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61:58
Person
Andrew Landbrecht
An expert guest on the podcast who specializes in buying and selling used electric cars.
Car
Polestar 2
This is a stylish, high-riding electric hatchback made by Polestar, a sister brand to Volvo. It looks like a futuristic sedan and is known for its clean Scandinavian design, high-quality interior, and sporty handling.
Term
ADAS
This is the collective term for the smart safety features in modern cars—like automatic braking, lane steering, and cruise control that slows down for traffic—designed to help prevent crashes.
Car
Volvo XC40
The Volvo XC40 is a small, premium SUV made by the Swedish company Volvo. It is available as an electric vehicle, offering a safe and comfortable ride.
Car
Chevrolet Bolt EV
A small, practical electric hatchback from Chevrolet that is famous for being one of the cheapest ways to get a lot of battery range. It is great for daily commuting and city driving, but its slow charging speed makes it less ideal for long road trips.
Company
Carvana
An online website where you can buy or sell used cars and have them delivered directly to your house, avoiding the traditional dealership experience.
Car
Hyundai Kona Electric
A small electric SUV from Hyundai that gets excellent battery mileage. It is easy to park, quick off the line, and highly efficient, making it one of the best value-for-money used EVs on the market.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a large, powerful American car made by Dodge. It is famous for its sporty look and high speed, and the newest version is available as an electric vehicle.
Car
Kia Niro EV
A slightly larger sibling to the Hyundai Kona Electric, this Kia offers more room in the back seat and trunk. It is a highly sensible, comfortable, and efficient electric hatchback.
Car
Chevrolet Bolt EUV
The Chevrolet Bolt EUV is a compact electric hatchback-style SUV made by Chevrolet. It is designed to be an affordable, practical electric car with extra space for passengers in the back.
Term
CHAdeMO
An older type of plug used for fast-charging electric cars. It is becoming very hard to find at public charging stations because almost all new cars use different plug designs now.
Car
Nissan Leaf
The Nissan Leaf is a small, all-electric hatchback made by the Japanese company Nissan. It was one of the very first affordable electric cars sold to the public.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Part
CV shafts
The metal shafts that connect the car's motor to the wheels to make them spin, using special flexible joints so the wheels can still turn and bounce over bumps.
Concept
pre-purchase inspection
Paying an independent mechanic to thoroughly check over a used car before you buy it, ensuring there are no hidden problems or expensive repairs waiting for you.
Car
Tesla Model
The Tesla Model Y is a popular, mid-sized electric SUV made by the American company Tesla. It is designed to carry families and cargo while running entirely on battery power.
Car
Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is a smaller, four-door electric sedan made by Tesla. It is designed to be a more affordable and compact alternative to larger luxury electric cars.
Car
Bmw I4
An electric version of BMW's popular 4 Series sedan. It looks, feels, and drives like a traditional luxury BMW sports car, but runs entirely on battery power instead of gasoline.
Car
Bmw Ix
The BMW iX is a large, high-end electric SUV made by BMW. It is designed to offer a very comfortable, quiet ride with a futuristic interior and lots of modern technology.
Car
Chevrolet Equinox
The Chevrolet Equinox EV is an all-electric SUV made by the American brand Chevrolet. It is built to be a practical, budget-friendly family vehicle that runs on electricity.
Car
BMW i3
The BMW i3 is a small, uniquely styled electric hatchback made by BMW. It was designed for city driving and used lightweight materials to save energy.
Company
CarMax
A massive national chain of used car dealerships known for having fixed, non-negotiable prices and offering a straightforward, low-pressure buying experience.
Car
BMW E30S
The BMW 3 Series is a premium, sporty four-door sedan made by the German luxury brand BMW. It is widely known for being fun to drive and comfortable.
Car
Toyota RAV4
The Toyota RAV4 is a highly popular compact SUV made by the Japanese brand Toyota. It is available in hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions that use both gasoline and electricity.
Car
Volkswagen Id4S
The Volkswagen ID.4 is a family-sized electric SUV made by the German company Volkswagen. It is built to be a practical, everyday vehicle that runs entirely on battery power.
Car
Audi Etrons
The Audi e-tron is a luxury electric SUV made by the German brand Audi. It looks and feels like a traditional luxury car but runs entirely on electricity.
Car
Porsche Taycan
The Porsche Taycan is a very fast, high-end electric sports car made by the German company Porsche. It combines luxury comfort with high-speed performance.
Car
e-tron Audi Etron Gt
The Audi e-tron GT is a fast, luxury electric sports sedan made by Audi. It is designed for comfortable, high-speed long-distance driving using battery power.
Car
Chevrolet Spark
The Chevrolet Spark EV is a very small, all-electric hatchback made by Chevrolet. It was built in small numbers and is known for being quick and easy to park in cities.
Car
Kia EV6 GT
A super-fast version of Kia's futuristic electric SUV. It has sports-car-level acceleration that can pin you to your seat, but still has plenty of room for passengers and groceries.
Car
Tesla Model 3S
Car
Mini Cooper SE
An electric version of the classic, tiny Mini Cooper. It is incredibly fun and sporty to drive around town, but its small battery means you can't go very far before needing to plug in.
LIVE
Today, we'll recommend Anivi for a student looking for an affordable option with lots
of range, a lady on LinkedIn who needs an electric replacement for her totaled Chevrolet
Bolt, and a viewer looking for something with an emphasis on fun.
Welcome to Battery Bargains.
This is episode number 43.
I'm Dominic Ioni.
Joining me today is Dave Connor from the Out of Spec Dave channel, and we are delighted
to be joined once again by Andrew Landbrecht from Evercars.
How you guys doing?
Great.
Really good.
All right.
So let's kick this thing off with our deal of the week.
So there was a bit of a toss up this week, but I decided to go with this.
Let me just bring it up on the screen for you all, actually, because this open this
and boom, all right.
A Polestar 2024 long range Polestar 2 long range single motor with 26,025 miles with the
pilot package for $23,890 and that includes the dealer fees and the electronic filing
fee.
Yeah, there you go.
This is a vehicle with an MSRP of over $54,000 two years ago, and now it's less than half
price.
So it comes with a 360 degree camera, blind spot monitoring standard, and the pilot package
for this year adds a lane centering, adaptive cruise, LED fog lights with a cornering, as
well as the pixel LED headlights with adaptive high beams.
And this being a 2024 model means that it's rear wheel drive, not front wheel drive like
the earlier model years, and it also has the bigger 82 kilowatt hour battery for 306 miles
of range and a higher peak charging.
So charging is faster with a 28 minute 10 to 80.
So before we get into letters or anything, what do you guys think of this?
Grand deal.
Yeah.
I think I honestly would go with the rear wheel drive Polestar two.
I would not go with all wheel drive, and I would go with this specifically because of
the additional range because you get 320 miles EPA range, rear wheel drive.
It's also pretty quick to it's like 300 horsepower, 299, I think to be exact, but it's still going
to be a fun car to drive.
It's still a rear wheel drive Polestar.
The front wheel drive Polestar, I didn't really like.
I actually was very disappointed with the driving experience in that car.
I only made a 230 horsepower, not particularly fun, but this is rear wheel drive gets more
range than the all wheel drive because the all wheel drive one only comes with the 78
kilowatt hour battery, even on the refresh 2024, so getting bigger battery might be more
fun to drive with the rear wheel drive set up and yeah, I would go with this one.
I think it's a solid deal.
So what's the mileage on this one, Dominic?
At 26,000 and 25 miles.
Okay, so you've got the balance.
I don't know what the end service date was, but you got four year 50k bumper to bumper
plus eight year 100k on the drivetrain.
So that's a lot of car for 25, basically 25 grand, right?
20, no, 24 grand, because they're showing the dealer fees and the electronic filing
fee.
Wouldn't you think an electronic filing fee would be less because it's electronic?
$299 push button, but whatever.
I mean, it's like, you know, I looked at a few of these myself this morning and I'm
seeing them more in the like the 25 to 27,000 range and this is a great car.
Does this have the ADAS lane centering and all that on it?
Yeah, it does, right?
Yeah, I've spent a lot of time in this vehicle, both like Andrew, like the all the
front wheel drive and the rear wheel drive, but as well as the all wheel drive.
And I think, you know, the rear wheel drive is fine.
Unless you're in an area where you need a drive and I would emphasize that, you know,
it was funny driving down from Connecticut yesterday in Florida here, massive rainstorm.
I was really happy to have the all wheel drive and the Y.
So don't just think, you know, hills and snow and all that.
But yeah, this is the piece to have that the 2024 was major upgrades.
And this is a great solid ride.
What Andrew, what are your thoughts about the latest Polestar pulling out of the US?
And and should I if I'm thinking about getting whether it's this one or another Polestar 2,
should I be concerned about that or is Volvo going to be there?
Like what's what's going on with that?
Yeah, that was wild.
So at least my thought is my initial thing is Polestar made a statement and they were like
were committed to the reliability service of our vehicles, etc, etc.
I mean, there's so many Polestar's out on the road.
I mean, there's a lot of them.
I mean, obviously, it's not like volume Tesla or anything.
But there's a lot of them on the road and they share so many components with the Volvo.
So this is basically Volvo XC40 recharge, which is now EX40.
So I'm not I'm not too concerned about the reliability and these Polestar 2s have been
pretty reliable across the board.
They always are a little finicky on the electronic front, but at least powertrain
and overall reliability.
I have not heard any significant issues with them.
And you were on the 24.
Does this I just noticed while you're scrolling there, it says it does support Apple CarPlay.
But didn't they go to like the whole Google system at some point?
Does this really support Google or Apple CarPlay?
Or is that just a misprint?
I believe it does.
I believe it does.
Oh, yeah, CarPlay.
OK.
Oh, yeah.
Let me do it.
It's the Android system of this tool.
Pretty sure.
This one's in Florida.
So guys, you know, let me know.
I don't know where Plant City is, but I'm, you know, I'm close by.
I can go test drive it for you if you want to give me a shout.
Look, I'll get inside.
That's a lot of car for 24 grand.
There really is.
It is.
It is crazy.
It's kind of a crazy deal.
And that's why it made the deal of the week.
I had there was a couple others that are really close, but since, you know, the Polestar brand
is leaving the US, I thought it was, you know, apropos to give them at least the car of the week,
the deal of the week this week.
And it's, you know, it is legitimately a really great deal.
Yeah.
What was the dealer fee on that one?
Again, $1,000.
Higher than $300 for a car.
Yeah.
So Florida is notorious for super high dealer fees.
But if they're going to offset it, you know, some of these dealers may be taking,
they may be taking trades in and just giving super stupid low ball money.
They may be making four grand on this car.
You know, it's like, so, um, wow.
Yeah, that's, that's a good, fine Dominic.
I like that.
Good job.
All right.
So let's get, I guess, to get into our letters.
But before we do, don't forget, if you'd like your own EV recommendation, tell us your needs
and budget in a brief email or video, and we'll feature your case on an upcoming episode.
All right.
So let's find these folks.
Their next favorite car, our first email comes to us from Kay and she writes,
Hi there.
Love the podcast.
I'm a 20 year old student in Pennsylvania looking to buy my first car and I would
appreciate some advice.
I have no experience buying used cars and plan to make my purchase in early to mid August.
My budget is 2,500 down and 300 to 350 per month for financing.
I am currently working a summer job with my former high schools,
IT department to save up.
When I'm on campus, my primary income comes from food delivery, gig work.
So DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Here are a few details about my needs and what I am considering.
I prefer smaller vehicles and am a spirited driver.
I have a monitoring listings for a few months and I'm interested in a use Chevy Bolt EV.
My campus is 100 miles from home.
I need a vehicle that can make that 100 mile trip one way about 11 times a year
without needing to stop and charge even during Pennsylvania winters.
So I am thinking about buying from Carvana because the process seems seamless.
But I'm sure if it's a good option given the higher prices or if I should look elsewhere.
Additionally, I need some guidance on auto insurance since I have never shopped for
insurance before.
I'm not sure how the process works.
Or if I need to have a policy in place before purchasing the vehicle.
I hope that you can help me out with these questions.
Thanks for the great content.
Best K.
So let's just address the insurance part of this to start.
So yes, you do need to have an insurance policy in place when you pick up the vehicle.
So Andrew, Evercars deals with this regularly.
So what's the usual flow of events there?
Yeah, so you do need insurance before you pick up a car.
That's usually prerequisite.
So it's like you find the car you want.
Maybe you sign the agreement to buy it that day.
But you should you need insurance to drive off a lot with a car.
And I think another thing as well.
I know she mentioned like the budget like 2500 down and 350 a month.
If you do go to a regular car dealership, don't say your budget to the sales person
because they will weaponize that.
So just more look at the yeah, just don't mention budget until like the very end
because the typical car dealerships are not too great on that front.
But yeah, the process is yeah, just have insurance.
Do some shopping.
Usually Carvana is a little bit more money.
Honestly, because people kind of like the novelty of buying through Carvana.
Carvana generally has very high profit margins as well.
So if she was in California then I would say come over to Ever and test drive some cars.
But I think there's lots of good options around the entire country.
Yeah, a couple of thoughts.
Go ahead.
You were going to say go ahead.
I was just going to say Carvana is great for selling your car.
Just by the way, it's usually pretty good if you get a good price.
If they have a good price, the whole process they do there with selling the car, great.
I've never bought a car through Carvana, so I can't really comment on that.
But sorry, Dave, go ahead.
Yeah, no.
So like insurance, let's talk about that.
If you walk into a dealership, you go into Andrew's dealership, right?
And you're like, wow, I see the car I want.
You know what?
You can get insurance literally within 20 minutes.
And then you can maybe shop that around.
It's easy to switch insurance.
So don't worry too much about insurance.
What I would say is that if you have a renters policy or a homeowners policy or something like
that, it's good to start with that company, perhaps, because they can give you multi-discounts for
multiple uses.
But there are a lot of discrepancy differences when you're shopping for car insurance.
And one of the biggest components is the deductible, right?
And how much are you willing to absorb for a claim?
If you start off at a $250 deductible, the premium is going to be very high.
If you go to a $2,000 deductible, the premium is going to be a lot lower.
And what I would also say to you is think about with insurance, don't claim unless you really
have to, because what will happen is the insurance company will raise your rates.
And if you have three, whether it's a glass claim or a collision or something like that,
they may drop you.
And the insurance companies all talk to each other.
So they're connected through a network.
So I'm a big fan of high deductible insurance and self-insuring for small items myself.
But don't feel compelled that on the day that you're buying the car, you have to find the
exact deal that you're looking for, because you can always switch it relatively quickly.
That's the first thing.
The second thing is I agree 100% with what Andrew said.
It's okay to let the car dealership know what your budget is to spend.
Listen, I've got a $25,000 max or a $15,000 max.
But what's happening now is a lot of financial institutions are financing cars out five years.
Okay, six years, 84 months.
And what happened is the interest rate will go up.
And if you try and shop with the mentality of I can afford $340 a month, that car dealership,
he'll stick you in a, especially on a pre-owned, that could be a 9% 84 month deal.
That's not something that I as your friend would say that's probably good advice to do.
So the financing side of it, I would be a little bit careful of what I like about
this inquiry is A, the detailed nature and B, the fact that you're thinking about a budget.
And I really like that.
But be careful with sharing too much about those numbers because car dealerships can play.
They can play a lot of games with those numbers, as Andrew said.
100%.
But yeah, very detailed.
And I think there's some great options in that price range.
And I love the Chevy Bolt.
I had a Chevy Bolt for a few months.
I think the Chevy Bolt is a fantastic car.
But there's some other pretty good options in that price range because I was looking at that budget.
Yields maybe $15,000, $20,000 total vehicle price.
And honestly, you can find front wheel drive Polestar 2s for under $20,000.
Are they hard to find?
Yes, but you can find them for under $20,000.
I think that's a good option.
Not the most fun to drive.
But it's a lot more fun than a Chevy Bolt, like honestly.
Like the Polestar 2 is going to feel a lot more premium.
I think another car would be the Hyundai Kona EV.
I would go with that because you get the 10-year, 100,000-mile transferable EV system warranty,
which covers high-voltage battery, on-board, the blank on the name.
I don't have a blank on the name.
I would say ICCU, but it's a different name.
Oh, are you talking about the ICCU?
No, sorry.
On-board charger.
I'm saying of ICCU, but that's only for the 800-volt one.
I think they have a different name in the Kianeros and Hyundai cars.
But anyways, it covers everything high-voltage related, which is really awesome.
And they have very similar range and a little bit better charging speeds,
because you have a peak charge rate of 85 kilowatts in the Kona and Kianero,
as opposed to 50 kilowatts in the Chevy Bolt.
So yeah, I think there's some pretty good options in that price range.
I'd like to add that all of those options are great options for your use case,
which is 100 miles one way, because the Kona, I've owned two of them.
They're magically efficient.
You'll get in the car on a warm summer day and you'll see 310 miles of range.
Now, whether or not you actually get that depends on your driving style,
but you'll easily get 250 miles of range out of that thing on highways.
It's just really amazing.
The Bolt also, you're right, the Bolt doesn't charge as fast.
I think the later model Kona's started getting up over 80.
I think there were more like 75, 74 was the most I ever saw.
But it's a flat curve.
So once you plug in, you're going to be getting the juice.
And for the amount of time that you're going to be driving that,
any of these cars, whether it's the Polestar 2 front-wheel drive, the Kona,
what do you think about, Andrew?
What do you think about the Nero, throwing that one in there too?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I usually just kind of lump them together.
But I think that I think something a little bigger,
because the Nero does have a longer overall design.
I think the Nero's a great car.
And especially if you get a 2023 or newer Kia Nero EV,
I forgot which years do it on the Hyundai.
But if you get a 2023 or newer Nero EV, you can find them easily under $20,000.
You'll get the wind trim, which is like, or sorry, the wind trim,
which is like the entry-level trim.
And that one has lane-centering adaptive cruise control.
So you get that whole safety suite.
Whereas in the Chevy Bolt, you need a Premier Bolt EUV with Super Cruise,
just to get lane-centering.
Whereas if you get the Kia Nero, you get that lane-centering adaptive cruise control standard.
And it even has a little front trunk, which is kind of cool too.
So you know, the thing about the Nero as well
is it's a little bit bigger than the Kona in the backseat.
So if you're on a budget and you're thinking about doing Lyft or Uber or something like that,
it's a little easier to pull up with a Nero than it is a Kona.
And that's something to consider.
I would stay away from the Leafs, only because Chathamo, right?
And no active cooling on the battery.
So if you're going to be doing long-distance trips, DC fast-charging, DC fast-charging,
it's really going to throttle back how much you charge in.
Finding Chathamo, are all the Leafs Chathamo?
Or am I wrong?
Yeah, all the 2025 and older.
So boy, oh boy, yeah.
Unless you're going to be charging that as like your daily grocery getter,
I would stay away from anything that charges on Chathamo.
Just you can't find it anymore, right?
And the adapters are expensive for that.
Yeah, the adapters are insane.
I got a review adapter for a Nissan Leaf.
It was NACS to Chathamo.
And it was $800 adapter.
And it has its own battery.
You've got a flash software onto it.
And I'm like, this is insane.
But I will say, and this is actually crazy,
the Nissan Leaf SV Plus has a better peak charge rate
than Bolt and Kia Nero and Hyundai Kona.
It's 100 kilowatts.
But the charging curve on there isn't too great.
I was actually never able to see 100 kilowatts.
But on paper, I don't have a higher peak charge rate, which is kind of fun.
This is like little nuances.
Don't worry too much about that.
But by the way, you know the name.
My name is Dave Connor, right?
If you say it fast, it's Dave Connor.
And so of course, my Kona, I named it the Dave Kona, right?
So that was, I had to do that.
You remember that, Dominic?
It was funny.
But yeah, they're great cars.
They're super reliable.
12-volt issues, Andrew.
Anything to worry about with these?
With the Kona?
Not too sure.
Not too sure about the 12-volt issues with them.
Are you familiar with any?
I know I'm like the Ioniq 5s and the Ioniq 6s and the EGMPs.
There's been a lot of chatter around 12-volt issues coming out to the car
and the car is dead.
The thing to know about the Kona's and the Nero's
is they are not a dedicated platform for the Kona.
EV from the ground up, meaning that you can buy a Kona or a Nero with a gas engine
or you can get it with electric.
It's just something to note.
But these are great little cars.
They're really zippy.
The one thing I did have a problem with with the Kona
is when I was coming to a stop, the transition from the regen to the friction brake
if you're hitting a bump right before you come to a full stop,
it would launch and be braking and then it would all of a sudden release the brake
and then it would slide a little bit more and it was really disconcerting.
So when you go out on a test drive of these Kona's and Nero's, push it
and when you're coming to a stop, see if you feel what I feel.
They could never change that.
It was really just that transition from regen to friction brake
that they didn't really have that software tuned.
Maybe they fixed that in later years, but again, a minor thing.
But these are these are great cars for the money.
I think they used to say it felt like the car was speeding up when it did that,
you know, although it's not really speeding up,
but it kind of feels like that when you're inside.
It was really you felt like you were out of control and it was very disconcerting.
But anyway, yeah.
And by the way, the Kona is these are front wheel drive cars
and in the wet weather, you could light the tires up.
I mean, the thing had so much power.
You just floor it and it would go and it was crazy.
So it's a lot of fun.
And you said you wanted spirited.
I would get myself a Kona and put some slicks on it.
You know, so anyway,
and things like literally a hot hatch.
It's it's crazy.
Yeah, it is.
It is.
So I pulled up, you know, looked up Kona's was under 30,000 or under 40,000 miles,
I think.
And this is basically the cheapest one out there.
15,000 bucks, 2020 Kona EV.
It looks great.
So that's and that's with 36,000 miles on it.
So that's that's one to keep in mind.
So she had said that she, you know, she's interested in the bolt.
So in plus, I think that's really a great starting place for her,
especially when she's got a limited budget like
so she can put $2,500 down and then make those those payments.
But man, you don't want to be making those payments for very long.
Definitely not for like four years or five years or anything.
And make sure you like two or three years tops, you know.
So I found this deal, $11,000, 2017 Chevy Bolt LT.
Pretty bulletproof car.
So these I believe all had their battery packs replaced at some point.
So it's not the original battery pack that came with the car.
They were recalled and they all got new packs.
So nothing to worry about there.
I think they're pretty solid for the most part, the Chevy Bolt.
So this one has, was it 51,000?
So a good number of miles on this, 51,593.
I still, that's way more than I would usually, you know,
use in an example like this.
But for this price, I just think it's a really good value
and just a good way to get a good 200 mile plus car.
That's, you know, reliable and affordable a few miles on it.
But I think it'll probably be fine.
I don't know.
What do you think, Andrew?
Anything on these things?
Break ever?
Let's see.
Are an issue on some of the older bolts.
Like you'll hear like a clunking noise when you drive
and they can be pretty expensive to repair.
I remember I was talking with someone
and her bolt had the CV chefs go bad.
And I think it was like $6,900 to repair.
And she was like, my car is not worth that much.
So if you touch drive one, just make
sure you're not hearing like any clunking noises.
I think a good thing to do would just be to get in the car.
Steer, go full lock left, full lock right.
Just drive it around.
Don't have any sound on.
Don't listen to the salesperson if they're in the car.
Just like, just need something very quiet driving it.
And then just make sure you're not hearing any like clicking
or clunking noises or anything kind of out of the ordinary.
But they're very reliable.
Yeah, one thing, if you're buying a car, especially
like this one, watch the dealer fees.
It's plus 2K.
The other thing is that, you know, what the price says there,
and I'm sure you understand this, but that doesn't necessarily
mean that's what you're going to pay, right?
So, you know, make sure you have a good friend
that can help you negotiate a good deal with the dealership.
The other thing is that if you're buying a car out of warranty,
I would highly recommend looking in your local area
for what's called a PPI or pre-purchase inspection.
And any reputable dealer will allow you to have a car go through,
you know, an inspection of some sort.
It may cost you a few bucks.
Andrew, what are these PPI's typically run out in Cali?
I'm honestly not too sure off the top of my head.
I know a lot of people do it, like before they buy cars
with us and we're just like, go ahead.
It's actually kind of funny, like we one time had someone
who did like a PPI on an under warranty,
like one year old Key and Euro.
And I'm like, all right, it's still under the basic warranty,
but go ahead.
I would like to save it probably a couple hundred bucks.
Yeah, and like, you know, there was this franchise company
out a few years ago called Lemon Busters.
I thought that was a great name for a business, Lemon Busters.
But, you know, look, even 15 grand is a decent amount of money.
To your point though, Andrew, if the thing's under warranty
and it's got a lot of life left in it on the warranty,
don't spend your money on a PPI.
But, you know, the other thing is definitely check out.
These are showing you car faxes, I'm sure.
Car faxes and is it auto check?
That's the other big company that does it as well.
I don't like auto check.
I think car faxes a lot.
Look at both, look at both, right?
And ask for both because I have bought used cars in the past
when it has a clean car fax and then it'll show that it was hit on auto check.
Really?
Do not buy a hit car.
Even if it's a good deal, why?
Because what you need to think about when you're buying a car
is what's your exit strategy.
When I go to sell this car, what is someone going to look at?
And if someone's going to, would you buy a hit car?
No.
So you just, you know, you limit your audience.
Unless you can identify that the damage is really just cosmetic or minor,
you know, and even then it's just, you know,
there's so many used cars for sale out there.
Just buy one with a clean car fax and a clean auto check.
That would be my recommendation.
And these bolts are, they're great fun.
Really a lot of fun.
They're zippy.
They're kind of quick.
Just off the line, you know, any of these electric cars are sporty
just by definition, you know, compared to maybe the gas car parts.
So those are good choices.
Yeah.
And you can get, so that one was 11,000.
You can go, you know, up at like a thousand or $2 and still, I guess,
be in a decent budget area and get a lot, lot fewer miles.
Well, there's also a Tesla Model 3 is out in that kind of price neighborhood as well.
With a lot more miles.
So the best one I could find at the moment is like a 2018 long range with 177,000 miles,
which is a lot of miles.
So it's a lot of miles.
But, but, you know,
from out of spec renew on that one, I don't know.
Right.
That's a good.
But it puts you in that deep like I wouldn't recommend this for her.
I wouldn't recommend this for her just because,
well, it's got a lot of miles on it.
Plus the insurance costs.
Yeah.
The insurance is going to be a lot higher on this than it is going to be on the bolt, I believe.
Right.
Yeah.
At least it was from my ship.
That's good.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Insurance on Tesla is definitely very high.
Like when I had my model three in California, it was like 250 a month.
I was like, uh, very high.
Yeah.
So, I mean, it is an option and it's like a lot nicer to drive than the Chevy Bolt.
But it's a lot riskier in a lot of ways too.
So, you know, the insurance costs is there.
And, you know, if something goes wrong with it, I mean,
it's they're pretty bulletproof for the most part.
You know, if they've got that many miles on them,
they've probably already had the front end control arms that they typically replace in
those around 60,000 miles or frequently.
Something like that.
I'm not really sure about those older model threes.
I think they're pretty bulletproof.
I mean, I mean, that's a lot of miles, you know, just something to think about.
More than I would, especially in her situation, I would not recommend that.
But just to show that, you know, those are out there as well.
But I actually like your Kona idea a lot, Andrew.
That was pretty nice.
A bit higher in price, but also a lot more comfortable, I think, to drive than those
early Chevy Bolts, which those Chevy Bolts are like a lot of people complain about the seats.
Right.
And then, and then the dash and everything is all like plastic.
Yeah, all plastic in the interior.
It's like, yeah.
The corner is just like a nicer place to be, really.
But all right.
So let's move on, though.
Our next email comes to us from LinkedIn.
So we just happened to see this post from someone in the EV industry
looking for a recommendation for her next car.
So I thought we'd take a shot at it.
So why not?
Okay.
So she wrote this post on LinkedIn and I'll just read through it.
And in her comments, she calls out a few cars and I'll mention that at the bottom.
So she begins.
I have a few options that I'm considering.
Some newish and the rest of a few years used.
I can't spend a bajillion dollars on a brand new EV at this time.
If you were in my shoes, what EV would you be looking at?
Drop your suggestions in the comments.
So in the end, there's so she got a lot of responses to this.
And she interacted with a lot of the comments and she was kind of saying that she
she really calls out the BMW i4 as something that she's interested in as well as BMW iX.
She was a she previously owned a 2019.
That's just like a whole nother league.
Yeah.
Right.
I mean like from a whole to an iX or even an i4.
I mean, yeah, I agree with you.
But you know, if budget's not it.
Is she?
Well, no, her budget is smaller time.
Are they?
So her budget is nowhere near the iX kind of range right now.
Unless you're willing to deal with like a lot of miles.
But I was just going to say she did previously own a Tesla Model 3 performance in 2019.
And she does not want to go with Tesla right now.
So other than that, Dave, what do you think?
So she wants it closest to her, you know, 26,000 Chevy Bolt price.
I mean, I would go back to the Kona and Nero again.
I hate to say it, but you know, those are those are two vehicles I would definitely check out.
What else is there for 26 K equinox?
I might take even more.
Yeah, I would go more than 26 K, though.
I think maybe like 32 or 35, you know, 35.
I mean, you know, definitely check out the Chevy equinox.
What do you think of that one, Andrew?
I think it's a good car.
I'm not like in love with it.
But I think over like on paper, it's a pretty good car.
It's got good range.
Definitely has great range.
I'll give it that and it looks nice.
Not the most exhilarating to drive.
But compared to a bolt, it's like it's on a similar level.
You know, one thing I would suggest also to you is go out and test drive the brandy new bolt.
It's $28,995, including delivery out the door.
I don't really know how they're selling, but I was at the launch event in California driving them.
I thought it was great.
Plus it's improved charging.
Oh, 100%.
I did 10% in 20, was it 26 minutes?
And I saw 154 peak at a, yeah, I mean like at a Tesla V3.
So that's a, I mean, and they've made all the improvements that if you loved the old bolt,
you're going to really love the new one.
I think it's a great car.
Now it's a little more money, but, you know, maybe you could get one on a discount.
I mean, maybe that's a little nutty, but I might, I might go, if you really love the bolt,
go check out the new bolt.
Yeah, that's fair.
I mean, but she's willing to go use too.
So, you know, that's something else to consider.
Could you get a more car?
$25,000?
What can you get for a Model Y?
And for like, you know, like, like worth, you know, up into 30s a little bit, you know.
They've gone up a lot recently.
Like it's, it's hard to find a Model Y for under $25,000 now.
Is that right?
I think it's a mixture of gas prices going up.
It's also, I think like last year, Tesla's were like at their low because there was all
the Elon chaos going on.
People were like, I'm selling my Tesla.
And they were like, they were new Model Ys selling for like new Model Y performances.
You could get a Tesla out the door under $40,000.
And now that exact same car, 2025 Model Y performance, low miles, is going for about
$40,000 or more on the secondhand market right now.
So you could have literally bought a brand new Model Y with the tax credit last March,
2025, and you could have sold it now and broke even or even made money.
And I think it's just a mixture.
I mean, Tesla's are, I think they were probably a little undervalued just based on
how much car you're getting for the money.
The Model Y is such a popular brand new car and then losing out on the tax credit too,
because now you've just inflated the used prices a little bit because the depreciation
won't be so bad anymore.
So I think gas prices and losing out on the tax credit and then the Elon stuff kind of
subsiding like those three factors just really boosted Tesla price.
Yeah.
That's my, at least.
Yeah, I think, did she mention that she was not looking to get a Tesla this time?
Or was that the other person I can't remember?
Yeah, no, this person, she did.
One thing we did not mention, but for everyone involved here, take a look at your state incentives
for tax credits or rebates or whatever they want to call it.
It's kind of, I'm not really sure it's all over the place, but depending on where you live,
you could get some good money coming back.
And then also take a look at where you live in the state, because sometimes there are certain
zip codes where there's extra money.
Like for example, in the state of Connecticut, if you're in Danbury, there's certain zip codes
within Danbury that qualify for an extra, I think it's like at least $1,000 from the state.
But if you're right over into the other zip code, you can't get it.
That's really a particular thing, but generically, check out state incentives for sure.
And that's unused, unused, I'm pre-owned.
I think today, I was looking at that today, I think, I'm not sure who has to use ones.
I know California, New Jersey, and Colorado are the main new car incentive states right now.
But yeah, definitely look into, see what incentives your utility might have an incentive to install
your charger as well. And of course, state incentives on used cars is a thing that exists
in some states at least. I should break up a list for next episode or something.
Yeah, California, they don't have a new one yet. They do have used tax credits,
sorry, used rebates through energy providers. So if you go like PG&E, for example, we'll give you
up to $4,000 for buying used EV, which not the same price as a used BMW i3 I could find for cheap.
Hey Dominic, just a couple of other quick things. This just hit me, we're going back,
we were talking about Carvana, I think it was maybe the first one.
CarMax is an interesting place to buy a vehicle. You are going to pay more money,
but they give you that new car buying experience, and they also give you a 30 day money back guarantee,
which is pretty amazing. And so I think there's, you know, if you're a little bit scared about,
you definitely are going to pay more, but you will find that you can drive to a CarMax dealer,
you can actually see cars that are on the lot. And then if they have a vehicle, let's say you
live in Tulsa and there's a vehicle in Boston, there's a dollar amount that it will cost for
them to actually ship the car from Boston to Tulsa, maybe it would be $600. And what you can do is,
if you're really serious about that car, you can pay that $600, they'll ship the car from
Boston to Tulsa, and then you can drive it, and if you don't want it, you can walk away. Now you
just spent $600, so you don't want to do that unless you're really serious about it, but that's
a really nice way, I think, a peace of mind of buying a vehicle. On the other side of that,
we've been talking and showing you dealer listings, going and finding someone that's a
private party sale and using a PPI inspector in conjunction with that, especially if the car is
under warranty, you can maybe save a heck of a lot of money, definitely on dealer fees for sure.
And you may find that people are in a little bit of a situation where a dealer is only giving them
$12,000 for a car on a trade-in, and they'll say, okay, I'll try and sell it on my own for $13,000,
make an extra $1,000, but meanwhile the dealer would charge you $15,000. So take a look at who
you're buying the car from as well, I would suggest. I agree. That's always the best when
you have someone who wants a trade-in to carve on it, they're like, oh, they'll only give me
$11,000, I'll sell my i3 for $13,000, and then you're like, all right, well, now it's better
buying there because it'd be a $15,000 dealer. And then if you live in a territory with a tax
credit or some sort of rebate incentive, you can possibly buy that car for under wholesale price
with those incentives. So that's nice. Stick with us, folks, we know what we're doing right here.
This is battery bargains, right? So anyway, I think this has been great, Dominic,
and I like that Polestar too for $24,000, man, that's a great deal.
So let me just pull up this. She had mentioned the BMW i4 at least, so I did some digging for
one of those and just to see what the i4 market looks like. And this is kind of as good as it
really gets right now with 2024. The i4 XDrive 40. I went with the 40 because it has more range
than the eDrive 35s. This is the extra power of the XDrive. Yeah, this,
right. Well, I mean, the e30s have a smaller battery in them, right? Yeah, eDrive 35 has a
smaller battery. It's 35. And it makes like, I forgot what horsepower, it's like 281. And then
you get the eDrive 40, and then that one gets 335 horsepower, a lot more fun, bigger battery. And
then you get the XDrive 40, which is 396 horsepower because it's all wheel drive.
Right. So a little, probably a little down on range. So you're looking at 315 plus the dealer
fees, 30,000 miles on this one. Dealer fees, by the way, Dominic, not disclosed on this one.
Be really careful. Right. So it's going to be at least $1,000 more than what you see there,
if not a lot more than that. So, but the point is, I'm actually surprised to see an i4 in the low
30s, right? You know, I didn't. Oh, yeah. There was a few, and yeah, 30,000 miles. There was a
few around here like this, especially if you go with the eDrive, like just the rural drive versions
or the smaller ones, there's a bunch even cheaper than that. But Dave, so you see this car sale,
this listing, would you be able to negotiate a better price, do you think? Is that something
people should try to do? Every deal is custom, right? It depends on the situation. But without
talking to the dealership, you just never know. I always start from the premise that this is America,
right? You know, unless it's Tesla, Rivian or Lucid, whatever you're asking for,
there's no way I'm paying that price, right? There's no, let's play the game, right? So,
whether that's negotiating on the price of the vehicle or whether that's negotiating on
types of fees that go into it, the answer is you should always be able to buy a vehicle for less
than what it's advertised for. Now, there are situations when it's a hot commodity and people
are going to, you know, they're going to move the vehicle very quickly, but it's a custom answer
without actually talking to, you know, not just this dealership, but multiple dealerships and going
through the process. If your goal is to buy it as cheap as possible, you're not going to really
know that until you put in the home to do the homework. The good news is there's so many tools
on the marketplace today. If you want to do that yourself, you can go ahead and you can find out
exactly what these cars are going for. You may even be able to find, you know, it's probably a
little tough to find out what they're selling for at the auctions unless you have a friend in the
business. But, you know, look, I look at it this way. The cost that a dealership has on a used
vehicle is very different. How much did they have to pay to actually get that car in on trade or
how much did they pay to bring that car in from, you know, from an auction or whatever? That varies
widely and the profitability of that deal that for that particular piece could also be dependent
a little bit on how much did they sell the car or how much did they sell the car to to take this
win on on trade. So it's, it's, they're wildly different numbers here. Andrew, you're in the
business. I mean, you agree with me until you talk to them and work it out, you're not really going
to know, but you should always try. Always try to get it lower. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. If it's like a
regular car dealership where you can negotiate at, then always try. Like, for instance, I was looking
at a four by e Jeep recently and I went to the dealer. It was like 28,000 and they would not
budge at all on the price. They were like, and to be fair, it was a pretty good price. But then
they added on all this crap, right? Like the stupid low jack stuff. And then stills guys like,
he's like, well, this is why we're better than like a Tesla because we, we let you negotiate. So
we're helping the consumer. I'm like, no, you ass hat. I'm like, you just charged $2,000 more on
this car. And it's like, sorry, I don't know if I can say that here. I think it's, I think it's
good. No, because it's like, it depends on the car. And if it's a high demand car, and usually
if the price is right, like a good price too, they'll usually add on some extra stuff to kind
of accommodate. But yeah, it's like you go to a regular car dealership and it's like some of
them will negotiate if the cars and higher demand, then they're not going to negotiate at all. And
sometimes you're going to have to negotiate down from stupid add on price too. So it's like,
it's a Wild West in the car dealership world. So
it is. And the other thing is I would, I would expand my horizons, use the internet and understand
that you can buy a car anywhere in the country, right? It doesn't have to be down, you know,
a 10, 20 mile radius, open up your, your, your mindset that I'm willing to buy it anywhere,
especially when it comes to used pre-owned because that, you know, it's, it's, it's so many different
variable factors. But keep in mind that if you have that PPI inspection in your back pocket,
you have that warranty in your back pocket and any car is the most it is away from where you are
is 1500 bucks. I mean, that's talking coast to coast to ship a car. And that industry is super
competitive and tight. 100%. You know, so like, so think about it this way. If there are really
high demand for RAV4 plug-in hybrids in California, but yet, and they're charging five grand over
at a, at a, I'm talking like retail on a, on a new, you may find that in, I don't know, Georgia
or South Carolina, they're discounting them by three grand. Well, guess what? That car is only
call it $1,200 away. If you can save three grand on it and you're willing to, you know,
and to me, you know what I like to do? buy the car somewhere else,
fly in and drive it home. And that's always fun. The road trip out of it. So these are all the
things that if you enjoy this, go ahead and explore all these different techniques we're
talking about. If you don't, just make sure you have a good friend in the business that,
that does do this kind of thing for you because that's, it's, uh, you can save a lot of money for
sure. Yeah, it's great today. Cause like in the past, you'd go to your local dealership looking
for the car and then you only got a few options, but now it's like, yeah, buy anywhere, ship anywhere.
Right. Yeah. All right. Yep. We have one more letter to run through it pretty quickly. We've
used up quite a bit of time already. Uh, so, Hey guys, writing to you from up here near Taos,
I think that's New, New Mexico. Uh, we've got some beautiful twisting
mouths and roads out this way. And I'm looking to get into something a bit more spirited for my
daily drive. I want an electric ride that's actually fun to throw into the corner. Uh,
the problem is I need to keep the budget strictly under 40,000 out the door. Are there any genuine
options left for someone who actually cares about driving dynamics at that price point?
Or am I hunting a unicorn? Appreciate your thoughts. Use model three performance
under 40 K. It'll, it'll, it's just, I don't know. There's, there's 40 K is a lot of money.
I mean, you're the man, you know what, you know what the market is. I mean,
a model three performance in Taos riding on those mountain roads. That would be awesome.
Heck yeah. No, 100% agree. Model three performance, but yeah, 40 grant. There's
amazing off. Now this is one crazy, not out the door, but every now and then,
because I checked Porsche's CPO, I put up the notifications on my email for Porsche's CPO.
Every now and then you will find a like at 40 K. Tycon every now and then. Super rare, super rare,
but recently in Texas, one popped up and sold within hours and even that photos taken and it
was already sold, but it was a 2020 Tycon 4S performance battery plus sport Chrono package,
premium package. It was loaded up. It was a very nice Tycon. It's sold within like two hours,
but it had like 75,000 miles, but it's still a CPO Tycon with that two year bumper to bumper
warranty for 40 grand. Very hard to find. That's great. Yeah, you look really good when you're
pulling up to Denny's, you know, in that thing. That's a heck of a ride. Just be careful with
the maintenance on the Porsche's brakes are incredibly expensive too. And forget about that,
just like the light comes on in the car, right? And they're going to charge crazy money to inspect
and make sure that the car is nothing wrong with it. And you can't just like read, I don't know,
reprogram it. We had this issue with my wife's Makani V. It was crazy that the 20,000 mile
checkup. It was so expensive, Andrew. It was insane. So you didn't know it was under basic
warranty. We'll have to pay out of pocket. Yes. Over $2,300 at Greenwich. Geez. So that's not covered
under basic. No. No. And I mean, like that's the thing is some of these, some of the German cars,
like we didn't even talk about ID4s. I mean, there's a bunch of different vehicles that you
could potentially get into. Some of them like the Audi, like the Fat e-trons, there's some great
deals on those as well. And while they may be only charged 200 peak, it's a flat curve. There's
and a lot of luxury and they ride really well. There's so many different vehicles out there,
but some of those cars actually included maintenance in them. And, you know, that was a huge value.
So when you look at total cost to ownership, just be careful. The Taycans though are just,
especially if you, I don't know, I don't want to go down this cross-tourismal path. But yeah,
that's the vehicle. But 40 grand is a lot of money. And keep in mind that when someone's asking
40 grand for it, that's a $35,000 car in my book. That's where I'm starting off, right? So if you're
shopping for 40 grand, shop up to 44 or 45, you know, ask and then just play hardball. There's
so many cars out there for sale. Yeah. Well, and I think some other car, I'm sorry.
That's because this is asking what you got. Yeah. Well, I think there's some other great
because if you want to go for the emails, 40 out the door, I mean, there's so many good options
even in the low 30s. And a few of them off top of my head, BMW i4, great car, super reliable.
These things don't really have any issues. They're like fundamentally great cars. Just recommend
eDrive 40 or XDrive 40. The eDrive 35 is not as fast. It's not quite as exciting.
Also has less range. I've driven the drive 35 a lot and it's just it's not quite as exciting
as the eDrive 40. And those prices of i4s just honestly now is not the time to buy an i4 at
all. You got to buy i4s early in the year for the lease returns to come in because they usually
do a pretty big incentives like in December. So I remember earlier this year, I was seeing
CPO eDrive 35 slow miles nice loaded up ones with like the ventilated leather seats. It's a very
hard option to find, but some really nice ones for around 25. And you just can't get them anywhere
now. So honestly, with some of these luxury EVs, like even Audi eTron GT, because you used to be
able to get those for under 40. Now is just not the time like you're not getting them that the
market's too limited right now. But maybe by the time that December, January rolls around,
the prices are definitely going to come down because you're going to have all the lease returns
hit the market at about the same time. Still, there's good, you can so easily get a nice i4
for under under 35,000 easily, which would be under 40 out the door for sure.
So when I saw the spills, he inspired Chevy Spark EV.
Did you see me taking that thing around the track, the Chevy Spark? That was crazy.
I was laughing my ass off. That was so much fun. But and by the way, Andrew, I think that's great
Intel on the on the seasonality factor and the lease returns factor. Great Intel, really,
really smart to have that knowledge. That's really good. Yeah. And that's the one thing.
And I just kind of found that out because me per I was like, there was earlier this year,
you used to be able to get eTron GTs for like under 35. And I'm like, this is getting a little
tempting. But now it's like, you can barely find them for under 45, honestly. So the prices
really fluctuate seasonally. And still a few other cars in that price range. Kia EV6 GT,
that car is a tremendous amount of fun to drive. Easily, you can find those for about 30 grand.
You're talking 564. I forgot the exact horsepower, but a lot of horsepower over 500 horsepower comes
with like Michelin PS4 tires as standard. Like it's a fun car to drive. The Kia EV6 is fantastic.
Yeah. I mean, look at that 22,000 miles, 30 grand. That car was over 60 brand new,
has really fast charging. The range is like about 206. So I mean, it's great. But you get a
five year, 60,000 mile basic warranty in a 10 year, 100,000 mile EV system warranty. So it's like
you get the high performance, but you also get the good warranty. And it's one of the
800 volt architecture. So it's charges super fast. Yeah. Actually, when I looked at this email,
well, Ioniq 5N, of course, that's like, you know, everyone realized that it's like very similar
to this same platform that the EV6 is on. Except I think people, people like the Ioniq 5N even more.
It's got the fake, it's got the gear shifting and the fake sounds and everything. And people,
it really gets, you know, involves people in the driving experience, even despite being,
you know, fake or whatever. But the problem is, they're really expensive. They're not coming down.
Like this is a great deal. This is almost the same thing, practically. But for like $20,000 less,
it's hard to find. And this is a GT in line, right? This is a GT. No, this is a GT. Yeah. Yeah. So that's
wow. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah. So that's where I went with this. That's insane. 30 grand for that.
Wow. It's good. But my, so let's see. All right. So yeah, I was looking at, my mind went the same
place that Dave did when I first saw this. So 2024 Tesla Model 3 performance, 30, almost 39,000.
So just under budget. And it's the refresh, right? So it's not only it's like a nice lot quieter inside,
which is really nice because the Model 3s aren't super quiet inside. And, but also the,
they've reconfigured the, the steering on it. So it's just, it just feels, the steering feel on it
is just a little bit better than the original one. It's just, you know, it's just a really nice car.
So I had two ideas by this for like 39,000 just under budget. And you get, you know, all the
warranty and it's, you know, an awesome car or go find you a deal on an older one. And I think
do I have one here? I think I did. Yes. So this was, this is really kind of where I would go
because well, my personal budget will never be over 40,000 or up to 40,000. But this is what I
got. 2018. This one has full self-driving on it for life.
Transferable as well. So when you sell, if you want to, you can take that with you if you upgrade
to a new Tesla. Well, you can use that. Be careful with that. That's, that's gone now. You can't
transfer it to a new Tesla. Oh, is it? That's gone. Okay. Okay. So scratch that up. Let's scratch
that part, but still. So 275. 275. In other words, it stays with the car and with just that car.
You can't transfer it. But if you buy that car and it has paid for full, full, that's a,
I don't know what hardware that's got on it. I'll wait. 2.5. That's like the original 2.5. Yeah.
But yeah, the cars. It's got my hat on it too. Yeah. Yeah. The cars, I mean, that one, if it has
FSD paid for you, you'd buy it or you'd get it if you're the next car. Yeah, you'd get it. Yeah.
This one looks really nice too. So 275. And then what you do is take, take a, you know,
$3,000, $5,000 that you're still under budget and go upgrade the suspension on it like in tires,
tires and suspension. And, you know, you can have a real nice road owner basically. You know,
it's got the sweet white interior. I love it. This is a 2018. So if, hopefully it has the,
I didn't know if it noticed if it has like the upgraded interior, upgraded cabin, you know,
which has, I mean, it has like the nice subwoofer, the stereos and these are like the early ones.
So really great. The seats were really great in the very early ones. Someone liked them more
than the newer ones. Yeah. That's, that's what kind of the move I would go. And so this one only has
like 25,000 miles on it. So it's like, yeah, it's pretty fresh. Yeah. That's a great choice.
I think there's one final choice that we didn't discuss yet. And this is a niche choice and it
definitely is an interesting one, but I would go with the Mini Cooper SE. If you're looking for
a, like affordable fun car to drive, you can find these easily for under 20 grand and they're like,
they're a lot of fun. They make 181 horsepower, but they only weigh 3200, sorry, 3100 pounds,
I believe. So it's a lightweight, fun to drive EV, small, it's nimble. You can throw it through
corners. I think that's a pretty fun one. The only challenge with that is, what's the total range?
114. So your, your canyon run is more like a quarter of a canyon run. So you're gonna,
you got to trailer it up to the canyons and then drive it and then regen down.
No, they are fun to drive. I wish they, I wish they had 200 miles of range. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You can get into them pretty cheap, 21,000. Yeah. This one here for 70, I haven't.
I'm gonna give them those. Yeah, maybe, because thing is they're reliable too. They're like,
these are very reliable cars. So I wouldn't blink an eye buying one with 60, 70,000 miles,
honestly. Okay. Well, this is a screaming deal. It comes with friends too, the mini community.
It's like, unlike any other, we've ever been part of a lot of fun.
Yeah. This one's a steel. It's only like 18,000 with,
yeah, 17, too. Yeah. That's with the dock fees, 795. And that's the highest
trim in the iconic. But since it was built during the pandemic, some of them are missing out on,
due to the chip shortage, some of them are missing out on like Harman Kardon sound system or adaptive
cruise control. So you might find like the highest trim, but they're actually missing some stuff.
Oh, interesting. I didn't realize that. Andrew, man, you've got all the nuggets. I remember like when
the Ioniq fives, during the pandemic, they were only coming with HDA one, not HDA two,
because we couldn't get, you know, it was like, all that stuff was going on. So
wow. Yeah. Well, that's a, that's a cool one. And it has that too. Look at that little mini. It's
so cute. It can't help with the style. I just had to, just saw this listen here. This is from
some company called Ever. So you never heard of these. I never, never heard of Ever cars. Andrew,
you're familiar with it? No, no, no, I'm not, not too familiar with them.
That's a nice one. I saw that years ago in the showroom.
Yes. Cause the roof racks on there, it's nice contrast color roof as well. Yeah, that's nice.
I kind of want one. I'm actually looking for one on the use market. I'm trying to see if I can find
like one pop up on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist. I might, I might be tempted.
All right. Well, we should probably leave it at that. We've gone for an hour. So
that brings us to the end of this episode. Thanks for hanging out with us. Let us know in the
comments why we're wrong about everything and what you would suggest instead. And if you're
ready for your own battery bargain, drop us an email at hello at batteries included podcast.com
with your car needs, desires and budget. And we'll see you in the next episode. Ciao. Bye bye.
About this episode
Hosts Dominic Ioni, Dave Connor, and Andrew Landbrecht dive into the used EV market, starting with a stellar Deal of the Week: a 2024 Polestar 2 for under $24,000. They debate the future of Polestar in the US before helping a 20-year-old student navigate buying their first car. The team evaluates the Chevy Bolt EV for a 100-mile winter commute, shares crucial advice on avoiding dealership financing traps, and breaks down how to shop for first-time auto insurance.
Audi e-tron
Audi e-tron GT
BMW 3 Series
BMW i3
BMW i4
BMW iX
Chevrolet Bolt EUV
Chevrolet Bolt EV
Chevrolet Equinox
Chevrolet Spark
Dodge Charger
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Hyundai Kona
Kia EV6
Kia Niro
Mini Cooper
Nissan Leaf
Polestar 2
Porsche Taycan
Tesla Model 3
Tesla Model S
Tesla Model Y
Toyota RAV4
Volkswagen ID.4
Volvo XC40
Original notes
In this episode, we find:
• the deal of the week!!!
• an EV for a student looking for an affordable option with lots of range
• an electric replacement for the owner of a totaled Chevy Bolt
• an EV that's fun on twisty mountain roads
Our guests this week are Andrew Lambrecht from Ever Cars and Dave Conner from YouTube's Out of Spec Dave
Batteries Included
Batteries Included
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