My 2009 Mitsubishi I-miev in Southern California bought in 2015

[Dailydriver]

Purchased 2009 EV in 2015 from Mitsubishi dealer for $9000 with 10,000 miles on it. It was a government car. I distinctly remember being asked if I was OK with car coming with only 1 key. I accepted not knowing till later that a key would cost more than $450 (never got it). Also turned out in less than 10K more miles that tires would need to be replaced. Obviously someone switched the tires on car for older ones. $500+ for set of 4. Air filter needed to be replaced and they wanted $300 to install, turns out the $30 filter could be put in by anyone with screw driver and knowledge that filter was located behind glove box. Other than that I had ZERO problems with vehicle. I drove it almost everyday, had a charger in garage and plugged EV in with 110v charger every time I came home. Also have solar at home so that brought cost of charging to below 10 cents kWh.

Had LOTS of terrible experiences with charging on the road. Weirdly enough the most reliable chargers were the 220v available for free at grocery store, library and once late at night the city hall of San Juan Capistrano (at time charger shut down at 10pm which gave us just enough to get to charger in Oceanside). First ride was from El Cajon to Escondido of 40 miles freeway (5 miles of sight seeing with my Dad to show the car) and last energy bar light was blinking. Best distance I ever got was 56.2 miles of 45mph or less with last miles circling the block. Hit 90mph once on down hill of freeway to see what it could do. Was stable even at that speed. I loved the car, but wished the rear seats were gone and area made for storage. Never had more than 1 passenger at a time and 90+% was driving alone. Think it could have been a camper for one with other seats removed, lot of potential. I'm 6'2" 300 lbs and never had an issue fitting except for width of seat which was a bit to tight as it turned out.

So in the end the car was rear ended in an Arby's drive thru in 2020. Yes very weird. I drove very defensively to avoid any damage as I knew repairs would be $$$. One day I decided to get a Arby gyro and was waiting in line behind a Mercedes. When from behind I hear this awful roar of a vehicle flooring it. SMASH! Blacked out for a second, came to with sound of engine going full bore for 20 secs or so. Turns out 90 year lady driving some Detroit sedan had mistook the gas for the brake, got confused in accident and kept the gas floored. Lucky I had foot on brake and so Mercedes only had minor damage cosmetic (probably still expensive). I broke a rib, most likely due to tight fit of seat and back end of the car's plastic was caved in pushing against the rear tires. When tow truck came, they looked at it, wrapped chain around plastic and ripped it off. with it gone I could see battery pack and tires easily. Nothing appeared damaged, which later was confirmed. So I drove it home. Brought it in for evaluation and it was deemed totaled due fact parts would have have to be shipped from Japan and that cost more than car was worth. I got $7500 in compensation (nothing for my rib, probably should have brought that up as it hurt for a very long time).

So for about $3000 I got to drive 10,000+ miles including insurance or about 35 cents/ mile at a close guess. Which is about 1/2 of what it cost on average at that time. But it was perfect my needs as I had a place to park it, charge EV and 90% of where I needed to go was less than 15 miles and work was less than 3 miles away.

 

[michael8554]

I thought US production didn't start until October 2011, maybe your 2009 was one of those evaluation models sold to governments ?

In the UK I've had the same experience of only a few brands of CHAdeMO chargers working.

I've seen images in this section of I-MIEV's with the rear seats out ?

I once rear-ended another car when my foot slipped off the brake onto the accelerator, and my brain went into a panic loop of more right foot would somehow mean more brake.

 

[wmcbrine]

The rear seats can fold flat, level with the trunk space. You just have to take off their headrests first.

Although I rarely have back-seat human passengers, I mostly keep the seats up, either to create a more confined space for the cargo, or to have a cat carrier seat-belted in to a rear seat (it seems more secure than other options).

 

[JoeS]

One advantage the i-MiEV has over almost every other BEV is its completely flat floor with the rear seats folded down. I very rarely put up the rear seats and added the carpet over ten years ago. Post#17:
https://myimiev.com/threads/imiev-as-workhorse.1428/#post-8818

 

[pbui19]

Nothing appeared damaged, which later was confirmed. So I drove it home. Brought it in for evaluation and it was deemed totaled due fact parts would have have to be shipped from Japan and that cost more than car was worth. I got $7500 in compensation (nothing for my rib, probably should have brought that up as it hurt for a very long time).

So for about $3000 I got to drive 10,000+ miles including insurance or about 35 cents/ mile at a close guess. Which is about 1/2 of what it cost on average at that time. But it was perfect my needs as I had a place to park it, charge EV and 90% of where I needed to go was less than 15 miles and work was less than 3 miles away.

so did you buy back from the insurance company ? as it was still drivable ? guess not as your pix caption says "a pick up truck will fill that parking spot"