Anybody have a Hybrid SUV?

[x10003q]

A Tesla with a 300 mile range is going to have a low 200 mile range in the winter. You also need to leave miles to find a charging station, so, depending on your risk tolerance, that could be 25-40 miles dropping winter range below 200 miles. That kind of sucks unless you have ready access to charging beyond 110/120v trickle charge at your overnight destination.

Charging at a Tesla Supercharger means 80% in about 30 minutes and 90% in about 45 minutes. If you are a weekend warrior driving 3-4 hours each way for a weekend, I do not think you will want to add 30-45 minutes on a Friday night drive up in order to have enough range for the weekend. The same holds true for the ride home on Sunday.

Tesla suggests never going to 100% in order to preserve battery life and capacity.

 

[Harvey]

If you can own two cars, or if you never drive more than 200 miles, and you don't need a lot of cargo room... Tesla is cheap to operate. Maintenance looks minimal too.

 

[MarzNC]

Well, I've got my new car. Just got home after putting 700 miles on a new Toyota RAV4 Prime Plug-in Hybrid in the last couple days. Long story short we bought it thru Costco from Fox Toyota in Auburn, NY. Only 1500 will be shipped to the U.S. in 2020, essentially all to CA or NY.

Spent less than 24 hours in NY picking it up since I drove up to Wilkes-Barre with my husband in a one-way rental car on Mon, which we returned on Tue after we had the RAV4 Prime. So NY travel restrictions didn't apply. Learned a few months ago that a Costco car rental is not only a pretty good deal, the second driver is free.

I had a very good time playing with it on the way home today. 40 miles per gallon in Hybrid Mode, including about 40 miles in EV mode right after we left Auburn after lunch.

 

[Harvey]

I think I said some of this upthread: hybrids are really well suited to stop and go, and suburbs. On the highway, it's not as big an advantage. The electric motor is especially good at getting the car rolling, up to 30 or so, where gas engine aren't nearly as good. Lifetime my CRV (60k) is over 36 mpg, but granted I am a pyscho hyper-miler.

Toyota's are great cars IMO. I bet you are going to love it.

If it has two separate trip meters, consider doing what I did, never reset one of them and track lifetime MPG. It's fun.

 

[Campgottagopee]

Well, I've got my new car. Just got home after putting 700 miles on a new Toyota RAV4 Prime Plug-in Hybrid in the last couple days. Long story short we bought it thru Costco from Fox Toyota in Auburn, NY. Only 1500 will be shipped to the U.S. in 2020, essentially all to CA or NY.

Spent less than 24 hours in NY picking it up since I drove up to Wilkes-Barre with my husband in a one-way rental car on Mon, which we returned on Tue after we had the RAV4 Prime. So NY travel restrictions didn't apply. Learned a few months ago that a Costco car rental is not only a pretty good deal, the second driver is free.

I had a very good time playing with it on the way home today. 40 miles per gallon in Hybrid Mode, including about 40 miles in EV mode right after we left Auburn after lunch.

If I may ask, why did you decide to go through Costco? How was that experience? Buying through a second party like that has always baffled me, then again I'm easily confused.

 

[MarzNC]

If I may ask, why did you decide to go through Costco? How was that experience? Buying through a second party like that has always baffled me, then again I'm easily confused.

This is the second time that my husband has bought a car thru the Costco auto purchase program. He is an expert in finding the best deal, whether it's for milk or a high dollar purchase such as a car. He's never made a car payment, has always waited until he could pay cash. The man owns more cars than the average family man. In short, he got a great deal.

In this case, going thru Costco had a major benefit. Once we decided that the RAV4 Prime was the car we wanted, the catch was that you can't buy one in NC where we live. Even the Toyota Prius Prime has only recently been sold in NC even though it's been on the market in the U.S. for three years. Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrids are mainly being sold in the 10 states that are Low Emission States. Meaning there are tax incentives for that type of vehicle.

Process is that you call Costco Auto, discuss the brands/models of interest, and your Costco info is sent to dealers who have relevant inventory. We went to test drive a few SUVs, including hybrids, near our house. Included a RAV4 Hybrid so that I could be sure I like how I fit in the driver's seat. As a petite woman, that can be an issue. When driving 500+ miles in a day, makes a huge difference.

The cost of a car bought using the Costco Auto program is a fixed amount over invoice. There are other perks too depending on the type of Costco membership. The process was not without it's challenges given that we had to buy out-of-state. But my husband is more than willing to make lots of phone calls for this sort of shopping project.

 

[MarzNC]

I think I said some of this upthread: hybrids are really well suited to stop and go, and suburbs. On the highway, it's not as big an advantage. The electric motor is especially good at getting the car rolling, up to 30 or so, where gas engine aren't nearly as good. Lifetime my CRV (60k) is over 36 mpg, but granted I am a pyscho hyper-miler.

Toyota's are great cars IMO. I bet you are going to love it.

If it has two separate trip meters, consider doing what I did, never reset one of them and track lifetime MPG. It's fun.

Oh yeah, I already LOVE it!

When we got off I-81 in VA and onto US29, the Average MPG showed as 39.2. US29 is somewhat hilly, but not mountain driving. By the time I drove the last 150 miles to our house, Average MPG showed as 39.5. That was for the entire 730 miles that the car has run lifetime, most of which was at highway speeds. So depending on the type of terrain, even highway driving MPG benefits from the computer paying attention to charging going downhill and using the battery for short bursts. There are animated graphics that can be shown to see what's happening in real time.

My father tracked every gas fill up in a little notebook that lived in whatever car he owned. Never owned more than once at a time. My older brother does the same. As does my Albuquerque ski buddy (another New Yorker) who I ride with for ski trips out west. I might do that for the RAV4 Prime. But need to figure out whether or not I really want to track every time we plug it in at home to charge up overnight. Maybe for the first year.

The range for the RAV4 Prime using EV-only is around 40 miles. That means if I'm staying home for a few weeks then I might not put in any gas for an entire month. The range is well over 450 miles.

 

[riverc0il]

Congrats on the Rav4 Prime! That must be one of the most in demand cards of the year due to limited production. That seems subpar MPG for the PHEV, the regular hybrid gets 40ish MPG average. How many times have you charged it?

I wish I could plug in a PHEV, but I live in a condo association and I don't foresee an installation anytime soon (nor are there local charging options in the community, aside from a Tesla station). Might be looking at a hybrid crossover next year.

 

[MarzNC]

Congrats on the Rav4 Prime! That must be one of the most in demand cards of the year due to limited production. That seems subpar MPG for the PHEV, the regular hybrid gets 40ish MPG average. How many times have you charged it?

I wish I could plug in a PHEV, but I live in a condo association and I don't foresee an installation anytime soon (nor are there local charging options in the community, aside from a Tesla station). Might be looking at a hybrid crossover next year.

Thanks! Without the Costco pricing, I doubt we would've bothered to buy out-of-state. Back in August, my husband was the fourth person to put down a deposit. I told him I'd wait until Dec, but not longer than that. We could get a RAV4 Hybrid from a local dealer. We got a call in late September that the first shipment was headed to NY and was due in Auburn by late October.

Fox Toyota sold another RAV4 Prime to someone in Texas who is flying to NY to pick it up. Someone in GA is paying to have one shipped. The next shipment includes another 7 RAV4 Primes.

Of the 730 miles I put on it yesterday, 720 were highway driving. Wasn't always in ECO mode. Took a little while to figure out all the options. Plus they were fun to play with.

We just got it home yesterday so haven't charged it ourselves yet. It was fully charged when we left the dealership. So the first stretch on US20 was almost all EV. Once it got to the "blue zone" (20%?) then it was essentially a hybrid only. Although going down the hill from the Blue Ridge Parkway on US250 to head over to RT 6 and US 29, that was enough to provide 2 miles of EV-only afterwards. It's a pretty long and steep hill.

We got the SE, so charging is slow. Meant to be an overnight exercise in a garage. It's mainly a hybrid that can be EV for local errands or a short commute. Since I'm retired should work out in the long run. I knew EV-only wasn't practical given the long drives that I expect to be doing in the next decade at least.

 

[MarzNC]

If I may ask, why did you decide to go through Costco? How was that experience? Buying through a second party like that has always baffled me, then again I'm easily confused.

Realized that I didn't necessarily make it clear that the financial transaction was completely with the dealer. Costco simply provided the referral. The agreement for the pricing is between the dealer and Costco.

The Costco car rental seems to work the same way. Make the reservation with a company of your choice from the Costco Travel website. Then pay the agreed price to the car rental company when you pick it up. Bonus is that a second driver is free. I'm using Costco for the rental cars for two of my ski trips this winter.