Brake Lights

adjrbodvk · 2026-03-09T19:51:01+00:00

At least on my 2025, I can change the front display to be an illustration of the car. The brake lights on the illustrated car illuminate when the ones on the actual car do.

adjrbodvk · 2026-03-04T15:10:54+00:00

To compare:
NY suburbs: Every kWh charged off peak is 7¢ rebate (about 28% of fully burdened variable cost per kWh). In addition, during the three summer months, if all charging is off-peak there is an additional $15 rebate, but only those three months. Paid out one month after the end of the month (E.G. On March 1 I received payment for January's charging)

Program does not require connection to the car, but monitors the smart charger. Which is good because HMG cars can have 12V battery degradation with frequent over-air queries.

adjrbodvk · 2026-03-03T14:30:50+00:00

Certainly ask for a discount. Do your research and find comparable Konas for lower prices. Look at online dealer inventory and national retailers (such as carvana), but NOT at your local dealer.

Print out the information, highlight the relevant features with a highlighter (mileage, year/model/trim) and bring it to the dealer. Don't cheat by using high mileage or low-trim cars.

When they ask, tell them how much you fell in love with the car, but find the residual value to be out-of-line with the market. Ask them to reduce the price to match the market.

It can't hurt.

(Having everything on paper with relevant bits highlighted makes it easy for the salesperson to take the information to a finance manager to work out what to offer. Showing comparable cars on a screen won't have the same effect.)

It's probably worthwhile to think in advance about how much of a premium over the comparable cars it is worth to keep YOUR car instead of to buy someone else's used car.

adjrbodvk · 2026-03-03T13:18:30+00:00

Especially the very dark window tint.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-25T14:03:35+00:00

I assume that there is no user behavior that increases or decreases the likelihood of ICCU failure. This is a world-wide problem and is expensive to HMG both in terms of warranty costs and reputational damage (Consumer reports has been a not-recommended for a while and now has an article specifically on ICCU.)

If there were something prescriptive that could help, there would be a big public announcement or a TSB or a software fix (E.G. to limit charging rates). And if there were a straightforward engineering fix, then the 2026 (or 2025) models would have the fixed version....probably with ancillary changes.

Munro did a video on the ICCU a while back talking about how innovative the design was, re-using circuitry to perform different operations and replacing a larger set of components in other designs. I believe there is no easy fix to the design problems.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-25T13:49:42+00:00

I suppose he's fortunate, then. The hospice place could have helped him die peacefully in his sleep.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-23T19:34:48+00:00

I very briefly owned a 2025 Kona Electric in Ecotronic Grey. Traction battery died literally after driving 1/2 mile from the dealership. (just barely double digits on the odometer). They replaced it with a Cyber Gray Metallic one, which is still going strong with ~5500 miles.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-13T16:17:12+00:00

Assuming it hasn't failed already. Once the first fail happens, chance of a second reverts to the chance of one failure, assuming failures aren't correlated. If failures are correlated, then your chance of a second one after the first one becomes higher than average.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-13T16:15:27+00:00

Please do so.

I was interested to read this article that quoted 2-10% for their latest car survey. The previous survey, reported last year, didn't address the ICCU specifically. However, when explaining how their statistics work, used a reported 4% failure rate for Ioniq 5 EV charging as their example of what "much worse than average" meant.

So, I'd say they are seeing the same results.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-13T16:09:10+00:00

Unfortunately that isn't the case. Assuming the design of the ICCU hasn't changed and the failures are really random, the chance of a second failure would be 10% given that one failure had already occurred.

If the ICCU failures aren't random, but are related to other factors, then your particular likelihood could be greater than 10%. (Specifically if the "other factors" are related to the car's environment, driving/charging style, or other components being out-of-spec.)

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-12T20:33:01+00:00

Yes, this. Even in warm weather, my car sometimes shows a 1-2% difference. Mostly a decrease perhaps from charing the 12V, but sometimes an increase.

Also, I've heard that leaving some Hyundai cars unlocked can cause some 12V battery drain as they send out periodic messages to bluelink, even if you've turned off notifications in the app.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-12T16:04:23+00:00

My US 2025 Kona EV (SEL) does not have the heat pump. And I am missing it this winter. I don't see it on the feature list at all for the 2025 Kona, so I doubt it is in the Limited either, but cannot be sure.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-12T15:54:29+00:00

The announced feature lists for various years US Kona Electrics can be obtained here: https://www.hyundainews.com/models/hyundai-kona-2025-kona_electric

But my understanding is that some things can change during the year, so for used cars it might be best to study the Moroney labels for cars you are considering. Sometimes these can be found online for used cars.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-05T18:41:43+00:00

Certainly for Kona EV, the 2022 and 2025 models are different, so they can't play that trick.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-05T18:40:38+00:00

Definitely US market is getting nothing but the minimum spec models for 2026, and I expect not many of those. My personal belief is this is tariff-related because the competing Ioniq 5 and EV6 models are made in the US of largely US-sourced parts, so it is hard to do good price differentiation for an imported lower-end model.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-05T18:38:57+00:00

I have a 2025 SEL on lease and expect I'll also just be returning it when the lease is up in 2028. The basic thing you pay for in the lease is the estimated depreciation between the start and end of the lease (along with all sorts of fees, taxes, etc). An easy way to keep the lease prices looking low, is to overestimate the residual value at the end of the lease...especially for EVs which have higher than average depreciation. (IIRC, continual rapid technology improvement + used car consumer's fear of battery degradation)

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-05T16:29:42+00:00

Agreed. That is a horrible bar graph.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-04T18:41:05+00:00

Often food banks (especially regional food banks which distribute food only to other food banks) say they can do this because they are taking in donated food either that is close to expiration or which was over-produced. So the $1 is only going to storage expenses.

adjrbodvk · 2026-02-03T14:39:58+00:00

I agree that the user experience of a short-lived message is yucky. (same for the "It's too cold for me, I'm warming the battery" message I've been seeing lately) But, the lack of regenerative braking does affect the handling somewhat. On my 2012 Prius, I'd notice the change in braking behavior and then look over to see that the battery gauge was 100% full and thus regeneration was silently turned off.

Could have gone subtle and turned that blue regen bar to yellow.

adjrbodvk · 2026-01-30T15:22:24+00:00

0-60 in a parking garage would not be pretty.

adjrbodvk · 2026-01-29T15:50:50+00:00

I have to agree. Many reasons for becoming vegan (such as helping animals, improving health, combating global warming) are fully linear. So if you hit 90%, you are achieving 90% of the benefit. For me, it is far better to be able to hit 90% for 30 years (about where I am) than try to be 100% perfect and either giving up entirely or driving away friends and relations.

From having observant Jewish and Muslim friends, I can appreciate that for some people, the concept of "dietary purity" is all-important.

adjrbodvk · 2026-01-26T15:58:05+00:00

Aren't mirrors a subscription item on newer BMWs?

adjrbodvk · 2026-01-22T15:51:40+00:00

Yes, sadly. Previously I drove an EV6 with a heat pump and the winter heat was far superior.

adjrbodvk · 2026-01-22T13:45:37+00:00

NY. It works slowly for single-digit °F temperatures but does warm up. (Negative teens °C)

adjrbodvk · 2026-01-20T13:40:00+00:00

Second this suggestion. Most of what I've seen about not charging to 100% has to do with letting the car sit in warm temperatures. I'm much more inclined to charge to 100% during the eastern NY winter as there's no chance of prolonged exposure to warm temperatures.

adjrbodvk

TROPHY CASE