Electric cars $40k and under

Hey all,

Last fall, I posted a thread about a new sport sedan or sport compact. About a week after that thread, my county burned (Almeda and Obenchain fires) and thousands lost their homes. I'm fine and didn't lose my home...but it made climate change a lot more real and personal, and so I'm going to go electric for my next car.

I'm looking to spend about $40k or less (net price after any applicable federal tax credits). Tesla is probably off the list because of Elon Musk and because of no Android Auto. The Ford Mach-e looks cool but I don't want to beta test a brand new design.

Right now my top contenders are the Hyundai Kona Electric, Chevy Bolt, and Kia Niro EV. Anyone have any experience with any, positive or negative? Any others that I'm missing that are worth looking at?

 

My family handles warranty administration for various dealerships across the US generally for GM. While I cant speak to the technical side of the Volt (I realize its not on your list), various locations thought of it as a gimmick toy to please the "tree huggers". I have no idea if that had any merit in its design but I would just say this, if this list boils down to the Bolt, I would definitely give it additional scrutiny if the culture surrounding it was more intent on checking boxes instead trying to release a sound product.

With that being said I remember some conversation about a recall on the Bolt recently, I work in IT outside of the family business. I learned early sometimes money and family are best kept apart. Likely for specific model years (like most recalls), otherwise I dont know too much unless you want to know if a specific GM model has had a lot of warranty claims recently.

Hope for the best in your pursuit

 

A friend of mine who's really big into cars browses the forums quite a bit and came across this thread and asked me to respond from his perspective as he doesn't want to create an account.
Here are his words:

"Kias have notorious bad quality control, and my dad had his Hyundai engine completely lock up without any warning and no check engine or waning lights. I haven't been around any newer Chevy's except for the Camaro, and I know that isn't much help. Personally I'd just stick with a gas car, you won't be making that much of a difference for your area unless the majority of you refuse to drive gas cars after this incident."

 

If nobody buys an electric car until everyone else drives one, nobody will ever drive electric cars.

The more people who buy electric, the more companies will invest in electric charging infrastructure, and the less of an R&D premium each new EV will carry, and the more EVs will start to make sense to mainstream consumers. It's a snowball effect. Not one that will happen overnight, but one that can at least start with some people being willing to deal with some of the challenges of being an early adopter.

 

You do know where Lithium comes from and how it's processed, right?

Buy an electric car because it's something you wan to drive and fits your lifestyle, not because of some misguided sense of pathological altruism.

 

Pathological altruism? Jesus. I'm not here pushing my opinion on others, I'm just asking for opinions between a few different cars on the market. I'm not some zealot trying to force my own choices down others' throats. I only explained why I wanted an electric car when someone told me I shouldn't buy one.

 

I don't have a problem with electric cars being available to those that want them as long as gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles remain available to those that do not. There is a certain novelty to the idea regardless of what one thinks about the forces attempting to drive the movement. I can't see myself ever being interested in buying one unless environmental extremists finagle a way to ram it down the throats of those that don't believe in human-influenced climate change by making electric vehicles the only option available through regulatory Nazism targeted against the automotive and fossil fuel industries.

Example of a cool geek project... I've got to admit that it's pretty cool. Beats the daylights out of pedaling, LOL.

There is not a huge difference between brands of vehicle manufacturers. All have similar QC and there will always be lemons that surface and drive personal opinions based on legitimate bad experiences. If you exclude the crappy outliers like Fiat, most mainstream brands produce very reliable products that deliver many years of reliable service if properly maintained. Check the Consumer Reports data for specific models to identify the exceptions. What matters most is service and support, owning mistakes, etc.

Our family is on its second KIA Sorento. I have had excellent results with them. The new one we purchased last year replaced the first one that was given as a gift to my youngest son and his wife with 260K miles on it. We purchased it with less than 11K miles on it from Enterprise Rent-A-Car. It's now his daily driver.

In many respects a KIA is a rebranded Hyundai. Other than some subtle design and aesthetic differences, you generally get the same thing for a little less money buying it from KIA. (Hyundai owns KIA and they share many components across similar models, including drivetrain.)

I say all that because you're likely to have a similar experience regardless of brand as long as you avoid being an early-adopter of a first-generation product that is new to the market. That is true of most things. Unless you enjoy being a guinea pig and beta tester on you own dime.

 

Totally get that. And that is exactly why I'm not considering the Ford Mach-E even though it has an incredible visceral appeal to me.

 

Climate change is not what caused those fires, chief.

If you can get by with less than 200 miles of EV range, there's no better buy on the market than a used Nissan Leaf. It's not terrible to drive and stupid cheap. You could find a 2016 (last year of the first-generation) with less than 30,000 miles for under $12,000. Second-gen 2018-2019s with lower mileage and slightly better range are available at $25k or less.

 

Sigh.

Not going there with you. You're objectively wrong on the issue, but that's not the purpose of this thread.

Also, what's with all the hostile language? Calling me "Chief" and accusing me of "pathological altruism" and all that? You're acting like I kicked your dog.