Finally getting my car back, hopefully

I finally got in touch with someone at the Kia dealership who said that my car will be ready to pick up tomorrow, after “only” a month being stuck there. Ugh.

They said that they were not authorized to do the full TSB repair and that they could only do the first-level sound mitigation, claiming that it was “just normal EV noise” (it fucking wasn’t) and that they can only actually replace the bearing when it actually fails. Given how much I drive that’ll probably end up happening both well after the warranty expires and in the most inconvenient situation imaginable.

OH WELL. At least I’ll finally have my car back, and can stop putting up with this piece of shit loaner that’s frustrating to drive and gets 22MPG and has basically no cargo space.

But knowing how the dipshits at this service center operate, I’m not holding my breath for my car to actually be ready to pick up at my appointment time.

Hyperfixation: Car comparison Notes

All dimensions are in Imperial units.

Specification 2005 Matrix XR 2004 Matrix XRS 2019 Niro EV
Fuel efficiency (combined) 29 MPG 24 MPG 112 MPGe1
Range (combined)2 380 316 230
Horsepower 130 173 201
Length 171.3 171.3 172.2
Width 69.9 69.9 71.1
Height 60.6 60.6 61.8
Wheelbase 102.4 102.4 106.3
Cargo, seats up 21.8 21.8 18.5
Cargo, seats down 53.2 53.2 53.0
Spare tire Temporary Temporary A can of fix-a-flat
120V power outlet 400W 400W No, and there isn’t even a 12V adapter to plug an inverter into
Purse holder No No Yes
Acceleration time, 0-60 9.0 7.8 6.2
Stick shift Yes Heck yes No :(

Car update

I took my car to the local Kia dealership to get TSB ELE234 taken care of on Tuesday. I still don’t have my car back or any indication of when I’ll be getting it back.

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Followup

I contacted CarMax about the missing EVSE, and they pointed me to a hidden compartment for service equipment, thinking it might have been hiding in there. The EVSE wasn’t in there either, but there was the “tire mobility kit,” so it’s good that I have the official one too!

Anyway CarMax is going to order me a replacement EVSE as well. Nice.

I suspect they saw the NACS adapter and confused it for an EVSE, which is easy to do — I’d made the same mistake during my test drive and walkaround!

But yeah so far I am very happy with the CarMax experience.

Bye LEAF, Hello Niro

Today the Niro became available for test drive and purchase, and I got the next available appointment. CarMax was super busy and they weren’t able to see me until nearly an hour after I arrived (ugh) but the process went pretty well.

I gave the car a test-drive and found that I really like it, and the OBD check showed no battery degradation whatsoever, so I decided to go through with the purchase. So now I have the nicest car I’ve ever owned (after giving the LEAF a little pat and telling it I appreciated our time together).

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