This post did not age well. OP ended up paying $7K - $12K more than what current buyers are paying depending on how you factor in Free AP vs $5000 EAP. This is AFTER discounting the tax credits. Sorry dude!
Yeah, it’s funny. My original post keeps collecting “disagree”’s, presumably because the “stealth performance” version of the Model 3 came back and continues to be made available, and at a lower price. I see this as good because I hope to get a “stealth performance” version of the Model Y. (As much as I love my Model 3, I really wanted a hatchback design. While I can get our two mountain bikes into the Model 3, plus all the other usual gear for excursions, it would be easier with the Model Y.)
Anyway, regarding the ongoing cost reductions for Tesla’s new vehicles (yay! for the future), I originally paid $73K for my “Stealth Performance” with white interior, pearl white exterior and enhanced autopilot. After the $5K refund from Tesla with their first performance price reduction and $7500 back for federal tax rebate (I wasn’t eligible for California‘s $2500 rebate), that means my cost was $60,500 in September 2018, not including state sales tax.
As of November 2019, it looks like a similar Model 3 build but without enhanced autopilot starts at $52,500 (white paint is now free, “stealth performance” is +$3000). Since you can’t order enhanced autopilot (navigate on autopilot, smart summon, etc), you have to add $7000 for full self driving. Then you can take off the remaining $1875 federal tax rebate for the remainder of this quarter, so that brings a grand comparison total of $57,625.
So I see $60,500 a year ago versus $57,625 now, or $50,625 if you drop the autopilot upgrade. A year of driving a sweet, stealth performance Model 3? Priceless! ;-) You could also I guess add the current $4K after purchase upgrade price for full self driving on my car to bring it to “future feature” parity. (I won’t pay that for difficult-to-achieve functionality that isn’t actually available or testable yet.)
However, even if you put the difference on the order of $10K now, I still cheer the progress that Tesla has made and their efforts to bring more affordable, sustainable and fun to own/drive vehicles to us all.