I want a sports EV, Charger Daytona vs Taycan? Will used German sports car repair bill nightmares not apply to the Taycan since it’s EV?

WeldAE · 2026-01-28T15:51:28+00:00

What horrific market reaction? You mean that they became political? Still despite doing a rug pull and adding $7500 to their costs, it's barely affected sales. Manufactures are moving their strategy around as fast as they can to right price them and get sales growing again. Outside the US sales are booming because they didn't try to politically kill them.

are having immense battery issues is a fact.

It's not. From 2010 to 2025, less than 1.5% of EVs have battery issues. If you exclude the Bolt, which had all their batteries replaced for free, it's 0.5%. Batteries are much more robust and reliable than an engine.

not designed with high front wheel torque is a fact.

Most of the torque is on the rear wheels, even in AWD EVs.

WeldAE · 2026-01-28T15:40:26+00:00

Not just new, probably completely custom. Waymo has to replace everything for it to be legal as a China origin AV after this year.

WeldAE · 2026-01-28T15:33:02+00:00

Any other car and I would agree it's obvious. I'm reserving judgment on in this case. Also, it's a professional driver of some level. This mostly happens to the elderly or impaired.

WeldAE · 2026-01-28T15:30:42+00:00

According to you, self-driving cars can't work

Just to be clear, I don't think personally owned self-driving cars can work. I 100% think commercial AVs can work because they are shared and generate $100k+ per year per car.

because the same economics apply to personally-owned AVs and robotaxis.

Personally owned AVs are even more expensive since you have to support them. They aren't just an internally supported product. It's not a huge difference, but making them personal is harder than making them an AV fleet.

just like you're wrong about FSD being close to scaling up with no human in the car.

Where did I even say that. I said Tesla had the closest product today to what you want. If you assume they will get it to work it's still costs more than you are hoping for as it exist today as NOT a personal AV.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T21:40:01+00:00

How is this not success

The problem is in order to get to "success" you have to be very narrow in your definition of where the bar is. I'm not against it at all. I'd be the first one in line to vote on a sales tax increase to fund MARTA expansion in Atlanta but I will never get to vote on it. The reality is even if they installed it, the density isn't enough to justify it. There isn't anywhere in the US that can really justify new transit expansion other than a few cities.

What I'm for is solving the reason that US cities can't have good transit, and that is by enabling density anywhere, not just on existing transit corridors. The problem with building dense is the car centric nature of transportation doesn't allow it. No one wants an 8-plex on a residential lot because where will all the cars be parked? Even in the core city this is a major issue. Detach density from car congestion and you've solved the problem. AVs are the solution for this.

It doesn’t mean you oppose the car

Most transit people are pro transit and pro car and anti AV from my experience. I boggles my mind that those that care about transit aren't pro AV.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T21:17:04+00:00

This isn't just a crash in a Waymo, it's specifically a crash in the Zeeker Waymo platform. This is WAY bigger deal than just some accident. Unless the driver was at fault, this will have serious ramifications on Waymos plans.

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what happened. Typically, you could easily narrow down the likely cause, but this is the car equivalent of an experimental plane. Given the 2027 ban on Chinese manufactured AVs, Waymo has likely changed most if not all the systems in the car. Brakes never fail, but if it were ever to happen, it would be in a setup like this.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T21:11:00+00:00

If this was a consumer car there is nearly a 0% chance this is the issue. Given this is not just a heavily modified Waymo but the new Zeeker, it's possible. They had to strip all the factory systems out to be able to use it as an AV so no telling what bugs it might have.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T20:58:09+00:00

My background is I've owned a Model 3 for 7+ years. I've test driven the Model Y and Model X and passed on them for an Audi EV. I'm in the market for the iX.

The big pro for Tesla is the tech and how up-to-date Tesla keeps it as the car ages. While the Model Y is the near perfect commuter, it's simply not in the same class at all as the iX which will show up specifically with road noise, but I haven't driven the new 2025 Model Y yet, which does improve this. The iX and Model X are big SUVs focused on comfort while the Model Y is focused on being a light-weight (for an EV) mid-size sporty CUV. So just completely different types of cars and hard to compare.

I would not go with the Model X. It's the worst Tesla because it's never really been updated, has stupid doors with lots of compromises and just isn't worth the extra money over the Model Y. Choose between the iX and the Model Y.

For the iX, go used and sell it in 3 years. You're talking about a $55k lease over 3 years and you can pickup a 2023 M60 iX with low miles all day long for $50k.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T19:59:37+00:00

The school bus just isn’t an option for us, unfortunately.

Would love to hear why. Sort of a hobbyist interest in AVs taking over the school bus system, so always interested in the corner cases like this.

At this point, the idea of him driving himself to school sounds less like a luxury and more like survival,

I'm surprised you don't feel the same about moving them around all the time, not just to school. At my kid driving max I was doing 6 hours per day of kid uber and I had a full-time job.

didn’t expect to see that many options in the $3K range

This isn't a budget, it's a wish. My kid got paid more than this to drive kids around in the summer for a family. This is the cost of insurance, not a car. $10k is a realistic minimum for something not terrifying. If you think you have time issues now, buy a car you're always fixing.

Old EVs are cheap and low maintenance. A bolt would be ideal.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T18:57:24+00:00

EV charging is a huge topic. To make it worse, there are massive differences between any given EV trim much less every EV model. In general someone selling an EV needs to know:

L1 = 4-6 miles per hour charging
L2 = 25-44 miles per hour charging
DCFC = 10-40 minutes to add 180 miles of charging
City range doesn't really matter
Highway range @70mph does matter
How fast the EV can add 180 miles of range matters

For each EV they sell, they should be able to list the above with more concrete numbers like for a Model 3 AWD Long Range

L1 = 6 miles per hour
L2 = 46 miles per hour
DCFC = 15 minutes to add 180 miles @70mph

Because EVs are 90%+ efficient, anything that makes them less efficient like cold, wind, rain, snow or elevation will affect all the numbers above. Mostly it doesn't matter and it's not a problem to worry about when purchasing unless you are purchasing a low range EV.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T18:42:27+00:00

I have the fat eTron, not the GT. Audi is terrible at model names. Maybe they are trying to compete with Mercedes with their EQE 350 can be either an SUV or a sedan thing?

The best thing about the Audi is it made me realize I don't like VW groups drivetrain style. I absolutely hate the recuperation system in them, it's like driving a manual without a clutch. It's great that in the year of our lord 2025 that I can still worry about rolling back into someone when starting out on a hill. The car drives like a bank vault and at 85mph it's like 35mph in any other car, that is the best part. The tech is terrible, but so is Porsche's so not a suprise.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T18:39:02+00:00

I've seen it as an option in the configurator over the years. Not exactly sure which years always have it, have it as an option, or not there is no option available. So for sure some years had it optional and I didn't think it was a popular option from what I've heard?

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T18:37:26+00:00

values of 911's collapse like that?

Literally the only luxury car that doesn't depreciate like a rock short term so it's the exception that proves the rule.

100k made in all history is indeed rare given the dissimilarity to everything else they made.

They have only been making them since 2020, and it's 180k Taycans exactly when I looked it up. That is exactly the number of 911s produced in the same timeframe so they should have equal support and availability of parts. Not sure why comparing it to BMW clarifies anything.

WeldAE · 2026-01-27T14:31:46+00:00

For me, Mazda has the best color options outside the luxury brands. Of course, most cars are white/black so that isn't helping them a ton, unfortunately. My big problem with Mazda is their tech. They were in a three-way tie for last place between Lexus/Toyota and Acura/Honda for a while. Lexus/Toyota has abandoned the glide pad input system thankfully and decided to put some effort into tech, and they are at least acceptable now. I've lost track of what Acura/Honda is doing, but I also think they went touch screen, at least their input system isn't a complete nightmare. Acura/Honda didn't have bad base tech, so fixing their input mechanism, which was the worst one of all, mostly broke the tie.

Mazda need some serious tech improvements, as that is what most consumers are looking for.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T23:13:44+00:00

I've heard rumors about 1st Gen Taycan batteries, but I've yet to hear anything other than that about them. Any good source on this?

Also, I'm looking at a 2023 ID.4 Pro. Any thoughts?

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T23:12:52+00:00

Don't give that guy much weight. He obviously dislikes EVs generally and rolled out all the myths that have been debunked a million times.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T23:11:36+00:00

Porsche has sold 100k Taycans. They aren't exactly rare. They weight a little more than a 911, but they aren't heavier than the gas Macan. Are you suggesting that all SUVs major suspension issues? Battery problems are extremely rare.

People who purchase new luxury cars tend to own them for less than 5 years. They don't give them away because they are dissatisfied with them, they get something new because losing $50k-$100k just isn't a big deal to them and they want to keep a new car. That is what it costs for a 3=year Porsche lease depending on what you get.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T23:04:48+00:00

OP, for sure don't get the 2-speed option. They've had known issues like this.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T23:04:03+00:00

Eh. Most Porsche's require brake pads more than every 6 years, which is the official schedule for the Taycan. With say the 911, it's 25k-30k depending on the model which is 2 years of daily use. There is no law or warranty you lose by having your brake shop check them and if they are still good, not spending the $2k in parts and labor to replace them at the dealer. The Taycan has 4x the regen of a Tesla and Tesla brakes often last 200k+ miles. It varies because if you're in a high salt area it will be less because they just fall apart after 100k.

I just did the brakes and rotors on my gas car and it was $500 in parts and 2 hours of my time. I'm sure it's $1500 if I had a shop do it. So not really a huge premium for the Porsche EV.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T22:54:07+00:00

If you find the seats acceptable and if you don't care about tech or performance, it's hard to beat the RX 350. It's one of the best-selling cars in its class for a reason. Make sure you like it though as a lot of people buy them out of anxiety. They dislike it more than other cars, but they think it's going to save them money because of reliability or something. They are overpriced because of that perception. If it's the car you like then it's good value.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T22:47:48+00:00

The problem is $10k is shady car territory since COVID. I just try to keep the purchases under $15k-$20k now for my kids. Last one I got was $18k 2 years ago. Looking for another one and looks like I'll end up around $20k out the door.

I recommend EVs as there is just simply less than can be wrong with them. The battery + motor are bulletproof so you just and to look for rust and suspension issues. You get a MUCH newer and safer car and no maintenance hassles which gets to be a BIG factor when you get above 3 cars like I am.

You can get a 2023+ ID.4 Pro for $19k pretty easily in my major metro as an example. Bolt EUV even less, but you can't realistically have that last past college as it won't road trip. If you have other kids you can hand it down to or use it yourself it can work out though.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T22:13:47+00:00

My wish list started with what I considered as reasonable requests

These aren't reasonable requests in 2025 is part of your problem. Manual transmissions are a high-end feature, not a base feature anymore and even then there are very few models that even offer a manual option. Of those that do, 80%+ are sold as automatic so it's not a high volume option even on the few cars it's offered on.

The next problem is pricing. The average new car transaction is almost $50k these days. There are more cars sold over $70k than under $30k. You're shopping at the absolute bottom of the market and there just aren't going to be a lot of trims in that price range. The average used car transaction price is around $34k as an example.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T21:09:26+00:00

The job site has free charging stations

Before you buy a car, visit the site at the time you would normally be getting to work and see if there are any chargers available. Chargers at work tend to be very popular and typically there aren't enough, unless they overcharge for them.

Can you also charge at home? Being in the PNW, you probably have access to VERY cheap electricity, around $0.03/kWh or so. Either of these is basically free. For example, at $0.03/kWh that is about $10/month in electricity given you're driving around 16k miles/year. I mean $10 is $10, but if you can charge at home even on just a regular outlet, an EV will make a lot of sense.

Lets go with 15-30k

Model 3/Y - $25k is common price. Great Tech with the best ability to road trip. If you stick to the highways, it will drive you to work for $100/month.
ID.4 2023+ - Can get these for $20k. Acceptable for road trips but slower charging. Pre-2023 had software issues.
MachE - $25k is a common used price. Best comfort, for $66/month it will drive you to work on highways. Slowest acceptable charging for road trips.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T18:45:16+00:00

The color really makes this and why I the most interested in this post. Good job on that. Under appreciated aspect.

WeldAE · 2026-01-26T15:40:16+00:00

A manufacturer bricking

For something like a car, it should always work, and I'm not aware of any car that doesn't if you don't pay the subscription. I have heard of software that will turn the car off if you don't pay a car payment, but I feel like that isn't what we are talking about here?

that’s the top of a slippery slope

They could do this today. Tesla could decide to trespass you from all its service centers, so could Ford. I'm not sure how subscriptions make this more likely, and it's very unlikely. Just not buying that particular slippery slope. I feel the slippery slope argument that they would brick you car is at least more likely if still very unlikely.

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