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Sooooo about that separate Tesla thread....

I am actually up for a new vehicle in the next few months and was looking at the VW Atlas or the Honda Passport. Not sure if anyone has any experience with either of those cars?

Have you ever owned a VW? I've had alot of friends hate their VWs especially the people who buy new. I've had one even had their car bought back because of lemon laws.

Unless you are in love with the VW's fit and finish or how it drives, I'd steer clear of them. I wouldn't recommend owning one out of warranty unless you are mechanically incline and enjoy working on your own cars.

You might get a good car and it will be as reliable as the Honda or you might get a car that constantly gives you trouble. You just never know with a VW.
 
Sooooo about that separate Tesla thread....

I am actually up for a new vehicle in the next few months and was looking at the VW Atlas or the Honda Passport. Not sure if anyone has any experience with either of those cars?

I would never buy a VW. Electrical problems galore.

Just not a fan.
 
I typically lease. Don’t want to get into the lease vs. buy debate, but feel that would hopefully cover me from some of the long term VW issues. That was my only thought. I am coming from a 4Runner and would get another if they would have done some changes to it in the last 6 years, but still pretty much the same. That’s about the size of vehicle I am currently looking at.
 
I typically lease. Don’t want to get into the lease vs. buy debate, but feel that would hopefully cover me from some of the long term VW issues. That was my only thought. I am coming from a 4Runner and would get another if they would have done some changes to it in the last 6 years, but still pretty much the same. That’s about the size of vehicle I am currently looking at.

With VWs it's not long term issues though. They tend to have issues from the start. They aren't designed to be serviced so the dealer has to take apart the car to fix the smallest of problems.

If you are coming from a Toyota it will be like day and night in terms of how often you will be in the service department. That's the biggest complain my friends had with their VWs, just how often and how long the dealer had their car for servicing.

If you do get an Atlas, make sure you get a 2020. You don't want a first year or second year of production of any VW or Audi. At least if you have a 2020, there will be a decent amount of the revision parts already on the car. You will be amazed how many revisions Audi/VW group does for parts.
 
Thanks man. Gonna wait for the electric trucks to start coming out and see what their capabilities are and how much they cost.

There are a slew of hybrid and plug-ins coming from all major truck manufacturers starting next year.
 
With VWs it's not long term issues though. They tend to have issues from the start. They aren't designed to be serviced so the dealer has to take apart the car to fix the smallest of problems.

If you are coming from a Toyota it will be like day and night in terms of how often you will be in the service department. That's the biggest complain my friends had with their VWs, just how often and how long the dealer had their car for servicing.

If you do get an Atlas, make sure you get a 2020. You don't want a first year or second year of production of any VW or Audi. At least if you have a 2020, there will be a decent amount of the revision parts already on the car. You will be amazed how many revisions Audi/VW group does for parts.
This is excellent info. Appreciate it. Think you have me leaning towards the passport now.
 
I picked up my Tesla Model 3 Thursday night and drove from Saint Johns, Florida to the middle of North Carolina (for a family reunion) on Friday and back on Saturday. About a 1000 mile round trip and my first actual trip win an electric car. I'll give a summary for anyone interested.

The big concern everyone has is charging, so I'll start with that. This concern made me wait 2 years from when I first thought about buying a Tesla in 2017 until I finally bought one. Charging turned out to be pretty much non event.

I stopped twice each way. The car said to stop for 25-30 minutes about every 2 1/2 hours, which worked out to 2 stops each way for this trip. One one stop each way, I ate. The stop was at a mall right by the highway, there were a ton of options to eat at including a food court right by the charging stations. Eating took longer than I needed to charge. The other stop I used for a restroom break and go in store to get some water, then had to wait 10-15 minutes, on the way there I played a built in game, on the way back I used the built in netflix for a few mins, but did't have time to actually watch a show.

In total the whole trip was only about 10 minutes longer than driving, stoping to eat, getting gas, and stopping at a rest stop. When the new version 3 supercharger are available, the stop times will be cut in half, so it wouldn't have been any longer.

And I didn't have to pay anything for fuel. Tesla also gave me 2 years of free supercharging for buying the Model 3 before the end of the quarter (normally you can get 1000 miles with a referral code from a Tesla owner and the hotel I stayed at had a destination charger that is free to use. Imagine a car company or hotel giving you free gasoline.

The car itself turns out to be better than the car I traded in (which was a really nice car) in pretty much every single way.

Safety - Autopilot comes standard with every Tesla sold - similar features were a $10k option on my old car, only autopilot works better. It pretty much drives for you. You have to pay attention in case something goes wrong, but the times interrupted Autopilot, I am the one who made the mistake. I used autopilot about 98% of the time. I stayed dead center in the lane, slows down and speeds up, both on the highway and on other roads. Main reason to turn it off is if you are first at stop light or come up to a stop sign. Even with autopilot turned off and you driving, the car helps avoid collisions.

Navigate on Autopilot. This is part of the full self driving upgrade (there are features that will be part of FSD that aren't finished yet). This takes Autopilot a step further, the figures out when you need to change lanes based on the traffic and your destination.This currently only works on highways. But pretty much drives for you from the time you got on the onramp to a highway until the time you take an off ramp to a non highway road. It will move over when the car in front of you is too slow and move back after you pass it. It can even take off ramps for you and continues if the next road is also a highway. When it decides to change lanes, the blinker comes on, you confirm by putting slight pressure on the steering wheel, then it changes and turns the blinker off.

Performance - 0-60 in 3.2 seconds (Performance model) with no hesitation - it's like a roller coaster. The car that's the best at driving itself is also the the most fun to drive.

It has software updates. It didn't have Netflix on the way there, a software update ran overnight and I had it and a ton of other new things for the drive home. I only had the car 1 day and it got better than when I bought it. No other car company makes cars that do this.

Smart Summons. - Also part of the full self driving upgrade. this was in the software update. If you're at a store and it's raining, you can tell your car to "Come to me" - that's what the button on the phone app says. This also turns on heat/AC so the car isn't as hot or cold when you get in.

It's a smart car - your phone can control many things in your car and is also your key. Walk up, it unlocks. Sit down and press the brake, it turns on. Get to where you're going, get out, it turns off. Walk away, it locks and turns on Sentry Mode. Sentry Mode monitors the car while you are away. If anyone gets too close, it records them. If anyone does anything to your car or tries to break into it, it records them. This is standard with every Tesla.

Your phone can also remotely control your car in several ways, like turn on/off the AC, remote lock/unlock, check charge status, etc.

sound system - I had an upgraded sound systems in my old car, this was the standard Tesla long range sound system. The Tesla sound was significantly better. Netflix sounded like a great movie theater, not a car radio.

There's too much other stuff to list.

Best Car Ever.
 
I take my second road trip with my Tesla. Traveling from Saint Johns, Florida to Wooster, Ohio. I'm traveling with my dogs. The drive normally takes me about 15 hours. I was kind of discouraged when I mapped the trip on the Tesla site - it said 6 stops to charge and 18 hours. However, I went to my car and had it route the trip - the car said 4 charging stops and 15 1/2 hours.

Normally when I travel with my dogs, I can't eat anything other than fast food. The Tesla has dog mode, so I can leave the climate control on while it charges and get something healthy to eat. So the trip should work out to being about the same amount of time as it would have been if I could stop for real food along the way. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

And like last time, I won't pay a cent for fuel for this trip with the two years of free supercharging that came with the car.
 
I'm trying to decide on my next car and I'm considering a top of the line 3...

I just can't get over the initial purchase price at this point, I'm notoriously pretty cheap and dropping 50k+ on a new car is just not me. That $7500 tax credit would have made it a lot more palatable. I could wait it out until (a) there's a better used market and (b) a Democrat gets elected in 2020 and reinstates a good incentive.
 
I'm trying to decide on my next car and I'm considering a top of the line 3...

I just can't get over the initial purchase price at this point, I'm notoriously pretty cheap and dropping 50k+ on a new car is just not me. That $7500 tax credit would have made it a lot more palatable. I could wait it out until (a) there's a better used market and (b) a Democrat gets elected in 2020 and reinstates a good incentive.

take it for a test drive. After the test drive ask for an overnight test. Also figure out how much it will save you in gas/maintenance and factor that into the cost. The only maintenance is rotating the tires and adding windshield wiper fluid.

In addition, consider how far the value of a non EV is likely to drop over the next few years as demand continues to increase for EVs as is already happening in the luxury car market.

If you do decide to order one, use this link for 1k free supercharging miles. Since I already have free supercharging, I don't get anything if you use the link, it just helps you out.

 

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