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The new Hyundai Ioniq PHEV can be bought for $25k. In any case, most people don’t just shell out a random $30,000 they have burning a whole in their pocket, th

The new Hyundai Ioniq PHEV can be bought for $25k. In any case, most people don’t just shell out a random $30,000 they have burning a whole in their pocket, they finance the purchase over 5-6 years. Sudden out-of-pocket $1,000 is kinda a big deal, especially if one plans on moving out in a year or two.

nostrademons 8y ago
I must be living in Silicon Valley too long, because a large number of people I know - amongst the tech crowd at least - do in fact shell out a random $30K they have burning a hole in their pocket. (Lest I get accused of being way too out of touch, I do know people for whom affording even a $200 car repair is out of reach, and something they'll put up a GoFundMe over. These people do not drive electric cars. If you can afford the ~$5K in interest that financing a car over 6 years will cost you, you can afford the $1K charger. If you can't afford this, you buy a used Ford or Chevy rather than any of the cars we're talking about here.)
- prostoalex 8y ago
  The way I see it that with 0% financing deals aplenty there’s virtually no incentive to pay cash upfront. Might just as well stick that $30k into some high-yield savings account and set up automatic payments from there. Builds credit history, too.
  - nostrademons 8y ago
    The last couple times I've been car shopping the 0% financing deals come with a jacked-up list price. You may get the loan at 0%, but the way that works is that they quote a higher price to begin with and then the 0% financing (assuming good credit) was their "concession" in the negotiation. We bought our cars for under dealer price, paying by cashier's check, so I assume that the actual dealer price was even lower (otherwise they wouldn't be willing to sell us the car), particularly since the lowest price they would go with financing was a couple thousand higher (credit scores in the 800s).
    - sokoloff 8y ago
      When I bought my LEAF in Dec 2014, I negotiated a price including a $2000 incentive from Nissan. Turns out that incentive was from NMAC (Nissan’s financing arm) and was only avail if I took a loan with them. Ok, what’s the interest rate? 0%. Wait, you give me $2K at signing and finance the car at 0% for 60 months? Ok, sign me up! In terms of selling below their invoice price, they also get an advertising holdback that scales with cars sold, so they’re still making a small amount on the sales floor. The real money at a dealership is made in the service bays, not on the sales floor. This is what really sucks for dealers about electric cars. In 42 months, my LEAF has never seen the dealer again and I’ve only added washer fluid and changed the wiper blades once.
      - mighty_atomic_c 8y ago
        Watch the range over time, though. The cells in even the latest Nissan Leafs do not have any charge or temperature conditioning for the batteries, so they are likely to age poorly basically anywhere with more than 1 season. If you care for the batteries nicely (drive slow, don't slam accelerator, avoid winter), I'm sure they'll last a good long time, but the battery is a consumable that will need to be replaced sooner than most other major components, I think the Leaf has them under the rear seats, and may be a pain to deal with. If your Leaf has fast charging, it's advised to avoid using it too often because it will heat the batteries and may reduce charge over time. I guess the skimping of quality here seems short-sighted, but every EV has some weird, questionable choices to cut down on weight.
        sokoloff 8y ago
        Concur all around. I think I’m down about 10% range in 3.5 years. Other family members own 3 different Smart electric drives and they’re down only 2-4% in the same timeframe. (Those cars have liquid cooled batteries, which appears to dramatically reduce long-term range loss.)
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
    - 8y ago

nostrademons 8y ago

I must be living in Silicon Valley too long, because a large number of people I know - amongst the tech crowd at least - do in fact shell out a random $30K they have burning a hole in their pocket. (Lest I get accused of being way too out of touch, I do know people for whom affording even a $200 car repair is out of reach, and something they'll put up a GoFundMe over. These people do not drive electric cars. If you can afford the ~$5K in interest that financing a car over 6 years will cost you, you can afford the $1K charger. If you can't afford this, you buy a used Ford or Chevy rather than any of the cars we're talking about here.)

prostoalex 8y ago
The way I see it that with 0% financing deals aplenty there’s virtually no incentive to pay cash upfront. Might just as well stick that $30k into some high-yield savings account and set up automatic payments from there. Builds credit history, too.
- nostrademons 8y ago
  The last couple times I've been car shopping the 0% financing deals come with a jacked-up list price. You may get the loan at 0%, but the way that works is that they quote a higher price to begin with and then the 0% financing (assuming good credit) was their "concession" in the negotiation. We bought our cars for under dealer price, paying by cashier's check, so I assume that the actual dealer price was even lower (otherwise they wouldn't be willing to sell us the car), particularly since the lowest price they would go with financing was a couple thousand higher (credit scores in the 800s).
  - sokoloff 8y ago
    When I bought my LEAF in Dec 2014, I negotiated a price including a $2000 incentive from Nissan. Turns out that incentive was from NMAC (Nissan’s financing arm) and was only avail if I took a loan with them. Ok, what’s the interest rate? 0%. Wait, you give me $2K at signing and finance the car at 0% for 60 months? Ok, sign me up! In terms of selling below their invoice price, they also get an advertising holdback that scales with cars sold, so they’re still making a small amount on the sales floor. The real money at a dealership is made in the service bays, not on the sales floor. This is what really sucks for dealers about electric cars. In 42 months, my LEAF has never seen the dealer again and I’ve only added washer fluid and changed the wiper blades once.
    - mighty_atomic_c 8y ago
      Watch the range over time, though. The cells in even the latest Nissan Leafs do not have any charge or temperature conditioning for the batteries, so they are likely to age poorly basically anywhere with more than 1 season. If you care for the batteries nicely (drive slow, don't slam accelerator, avoid winter), I'm sure they'll last a good long time, but the battery is a consumable that will need to be replaced sooner than most other major components, I think the Leaf has them under the rear seats, and may be a pain to deal with. If your Leaf has fast charging, it's advised to avoid using it too often because it will heat the batteries and may reduce charge over time. I guess the skimping of quality here seems short-sighted, but every EV has some weird, questionable choices to cut down on weight.
      - sokoloff 8y ago
        Concur all around. I think I’m down about 10% range in 3.5 years. Other family members own 3 different Smart electric drives and they’re down only 2-4% in the same timeframe. (Those cars have liquid cooled batteries, which appears to dramatically reduce long-term range loss.)
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - 8y ago