What vehicle do you drive?

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According to Tesla, a 240 watt 40 amp breaker (RV connections) will get you 29 miles per hour on the charger. A standard house charge is 110 watt 12 or 15 amps, and would charge at a rate of 3-4 miles per hour of charge. At your house, you basically need to run special wires and breakers to charge the car fast enough; during travel, you find a Tesla station, or you can forget-about-it.
 

Soygen

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Thats the map I screenshotted off of Tesla's site 2 seconds before I posted it.
Wow, that's a lot more sparse than I believed. Those are only the quick charge or all charging?
 

Cad

scientia potentia est
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Wow, that's a lot more sparse than I believed. Those are only the quick charge or all charging?
Those are the superchargers. Those are the only ones that matter for road trips. The others are "don't bother."
 

Soygen

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What, you don't like a nice, long road trip?

Ok, kids...get out your sleeping bags. Dad's gotta' hook up the charger!
 

Vinen

God is dead
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I'd like the Model S aside from road trips. You still can't reasonably take it on roadtrips.

For example I picked up and drove to New Orleans with 6 people in the car (which is why we didn't fly) which was an 8 hour, 550 mile drive. Would be completely impossible/impractical in the Model S.
I'm more just paranoid about battery life in the northeast. For any long travel I'd still use my wifes car (Subaru Impreza). Mainly as I wouldn't want to put a shit ton of miles on the Tesla :3

Also, 40 minute charging is still unacceptable IMHO. Really waiting for them to setup battery swaps.
 

Voyce

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Was looking for a Jeep, went around 5-6 dealerships prices were 30K and up new, leases were $500 a month. Used prices were around 25 and up, best deal I found was one with 50K, a Hard Top, for 15K--and a model year older than my Hyundai.

Realized I was retarded for wasting my time with a jeep, essentially a Nissan Cube with big wheels.

rrr_img_77369.jpg



Saw a deal for a lease on Nissan Frontiers, went to the Dealer, test drove it, felt way quicker than the Jeep, Smoother Ride. Worked out a lease on a 2014 Model with heated seats, spray coated bed, tow hitch, rear view cam, and blue tooth.

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Glad I stopped wasting my time with the Jeep. Love the ride height compared to the old hatchback.
 

Siliconemelons

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for a moment I thought that cube was not a shop..I was like "wtf lulzulzulzu"

I had a frontier for a loaner while they sorted some little bumper scratch out on my quest (hey it was new, should not have any little scratches!) for a truck it rode nice...but after being in the murano and quest it was like "this is truck!"
 

Burren

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GJ walking away from the Jeep. Anything Chrysler is a complete piece of shit and has been for decades (Between myself, friends, and family, zero have been anything remotely close to reliable, well made, or quality).

Frontier is a cool little truck. Just like the Tacoma, I prefer that size to the larger ones: Tundra, Titan, Silverado, etc. Yours come with an I-4, or the 6?
 

Siliconemelons

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fiat era + Jeeps are looking good...but still have not the years of trial to be sure..but anything has to be better than the 2005-2011 era... those things broke before they left the lot.
 

Voyce

Shit Lord Supreme
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GJ walking away from the Jeep. Anything Chrysler is a complete piece of shit and has been for decades (Between myself, friends, and family, zero have been anything remotely close to reliable, well made, or quality).

Frontier is a cool little truck. Just like the Tacoma, I prefer that size to the larger ones: Tundra, Titan, Silverado, etc. Yours come with an I-4, or the 6?
V6 261 HP 281 Lbs of Torque,

it was a nostalgia thing with the jeep, I always kinda liked them when I was a kid. Test driving a 30K jeep (base model) with I think a 4 at 185 that retails for 30K, versus Test drving the Frontier that also retailed for 30K (upper end Trim), being a reasonable man, I realized there was no logical reason I could keep pursuing a Jeep. They were talking 450-500 a Month to lease a Jeep, I got the guys at the Nissan Dealership to lease a 2014 Crew Cab with a higher Trim for $287 a Month at 2g down and a $1500 trade in. There was no comparison, economically, utility, efficiency etc... The Wrangler might have a unique look, but its basically like driving around some early era prototype that was never tested in a Wind Tunnel. I'm totally happy with the Nissan.
 

Palum

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Wellp, unfortunately the PHEV thing didn't work as planned. But... put an order in for a loaded EcoBoost 2015 Mustang. A/T + A/C seats for commuting mmmm.
 

Siliconemelons

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While wondering around getting the wife to decide on her suv of choice... I really want to trade my man van in for an Acura MDX.... so nice
 

Jysin

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People don't buy Jeeps for commuting or "go fast" feels. My friend and I swapped vehicles and I took his Jeep for a week and I hated the thing around the city. It's a fucking tank and drives like one. Off-road, they are an entirely different beast. Quite capable in pure stock form. Your Frontier vs Jeep is an apples and oranges comparison. Can't blame you for walking away from one for a daily driver though.

Here's my group of friends' line-up. Mine is the Land Rover. (Taken 2 weeks ago)

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Siliconemelons

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Off road and truck are very different things. All wranglers are now trail rated even at base, the new ones are good, the old inline 6 ones are good but anyone between are... Mmm imo, not so good.

They even did quite a decent job in making the new cherokee compitant offroad, I think only the patriot and compass are the only non fiat based jeeps left.

My friend got a new wrangler last year, I don't see how he drives that thing for day to day... argh it's so...rough, like u said... a tank.
 

Voyce

Shit Lord Supreme
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I'd probably prefer driving an M1-Abrams over a Jeep.

I see 10-15 Jeeps a day, having grown up in Upstate NY, parked in the middle of Albany (no dirt, dings, or scratches), now that I know how they drive I'm amazed people would put up with commuting in them.

They make an Off-Road Frontier Trim, I'd sooner look at that if I ever got into off-roading in cars.

I'm sure Jeeps are good at Off-Roading, but they cost like a premium car, and drive like an ATV would on the road.
 

Burren

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It's an image thing. You'd be surprised what people put up with - or make excuses for - when they want to be portrayed a certain way. Great fun off road, that's for sure. But when you use it off road 1 day out of 365, you're suffering the rest. The 1/4 ton pickups are without a doubt the better driver AND you can actually put stuff in them when you head to Home Depot to get building materials for your torture chamber / Geek-o-sphere.
 

Siliconemelons

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Get a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the trail rated and skid plates, do a slight 1" lift and get it slightly aggressive tires vs stock- like whatever the best AT tires are at your local firestone/goodyear etc are- not the insane stuff you usually have to special order- and boom for merely like 50k you got a car that drives nice, is luxurious inside and has actual off road capabilities.

The hummer people stopped buying hummers and now are buying the 4 door wranglers :p at least the wranglers have actual capability off road.
 

Chancellor Alkorin

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I'm a bit late on this one, but...

So some of my various life events have brought together the possibility of trading in my WRX for a new plug in hybrid. I've always liked the idea but hated the Insight/Prius so I tabled the idea. I don't need the AWD of my Subaru anymore and the commute traffic with a stick is starting to wear on me. So I was looking at a new Aston Martin (joke) Fusion Titanium Energi models. It seems like a nicely equipped car. The 20 miles/charge of electric-only range doesn't bother me (my commute is about that much).

Anyone have any experience with these? I know it's got a bit less hybrid-only MPG than the regular Fusion Hybrid, but this is offset by the fact that I'd be using almost no gas for commuting, all electric. It's still not bad if I hump it up to Vegas or something at 36-40 MPG either. The AFV plate eligibility of the PHEVs is super sweet for HOV use as well. Overall I'd be saving probably 200-300/mo on payments/gas/insurance to trade in and get a 4800 tax credit/VLT incentives as well. Trunk space will suck but... I'm used to that I suppose.
I've owned two Fusion Hybrids. I currently drive a 2014 Hybrid Titanium (non-Energi), and I can tell you a few things, at least about the regular Hybrid.

1. The trunk space in the regular Hybrid is passable. That's about it. It's worse on the Energi due to the extra batteries. I don't lug around golf clubs or hockey bags or whatever, so it's no big deal for me most of the time, but I do have a young child, and fitting her stroller in there is a massive pain in the ass if there's anything else in the trunk. So, yes, trunk space will suck. A lot. If you're good with this, no big deal, just be ready for it. I've heard conflicting reports about whether or not the seats fold down on the Energi. If they don't, ouch.

2. I've owned both the 1st gen and now 2nd gen Fusion Hybrid. The 2nd gen dropped the gas tank size by quite a bit, but it gets marginally better fuel economy (so far as I'm able to tell). It handles better, the features work better for the most part, and it's loaded with all kinds of gadgets if that's your thing. Adaptive cruise control is absolutely sweet when you're on the highway and you don't want to pretend you're playing Frogger or whatever. It still has BLIS, it still has the rear camera standard (if I remember correctly), and it has lane assist now, which is neat if only to warn you that you're falling asleep at the wheel. If you don't use your turn signals, it'll piss you off and you'll disable it quickly.

3. That said, MyFord Touch (the version that comes in the Fusion, anyway) isn't very responsive. It lags, it isn't very intuitive, and the "home" screen is nowhere near as useful as the old Ford Sync. It doesn't show the map display, for example, unless you switch entirely to the Navigation screen. The old one did. I hate that, but I've gotten used to it. Ford Sync was one of the major features that drew me in to the 2010, and I gotta say, I might not have gone that way if the original had been as slow and problematic. Try it before you buy. It might drive you nuts.

4. I don't know exactly how the Energi works, but I've read that it can go full-time EV at will. If that's the case, you might be able to get more control out of it than I can of mine -- it's very difficult to accelerate on EV only from a stop in the regular Hybrid, unless you feel like driving like your great grandmother. That said, at highway speeds, it stays in EV for a reasonable amount of time.

Not sure what else there is to say. I could ramble on about how I love the drive and how it handles, but that's so subjective so as to be useless information unless you've driven it yourself. I do love the way it drives/handles, though, enough that I took a chance on a 2nd gen after the 1st gen fucked me over post-warranty (I replaced the PCM, emission control module and multiple sensors within 6 months of the warranty expiring). The 1st gen had really good trade-in value, at least.

(Disclaimer: I didn't buy the Energi because electricity up here is so fucking expensive. If that weren't the case, and trunk space issues aside, I'd probably have gone that route instead.)

Edit: And now I see your later post saying it didn't work out. Meh. I'll leave this here in case you care, anyway.
 

Palum

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Yea it's good feedback. Ultimately I was considering it because I had the potential to plug it in every night. Once that evaporated it became a worse hybrid (the MPG on the Energi when off EV mode is far worse). While I like the Fusion Hybrid the most out of all the options out there, the more I read about the new Mustang the more I realized I could grab more 'luxury' features and split the difference in mileage with the new I4 Turbo version. Plus rustling the jimmies of the 'Murica/anti-import crowd with what can only be described as an American version of the MKIII Supra tickles my fancy.