Right after I bought ROW-B, our friends in Portland were rear ended and the insurance company totaled their 5 month old car (not electric). So they decided to try out an electric car and leased a hybrid Subaru Outback. They came up to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend with us camping on our property. This gave us an opportunity to check out our cars and compare them.
So far they have not driven it on the ICE engine. They do not have a need to as the nearest charging station is a two minute walk from their residence. Plus being in Portland, the station offers FREE electricity after 5 PM on week days.
The car is very nice, quiet, and snappy. It also has a nice cruise control system, way more advanced than my 2019 Toyota. It even figures out if you are paying attention to the road and will automatically stop if it thinks you are asleep or incapacitated. It also will override your driving to get you back in your lane if you wander out of it.
Unfortunately, it is still a few years behind TESLA for FSD (supervised). So the Subaru does not do trip planning, or adjust for multiple stops along the route. Still, a very nice car, then again having owned a few Subaru's over the years I may just be biased.
The husband did not feel comfortable taking a ride in ROW-B, but she was very interested in a ride. As a side note, she is the first person I certified in Permaculture.
Anyway, she was VERY impressed with Roy-B, as she hates to drive, especially in the city. They are keeping the lease because they invested the extra from the insurance claim, hoping to buy some land in the future.
I did discover in both cars they work better if you do not have sunglasses on or a large brimmed hat so the camera (s) can follow your eyes. Otherwise you have to continually caress the steering wheel to let it know you are paying attention. Can't wait for unsupervised FSD, then this will not be a problem.
Robots will bring PEACE soon.










