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$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

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Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#571

Post by londons_explore »

jiaweihli wrote: post #448
jumelles wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, Teslas don't have either of those...?

Hilariously enough, Carplay is actually standard on Camrys now (even the cheapest base model). What a weird time to buy a car.

I'd be interested to know if tesla's have the hardware to support carplay. Being able to stream 60fps video over USB with a custom protocol isn't trivial.

There are opensource projects [1] to implement android auto, so perhaps if someone runs that on a modded tesla, and gets a bunch of youtube views it might embarrass tesla into implementing it properly.

[1]: https://github.com/gartnera/headunit/tree/master/ubuntu

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#572

Post by icelancer »

pembrook wrote: post #548
elamje wrote: post #450

This thread is like politics - ignoring the amazing fact that an electric vehicle that can travel 220 miles is 35k (where many hybrids and other electric cars are way over that price point), to discuss the nuances of Tesla’s business model and how they market delivery fees etc. Comical. People 10 years ago would say WTF if they knew a high tech, all electric car with self driving ability was even remotely near 40k(in…

I don't know if you've heard, but the Chevrolet Bolt has been out for years now, and is also all-electric. MSRP has been about $30k after the federal tax credit. I'd say its more likely we aren't in awe because the Model 3 has been overpromised and the "mass-market EV" feat has already been accomplished by someone else. Of course, most people are like you in that they don't know that. Because GM is hilariously bad at…

The Bolt is not even close to the Model 3 in terms of power, looks, interior, ICE, etc. Model 3 sold nearly 40k cars through 2018 and the Bolt sold fewer than 9k. To call the Bolt a failure of marketing might be true but it ignores the fact that it is simply worse than the Model 3 in essentially 100% of the areas they overlap.

If the Bolt is "mass-market EV" the definition of "mass-market" needs to be revisited.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#573

Post by ollie87 »

vvanders wrote: post #408
eMSF wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Oil changes (in a car comparable in size to Model 3) cost me about 50 USD per 25000 km, or 15000 mi, indeed because the oil is synthetic and fulfills certain criteria. In any case it's a rather insignificant amount compared to fuel costs, especially with fuel taxes as they are. If oil change costs start to add up, there's a significant possibility of you doing something wrong (including the choice of vehi…

Well first off I'd probably never run a 15k interval. Pretty sure that's beyond mfgr spec. We run 7k in our diesel on full synthetic. Stretching a maintenance interval seems pennywise and pound foolish. You also have to consider how much your time is worth of you're changing it yourself to get that cost. Either way it's an added cost(along with transmission, differentials, etc) that you just don't incur on EVs. Right…

Heh, my car is on a 18,000 mile interval for the oil changes. It will also adjust based on how you drive it, it only asked for it's first service at 19,000 miles.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#574

Post by _pmf_ »

BenoitEssiambre wrote: post #37

"To achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable, Tesla is shifting sales worldwide to online only. You can now buy a Tesla in North America via your phone in about 1 minute, and that capability will soon be extended worldwide. We are also making it much easier to try out and return a Tesla, so that a test drive prior to purchase isn’t needed. You can now return a car within 7 days or 1,000 miles for…

> Over the next few months, we will be winding down many of our stores

Who needs repairs? Just buy a new one; it's cheap and easy.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#575

Post by londons_explore »

turtlegrids wrote: post #245
city41 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars have always had delivery fees. Delivering something that weighs several tons is not cheap.

It's cheaper to Tesla if they "deliver" it at their factory. I took delivery of my Tesla at the Fremont factory. was still forced to pay full delivery fee. insane.

I wonder what an efficient car delivery service could cost?

A car transporter carries 11 cars and can drive say 500 miles per day at a cost of $500 per day (including driver, fuel, and vehicle rental).

If the average delivery distance from factory to customer is 1500 miles, then transport cost works out to $136. Add to that the 'last mile delivery' which is probably going to involve a $20 per hour employee driving to the customers premises, doing a 2 hour training and handover process, and catching an uber home. Call that 4 hours, or $80 + $30 for the Uber.

Total delivery cost with an efficient delivery network could be $246.

Assume a 20% 'failure rate' (ie. where the customer rejects the car), and in those cases double the cost (returning the vehicle) and fold it into the amount the other customers have to pay, and you arrive at $369

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#576

Post by sokoloff »

alistairSH wrote: post #414
leetcrew wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you are financing an (entry level) luxury car, you are doing something wrong.

How so? The loan on my BMW is 1.9%, which is lower than returns in savings/investments.

I have my LEAF financed because it has a zero interest rate loan. I will end up paying that loan off shortly, because the loan is forcing me to carry collision and comprehensive insurance that I wouldn't otherwise buy, especially now that the car is 4 years old. (Dropping that will increase my exposure a small amount, so the difference between that increase in exposure and what insurance costs me is essentially the financing cost.)

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#578

Post by sokoloff »

FreedomToCreate wrote: post #388
jeffparsons wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "financing for a car" ... "ding your credit score" To my mind the mere fact that someone would borrow money at all to buy _a car_ is a huge red flag against their creditworthiness / financial responsibility. But I keep reading online that people who otherwise seem pretty sensible do this as a matter of course. Is it possible that living in a city with functioning public transport has sheltered me to the point of na…

The Auto Loan industry is huge. I would be surprised if more that 20% of the population could pay 35000 cash. Most people less that 40 barely have a liquid cash of 50K. To pull out 35K and regrow that remaining 15K back to 50K would take a year for someone making 100K. Instead you could take a loan which typically go for 3% for good credit, and keep that 50K in a high interest bank account (2% or more) and pay essent…

> Instead you could take a loan which typically go for 3% for good credit, and keep that 50K in a high interest bank account (2% or more) and pay essentially a few hundred dollars over four years to make sure you have cash available for a true emergency.

A 35K car loan at a net of 1.5% (3% - 2% + marginal tax rate on 2%) will cost over a thousand dollars over 4 years.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#579

Post by dalbasal »

BenoitEssiambre wrote: post #37

"To achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable, Tesla is shifting sales worldwide to online only. You can now buy a Tesla in North America via your phone in about 1 minute, and that capability will soon be extended worldwide. We are also making it much easier to try out and return a Tesla, so that a test drive prior to purchase isn’t needed. You can now return a car within 7 days or 1,000 miles for…

With pay-as-u-go rental apps/services becoming reasonably common, it might be worthwhile leaning on this to take care of test driving. Similarly priced cars here go for €10 an hour. I'd try it just for curiosity, and I have no immediate intentions of purchasing a Tesla (or anything).

If you are looking at the iron-ore-2-consumer chain of auto manufacturing for meaningful savings, it's hard to ignore the factory-2-consumer steps. Ultimately, that's a useful efficiency.

Now... "cutting out the middle-man" has a history of being much harder than it looks. You'll be following a well ridden path lined with skeletons. Just look at the factory-2-consumer markups on food, clothes...

Still... I think it's worth trying. If test drives are the bottleneck, it should be solveable somehow.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#580

Post by prepend »

gamblor956 wrote: post #466
twoodfin wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eligibility for tax credits is unaffected by witholding rates or how large your end-of-year refund or liability is. And anyone who can afford a Tesla is sure to be paying enough income tax to get the full value of the EV credit.

I love being told how taxes work by people on the internet.... I do this for a living. I have plenty of clients who saw little to no benefit from the EV credit because their tax liability was not large enough.

Why would tax liability matter depending on withholding or refund size? Credits work against tax liability independent of how much was withheld.
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