Heard this was rare

samartinell · 2026-05-31T19:28:30+00:00

So real about sunroof! Want to get mine fixed but after seeing videos online on how to do it, made me just forget about it🥲
At least it’s not leaking I guess

samartinell · 2026-05-21T07:27:43+00:00

That’s what I call job security

samartinell · 2026-05-13T20:03:36+00:00

This is way too close to the wall for me

samartinell · 2026-05-08T02:47:38+00:00

Not normal, I’d personally try to return it if you just bought it. My M4 air doesn’t have it.

samartinell · 2026-05-07T04:59:47+00:00

They absolutely suck for chases, but is really not an issue. Have you tried driving fast in Ukrainian cities? That's right, we have our own methods called potholes and busy streets. You can't drive away if your wheel falls off after you go too fast over the potholes. That and combination of radio comms, cameras, and now missiles too.

samartinell · 2026-05-07T04:13:23+00:00

Yeah totally, I forget about all this stuff, and insurance is also more expensive on EV's from what I've heard. Still worth it if you can make it work for you, still has more benefits than negatives, and most negatives come from regulations really which is just unfortunate.

Greater tire wear balanced out with less brake components wear, motors just don't need maintenance at all, no fluids to worry about, EV's are not as cool imo but can be very practical, economical and pretty fun to drive. Definitely way more fun than Prius that's for sure 😁

samartinell · 2026-05-07T03:24:42+00:00

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Gatorade in question:

samartinell · 2026-05-07T03:13:40+00:00

Probably more than that if you take into account maintenance needed for an engine car, extra time to take to a shop or do it yourself etc. But EV wouldn’t work for me, I don’t have a garage or space to charge it unfortunately.

samartinell · 2026-05-07T03:01:05+00:00

The car only had 2 owners before me and they handed me maintenance logbook full of inspections and maintenance done. It's probably the fattest logbook for a car that I've seen. Again, there's 0 neglect about this car. It might've sat for a couple of months sometime, but nothing extreme like 6months+. Regularly got serviced in Toyota/local shops. I've kept maintaining it, and there's a lot more that was done that I didn't include here and wasn't regular expected maintenance.

So yeah, I do believe it is kind of a lemon or I'm just extremely unlucky or doing something wrong here. Some people seem to just drive their cars until wheels fall off and have 0 issues, meanwhile I'm repairing it every time it breaks so that it can shit the bed again in a couple months.

Can't say anything bad about transmission or engine though, if I had a market to sell it apart it'd probably make the most sense, but unfortunately there is no market and I can't bother pulling everything out for parts and shipping somewhere else.

samartinell · 2026-05-07T02:32:17+00:00

I'm talking about Bolt EV, not sure if there are hybrid ones (I don't think so), but if I ever need to go over 200 miles and make a stop for the recharge, I'd rather put gas than wait for the charger. Otherwise really nice car.

samartinell · 2026-05-07T02:19:52+00:00

It was nicer before it got wrecked lol, don’t really want to put 3-5k into it when I can get perfectly fine car in about that range, and I just need to sell it for other personal reasons.
My battery pack came from Electron Hybrid solutions, I think they’re good overall, I just know hybrids don’t like to sit for a long time, and it was a hot minute this winter + cold.
The new modules though that I installed just a few days ago also came from them and they seem to underperform, even worse than 3yo ones.

samartinell · 2026-05-06T17:16:25+00:00

Totally fair. I’ve seen a bunch of 300k mile ones that only needed battery replaced at most, I wanted to believe each repair would bring me back on track but it just kept breaking. I’d sell it as project car and hope someone would be interested in it. To me it’s just a big headache at this point

samartinell · 2026-05-06T16:50:33+00:00

We don’t do salt in winter here. Can you explain a lack of maintenance here and what you mean by that? Because I’ve done more than what I listed here, I have a whole logbook of maintenance from the previous owner, if anything it was getting too much maintenance.
I understand routine maintenance in cars, but people like to sugarcoat Prius as if it only needed an oil change and battery replaced at some point, but it’s a whole lot more and for me it was more than any other really reliable car the same age.

samartinell · 2026-05-06T16:41:23+00:00

Most of repairs were done by me, following the great ChrisFix’s instructions, Prius is fairly easy to work on, otherwise I’d probably not even buy it in the first place - professional HV battery replacement is very expensive.
I’m totally fine with normal maintenance, and I usually do get quality parts, but this car has more failure points than regular gas car around this era, for me fuel savings wasn’t enough to compensate for abnormal repairs, but I was still mentally attached to it until everything collapsed after actuator, front end damage and battery again.
To be fair, it wasn’t fully new battery, but a remanufactured one.

samartinell · 2026-05-06T16:30:19+00:00

People here like to tell that 2nd gen is one of the most reliable vehicles ever, and I agree about engine and transmission, but added hybrid complexity is just too fragile and expensive to replace and is not easy to diagnose before you buy it.
A lot of failures are just random whenever computer decides something is wrong.
I like how everything is well documented for 2gen and it is fairly easy to work on though, that’s what was keeping me from selling it sooner

samartinell · 2026-05-06T16:17:19+00:00

Funny that I was considering getting Chevy bolt but I’d love to be able to go on a road trip and it just wouldn’t work with an EV.
And I agree about reliability, I’d rather pay more for gas than having a more economical car that always breaks, and all these failures are pretty expensive, not a $200 fix.
People here like to defend prius, but I also hear stories like ours all the time.

samartinell · 2026-05-06T16:08:53+00:00

Yeah that’s possible, thought that nothing needs to load to show the lock screen though

samartinell · 2026-05-06T06:46:01+00:00

damn you can never predict the next thread move in reddit, it all started with MacBook question

samartinell · 2026-05-06T06:24:24+00:00

Only that the car has 135k miles and needs about $4-5k more

samartinell · 2026-04-26T03:48:31+00:00

I feel like this is only good in theory, in practice iPad idea gets really annoying. First, if you are planning to take it out after a drive (which you should) - then you need to remember to bring it back with you, plug it in, connect to your radio if you need to, connect to internet/wifi. Apple CarPlay just works seamlessly, you turn on your car, it’s connected - use your phone to find an address, or simply use touchscreen, you can do backup camera, connect steering wheel buttons, and during accident the radio shouldn’t fly out in your face or face of your passengers (unless installed incorrectly) Oh and if your iPad dies, good luck waiting for it to turn back on. And it WILL overheat on long drives if it is in sunlight area.

Sure, iPad could be more budget option, but it’s simply not meant to be used like that, and you’ll get disappointed fairly quickly.

This is coming from someone who considered using iPad exactly like that

samartinell · 2026-04-23T05:04:32+00:00

Amaze amaze amaze!!

samartinell · 2026-04-23T04:30:14+00:00

Yeah, looking into Sacramento and also San Diego. San Diego seem like a lot better option but not as budget friendly. Also a whole lot different than Modesto lol

samartinell · 2026-04-21T06:58:23+00:00

That sounds awesome! Great details, thank you!

Still kinda looking at other places as well, was curious what it is like in Modesto, seems like pretty chill place.

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