No surprise seeing as it’s now the best selling vehicle in America. I happen to like the new model as well. Looks like they have done a good job with it.
Tinker's latest brutal review of LC250 (15 Viewers)
- Thread starter rscoleman
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Absolutely. Looks awesome. - I just threw up in my mouth a little bit saying that.
But it's true. I really like it. Would love to have a Rav4 PHEV as our next vehicle. I hope Toyota actually produces in volume so we can buy them unlike the Prime that always had $20k dealer markups and were impossible to actually get.
This is incredibly cool.
Once we get EVs with 750 miles of range or more it’s going to be hard to argue against them. Charge overnight at home and drive for a month.
I'm sure that will happen eventually, but have a hard time seeing it happening prior to 2035 or even 2040. Battery and charger technology is not there and our electrical generation capacity/grid will require a massive buildout to support both widespread EV adoption along with data center/AI power demand (which is growing very fast unlike EV growth which is slowing). The EV boom was first forecasted in 2020 and we haven't made that much progress 5 years later, despite a ton of focus/subsidies towards EVs during that timeframe. While 750+ miles of EV range would be indeed awesome for most driving scenarios, they'd still need to have rather advanced chargers to top it off in a reasonable amount of time on a road trip.
IMO HEVs still offer the best bang-for-the-buck in terms of drivability and environmental footprint and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. PHEVs certainly make sense as well for shorter commutes, even if they don't make sense for me personally as I hop on the highway when I go somewhere.
We wanted to wait for a PHEV when we got our Highlander since my wife has a ~2 mile commute, but haven't regretted having a normal HEV one bit, as it's no different than a basic ICE vehicle other than it's smoother/quieter and requires far less frequent fill-ups.
Toyota dumping money and innovation in to their best selling vehicle (Rav 4) and parts sharing/cost cutting in the 250 platform after eliminating their low-volume, high cost, detrimental CAFE-impact vehicle (LC200). Hard to fault from a business standpoint.
As I've heard the kids say:
No lies detected. But still gets me in the feels.
Meaning this is true, but sucks to hear as a 200 fanboi.
I definitely think EV mass adoption (which is going to require that kind of range in my opinion, or at least enough range to make "station" charging a rare occurrence) is many years away.
My wife has an EV with around 300 miles of range and she loves it. We have a level 2 charger at the house and she commutes ~40 miles each way to work a few days a week. So every second or third day the car gets plugged in and she never has to worry about it. When it comes to road trips or longer drives we are using the ICE vehicles, though. That is the major barrier for many people - the range anxiety and the frankly shoddy quality of the charging network along this country's major highways.
I wish Toyota would give us an EV mode on the 250. Mainly to not start the ICE when I’m rearranging the stable. Then I wouldn’t feel the need to get the ICE up to operating temp for oil quality issues. Would be cool if someone created a tuner or hack for this. Pretty sure all the capabilities are there, would just require tricking the computers. Additionally it would be nice to have the option to force it to charge the hybrid battery when it’s idling. Maybe I’m the only one that runs into super short trips tho.
I think this would be a really useful option for deep water crossing as well. It's rare that I ever need to cross more than 100 feet of water that is deep enough to make me nervous, but it's semi-common to have short deep water crossings. Being able to just turn off the engine and cross would eliminate the need or want for a snorkel for me. And all I'd need is EV mode for maybe 300 feet a few times a year.
For really deep water a plug for the intake could be used, but I don't think that's really necessary, I don't think water would pass up into the airbox even submerged temporarily if the engine wasn't running.
Leads me to another question - are the HEV components of the 250 sufficiently waterproofed, at least as good as Toyota's other SUVs? My 18 year-old GX - with all of it's electronics (for the time) is superbly waterproof and handles 32" plus deep crossings with zero issues (other vehicles tend to get water in the interior and/or electronics). I would hope the LC250 - with more electronics - is just as good if not better than my archaic 120.
Otherwise, taking a HEV vehicle into deep water would certainly be make me pause.
I assumed it was pretty well sealed. But... maybe not
From the Tundra FSM:
Hybrid battery (traction battery)
Do not carry large amounts of water such as water cooler bottles in the vehicle. If water spills onto the hybrid battery (traction battery), the battery may be damaged. Have the vehicle inspected by your Toyota dealer.
Maybe the LC version is better protected? I haven't searched a FSM, but it would seem like a big miss if it says you can't carry a water supply in the back or it might damage the battery if it leaks. Or maybe Toyota is overly conservative on its warnings for liability reasons - like how they say not to use the front frame loops for vehicle recovery or towing in the USA and in other markets the FSM calls them tow points and shows them used for vehicle recovery. Hard know without tearing one apart or submerging for a while to see what happens.
I've dunked my tesla up to the door sills, which would the battery pretty much completely underwater. Most of the connectors and drive motors would have been above water though. No issues.
I've definitely spilled water in the back of every single one of my rigs before. Most of the time it's from the bite valve on a hydration pack being pinched open when something heavy is sat on it, a cooler with a leaky drain plug (this one usually makes the biggest mess - I'm just going to buy a better cooler), or wet towels/swimsuits/PFDs from a day at the river or beach. It's just something that's gonna happen if the rig is used in the way Mr. T advertises it.I assumed it was pretty well sealed. But... maybe not
From the Tundra FSM:
Hybrid battery (traction battery)
Do not carry large amounts of water such as water cooler bottles in the vehicle. If water spills onto the hybrid battery (traction battery), the battery may be damaged. Have the vehicle inspected by your Toyota dealer.
Maybe the LC version is better protected? I haven't searched a FSM, but it would seem like a big miss if it says you can't carry a water supply in the back or it might damage the battery if it leaks. Or maybe Toyota is overly conservative on its warnings for liability reasons - like how they say not to use the front frame loops for vehicle recovery or towing in the USA and in other markets the FSM calls them tow points and shows them used for vehicle recovery. Hard know without tearing one apart or submerging for a while to see what happens.
