We rented an Ionic 5 for the weekend and I will be going back to gas because… uh, it’s rented.
Real talk, though, we’re trying to find a good EV because it is better. I don’t particularly like the Ionic 5, but that’s mostly a hatred for crossovers than anything; also the severe lack of clicky buttons and stuff like automatic mirror dimming that isn’t working right. Ugh.
I just wish we had more options in the States, especially without the touch screen nonsense.
Edit to complain: finished our trip and EV charging stations are so hit or miss. People worry about range but that’s not it-- it’s the fucking apps, flex time pricing and 350 kW chargers only putting out 50 kW for mysterious reasons. This shit needs some serious regulation in the US, fucking yikes.
I have a 2019 Nissan Leaf and it was manufactured at the perfect in-between time of still having physical buttons, without the surveillance tech inside, while also having the ‘basic’ fancy features like Android Auto, backup cam, etc.
I think ideally, I would have liked an EV conversion kit for my 2006 Scion xB, but it wasn’t in the cards at the time.
It does seem like the physical buttons are making a comeback.
Here’s hoping. I’d look into even a used option like that, but I’m also hoping we get new battery tech in the next year or two. Not that I mind 350W charger speeds, though.
It is extremely annoying that here I am nearly 8 years later, and the Model 3 is the still the only real choice if you want a compact sedan EV. I don’t want to buy another one, but for the love of God, every other option sucks, is impossible to get, or costs $30k more than a Model 3
Yeah, would prefer my Volt be a sedan instead of a hatchback. I’ve not planned to replace it yet, but I hope there are more that one manufacturer offering EV sedans in the U.S. when I do go to replace it.
Both the EV6 and the I-Pace are crossovers, more wagon-like than sedanlike. And the I-Pace was discontinued in 2024.
In terms of a true sedan, the Polestar 2 (also discontinued), the BMW i4, and the Lucid Air are options, but they’re significantly more expensive than a Tesla Model 3.
I want aware that the car has to be brand new as OP never stated that.
No, but I’m pointing out that cars that have been discontinued will not increase in number, so they’ll be harder to find on the used market over time.
Like the parent comment, I’ve rented a Hyundai Ioniq 5 a few times, and liked the way it drove. But it is so ugly I’d never buy it for myself. The EV6 is nice, and I agree it’s quite close to a sedan.
The Polestar 2 is great. Drives like a sedan. Undisputably a sedan. But its manufacturer is in a weird regulatory limbo, there weren’t a lot of 2s sold, and I personally find the clicking of the turn signal annoying. Also a bit expensive for its specs, even on the used market.
I think we’ll eventually see Kia/Hyundai/Genesis, Toyota/Lexus, and maybe Volkswagen and BMW compete in this sedan space with new cars. But for now, most car manufacturers selling in the US seem to be focused on SUVs and crossovers.
Hell, it’s hard to find subcompacts here at all. I’m willing to abandon my U-turn machines for electric when my car dies, but I’d really rather not. Fuck I love having a miniscule turning radius
I’m honestly surprised anyone rents electrics. I love owning one, but recharging would be obnoxious when traveling to a new place and having to juggle half a dozen different charging apps and a charger probably requiring you to go to a Walmart and sit for half an hour.
You only discover the absurd insanity of the charging market once you drive an EV.
Here you’ll stop at charging stations that proudly state they got incentive money (aka your tax €) from the EU and then ask for >1€ per kWh - unless you are a subscriber, then it’s 15% less. If you are a paid subscriber the rebate is more than 50%. Then you check the roaming service of one of your many subscriptions - it’s 2€/kWh.
It’s like streaming but way more exploitative shittier. I think this needs needs government regulation and companies abusing EU incentives should pay back every cent including compound interest immediately.
Can confirm, but we wanted a challenge and it hasn’t been that bad with just one app. We even had terrible luck and had to change plans and find another spot (diesel truck overturned, which is ironic when gas is the reason your EV trip got sidetracked lol).
I imagine having reliable charging at home and work makes it braindead.
More chargers are getting tap-to-pay every day, so it is getting easier.
Also, while I doubt electric charging will be as fast as gas within this generation of vehicles (the required voltage would be rather insane), the EV guys I see online suggest charging to 75% or so because it gets you out of there in half the time. It means slightly more frequent stops, but also makes them not much longer than a bathroom break and snack run.
Oh really? That’s good to hear. The requiring an account and app thing was such nonsense.
Made a road trip 2 years ago and the charge time itself was never an issue, it was more the limited chargers and people on slow charging older EVs keeping them tied up for so long.
I was on AC / L2 chargers (my Volt), so it might not apply directly to DC charging but last weekend both the chargers I used and the DC charger I accidentally parked next to, took tap to pay, though one I ended up using did have an additional fee for tap-to-pay so I used my ChargePoint account. The week before that the DC charger that I just happened upon (and was disappointed didn’t do AC charging) actually supported both tap-to-pay and the older mag-stripe-swipe.
All those stations were in MO. I was driving AR-IN and back.
I love owning one, but recharging would be obnoxious when traveling to a new place and having to juggle half a dozen different charging apps and a charger probably requiring you to go to a Walmart and sit for half an hour.
When I see complaints like this, I read it as, “I’m a reckless driver who should have their license taken away.” If you’re taking long road trips and not stopping every 4-6 hours for a 20-30 minute break, you shouldn’t be allowed to own a vehicle at all. You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you.
That’s an incredibly weird take. How did you get to that from a complaint about how hard it was to find a decent charger?
My example wasn’t even about a long drive, just being in a town with only 3 high speed chargers and over the course of a week I got to drive well out of my way and sit and wait for a turn at the Walmart twice. If I’d had a gas car I could’ve filled up at the many many stations nearby so it was an example of why I still wouldn’t rent one when traveling. Hell lookup driving to Yellowstone for an easy example of a route with limited chargers for the large number of summer tourists.
Did you miss the part where I love actually owning one?
Hi, I routinely drive 12+ hours only stopping for gas and bathrooms. It’s fun, and what I do for vacations, and I will never stop. I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager and have never been in a car crash because I’m an absurdly safe driver compared to most people on the roads. I think you have a really extreme view of what safe car driving looks like.
I leased an Ioniq 5 SEL for three years and loved it (other than it being an SUV).
When the lease ran out, I bought a used 2024 Ioniq 6 SE which has 360 mile range and almost every feature of the SEL. It was super cheap and it suits me even better than the Ioniq 5.
One of the reasons I got my BYD was because of the clicky buttons. Yes, I have the big touchscreen, but all the car controls have a clicky button that I can feel and touch without looking at a screen. Hell, even for the things that don’t have a clicky button (like A/C temperature) you only need to swipe up or down with three fingers on any part of the screen to adapt it so there is nothing you need to find in the screen to drive the car.
I test drove the ioniq 5 when it came out and its problem, to me, wasn’t even that it’s a stupid tall hatchback (barely a crossover even). It’s that the suspension setup makes it both uncomfortable AND unsporty. No idea if they changed it in later models, but they wouldn’t have fundamentally changed the entire setup anyway, only fine-tuning.
When the test drive was over, I sat back into my W211 and that was much more comfortable. Way slower and sluggish, but it was smoother on rough roads, and yet I actually felt where the grip was when going into a corner fast. That car was manufactured in 2003, the Ioniq 5 was a 2020 or 2021 model.
I ended up getting a lightly used W205 C-Class instead, staying with diesel. It was half the price of a brand new Ioniq 5 (since those weren’t available used)
But I’m not trying to tell you to buy an ICE vehicle like I did back then, I’m just saying that a lightly used executive car that still has warranty is going to be significantly nicer to drive than a brand new budget car. At the end of the day, you’re looking at EVs, battery warranty is 8 years anyway. Get a 2-3 year old one, sell it when the warranty is starting to end (degradation isn’t a real issue anymore, but sudden battery cell death can still be).
Your part about the suspension just clicked for me why it was bothering me so much. It was really more bumpy than I thought it would be, compared to what I normally drive. It was more like when I drove a mini cooper, tiny wheel bumpy ride.
But yeah, a slightly used but good car is probably my best bet right now, or just hang on one or two more years to see if there’s a breakthrough in batteries or we get Chinese imports, basically.
We rented an Ionic 5 for the weekend and I will be going back to gas because… uh, it’s rented.
Real talk, though, we’re trying to find a good EV because it is better. I don’t particularly like the Ionic 5, but that’s mostly a hatred for crossovers than anything; also the severe lack of clicky buttons and stuff like automatic mirror dimming that isn’t working right. Ugh.
I just wish we had more options in the States, especially without the touch screen nonsense.
Edit to complain: finished our trip and EV charging stations are so hit or miss. People worry about range but that’s not it-- it’s the fucking apps, flex time pricing and 350 kW chargers only putting out 50 kW for mysterious reasons. This shit needs some serious regulation in the US, fucking yikes.
I have a 2019 Nissan Leaf and it was manufactured at the perfect in-between time of still having physical buttons, without the surveillance tech inside, while also having the ‘basic’ fancy features like Android Auto, backup cam, etc.
I think ideally, I would have liked an EV conversion kit for my 2006 Scion xB, but it wasn’t in the cards at the time.
It does seem like the physical buttons are making a comeback.
Edited small typos
Here’s hoping. I’d look into even a used option like that, but I’m also hoping we get new battery tech in the next year or two. Not that I mind 350W charger speeds, though.
It is extremely annoying that here I am nearly 8 years later, and the Model 3 is the still the only real choice if you want a compact sedan EV. I don’t want to buy another one, but for the love of God, every other option sucks, is impossible to get, or costs $30k more than a Model 3
Yeah, would prefer my Volt be a sedan instead of a hatchback. I’ve not planned to replace it yet, but I hope there are more that one manufacturer offering EV sedans in the U.S. when I do go to replace it.
Would a Kia EV6 or a Jaguar I-Pace be options?
Both the EV6 and the I-Pace are crossovers, more wagon-like than sedanlike. And the I-Pace was discontinued in 2024.
In terms of a true sedan, the Polestar 2 (also discontinued), the BMW i4, and the Lucid Air are options, but they’re significantly more expensive than a Tesla Model 3.
I want aware that the car has to be brand new as OP never stated that.
Call me a Heather but if the EV6 isn’t sedan-like enough, the Tesla 3 isn’t either.
A Lucid Air plays in a whole different league as It probably beats the Tesla S. However there’s a risk the company itself might be discontinued.
There’s a bunch of Chinese brands that deliver - they might not be available in the US or are tariffed out of budget range.
No, but I’m pointing out that cars that have been discontinued will not increase in number, so they’ll be harder to find on the used market over time.
Like the parent comment, I’ve rented a Hyundai Ioniq 5 a few times, and liked the way it drove. But it is so ugly I’d never buy it for myself. The EV6 is nice, and I agree it’s quite close to a sedan.
The Polestar 2 is great. Drives like a sedan. Undisputably a sedan. But its manufacturer is in a weird regulatory limbo, there weren’t a lot of 2s sold, and I personally find the clicking of the turn signal annoying. Also a bit expensive for its specs, even on the used market.
I think we’ll eventually see Kia/Hyundai/Genesis, Toyota/Lexus, and maybe Volkswagen and BMW compete in this sedan space with new cars. But for now, most car manufacturers selling in the US seem to be focused on SUVs and crossovers.
Hell, it’s hard to find subcompacts here at all. I’m willing to abandon my U-turn machines for electric when my car dies, but I’d really rather not. Fuck I love having a miniscule turning radius
I’m honestly surprised anyone rents electrics. I love owning one, but recharging would be obnoxious when traveling to a new place and having to juggle half a dozen different charging apps and a charger probably requiring you to go to a Walmart and sit for half an hour.
You only discover the absurd insanity of the charging market once you drive an EV.
Here you’ll stop at charging stations that proudly state they got incentive money (aka your tax €) from the EU and then ask for >1€ per kWh - unless you are a subscriber, then it’s 15% less. If you are a paid subscriber the rebate is more than 50%. Then you check the roaming service of one of your many subscriptions - it’s 2€/kWh.
It’s like streaming but way
more exploitativeshittier. I think this needs needs government regulation and companies abusing EU incentives should pay back every cent including compound interest immediately.Can confirm, but we wanted a challenge and it hasn’t been that bad with just one app. We even had terrible luck and had to change plans and find another spot (diesel truck overturned, which is ironic when gas is the reason your EV trip got sidetracked lol).
I imagine having reliable charging at home and work makes it braindead.
More chargers are getting tap-to-pay every day, so it is getting easier.
Also, while I doubt electric charging will be as fast as gas within this generation of vehicles (the required voltage would be rather insane), the EV guys I see online suggest charging to 75% or so because it gets you out of there in half the time. It means slightly more frequent stops, but also makes them not much longer than a bathroom break and snack run.
Oh really? That’s good to hear. The requiring an account and app thing was such nonsense.
Made a road trip 2 years ago and the charge time itself was never an issue, it was more the limited chargers and people on slow charging older EVs keeping them tied up for so long.
I was on AC / L2 chargers (my Volt), so it might not apply directly to DC charging but last weekend both the chargers I used and the DC charger I accidentally parked next to, took tap to pay, though one I ended up using did have an additional fee for tap-to-pay so I used my ChargePoint account. The week before that the DC charger that I just happened upon (and was disappointed didn’t do AC charging) actually supported both tap-to-pay and the older mag-stripe-swipe.
All those stations were in MO. I was driving AR-IN and back.
When I see complaints like this, I read it as, “I’m a reckless driver who should have their license taken away.” If you’re taking long road trips and not stopping every 4-6 hours for a 20-30 minute break, you shouldn’t be allowed to own a vehicle at all. You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you.
That’s an incredibly weird take. How did you get to that from a complaint about how hard it was to find a decent charger?
My example wasn’t even about a long drive, just being in a town with only 3 high speed chargers and over the course of a week I got to drive well out of my way and sit and wait for a turn at the Walmart twice. If I’d had a gas car I could’ve filled up at the many many stations nearby so it was an example of why I still wouldn’t rent one when traveling. Hell lookup driving to Yellowstone for an easy example of a route with limited chargers for the large number of summer tourists.
Did you miss the part where I love actually owning one?
Maybe it’s an LLM bot set to act contrarian?
An EV that drives for 6h and is charged up in 30min? This has to be an hallucination.
It would be great to have this kind of range though.
This hurts my soul.
Hi, I routinely drive 12+ hours only stopping for gas and bathrooms. It’s fun, and what I do for vacations, and I will never stop. I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager and have never been in a car crash because I’m an absurdly safe driver compared to most people on the roads. I think you have a really extreme view of what safe car driving looks like.
I assume you also grew up in Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average.
I leased an Ioniq 5 SEL for three years and loved it (other than it being an SUV).
When the lease ran out, I bought a used 2024 Ioniq 6 SE which has 360 mile range and almost every feature of the SEL. It was super cheap and it suits me even better than the Ioniq 5.
It’s probably worth checking out if you like EVs.
That was my thought, the Ionic 6 looks solid and more like my Ford Fusion Hybrid I’ve been driving for a decade.
One of the reasons I got my BYD was because of the clicky buttons. Yes, I have the big touchscreen, but all the car controls have a clicky button that I can feel and touch without looking at a screen. Hell, even for the things that don’t have a clicky button (like A/C temperature) you only need to swipe up or down with three fingers on any part of the screen to adapt it so there is nothing you need to find in the screen to drive the car.
I test drove the ioniq 5 when it came out and its problem, to me, wasn’t even that it’s a stupid tall hatchback (barely a crossover even). It’s that the suspension setup makes it both uncomfortable AND unsporty. No idea if they changed it in later models, but they wouldn’t have fundamentally changed the entire setup anyway, only fine-tuning.
When the test drive was over, I sat back into my W211 and that was much more comfortable. Way slower and sluggish, but it was smoother on rough roads, and yet I actually felt where the grip was when going into a corner fast. That car was manufactured in 2003, the Ioniq 5 was a 2020 or 2021 model.
I ended up getting a lightly used W205 C-Class instead, staying with diesel. It was half the price of a brand new Ioniq 5 (since those weren’t available used)
But I’m not trying to tell you to buy an ICE vehicle like I did back then, I’m just saying that a lightly used executive car that still has warranty is going to be significantly nicer to drive than a brand new budget car. At the end of the day, you’re looking at EVs, battery warranty is 8 years anyway. Get a 2-3 year old one, sell it when the warranty is starting to end (degradation isn’t a real issue anymore, but sudden battery cell death can still be).
Your part about the suspension just clicked for me why it was bothering me so much. It was really more bumpy than I thought it would be, compared to what I normally drive. It was more like when I drove a mini cooper, tiny wheel bumpy ride.
But yeah, a slightly used but good car is probably my best bet right now, or just hang on one or two more years to see if there’s a breakthrough in batteries or we get Chinese imports, basically.