It’s been some time since I provided a car update, so I decided to showcase a few things I’ve learned about my cars since the last one. In this post:
- A Second EV: Lucid Gravity
- Efficiency and Tires on the Tesla Model Y
- Serendipity with a Suburban
This is part of a series of thoughts on cars, just for fun. These are my thoughts and opinions based on my experiences.
Our Second EV: Lucid Gravity
We bought a Lucid Gravity after driving it one day. We’d driven a few other EVs and then stopped by the Lucid dealer because we had an hour and it was close. We weren’t expecting to be impressed by the car, but we were. In fact, we immediately stopped thinking of the other cars.
After a few hours of debating it, we bought one in the airport while waiting for a flight. It’s amazing to see how much easier it is to buy from Tesla and Lucid than other deals.
It’s the nicest car I’ve ever owned, and it’s an EV with great acceleration and handling. It’s also got a squashed steering wheel, which I am surprised I like. It’s easy to control and has a nice space to rest my wrists.
There are some weird things with software, and I have already learned how to “reset” the car. It took me a few minutes to get it right, which is weird. I have to press the brake and then press two buttons on the steering wheel. This didn’t fix the issue I was having with switching profiles, but it was an interesting experience to reboot the car.
One of the things I love is the cooled and massaging seats. I might get tired of this over time, but I have a bunch of different settings and there are a few I’ve enjoyed on our drives.
If you think about a Lucid, use my referral link. We’ll both get some credit.
Efficiency and Tires on the Tesla Model Y
In about 4 years of driving the Tesla Model Y, covering almost 60k miles, I had a long term efficiency of around 250Wh/mi. That’s just a bit below the rating for the car. I think I did very well, driving mostly at 45mph and lower in chill mode.
A friend sold me the spare 18” wheels from his Model 3 when he got rid of his car. I put them on mine, mostly because he had better tread than my summer tires. I didn’t think much of this until I checked the efficiency one day.
I was in the 205Wh/mi range with the smaller tires. Now, the software doesn’t have a setting for 18” tires on the MYLR, so I left it at the 19” stock tires, so possibly there is a calculation error, but I got > 10% efficiency improvement from changing wheels and tires. Smaller, lighter tires, but still. That’s crazy.
As we looked for new cars, I was aiming for the smallest tires I could get, both for replacement cost and efficiency.
Serendipity with a Suburban
In 2006, I bought a 2001 Chevy Suburban for $6500. The car had 101,000 miles on it and we were slightly nervous, but with a family of 5, we wanted a car that would carry all of us skiing and on trips. The AC died the next year, but that car has served the family driving all over CO, WY, and NM for many years. Each of my kids had driven it, one even banged into a concrete barrier in the snow.
I felt this was the best car investment we’d made over the years. I sold it in 2026 with 250,000 miles on it. We’ve basically done regular maintenance (oil, brakes, tires) and replaced minor parts across the roughly 150,000 miles we’ve owned it. The car was old, had rust on it, and in the hot CO summers, it was a car my wife used carrying the dogs from client to client.
She wanted something better.
I had been periodically looking for a good deal when I stumbled on a 2010 Suburban with 203,000 miles on it, It was a 3 owner car, no accidents, lots of records of service.
It was listed $6500 (I paid $6200).
I made my wife cut short work one Sat and we drove down to a dealer, getting there just before they closed. A bit of a test drive and we bought it that night. So far, about 8k miles in, it’s performed as well as the old one.
And it has AC.
Still feels like a good deal and a good choice. 20 years later, same price.