What SHOULD be my next new car

Although the Model Y is increasing the used Model 3 inventory, I would start with looking at charging spots:

We don't know where Kris lives but a quick Oregon survey suggests Tesla friendly areas would be:

• Western 1/3d
• Northern 1/3d

Living in a rural area, home electricity might be unreliable and service capacity limited. Home charging a Tesla Model 3 really needs ~7 kW of power. For reliability, a home generator should have a minimum, +10 kW capacity, 7 kW for car (240 VAC, 32A) and 3 kW for home. Sad to say, most home generators are inefficient leading to expensive electricity and at 10 kW, not cheap, $5k for gas and $10k for diesel. However, this could be minimized by keeping the Tesla (or other EV) at a high state of charge, ~90%.

This was just a rough, state-wide analysis. If Kris identified a near-by shopping town, we could do a more detailed analysis looking for free chargers and those colocated with shopping and other facilities. The outer edge of the area would be the SuperChargers as this defines the optimum 'bug-out' charge level.

For what it is worth, this is how I approached evaluation of Tesla compatible charging networks. The Huntsville AL area was easy because I already had a BMW i3-REx. The challenge was plotting routes between Huntsville AL and Stillwater OK/Coffeyville KS. It used to require a 4-5 hour stop at a 24-32 kW, charger to add ~120 miles. However, a new SuperCharger reduces this to ~1 hour, 24-32 miles to handle an elevation change.

Bob Wilson

 

i read there might be another massive 'cash for clunkers' coming.

if you don't like gee-gaws, stay away from new prius

 

Well, what is your household's driving needs normally like? How miles are trips?
Then what about the gen2 do you like? The hatch? fuel economy? A hybrid? Being a Toyota?

My car goal is something like an Outback for trips, and a BEV for the commute, but it is just me and 4 cats. Without knowing the nature of this windfall, I'd put some type of plug in at the top of the list, because of the tax credit.

There are BEVs out there besides Teslas, if the car isn't needed for long trips. The 2020 Ioniq Electric starts at $33k, has a 170 mile range, and is very close to the gen2 in terms of form; it has more space in the back. There is also a PHEV and hybrid version. In terms of style, the hybrid is closer to the gen2 than the new Prius.

You likely got a wider selection of plug ins near by than I do on the East coast. Hyundai also has a Kona EV and Sonata PHEV. Kia has the Niro in hybrid, PHEV, and EV forms. The Escape PHEV may have gotten out to dealers before the shutdown. There are some new Volts available, but GMs will have a reduced to zero tax credit. Want to stick with Toyota, the Prius Prime is a good car. It loses a lot of cargo space to the battery, but is close to the gen2 in total space.

Depending on the answers to the gen2 questions, there is a lot of options. If going smaller isn't a problem, the new Yaris hatchback should be a good car, for example. It'll leave you with plenty left to bank for other things.

 

What SHOULD be my next new car
A 2022 PHEV.
Given where you live and how many kids you have (5? plus hubby??) i'm thinking a baby-ute like a plug-in Rav4.

Do not concur with the sentiment that 2020 is a "good time to buy a car" with cash on hand.
I think 2020 is a good time to HAVE cash on hand......

 

You might like this thread: Anybody Bought a Car Lately? | PriusChat

Bob Wilson

 

Or most any other new car.

 

I have had to buy two new cars in the last year. We had a 2004 Toyota Sienna and a 2008 Prius. We bought the Sienna in Dec 2003 and the Prius in April of 2008. We needed two cars and with the age of these two, one at 17 years old and the other at 13 years old both with over 150,000 miles on them we decided to get newer vehicles. The Prius was a planned purchase the van was more of an unplanned when the catalytic converter needed replacing a $2100 expense.

I had owned only Toyota vehicles since 1970's and get a discount as a retired Toyota employee, so that's where I started when I was looking for new cars.

Even when considering my discount I quickly began considering other brands this time because of the value for price I was looking for. Toyota makes great vehicles but if you want the best value for price I suggest you consider other brands also. I did and now I don't own any Toyota's simply because they weren't the best value for the dollar.

Based on your criteria I would determine the type of vehicle you want car, suv, van or truck. I would then search the NHTSA site and only consider vehicles that have a 5 star+ safety rating and been crash tested. At that point I would then go to Edmonds, Car gurus, or any reputable car site to see how the experts rate the car for reliability etc. Then do a search on best recommended models in the vehicle type.
You would now would have a suitable list of vehicles meeting your criteria.

Our criteria was similar to yours the vehicle absolutely had to have a 5 star + safety rating and it must have had a full safety suite of all the most modern safety accessories. If not it was eliminated as a choice. Here is another item we had on our list -the controls had to have real knobs and buttons and should also be able to be accessed virtually with a touchscreen and the safety accessories should have the ability to be turned on or off as options in case of malfunctions or special circumstances. From the wife and kids standpoint the car must support both Apple Car Play and Android Auto. Plenty of cars nowdays meet this criteria. Once we picked two models in this category we went to the Dealer and test drove the vehicle. We then made our final selection.

Once we made our selection I used a new car buying service -listed the vehicle model, color, grade etc we wanted and then let the Dealers fight it out and email me their best offer. I then took the best offer which is guaranteed and included all taxes, fees etc to the Dealer and picked up the car. They also gave me a tentative offer on my vehicle as a trade in which I did eventually accept.

While waiting for the Finance people the Salesman sat with us and we talked for awhile- he was a nice guy. He said more and more people are buying new cars the way we did online and the salesman are just the in between person. He also said the time we bought our car in end of December is a great time to buy a car because they need to get the cars sold to not get stuck with inventory cost at the beginning of the new year. He said the absolutely best time to buy is in September- November when they have a stock of the New years Models 2020's and still some of the previous years Models 2019. They make some great deals to clear out the old model years cars.

I have purposely not mentioned the Make or Models we bought as I just wanted to share my car buying experience. If you were interested in what we ended up with you can PM me and I will share this information.

I learned buying a new vehicle can be fun and exciting and I can actually be in complete control of the process by using a Car buying service with - none- of the pressure or anxiety!

 

We are not interested in buying a *new* car, but I wish we could get some kind of deal/compensation for our 2008 Pontiac Vibe ("badge-engineered" Toyota Matrix) for which there is a recall on the passenger-side airbag but still, many months later, no replacement part is available. Car yards with these in stock were not allowed to sell or otherwise trade them, and *perhaps* (I thought I read this somewhere but cannot now find it and could be mistaken) repair shops with them on site were not allowed to return them to their owners. (This is the second airbag recall: the original Takata airbag was replaced by an airbag from a different manufacturer, but it seems that the replacements are defective as well and may not deploy properly.)

 

A couple of weeks ago we did get a further recall notice that included a claim that the replacement part is now available. I immediately contacted a nearby GM dealer and made an appointment to get the new airbag installed next Monday (Sept. 14). Yesterday the dealer called to say that there is a national backlog of orders for that part (partly due to the pandemic), and they will call me when the part is available.

I dare not carry anyone in the front passenger seat. And if I fold the seat back down to carry lumber or something else long, the weight of that "arms" the airbag.

 

For rural areas, you'll probably want some ground clearance. In that case, RAV4 Hybrid. Good safety ratings, and since you're still in a recovery phase, it's probably easier to get into/out of. As Prodigyplace mentioned, all new cars are stuffed with whizbang gewgaws, so it's tough to avoid them. Best to look around on the Toyota (or other manufacturers) site, and then go to a dealer and road test 'em.

 

I would hazard to guess that the 2020 or 2021 Corolla Hybrid would be the closest model to the gen11 prius toyota sells currently. 2 pennies for what they are worth.

 

Please list those features. Did you travel back from the future??

 

Re, Gen11

It's up to a whopping 40 miles of EPA range. And not only can you not see the album art, but now you can't even see the song or album title. Too distracting.

 

Gen II. or gen 11
yeah I see your point
Yeah I know the corolla is not exactly like a gen 11 prius, LOL, what is?
It's mpg looks similar on the new car sticker, doesn't it? And that's the only "feature"
I wanted to use in my comparison, since all the other "features" seem trivial to me.
Got 2 pennies for a thought?

 

You write a novel and then don’t list the vehicles you selected. Not very helpful to him or others IMO.

 

I'm still wondering what expression showed on your face when you read Gen 111

 

One more to consider: There is also an all wheel drive version of the Gen4 Prius. It has a small induction motor (without permanent magnets) on the rear axle. The induction motor can spin freely without much drag and without pulsating, and can provide more torque to the rear wheels nearly instantaneously when the front wheels begin to slip.


My situation somewhat similar yours. I have a 2007 Prius (bought new) with over 300,000 miles. And I have a savings account earmarked and sufficient for a new car. The last few years, I have been looking around a bit for a replacement.

So far, I haven't found anything that is so much better (for my personal purposes), that I would replace the Gen2 without extraordinary cause. And my wife also loves the Gen2. If the HV battery acted up tomorrow, I would replace it with a brand new Toyota battery, or install a 2k1Toaster kit. If it were totaled tomorrow, I would replace it with a younger Gen2 or PIP or Prime. In other words, the Gen2 might also still be the ideal car for you.

But within a year or two, I might have enough to buy a Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD. A small step for mankind, but a giant leap for me.