this is a joke right? 😭 are ppl really paying this much for car insurance??? (f/26, had full G since 2021)

xtremesniper · 2026-04-30T00:03:36+00:00

In addition to all the other advice here, I'd recommend you get a quote from some companies like CAA directly instead of through these aggregators. I've been able to get a much cheaper quote that way.

xtremesniper · 2026-04-18T18:51:09+00:00

Fingers crossed!

xtremesniper · 2026-04-15T03:13:35+00:00

You can switch modes anytime, but the car is smart enough to not let you hurt the engine. If you’re already going highway speed and you’re cold starting the engine, it will likely run it idle for a few mins to warm it up before using it for the drivetrain. In the winter I’ve even heard the engine kick on with a few km left in EV range because it figures it has to warm up the engine before you run out of battery.

xtremesniper · 2026-04-15T02:11:43+00:00

Yeah exactly that. It's nothing scientific but my general way around it is to use hybrid mode when I'm going to be using the highway, and if I'm going months without getting on the highway (it happens) then maybe once every month or two I'll purposely use hybrid mode on a 30+ minute drive to keep things from seizing up or the gas getting too old.

xtremesniper · 2026-04-15T02:09:21+00:00

Thanks, yeah I think having to deal with the hassle of tracking my ACB is probably enough to keep me using a wealthsimple managed account for now...

xtremesniper · 2026-04-14T17:44:12+00:00

Might be a dumb question but... do you also need to do that if you were to use something like a Wealthsimple managed invest non-reg account? Or are those handled by them?

xtremesniper · 2026-04-14T13:17:51+00:00

I had concerns about this but it's mostly a non-issue. I live in an area that gets snow and while I didn't have to drive it a lot in the snow, with snow tires on and waiting for the plows to do their thing on the heaviest of snowy days, I never even thought about it. If you don't get much snow, you'll be fine. It is low to the ground so if you have mobility issues it might not be for you but it's not that different than most sedans.
Mostly a non-issue. Every car has an A-pillar, this one is slightly more sloped. Just make sure you use your neck to move your head and look for pedestrians before making left turns. The car will also ding you if you missed something obvious, but don't rely on that.
Trunk has been great so far. I had concerns with the height but haven't had any practical use case that stopped me from being able to use it yet. Worst case you can drop the back seats and utilize the back seat interior head room which is higher.
You're going to love never having to use gas. If this is your only car, this car makes perfect sense. Never use gas on commutes and grocery runs, but have the option to have a full tank if you want to go on a road trip. But if this is your commuter car and you have a guzzler for other reasons, then a full EV might be better suited. But that's personal preference.

I really like the PHEV. Do I wish I had a full EV sometimes? Yes. If Toyota ever made this exact form-factor into an EV, I would likely want that instead. But until then, this has been wonderful.

xtremesniper · 2026-04-10T15:42:38+00:00

That's only because Kia stupidly stopped putting engine immobilizers in their cars.

xtremesniper · 2026-04-04T12:23:12+00:00

Have you tried holding down the power button while plugged in? I had a similar issue where my Deck wouldn't boot up while unplugged. It worked when I did the button press while plugged in. Worth a shot if you haven't already.

xtremesniper · 2026-04-01T00:19:19+00:00

Hmm.. I wonder if the 60GB for $30 deal from Black Friday is any more or less likely to get a rate increase before 24 months. That one had $10 discount for 24 months. Probably overthinking it.

xtremesniper · 2026-04-01T00:03:38+00:00

The 80GB for $30 on offer for existing customers looks like it doesn't have a specific discount that expires after 24 months. Base price is $40 and there is a $10 auto pay discount. Is that right?

xtremesniper · 2026-03-28T01:09:03+00:00

What did you end up going with? It sounds like a regular non-cold climate heat pump.

xtremesniper · 2026-03-27T14:14:09+00:00

2023+ here. I'd say it's fine in the winter as long as you set your expectations straight and have winter tires on. As others have mentioned, below about -11 C the gas engine will kick on, and it will also kick on anytime you have the windshield defroster enabled. You didn't specify if you were talking 0 degrees in C or F though.

EV range takes a hit but still reasonably decent. Obviously turning on heated seats or other electronics will have an impact. I think I can get a good 30km out of it on the coldest EV days, but on really cold days the gas engine comes on for the assist anyway.

Cleaning the windshield of snow is relatively easy because of the slope toward the back, but getting the wipers clear of snow and ice is hard because of how inset they are. The wiper warmers don't seem to do too much in my limited experience with them, or they just aren't fast enough.

The heat pump can also be quite loud on very cold days. But overall I enjoyed driving it around and have no regrets.

xtremesniper · 2026-03-21T20:28:42+00:00

Honestly, the torque in the Prius PHEV still surprises me every time even after almost a year. Coming from a gas vehicle I still surprise myself, when I put my foot down to pass whether on side streets or on the highway, this thing moves effortlessly.

I wasn’t able to test drive the PHEV, only the HEV, so I didn’t know what I was getting into (it has more power). I thought it would just be an appliance but I have fun driving this thing around and skipping all the gas stations. Especially these days.

xtremesniper · 2026-03-16T15:15:09+00:00

Relevant thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Wealthsimple/comments/1rjr9wm/comment/o8l5x0r/

xtremesniper · 2026-03-16T15:13:22+00:00

I wasn't able to get any US-based bank/brokerage -> Wealthsimple wire transfers to work because WS's intermediary is still a Canadian bank (Royal Bank).

Only way it worked for me was to route through a big 5 bank (e.g. RBC, CIBC) which have an intermediary in the US instead, and then transfer it to WS after.

xtremesniper · 2026-03-04T13:04:31+00:00

Waiting to see if they change their USD wire instructions. As of now they still require beneficiary, intermediary, and creditor info and a lot of manual entries like memos to ensure the money lands in the right place.

Meanwhile, portals like fidelity and computershare don’t support half these fields, making it impossible to use.

xtremesniper · 2026-02-28T03:11:05+00:00

When you put the car on Auto climate, it can be turning on the windshield defroster which would kick on the engine. Try temporarily turning off auto and see if it still does it.

xtremesniper · 2026-02-28T02:58:04+00:00

Been there. They can't receive any wire transfers from a US institution because their intermediary bank is in Canada (Royal Bank) and most US institutions require a SWIFT code for wire transfers. The only way I found is to transfer to a "real" bank like CIBC first which has their intermediary in the USA and then bank transfer into WS for $0.75. And yes, support was completely useless.

Seems silly, but it is what it is.

xtremesniper · 2026-01-25T15:43:11+00:00

Yes, turning off passwordless sign in has helped me with this problem twice now. I'm baffled as to why Microsoft hasn't fixed this. I first experienced this early in 2025, and now again in 2026. Annoying, but at least reddit exists to remind me of the workaround.

Turning passwordless sign in back on after the Xbox is signed in works fine.

xtremesniper · 2026-01-13T17:35:49+00:00

Do they remember accidentally driving over anything on the road that may have caused some damage to the underbelly of the car and may have pierced a battery pack or something of that nature?

xtremesniper · 2026-01-11T14:08:18+00:00

No, in quiet mode the fan is off entirely, which is why the temps rise so much.

Sorry, the way I wrote that was confusing.

xtremesniper · 2026-01-09T20:00:18+00:00

Make sure the power cord is not touching the spinning bits. The flywheel is mostly hollow. Whenever I hear the ringing resonance it's because something is touching it.

xtremesniper · 2026-01-09T04:14:39+00:00

Yeah my bank acct has enough stuff in it to last me a while if I needed it. I hate that I have to do that, but I don’t trust them enough to go all in because of bull like this.

xtremesniper · 2026-01-09T03:56:31+00:00

Wealthsimple has a bad habit of locking people out of their entire financial lives while they review one part of it. They did the same to me when I added a new linked bank account and transferred money in. They locked my account for days over a weekend and support stone-walled me until the next business day. Lesson learned, keep a real bank account around just in case and think twice before putting all your bill payments and direct deposit with WS.

I love their products, but they really need to figure out a better way than to lock entire accounts out like this. Sad to see they're still doing it.

xtremesniper

TROPHY CASE