I replaced the 12v on my previous 2016 Model X. I remember it was sub 300, and with mobile ranger too. So, no need to bring it in.

Has anyone purchased or insured the Prius Prime? I'm wondering if the insurance costs are any higher/lower than the old one?

You can ask your insurance agent. Everyone is gonna be different.

this is really cool

Looks like full pricing for the Volvo EX30 is out:
https://www.media.volvocars.com/ca/e...025-volvo-ex30

This is a pretty small car built to a price point, but the loaded model at $62k seems decent given its 3.6s 0-100km/h spec.

Driving 2023 Prius XLE for a weeklong work rental, wow.

1) Now confident and powerful enough for highway 100-130kmh passing and ripping Granville Street right lane
2) I swear the steering and turn in is more direct and aggressive than current Integra and Civic SI
3) Might be the first Toyota product with a great sound system stock, this has FCA/Stellantis levels of bass stock
4) Regen got a lot stronger but not as strong as plug-in hybrid or EV still.

Hats off, this is incredibly well executed.

The US gets a roughly 6Kish discount, Volvo is using the rebates here to offset their higher pricing.

Yes I found the new Toyota products to handle significantly better than their older stuff. It’s almost like night and day.

Driving around today probably saw like 6 to 10 Toyota b4zx or whatever it's called over an hour or so on the road. Did they just release a bunch of stock?

I see them regularly in Richmond / Vancouver. The Lexus RZ is becoming more common too, though I'm not sure what's going on with the Solterra.

toyota/lexus branding most likely as people value that brand over subaru

Those are decent prices, but you just know dealers will mark them up like hell.

Nice EV option for the commuter/urban dink/downsizer market.

I'm currently driving a 2023 Volvo C40 EV as a service loaner (Rivian ran out of loaner vehicles so I got my pick at Enterprise), and I remembered this post so I thought I'd follow up. For context in the comparison: I don't own a Model 3, but a couple of friends have them so I've been in/around them and driven them on road trips etc.

It looks pretty good!
https://i.imgur.com/9AUTj2gl.png

https://i.imgur.com/lCWrfKKl.jpg

And the tail lights do this cool on/off where they light up in sequence.
https://youtube.com/shorts/9bop50Cxi...HZ5iCRtTBakII6

But, I hope your in-laws test-drive one ASAP so they know what they are getting themselves into, and/or be at peace with what they have:

1) The interior feels really cramped. There's even a hump on the floor in the rear. A lot of it seems to be in the design choices: e.g. the dash is mounted kinda high which looks cool but feels claustrophobic to me, personally.

2) The interior panels are making plasticky rattling sounds driving over bumps.

3) With the keyless entry, there's a delay between sticking your hand in the door handles and the door actually unlocking, so you wind up having to pull a couple times to open it (my wife's i3 doesn't doesn't have this issue, for example).

4) The powered liftgate has been glitching out and randomly shutting on us all by itself. This has already bonked me on the head lol. And sometimes it mysteriously thinks something is in its way and opens back up, even though there's nothing there.

5) The throttle to motor movement mapping at low speeds is kinda weird. There's a bit of an odd disconnect: there's a delay, and at times it seems like it's moving faster than you think it should given the pedal travel. But sometimes it's the other way around. Faster than a crawl, no issues.

6) The infotainment screen is easily the worst part. For whatever reason, they chose to do the Tesla Model S approach of using a vertical screen.
https://i.imgur.com/E9iGKBUl.png
But the difference is their screen is tiny, so now I can't see shit when I've got a map running. Why would they think a small screen in vertical orientation would be a good idea? Human vision don't work like that!

7) The infotainment software is garbage. Sure it's Google Android, but they seem to still have taken their own direction with the UI. The layout is super inconsistent and random and it's not intuitive to find stuff. A lot of random swiping to get to things like keeping HVAC running when the car's shut off. It's also really unresponsive, and kinda glitchy. Feels like using an Android phone from a decade ago.

8) The rear-view camera quality is potatoes.

9) The top-down view is nice, but it's also potatoes.

But! The body panels all line up perfectly, which is nice :D!

And I like the level of CarPlay / Android Auto integration (though unfortunately is not wireless): e.g. when you're using Apple Maps, that actually projects into the middle of your gauge cluster! Even Audi doesn't do this with their Virtual Cockpit and you're stuck using their nav. When you're not plugged in, you get the car's built-in Google Maps navigation in your gauge cluster, which is plenty great.

mr rat, what happened to your rivian that you require a short term rental?

How dare you!

...yeah it would take a post longer than the above to list it all. I had something like 35 service tickets open lol

Hats off to you for beta testing cars for the rest of the world.

The Polestar and the Riv

I recall a few pages back, some of you guys with Tesla replaced or exchanged your batteries.

My dad is looking to switch to EV and has this fear he's conjured up in his mind that battery replacement or failure would cost over $10K to replace. Is this the case? And are they known to have battery failures? Would this also be the case for hybrids such as Toyotas or Lexus? This discussion came up when I saw him over the weekend in Los Angeles and a relative who is promoting EV adoption (not owning one himself) riled up my father about how Teslas were great and how California has so many incentives for buyers.

For what it's worth, he's driving a 2001 Lexus RX300 with a tonne of miles on it (yes, miles.) Nothing wrong with the car itself other than it is over 20 years old and he is looking to replace it when major repairs are due i.e. catastrophic failure.

i think the battery is the last thing he needs to worry about. the rest of the car will disintegrate around him long before the battery dies.

I'm not a big fan of making life and pretty decent sized financial decisions based on anecdotal information lol

I've heard lots of stories myself too... I'm sure some of them are true... but if it was a widespread issue there'd be way more media coverage out there to search and there isn't... so I'd say most of these people are outliers.

I am pretty sure he is going on anecdotal and old information. There was a point in time where it was alleged that Prius batteries would cost $10,000 to replace, so he's thinking Tesla would cost even more. But we're talking about like Gen 1 / Gen 2 Prius and I'm like how is this even the same as a modern Tesla?

I mean, Tesla batteries SHOULD be a lot more to replace... but do they break very often? I don't think so haha

I've heard more about the electric motors giving up the ghost than I've ever heard of batteries going kaput

How old is your dad and how long will he keep the car, drive for? In Canada Tesla comes with the 8y 160,000 km battery warranty from what I recall. Does he drive a lot? The states has that new budget rwd model y again and I think it's like $36k after rebates.

Man, you're welcome!

Though don't you own a Golf? Last time I had one of those, VW had to replace the whole motor under warranty :)