I have yet to find any dealership where the EV specialist knows anything about EVs and isn’t an asshole. I’ve been browsing cars for over a month now, and 99% of car dealers have one of two things:
- A guy that knows nothing about EVs, but thinks he does.
- A guy that knows things about EVs, but will outright lie to you.
Sometimes this applies to the car itself - sure, it’s got the preheat. Oh you want it in writing? Okay it doesn’t have the preheat, I admit it.
More often this applies to the tax rebates. Hyundai dealers in Connecticut were illegally applying the state and federal EV credit to cars above 50k MSRP, and when called out on it are just like “c’mon, you’ll get it.” Like dude, you’re ASKING me to defraud the IRS?
Today, I dealt with these assclowns: 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E Select (autohausinc.com)
“Qualifies for up to $7500 in tax credits.”
No, it doesn’t. The used EV credit is for 25k and below. This is 27.5. It will not get a dollar. I talked to them about this… and got willful denial every step of the way, to the point that I showed them the IRS policy, pointed out the exact wording, and told them no one on earth would be eligible for it, to which they kept telling me “not all buyers are qualified.” I’m like, no one can get a dollar back from the government for that car. Take that off your website.
The response? " Without an application we cannot answer if you will personally qualify, but we know for a fact there are credits available for our car. I apologize if you feel mislead."
I’m just so frustrated. It shouldn’t be this hard to find a worthwhile used EV under 25k or a new EV under 50k, but everywhere in Connecticut it seems the dealerships play it up and mark the new MSRPs over 50k and the used EVs around 28-33k, and almost all of them then still act like you’d still get the rebates. I’m happy to be smarter than that, but I feel sorry for all the people in Connecticut who will fall prey to the assholes at Hyundai dealerships and used car dealerships in this state.
I follow this subreddit, as I’ve been ready for an EV for a couple years. I swear I’m not here to troll with my ICE rants.
I’ve only had turbo cars for the last 20+ years, and it’s amazing how much more power they make with 91-93 octane compared to 87 octane. The extra mpg on premium offsets the cost, with the benefit of driving further between refills. Altitude makes the difference even more pronounced.
On a related note, it’s amazing how well Saab in particular can take advantage of added ethanol compared to VW. My previous Saab made seriously more calibrated butt-dyno hp when running e25-e35 compared to e10 (35% ethanol was as far as I was willing to go with the stock injectors). My current VW doesn’t show similar improvement (I assume the VW fuel map/ecu has much narrower limits, or that I’ve hit the limit of the injectors to deliver the extra fuel required). Again, altitude can be a huge factor; I’d think non-turbo cars would REALLY shine when fed more ethanol (oxygen) when the car can’t get it from the ambient air and the engine can’t force-feed more air.