The other vehicles on the same EV architecture as the Ioniq 5 do get greater EPA range and efficiency (in long range AWD form):
Unfortunately none of the Kia/Hyundai mid to large size AWD SUV options get 300 which is the problem.
Just checked out the upcoming Kia EV9 in-person. Wow, this vehicle is a major contender for those interested in EV SUVs. Loved almost everything about it, with the exception of range (tops out at EPA 280 miles with the AWD version, or 270 with the wider tires).
Looks like a real SUV. Incredible captains seats first and second row. Super spacious. Even the second row captains seats lower to create a large cargo area (something the Tesla doesn’t do with captains seats). Tons of bells and whistles, including all the things that the Tesla and Rivian don’t have.
Younger s considered the ioniq6 but got the Kia EV6. They drove to one of the national parks a few weekends ago and did have a bit of an issue with getting it charged.
What kind of issue? Details please!
Also, I saw this q back in 2022 but not sure it got answered:
We live in cold-weather mountains. Pretty sure the EV range decreases quite a bit in such conditions.
We would pick hybrid right now because of this.
Not that we can afford a new car, and used cars remain ridiculously overpriced, so it’s just my random “I’d really like a car from this decade” thoughts every now and then…
Cold weather usually means less economy/range in EVs, at least partially because cabin heat is not free (unlike in ICEVs). Cabin heat costs less (but not zero) in EVs with heat pump heating compared to resistance heating. Heated seats’ cost is not really noticeable. Of course, if the cold weather brings snow, that can significantly reduce economy in any car (pushing through snow costs more than driving on dry roads, and winter tires often have higher rolling resistance when the typical low rolling resistance all season tires that new cars come with).
Mountains cost less in EVs than ICEVs because regeneration going downhill recovers some of the additional energy consumed going uphill.
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IIRC, they had a lot of uphill climbing with the car and it used more power than they had anticipated, so had to do an “audible” to find a place to charge.
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It seems lots of people like the Kia. Does anyone worry about quality? I don’t mean EV quality but car quality. We owned a Hyundai (and the brands are related) and it was a piece of junk. We used to joke that if you looked at it crosseyed it lost a body part. We owned it for 6 years and had to get the bumper reattached twice ( no it was not it an accident), had to replace a wheel (not the tire, I mean the actual wheel), and fix one of the window mechanisms because the window stopped going up and down. I was never so happy to get rid of a car and would never buy another again.
Yes, climbing up a mountain will consume energy based on the mass of the vehicle and contents times the height times the gravitational constant. Some of that will be recovered going down, though you first have to get to the top. A conservative estimate for a full EV6 would be about 2 kWh per 1000 feet up.
A Better Route Planner does take into account elevation gain or loss when planning an EV route with charging stops.
We have had three Hyundais since the 10-year warranty came into existence and were pleasantly surprised with two of them. But I’ve read recently on Reddit about a precipitous decline in quality (and Kia also), so I’m not sure we’d buy another one.
That said, all three of ours hit 250k, though the maintenance on the last one was higher than we liked.
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Rivian bought ABRP in June. Haven’t tried it myself since I usually just stick with my car’s instructions. DK what DS did, as he would know the impact of the uphill drive, but its a relatively new car for them and the first time they took a long trip with it.
Us too, though I’m afraid to jinx myself. Mine is “only” 11 years old and has only needed one $200 part thus far. I did have one of the defective engines that was recalled. It was replaced for free, and they extended the warranty to 120,000 miles. It’s long past that.
But I have heard that Hyundai’s of old are not like the newer ones - if you count 11 years old new. We call it middle age in our house.
Older S had a slightly older one - 2010 Elantra. We bought it used around 2016 and it wasn’t in amazing shape when we got it. He got rid of it in 2022, but it only needed the A/C to be fixed that I can recall.
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The college kid is talking about taking my car to college next year. So I need to look for a new car in the next 6 months. I don’t have a preference between hybrid, PHEV, or EV (but no ICE only). I don’t want an SUV and want the car to be small. Budget is less than $40k (want to buy new). Any suggestions?
Cars to consider:
EV: Chevrolet Bolt (before it is discontinued soon, and if 50 kW “fast” charging is ok), Tesla Model 3 base model
PHEV: Toyota Prius Prime, Kia Niro plug-in hybrid
non-plug-in hybrid: Toyota Prius, Kia Niro hybrid, Toyota Corolla hybrid, Hyundai Elantra hybrid
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Prius prime wil be outside that budget.
Everyone has car horror stories that implicate every brand. But in aggregation Kia has one of the best JD Power reliability ratings.
I’ve never owned a Kia so I am agnostic about it as a brand. They do offer a better warranty than most.
tbh, reliability ratings for three-year-old cars have never meant much to me, as a drive-into-the-ground person. Much more interested in, say, 7 or 10 years and beyond.
We own three cars right now. One is 15.5 years old, one is 10.5 years old and the baby of the family is 8.5 years old. Previous cars were of similar vintage for the most part.
The newest car, the Volvo, has been the most expensive to maintain of any we have owned and had the most serious issues, though fortunately the biggest which would have cost $13K to repair was apparently a known issue for the vehicle so it was covered.
Our 10.5 year old Honda would also have been painful had we not made an exception and bought the 8 year warranty for it – the entire drive train had to be replaced. Though the 15.5 year old Honda Pilot has been a trooper. Earlier Toyotas and Fords were not reliable either.
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Agree on Toyota and will never own another one after engine block replacement and two transmissions and we junked it when the third tranny went. (all that on one Siena van)
Volvo is owned by a Chinese company now, isn’t it?
Wow on Honda - that’s one we haven’t owned yet but I was seriously considering that it was worth the markup for better reliability.
Subaru: my son’s 2005 Impreza RS (a hidden tuner classic) had the much-feared head gasket problem and we replaced that engine.
But we love sticks and I will probably get a used Subie Forester/Outback old enough to still offer a stick.
It is, though though my vehicle was designed and manufactured in Sweden and was their flagship vehicle (mine even has a plaque giving it a unique “First Edition” number in the double digits – I was the second delivery of the new model in North America at the time).
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