- Messages
- 2
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- 0
- City
- Tualatin
- State
- OR
- Country
- United States
- What I Drive
- 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited
I'm Joe, and I live in the Pacific NW in greater Portlandia. My current ride is a 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited with Tech Package, and it's a sweet ride. It gets fantastic highway mileage, and with the hybrid motors, I can beat most non-EVs in a 40-yard dash from a traffic light with room to spare. Here's the problem: it makes a lousy hauler from local home improvement/lumber stores, can't tow anything, and is not meant to go off-roads, which unfortunately is where my rocket club leases land in the Central Oregon desert east of Bend (we fly rockets to 40,000 or more with coordination with the FAA and the Air National Guard, hence the remote locale). When I go to the ice rink with my bag of hockey gear for some "stick time" (my knees won't let me actually play in a game), I can barely fit my gear into the trunk, and the stick has to go in the back seat. It's even worse when going to the desert with my rockets and my camping gear... I am literally stuffing everything in any nook and cranny in my car, be it the trunk, back seat, passenger seat, or the floors (except, of course, the driver's area).
I am weighing simply renting an SUV or even buying a good used one. Rental costs have skyrocketed over the last 12-18 months, so I'm rethinking the idea of buying a good used SUV. I just learned a couple of weeks ago about the 2016 XC90 T8, and the prices for the two in my area are appealing. One is the Momentum model with 90K, and the other is an Inscription with 95K. Either of them would actually be an improvement over the Avalon Hybrid in that there's enough EV range to make runs to the supermarket or home improvement stores, whereas the Avalon can't go more than 1/4 mile on EV alone, and only at 20 MPH at that.
We'll see what I decide to do. I may post details about the two cars in another post elsewhere in the forum.
I am weighing simply renting an SUV or even buying a good used one. Rental costs have skyrocketed over the last 12-18 months, so I'm rethinking the idea of buying a good used SUV. I just learned a couple of weeks ago about the 2016 XC90 T8, and the prices for the two in my area are appealing. One is the Momentum model with 90K, and the other is an Inscription with 95K. Either of them would actually be an improvement over the Avalon Hybrid in that there's enough EV range to make runs to the supermarket or home improvement stores, whereas the Avalon can't go more than 1/4 mile on EV alone, and only at 20 MPH at that.
We'll see what I decide to do. I may post details about the two cars in another post elsewhere in the forum.
