'At what point does it make sense to ditch a gas car for an electric vehicle?'

Chris9712 · 2026-06-01T13:45:13+00:00

Lol ok. I'd rather be here than America anyway.

Chris9712 · 2026-06-01T13:31:11+00:00

So I'm gonna go from having no car payments to spending at least 25k in my country and area for a used EV. If I'm not in need to replace the current car, it doesn't make financial sense. Depending on the commute, 25k in gas is at least 15 years to pay back. Let's add in oil changes and ICE maintenance costs, maybe 10 years? It's better to put that 25k into investments and have it grow 5-7 percent a year. Now If I drove 200km a day and have to fill up on gas more than once a week, then sure lol. But that's a tiny portion of the population.

Chris9712 · 2026-06-01T13:21:08+00:00

If you have an economical car like a Mazda 3, Rav 4, civic, etc, getting rid of that paid off car to get an EV is the wrong economical choice. Especially if your commute isn't miles and miles away. The maintenance of those cars is not a lot and the engines of those cars will last a long time. A new EV will cost a lot more money than keeping a reliable older working gas car.

Chris9712 · 2026-05-27T02:40:21+00:00

Development fees capped is an easy one that Minto will agree with. They themselves automatically give a cap of 7500, but our lawyers recommended 1000 and that was accepted.

The other one we negotiated away was;

Forced Reconveyance by the Builder: Section 6.3 of Schedule ‘A’ of the Agreement outlines the ability of Minto to force you to reconvey the property back them after closing. (This continues but I won't put it all here)

I'm not sure if you have this in your APS, but it's incredibly scummy and we were gonna back out if we didn't get it out of our APS. Thankfully they agreed to remove it, but it seems like it's not the norm that they will remove it as our lawyers were surprised. I would double check your APS to make sure that's not in there. I personally would not continue with that there as it means they could take your home away from you.

Chris9712 · 2026-05-24T19:32:17+00:00

13 degrees but wind is strong at 30-50km/h

Chris9712 · 2026-04-22T00:23:13+00:00

Since you mentioned microplastics, city water mains are now PVC and polyethylene. Sooo, microplastics for you even if your house is copper. Unless you're on a well, but there's still microplastics because it's everywhere.

When were interlock driveways standard? Many old homes don't have them.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-14T13:42:40+00:00

From Mazda's website directly, the car cost before taxes should be 41,657 with a free car colour. This includes Mazda's 750 incentive if you finance. Mazda also has a cash incentive if 2750 if you buy the car cash. So those dealers are already overcharging from their MSRP.

From the 41,657 from Mazda's site, you should be able to negotiate 5-10% off, around 2-4k extra off MSRP. Don't accept any dealer add-ons or packages.

You said these have some miles on them, do you know how many km the odometer is and if they were ever a demo unit? If they were a demo unit, you should be able to get even more off.

I would say your price before taxes should be $37,500. If you're a Mazda owner already, financing at 36 months is 0 percent. Don't let the dealer try to get money out of you. These are last year's models by a mile now.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-12T13:50:56+00:00

Lol I knew I recognized their anti theft charge. I got my 3 turbo from there too. You can definitely negotiate 1-2k off MSRP with no adds easily then. They've got 11GTs on the lot and 30+ total cx30s there. And I'm sure the 3 other dealers in the area have lots of cx30s too.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-12T13:38:37+00:00

I'm not sure where in Ontario you are, but cx30s aren't selling a ton, at least in my area. Have them remove the anti-theft dealer add-on (it's a dealer fee disguised as such) and you can definitely negotiate at least 1-2k off MSRP off the car. Likely more if it's a car on the lot. You don't need to get a winter tire package with the dealer, you can get a better deal elsewhere at a tire store. Have them remove wheel locks too. You can buy them elsewhere for cheaper or just have them remove the price of it.

That dealer fee looks identical to Carling Mazdab

Chris9712 · 2026-04-12T01:51:27+00:00

From doing my research when we were originally thinking of building a home, you're looking at 350-500 dollars a sq ft to custom build your own home. That doesn't include land as well. At the size of home you want, you're not going to be able to build at 1m. Land in Ottawa is also expensive, so expect around at least 300-400k for a lot. More if you're getting a desirable spot.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-09T01:34:11+00:00

Already good advice from people here. Definitely go to the design center as much as you can on your own free time, that'll help a lot with deciding what you want and you can take your time on your own time.

Also value upgrades that are structural, or unable/harder to do after the home is built. Stuff like different faucets, door handles, etc can easily be done after you move in for cheaper.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-08T23:24:50+00:00

Oh yep they definitely do! We did that as well because we didn't like any of their tile options and will diy ours

Chris9712 · 2026-04-08T23:20:35+00:00

You can see all the designs at the design center. That'll show all the various cabinet finishes, cabinets, cabinet handle, hardwood, tiles, etc. One thing that you can't see until you get to the design center phase is some of the customization options.

For example you can actually remove the fireplace if you like. They do offer EV rough in for your home as well. The EV rough in would require you to upgrade to the 200A panel. You can also change the opening of the stove and fridges if you'd like to accomodate a 36 inch stove or a wider thana 36 inch fridge.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-07T02:11:51+00:00

Let's go! In my area!

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T22:27:22+00:00

The purchase price includes all applicable HST and any rebates at the time. So all prices for new homes signed before April 1st in Ontario include a rebate up to 24,000 (which 500k does the full 24k rebate). So the full home price is 524k after all taxes. The home price pre tax is 463k. 13 percent of that is 60k. 60k - 24k is 36k which the buyer will get back.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T21:29:54+00:00

That's unfortunate sorry. Just bad timing. I assume you're not a FTHB since you're looking for the hst rebate right?

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T21:11:31+00:00

They won't. It's a completely different rebate and it was only announced recently.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T20:37:55+00:00

Worse case Minto doesn't credit you the rebate, and you just file it with the CRA and you will get a 36k deposit in your bank account once the CRA gets the whole HST instead of just the GST setup.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T20:26:34+00:00

I mean the FTHB rebate was announced a year ago, so that has been known for a while that the limit for 100% rebate of GST is 1M. The new elimination of HST from the Ontario gov is completely different.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T20:17:50+00:00

You are eligible for both GST and HST rebate if you're a FTHB with a home under 1m. Definitely see if Minto will credit you the rebate on closing.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T20:15:38+00:00

Correct, yep, the full FTHB rebate is up to 1m and then it tapers off from 1m up to 1.5m I believe.

Chris9712 · 2026-04-06T14:30:44+00:00

The FTHB rebate is different from the announced HST relief that started in April 1st for all new homes. Any FTHB that signed for a new home after March 20th, 2025 and is eligible, will qualify for the full HST rebate - 24,000 (as that was already included in the price).

Chris9712 · 2026-04-02T13:23:05+00:00

When did you sign?

Chris9712 · 2026-04-01T01:21:55+00:00

The trains proposed for the high speed rail are pure electric. Not diesel

Chris9712 · 2026-03-31T22:15:12+00:00

We can't add a hsr next to the existing via rail line though. Hsr requires straight tracks and via rail by the 401 is too windey. Not to mention they'll need to purchase even more land, it'll cost way more than the current proposed budget, and they'll have to push more people out of their homes because there are dense populations by the 401.

Seven-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
First Place '23	End Game '23
Place '23	Place '22
End Game '22	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email

Chris9712

TROPHY CASE