In addition to the brutal winter, I'd also say the summers there are also pretty brutal. Or maybe I'm just soft bcos you know... I'm from Vancouver LOL~

But I agree with Supafamous that I quite like Ottawa. I used to visit there often enough when I was studying in Ontario, and the vibe there is just sooo much nicer than GTA and the surrounding areas.

East Coast life is also very different than west coast life in Metro Van or Calgary / Edmonton. Road trips alone would absolutely blow anything we have here out of the water. During normal times, there are also so many more places you can head down to in the US from there. And Europe is a much shorter trip from there as well.

Had I landed a coop job there in Ottawa, things could have turned out very differently for me...

I'm curious where to. I'd love to tour around the Maritimes but I think that's a fair trek from Ottawa.

By "East Coast", my understanding is that it generally refers to SE Ontario to SW Quebec. And bcos of that, the destination options pretty much go in 360º instead of just either head south or east for us in Vancouver. And within that 360º of travel, the list of places you can get to within a ~10 hr drive is just HUGE compared to where we can go in 10 hrs here.

Assuming Toronto as the base of operation, the places that I can think of going would include, but not limited to:

- Detroit
- Cleveland
- Pittsburgh
- Washington DC
- New York
- Ottawa
- Montreal
- Quebec

Here, we have:

- Seattle
- Portland
- Calgary

If you want to tour around the Maritimes, the simple version is to use Halifax as your base, and just travel around NS, NB, and PEI. I did a trip like that after my university graduation, and it was epic.

I survived 3 Alberta winters in a row. Wasn't that bad.

Ont. / East Coast is next level. Lake Effect / Ice storms / the 401

:heckno:

I'm going to Montreal this May. Hoping to do a full maritime circuit next year :concentrate:

I shared this last year on RS, but my wife and I did a road trip across the American Mid-West (Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Lexington, Louiseville, Pittsburgh, etc.) and it was a really nice trip. Likely not on anyone's list of major cities to visit, but we got to see a narrative that you don't see on TV or the media everyday. We really enjoyed our trip there and would encourage anyone to visit...when it's safer to do so...from a political perspective. :badpokerface:

East coast is more city tours due to the population density, if you want epic scenic drives you cant beat the west. Utah, arizona, pacific coast hwy.
I’d like to drive to alaska one way and fly back but $$$$

Just leave your BMW there, no big deal. :troll:

I was looking hard for a green one but never found one. Ended up with a red one. Loved the car but had a hard time with two backward facing car seats in it so moved up a size. Besides the points mentioned already about feeling that the interior had been cost cut, the lack of a lsd in the back and relying on brakes instead meant that I went through two sets of pads and one set of rotors in under 100k kms on the rears only.
https://freeimage.host/i/3AQG3W7

Oh yeah, the summers can get pretty brutal. I usually went in late April when school was out but I did July once and it was oppressive. Worse than Toronto for sure.

Barrhaven, or as they use to call it, Farrhaven isn't bad at all to live in for families. I have two friends there and they both really like it, traffic isn't bad and all the major amenities are available in Barrhaven so you only need to go into the city if you need a night out at a nice restaurant.

Peak Ottawa was when Smith Falls still had the Hershey's chocolate factory open and you could go by and buy huge quantities of broken chocolate bars for dirt cheap. Also, the poutine is much better there than here.

That said, Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa is EPIC! It gets very hot during the day, but partying / concert on the lawn of Parliament Hill is something every Canadian should experience at least once.

(I went twice, so that should be enough for 2 lifetimes?) :badpokerface:

2025 Sonata Hybrid - Maiden voyage to the bottom of the sea

https://i.imgur.com/0kBmQz1.jpeg

Driving this car is like helming the Titanic minus the iceberg, lifeboats, or Leo.

Even the bumps you can't see send an “SOS text” from your spine because what the fuck did they do to the suspension?

Its 51-hp electric motor is about as useful as a fidget spinner next to the Camry’s 134 hp. There's no regen, no electric assist.

Fuel economy numbers? Pure bedtime fairy tales.

Wind and road noise so loud its ambience could start signing autographs.

They slapped a hybrid badge on a barge and prayed for the best - the bottom of the ocean is really where it belongs.

Before you defend the 290hp N-line variant, the Prius Prime accelerates 60-80 and 80-110 faster and has the same skidpad grip.

This car's a literal waste of batteries: it's rated for 54MPG highway but got 36MPG averaging 110kmh. This is worse than a 330i which gets 42 mpg at 120kmh.

Bro all the Hyundai hybrids have 50hp motors.
Toyota and Honda is 120-220hp.

0% chance Hyundai hybrid will ever have meaningful regen braking / hit the fuel economy target.

...are you replying to yourself?

Bro I am expressive disbelief like BROOO how is it so bad

Its so bad that Sonata Hybrid is not even offered in Canada hahaha, but really man?

No complaints from Tucson and Elantra hybrid crowd, they seem to hit their advertised MPG just fine~~

There's something evident here.

Either Tuscon and Elenatra owners are liars, or AstulzerRZD is a liar. Or both. :troll:

but why is every young brown fob driving one with the curb cleaners and #haruyana in the back window

You just described all of Brampton and the GTA. :ahwow:

Good to hear the buyers at end of the day are happy.

I'd expect Elantra to do ok - it's a lighter car & lower so should hit city/highway mileage even with the tiny electric motor.

Tucson I'm sus about cuz it's higher and heavier... Car and Driver reported 8.4 highway at 120kmh so that's a 20% miss compared to the rating (6L).

I had a 2025 Rav4 LE for a couple days, I didn't put a ton of mileage on it but with a mix of city and highway it got 7L/100km. That seems pretty good to me but maybe I'm out of the loop. At first I was annoyed that National considered an LE to be an Executive level vehicle but only having a backup camera and never having parking sensors or blind spot thingies yelling at me was wonderful.

I still like my wifes old V6 better though. As long as it's being used on the highway I want at least that much power available and I need the 3500lb towing capacity. It seems like everything now either has <2000lb or is a huge truck which kinda sucks.

Ya like low key the regular gas CUVs get better mixed mileage than the Hyundai hybrids because the EV/regen motor is too weak.

I usually grab a Grand Cherokee / RAM / Wagoneer from Exec.

I don't think they've ever had anything good since I got Exec status. Salt Lake was all minivans and a base model Merc, Calgary was all small mid-trim SUVs. When I was just pleb tier I used to see Mustangs and stuff. At least I was curious what a newer Rav was like, so it wasn't a total bust, but still.

They're pretty good at pulling something up if you just ask.

Off season, convertibles or Wranglers are an easy ask.

Most of the year, they can never get rid of pickup trucks or 7/8 passenger BOF SUVs (unless there's an event like graduation).

I managed to get rated mileage but it was a LOT of work.

1) have to tap the brake a lot to get it into regen and shut the engine off, even when going downhill where it should really be more aggressive with EV mode. Toyota does this automatically

2) HVAC has to be off, else the engine really won’t shut off.

Depends on how busy they are. In Australia I got the ford Everest , x3 and a shitty outlander. Sometimes you get lucky and they aren’t all booked.