LTLFTcomposite
Well-known member
Sometimes I think car dealers are just in it to make money.
ILETRIC said:Thus 300 dollar break job. I killed my distributor with Kragen cap and rotor years back, so that was it for me.
ILETRIC said:Here is the thing. I drive EVs to save environment.
nerys said:Time is not money.
people who say time is money are either lawyers or bad at reality math
ILETRIC said:I bought 2011 Leaf for 25,000 (after all rebates) and sold it for 11,500. That's 13,500 drop in value. I consider myself very lucky to unload it for that price. My feeling is that I would have gotten much less with 58-mile, 2 bars down range.
I figure about 4,000 savings on fuel over the time I owned it. My final loss remains at 9,500.
TomT said:Actually, it looks much nicer in person...
At least Kia had a presence at the L.A. Auto Show with their Soul EV and didn't treat it like an unwanted stepchild as Nissan did with the Leaf (see my comments on this in the LAB thread)...
Everyone with an EV did a better job of showing it off than Nissan, in fact!
Maybe I should start another thread on this...RonDawg said:TomT said:Actually, it looks much nicer in person...
At least Kia had a presence at the L.A. Auto Show with their Soul EV and didn't treat it like an unwanted stepchild as Nissan did with the Leaf (see my comments on this in the LAB thread)...
Everyone with an EV did a better job of showing it off than Nissan, in fact!
If you call "sitting there among all the other cars with nothing to make it stand out" as treating it like an unwanted stepchild, then you are talking about most of the EV's at that show. For that matter you're talking about most of the cars and trucks there, regardless of motive power.
Mitsubishi had a lone black iMiEV sitting there lost among the rest of Mitsubishi's USA offerings (which is saying something, as all their offerings are pretty uninspiring in themselves). The ONLY reason I even saw it was because it was the Soul EV's were parked nearby. Certainly no better than Nissan.
I think there was Fiat 500e there, but FCA clearly had its attention focused on its newest baby, the 500x CUV (I LOL'd at the commercials poking fun of Fiat's "Fix It Again, Tony" reputation).
The Mercedes B-EV was there, finally unlocked to allow you to sit in it, but like last year there wasn't anybody that I could find to help promote the car. It was just....there...like the iMIEV. and 500e. I don't know if Ford even brought the FFE. If they did, it was unnoticed among the 2015 Mustang and 2015 F-150.
While Kia did a great job showing off the Soul EV by having a knowledgeable rep (whom I talked to at great length) and offering a blue/white one for a test drive outside (which I took advantage of), to imply that "everybody else" did a better job at the show than Nissan simply isn't true. The only other company there that promoted their EV's more than Kia was BMW. And Tesla didn't even bother showing up; the only ones I saw were customized ones, mostly in Kentia Hall.
ILETRIC said:Well, it has come to this. I have traded in my '11 Leaf for Kia. It was just an innocent "let's go take a look at that Soul" kinda Sunday thing.
After defending Leaf for a long time I had to concede defeat and trow in the towel. I had no other choice due to its shaky battery-swap future, inferior heating, slow 3.3 charging, and particularly in view of the fact how much superior Kia Soul is. That would be superior in ALL aspects of what a good and relatively inexpensive EV should be. Inexpensive as a lease of course. I learned my Leaf lesson well. Thank the lord I resisted the urge putting leather in that car.
So upon considering permutations of all available options we traded in our Leaf - sight unseen, if you can believe that - at Santa Rosa Kia for 11,500 and got a 15,000 mile lease deal for mid 300s. It doesn't get any better than that, fellow Leafers. Two years left on Leaf payments have been wiped out, and with it the my age of innocence in electrounatics.
First day of Soul driving, mostly freeway, Marin hills and all: trip + miles remaining = 105. Kia is serious about that 93 range claim. This was, of course, B mode in Eco. Folks, I cannot be happier. I can actually make it to work and back (84 miles), something I could only dream about my 2011 "100-mile" Leaf. Charging at 6.6, TMS, my phone instantly recognized as soon as I turn the power it on (something Nissan never fixed, even though I griped about it right from the start) is only the icing on the cake.
Because what really sold me on Soul was when I saw that the car not only has heated all seats, front and back, and cooled front seats (yes, that would entail fans inside them) but also that there are 3 levels of the above. Yes, that's 3 levels of heat and cool inside the front seats. Wow! Low, medium, high. This is one Cadillac of EVs to be had for 300+ bucks with a hypermile potential of WAY over 100 miles. It doesn't get any better than that.
So, goodbye Leafy. You served us well for 56170 miles. Now we moved you over so we can move on; on our continued electronaut journey.
PS: Santa Rosa Kia is VERY MOTIVATED to move the metal. Talk to the sales manager. Don't bother with the staff for too long. I gave you all pertinent numbers. Cut to the chase, bring your Leaf with you, get the deal... :mrgreen:
cwerdna said:FWIW, at the SF Auto Show (went on Wednesday):
- Mercedes: seems they didn't show up at all. I didn't notice them and didn't see them on the map at http://www.sfautoshow.com/show-info/show-map/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
- Mitsubishi: ditto on not showing up.
- Nissan had 3 Leafs on display and they weren't hidden away. Will post a pic sometime.
- Kia: Had at least 2 Soul EV on display. No test drives available.
- Tesla: Of course they didn't show up. They almost never show up to any auto shows or EV events.
- BMW: Their whole booth was actually smaller than normal. They had an i3 and i8 on display but both were locked up. I'm surprised they wouldn't at least people get in the i3.
- Fiat: 500e was there.
- GM: Spark EV Was in a corner, at least not hidden away. They did little to promote it though, it seemed. Volt had more prominence w/a few on the floor. Saw 1 ELR on the floor. At least it was shown plugged in, so people could tell it was a plug-in
- Porsche - Panamera PHEV was on the floor shown plugged into a GIGANTIC Porsche L2 EVSE, so people could tell it was a plug-in.
- FFE: Saw it at Ford's booth.
- VW: Had 2 eGolfs + a few other VWs available for test drive. (Test drive list at http://www.sfautoshow.com/special-attractions/manufacturer-ride-drives/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.)
I leased! No need to worry about a thing, not even battery degradation. It's bumper to bumper and it's gone in 3 years.blimpy said:You just bought Maximum Uncertainty...you think the Kia will be built or sold in high enough numbers to assure a parts stream?
RonDawg said:Didn't bother with Porsche....I've been so disgusted by their lineup over the last decade that for the first time since I was in high school, I decided to skip their display, which at LA has always occupied Petree Hall by itself.
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