Something I love about the Autopian community is the depth of tales, wit, and knowledge. From heroic car ownership stories to solid banter to semi-obscure pricelist shenanigans, the hivemind truly has it all.
Earlier today, Matt posed the question “Is there a used EV you’d consider?”, along with “How cheap would it have to be?” You all provided some great answers, but if there’s one that sticks out, it’s one made by MrBrown89:
My leased Equinox EV is supposed to be returned by the end of December of this year. A lot of them will be hitting the market by then, I was hoping to negotiate with GM financial but they are probably going to try to stick with the inflated residual value. I will probably buy another used one since it will be cheaper or tell my spouse go buy the same car we just returned if the dealership keeps it lol
I did something similar with my Volt that got “totaled”, someone bought it out from Copart, fixed the minor damage and put it for sale. Insurance gave me a good check, the car was way less listed for sale, and I even had the nerve to insure it back with the same insurance haha
Cue the galaxy brain meme template. Taking an insurance payout on a totalled car, finding it for sale after being fixed, still pocketing some of the payout, and then re-insuring it with the same insurer? Sure, there might be a resale value hit, but if you’re the type of person to run a car until it’s condemned, that’s basically turning lemons into free money.
I want to extend a warm welcome to Dave Larkman, 25-year Lotus engineering veteran, semi-pro drifter, sports bike enthusiast, and taillight collector. His article on saving 22,000 pounds of aluminum is absolutely fascinating, and it’s not terribly surprising to see commenters asking questions about engineering. Michael Henry asked “What is your defination of a bolt vs a screw?” Well, Rad Barchetta was swift, chiming in with:
A bolt is when your date leaves you at the door. A screw is when she doesn’t.
I’m here all week.
Badum-tss. Moving onto new cars, it’s great that the Chevrolet Bolt is available with Super Cruise, but given the required prerequisites of three additional option packages, my word, is it ever expensive. It’s also far from the only case of having to load on a bunch of stuff you don’t need to get the one thing you really want. Autonerdery called out another example of this, which is even more eyebrow-furrowing.
This reminds me of the Polestar 2, where, if you wanted an interior in a color other than black, you had to pony up a total of (IIRC) $8,000 in options. We were considering an i4 a few years ago, and a few folks pointed out how much cheaper the 2 was…but that price advantage went completely out the window if you couldn’t live with the coal bin interior, which I’d really have hated.
For $8,000, I’d almost rather have an upholstery shop deck a Polestar 2 out in soft corinthian leather. I mean, how much could that really cost, a couple grand? I suppose if you’re feeling brave, you could have a crack at re-dying the upholstery, which ought to carry a mere triple-digit price tag depending on how much and what sort of dye you need.
Anyway, that’s all from me today. Have a wonderful evening, folks.
Top graphic image: Chevrolet
Doing my regular BMW wagon searching online today, I discovered that there are two BMW i5 M60 Tourings for sale in Australia that have under 5000km at them for around 50% of the price of a new one.
Now that’s depreciation.
From my limited experience with leather bike saddles and a vintage-looking saddle storage cylinder, if it’s black, there’s not a lot you can do with it. You can dye darker, but not lighter. Maybe you could get it to a dark gray? I have painted natural/light brown color leathers red and turquoise after stripping the original finish, so you could probably use leather paint, but I imagine it wouldn’t be durable enough on the thin, more supple leather in a car and I think you’d definitely have to spray it to get consistent results. Then again, with the processing and coatings they tend to put on it to try to make it as durable as good vinyl, but mostly succeeding in just feeling and smelling like it, you might need something stronger than what I’ve used to get off the original finish before refinishing, then I guess you’d want to put whatever kind of sealer they use back over it to restore some resiliency. Eh, I’d just get it redone. I’ve been thinking about that with my GR86 since I bought it (including covering a lot of the plastics with vinyl), but I’m indecisive, I have more important things to do, and I’d rather invest that money. Still, I found a place making custom seat covers for $1500 or so for the set (replacement covers, not the kind that slip over the stock covers). The rest I could manage myself as long as I could match the stuff they use. They don’t do velour, though.
I have two issues with black/dark leather/upholstery. First, just adds to the furnace effect in summer. Two, my dog has a white coat and sheds.