Please forgive the huge post. I hit the confirm button yesterday so I’m “in.”
It’ll be a silver/grey S85 costing about $95,000. I do not have a VIN or delivery date yet. Some rambling thoughts, mostly about how and why I justify the cost -
My current car is a 2002 Honda Civic which I have owned since new, cost me $16,000 originally, gets 36.5mpg real-world driving even now (on long trips) and it’s ubiquitous – nobody looks at me when I’m in it :smile:. I service it regularly but it’s pretty worn out now and I will need another car of some sort probably in the next year, and even though I could get a used car, I simply want a new car, since I will probably drive it a long time. I have spent over $16,000 in additional gasoline and servicing since I bought it.
My first car was a Porsche 924 :smile: and following that I had stuff like Camaro Z28 and Infinity Q45. All quite used, and none getting good mileage. The most expensive car I ever bought was a $31,000 Nissan Maxima. I also leased a Ford Expedition whose mileage was terrible and whose sticker was $39,000 - but I don’t think that really counts; the Model S is going to be 3 times the cost of the Maxima. As my financial frugality improved into middle age, I vowed to never spend more than 10% of my net worth on a car. The Model S is certainly going to break that.
I got an insurance quote on some 2013 cars. Porsche Cayenne V6 $92/month, BMW 528i $92/month, Tesla Model S85 $127/month – ouch! P85 = $137/month!
I’ve had three test drives courtesy of Jason @ The Domain. All were thrilling events and helped make my decision.
I have been rather frugal these past years and basically reckon I have saved enough to get something else - and much nicer. I started looking at cars in Q1 of this year with a budget of $40,000 – and with cash sitting in the bank. I had been targeting a 2012 BMW 328i (very slightly used), a modest and recent iteration of modern luxury sports car. I could be very happy with that. While I was looking around for the right car, I decided to try investing my savings, and on April 11th I tried TSLA since I figured they were kinda-sorta on the brink of expanding. We all know what’s happened since, and by the end of April, all my money was in TSLA and my attention turned away from buying a car and to watching how high the stock was going.
I started drinking some of that Tesla Kool-Aid that's all over the internet, including right here on TMC :smile:. I immersed myself in the thousands of posts about how safe the car is (early pics of crashes, way before the NHTSA tests or fires), how pleasant it is to drive, how spacious, great handling & speed etc. etc. – the stuff we all know. I watched dozens of YouTube videos of motoring press and public raving about it. Since my childhood I’ve been an amateur student of the natural sciences, sympathetic to the needs of the Earth, an enthusiast of sci-fi, cool design and early adopter of hi-tech stuff, and this car appeals in many ways, sitting as it does at the intersection of a lot of those areas. I found myself struck by Elon Musks’s humility, common sense, zero-bullshit answers and his self-imposed inability to dodge any question! He is exactly the opposite of a typical CEO - the type that returns any tough question with a slick volley of rehearsed rhetoric.
As my TSLA stock increased, and I had $60,000… $70,000… $80,000 and so on… I found myself for the first time actually able to drop cash for a BMW 7 series, 911, hi-end Audi, or whatever – and not just reading about them on Autoblog. For decades I used to buy magazines, look at the car on the cover and think critically to myself “yeah, I wouldn’t kick that out of bed…” – knowing I would probably never find myself in a position to buy one. That time is now… this is it!!! I can go to any dealership in Austin and drop cash for any car they’ve got. (even the Ferrari and Aston Martin places, but I don’t want to go over there to find out) But am I doing that? No. Over the last few months while steeping myself in the Tesla experience, I have changed my viewpoint completely. I DO NOT WANT any of those cars. I used to think I would be able to enjoy their massive, powerful engines that guzzle gas and rev and burble loudly, all for the sake of having a cool and fast car. Now, their whole philosophy disgusts me, to be perfectly honest. Burning oil inefficiently and blowing fumes into the air everywhere they go. Dealership service departments with oil filters etc. at the ready to keep them working. Exactly what we do not need more of in the world these days. The ONLY car I REALLY want is the Model S.
Today's established brands all ruin their storage space, interior space, NVH, handling and crash protection with these tanks of gasoline or heavy lumps of metal that raise their centers of gravity (and cause headaches for the designers to create complex suspensions to deal with it all). And then they pump tons of nasty chemicals out of their rears, that are harmful to people and the world directly and indirectly. By contrast, the Tesla has a flat battery underneath, helping with aerodynamics, center of gravity, and interior space. It gets great handling without even trying. (nice job guys) It’s quiet and vibration-free inside. Granted, it’s an “EPA Large car” but it has as much interior room & storage space as some SUVs. The Tesla’s tiny motor/invertor, which sits about the same level as the battery, is completely between the rear wheels – it’s not in some other inconvenient spot in the car, requiring shafts etc. to drive them. The sheer number of problems they’ve sidestepped with their “skateboard” design is amazing. To paraphrase Ash The Robot, "I admire its... purity."
Since my conversion to the cause, whenever I see under-the-hood pics of the latest BMW or whatever, it just makes me think about the number of moving parts there are, how much can go wrong, how much I would need to spend on maintenance and premium gasoline over 10 years, and how inefficiently the car burns that gasoline. I'm completely turned off them. Anyhow… you guys all know this, sorry for repeating it.
I will learn to put up with the absence of cup holders, grab handles, coat hooks, and ubiquity. :smile: Here is, for me, the reason I can afford to spend my $95,000 all on a Tesla and not simply buy a Hyundai Sonata and keep the rest:
The world is going to move over to electric cars, there is no doubt in my mind about that. I intend to keep my next car at least until 2023, and cannot be happy driving another internal combustion car for that long. I want to get electric cars noticed by more people... and do my part to move everyone over ASAP. To quote Carlos Lago from Motor Trend, this car is "massively important." It's important for the whole world - especially China and India! I don't want to wait for the 3rd Generation car. I want to help show people that electric cars can be cool even compared with the best of what ICE car manufacturers are putting out these days. (I applaud Nissan for putting out the Leaf, but visually... let's just say I would prefer a poke in the eye with a sharp stick) Finally, I want to give an electric finger to the dumb-ass Texas Auto Dealers Association - who survive on revenues from servicing ICE cars, and think they have a monopoly protected by phony state laws. We can still get the car we want, even despite their efforts!!! I couldn't be an early adopter if I wait until 2023. Everyone will know what electric cars can do by then. There is no alternative. It is a no-brainer… the time is NOW!
It’ll be a silver/grey S85 costing about $95,000. I do not have a VIN or delivery date yet. Some rambling thoughts, mostly about how and why I justify the cost -
My current car is a 2002 Honda Civic which I have owned since new, cost me $16,000 originally, gets 36.5mpg real-world driving even now (on long trips) and it’s ubiquitous – nobody looks at me when I’m in it :smile:. I service it regularly but it’s pretty worn out now and I will need another car of some sort probably in the next year, and even though I could get a used car, I simply want a new car, since I will probably drive it a long time. I have spent over $16,000 in additional gasoline and servicing since I bought it.
My first car was a Porsche 924 :smile: and following that I had stuff like Camaro Z28 and Infinity Q45. All quite used, and none getting good mileage. The most expensive car I ever bought was a $31,000 Nissan Maxima. I also leased a Ford Expedition whose mileage was terrible and whose sticker was $39,000 - but I don’t think that really counts; the Model S is going to be 3 times the cost of the Maxima. As my financial frugality improved into middle age, I vowed to never spend more than 10% of my net worth on a car. The Model S is certainly going to break that.
I got an insurance quote on some 2013 cars. Porsche Cayenne V6 $92/month, BMW 528i $92/month, Tesla Model S85 $127/month – ouch! P85 = $137/month!
I’ve had three test drives courtesy of Jason @ The Domain. All were thrilling events and helped make my decision.
I have been rather frugal these past years and basically reckon I have saved enough to get something else - and much nicer. I started looking at cars in Q1 of this year with a budget of $40,000 – and with cash sitting in the bank. I had been targeting a 2012 BMW 328i (very slightly used), a modest and recent iteration of modern luxury sports car. I could be very happy with that. While I was looking around for the right car, I decided to try investing my savings, and on April 11th I tried TSLA since I figured they were kinda-sorta on the brink of expanding. We all know what’s happened since, and by the end of April, all my money was in TSLA and my attention turned away from buying a car and to watching how high the stock was going.
I started drinking some of that Tesla Kool-Aid that's all over the internet, including right here on TMC :smile:. I immersed myself in the thousands of posts about how safe the car is (early pics of crashes, way before the NHTSA tests or fires), how pleasant it is to drive, how spacious, great handling & speed etc. etc. – the stuff we all know. I watched dozens of YouTube videos of motoring press and public raving about it. Since my childhood I’ve been an amateur student of the natural sciences, sympathetic to the needs of the Earth, an enthusiast of sci-fi, cool design and early adopter of hi-tech stuff, and this car appeals in many ways, sitting as it does at the intersection of a lot of those areas. I found myself struck by Elon Musks’s humility, common sense, zero-bullshit answers and his self-imposed inability to dodge any question! He is exactly the opposite of a typical CEO - the type that returns any tough question with a slick volley of rehearsed rhetoric.
As my TSLA stock increased, and I had $60,000… $70,000… $80,000 and so on… I found myself for the first time actually able to drop cash for a BMW 7 series, 911, hi-end Audi, or whatever – and not just reading about them on Autoblog. For decades I used to buy magazines, look at the car on the cover and think critically to myself “yeah, I wouldn’t kick that out of bed…” – knowing I would probably never find myself in a position to buy one. That time is now… this is it!!! I can go to any dealership in Austin and drop cash for any car they’ve got. (even the Ferrari and Aston Martin places, but I don’t want to go over there to find out) But am I doing that? No. Over the last few months while steeping myself in the Tesla experience, I have changed my viewpoint completely. I DO NOT WANT any of those cars. I used to think I would be able to enjoy their massive, powerful engines that guzzle gas and rev and burble loudly, all for the sake of having a cool and fast car. Now, their whole philosophy disgusts me, to be perfectly honest. Burning oil inefficiently and blowing fumes into the air everywhere they go. Dealership service departments with oil filters etc. at the ready to keep them working. Exactly what we do not need more of in the world these days. The ONLY car I REALLY want is the Model S.
Today's established brands all ruin their storage space, interior space, NVH, handling and crash protection with these tanks of gasoline or heavy lumps of metal that raise their centers of gravity (and cause headaches for the designers to create complex suspensions to deal with it all). And then they pump tons of nasty chemicals out of their rears, that are harmful to people and the world directly and indirectly. By contrast, the Tesla has a flat battery underneath, helping with aerodynamics, center of gravity, and interior space. It gets great handling without even trying. (nice job guys) It’s quiet and vibration-free inside. Granted, it’s an “EPA Large car” but it has as much interior room & storage space as some SUVs. The Tesla’s tiny motor/invertor, which sits about the same level as the battery, is completely between the rear wheels – it’s not in some other inconvenient spot in the car, requiring shafts etc. to drive them. The sheer number of problems they’ve sidestepped with their “skateboard” design is amazing. To paraphrase Ash The Robot, "I admire its... purity."
Since my conversion to the cause, whenever I see under-the-hood pics of the latest BMW or whatever, it just makes me think about the number of moving parts there are, how much can go wrong, how much I would need to spend on maintenance and premium gasoline over 10 years, and how inefficiently the car burns that gasoline. I'm completely turned off them. Anyhow… you guys all know this, sorry for repeating it.
I will learn to put up with the absence of cup holders, grab handles, coat hooks, and ubiquity. :smile: Here is, for me, the reason I can afford to spend my $95,000 all on a Tesla and not simply buy a Hyundai Sonata and keep the rest:
The world is going to move over to electric cars, there is no doubt in my mind about that. I intend to keep my next car at least until 2023, and cannot be happy driving another internal combustion car for that long. I want to get electric cars noticed by more people... and do my part to move everyone over ASAP. To quote Carlos Lago from Motor Trend, this car is "massively important." It's important for the whole world - especially China and India! I don't want to wait for the 3rd Generation car. I want to help show people that electric cars can be cool even compared with the best of what ICE car manufacturers are putting out these days. (I applaud Nissan for putting out the Leaf, but visually... let's just say I would prefer a poke in the eye with a sharp stick) Finally, I want to give an electric finger to the dumb-ass Texas Auto Dealers Association - who survive on revenues from servicing ICE cars, and think they have a monopoly protected by phony state laws. We can still get the car we want, even despite their efforts!!! I couldn't be an early adopter if I wait until 2023. Everyone will know what electric cars can do by then. There is no alternative. It is a no-brainer… the time is NOW!
Last edited:
Today I had a lady in a Merc giving the car some admiring looks and thumbs up. Nice!
