership experience.

Re: Subaru Solterra. At least its not a hybrid.

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2024 10:59 pm
by ChargerX3
Sounds like you got a heck of a deal.

Re: Subaru Solterra. At least its not a hybrid.

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2024 8:33 am
by DCIV
How did you get it to 163 a month when it was 3XX?

I would totally do this. I spend more than 160 in gas a month.


Coop