Oh, I forgot to followup on @echoreply’s suggestion. I did do a new review on the local used BEV market. Sadly, while there were a few good condition recent year Leaf’s for sale, they were asking $20-25k for lowish miles with good battery condition and no accidents. Which means I wouldn’t be saving much money to put to a new panel compared to base model Prius PHEV I mentioned last post. It would be far more noticeable if I did get the full CO used EV credit but a couple of the adds were kinda cagey on their language which did not inspire trust.
I know I could easily do better with an online vendor that pulled from a larger pool, many of which are reputable. But I’m just a bit uncomfortable buying online sight unseen.
For a $30+K purchase a couple hundred dollars to fly to wherever to look at a promising example isn’t a nutty-level expenditure. I also know that outfits like Carmax will ship a car to your local store at your expense with no obligation for you to buy it. I’ve done it. Depending on distance that might be $150 or might be $500. If you buy the car the shipping is just one more line item on the total invoice. If you don’t buy it, you owe them for the shipping.
I live in greater Miami. My last two cars came from Wichita and Las Vegas respectively. The previous two were from clean across Florida, 350-to-400 miles away from home.
I’d not be inclined to have a dozen examples shipped in from all over the country for me to browse over. But IMO/IME there’s no reason not to make a nationwide search if you’re looking for something a bit rare or with an unusual options package. Dealers are now quite used to working with long-distance buyers. They can send detailed pix, do Zoom inspections with you, etc.
For my cars, whether fancy or ordinary, the shipping cost was pretty much lost in the sauce of the rest of the fees and whatnot. And I got what I wanted, not what happened to be for sale in my county.
I do also see some 2019 models with the cluster in the center, above the screen. That, IMO, would be annoying. I remember driving one car with the cluster (in the 90’s, so a ‘normal’ cluster) in the center. It was clearly made to be go in facing a driver either on the left or right side with minimal changes, but it felt like a really stupid place for things you need to glance at regularly.
Does that car have any kind of self driving/hands free driving? That black shiny thing above the wheel, on the column, looks like it’s holding some IR cameras that track your eyes to make sure you’re awake and kinda paying attention. You can probably see them with the camera on your phone.
@Joey_P got it in one. I’m average in height at 5’10 silly units. I can see 90 percent of the cluster with the steering wheel in a comfortable position. All of it by sitting up straight and stretching the neck a bit.
My wife is 5’1. She’s mostly looking through the wheel which is awkward but she wouldn’t be driving this much - her car has more space power and comfort!
It has a lot of safety features on all trim levels:
But I don’t think it has any self driving features on any trim level. I DO think the higher end trims have some inattentive driver warning system but never got to see them. It’s a popular enough model and produced or sold in low enough numbers that the last 5 going to our dealership sold 4/5 in three days or less. 2 of the 5 the same day they got to the dealership.
Though I’m sure the imminent gutting of Fed EV credits is ALSO pushing the pedal on BUY NOW.
That arrangement goes way back. My mother’s '02 has a compact display right in the center, at the base of the windshield. My take on that is, as you say, to be common to Japanese/UK models and everywhere-else models, and also as an almost-HUD that keeps your vision near the road.
