# I'm going car shopping tomorrow.



## garsh

I currently have two cars - a 2009 Honda Odyssey and a 2012 Nissan Leaf, both with about 90k miles.

My original plan was to get a Model 3, sell the Leaf, and we'd keep the minivan. But given all my talking over the last two years about this awesome Model 3 that I'll be getting, and the wife no longer likes that idea.

So then she was thinking that we'd trade in the minivan and she'd drive the Leaf for a while. But now she's seen just how much range the car's degraded battery gets in this cold weather with the heater running. I told her that I could just take the Leaf to work on the few days when she needs to go on a longer trip. But I'm used to running that Leaf down through Low Battery Warning, and Very Low Battery Warning, with the car giving up on displaying an approximate available range. She's going to freak out when it says she has less than 10 miles left, and I don't blame her. Low-range EVs are for strange people who are willing to put up with them - they are not for the masses.

So then we decided we'd get her a car shortly after I get the Model 3. That plan lasted almost a week before she decided that we should probably not wait. So, I'm taking tomorrow off work and we're going to look at some vehicles.

I did talk her into getting a used Hyundai. That 5 year warranty is hard to beat. You get a 1- or 2-yo Hyundai, and you still have more warranty left than a brand new Honda. She wants a small SUV - she likes sitting up a little higher, but she wants something a lot smaller than the old minivan. So we'll be looking at some Tucsons, and maybe a Santa Fe Sport (the short one).

We don't have a CarMax in the area, but we do have a CarSense, so I'll probably take the minivan there first to see what they'll offer for it before I talk to dealers.


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## SoFlaModel3

garsh said:


> I currently have two cars - a 2009 Honda Odyssey and a 2012 Nissan Leaf, both with about 90k miles.
> 
> My original plan was to get a Model 3, sell the Leaf, and we'd keep the minivan. But given all my talking over the last two years about this awesome Model 3 that I'll be getting, and the wife no longer likes that idea.
> 
> So then she was thinking that we'd trade in the minivan and she'd drive the Leaf for a while. But now she's seen just how much range the car's degraded battery gets in this cold weather with the heater running. I told her that I could just take the Leaf to work on the few days when she needs to go on a longer trip. But I'm used to running that Leaf down through Low Battery Warning, and Very Low Battery Warning, with the car giving up on displaying an approximate available range. She's going to freak out when it says she has less than 10 miles left, and I don't blame her. Low-range EVs are for strange people who are willing to put up with them - they are not for the masses.
> 
> So then we'd decide we'd get her a car shortly after I get the Model 3. That plan lasted almost a week before she decided that we should probably not wait. So, I'm taking tomorrow off work and we're going to look at some vehicles.
> 
> I did talk her into getting a used Hyundai. That 5 year warranty is hard to beat. You get a 1- or 2-yo Hyundai, and you still have more warranty left than a brand new Honda. She wants a small SUV - she likes sitting up a little higher, but she wants something a lot smaller than the old minivan. So we'll be looking at some Tucsons, and maybe a Santa Fe Sport (the short one).
> 
> We don't have a CarMax in the area, but we do have a CarSense, so I'll probably take the minivan there first to see what they'll offer for it before I talk to dealers.


My wife and I both drive Sonatas and I can safely say had I never fell in love with Tesla my next car probably would have been a Genesis.

They make great cars with a great warranty at an amazing price!


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## Love

2012 Kia Optima EX, 52000 miles... soon to be for sale! 

Best of luck garsh! If you happen to find something and feel like sharing, I'd like to know what you find and go with.

Also, I believe the Optima and Sonata are sister cars and can honestly say that this has been a great car for me. So I can echo @SoFlaModel3 sentiments a bit here.


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## jvmoore1

my wife really likes her Hyundai Santa Fe. Great for carrying all our stuff for travel soccer


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## mig

@garsh, your comment about driving through VLBW made me laugh. Toward the end of my Leaf lease in winter, I would often get home with '---' for miles remaining, and you do get a bit used to it. But my wife did think I was crazy.

I remember you from days of yore on those Leaf forums, and I can't think of anyone that more deserves to finally have a good range EV. Hope you still get your Tesla!


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## garsh

mig said:


> @garsh, your comment about driving through VLBW made me laugh. Toward the end of my Leaf lease in winter, I would often get home with '---' for miles remaining, and you do get a bit used to it.


I hit VLBW _every_ _day_. I've hit turtle about 6 times. I've run it until it died three times (although the one time, I made it to the charger, and it died just after I took a picture of the little turtle symbol on the dashboard).

You're damn right I deserve a 310-mile Tesla.


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## mig

Whenever the kids were in the car and we got the VLBW warning, they would shout "Take it to turtle! Take it to turtle!!" Ah, I think the kids miss it...


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## Brett

mig said:


> "Take it to turtle! Take it to turtle!!"


OK, I'll bite, what's a turtle? I've never driven a Leaf...


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## garsh

Brett said:


> OK, I'll bite, what's a turtle? I've never driven a Leaf...


LBW - Low Battery Warning. When you have about 8 miles of range left, the car says "Low Battery Warning" in a soothing, female voice, and a message pops up in the binnacle.










VLBW - Very Low Battery Warning. When you have roughly 4 miles of range left, the soothing female voice says "Very Low Battery - Search for nearest charging stations?". This time, instead of showing a message in the binnacle, the navigation screen pops up a VLB warning in a window that gives you a button to initiate a search for charging stations. The "miles remaining" gauge gives up at this point and just displays three dashes.










Turtle mode. This happens when you have probably less than a half mile of range left. There's no soothing female voice anymore. The car beeps at you. A little turtle icon in a circle lights up on the dashboard (thus, "turtle mode"). The binnacle displays a message about motor power being limited. This is when you have some major pucker factor.


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## garsh

I took my minivan to CarSense tonight. They offered $6000. Not bad.

KBB says my trade-in value (very good condition) is $4,982 - $6,539. I was expecting CarSense to make an offer at the low end of that range.

Autotrader has 2009 Odyssey EX's in my area with asking prices from $8,891 - $12,395

Ebay shows two sold for $7,900 and $8,200 (but that was a higher-end Touring model), both with more miles than mine.

I'm not really looking forward to dealing with a dealership and car salesmen, but it makes me feel better knowing that I can use this as both a bargaining chip during negotiations, as well as a fallback for actually selling the van.


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## garsh

Went to see a 2016 Tucson Sport with 10k miles.
Wife liked it, so... yay!
But they're asking $20k, and wouldn't budge on price.

It turns out that my company has a deal with Hyundai that lets us buy cars at some set price below MSRP. Plus, Hyundai has a $2000 incentive on new 2017 Tucsons. So... I think I just talked myself into getting a new one instead of a used one. 

I'm probably going to run out tomorrow.


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## Twiglett

I hope Tesla offer me $6k for my 13 Leaf


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## garsh

garsh said:


> Plus, Hyundai has a $2000 incentive on new 2017 Tucsons.


Hyundai appears to have an additional $1000 incentive for Uber drivers. 

So... say hello to your brand-new, friendly neighborhood Uber driver.


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## garsh

Got one.

I think I've satisfied any "Midnight Silver Metallic" leanings I may have had with this purchase.


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## garsh

The incentives they have available on the Tucson are just insane.

MSRP: *$29,585*
Invoice: $28,587
Hyundai Circle, Plan A: $27,728
Circle Discount: -$250
2017 Tucson discount: -$2000
Uber discount: -$1000
Financing cash back: -$500
Final: *$23,978
*
Hyundai's financing isn't a good rate (5.9% IIRC), but I'm just going to pay that off right away. It's worth it for the $500.


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## Michael Russo

Congratulations... to your wife, I guess!


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## garsh

Michael Russo said:


> Congratulations... to your wife, I guess!


Happy wife, happy life.


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## garsh

This is my first vehicle with a sunroof. And it's a panoramic sunroof.
And it is YUUUUGE!


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## garsh

This is the quickest car I've ever owned. 0-60mph in 7.6s.

Yes, it's very, very sad that this is the quickest car I've ever owned.


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## MelindaV

garsh said:


> This is the quickest car I've ever owned. 0-60mph in 7.6s.
> 
> Yes, it's very, very sad that this is the quickest car I've ever owned.


I don't understand how that is even possible


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## Michael Russo

garsh said:


> This is the quickest car I've ever owned. 0-60mph in 7.6s.
> 
> Yes, it's very, very sad that this is the quickest car I've ever owned.


Well. We all know that record is about to be broken in a few months, my friend...

So this was the (key) reason for getting this car now, to get used to these Gs!!


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## garsh

I decided to see what Carvana would offer me for the Hyundai I bought for $24k over three years ago.
I might have to place a Model Y order. 












garsh said:


> The incentives they have available on the Tucson are just insane.
> 
> MSRP: *$29,585*
> Invoice: $28,587
> Hyundai Circle, Plan A: $27,728
> Circle Discount: -$250
> 2017 Tucson discount: -$2000
> Uber discount: -$1000
> Financing cash back: -$500
> Final: *$23,978*
> 
> Hyundai's financing isn't a good rate (5.9% IIRC), but I'm just going to pay that off right away. It's worth it for the $500.


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## TrevP

DO IT!!!


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## iChris93

garsh said:


> I decided to see what Carvana would offer me for the Hyundai I bought for $24k over three years ago.
> I might have to place a Model Y order.
> 
> View attachment 41555


How long are the offers good for? Might be waiting a while for a Y.


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## shareef777

garsh said:


> I decided to see what Carvana would offer me for the Hyundai I bought for $24k over three years ago.
> I might have to place a Model Y order.
> 
> View attachment 41555


I had an offer from CarMax that was $800 less then I paid new for my wife's Honda Pilot (after a year and a half of ownership). That was last May. Immediately ordered the Y and sold the Pilot. We managed with a single car for the month it took for delivery of her Y.

Crazy part is that same Pilot now is worth even more 

I'd recommend just ordering the Y and keeping an eye on the market. Soon as you see it drop a bit sell and manage with a single car. Doesn't seem like the used car market is cooling down anytime this year.


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