At Home with Tech

October 13, 2024

I Drove 5 Different Hybrid SUVs and Bought this One

Here are the pros and cons for each of the Lester hybrid SUV finalists and how I made my decision on which one to purchase.

I’m not a professional car reviewer. This is not “At Home with Cars.” But I’ve been driving them my entire adult life, and I know what I need. When it was time to buy a new SUV for my family, and I was faced with one of the biggest purchases I can make, I certainly did my research!

So, if you might find another point of view useful, strap in…

Of course, I’ve closely followed the news regarding EVs. Who isn’t aware of this revolution that’s designed to move all of us away from gas-powered vehicles. Yes, I’ve felt compelled to be part of it all as I traveled down the road to a new car.

But as I shopped, I quickly discovered my own truths and limits.

EV?
As much as I loved the idea of going with a pure electric car, I just wasn’t ready to take the leap with an EV. I was held back by the usual reasons:

Range anxiety
Additional cost
EV depreciation

So, I never left the starting line and didn’t test drive any EVs.

PHEV?
I was initially enthusiastic with the idea of a plug-in hybrid. (Being able to drive around town without touching a drop of gas and then charging back up at night sounded amazing.) That’s the best of all worlds, right?

Well, it depends on who you ask, and there are car reviewers out there who suggest a PHEV creates the worst of all worlds… just an average-performing vehicle that’s weighed down by having to serve too many different technologies.

Still, I didn’t dismiss the option. Nor did I flinch at the upcharge for a PHEV. (Passion can take you a long way towards a decision, despite the logical drawbacks.)

But first, I had to find it in the car I wanted.

Hybrid?
The Toyota Prius made ‘hybrid’ a household term a thousand years ago. It’s hardly a new concept. And in many ways, a hybrid engine is the easiest way to move away from all gas. But it certainly doesn’t feel as exciting as a car that you can plug in.

Still, going hybrid is a step towards helping the planet (and saving some bucks on fuel costs).

Drivers, Start your Engines!
So, it was time to go shopping. My goal… buy a new small SUV. I’d been driving my 2009 Toyota RAV4 forever, and after 186K miles, it was time for a new starship. I wanted to replicate the same form and function… hopefully with newer and greener tech under the hood.

After hours of online research and reading car reviews by the ‘experts,’ I landed on these five choices to test drive.

Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid
A new RAV4 was obviously a leading candidate. But when we visited our local Toyota dealer, we had the strangest of experiences…

Get this: They didn’t have any new RAV4’s on the lot. Not one.

Everyone knows a new RAV4 is a solid choice. But apparently, you can’t buy one. Not easily. Not without waiting a long time. The salesman explained that Toyota simply isn’t building enough of them.

Sure, he would do everything he could for us, but finding a new RAV4 could take months and getting the exact options I wanted was uncertain.

Plus, after test driving the one 2023 model they had (off a lease), my wife and I felt it wasn’t that amazing. (And it was selling at the new car price. Oof.)

Yes, the RAV4 hybrid gets great gas mileage, and the model also has the PHEV option. But the purchasing path was just too daunting.

I loved my old RAV4, but a new one for the Lester family was clearly not in the cards. We drove away from the carless Toyota dealership and never turned back.

Mazda CX-50 Hybrid
The hybrid version is new for 2025. And the hybrid wasn’t available during my research phase, but we test drove the standard one to see how it felt.

Whoa! This Mazda was zippy with enthusiastic handling, and it really moved! But the car was a bit small and tight. Plus, I didn’t really need the sports-car feel.
(I’m a family guy with a teenager.)

Not to dismiss a great car, but it just wasn’t the right time for me and a Mazda. Plus, the hybrid wasn’t even available yet, and the sales manager told me he had no idea when they were coming in. He said that one day, they’ll simply show up. (true story). So, that made it an easy pass.

Still, my Mazda experience ultimately helped me realize that even though so many car reviewers focus on how quickly a car can accelerate, that wasn’t as critical a metric for me.

Sure, I want my new car to have enough power to move when I need it to, but an extra .8 seconds from zero to 60 mph isn’t as relevant to my real-life needs. Does that me boring? Perhaps. But I’ve got other priorities.
(Don’t count me out.)

The good news is most hybrid/PHEV engines usually have more punch by design.

Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tuscan (Hybrid and PHEV)
All the reviewers say the Sportage and Tuscan are similar. And they are. So, I’ll also consider them together:

Both flaunt the technology-focused design options I was looking for. I absolutely loved the high tech-feel in both vehicles. The extended dash and integrated screens with all the bells and whistles really felt like I had finally stepped into the car from the future. Some examples:

Blind-Spot View Monitor
360º Surround View Monitor

I secretly wanted to be on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. And both these cars gave me that experience.

And all the cool screen displays came at the same price points of the competition. Plus, both SUVs offer the PHEV option.

But there were two big drawbacks…

Fingerprint Magnet
The SUVs’ touch screens aren’t always as easy to operate when you’re driving. And the reflective surface areas from all the black plastic molding will quickly get mucked up with fingerprints. Not to mention their potential to reflect the sun into your eyes (according to some reviewers).
Circular Gear Dial
And then, there’s the Kia’s gear-dial redesign. Kia has replaced the traditional gear shifter stick with a circular dial. You dial it right for ‘drive.’ And you dial it left for ‘reverse’ (neutral in the middle).

That’s innovative, right? Well…

In practice, that disruptive design change was a step too far for me and my wife.

The Tuscan took a different road and redesigned its gear-shift selector into a small column-mounted shaft behind the right side of the steering wheel. Not as bad a choice, but still unfamiliar.

After both test drives, my wife and I realized that we wanted more physical dials and a stick.

So even though both these cars had everything I was looking for, the user interface still pointed us in a different direction.

Honda CR-V Hybrid
The CR-V was the first car we test drove. And it felt absolutely great. The roomy cabin was awesome, and the driving experience was superior.

Yes, it comes as a hybrid… but unfortunately there’s no plug-in model. And it was missing some of cool features of the Sportage and Tuscan… such as a 360º surround view monitor.

Plus, I was shocked when I realized it just had a tire repair kit instead of a spare tire. (The same problem with the Sportage and Tuscan. That said, the RAV4 and CX-50 both come with spare tires.)

But the CR-V hybrid had everything else from a safety standpoint that you’d want.

Collision Mitigation Braking System
Road Departure Mitigation System
Blind Spot Information with Cross Traffic Monitor
Multi-Angle Rearview Camera
Adaptive Cruise Control
Lane Keeping Assist System

Since the CR-V was our first test drive. I needed to shop around some more due to the usual FOMO. So, we drove on to the other brands.

When we were finally done, it was suddenly clear the Honda CR-V Hybrid was the car for us.

Plenty of safety tech
Old-school twisty knobs where they really belonged
Wireless Apple Car Play
All wheel drive
Regular gear-shifter stick/knob that goes forward and back
Decent 9” color touch screen
Solid fuel economy: 40 mpg city/34 mpg highway/37 mpg combined

And may I say how much I appreciate Honda for not flooding the model line with 108 variations to choose from (like some of the competition). Buying a car is complicated enough. Model simplicity really helps to focus my decision.

Honda Wins the Race
We started with the CR-V, and after stacking it up against the competition, we realized that even though it didn’t have everything on my shopping list, it offered everything that mattered most.

The car was solid.
The choice felt right.
We were ready to buy!

And we purchased our Honda CR-V Hybrid!

As I mentioned last time, we then paid for some expert help to make our price negotiating experience as effective and painless as possible.

Brand Loyalty Matters
Once upon a time, my first cars were Honda Accords. Then, I spent many happy years with Subaru and Toyota.

Now, I can’t deny that it feels amazing to come back to Honda.

I’ve come home.
(That’s brand loyalty for you!)

Did that play a role in our decision?
Well, it didn’t hurt!

October 6, 2024

How I Bought a Car without the Stress of Negotiating Price

If you also don’t like the pain and uncertainty of buying a car at a dealership, here’s what I did to avoid the entire experience of having to negotiate with a sales manager.

It was time for a new car. And it was time to buy a new car. Throughout most of my adult life I’ve tried to follow the car-purchasing strategy to buy a vehicle that’s just a couple years old with low mileage.

And that’s supposed to be the magic equation that will save anyone a lot of money. They say a new car loses thousands of dollars in value as soon as you drive it off the lot.

Fear Drove Indecision
Well, the car-buying market has been upended over the last few years during and following the pandemic. There were the resulting supply-chain issues that made both used and new cars more expensive.

Honestly, I just haven’t bought enough cars over the years to begin to have the right skills to properly negotiate a used-car price on a newish model. Plus, I found the price differences between new cars and ones that were a couple years old never that significant.

The truth is I held on so long to my 2009 Toyota RAV4 that I bought over a decade ago, mostly because I didn’t want to travel the painful gauntlet of buying another car.

Angelo
I’ve loved my old RAV4. It became my rugged Battlestar Galactica for many journeys throughout my galaxy. It was so dependable, and it got the job done across the years. But after 186K miles, it needed maintenance dollars that Angelo, my mechanic told me would be money not well spent. Angelo said it was time for me to buy another car.

I am so fortunate to have a mechanic that I’ve trusted for almost two decades to take care of my cars. Yes, I’ll say it again…. I TRUST him. How wonderful is that?

So, when he tells me to buy another car, it’s like your family doctor giving you advice that you can’t ignore.

Playing Chess at the Car Dealership…
So, I finally decided to drop the newish-car strategy and go for a brand-new car. Of course, not everyone can buy a new vehicle. And I need to acknowledge how fortunate I am to be able to afford this choice. But that still wasn’t going to make the process any easier for me when it came to the inevitable price negotiation stage.

As I set out on my journey to research my next car, I squirmed at the prospect of having to show up at a car dealership for a test drive to figure out the model I wanted. But you need to do that, right? Unless, you already know the exact car you want, online research can only take you so far.

Now, I don’t want to overgeneralize and mention how uncomfortable it was dealing with all the car salesmen. (Yes, they were all men.) Many were nice. But you know that fundamentally, you’re playing a chess match with an expert.

Some were intense. Others were relaxed. But it didn’t matter. I knew I was outgunned and felt like I was in a trap that was quickly closing in.

Yes, I had to test drive the cars. But I absolutely didn’t want to make a deal.

The stress!
The hidden fees?
The inevitable feeling that you were being taken advantage of…

Each of my car dealership trips was about how to escape after the test drive.

The Value of a Car-Buying Service
Well, you’re never going to buy a car that way. So, I wondered if there was another option… like a car-buying service that would do the dirty work for you.

And in fact, there is. After doing a little online research, I found a couple options in the region. One got great reviews. So, I focused on that company.

Here’s the value proposition. You pay them some money. Then, they call around and find the car you want among area car dealerships and do all the price negotiations for you. (They do this every day. So, they’re the experts.)

After that process is complete, they give you a call and present the best option. Their expertise and volume-buying business model should save you more money in your car purchase than what you paid them upfront.

Perhaps most importantly, you don’t ever have to talk to the car salesman and his sales manager after the test drive. That excruciating dance doesn’t happen.

How much money is that worth to you?

Paying Less for More
The bottom line is you pay less for a better experience! It can be argued that paying someone else to buy your car should cost you more. But, no… it’s less.

I’d say that’s a winning business model.

That’s the road I took. And I do believe I saved more money than had I tried to ineffectively execute the Queen’s Gambit myself. I couldn’t be happier.

…an experience for your consideration.

How Easy is Green?
So, that’s the beginning and end of my car story. But I left out the entire middle section.

What did I buy and why? How did I integrate EV, PHEV and hybrid technologies into my decision-making process?

I wanted to do the right thing for our planet while also paying attention to my wallet.

But let me tell you, trying to be green with a car purchase is more complicated than you’d expect.

We’ll get into it next time…

September 29, 2024

5 Ways to Ease the Pain of Returning to the Office 5 Days a Week

I just worked a full week in the office for the first time in two years. It was something of a shock to the system, but also like riding a bike. If you’re planning to take the same plunge, here are my reminders on how to minimize the stress.

I love my hybrid work schedule. It’s the best of both worlds. You still get to see and interact with your colleagues in a real 3D space. But you don’t experience all the wear and tear from a daily commute.

For many years, I took the train from Connecticut to Grand Central Terminal five days a week and then finished my commute deeper into Manhattan. Sometimes I used the subway. Other jobs allowed me the flexibility to hoof it.

That’s just what you did. No questions asked. I optimized my process, cherished my ‘me’ time on the train and enjoyed walking on the streets of New York. But it all took some effort and organization.

I was recently reminded of what that five-day-dance feels like.

Back to the Future

Returning to my daily date with Metro North after my hybrid schedule for the past two years was absolutely a shock to my system. I did it for just one week.
(I know… cue the tiny violins.)

Of course, hybrid work can occasionally mean more days in the office. So, what’s the big deal? The problem is refreshing a skill set that you may have forgotten. Yes, a successful commute is a skill.

But I’m not talking about just showing up. (That’s a given.) It’s how much effort and stress it creates for you… every day.

I’ve done this for enough years to call myself a ‘professional’ commuter. And this professional says that the best commute is the commute you don’t have to think about, because you’re so good at it.

Time Shift
I think we’d all agree that the biggest challenge with returning to your daily commute is all those lost hours the traveling gobbles up. Now, I know that’s an obvious point, but if you don’t plan for that shift, the rest of your life can start to feel out of control.

So, you have to time-shift all those activities you had baked back into your home life.

Minimize Morning Decisions

The other critical factor is you must minimize any time related to your commute that’s actually not part of your commute. All of that should be pre-determined, scheduled and relentlessly followed like you’re training for a marathon. Because it is a marathon.

If you take a commuter train, you clearly need to show up every day at the station before the train does. That takes some precision, which requires leaving your home at the exact same time each day.

Here are five rules I follow to accomplish that.

Wake up and have your breakfast at the exact same time every morning.
Choose your work clothes the night before. That eliminates precious minutes that may get wasted deciding on a shirt color or finding a matching pair of socks (guilty).
Ensure your work bag is packed exactly the same way every day. Your work badge needs to be in the same inside pocket. (I guarantee that will eliminate 99% of misplaced badge moments.)
Pack a portable power bank (and cables) to charge up your tech later in the day. No matter how planful I am with charging up my iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods, occasionally one of them needs a jolt of energy. (I can’t tell you how good it feels when a piece of tech starts screaming for power, and you’ve got the juice ready to go.)
Grooming tip: If you’re planning a morning shave, and that’s not been a part of your regular WFH routine, bake in more time. It’s not going to go as fast as you’d think. (You can get away with a quick shave only if you’re doing it every day.)

Speed It Up to Slow Down

Showing up on time at the office is important, but reducing your stress throughout that process is the real key. The less you have to think about your commute, the better you’ll feel.

And that takes automating your ‘pre-flight planning’ as much as possible.

Being ruthlessly efficient will save time and free up brain space to help you regain your focus on the rest of your life.

Whether this is just for one week or every week, it’s my recipe for a healthier commute.

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