TimW451
Jetboaters Captain
- Messages
- 1,246
- Reaction score
- 1,925
- Points
- 227
- Location
- Sassafras River, Chesapeake Bay
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2011
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 24
OMG, this ended up long. TL;DR: vehicles nice, still want full price, don’t buy if you don’t have to.
My daughter started driving this Spring and will be able to get her solo license this Fall and will be driving to college, so we’ll need a third vehicle. Since used vehicle pricing sucks I thought it would be better for my wife to get a new vehicle and the Outback becomes the “kid’s car”, as my son is two years behind my daughter.
I like the idea of an EV or hybrid so that we’ll be positioned for the next gas crisis And a car that can go at least 20 miles on only electric will inherently save a lot of gas money for us. I’m very fond of a Wrangler 4xe @adrianp89 and somehow we became interested in a Kia EV6 @Julian, so we looked at them this week. My wife would like to look at a Toyota Highlander, but there are none around us.We did look at the Grand Cherokee 4xe also, but there were none to drive.
We liked the Wrangler a lot, and my wife surprisingly liked the High Impact Yellow paint. To me a Wrangler needs a stand out color (and frankly there are too many white ones in our neighborhood). We drove a Sahara model and wavered a little on the road, but not horribly. The road noise wasn’t excessive, and in fact when in electric mode going ~50 mph it was quiet. I’m not sure how comfortable one would be driving long distance, say 1-2+ hours You sit very upright and close to the dash (certainly made the AC feel strong). It can go 22 miles on electric alone, and I think it fully charges in 2 hrs on a level 2, 240v charger. It ain’t cheap, sticker is $64k, and if leased $12k in rebates, but no other discount. Came to ~$650/ month for 36 month 10k miles/year lease. That is withOUT tax and tags. They had a lot of Rubicons, some Willys, but only a couple Saharas. No problem selling them. 2024s are on order.
The Kia EV6 was very nice, we actually may have closed the deal there, but they bungled the sale. It is clearly different than the Wrangler, but it is more in line for my wife, where the Wrangler is me (it’s what I’d have if I didn’t need a tow vehicle). The dealer only had GT-Line models of the EV6, which technically is the mid level. The old base model is gone, so they start with the Wind model and top of the line is the GT. There are many options on the GT-Line, so they are basically the same except for RWD/AWD, color and you can get suede seating. The Wind is mostly different in appearance and driver aid functions. It also uses 19” wheels which gives it more range than the GT-Line which has 20” wheels. (I am so amused that wheel size has such an impact on EV range, if this is what it takes to kill off big wheels and narrow profile tires, so be it.) It seems like all three use the same battery pack, 77.4kwh. They call it extended in the GT’s because it has a heat pump to reduce HVAC load. You sit real low in the car, I felt like I was driving gangsta style. The ride was vey smooth and quiet. The “engine” noise was louder than the Wrangler at idle and cruise. I think it was intentional, so you know it is “on” and isn’t eerily silent. It has cameras to compliment the side view mirrors and brings up the screen view when you use your turn signal. (If that gets people to use turn signals I say let’s make this feature mandatory.) The best feature was Sport mode. This boosted the acceleration, and wait for it, I’ll say was on par to 60 with my friend’s modified Hellcat Durango. The rated range on this is 250 miles and it can charge from 10% to 80% in 18 minutes on a commercial level 3, DC Fast charger (8.4 hrs at home on a level 2, 240v charger). Compared to the Wrangler I thought it was fairly priced at $60k, but is still a far cry from a $30k car. (You can get a great Kia Forte GT-Line for $25k. Maybe I should buy that for the kids?) As I said, I think my wife was ready to say “Yes” until we talked price. They wanted $4k over sticker and said the monthly payment for a 3 year lease would be $950. I don’t think so. As we walked out they were trying to lower the price and offer a demo car. They were supposed to call us and tell us how many miles were on the demo car. haven’t heard from them in the 4 days since.
I really didn’t want to buy anything now, I’d rather wait until I have to in October, so this really was to understand what is out there and then be ready to pull the trigger. I saw the same as @HangOutdoors mentioned with dealers having the attitude that they are in the catbird seat. In the first 5 minutes at the Jeep dealer he was setting price expectations by mentioning all the great deals people have gotten with monthly payments between $750 and $950. Kia was insane asking $4k over sticker. My wife went to another Kia dealer the next day and they were giving $2k off AND covering the $7500 EV rebate you won’t get If you want to buy instead of lease, and they are giving you the floor and cargo mats for free that other dealers add in for $350. Oddly they weren’t amicable to letting her test drive anything. She also went to a Toyota dealer and was completely ignored the entire time.
We did sit in a top of the line Grand Cherokee Overland 4xe at the Jeep dealer, it was the only GC 4xe they had and it was in the showroom, so they discouraged us from test driving it. The salesperson said he thought there was an “adjustment” on the price, but didn’t know what it is. I think he just wanted to keep us focused on the Wrangler, which is unfortunate for him as I think the GC is more in line with what my wife wants, and BTW it is listed in the dealers website for $3,300 under sticker.
My daughter started driving this Spring and will be able to get her solo license this Fall and will be driving to college, so we’ll need a third vehicle. Since used vehicle pricing sucks I thought it would be better for my wife to get a new vehicle and the Outback becomes the “kid’s car”, as my son is two years behind my daughter.
I like the idea of an EV or hybrid so that we’ll be positioned for the next gas crisis And a car that can go at least 20 miles on only electric will inherently save a lot of gas money for us. I’m very fond of a Wrangler 4xe @adrianp89 and somehow we became interested in a Kia EV6 @Julian, so we looked at them this week. My wife would like to look at a Toyota Highlander, but there are none around us.We did look at the Grand Cherokee 4xe also, but there were none to drive.
We liked the Wrangler a lot, and my wife surprisingly liked the High Impact Yellow paint. To me a Wrangler needs a stand out color (and frankly there are too many white ones in our neighborhood). We drove a Sahara model and wavered a little on the road, but not horribly. The road noise wasn’t excessive, and in fact when in electric mode going ~50 mph it was quiet. I’m not sure how comfortable one would be driving long distance, say 1-2+ hours You sit very upright and close to the dash (certainly made the AC feel strong). It can go 22 miles on electric alone, and I think it fully charges in 2 hrs on a level 2, 240v charger. It ain’t cheap, sticker is $64k, and if leased $12k in rebates, but no other discount. Came to ~$650/ month for 36 month 10k miles/year lease. That is withOUT tax and tags. They had a lot of Rubicons, some Willys, but only a couple Saharas. No problem selling them. 2024s are on order.
The Kia EV6 was very nice, we actually may have closed the deal there, but they bungled the sale. It is clearly different than the Wrangler, but it is more in line for my wife, where the Wrangler is me (it’s what I’d have if I didn’t need a tow vehicle). The dealer only had GT-Line models of the EV6, which technically is the mid level. The old base model is gone, so they start with the Wind model and top of the line is the GT. There are many options on the GT-Line, so they are basically the same except for RWD/AWD, color and you can get suede seating. The Wind is mostly different in appearance and driver aid functions. It also uses 19” wheels which gives it more range than the GT-Line which has 20” wheels. (I am so amused that wheel size has such an impact on EV range, if this is what it takes to kill off big wheels and narrow profile tires, so be it.) It seems like all three use the same battery pack, 77.4kwh. They call it extended in the GT’s because it has a heat pump to reduce HVAC load. You sit real low in the car, I felt like I was driving gangsta style. The ride was vey smooth and quiet. The “engine” noise was louder than the Wrangler at idle and cruise. I think it was intentional, so you know it is “on” and isn’t eerily silent. It has cameras to compliment the side view mirrors and brings up the screen view when you use your turn signal. (If that gets people to use turn signals I say let’s make this feature mandatory.) The best feature was Sport mode. This boosted the acceleration, and wait for it, I’ll say was on par to 60 with my friend’s modified Hellcat Durango. The rated range on this is 250 miles and it can charge from 10% to 80% in 18 minutes on a commercial level 3, DC Fast charger (8.4 hrs at home on a level 2, 240v charger). Compared to the Wrangler I thought it was fairly priced at $60k, but is still a far cry from a $30k car. (You can get a great Kia Forte GT-Line for $25k. Maybe I should buy that for the kids?) As I said, I think my wife was ready to say “Yes” until we talked price. They wanted $4k over sticker and said the monthly payment for a 3 year lease would be $950. I don’t think so. As we walked out they were trying to lower the price and offer a demo car. They were supposed to call us and tell us how many miles were on the demo car. haven’t heard from them in the 4 days since.
I really didn’t want to buy anything now, I’d rather wait until I have to in October, so this really was to understand what is out there and then be ready to pull the trigger. I saw the same as @HangOutdoors mentioned with dealers having the attitude that they are in the catbird seat. In the first 5 minutes at the Jeep dealer he was setting price expectations by mentioning all the great deals people have gotten with monthly payments between $750 and $950. Kia was insane asking $4k over sticker. My wife went to another Kia dealer the next day and they were giving $2k off AND covering the $7500 EV rebate you won’t get If you want to buy instead of lease, and they are giving you the floor and cargo mats for free that other dealers add in for $350. Oddly they weren’t amicable to letting her test drive anything. She also went to a Toyota dealer and was completely ignored the entire time.
We did sit in a top of the line Grand Cherokee Overland 4xe at the Jeep dealer, it was the only GC 4xe they had and it was in the showroom, so they discouraged us from test driving it. The salesperson said he thought there was an “adjustment” on the price, but didn’t know what it is. I think he just wanted to keep us focused on the Wrangler, which is unfortunate for him as I think the GC is more in line with what my wife wants, and BTW it is listed in the dealers website for $3,300 under sticker.
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