So, with the time we still have to wait on the Scout, we've been looking at trying to find a good deal on an EV to be our "test" first EV before the Scout. Wasn't in a huge rush, but the incentives expiring earlier this year made it a bit tougher. Luckily Colorado still has a hefty incentive through the end of the year before it bumps down. We are planning to trade in my husband's 2019 Audi A5. We bought it used and actually only have another year or so to pay it off, but it's expensive to maintain and drive (premium gas at an ok MPG). So we figured if we could slash our monthly payment, and not have to buy premium gas anymore, it would be an excellent way to save some money over the next couple years and also test out the EV lifestyle.
First, we test drove a Plug-In Mazda CX-90. We wanted a CX-70 because it has a second row bench versus captain's chairs for the dogs, but they didn't have any available. It was right before the federal incentives ended and dealerships were extremely depleted on inventory trying to sell them out. They had a great lease deal advertised, but didn't have a car for us so that didn't happen. I thought the drive experience was "meh", but for the price and it was only a Plug-in hybrid. That would still get us on mostly electric with our commutes, but wasn't exactly what we wanted.
Then, for kicks, we test drove a Rivian R1S. It's a super nice car, and the one pedal driving experience wasn't as bad as I was expecting to adjust to. It just did not make any sense for us to spend $80k+ on a vehicle right now that we didn't actually need. Especially with low reliability scores and reported problems. I did think briefly about reserving an R2, but decided not to, since where I'd be on the reservation list would likely put it close to Scout time anyways.
Looked at a used Audi Etron Q8. It was less than a year old with less than 10k miles on it, and was almost half new MSRP. Man, EV's are depreciating quick! It was ok. I didn't love it. Didn't love the cockpit layout or the regen braking mechanics and feel. Felt like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be an EV or pretend it was an ICE. I'm sure there was a way to adjust the settings, but didn't really feel like figuring it out. Again, we didn't NEED to do this so I didn't want to pull the trigger.
Cut to today - I'd been seeing some great lease deals offered on Ioniq 5s and have been researching them over the last few days and it seems like they are mostly well-reviewed. There is a known electrical system issue that has popped up in less than 5% of the cars, so that's always a little risky. My husband is out of town visiting family for the holidays with the Audi, so I didn't have the trade in car with me. But if we were getting in before the end of the year (incentives + deals), we would only be able to go look after work next week and I hate looking at cars in the dark. So I decided to take myself to the Hyundai dealership near me and get the looking and talking out of the way. The sales guy asked if I had a preference on '25 vs '26, since the '25s have a HUGE incentive now, and I said I didn't really, as long as they aren't too different and I could still get a decent lease deal on a '26. He told me there were no major changes, and that he didn't have an '25 inventory anyways. No big deal, I'll look at '26s. I also asked if they had a heated steering wheel, since i couldn't find it listed on the specs. He said either year would (this will be important later).
Took it out for a spin. Actually really enjoyed the driving mechanics, size and ride, and visibility. It's still a little screen heavy in the cockpit for my taste, but climate controls are at least pulled out separately, even though they're still touch screen based. I could not find how to turn on the heated steering, and neither could the sales guy, so he said he'd look into it. Got back in and looked at deal numbers. Came in a little higher than I was expecting based on advertisements, but of course those never include taxes and fees
. Still would be an overall money saver for us for the next two years, so not bad. I thanked the sales guy and told him I'd be in touch if we wanted to start paperwork over the weekend, with the intent of finalizing everything on Monday or Tuesday once my husband is back with the trade in. Forgot to ask about heated steering wheel.
Did some Googling, and it turns out they did actually strip out some features from '25 to '26 on the SEL trim - heated steering, power fold mirrors, digital key. It wasn't going to be a deal breaker, but if I can get a heated wheel, I sure as heck am gonna. I have cold hands and Colorado temperature swings so much it's a must for me on a "nice" car, but I was willing to make it work in this case for a short termer. They did actually have a '25 on their website, so I sent it to the sales guy and asked about it. He said he had an appointment on it at noon, so he couldn't show it to me. This was about 10 min to noon. I asked if there was anything I could do to secure it, put down a deposit, etc...He said the appointment actually cancelled. So we went back and forth via text and email, and he said I could do a non-refundable deposit to hold it until Monday.
So that's what I did! Will update once we actually get it, but getting into an Ioniq 5 2 year lease at a screaming deal seems like a nice bridge to the Scout. I'm a little concerned that 2 years is not going to be quite enough with the current timeline, but there's a chance we could extend the lease a couple months or find a different short term solution at that time. So time for me to study up on all the technical lingo around charging, etc...I think the plan is for this to be my daily commuter, and my husband will switch over to our hybrid Rav4 that I currently drive. We will both be sad to see the Audi go, it's a ridiculously fun car to drive. But it's expensive and an EV will be it's own kind of fun! We'll also be getting a nice little check on the trade in since the Audi has equity. Merry Christmas to me!
First, we test drove a Plug-In Mazda CX-90. We wanted a CX-70 because it has a second row bench versus captain's chairs for the dogs, but they didn't have any available. It was right before the federal incentives ended and dealerships were extremely depleted on inventory trying to sell them out. They had a great lease deal advertised, but didn't have a car for us so that didn't happen. I thought the drive experience was "meh", but for the price and it was only a Plug-in hybrid. That would still get us on mostly electric with our commutes, but wasn't exactly what we wanted.
Then, for kicks, we test drove a Rivian R1S. It's a super nice car, and the one pedal driving experience wasn't as bad as I was expecting to adjust to. It just did not make any sense for us to spend $80k+ on a vehicle right now that we didn't actually need. Especially with low reliability scores and reported problems. I did think briefly about reserving an R2, but decided not to, since where I'd be on the reservation list would likely put it close to Scout time anyways.
Looked at a used Audi Etron Q8. It was less than a year old with less than 10k miles on it, and was almost half new MSRP. Man, EV's are depreciating quick! It was ok. I didn't love it. Didn't love the cockpit layout or the regen braking mechanics and feel. Felt like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be an EV or pretend it was an ICE. I'm sure there was a way to adjust the settings, but didn't really feel like figuring it out. Again, we didn't NEED to do this so I didn't want to pull the trigger.
Cut to today - I'd been seeing some great lease deals offered on Ioniq 5s and have been researching them over the last few days and it seems like they are mostly well-reviewed. There is a known electrical system issue that has popped up in less than 5% of the cars, so that's always a little risky. My husband is out of town visiting family for the holidays with the Audi, so I didn't have the trade in car with me. But if we were getting in before the end of the year (incentives + deals), we would only be able to go look after work next week and I hate looking at cars in the dark. So I decided to take myself to the Hyundai dealership near me and get the looking and talking out of the way. The sales guy asked if I had a preference on '25 vs '26, since the '25s have a HUGE incentive now, and I said I didn't really, as long as they aren't too different and I could still get a decent lease deal on a '26. He told me there were no major changes, and that he didn't have an '25 inventory anyways. No big deal, I'll look at '26s. I also asked if they had a heated steering wheel, since i couldn't find it listed on the specs. He said either year would (this will be important later).
Took it out for a spin. Actually really enjoyed the driving mechanics, size and ride, and visibility. It's still a little screen heavy in the cockpit for my taste, but climate controls are at least pulled out separately, even though they're still touch screen based. I could not find how to turn on the heated steering, and neither could the sales guy, so he said he'd look into it. Got back in and looked at deal numbers. Came in a little higher than I was expecting based on advertisements, but of course those never include taxes and fees
. Still would be an overall money saver for us for the next two years, so not bad. I thanked the sales guy and told him I'd be in touch if we wanted to start paperwork over the weekend, with the intent of finalizing everything on Monday or Tuesday once my husband is back with the trade in. Forgot to ask about heated steering wheel.Did some Googling, and it turns out they did actually strip out some features from '25 to '26 on the SEL trim - heated steering, power fold mirrors, digital key. It wasn't going to be a deal breaker, but if I can get a heated wheel, I sure as heck am gonna. I have cold hands and Colorado temperature swings so much it's a must for me on a "nice" car, but I was willing to make it work in this case for a short termer. They did actually have a '25 on their website, so I sent it to the sales guy and asked about it. He said he had an appointment on it at noon, so he couldn't show it to me. This was about 10 min to noon. I asked if there was anything I could do to secure it, put down a deposit, etc...He said the appointment actually cancelled. So we went back and forth via text and email, and he said I could do a non-refundable deposit to hold it until Monday.
So that's what I did! Will update once we actually get it, but getting into an Ioniq 5 2 year lease at a screaming deal seems like a nice bridge to the Scout. I'm a little concerned that 2 years is not going to be quite enough with the current timeline, but there's a chance we could extend the lease a couple months or find a different short term solution at that time. So time for me to study up on all the technical lingo around charging, etc...I think the plan is for this to be my daily commuter, and my husband will switch over to our hybrid Rav4 that I currently drive. We will both be sad to see the Audi go, it's a ridiculously fun car to drive. But it's expensive and an EV will be it's own kind of fun! We'll also be getting a nice little check on the trade in since the Audi has equity. Merry Christmas to me!
