This is a great example of why focusing on the monthly payment doesn’t give you the full story. The Total Cost of Ownership will give you a better idea of how much your car truly costs, instead of how much it costs just to buy it.

That’s when the stupid “I did that!” stickers were born.

Yes, and that is a whole other topic that irritates me to no end. In my experience, far too many dealerships are built around take advantage of Unprepared or Uninformed buyers. Boil the whole process down to a single number and you can hide all sorts of bullshit. That is why I always ask for a fully itemized quote.

Remember - mechanics only see the bad ones, which are likely to be statistical outliers. Toyota has been using the same basic eCVT transmission design on their Hybrids for 25+ years. If the design is as weak as you say it is, the maintenance schedule and warranty would reflect that.

gas prices seem permanently inflated

The eCVT definitely takes some getting used to.

I understand discussing monthly payment is typically a “gee whiz” type of conversation. People often correlate that number with “cost” even though it’s a pretty narrow way to think about what a car truly costs. Everyone’s financial situation is different, so comparing monthly payments isn’t really useful.

Good for you?  Depending on interest rates and your personal situation, paying cash for a car isn’t always the best financial decision.

From a drivetrain perspective, I would not recommend the Tucson Hybrid. It uses a conventional 6-speed transmission whereas the CR-V Hybrid and Toyota Hybrids use an E-CVT. Compared toa traditional multi-speed torque converter automatic, the E-CVT transmissions are much smoother and due to their very simple mechanical…

Ted Levine also played Brian O’Conner’s boss, Sergeant Tanner, in The Fast and the Furious. That has always blown my mind.

UL stickers should have an alphanumeric file number on them. The file number is a unique identifier of the manufacturer and product category.

1. Its ok to not have a UL sticker on an electrical product. There are other NRTLs. I’ve seen USF, and TUV but there are about a dozen companies out there.

Keeping planes grounded due to climate change is a self-solving problem!

Some cars do give a little more detail. Now that every car has a nice big screen in the dash somewhere, full code detail should be standard if desired.

Audi A4L Quattro

Man, human waste is some slippery shit

Correct. EV range is a big deal right now. If it were easy to increase range (meaning, little to no side effects), every manufacturer would be doing it right now. To think this dude by himself can outsmart the collective R&D brainpower of an entire industry is highly suspect.

OEMs limit the amount of usable battery capacity to extend the life of the battery, so it’s possible his software enables a larger % of battery utilization (to the detriment of battery longevity).

Yes, and that’s currently the only Toyota EV on sale (at least in the North American market). There are far more hybrid and PHEV options in their portfolio.

For many reasons I don’t know if I’d ever buy another Hyundai product, but I appreciate them going wild in the styling department. Some of their newer models - EVs in particular - are some of the most unique and distinctive designs on the road.