I was raised in a typical Asian-American immigrant family, so my parents never talked about money. Even so, it wasn’t hard to figure out that we were poor. The big blocks of government cheese and food in generic white boxes are dead giveaways. Similarly, we don’t really talk to our kids about money, but they know we’re doing fine financially. They like fancy cheeses, and get driven around in fancy cars. They like the black car a lot. My son says it sounds like the future.
Value Add
The e-tron is the third company car for Karmic — and a huge step up from the Honda CR-V, and the Kia Soul before that. I like nice things. Don’t we all?
The real secret is that I got a smoking deal on it. Without going into details, the monthly payment is less than the Honda’s, and we will also save about a $1000 a year in fuel costs (including the cost of at home and public network charging).
I love a good deal. This one was a no-brainer thanks to Samantha on LeaseHackr!
In fact, the Honda was a great value too. I paid $22,488 and used it for three years, putting nearly 30,000 miles on it. We sold it for $20k, which works out to around 8.3 cents a mile. I could have written the miles off at 50 cents higher.
I highly recommend it as a reliable and affordable family car.
Back up on my bullshit
Back up on the scene
Out here actin’ foolish, like I’m seventeen
I just bought a new whip, don’t need gasoline (yeah)
Gas Stations
After a month of ownership, and a couple of fill-ups at DC fast-chargers, we finally got a licensed Electrician to install a new 50A circuit in the garage. There was already a 30A 240V outlet in there, but I hadn’t actually done my homework. The Audi charger operates at 40A, so it wouldn’t work when we first got it home. Now we can charge overnight, as most EV Owners do, and wake up with a fully charged vehicle. The reality is that I will only have to charge it once a week, since we’re all working from home, and 200 miles of range gives me a weekly trip to SF, plus a trip to our SJ warehouse with enough miles for coffee meetings in and around town. Range isn’t an issue.
I still have to go to the gas station for the allroad, but I certainly don’t mind going only once a month, versus once a week (my wife hates going to the gas station, so I usually fill up both cars). Charging at home is so convenient. I would guess more charging stations are being added to apartment buildings, corporate offices and shopping centers across the country. Imagine what we could do with all that real-estate that gas stations currently take up in cities.
For the Future
The cliche about “living in the future” isn’t just a cute Silicon Valley phrase. The e-tron does feel like it is from the future. Sure, it’s priced out of the range of the average car buyer, but the VW ID.4 is coming next year. While $40k is still a lot of money, the specs are on par with the Audi, and I think it looks great. It’s like buying a VW GTI instead of getting an Audi S3. I think it will pull a lot of RAV-4 and CR-V owners over to VW, and will obviously cut into Tiguan sales figures as well. VW is betting on it.
EVs are the future, and like I’ve said about eBikes, the biggest reason more people haven’t switched is simply because of the price. Cost of entry is the biggest hurdle to mass adoption. VW has a real opportunity to be the EV for the people, even if they were forced into the market to atone for Dieselgate. It’s just business right?
What the Truck
Americans still love pickup trucks. I test drove a handful of Ford Rangers in different trim levels and configurations. While it’s a great truck, at the end of the day, it’s still a truck. The base model comes with vinyl flooring. And the lease rates were terrible, even though I had negotiated pricing $500 under Ford’s X-Plan. While it would have been more practical for moving bike boxes, and towing the occasional trailer, I don’t think I could have lived with it as a day to day vehicle. I still prefer small and nimble cars. And I love wagons. That’s why I could never consider something like the Cybertruck, or even the Rivian. But those vehicles will get people out of their $50k F-150’s and $90k Raptors.
I had planned on wrapping the e-tron in a loud and obnoxious design, but it’s really not my personality. An all black SUV is practically background noise around here, and it works out just fine. I love surprising the stoplight jockeys, and still get a kick out of a good 0–60 run. I would never drive the Kia on our local ‘autobahn’ — it struggled to keep pace with traffic, even by myself with only one bike on board. Now I can take Interstate 280 (with traffic speeds of ~75–80mph) even full of passengers and cargo or a rack full of Karmic ebikes. Now let’s move some units!
