571–580 of 642 posts
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Why not? Toyota sells sports cars.
Toyota's sports cars actually show pretty well at how adverse they are to making them. The Supra has a BMW engine, a BMW gearbox and a BMW interior with a BMW infotainment system, while the Toyota 86 is a joint project between Toyota and Subaru, with a Subaru engine and built in Subaru's plant.
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I own a white model 3, I am not young or single, but I see how it could be judged that way. Well, I wish you could try one and enjoy the ride, because it is a well made vehicle, regardless of the clichés attached to the car.
I didn’t drive a 3, but I have done so for a Y. Didn’t like the lack of buttons that’s dressed up as futuristic but is really a UX hostile cost savings choice. Ended up buying a new CRV hybrid for 2/3 of the price, with actual AC and radio buttons (this year is redesigned and is a bit larger than the previous generation)
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> Apartments generally have a lack of EV chargers. That's the trick, people living in apartments are not supposed to own and operate their own cars going forward. As a live in an apartment myself I wasn't aware of that fact at the beginning, I kept asking myself: "how am I supposed to charge my car if I'm living on the 8th floor?". Turns out I was looking at the whole thing through the wrong lenses. What's really per…
Let them eat cake.
One thing that EV's have an advantage of is the reduced footprint of their drivetrain. The primary bulk of an EV is the massive battery that usually spans the bottom of the car opening up space in the interior or the ubiquitous EV "frunk" this makes for a more spacious interior and the Y takes advantage of this well. That being said it seems that 2023 is the year of the EV, my family is currently in the market for a…
If you're in the market, go for a couple of test drives. The competition is mostly regular ICE cars with a battery bolted on, while Teslas are designed from ground up as EVs and it shows throughout in ways big and small. We were originally leaning towards getting a Polestar, but the difference between driving one and a Tesla is night and day.
This is not true, it's not 2017 anymore. Everyone is designing their EVs from "the ground up".
How is it that people can both think that Tesla will dominate because building EVs is simpler, but also that the legacy auto world can't figure out how to do it?
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I assume you're not in the US since your pricing is totally out of place with most US consumer spending on vehicle maintenance. $50 for an oil change is about right, but every other year? Even Americans who don't drive that often will generally change it about every 6 months. Not to mention things like tires have a lifespan. Even if they aren't worn out, most tires are not meant to be used for longer than around 5 ye…
> Even Americans who don't drive that often will generally change it about every 6 months. What? Back when I drove a Corolla (in the U.S.) I never changed my oil more than once a year, and no one ever pestered me about it. Where did you get that?
Translation: luxury vehicles are the future of car sales. Model Y is 2 times as expensive as a Corolla. Plus you can go and find an older Corolla with 100k+ miles on it and pay perhaps $5k cash for it, then drive it for another 50-100k. I don't see people in the service industry picking up a used Tesla, now or in the foreseeable future.
It might be "2 times as expensive" up front, but not for the TCO. People really need to remember maintenance costs over the ownership period. In a Tesla all you're really paying for is tyre rotation / alignment / rubber replacements, and air filters. Plus the electricity, in place of fuel. The savings add up significantly.
What people really need to do is the actual calculation, instead of saying things like "the Tesla will make it up over its lifespan". Will it, really?
The difference between a model Y and Corolla is, what, $10k-15k? That is a huge difference to make up. Most of the maintenance requirements a ICE has are required by an EV, too (less oil changes). Parts are way more expensive on the Tesla than the Toyota.
Oh, and do you think that governments are going to just let EVs operate on subsidized electricity forever? No, they will directly tax it in the future. Meanwhile, gasoline prices could decrease over time as the world transitions to greener sources. After all, have to pump the oil (increase supply) while it has value.
TL;DR People who buy a Tesla to "save money" are likely in for a shock.
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I assume you're not in the US since your pricing is totally out of place with most US consumer spending on vehicle maintenance. $50 for an oil change is about right, but every other year? Even Americans who don't drive that often will generally change it about every 6 months. Not to mention things like tires have a lifespan. Even if they aren't worn out, most tires are not meant to be used for longer than around 5 ye…
Most manufacturers suggest 12,000 mile oil changes. By the time your vehicle is old and less valuable, 25,000 miles makes more sense as long as the oil from the last change didn't show signs of contamination by water/soot/particulates (since the cost of the oil change is fixed, but the additional devaluation of the vehicle by not changing the oil is much less). For a typical driver, that makes it once per 2 years. Th…
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Is this myth still lingering on? You have to pay a lot more on maintenace for Teslas: brake pads, shattered roofs, fogging taillights, broken control arms, drive units, worn out seats, MCUs, tail bumpers lost in the rain, ... that list goes on. Provided Tesla can deliver spare parts, which they frequently can't for months, which is a story in itself (hint: having to support x iterations may work for SW, but not for c…
I didn't know Toyota had introduced a model where the glass cannot break and the seats don't take wear and tear. What model is that? Does that model also not require oil changes?
Ah yes, the $100 annual cost of oil changes.
EVs are cheaper to maintain, generally. But the Tesla is a premium vehicle for which no after market parts are available, so there's a significant gap there.
I've heard some auto analysts suggesting that Tesla's trick to drop their car prices was not necessarily an act of desperation, as much as an action of opportunity. While all other car manufacturers are upping prices and increasing lead times, Tesla is taking advantage of this by having vehicles available and lowering prices in order to gain market-share in a time when other manufacturers are expecting and preparing…
When my Kia went tits up I called every dealer I could (except Tesla) to try to get a car immediately . They all had months-long lead times. Tesla? I downloaded the app and bought the car as an in app purchase ; 7 days later I picked up the car from the lot & left. If I'd been willing to settle for a white 7-seater, I'd've been able to pick it up same day. What's the point of being a car dealer if you can't sell me a…
Imagine Toyota with even 2-3% unsold due to people wanting electric or keeping their old Toyota's that last forever.
Thus, they're stuck in a pattern of under-building that reduces demand due to the many alternatives - it could be a vicious cycle.
Couple that with access to China: Toyota not so much, but Tesla is allowed to sell there because it put a factory there and uses BYD batteries. That's another vicious cycle: dealing with the devil to access that market only empowers the devil.
So it has little to do with EV's or with the Tesla model Y.