What do you like about the vehicle you drive and would you have changed anythin about it?
Realized that with my new job I’m at $500/month for gas. Starting to seriously consider a hybrid or electric but damn they expensive. Either way might just need something more reliable than my 320k+ car.
I went from £400 a month fuel spend to just over £100 going to hybrid. My insurance came down from £700ish to £450 p/y (all the anti collision toys etc). The services were 4-600 a year now 250-300. It’s been 4 1/2 years and I’m keeping it. It cost me about 10k more than I’d normally pay for a car and I reckon I’ve made my money back and then some. That anti collision stuff has also saved my arse a couple of times.
I have an escape plug in hybrid. I get about 40 miles all electric, and about 500 miles on gas. I just took a camping trip where I towed a trailer, so my average mpg is down to about 50. Normally it rides around 70-80, since most days I drive less than 40 miles.
I like my fuel efficiency, and that I can plug it in to charge. I wish I had a little more cargo space, since I’m just shy of “project” capacity, and more “flat pack furniture”. I dislike that the towing capacity is low, since the hybrid drivetrain is more complex, and the car just weighs more, so I can only tow about 1500 lbs, which limits your choices for campers and such.
I originally started the buying process because I needed a new car, and I had a three hour round trip commute. Now I’m working from home, and it’s even better because I basically never use gas, but haven’t sacrificed range. Only my poor, beleaguered bank account. Which I don’t regret.
Almost the same, but the RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid. 50mi electric range, AWD, we almost never have to fill it and there’s free slow chargers in our town!
2015 Toyota RAV4. Reliable and does everything I need a car for. Cheap-ish too.
I live in the very north Scandinavia. I go hunting and need a 4wd for that. 25% of my mileage is long drives in Arctic winter conditions. Electric cars that manage this drive were 2-3 times as expensive and I’d have to drive 2-3 times as far every year even when electricity is free to motivate the expense.
Decent enough mpg. Zippy. Fun to drive. Fits in tight city spots.
I’ve upgraded speakers and amp. I’m also very dark tint.
I’m contemplating a full upgrade to the lights. LED for front & rear. I’d like to add one of those under rear bumper high-viz red lights that are good during inclement weather.
Well, mine is a very light, all-terrain vehicle with little maintenance and minimal expenses. It has only two wheels and many speeds of which I only use three on a good day. The only thing I’d change about it is the protection I get from other drivers who are sometimes a little too distracted in their metal-enclosed mobile living rooms.
I don’t have a car because I’m a college student, but I do have a 2006 Suzuki GZ250, a small cruiser motorcycle. It’s my first vehicle that I own. I absolutely love riding it, even though a Prius is faster, this feels much faster because it’s a manual transmission motorcycle, and gets better mpg.
Unfortunately, I need to replace the battery soon as it seems to have some parasitic loss when not ridden for several days. I want to DIY it to save money, but I can’t unscrew this impossibly tight worn screw mounting the cover to access the battery.
The car is a piece of shit. It’s falling apart on the inside and in general is probably getting close to death. Cost 5k like 5 years ago, so I’m not too worried.
I’m waiting to pay off my student loans before I commit to a new car payment. But there’s a 70’s RX-7 for sale near me that’s ~6k and I want a project.
Getting 4 to 4.5 miles to kwh out of what is quite a large car by European standards. Costs approx. 9p a kw in the UK on an EV tariff so it costs a fraction of what an ICE car would cost to run.
350kw charging, I rarely wait longer than 20 minutes to charge from 20% to 80%
Tons of space.
Single pedal driving is awesome
Tows my 1400kg caravan with ease due to 100% of torque from 0 rpm and weighing 2 ton (more the car weighs compared to the trailer the better towing is, assuming enough torque). Even big Range Rovers aren’t as smooth towing from stand still.
Same trait means its quick when driving round town or from a standstill. Above UK legal speeds its average for its price point.
Its also much much quieter than its ICE competitors.
Comfy on a long journey, like driving round sitting on a sofa.
Dislikes
Weighs 2 tons. Car it replaced was 1500kg and similar external size. Would like it to weigh less, but all new cars the same size, even ICE, are pretty fat these days. A brand new ICE 3 Series is also almost 2 ton with a few options on it and comparable usable space/purchase price.
Handling when hustling is compromised by the car being aimed at comfort and how fat it is. If you want handling buy the new performance model, its also stupid fast as it has 640bhp.
UK spec for this year has no heat pump for the battery even as an option, would be useful for improving winter mileage. Irish version of the same car has it as standard (at least for my model year and trim level), despite Ireland being warmer during the winter than the UK. Heat pump is now available as an option.
UK spec Premium cannot have memory seats, have to upgrade to a much more expensive trim level that has a ton of stuff I do not want or need. Same with the 360 cameras, I only get rear camera. Locking stuff behind a much more expensive trim level is a dick move.
I drive a 2001 Toyota celica. I like how it looks like a spaceship 🚀 the only thing I’d change is the power window buttons. I miss them being on the door instead of the center console. I could have bigger cup holder if those buttons weren’t there
Pro: good gas mileage, manual transmission, cheap maintenance, comfy seats. I can go ~700mi on a tank. Costs me $40 to fill. I fill it maybe 8-10 times a year assuming no road trips. It’s about 60-70MPG.
Cons: slowest car I have ever driven so I have to plan merging onto highways/motorways very precisely. Literally my only complaint.
Another con: it only has two seats. Doesn’t hurt my use cases where I generally drive solo, or at most with my love, but for some that may pose an issue. (Think about it, though, most people who drive only drive themselves, generally to and from work.)
I drive a metal bike. It’s a bit heavy but for €200 it’s good and I save on gym and stuff. I regret not getting the front basket. Please don’t repeat the same mistake I did, it’s not worth it when you go for groceries.
I got a front tray thingy, strongly recommend. It means my cargo volume is limited only by my own ingenuity with my elastic cords, i.e. still quite a lot but a bit less than with a basket.
OK. I hear you but for the record I meant the trunk space of my small car, not the whole car. They make bike trailers in different sizes and some fold up.
In my opinion this is nearly as perfect of a vehicle as it is possible to get.
The 1.5 liter engine is small and efficient which means your gas bill is nice and tiny compared to the average vehicle I see on the road. It also has this weird quirk of FEELING really fast and exciting while driving while actually being rather pedestrian. A year after this vehicle was released motortrend came out with an article about the slowest cars they have ever tested: The Toyota Yaris was the 5th slowest. Probably due to the manual gear box, the sharp and agile steering, and the noise it makes, it simply feels a LOT faster than it really is. THIS IS A POSITIVE. It means you can have a good time and enjoy driving it but unless you are trying REALLY hard you won’t be speeding all that often and even with your foot to the floor you won’t be ripping away from traffic and drawing attention to yourself. That doesn’t mean you can’t red-line the engine, drop the clutch , and rip a nicely satisfying burnout, because you can… And I have.
Oh BTW… if you want to have some fun you can buy a ready to install everything included SUPERCHARGER kit for the Yaris. It’s on my bucketlist.
The cargo space is MASSIVE! because the rear seats fold flat and it’s a hatchback with a wide trunk opening and a flat-ish roof (instead of aggressively raked back) the amount of stuff you can fit in it is kind of insane. Several hundred pounds of firewood? Check. Two fully assembled kitchen cabinets to be turned into a kitchen island? Check. 55" TV in box? Check. 6.5’ Christmas tree? Check. Just look at that cavernous space! https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/eb4e1182-4386-4294-b731-1def6307dd1d.jpeg
Shoot, my wife and I regularly go car camping out of the Yaris. If you push the front seats as far forward as they go you can fit an inflatable mattress in the back with only a slight bend in it. It’s remarkably comfortable and unless you need to sleep perfectly straight as a log it serves very well as a mini RV. Back when I commuted 26 miles to my full time job and then another further 55 miles to my full time schooling I would often sleep in the back of the Yaris between the two and have very restful and replenishing sleep.
At first having the gauges in the center of the dash was a bit weird but it comes with two bonuses. The first one took me a while to notice: You feel more connected to the road and your journey. Putting the dashboard gauges directly in front of the driver actually puts a barrier between the driver and the road ahead of them. It’s a wall of information density that permanently exists between you and the world ahead and you have to go through it before you can experience what’s before you. It might be a borderline subconscious thing but not having something that constantly wants your attention in front of you really lets your mind focus on the road ahead of you and the journey you are on. If you NEED the information, it’s still there, just politely sitting off to the side waiting to tell you whatever you need to know.
The second bonus to the center gauges? MOTHER FUCKING GLOVEBOXES BABY! THIS CAR HAS THREE! There is the standard glove box around the knees of the passenger but there is also one above that and a THIRD one above the steering column on the driver’s side. I never would have guessed how excited a grown man could be (me) about the discovery of multiple GLOVEBOXES in a car. https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/50261100-fb13-4925-b402-cd179c56b0db.jpeg
Almost nearly as much as I enjoy the gloveboxes I really am impressed by the setup of the cup holders. You have your standard 2 cup holders down by the hand brake in the center console but the really awesome ones are seamlessly folded into the dashboard near the doors. These aren’t your tiny popout cupholders you find in most cars that break the second time you put a big gulp in one. No… these are chunky, heavy duty cup holders that make an audible ca-thunk when deployed. The amount of times I’ve deployed the cup holder at a driver through and had the teller make a visible reaction or even stop to say something is significant. My words probably do not do them justice so look at these pictures of their location and diagram from the manual and tell me that they don’t inspire confidence.
There are only TWO things I would like changes about this car. Give me a Bluetooth enabled head unit with better speakers and a good place to put a chi charger for my phone. That is all.
I could go on for hours about this car but my last point about how epic this vehicle is and how we don’t deserve it is this: It’s a Toyota. A proper old fashioned bulletproof, reliable, affordable Toyota. Parts are dirt cheap and easy to replace.I’ve got 266,000 miles on mine and let me tell you, they have not been kind miles. We regularly take this on off road trails bouncing off of rocks and occasionally trees. I’ve torn the O2 sensor clean off of the car a couple of times and got it stuck up to the bottom of the door in deep snow while driving a dirt road pass in the Rockies. I have treated it like dirt and only done basic maintenance far less than it deserves. I’ve only had to replace the clutch once and this next summer will be the first time ever that I need to do anything even approaching major service. It’s got a water pump leak and a front timing cover leak. Neither of these stop the car from functioning at all but as long as I keep an eye on the fluid levels we are good to go.
All this and it takes it like an absolute champ. It trucks along being the best little car it can be. The snow, dirt, and mud, and neverending miles of cross country journeys this car has never failed me. I will not part with my beautiful little car for anything less then total destruction. The day that happens I will remove the logo from it’s sad lifeless carcass, frame it and hang it on my wall for all to know what an amazing being was part of our lives for so long and yet not nearly long enough.
Excellent read. I now want to go camping in a tiny but huge hatchback. Your car sounds amazing, I hope you have many thousands of kilometres before retiring it.
I’m going to try and say this without sounding excessively depressing but… There are few things in my life that bring me joy or excitement so when I find something that does I latch on to it and don’t let it go. Even if it’s a small relatively inconsequential thing let it bring joy into your life no matter how little the amount.
I’ve got a 1/2 cube made of tungsten that is just satisfying to hold onto and it’s one of my favorite things.
I have a Tesla model 3, it is very cheap to operate but expensive to buy. The only negative thing about it is public/political perception of the car.
People on the left hate Elon, tech people think a car can’t drive itself without a weapons grade sensor array, and people on the right hate using electricity for propulsion, car people are threatened by electric car’s acceleration, or that the battery is going to die and I’ll need to get a new car.
I drive one for Uber as my full time gig. I spend about $125/wk on charging exclusively at superchargers.i could mitigate this substantially of I was able to put a home charger in.
People on the left hate Elon, tech people think a car can’t drive itself without a weapons grade sensor array, and people on the right hate using electricity for propulsion, car people are threatened by electric car’s acceleration, or that the battery is going to die and I’ll need to get a new car.
I think it’s important to note that all of those fears are completely unfounded and some are just ridiculous. Also that you can lease one now for literally $250/mo, so not really so expensive to own.
I got it because it’s fun to drive, because I hate cars but have to have one, I figure even if it’s not much better for the planet it’s at least better for my health and my family’s health to spend less time at gas stations and breathing exhaust, and because I was finally at a point in my life I could afford an expensive car.
I didn’t realize that I was making a public political decision that would make everyone hate me. It’s weird the way some pickup trucks just decide to go fucking nuts around me. It’s weird that my mother is in a constant state of fear that my car will suddenly come to life, drive itself off a cliff, and then catch fire. It’s weird that random people will be like “It’s not actually better for the planet.”
I drive a 2011 nissan note wnd it’s comfortable. I can get a lot of shit in it, including wheelchair. But it’s absolutely fucking hideous. So probably that.
And maybe a fifth gear, the automatic only has 4. Oh and my radio is broken so that too.
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