Whinin’ and cryin’

[Cranky Canuck]

The one that I kind of like for looks is the Kona Electric. It comes in an extremely bright-ass neon yellow. Nobody will miss you in that. The drawback is that it’s apparently kind of crappy in the “not reliable” sense. Still, it’s cute. I’m really itchy to hear updates about the R3, too. It looks like a cute version of the not-released Scout III.

Actually I know several people with electric Konas and they love them. I think the "unreliability" thing is more with the gas version, the electric version looks to be really good. And yeah, that is a great yellow but I think VW has the best yellow, there are a few Golfs running around with this 'burnt yellow' type of look and it's fantastic.

 

[Cranky Canuck]

I have to say again if I was buying an EV tomorrow it would be the Ionic 5. It’s like a retro 80’s VW or Honda. It’s retro modern without being based on a previous make/model. I look every time I see one. Just COOL cars

It's a fantastic car and I'm really happy with it. Highly recommend. I'm hoping Scout liberally 'borrows' the many good ideas that Hyundai has implemented in their Ioniq lineup because I think Hyundai/Kia are leading in the EV space right now. They could do a lot worse than benchmarking off an Ioniq 5 or more realistically an EV 9.

We already know Scout is going to have an 800V architecture, V2L capabilities, stuff like that which is what Hyundai/Kia have done with their EVs but I'm hoping Scout also borrows things like adjustable regen (using paddles) and different display themes (light for daytime and dark for night that automatically switch at sunrise/sunset for example). There are so many things that Hyundai just 'got right' that I think other brands would do well to copy. The main one I use all the time is "auto regen". Everyone is pretty familiar with 1-pedal driving like Tesla does as a default, and Hyundai/Kia EVs have the option to do that too, but auto regen is next level where the vehicle uses the cameras and radar to dynamically adjust how aggressive the car decelerates based on what's in front of it.

So if there's nothing in front of you the vehicle basically coasts with a gentle regen down to a stop - so it feels very familiar with anyone who's driven an automatic or downshifts in a manual (but smoother since no gears!). But if there's a car in front of you or a red stoplight then the car automatically and dynamically adjusts the deceleration to match, so if the guy in front is braking and then starts braking even more agressively the Ioniq will match and maintain the same distance behind them without you having to apply extra brake pressure (I still cover the brake pedal of course). It's really nice and I wonder why more EVs don't do this.

 

[Jkew]

The ID.4 got me to switch from Ford vehicles to VW. I have my gripes with the ID.4 - but I actually felt like their approach to the build, a modular ev platform was a good one. So I’m actually happy that Scout is in the umbrella of VW companies.

Meanwhile I have to explain to people how I’m not a car person but I’m still obsessing over a car that will not be out for a couple of years.