I’ve been lurking here and thinking about leasing a higher end SUV in the next year or so. I saw some of these Ioniq deals, figured I’d see what I could work locally, and got to a number I was happy with. This car will be a cheap commuter to save me from my gas hog truck and buy me some time before buying something a little fancier.
I can’t get the calculator to line up exactly, but I’m not sure why. They did some funky math on the sheets I have, but I was able to break it all down in my own spreadsheet and everything works out.
I’m also applying for the BonusDrive rebate right now.
Good job getting the CT rebate before it reduces. Its amazing how good these could be if CT didn’t rob you on the doc fee (I thought ~400 in Jersey was bad!), and you could squeeze that extra 2% out of them. Still, it’s a great deal all around with the incentives involved. I hope you made them personally point out every single spot the VIN was etched in exchange for that 200 bucks too.
The doc fee isn’t actually a state fee. It’s just that the state doesn’t limit what dealers can charge. So, most dealers have it printed right on their contracts ahead of time and then when you get into the finance office, they say “oh, that’s a fixed fee, everyone charges it” and people basically think it’s a state fee/tax and grumble and pay it. Really, it’s just pure profit the dealers truck people into paying. Same with the VIN etch. It’s printed on the blank invoices and they do it before you get the car. They try to get you to pay for it because it’s already done, but you can refuse. If you do, they don’t give you the insurance policy that comes with it. I always refuse.
In this case, I had an idea of where I wanted to be monthly. I worked back assuming no vin etch or doc fee, and reg/title of $200. That got me to a 4. something discount off of sticker. I rounded it to 5%, did all the math, and put together a full breakdown based on that discount, no BS fees, and base MF. I emailed it to the sales manager and told him if he could do it id take the car today. He balked at first, but eventually came back and said he’d do it. Since the vin etch and doc fee are already printed on their invoice, they just increased the discount to offset them and get the same final price. So, I technically paid them, but not really. I don’t think I would have been able to get the 6%+ discount of those fees went away. The good thing about it is that since they wouldn’t let me refuse the VIN etch because they were paying it for me, I get the insurance policy that goes with it. I guess if the car disappears and they find just the windows I get $2500 or something. I dunno, and don’t really care.
I’m very pleasantly surprised with it. It’s VERY different that anything else I’ve owned. The last 4 vehicles I bought were all Hemis (08 Grand Cherokee Overland, 10 Challenger R/T, 12 300 SRT, and 13 RAM 1500). The RAM is my current daily driver and I just sold the SRT a few months ago.
The EV power delivery and regenerative braking are very different, but I’ll get used to it. The car feels more “peppy” than I expected. It’s no monster, but I wasn’t scared merging on the highway. I’ve had all the tech in my other vehicles, but it’s nice having it in a car this cheap. It’s not an engaging ride, but it’s comfortable and the interior isn’t a bad place to be. The phone app is pretty well executed, and charging is easy. My overall impression of battery usage isn’t terrible either. It showed 135mi and 99% when I got there and I played with it some. When I went to leave and turned on the headlights, radio, and AC, it dropped to 129 immediately. I drove the 14 miles home, about half back roads with hills and half highway (cruise set at 70) and it showed 114 when I got home. I played with the radio and some other stuff for about 10 mins and it didn’t move.
Awesome, for the money I think it’s a steal. I reserved a limited for myself one trip in the car pays for itself, so I couldn’t pass it up. Glad you got into one.
I know its not a state fee per se, I’m just amazed that CT dealers are so brazen about charging so much, especially with NY so close by with capped fees. From what I’ve heard Florida takes the cake on outrageous fees though.
Yeah. Honestly, I think they just bank on people being uninformed and everyone here being used to being constantly bent over by the state. This is the first car I’ve bought from a CT dealer since my first new car in 2010.
These guys are so bold that they didn’t even wait until their next order of contracts to Jack their’s up. lol
It’s the AC that takes the ~10 miles off. You will also realize that the range estimator is tricky and needs to get used to. It will show a range estimate based on your immediate past driving…so in some instances you will get to your destination with “more” ev miles than when you started the drive.
Also yesterday was 70 degrees in CT. Wait until it is 20 degrees!!!
Congrats. Seems like a good deal on the ltd. if we can locate someone without bs 700 doc and etch fee, maybe even better numbers are in store (looking at you Delaware)
I’d like to know as well. Modern heat pumps work well until the temp gets pretty low. My new-to-me house has electric heat and I’ve been looking at heat pumps as an option since I can’t get natural gas and don’t want to install an oil tank and flue.
I use the time-based pre-conditioning this morning with the temp set to 68 (it was 40 out). The car was comfortable and when I got in and since it was plugged in, was at 100% battery. I did the 15 mile drive to work with 2 stops (heat still at 68) and it is currently showing 121 miles and 91% charge. I don’t yet have my level 2 charger (it’s coming tomorrow) and I didn’t feel like packing up the one that came with it so no free charging today. I should have enough time tonight to fully recharge with the 120V charger, so no big deal.
As i said, that range estimator will take some time to get used to. You will see that even thou EPA for this car is 125 miles in summer time you will be over 150 while in mid winter i suspect it will be around 100…maybe higher with preconditioning. One of the great things about ev preheating is you can actually heat them in your garage with the door closed and still get out of the house alive.
