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Best Ski Cars?

Christy

Angel Diva
NY Times article, with many factors discussed:

Unemployment Is High. Why Are Businesses Struggling to Hire?
Health concerns, expanded jobless benefits and still being needed at home are among the reasons would-be workers might be staying away.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/upshot/unemployment-pandemic-worker-shortages.html

There's also a Planet Money, which was interesting, but it was also from October...still, they do address the core question. Their answer is, more or less, we just went through a period of major economic upheaval and it will take a while to shake out and regain balance. The economist they interviewed was adamant we do not have an actual labor shortage, as the hallmark of that is rising wages. And we don't have rising wages.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/02/919720917/jobs-friday-the-worker-shortage-mystery
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I've been seeing places upping wages too actually. Can't remember what the name of the water park is, but they are increasing salaries locally trying to attract seasonal employees. There was a story about it today, will try to find it. Theme parks in different parts of the country are doing the same trying to compete with neighboring states for seasonal employees.

I'm not sure if it's an increase or not since I don't know what the wage usually is there, but I saw an ad today as well for line cooks at a burger place in Bethel, ME advertising $15-$20 per hour full time which seemed pretty good to me for that area in the offseason.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
The NY Times article addresses rising wages at some places. It's these jobs that are getting the workers, and leaving other businesses that can't complete, like restaurants, and, I have to think, seasonal employers, in the dust.

Show me the money
“If you can swing a hammer, you can go make $25 an hour.” — Brandt Casey, manager of Cafe Olé in Meridian, Idaho, quoted in The Idaho Statesman.

The simple, Economics 101 answer to what a company should do when it has trouble recruiting enough workers is to pay them more. That is the logic that underpins the economic policy of the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve: Achieving a tight labor market will result in higher pay for workers.

But the restaurant industry faces a particular challenge. The sectors that have thrived during the pandemic have been on hiring binges, often paying higher wages than restaurants do. Amazon alone added 500,000 employees in 2020, with a wage floor of $15 an hour. Companies like Walmart, Target and home-improvement and grocery chains have all been hiring aggressively with wages at or not far behind those levels.

And as Mr. Casey suggested, those with some in-demand skills — whether in construction or commercial truck driving — can do even better. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings has raised its wages for newly certified drivers by 40 percent, to the point they can average $60,000 salaries.

That puts restaurants in a tough spot competitively. According to federal data, the median cook or food preparation worker made $13.02 an hour in May 2020, and dishwashers $12.15.

“When certain sectors have disadvantages like not enough tipped earnings or worries about the pandemic, you would expect reduced labor supply to those sectors and greater labor supply to other sectors that have experienced increased demand, like logistics,” Mr. Dube said.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
The homeless guy that sells the Real Change newspaper at my grocery store noticed all the scratches on my Prius and was giving me tips as to how to get them out. (He swears by the Mr Clean stick that comes in the box.) You know you need a new car if a homeless guy is giving unsolicited advice about how to make your car look less trashed.
 

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
The homeless guy that sells the Real Change newspaper at my grocery store noticed all the scratches on my Prius and was giving me tips as to how to get them out. (He swears by the Mr Clean stick that comes in the box.) You know you need a new car if a homeless guy is giving unsolicited advice about how to make your car look less trashed.
So, what are you getting???
 

Christy

Angel Diva
We were set on the Q4 e, but the AWD won't be here until early 2022, and now the Volvo XC40 Recharge is starting to seem more appealing. Both are more than I'd like to spend. Now I'm wondering if we should get the significantly cheaper/well reviewed/longer range/better fit for the tight turn from our alley to our garage/ but not AWD Hyundai Kona EV and just keep driving the Highlander when we ski. We need to go drive the Volvo. It only gets 223 on a charge, though.
 

2ski2moro

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We were set on the Q4 e, but the AWD won't be here until early 2022, and now the Volvo XC40 Recharge is starting to seem more appealing. Both are more than I'd like to spend. Now I'm wondering if we should get the significantly cheaper/well reviewed/longer range/better fit for the tight turn from our alley to our garage/ but not AWD Hyundai Kona EV and just keep driving the Highlander when we ski. We need to go drive the Volvo. It only gets 223 on a charge, though.
I drove the XC 40 in February. It put a smile on my face. So nice to drive, great handling, solid. The cargo area was quite small, but passable.

Weird problem. There was no approved aftermarket trailer hitch at the time, I would have needed to have a factory hitch built on the car at a cost of $1500.

I lease cars and the dealer was aggressively wheeling and dealing for a great price, but I need a hitch. The cars that were incoming with a hitch were a higher trim level and out of my price range.

i think you will like the way it handles.
 
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lisamamot

Angel Diva
Wait, what? I don't understand. I always put my skis in the car.
I have never heard of the freezing windshield before now, but I do understand it is a safety hazard if there is an accident. Skis in the car are pretty heavy flying objects; when I know I will be transporting skis, I try to have the Thule box on my car. All my skis (my longest are 177cm) fit in our Thule, but some of my husbands do not.
 

2ski2moro

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I just borrow my partner's Prius C to be honest. With the passenger seat all the way forward, and the rear seat down, I can fit my Ripsticks diagonally!:laughter:

My next car may be a hydrogen FCV

My DH is working with a company that makes fuel cells. While the technology remains a mystery to me, he is very optimistic.
As usual with new technology, there are new, bigger, stronger, more efficient things coming. DH has his fingers in R&D, as well as manufacturing the current generation of fuel cells of all sizes.
(As soon as the material shortage issues resolve, that is.)
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I drove the XC 40 in February. It put a smile on my face. So nice to drive, great handling, solid. The cargo area was quite small, but passable.
Oh, nice! Yeah, it has the same cargo space as our Prius. It's all about packing smartly, I think. It is actually 2" shorter overall than our Prius, which is nice for getting in and out of the garage. The landlord behind us built a DADU right on the alley--I mean, we practically back out and bump their front door, not to mention how close we get to the neighbor's fence--so short is good.
 

Tennessee

Angel Diva
For us country folk; everyone has a DADU in the Bay Area and apparently the Seattle area too…

1633905011188.jpeg
A detached additional dwelling unit (DADU) is a separate structure from the main house. It is typically located in the rear yard of the property, above or within a converted garage, and often referred to as a backyard cottage, laneway house, alley house, carriage house, or backyard studio.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Not sure if it’s been talked about in here, but I recently found out that Hyundai now has multiple models of plug in hybrids on their sedans and SUVs. I’ve been interested in the Toyota Rav 4 Prime, so definitely intrigued by some of the smaller SUVs from Hyundai now as well. I currently drive a Hyundai Sonata with almost 210k miles on it, and will drive that until the end, whenever that may be. So looking ahead.. Hyundai has been great quality wise, I’ve had no major issues with my car since I bought it new. Can’t beat the warranty and low maintenance costs, plus the price point to start is lower than others as well.

I’m just not someone who wants to spend more than I need to on a car, I’d rather apend elsewhere. I do like a lot of the creature comforts of the top models which Hyundai incorporates though.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I’m just not someone who wants to spend more than I need to on a car, I’d rather apend elsewhere. I do like a lot of the creature comforts of the top models which Hyundai incorporates though.
I hear that. My longtime mechanic has always been amused at how long I keep cars, too. I've only had 2 cars since I started going to him in 1994. I think it was the pandemic, and not spending as much on travel, plus turning 50 (and 51, and 52...) that made me give in.

Not sure if it’s been talked about in here, but I recently found out that Hyundai now has multiple models of plug in hybrids on their sedans and SUVs.

I may have put this in another thread but my mechanic was adamant that getting a plug in hybrids would be a mistake. That's what we originally wanted. He is a big fan of EVs but recommended we get another hybrid rather than a plug in that only gets 20 of so electric miles then gets crappy gas mileage; he also sees it as a weird bridge car that no one would want to buy in a few years esp since EV range is improving by leaps and bounds. We were thinking that since we'd be able to rely on electric around town that would be good enough but then realized it would suck to get 20-something mpg anytime we went skiing, hiking, on weekends, etc. Btw reviewers LOVE the Hyundai Kona EV. If it had AWD and a little more ground clearance it would be in the mix for me.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I’ve been interested in the Toyota Rav 4 Prime,
I love my RAV4 Prime PHEV. Got it in Nov 2020 (long story). Going to drive it to Colorado in Dec. First AWD SUV after two minivans the last 15 years. It has a range of 40 miles EV. I'm getting about 40 MPG when on long trips and I'm only driving it as a hybrid. I don't even bother to bring the charging cord when I leave home.

I'm not quite ready for EV yet, but the Rivian R1S sounds very interesting. Bigger than I need at this point though since it has a third row and can seat 7. EV range is supposed to be just over 300 miles for highway use.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Oh that's right, the Prime was definite the standout in terms of range and actual mpg. I think I forgot about that since there were only about 5 left in the whole US when we are looking.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Purchase made! Volvo XC40 Recharge. Now we just have to wait 5 months...

I also ended up test driving the VW ID.4 (EV), which was interesting, with it's 8.1" clearance, and it's less than 50K, and gets decent range (250/240 for the RWD/AWD). There's a You Tube review channel where the guy takes cars on local (western WA) USFS roads, which can be poor, and tests how they do on that. Which is exactly the kind of info I love, since this will be a hike and ski car. The ID.4 has 8.1" of clearance and did very well. In the end I just wanted a "nicer" car so went with the Volvo.

One funny thing, with all of these cars, is that 20" wheels are so trendy, but they don't seem to make any sense for an AWD that will be in snow and on bad roads. They are just about looks. We could have gotten a Volvo sooner but all that are on their way now have 20" tires. When I asked the sales guy why, he said, "People like the way 20" wheels look. No comment."

(If anyone's interested).

 

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