My Prime lease is ending and I'm going Tesla Model 3.

Okay

 

You would rather have "fake leather" like the Prius & Prime? I am sure Tesla is such a "green" car it does not use real leather.

 

I’d rather be able to pull into a gas station after driving over 1,000 miles when I’m out and about and be able to fill up (if needed) rather than making sure I speed back home to charge a Tesla since the closest charging station that we have is over an hour away.

Come on. We all know Tesla is great. No doubt. But for MOST people it continues to be a 2nd car for playing around. Most Tesla owners have gas vehicles on the side. (That alone tells me something.)

 

@bwilson4web backup car will have about as small a gas engine as you can get in a car.
It is still an EV, though not a gas engine car. The engine just runs a generator IIRC.

 

No disagreement, but why the need to posit in someone’s Tesla thread, or use leather seats as a diversion?

 

Point taken. Thanks.

 

Tesla is an unreliable car (compared to Toyota) requiring special knowledge and diagnostic equipment to service. If you want to get a Tesla or German car, LEASE IT!!!

Or if you have the money and a $2-4k yearly repair bill outside of warranty is ok for you, then feel free to buy. But do not expect Toyota level quality, Tesla does not have the decades of manufacturing expertise to deliver on that.

 

A Tesla service center?? 19 miles, relatively speaking, is in your living room.

I think that can be said about most people who own an EV. But, if you have 200+ mile range and only go farther once or twice a year, rental cars with unlimited mileage are pretty cheap. Far cheaper than a second vehicle.

 

Hey don’t get me wrong if I had that type of cash to own a Tesla as a “play” car on the side... I would. Most people don’t though.

 

Beats the heck out of leather.

The Softex seats in my Prime were unusable. I covered them with a particular cloth. The leather seats in my Mom's Avalon were equally unusable - hot, cold, slippery, uncomfortable.

Cloth is easily the best material for car seats.

The Toyota dealer is within shuttle service to my office so I can drop the car off in the morning, shuttle to work, and the shuttle will pick me up at my office to take me back to my car. Easy. The only Tesla service center in my area is the opposite direction and twice as far away - not practical.

 

............

 

That is convenient. The closest Tesla service center to me is 2.5 hours away in New York as some collision center (seems an unlikely place but that is what the Tesla map shows). Obviously my area isn't exactly high on Tesla's market area list. That said there are some brave souls around, I've seen a number of Model S's and the 3's are just starting to show up.

 

You's got more loot fer "bandaids" then I's got. My dad loved Oldsmobiles. I loved his '64 Olds 88:
1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 | F62.1 | Harrisburg 2017

 

Before buying a Tesla, ask current owners how easily they get service appointments.

My cousin loved his Model S. He dumped it when it became a headache to get service. No one else will touch the Tesla, and they didn't ramp up service facilities as they increased sales. He wanted a Porsche, but that dealer refused to take the Tesla in trade. A friend of his bought a loaded Model S. The electronic door handle on the driver's side failed in a couple of weeks. The appointment to replace that under warranty was 4-1/2 weeks out. Angry new owner.

Maybe it's just me, but when I see the front of the Model 3 I think of an Amphicar. Something similar about the front end appearance.

 

Yeah, its just you. Now for me, I have several wheels (with tires to fit them) that fit Hyundai Elantra, with its common 5x114.3 bolt pattern. I understand the Tesla also has a 5x114.3 bolt pattern with same offset, altho with a 64mm center bore. But, the big problem appears to be the big Tesla brakes. Will there be clearance for standard 5x114.3mm 18 inch wheels on the Tesla Model 3? I think the Hyundai Ioniq still may be my choice when it appears with 64kWhr battery pack, altho the Tesla Model 3 is the much better looking car.

 

There are places and situations, requirements, that rule out a Tesla. Others, like us, find the Model 3 matches their requirements:

• Safety
  • accident avoidance - basic Autopilot is better than TSS-P in the Prius Prime
  • accident survival - crash testing has five stars in all categories
• Efficiency
  • around town, EV is half the cost of gas
  • on the highway, EV can be gas competitive using SuperCharger
• Range
  • +120 miles, Huntsville to Nashville
  • can follow SuperCharger linked routes

Our backup car, a BMW i3-REx, can do the same using the gas engine for long distance travel. But I don't fault anyone who chooses a different car that meets their requirements. For example, between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River.

There are SuperChargers are along the Interstates leaving many areas between the Interstates without fast DC chargers. The Dodge City, Garden City, and Liberal Kansas areas are a fast charger desert. Those are places where the 640 mi range of Prius Prime shines.

Bob Wilson

 

Well, one of my main requirement is TCO, that is why I bought 1.5 year old Prius and am driving it for 8 years now. Next one will definitely be EV, but Tesla is still just too expensive, and EVs on this side of the pond tend to keep their value rather well, so no cheap used option for now. Will se what will happen in 2-3 years, maybe base used M3 will come down into the budget.

 

Right now it seems like supercharger rates are nearly twice the cost of putting gas in a Prime. I just paid $1.99 a gallon and average 56mpg on the open road for a cost per mile of about three and a half cents. Superchargers are now over 26 cents per kWh in many places making a car that gets 4 miles per kWh on the open road - if you're lucky - cost six and a half cents per mile.

 

Please stop comparing the Prime with the Model 3. It's in the entry level "luxury" category. So compare it with car that gets 30 mpg running on Premium with cloth seats. /S

 

Bob is switching from Prime to Model 3, so comparison is in order, or is it not?