Do you know what brand of gasoline sits behind the 'Kirkland' brand of Costco? I just wondered because they tend to use high end sources for their 'private label' stuff. This week, Costco was $3.99/gal while the normal 'discount' places were $4.50 and the rip-off locals were $5.29.

Sorry, I don't know, but it probably varies over time anyway.

That said, I doubt that whoever is contracted to provide the bulk fuel is also providing their proprietary blend of detergent additives to a no-brand competitor, at least not if the contract is with one of the major gasoline retailers - Exxon, Texaco, BP, Shell. Those lower down the pecking order might sell their add-ins too.

I use the cheapest gas money can buy at the time and Mobil 1 extended life oil. Generally change at about 15k miles (but been as high as 19k), which iused to be about every 3 months but now it varies as I’m running two trucks.
The engine on my Tundra is still running in perfect order, got it at 80k and it’s just about to turn 270k - 500 mile jaunt to and from Georgia this weekend in it. It had a few transmission issues which the local populace would place firmly at the feet of the local clown who calls himself a transmission specialist - only after I employed his services did I find out his reputation! Otherwise it has had 2 alternators and quite a few new tires.

The old beater Frontier that I bought 18months ago, needing a rebore in one of its bank of cylinders, gets the same oil and gas regime as the Tundra and has gone from 185k to over 225k in those 18 months. Other than regular toppings up (Ahem, sorry planet) of oil it still runs like the day I bought it.

My general rule of thumb for longevity - I always warm them up before setting off, not for the benefit of the engine but to help prolong the life of the auto transmissions. And avoid short journeys, if you can walk it in five minutes then you probably shouldn’t be running an engine for that type of distance. I also try to avoid heavy traffic and will make fairly long detours to avoid being stuck crawling for over half an hour.

Hope that you're sitting down Mr P, 'cos this post is quite long, involves hybrids, specifically Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles.



Actually, I'm thinking that Mr P won't be too miffed, as we two have been chatting a bit off-grid on this very matter for quite a while... it's all anecdotal, a bit of a ramble, and may highlight some differences that we experience each side of 'the pond'.

---

I moved from Switzerland to Belgium almost six years ago, still in possession of my beloved Jaguar X-Type, a mere twelve years old at that point. I loved that car, really wanted to import it, but paperwork, associated costs and all-round hoop-jumping stopped me, so finally decided to best unload it back in Switzerland. Which finally turned out to be me unloading it in France, but that was above board for both Swiss and French authorities.

I visited my local Jaguar dealer here, and ordered an E-Pace, having first looked at the I-Pace but (despite wanting an electric vehicle) discounting it as not having a far enough range plus the ridiculous price being asked. So I got my E-Pace 2-litre petrol.

At the back end of 2020 Jaguar Belgium announced the PHEV E-Pace variant was to be released; I placed an order (with the trade-in value on my petrol version taken into account) and my PHEV E-Pace was delivered April 2021.

Brilliant! I can do the majority of my driving electric only, the odd trip out on the highway/motorway was acceptable. I bought a home charger, so plug in two or three times a week, all good.

Within the first year it 'broke down'. It refused to start in a supermarket car-park, with me laden with frozen food. No probs, 'phone Jaguar Assist, a nice guy turns up an hour or so later, arranges a replacement car, loads the E-Pace onto the transporter, drops me and my then sadly no longer too frozen stuff into the replacement car and takes the E-Pace off to the dealership. Six days later call from the dealership : all good, ready to collect.

And so it was, until the next time that it 'broke down'. And then again the time after that. And the one after that, but at least I managed to limp it home that time.

At which point I thought 'enough'; I borrowed OH's car so as to go speak face to face at the Jaguar dealership and was told to 'phone Jaguar Assist for them to bring it in, no way try to bring it in myself. (Mr P knows the basics of how that particular part of the tale panned out).

I need a new car, and it must be a reliable car: spreadsheets to the ready, all go in the mix (nine or ten I think), one by one dropped off for various reasons, finally got it down to a shortlist of three.

Volkswagen (Tiguan), Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.

Refine the spreadsheet as regards to (a) proven PHEV technical know-how, (b) price on the road in desired spec (!), (c) local dealership availability.

VW loses out on (a) and (b).

Honda loses out on (b) and (c) - on (c) there's no specialised Honda dealer locally

Toyota wins out on all three, - emphasis on (a).

Add another category, call it (d) - Warranty period ... Toyota (Belgium) ten years, the others being three and five - can't remember which way round, but heck.

---

Chatted a bit with Mr P as to how to maybe realise the best price for the outgoing Jaguar (still at the dealership at this point after three weeks) Mr P advised that either garage would likely put the Jag up for auction: Mr P was right (I came clean with Jaguar, told them we were done, rather than trying it with Toyota).

Took a Toyota RAV4 for a test drive - not to my full spec, but near enough - was given three days 'hold' on something close to my spec with a July delivery, the full spec that I initially wanted would be November delivery.

In US Toyota-speak this would be a 'RAV4 Prime' model, here it's simply 'RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid' and comes in about seven different standard layouts/trims.

Back home, pondered over a beer, signed, sorted. Jaguar closed the 'auction' three days later, the price ever-so-slightly down on my wished for, but still well in my comfort zone.

No bad vibes whatsoever with the Jaguar people, we parted on the best of terms - I insisted on saying good-bye (au-revoir?) to my man in after-sales, and my salesman mentioned almost casually that Jaguar are about to 'discontinue production' of everything apart from I-Pace and F-Pace, with 'something new' coming to market June-ish 2025.

Mr P, if you really do have even half an eye on an F-Type (sic) now might be a good time to look around...

I have the Toyota Venza Hybrid. The Venza is sold under different names in different countries (eg, 'Harrier') and to my eye, it looks very similar to the Jaguar SUV from the rear.



Regardless, it's been discontinued now by Toyota but it is to all intents and purposes a RAV4 (RAV4 chassis but with modified interior/etc). So basically, I have a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid ... (not the 'Prime' version). It's rock solid in terms of reliability. We also have a Toyota Prius Hybrid, from 2011 - never had an issue.

I think getting the RAV4 will be a good choice. My biggest gripe is with the 'capacitative' ('capacitive' ?) touch controls on the dash; I much prefer conventional 'push' buttons, but - I can live with them. Everything else is just perfect. And I get 39mpg US, which is about 49 mpg UK.

Good people! Only one way to buy a car -

Forget spreadsheets, etc .

Get in, drive it for say, 250 km, at least; hard and easy, get the feel for it then, and only then decide.

Get the FEEL for it,
Be comfortable with it
And then, want it!

Then go for it!

Which reminds me - in the US at least, Toyota has a RENTAL division at many of their dealerships. I rented a Venza for a week before making the decision to buy. The program is mainly intended for their service department, so you can rent a replacement vehicle while yours is being serviced, but it is a great way to preview their cars. Money well spent!

But to address your post specifically - reliability is a huge factor, and that's not going to be revealed by driving. That's where the spreadsheet comes in - read several reliability reports and summarize / weight them.

Nice looking back end in that pic, almost Jaguar (in a slightly more 'brutal' kind of way ) the E-pace didn't have any tail-pipes visible... the Toyota does, but they're just for show, they're not actually used...

Fuel consumption figures remain a total bitch to translate cross-pond-wise, not even taking into account US gallon vs UK gallon - or even miles but let's have a go.

Over here we measure fuel consumption in litres/100km; so I'm using the co-efficient (cheers SultanOfSwing (where are are you anyway?) of 280 which I'm guessing is based on UK gallons rather than US gallons, so my base take of 28 mpg (UK) would be 10l/100, 56 mpg would be 5l/100, et ceteras.

So, all things UK based, 49 mpg would equate to 5.71 l/100km; the Jaguar PHEV (when it actually worked) averaged 3.2 l/100km (87.5 mpg).

The RAV4 so far (six weeks in now, including one fairly long hard run on the motorway) has averaged 0.7 l/100km (196 mpg); the Jaguar would switch to petrol even if a pheasant farted in a field nearby, the RAV4 just stays with electric until such time as it decides it's dropped below its 'threshold'.

So - you've actually got the RAV4 already! I thought this was all pre-planning for an upcoming sale for some reason. Congratulations! I think the Jag is the best looking SUV out there, but a) it's way above my budget, and b) I've never heard good things about Jaguar reliability (or Audi, or BMW ...) so I'll happily stay with Toyota (or Lexus, which is just a padded version of Toyota). The one thing they did with the Venza / Harrier is make it very quiet and smooth inside; I've heard that the RAV4 is a bit more 'harsh' or 'bumpy'; how are you finding it?

I would have bought a 'Prime' (bigger battery, pluggable) version had it been available but I'm happy with my standard hybrid.

The Jag (when it was working) was a gorgeous drive, especially when fully in 'sport' mode, but that's a bit of overkill here - the roads are mostly dead straight, there are no hills within around 200km of home. I took the old E-Pace to CH just once, that was fun...

I've not noticed any appreciable noise issues so far with the RAV4 - the Jag developed some odd noise late on, but that turned out to be my knees knocking together following on from yet another warning light flashing up.

I haven't yet had the RAV4 in full sport mode - there are soooooo many performance tweaks and display configurations available - I'm still in the honeymoon period of knowing that I can go wherever I want (and back again) without worrying about breaking down. So this far I can't really say that it is any harsher or bumpier than the Jag.

One weird thing (that I actually knew about upfront) is that it doesn't 'do' Android Auto over Bluetooth, only via the USB connection. This is not proving to be a problem; the onboard navigation system (with a huge 12.3" display) works well enough, and I have the default audio setup to Bluetooth to the Galaxy 'phone. Should I venture somewhere that I might need Google maps then I can just plug the phone in.

I did plug the phone in for the first couple of weeks, but stopped doing that after coming home several times and realising after a couple of hours that I'd left the 'phone in the car. There are enough buttons on the steering wheel to drive Musicolet just fine.

There's no Venza/Harrier model available here, but poking around tells me that it's indeed marketed as a Lexus - not sure which model though.

I used to be a huge Audi fan - had one in the UK (80 Quattro), two in CH (90 Quattro then A4 estate Quattro), before moving up to a big Jeep for family camping holiday needs. When the girls announced that they 'too old to go camping anymore' I decided to lose the gas-guzzling Jeep - which was an absolute pig in snow, even with winter wheels and tyres - looked at going back to Audi, but was swayed by the Jaguar X-Type, much easier on the wallet. I never had any reliability issues with any of the Audis, nor with the X-Type.

Back to this comment for a moment ...
Your vehicle is a hybrid, is it not, and so still has a gasoline engine, and so ... still needs an exhaust system, and thus, needs tailpipes? On my hybrid (non-prime), it has twin tailpipes and that's certainly overkill 'for show', but it would need 'something' sticking out the back so they embellish it. Our Prius is similar - still has a tailpipe. The absolute proof of the need for a tailpipe is the fact that both our cars have catalytic converters, and we've had to pay extra to have catalytic converter 'shields' installed (after-market devices) because catalytic converter thefts are a big deal here in CA ...

Yeah, mine is the same. But mine is 2021, and I'm shocked that they still haven't gone to wireless AA in 2024; I thought it was 'imminent' back then. But I just use my phone directly to do google maps most of the time (I bought a magnetic 'vent mount') and I actually prefer having two map displays simultaneously - one for 'directions' (the phone w/google maps) and one for 'spatial awareness' (the car map on the big screen, suitably zoomed out to give a sense of where I am / where I'm going).

Regarding your car's 'built in' mapping / navigation system ... tell me more. On my 2021 model, it came with a fairly standard 'built in' nav system (possibly OEM'd from TomTom or Garmin or whatever), similar in concept to nav systems I've had for decades. But from what my neighbor here in the US tells me (she bought a 2023 model a while back) the basic Nav offering now comprises an 'embedded' version of Google Maps that's semi-hard-coded into the vehicle, and you pay a subscription to keep it updated. It has the look of Google Maps. You can still use AA of course to let the phone 'drive' the display, but even without AA you are using some form of an Android engine displaying some form of Google Maps. Is that the case with yours? I've always hated with a passion the built-in nav systems; their map displays are OK, but their 'lookup' / 'find' capabilities are generally stone-age by comparison to Google Maps. On my 2021, the map display is spectacular (thanks to the massive screen) but the ability to choose a destination is so utterly pathetic that I gave up using it for Nav after a few weeks. As I'm writing this, I did a quick read-up on Toyota's nav system and it does seem that they are now OEMing some flavor of Google Maps, at least here in the US. So is that the case with yours?
I believe its closest Lexus sibling is the N200 (in the US).

Ok, that was a bit of a tongue in cheek (foot in mouth?) comment.

What I was really meaning to convey was that the RAV4 doesn't actually use that much fuel (way less than the Jag did) hence the 'tail-pipes are for show' remark.

I'll try and find a pic of my ex-Jag rear end, which will clearly show the absence of visible tail-pipes.
I'll be catching up on that one later, given the "off-grid" updates.

That looks to be pretty close to the RX450H here; it was on my initial spreadsheet, but got dropped due to the astronomical asking price

True!

The RX450H is the top of the line from Lexus, and is indeed outrageously priced! But - I thought the Jag was also outrageously priced ... is the e-pace cheaper than the RX450h? My last car before the Venza was the Lexus RX350 (the non-hybrid version of the RX450h). It was a very nice, very 'upscale' car with a super-smooth V6 3.5 liter gasoline engine and whisper-quiet interior. I bought it used, though, as it was out of my price range otherwise. When it came time to replace, I couldn't afford the RX450H - not even a used one - so I opted for the Venza. Interestingly, while most 'hybrid versions' of a mainstream car model reduce the engine size of the gasoline component to allow for the presence of the electric component, with the RX450h, they kept the V6 3.5 liter gasoline engine and ADDED a hefty electric motor, making the RX450h a very powerful beast!

FWIW, the N200h is the scaled-down, cheaper version of the RX450h based on the same chassis as the RAV4/Venza line.

Here, the E-Pace is definitely cheaper than the RX450H, I think roughly by around €10k, but don't quote me on that.

As to engine sizes: my original E-pace was 2.0 litres, 4 cylinders, the PHEV was 1.5 litres, 3 cylinders, the RAV4 is 2.5 litres, 4 cylinders.

Normality would seem to have been restored

This 1 litre upshift will likely impact my road tax, but it won't surpass the tax payable on the non-hybrid Jag.

The authorities will let me know soon enough ...

Where should I be looking in the onboard Toyota massive display gubbins so as to be able to answer your other (mappy type) questions?