So long friend. Traded in the Prime

After 6 years and 30k miles I traded in my Prime and purchased a used Ironiq 5. Blue Spark treated me well but just didn't quite meet my needs. The EV range was just too low for my needs. Originally Blue Spark was purchased when my lease on a Leaf ended and there just weren't any affordable choices in longer range EVs. The landscape is much different today and what with Hertz getting rid of their fleet the used EV market is a bargain. It helped that the Prime was worth more used than I originally paid for it. I really like going back to a pure EV. I always found it maddening that the Prime would fire up the engine rather than doing something like using the friction brakes on a hill. Or not allowing me to use the defroster in EV mode. She treated me well and I'm sure the new owners will be thrilled.

 

I got it used in Portland from Platt Auto. a 2022 SE RWD with 28k miles. So far I'm really liking it but it takes a million years to charge on my 110 charger. I'm putting in a 14-50 outlet this week so that will be much better.

It's no surprise that it goes a LOT further on a charge that the Prime. Before I was charging Blue Spark almost daily and driving it (we have hills) about 10-20 miles a day. Now I use about 3-5% charge per day driving the same amount. I got the RWD for efficiency and it has plenty of power without being EV neck snapping quick. I get about 3.5mi/kWH on the freeway. I'm loving it so far.

Shout out to Platt Auto. They were incredibly easy to buy from. They don't haggle and they price their vehicles fairly. They gave me a fair trade in on the Prime as well. TBH I despise dealerships and I would go back to Platt in a heartbeat.

 

Of course the Ioniq 5 is bigger than the Prime (by a lot inside and not as much outside) and it is worlds more comfortable to drive. The interior room is unbelievably large. Acres of rear seat space and having two six foot tall kids that was a major decision factor. But a 6 foot tall passenger can sit behind a 6 foot tall driver without complaint. The seats are way more comfortable. The sound level is much quieter. It's altogether a different class of car. It does have some annoyances though. Capacitive touch buttons should be illegal. They aren't as annoying as some (looking at you, VW) but they aren't as good as physical ones. I'm still just astonished by the range. I keep thinking "oh, I'll need to charge it soon" but then another day goes by and it's only lost 2-3 percent of the range. I haven't yet run into anything I hate though. It only took me one drive to find something to hate on the Prime (the backup dinging, which I used Carvista to turn off).

 

Well of course YMMV. I know that Hyundai/Kia have a couple of pretty serious engine issues but then so has Toyota (3.0/3.3 head gasket, Previa 2.4 SC head gasket, 2.4 engine sludge, etc.). And I am aware that they are not as reliable as Toyota but I think that buying any used car with over 100k miles is likely to exhibit many of these issues. I used to own a 94 Corolla and I considered it quite reliable but here's what I replaced on it in the 125k I owned it: alternator, front and rear brakes (rear x2), left axle (apparently prone to CV failure), thermostat housing, power steering hoses, struts, control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, tie rod ends. We lived on a gravel road, go figure that suspension parts would take a beating. And the trim was really prone to failure. The reason I sold it was because the car locked my 2 year old in the car on a hot afternoon when I was picking him up from daycare. The keys were in the car at the time so I couldn't unlock it and had to break a window. That was inexcusable and I sold it a week later.

As you go down in prices you typically see an increase in repairs. They are built to a price point and it shows.

 

So a couple of months in and I'm really loving the Ioniq 5. SOOO many things that pissed me off about the Prime are solved. There's no engine so it never turns on for random reasons. If the battery is full and I'm going down a hill it just uses the friction brakes instead. Prime should do the same. When you turn the car off it puts it in "park" just like the Prime but ALSO applies the parking brakes like the Rav4 Hybrid, it always annoyed me that the Prime wouldn't do that while the Rav4 would. I mean it's the same basic car (besides the extra large battery).

It doesn't force the recirculation when you turn on the AC. And it remembers your setting, so if you HAVE recirculated air turned on it stays turned on but if it is off it stays off.

I get that I have a bigger battery but the EV is sooo efficient. I had to charge the Prime almost every day and even then it often didn't make it through the day (we have hills here) but the Ioniq just goes and goes and goes. A trip that would have killed the Prime's range doesn't use as much power in the Ioniq. Which is weird because it is a much bigger and heavier car.

Still no rear wiper but YOU CAN SEE OUT THE BACK OF THE CAR!! That god awful rear window in the Prime is stupid beyond belief. The gear selector is much better but still pretty bad. But the one in the Prime is stupendously stupid. What's with the park button not part of the shifter Toyota?

Cool feature: when you change the lights or the wipers there's a pop up on the dash that shows the position the switch is in. That is so cool. Did I put it on intermittent or not? It will just tell you. The gauge cluster is in where it should be!! I know that the new Prime has that cluster by the window (but too low) but I always hated the "look to the right" to see the gauge cluster.