Long trip...saw one electric car

[GRA]

Right, thanks. 2003 Forester. They just came out with a Toyota-Powered Subaru something or other PHEV. I forget if that has AWD, but think it does. The AER is unimpressive, but in GRA's case the AER isn't very relevant anyway - just the MPG and emissions.

That's the Crosstrek, and as I noted uptopic and in the Crosstrek topic, it's unsuitable as well as uninspiring.

If the Prius AWD HEV were a Prime, that would be more in the ballpark. Unfortunately, it's still a Prius, with all the negatives regarding driving dynamics and controls that implies, plus it's the wrong body type (flat-sloped rear windows provide lousy rear view, never mind the reduced cargo volume). The Prime's AER is about right for me, and also can be fully charged off 120V in 8 hours, which is another advantage of the smaller battery.

My dream PHEV would, as I've said, have been something like a Voltec-powered compact AWD CUV or wagon, with the battery capacity of the Gen 1 Volt or even smaller (20-30 mile AER), but using the Volt 2's new cells to save weight/space. It has to have room for a spare and jack without seriously impinging on cargo space, allow me to lie down in stretched out in back with the rear seats folded, good or better 360 visibility, good or better driving dynamics (in other words, it's not a Prius), excellent ergonomics and gimmick-less, physical controls. get at least 40 mpg Hwy and have a hold mode.

For a BEV, take all the above and replace the AER with 300+ miles of EPA Hwy range, and say 125 kW or better QC rate with 350+ preferred, and at least a 12 year warranty on battery capacity.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.

 

[GRA]

So, GRA: is it some sort of secret what you drive, or did I overlook you mentioning it? I'm not looking for anything but to satisfy my curiosity, especially as to why you don't drive a PHEV. Unless, of course, you do...

I thought he drives some sort of non-hybrid non-plugin Subaru.
https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=552813#p552813
https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=25102&p=561141&hilit=subaru#p561141

If it's that, it's a bit piggy in terms of FE by today's standards: https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=19230. Unfortunately, the smog/emissions score is missing for CA, so I'm not clear (w/o further digging) whether it qualified for PZEV status. It's also n/a at https://www.driveclean.ca.gov/searchresults.php?year=2003&make=Subaru&model=Forester+AWD&x=34&y=8.

The 2003 Forester (1st year of the 2nd Gen) didn't qualify as a PZEV, but later years did. IDK whether that was due to engine/emission mods or just that Subaru couldn't get the 10year/150k emissions testing done in time, as was also the case with the 1st year's Volt (2nd year + qualified as AT-PZEVs once the tests were completed).

 

[GRA]

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.

Uh huh, and so far none of the PEVs (that I'm willing and able to afford) have been good enough to meet my value for money threshold. The Niro BEV and Prime probably come closest right now. The above adage doesn't mean accepting anything no matter how useless or impractical it otherwise is, just to meet a single requirement. I had hopes for the Crosstrek, but it's almost as uninspired as say the C-Max Energi, with many of the same disadvantages due to them both being minimum conversions. My 16 y.o. ICE is still good enough as transportation, albeit it fails the environmental requirement I'd like to meet, which is why I use it as little as possible and try to do so only in situations where its environmental footprint is as low as possible. That is to say, while still meeting my transportation requirements, which after all is (or should be) a car's main function, rather than being a means of showing others the owner's wealth, politics/ideology or what have you.