Pherdnut
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
I only just pre-ordered the R1T in February so I'm wagering I'm unlikely to see my place in the queue hit before summer 2021 even if Rivian is up and running at full steam 2-3 months from now. Chicago's pickup laws are pretty draconian (EVs don't count) so I'm looking at SUVs or maybe sufficiently lifted wagons (ride-height and moving lots of stuff is important to my wife).
The master plan is this: get something I can pay off in a year that is not a 2001 Civic that will retain 90% of it's value with likely less than 10k miles added to it. Trade in or sell for down payment on an R1T whenever that happens. My mother-in-law's a marine. I have USAA access if that matters.
Criteria:
* Around 100,000 miles is actually a good thing because it's less likely to lose value and the plan is to sell/trade-in in a year maybe two at the most
* Not known for exploding at 100k miles (most modern cars aren't). Ease of resale is perhaps more important than reliability beyond "reasonable".
* Roomy enough to chuck 3 cats, a litterbox and a bunch of stuff into and flee, if it turns out Covid-19 is actually slowly turning us into zombies and only California figured it out fast enough (or possibly some less interesting crisis requiring evacuation).
* At least close to 200-217" because if if that's completely unmanageable in a city we don't have to parallel park in a lot, that would be better to find out on the 1-year car loan than the likely 4-6 year.
* Good for sleeping in on road/camping trips with at least a twin-sized memory foam or inflatable mattress. Lots of camping aftermarket options add bonus points to this point.
*A lot more modern than a 2001 Civic in terms of features we've never had like rear-facing+ cameras, smartphone/music service crap (important to my wife) - anything software-related even remotely related to autonomous driving like adaptive cruise control is less important (I dig it - horrifies her).
* As off-road capable as it can be without interfering with the previous bullet. I care about this one but "Happy Wife" is pretty much the first rule of robotics with me (assume I'm the robot). For instance, I was excited about a Land Rover Disco 2002 with very low miles. No. (also not sure if reasonable reliability)
@Rivian, if you're listening, I know things are in flux but once they aren't, considerations like this are a great reason to maybe reverse that anti-TMI policy I totally respect you for having most of the time; once things are less in flux, at least. In particular, I'm wondering if I might end up with a dilemma where I have this stupid loan that's not easy or cost-efficient to work into a trade-in vs. losing my place in a very long line. Some clue about schedule/details regarding what happens if you want to defer your position for a bit, would be nice once they're available.
The master plan is this: get something I can pay off in a year that is not a 2001 Civic that will retain 90% of it's value with likely less than 10k miles added to it. Trade in or sell for down payment on an R1T whenever that happens. My mother-in-law's a marine. I have USAA access if that matters.
Criteria:
* Around 100,000 miles is actually a good thing because it's less likely to lose value and the plan is to sell/trade-in in a year maybe two at the most
* Not known for exploding at 100k miles (most modern cars aren't). Ease of resale is perhaps more important than reliability beyond "reasonable".
* Roomy enough to chuck 3 cats, a litterbox and a bunch of stuff into and flee, if it turns out Covid-19 is actually slowly turning us into zombies and only California figured it out fast enough (or possibly some less interesting crisis requiring evacuation).
* At least close to 200-217" because if if that's completely unmanageable in a city we don't have to parallel park in a lot, that would be better to find out on the 1-year car loan than the likely 4-6 year.
* Good for sleeping in on road/camping trips with at least a twin-sized memory foam or inflatable mattress. Lots of camping aftermarket options add bonus points to this point.
*A lot more modern than a 2001 Civic in terms of features we've never had like rear-facing+ cameras, smartphone/music service crap (important to my wife) - anything software-related even remotely related to autonomous driving like adaptive cruise control is less important (I dig it - horrifies her).
* As off-road capable as it can be without interfering with the previous bullet. I care about this one but "Happy Wife" is pretty much the first rule of robotics with me (assume I'm the robot). For instance, I was excited about a Land Rover Disco 2002 with very low miles. No. (also not sure if reasonable reliability)
@Rivian, if you're listening, I know things are in flux but once they aren't, considerations like this are a great reason to maybe reverse that anti-TMI policy I totally respect you for having most of the time; once things are less in flux, at least. In particular, I'm wondering if I might end up with a dilemma where I have this stupid loan that's not easy or cost-efficient to work into a trade-in vs. losing my place in a very long line. Some clue about schedule/details regarding what happens if you want to defer your position for a bit, would be nice once they're available.
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