Just need to vent...

Here is a full history:

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/files/savings-bonds/i-bond-rate-chart.pdf

The spouse has a larger block at a later 2% fixed rate, partly inherited from her dad, partly in our names from his gifted assets before he passed. Well, due to his financial decision paralysis leaving too much money in non-interest-bearing forms at a time when CD rates were still good, I made the decisions and hauled him to the bank for the paperwork, after selecting from a list of ideas that his 'advisor' had suggested. Under the circumstances, including his general distrust of outside advice, this was the best choice to select and actually get done without him resisting.

 

I didn't have to take eyes off road to change or to check a heating or ventilation setting, in any previous car. In Prius, I have to take eyes off the road a long time sometimes, because the settings are so difficult to see under all but ideal lighting situations. It's dangerous, as well as inconvenient.

Yeah. Even more so in the case of the 5th generation Prius, I gather. In Japan, frugal buyers don't have to take the new gas-guzzler engine.

 

The fresh setting isn't 100% either.

Yes, but that doesn't work on a hot restart when the engine races uselessly for a couple of minutes after a very brief shutdown, even in warm weather.

 

I use my phone.
My CFO keeps records for our PMs including filter numbers, and I go online and see what the local store has in stock.

In this post-covid world I also like to just do a store pickup, not because I'm a germ-phobe, but rather I like to have them gather the stuff up and have it ready for me when I get to the store.

 

How do people feel about automatic temperature control?

For example you set it at 72 degrees year around and forget it. Humidity sensors automatically turn on the defrosters if necessary.

The rear defroster requires a manual turn on but will automatically turn off after 30 minutes.

Probably different impression for each person. I can drive year around with the car in automatic temperature control set at 72 degrees and never touch it. The wife is a fiddler and constantly adjusters her temperature control - thank you dual climate control.

 

It works for the most part. I did that with some of my PP when I first got it. And I believe that's how used HVAC on my Gen3 or HCH, but I don't remember for sure. I certainly did not play with the HVAC setting often.

The biggest problem I had with the Auto Climate control is that the priority is on comfort and not on efficiency. It will turn on the heat or cool when it is not really needed. This became an apparent problem with the plug-ins. Any setting on HVAC will shorten the EV range on a plug-in. We live in an area where our temperature rarely exceeds 80F even during summer. Just opening a window is far more effective to cool down the cabin than blasting AC on a sunny summer afternoon. Or for winter, AUTO setting on heat will drain a lot of traction battery power sooner. Having it on AUTO runs out of battery before reaching the destination on short trips, while carefully controlling the HVAC manually can extend the range substantially.

 

I'll probably never set foot in a home depot ever again. Once I saw how much time I could save by making them dig through their dimly lit disorganized merch cave to find the parts I need, I just don't think I could go back to the old way.

 

I feel that it's built around an assumption that I'll want the same absolute temperature year round.

During the cool season, I pretty much don't touch it. I leave it at 65 ℉ and stay cozy with the seat heater and a 40 watt blanket.

During the hot season, what I'd really like is some setting like "track n degrees below the outdoors."

Coming from 95 ℉ into 72 ℉ would be torture for me. Let me duck from 95 ℉ outside into, say, 85 ℉, now that's comfortable. Or if it's 90 ℉ out, let the car be 80 ℉.

My comfort is probably not a straight-line function like that. If it's 100 ℉ out, I might still not want the car to be quite 90 ℉.

When they come out with a screen where I can draw a Bézier curve of how I want my inside temperature to track the outside temperature, I'm in.

If they try to patent that idea, you saw it here first.

 

One of my favorite features in modern cars. I probably keep it in a 4° spread year round. Mostly just set and forget. I don't even pay attention to the numbers on the readout, I just turn the knob a click right for warmer or a click left for cooler.

...but most often, I just need to push the "auto" button to get back into auto mode because another driver in the family fiddled.

I know some luxury cars can couple the seat and mirror position memories to a certain keyfob. I wonder if any are doing HVAC prefs there too?

 

ANOTHER WestPac video!
This from, of all places, 60-minutes.
I was shocked to see that this was actually a fair piece of reporting by Norah O’Donnell.
Sleep Well America!
We're going to be two hulls smaller this FY, and the CHI-COMMS are going to be 22 hulls bigger, and that's IF the economy doesn't go off the rails......

CVN-68 may have more than 50 candles on her birthday cake but no matter what Don Lemon thinks, she's still got it where it counts.......

 

I keep mine in manual mode. Whenever someone else uses my car; I'll kick it back into auto mode, then make my manual adjustments - think of it as re-zeroing everything. Thank goodness we have ultimate control over firing up the A/C; while I know it's a heat pump - I don't want to run down my traction battery; if flowing outside air will suffice.

 

Wasn't much of a fan before they started putting the controls on a screen, but it's fine during the cold season. With warm season I may be fine without actual cooling, but just with having the fan at a higher setting. Something auto can't handle. I think I would love a cooler like what those portable powered coolers use in the seat to chill it. Probably end up disappointed overall, like with the ventilated function.

I've heard plug ins can have an ECO setting for HVAC to lessen that drain. It might be tied to the ECO drive mode.

Not tied to the fob, but to the driver monitor user profiles. I've noticed the settings changed when the car fails to identify me in the Outback.

Since this is the vent thread, why did Subaru bury the driver rescan button three menus deep? The car not recognizing me on the first scan because of sunglasses or glare isn't a once in a blue moon event. Same with the auto hold function. They have it default to off whenever the car is turned off. I don't even know if it is something I'd like because I'm not going into settings menus everytime I start the car. Lower trims get a dedicated button for it next to the shifter.

Generally, I don't mind things being controlled by the screen, but if you are going to do it, get the faster tablet. Waiting for screens to load is more annoying when driving.

 

Yeah, on PP, I almost never used A/C. We don't need it in our climate. The only time I used was on a long hwy trip opening windows get too loud. Even on these occasions, taking in fresh air without A/C is usually enough.

On PP, I used HVAC on ECO mode only, so, I don't know what impact non-ECO mode would have on the EV range. I had HVAC turned off most of the time, but HVAC especially heating would decrease the EV range by at least a few miles, so that would be the difference between completing the entire trip in EV or the engine firing up just a few miles before reaching home. Besides, for me, the PP's heat pump was totally useless when I really wanted more warmth. It never heated the cabin up to the set temperature in our climate no matter how long and how high I run it. During the coldest time of winter when the car would just start the engine upon the start regardless of the HVAC setting, once I knew the engine is on, then I crank up the heat while the engine is running and turned the heat off when the car goes into EV mode.

With our new plug-in Escape, the PCT heater is so good, it is far more capable of heating the cabin than the heat pump in PP. But it uses far more energy from the traction battery than PP did with its heat pump. I keep the HVAC completely off 99% of the time. The heated seat and steering wheels are quick and capable of keeping me warm for a quick run to a store. No need to run down the battery.

 

Today's passive-aggressive user interface award goes to General Motors for their headlight switches.

Most of the GM produce I've endured as rentals have nice, big inviting headlight switches prominently placed on the dash or sometimes on a stalk.

So I'm driving along and it's about that time in the evening, so I take hold of the expertly molded, high quality plastic knob and flip the switch:

Sound effect: *BING BING*

Information center graphics display:

WARNING!! Automatic HEADLIGHTS ARE OFF!​

Wth?

Really? I turn on the headlights and get scolded for turning off automatic headlights?

It's crap like this that will help me uphold a 4-generation family tradition of never owning even one GM.

 

LoL; poor quality control !!!! But with LED dashboards and DRL; I'm seeing a lot more people driving around with just their DRL at night. I was behind a car the other evening and flashed them to turn-on their head lamps. After a speeder almost ran them over. I left my high beams on them for a few miles; before they finally realized their headlamps were off (no taillights).

 

The Sonic's switch had a spring in it to turn it back to DRL/Auto whenever it was switched to off. The lights turned, but you had to turn them off every time the car started up, because that spring.

GM lobbies the NHTSA to make DRLs on mandatory in the US. I thought they just wanted to say costs by having the same switches between Canada and the US. With that behavior, maybe someone there truly believes in the safety advantage of DRLs and auto on headlights.

 

... but ... but ... but ... freedom!

No, the U.S. has not legislated DRLS, they are still a voluntary feature on this side of the border. And in the current political climate, I don't think they will, that would be another 'evil gumm'nt regulation' they want to roll back. You know, like rolling back banking regulations that could help prevent a major bank from collapsing so fast that regulators have to step in and take it over mid-morning, not waiting for market close as they normally do.

You guys have already shown how to fix it. I can only cross my fingers that the automakers voluntarily installing DRLs here will spread the fixes they must use on your side of the border, to our side too.