Thursday, May 29, 2014

Going Electric

I love automobiles. I've never owned a fast car....mostly average performing but interesting cars.

The only "mainstream" vehicles I've owned were a 1996 Ford Explorer (had it for 2 months),  2004 Acura TSX (should have kept that one) and a 2010 Prius.

My fun vehicles were a 1994 Saturn SL2, 1996 Saturn SC2 (had it for 3 weeks), 1997 Saturn SC2 and 2003 Toyota Matrix XRS.

For the last 3 years, 4 months, and 30 days I've been driving a 2004 Prius.

The Prius is a fine car...but it's not me. It is an interesting car for all the wrong reasons. The only thing I liked about the Prius was it was cheap to operate.

fuellyprius2fuellyprius2 copy

That's a little more than two years of data. I don't drive much as I've put just 23,000 miles on  the car in almost 3 1/2 years.

Over the last few months I've had a good streak money wise. It's not a lot of money, but a good chunk of change.

The original plan was to keep driving the 2004 Prius until the 2010 is paid off in December 2015. We got a sweet zero percent interest deal on the 2010.

With the money I'm able to accelerate the purchase of the next car.

I go to 3 to 4 auto shows a year. I also read 5-6 auto magazines a month. I know a lot about every vehicle for sale in the United States. After much internal debate I've decided to go electric.

I've ordered a BMW I3 fully electric car. It will go 80-110 miles on a charge. It will hit 60 miles per hour in 7 seconds and seats 4 people in comfort surrounded by technology.

Kelli and I both test drove an I3 a month ago and loved it.

Thanks to a high school friend I was able to order an I3 for way under sticker price.

I ordered a Tera trim level with every option except the 20 inch wheels. After more than $10,000 in government incentives, the trade in of the 2004 Prius and the money off sticker I will finance $33,000. The most expensive car ever.

When we built our new house we had a 220V line run in the garage in anticipation of an electric car. We assumed Kelli would be the first....funny how things play out.

Below is an I3 identical to the one I have on order. It's supposed to go into production next week and arrive late July or early August.

photo (13) photo (14) photo (15) photo (16)

Thursday, May 15, 2014