Recent content by fitek

I bought a VW where I got quite a bit off the sale price by getting some ridiculous dealer loan. I just looked to see if there was an early payment penalty and there wasn't. They told me I needed to keep the loan for at least six months but I paid the the loan off the next morning.

I have a T350HD high roof extended which does double duty hauling stuff (remodeled a house, still building another [3 years and running...], have a rental property) and weekend road trips, as well as towing my 4k lbs boat (though not very far-- 80 miles max). Downside is that I can't make it...

I insulated two vans over the past 12 years and did some comparisons while I had the interiors apart. This is what I learned to do: 1) Butyl mats do most of the work (the Ford Transit van actually doesn't need much compared to Sprinter) - mostly just needed on surfaces without bracing. You do...

Farley said small cars are the sweet spot where Ford can make money on EVs. Sure doesn't sound good for T3.

I read a book in the late 90s where the author argued that hybrids are the worst option from an engineering standpoint. I forget the name and the author, but it was interesting since a lot of this was theoretical at that time. With a hybrid you have the complexity and weight of two propulsion...

I contacted a few dealers with these vehicles. They're mannequins. There's no 0% financing even though they are new, so at least w/ my credit union's rates they also $7-8k more expensive due to interest. I'm guessing they're driving them around at the dealership and have them listed in case...

I insulated my Transit van with Thinsulate and 1/2 and 3/4" polyiso and covered the unused windows with Reflectix and it made a noticeable, though not major, difference, especially on the coldest days. At least drink cans don't explode if night time temps go below 32f. Anyone know whether...

In my state, construction projects over certain size need energy credits and solar is the easiest way (after heat pump water heaters) to get credits. You don't need a whole lot of solar, but once you've paid for the electrician, boom lift rental, and crew to come out the delta from the 2.5kW to...

I looked a week ago and there's not much inventory left, unless you like Flashes in Oxford White or Black (my two least favorite colors). Few smokin' deals left out there on the Flashes, but I decided on Lariat and those seem to not have moved down a whole lot.

What was MSRP on your Lariat? I almost pulled the trigger on a Flash a month ago for 65k w taxes, but waited one week and had a Lariat lined up for $67k incl. taxes (no ProPower 9.6kw, but probably more comfy). However, a friend bought a Rivian the same day and offered us their SUV for an...

Here's something which can give us an upper bound on the range improvement: I've swapped out two resistive water heaters for heat pump water heaters. Energy use dropped by 80% in both cases. It might be better to compare electric strip heaters to minisplits but based on having installed quite...

There were quite a few that were a few hundred OVER $80k when I searched. I'll bet they end up sitting on the dealer lots for a year. Whoever included the $500 mobile charger on those Lightnings should probably be in a different job :)

I had ChatGPT do a much more in depth analysis, adding what if we sell our "old" car and invest the money, and then discounting for inflation since payments are spread over 6 years. It's a difference of 5-6k with the current incentives new vs used, so really down to timing, availability, how...

I logged into my Ford account and then searched for inventory and found many Flash with 9.6kW in Socal. Not many up north.

I test drove a Mach E Premium after the Flash and definitely noticed the difference in seats. In general, the vibe was more upscale (and we test drove a used Premium which cost half as much as the Flash). However, it seems to be relatively easy to change the seats versus many of the other...