Cars - nolanhergert/notes GitHub Wiki

Tesla

Failing flash, try to put it on energy saver at all times so it doesn't log. Can't do it on recent Model 3 firmwares though. https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/2012_2020_models/en_cn/GUID-4AC32116-979A-4146-A935-F41F8551AFE6.html

Negotiating

New

Get Costco price. Email internet/fleet sales for various dealerships and see if they will beat it. Get a written quote.

New Car

Style

Electric:

  • 250 miles is good enough for the beach and back, barely. Which isn't gonna happen.
  • $7500 federal rebate for new EV and $2500 for Oregon rebate?. Makes bolt super cheap ($20K!), especially compared to used EVs ($30K?!)
    • Chevy will cover cost of fast charger install at home, interesting. Hybrid: Gas:

Observations

  • I get a lot of features with an older car except auto driving.

Requirements

  • Mechanic's inspection for accurate pricing
  • A/C for passenger conversations
  • Windshield wiper frequency. Should have two intermittent settings, ideally adjusted for speed too. Ideally automatic. Might be able to work around using CAN sniffer too.
  • 4-door, not 2-door
  • Seat 4 of me in every seat (enough head room and space)
  • Don't block my vision with rear view mirror (I sit up close). I CAN ADJUST IT! IT HAS TWO PIVOTS!
  • Curtain airbags
  • Not annoying regen braking. Can lower to similar to gas car.

Niceties

  • Leather, black seats, (easy to clean) fairly firm, right?
  • Automatic lane keeping, either built-in or with Comma. How much extra would I be willing to pay for this though? (need to buy a recently made vehicle)
  • Comfortable to full recline in. Remove the headrest. Maybe do a full sleep position too? (car camping style)
  • Sort of easy to replace the headlight bulbs if necessary
  • Keypad input?
  • Hatchback
  • Ease of getting parts and repairability, reliability. It's worth $500 a year extra for reliability from a newer car, no?
  • I'm alright with a cheaper newer car whose suspension and construction style is out of the "90s".

Ok

  • Don't care that much about salvage or not. Need to have a good story though.

Don't Want

  • Air/pneumatic suspension. A pain when they leak, can't rely on springs anymore.
  • Sunroof (drains can get clogged, requires evaporation internally). Maybe ok is a full panoramic roof, but won't the sun on you with no cover get annoying?

Fit

Didn't try

  • Matrix

Good

  • Honda Fit, both gens I think. But require moving rear view mirror
  • Civic N-1, at least cockpit was good enough
  • C-Max, Focus
  • Tesla dual motor, just for fun

Bad

  • Scion xA (couldn't adjust steering wheel), Nissan Versa (can't lower seat enough), Mazda 3 (too low roof)
  • Prius N and N-1, Civic N, Accord N & N-1, Corolla (back seat not tall enough), Avalon

Engineering notes on Chevy Volt

Here-ish: https://youtu.be/DMZ163EYmCY?t=1291

Mode 3

Motor drives generator (A), which then electrically powers drivetrain motor (B). Conversion losses though.

Mode 4

Motor directly drive wheels and generator. Gen 1 doesn't support this mode, but gen 2 does.

Ford Focus 2001

Old notes on conditions and things wrong: https://nolanhergert.github.io/notes_old/home/cars.html#ford_focus_automatic_zx3

  • No headliner, rear wheel cover removed due to some mold
  • Surface rust on rear frame
  • Creaky in some spots, to be expected
  • Slight brake squeak in back brakes
  • Headlights flicker a little when idle. Idle is slightly too low perhaps / slight friction in inverter. But it hasn't gotten worse over three years.
  • Left seat (thing to tip seat forward) is missing

Should I say all this?

When? How Much? What?
Mar 2023 $50 + 2 hours Belt tensioner metal housing broke, Jae fixed it with a little of my help. Ready for a newer car now, since even metal parts can break at annoying times
June 2021 $380 Water pump bearing was making very low frequency noise. Had Ting replace it along with the serpentine belt and new coolant
Feb 2021 $220 Rear ball bearings on both wheels aren't great. Rear brakes are fine though
Spring 2020 $50 Leak in radiator pipe/hose, fixed with Stop Leak. However pipe split on trip to beach, thankfully at the beach. Got replacement part and more coolant/stop leak just in case
Apr 2019 $300 + 5 hours Bolt on outer tie rod wasn't tightened properly by me (doh), so came off while driving. No accident! I couldn't easily find the right bolt, so ended up buying new tie rod end, but couldn't get it off (too rusty). Cut it off, installed new inner tie rod and had Paceway do the other side and alignment + tire rotation. $50 / hour of labor is cheap in my book.
Apr 2019 $50 $50 for ball bearing (fixed the sound!) and $50 for repair, plus time
Dec 2018 Changed oil (what mileage?!), replaced tires $300. Replaced left driver side axle $40 on saturday (6 hours), didn't fix sound.
Summer 2018 $1K Front lower control arms and ball joints and timing belt and coolant flush at place by Intel
Summer 2017 Bought car for $1.6K