2018 TC Van LWB XLT First Impressions

[davidparker]

Its been over 6 months and 5,000 miles since I created this thread so I thought it might be helpful to prospective owners to provide an update....

 

All the PRO's I listed are still valid.  Maneuverability, Room, Comfort, Backup Camera, Cargo Doors, Rear Sensors.  I REALLY like the rear sensors!  Saved my rear (as in the back of my van) several times,

 

You can also add Gas Mileage to the list and the Power has moved up from indifferent to a positive.  It really is decent for a 4 banger.

 

Hauling.  I got this van for the ability to haul stuff and man it delivers.  I can haul more crap than I could with my truck. I love the side doors for grocery getting.  I love the low load height in the back.  The swing out doors are way better than dropping a tailgate.  For the stuff I haul this is perfect!

 

As for the CONS.  

The passenger sliding door window is still something I would like.  I did add a camera for a side view.  It provides just enough visibility that I can live without the window.  But its a compromise.  However it is good enough that I don't want to add the window now.

The Big Key, still sucks.

 

You can add to the CONS that the windshield is a stone magnet.  The size and the aerodynamics make it a constant target.  I'm sure I will be replacing it one day.

 

I moved the mirrors down from ok, to not really.  For me, its just counter intuitive to look further out to see whats closer to me.  I have gotten used to them and they do work.  It just bugs me.  Although, I do like the heated feature.  Works great for clearing the frost I forgot to scrape off before I left for work.

 

I'm sort of on the fence as to road noise.  It got more noticeable after I got used to the van.  On most roads its just there, no big deal.  But there as some roads where it crosses over to annoying.  I'll probably add some sound deadener eventually.

 

Overall, I REALLY, REALLY like this vehicle.  It is better than I had hoped for and I plan on keeping it a long time.  I do think that a stripping out the back of a Titanium wagon could have been even better.  That way, I could get all the goodies like the windows, headliner, electronics and would still meet my hauling needs.  But I wouldn't trade mine in for one, now.

 

Oh and my buddies are still giving me crap about driving a van 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fifty150]

2 hours ago, davidparker said:

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Oh and my buddies are still giving me crap about driving a van 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just wait until they ask to borrow it.  Everyone I know with a small car, eventually has to borrow the use of a truck or van.  Can't buy new appliances with a Prius.

[mrtn]

Haha, right. I was at the parking lot of a grocery store (15 minute drive away) when a Tommy Chong’s Leo looking dude approached me offering me money to take his new oven home. He obviously had tried fitting it in his Passat sedan to no avail. As he lived just up the street from me (never met him but I knew the house, very nice landscaping job) I was okay with taking his oven home for free. Or I wouldn’t have taken it at all, money or not.

[Fifty150]

I had to rescue a friend from Costco.  Weight of groceries was too much for a Honda Pilot.

[Beta Don]

15 hours ago, Fifty150 said:

Just wait until they ask to borrow it.  Everyone I know with a small car, eventually has to borrow the use of a truck or van.  Can't buy new appliances with a Prius.

 

Although our two Mitsubishi iMiEV electric cars are actually a little smaller than a Prius, they are much better engineered to be practical for everyday use.  You can fit a full size washer or dryer in the back (with the rear seats folded down of course) and still close the rear hatch.  Loading and unloading is simple too as the floor is flat all the way to the rear hatch, just like our TC

[Fifty150]

3 hours ago, Beta Don said:

Mitsubishi iMiEV electric cars are actually a little smaller than a Prius, they are much better engineered to be practical for everyday use. 

 

 

I've heard that from other people also.  Sounds like a good car.

[mrtn]

Our govt bought like 500 of these for our social workers. Everybody hates those, not suitable for cold climate.

[G B L]

Electric cars will take off like a rocket as soon  as a universal  replaceable battery is adopted ! 

[Beta Don]

14 hours ago, mrtn said:

Our govt bought like 500 of these for our social workers. Everybody hates those, not suitable for cold climate.

 

True  -  Most folks who live in northern climates (Michigan, New York, all of Canada, Norway & Sweden) who drive iMiEV's on a daily basis have installed tiny diesel burning water heaters in them.  The iMiEV heating system (such as it is) uses a very ordinary heater core from the ICE version of the car with a 5 Kw heater to warm the water and then the fan blows air through the heater core just like in almost every ICE car.  Using that 5 Kw heating element to heat the water severely reduces the cars overall range.  If it's really cold out, you may lose 1/3rd or more of the cars roughly 65 mile range just heating the cabin

 

Fortunately, since it's using hot water to heat and defrost the car, you can very easily heat the water using other means.  The little diesel heaters (smaller than a shoe box) will give you a very warm car for a week or so using about a quart of diesel fuel  -  These are a very popular mod for iMiEV drivers in cold climates

 

The air conditioning system on the other hand is very efficient.  We lose 10% or less of the cars range staying comfortable on 95 degree South Mississippi days.  In addition to our TC which very seldom gets driven, we have a 2017 Chevy Volt for longer trips, but about 85 to 90% of the miles we've driven over the past 7 years have been in our two iMiEV's.  They are so good at what they do that there's not much need for any other vehicle, day to day . . . . unless you need to tow something or take a long trip out of town, which is why we're hanging onto the TC 

 

Don

[Beta Don]

3 hours ago, G B L said:

Electric cars will take off like a rocket as soon  as a universal  replaceable battery is adopted ! 

 

As an EV driver now for the past 8+ years, I don't see this ever happening  -  It's just not needed, so why would anyone design an EV like that?  The battery is the single most expensive part of the car, so why would you ever want to replace it?  There are numerous EV's on the road now with 250,000 miles plus on the original battery, which is already approximating the useful life of most ICE vehicles.  At that point, you toss the entire car and replace it, don't you?  The typical useful life for all cars in the USA is considered to be 200K, so as long as you've got batteries which last 200K, you wouldn't be looking to replace them

 

Google "Sparkie Chevy Volt" and read up on a car with 400K still on it's original battery  -  True, not all of those miles were on electricity only, but more than 150K of them are and the battery range remains pretty much constant.  They haven't been out long enough yet, but we'll soon be reading about 200K mile Chevy Bolts.  There are already Teslas used as Uber vehicles with more than 300K on them

 

The need to replace EV batteries really isn't much of an issue . . . . even our lowly, inexpensive iMiEV's came with a 10 year, 100K warranty on the battery

 

Don 

[G B L]

I

3 hours ago, Beta Don said:

The need to replace EV batteries really isn't much of an issue

That is not the issue, in order to make the EV a replacement for the Internal combustion engine the refueling will have to be in the Minute time frame  and not the hour time frame. The other benefit would be that improved batteries could easily be introduced and the old ones could be easily  recycled. 

[Fifty150]

Refueling is the biggest problem with electric vehicles.  In order to use the vehicles on a commercial basis, not 1 company is able to start a shift, operate for 2 - 3 hours, then wait 6 - 8 hours for a recharge.  Most commercial vehicles need to be able to operate for 8 - 12 hours.  In order for a private owner to take a road trip of any significance, the driver would spend more time charging than driving.  Not to mention that you have to plan your trip from charging station to charging station.  

 

I live in The City.  Common scenario is for someone to park at a charging station, plug in, then walk away.  Next electric vehicle owner comes along, parks next to that car, unplugs the first car in order to plug in his own car.  First car owner returns in a few hours, and his car did not get charged because someone else unplugged his car.  Now he can't leave and go to his next destination or return home.  Apparently, we've already reached the saturation point of vehicles versus available chargers in large metropolitan areas.