Looking to purchase or lease new car at mid 2019

[Eudemon]

So my mini cooper lease ends at may 2019, placed order for Model 3 but considering cancel right now, some reasons below

 

Reasons for Cancellation:

1, Due to wide delivery window, financing details not unknown until vin is assigned (at which point becomes non-refundable)

2, Interior doesn't live up to the price tag: amount of plastic area, back seats too low for leg rest, arm rest, lack of dash screen, some basic buttons, lack of blind spot detection on side mirror, regen does not come to a complete stop

3, Customer support, took me 10 days of trying to get some respond to my initial request

4, Options too costly compare to similar offerings from other car manufacturers

5, No lease option for the 3, unlike mature gasoline car market, electric vehicle still has a lot of room for growth, in 3 years the landscape will be very different

 

I live in NYC as software engineer (so I am obsessed with tech),

I like EV and kind of want to take advantage of US incentives before it wears off,

it is based on ownership but some auto makers pass on to lower month payment,

tho I am also open to regular gasoline cars,

Let me know what you guys recommend, budget is a wide range, just no fancy car like Ferrari

[Ryzza5]

Well this could certainly become an interesting thread, haha.

 

Ok so you're in NYC? And currently, drive a Mini. You haven't specified but am I right in thinking you'd still be interested in a small(ish) car? Would you prefer a hatchback or a small sedan?

Do you have any general preference with European/Asian/US cars?

 

What is your instant reaction to brands like BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Hyundai, Mazda, Toyota, Honda, Chevrolet?

How important are extra safety features like blind spot monitoring, lane keep assist, high beam assist? I've liked the idea but found a few implementations quite annoying and turned them off.

What is more important, features themselves but the interior is a bit plasticky, or a premium interior but with perhaps fewer features (or higher vehicle price for the same features)? Would you like Android Auto / Apple Car Play?

How much power (BHP) or what 0-60mph time would you like to have? What does your Mini have? Do you want more/less/the same?

 

Some European cars are starting to get involved with electricity but like Tesla may need those extra 3 years to flood the market a bit more. VW might have one in USA already. Otherwise, you've got things like Chevrolet Volt, or Toyota Camry (don't worry, I would never suggest a Prius) or Honda Leaf.

 

Premium cars with nice interiors and good tech - maybe check out the latest Audi A3 or S3 (or RS3 if you've got the cash), comes in different shapes as a small size. Maybe you have access to an A3 eTron version?

The Hyundai 'N' version of their hatchback reviewed well, although with stiff suspension.

The VW Golf GTI has Jeremy Clarkson as a customer + fan, and has decent tech.

 

 

Hope this helps as a starting point, your answers will help Milli and everyone else find more ideas. :)

[Eudemon]

You haven't specified but am I right in thinking you'd still be interested in a small(ish) car? Would you prefer a hatchback or a small sedan?

Sedan, Hatchback, SUV, Crossover works for me, I mostly use to go to work and out with friend, so I don't need to transport a lot of people nor cargo

Do you have any general preference with European/Asian/US cars?

no preference

What is your instant reaction to brands like BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Hyundai, Mazda, Toyota, Honda, Chevrolet?

BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz: comfy, status symbol, I actually have royalty credit due to owning a mini, high maintenance

Toyota, Honda: reliable, lowest depreciation

Kia: don't like

Hyundai, Mazda, Chevrolet: okay like

How important are extra safety features like blind spot monitoring, lane keep assist, high beam assist? I've liked the idea but found a few implementations quite annoying and turned them off.

Prefer to have blind spot monitoring, lane keep, I drive on a stop and go traffic everyday, would like Auto Pilot like feature

What is more important, features themselves but the interior is a bit plasticky, or a premium interior but with perhaps fewer features (or higher vehicle price for the same features)?

I recently saw review of Kona electric, feels good except I am bit disappointed by the interior cheap look and feel,

I like high tech, premium interior, not too many buttons, good audio

Would you like Android Auto / Apple Car Play?

Prefer to have Android auto

How much power (BHP) or what 0-60mph time would you like to have? What does your Mini have? Do you want more/less/the same?

Power doesn't matter to me much but not too low, I don't race but I easily drive 70MPH on highway, also I like the instant torque of EV,

this is my mini spec: https://www.cars.com/research/mini-countryman-2016/specs/

I want something different

Honda Leaf

I think you meant Nissan Leaf, I actually test drove model 3, model S, leaf, bolt, i3 recently (all have pros and cons)

Maybe you have access to an A3 eTron version?

I don't know, I have done so much research in EV but I don't know much about internal combustion engine cars, also I don't know how to maintain one either

maybe check out the latest Audi A3 or S3 (or RS3 if you've got the cash)

I heard german luxury cars cost a lot to maintain, and yes I can afford RS3 but I am hunting more for value + happiness (less value but makes me happy)

whats the difference between Audi, BMW, Mercedes

[TIMELESS]

What about a Lexus? Not full EV but hybrid, excellent interiors, great sound systems (even the standard Lexus ones), and a good range of sizes and car types (ie sportier car, big boat for cruising, SUV, etc). Would make me happy. @Microphone yeah shut up you.

[Eudemon]

[quote name='TIMELESS']What about a Lexus? Not full EV but hybrid, excellent interiors, great sound systems (even the standard Lexus ones), and a good range of sizes and car types (ie sportier car, big boat for cruising, SUV, etc). Would make me happy. @Microphone yeah shut up you.[/QUOTE] I do not like hybrid, I think they are gimmick trying to take advantage of incentives, it has disadvantage of many mechanical components cause high maintenance and lower cargo space of gasoline car and disadvantage of weight and charging of electric car either full gasoline or full electric, never hybrid

[TIMELESS]

But doesn't need to rely on an incomplete infrastructure. Pros and cons ya know. Now, plug-in hybrids, that's a gimmick I don't get.

[Eudemon]

What incomplete infrastructure are you referring to, hybrid has internal combustion engine, electric motor, and battery, it's like taking away all the pros from both platform

I hate to needing refuel and charge, rather just do one

[Loek]

I started liking the Lexus CT Hybrid, idk if that's in America (iirc it is). Seems like a decent little car but afaik it runs on Lexus' outdated infotainment which is not very good, and probably doesn't support Android Auto.

 

Avoid Audi. The ones you can 'afford' have crazy option packages which easily double the price for a decent model.

 

New Merc A Class is nice for techfreaks. Drove that the other day. The visuals in the infotainment are amazing. It's a great car. Expensive though, with hybrid models not available anytime soon.

 

Seems like Volvo is starting to invest in hybrid stuff, and they have the S/V40 coming. It's quite the premium car so expect high prices but those are decent cars.

 

That's the ones that spring to mind that I would consider buying in your situation.

[Eudemon]

please no, I don't like hybrid, I don't like hydrogen

[GTAMADDOG]

I was going to suggest something like a BMW 330e until you mentioned no hybrid, so I won't talk about it any more than that :p

 

Don't shoot me down in flames, because I have no idea of about 90% of American cars, but have you considered something along the lines of a Infiniti Q50 or Cadillac ATS? I'm looking at the ATS at the moment on the Cadillac website after reading about some UK-based people renting them for a few weeks in the USA and them being impressed with it on the whole (coming from BMW owners, this is). Looking at the Cadillac website at the moment you can get an ATS Premium Luxury from $46K and they come as standard with Lane Keep Assist, Collision Detection, Blind Zone Alert, AppleCarPlay/Android Auto, rear camera, 10-speaker Bose sound system plus a load of other stuff. For $48K it includes the Driver Awareness Package which gets you the Adaptive Cruise amongst other things. However, I appreciate these aren't an EV (3.6 V6).

 

I personally really like the look of the Q50s, but they apparently use drive-by-wire steering which can take some getting used to. Americans (and probably everyone on the forum) will no doubt laugh at me for mentioning everything above :p

 

For something reasonably cheap and fully electric you also have the e-Golf, although I appreciate the Volkswagen name may well still be mud in the USA at the moment.

[TIMELESS]

What incomplete infrastructure are you referring to

 

Pretty sure if you needed to find petrol ("gas") in the middle of the Mojave you'd have no issue but you'd be screwed looking for a charging station, for example. Then there's the fact that you're probably charging your eco-friendly electric car with electricity produced by fossil fuels, coal, etc not clean electric like solar, wind, etc.

 

I hate to needing refuel and charge, rather just do one

 

With a hybrid you would do just one though. Fuel it up the old fashioned way and the engine charges the batteries. You get better MPG, extended range, and full electric mode for enough miles for town driving.

[Eudemon]

Pretty sure if you needed to find petrol ("gas") in the middle of the Mojave you'd have no issue but you'd be screwed looking for a charging station, for example. Then there's the fact that you're probably charging your eco-friendly electric car with electricity produced by fossil fuels, coal, etc not clean electric like solar, wind, etc.

It depends the location you draw power from, there are some states runs almost 100% renewable energy,

just for the sake of simplicity, on average only 10% of total energy consumption in United States comes burning coal,

and this number is getting better and better over the year, it's not like solar and wind and other renewable energy can't provide all energy needed,

it is there is no medium to store energy to be used when there is no wind or solar to supply electricity to grid so they had to burn fossil fuels to keep up demand (e.g at night), with improving battery, adoption of energy storing medium, efficiency of energy production, electric cars leave way way less carbon footprint than their gasoline counterpart

 

secondly even if the power comes from burning fossil fuel, factories have way better efficiency of converting energy than the tiny internal combustion engine in a car

there are others to take into consideration, you can set timer on when your car draws power, range estimate are fairly accurate, rate of super charging station growth etc..

[Eudemon]

@GTAMADDOG thanks for the suggestions, I never paid attention to the cars you mentioned, I will do some researches on them, possibly test drive some after configuring my model 3 and turned out to be 63k, all those luxury cars seems fairly reasonable price, just looked them up a 35k car seem to have better interior than model 3...

[Ryzza5]

Audi e-tron: Design, battery range, price and everything you need to know about the all-electric SUV

 

Jaguar and MB also looking to release Fully Electric models but will take a year or more. Worth watching though.

 

I'm thinking it may be better to lease another gas vehicle for 3 years and then seriously look at the FE options after others have 'beta tested' them.

[Eudemon]

Audi e-tron: Design, battery range, price and everything you need to know about the all-electric SUV

 

Jaguar and MB also looking to release Fully Electric models but will take a year or more. Worth watching though.

 

I'm thinking it may be better to lease another gas vehicle for 3 years and then seriously look at the FE options after others have 'beta tested' them.

 

Yes I am leaning toward getting another 3 year lease too,

 

this weekend my mental went through this cycle:

Can I afford a new car? yes

Do I need a new car? no

so I looked up what's most reliable used luxury car, the answer is Lexus,

But I am the type of people that get bored of car in 2~3 years, is it good idea for me to buy 3 year old Lexus for half MSRP price versus leasing?

[Ryzza5]

Doesn't the whole leasing thing depend on the expected mileage you'll drive during that period?

[Eudemon]

it does, usually option 10k 12k 15k per year

 

I was referring to buy a used luxury car, use for 3+ years and sell it

or lease a new car, use it for 3 years and dump it

[TIMELESS]

Yea why not buy and dump in 3 years? There'll be a bit of depreciation but the majority of it has already happened. Lexus are usually a good buy and easy to sell on in the US when the time comes.

[Milli]

To be really, really honest, reliability is not much of an issue if you're looking for a 3-years time gap of leasing a new car. If you take care of them, they all won't give you much of a headache. I'd suggest you to make a list of possible choices, make appointments to test drive them all, and see which one threat you better inside. Mess with the multimedia central, see their responsiveness and which features they have. Check their sound system, also inside cabin noise.

 

Although, looking at the competitors, i sure would give a look at this one:

 

Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti AWD.

 

It has by standard:

2.0l 4-cyl turbo engine that makes 280hp

5,1s of 0-60 mph

8-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shifters

26 MPG combined City+Highway

 

Did a configuration, to keep it in the same price range as the ATS mentioned above.

 

I've added:

19" Alloy wheels

Bi-Xenom headlamps

8.8-Inch AM / FM Bluetooth® Radio with 3D NAV

Harman Kardon® Premium Audio System (14 speakers - 4 tweeters, 4 woofers, 5 mid-range, a 900w amplifier and a subwoofer)

Forward Collision Warning Plus

Driver Assistance Static Package (Auto-Dimming, Blind Spot and Cross-Path Detection)

Driver Assist Dynamic Plus Package (Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop, Auto High beam, Forward Collision warning, Infrared Windshield and Lane Departure warning)

Yellow calipers :lol:

 

Price: 46,490, lease being 36/month at 498 per month in my zipcode.

 

Plus, it looks absolutelly stunning. :lol:

 

[Eudemon]

I am not a car guru, never heard of that brand.

 

current options are:

1, buy the new EVs that comes out (Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Kona)

2, lease a luxury EV or gas car (same as above)

3, buy an used reliable luxury car like Lexus

[Milli]

I am not a car guru, never heard of that brand.

 

current options are:

1, buy the new EVs that comes out (Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Kona)

2, lease a luxury EV or gas car (same as above)

3, buy an used reliable luxury car like Lexus

 

Alfa Romeo is one of the greatest brands of all time. :lol: Italian rival of BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar, Cadillac and such. Even though you might never heard of it, i honestly think you should check it out. As gasoline vehicles go, in my humble opinion, it's one of the best value you can get. It has all the tech, it has the looks, and it probably has the sounds. And, it's a brand that has racing heritage, so it has high chances of making you feel special when you're inside.

 

People say that if you're a true car enthusiast, you must own an Alfa Romeo sometime in your life. :lol: I guess that says a lot.

 

Edit: At least try to get a test drive of an Alfa Giulia. Don't think you'll regret.

 

Edit 2:

Hope this helps as a starting point, your answers will help Milli and everyone else find more ideas. :)

:hmmm: Why am i split from everyone else? :mhmm:

[Eudemon]

To be honest not really a fan of the the Alfa Romeo design, @TIMELESS it seems I have misconception about hybrid, so my apology after doing some research, Lexus hybrid seems pretty good will go test drive at a dealer near my lease end

[Milli]

To be honest not really a fan of the the Alfa Romeo design,

 

:lol:

[TIMELESS]

[quote name='Diablo']To be honest not really a fan of the the Alfa Romeo design, @TIMELESS it seems I have misconception about hybrid, so my apology after doing some research, Lexus hybrid seems pretty good will go test drive at a dealer near my lease end[/QUOTE] Yeah go check them out, I think they're a more realistic/practical option right now until electric cars are more developed and the infrastructure too. Let us know how you get on :)

[Eudemon]

we already know

downside of hybrid is less cargo space, higher initial price

upside is energy efficiency and quiet-ness (but I want to know more practicality of this)

 

from my research, there are three scenarios:

EV mode, internal combustion engine (ICE) + electric motor (EM) assist, ICE

 

less noise mean you can enjoy your music better in i.e traffic, it adds another level of comfort

but how often does that quiet-ness kick in with every day driving say (50-50 highway-city, 75-25, 25-75)

 

assume 2015 or later non plug-in hybrid models vs their non hybrid counterpart

say Lexus hybrid vs their non hybrid same model, is it always quieter? if not then how often not based on above scenarios