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Critique My Strategy: Blindly Buying the Base Model

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Well, that's pretty authoritative, then. I forgot who said it, but it's true: "A luxury, once enjoyed, becomes a necessity."

What about navigation? Seems silly to navigate off my iPhone with that big monitor sitting there front and center, taunting me with its non-helpfulness.

Do some cars not come with navigation? I agree this would be pretty important.
 
To me, this is about buying a luxury item for the least amount of money while also being as strategic as possible in order to resell it down the road for minimal depreciation or regret I didn't get more upgrades.

Tesla has made this an easier proposal than most other manufacturers. For example, buy the base S60 and upgrade only seats and pano roof, nothing else. Since the car itself will be new, novel and exciting for many months you won't miss the AP during the honeymoon period. If you decide you want the AP down the road, add it (yes it costs $500 more after the fact).

If you decide you need more range then add it down the road (yes I know it costs more here later too). You can't add the roof later on and the seats would be crazy expensive to add later. The sound system can also be upgraded third party later. Wheels and tires can be u-graded anytime and cheaper. The suspension is not an upgradable option but I seldom see people regretting the decision on either package.

Generally speaking. When it comes to "resale" I see people saying "I'd buy this if only it had: AP, pano roof, next gen seats and color of course (nothing you can do about this)... I don't see deal makers as a result of: suspension, sound system upgrade, heated steering wheel, lighting kit etc. a base S60 with those two upgrades in solid white I think would be a car with 90% of the "wow!" for 60% of the financial "ouch!" To me, that's bang for buck.
 
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Ah, audio, right, thanks for reminding me. I'm a music lover, but upgraded audio is usually just about louder audio, which isn't my thing, and I have to assume the base car's stock audio is pretty darn good.

I'll look closely at that sunroof, but, again, even without "nice" stuff, it's still going to be overwhelmingly luxurious for me.

About the audio:
After making the test drive, that was one of the things I discussed at the store about. We ended up listening to a song I picked on Spotify in a car with standard audio and in one with the Ultra High Fidelity audio. When listening in the one with standard audio, I thought: that's quite good, I don't think I want to pay € 2.800 for the UHF audio. When listening to the same song in the car with UHF audio at normal sound level (certainly not "loud"), I could clearly hear the difference, but still wasn't convinced. In the end, shortly before the confirmation I ended up adding that option. And I certainly can't be considered an audio-freak.

As for my car history, I've always liked luxury cars. For example, I already had a car with leather seats back in around 1994. That was quite rare back then, certainly where I live.
My current car is the most expensive I bought so far, a Peugeot 607. Bought it pre-owned, 2 years old, for € 30.000. Slightly smaller than the Model S and still considered a large luxury car around here.
So, the Model S that I recently ordered isn't a big upgrade for me in the luxury and size aspects, but it certainly is price-wise at more than € 120.000.

Options and extras that I chose:
Model S 90D, Obsidian Black paint, Black Nextgen seats, Black Alcantara headliner, Autopilot, Premium upgrade, air suspension, UHF sound, 19" winter tires.
 
If you NEED autopilot, just get the base bare model (with Pano roof since you seem sold on that if you want) and leave all the other options out. You will be just fine.

If you don't need autopilot, then skip new, and buy a top of the line CPO with all the trimmings for less then a base model new would cost.
 
Elbie,

Thanks! Do you also own regular tires, and switch seasonally?
Yes, that's quite common nowadays in The Netherlands. Winter tires will wear out very quickly in our summers, so normal tires is an absolute must.
Winter tires aren't an absolute necessity here, unless you go skiing in the Alps (and go there by car). Then you really cannot do without.
 
On the original topic, for 20 years I have not even gone near a dealer when buying a car. I call the sales manager and order a no options version of whatever model I want. All have been entirely satisfactory and I do do preresearch. A car is just an expensive appliance. I have an identical car to what you want on order right now( see my thread). There is no such thing as a must have option. Push the order button and relax. You will love the car. Oh, and do use a referral.
 
Probably not buying till December, hopefully they'll have another program by then. Thanks, all.
Looks like one awesome Christmas gift!
Am pretty sure you can put your deposit down before July 15th, making sure your order confirms before the 15th, and ask for a December delivery. This way, you are just on the hook for the deposit now, lock in your price and referral credit, and get the car when you actually want it.
 
Looks like one awesome Christmas gift!
Am pretty sure you can put your deposit down before July 15th, making sure your order confirms before the 15th, and ask for a December delivery. This way, you are just on the hook for the deposit now, lock in your price and referral credit, and get the car when you actually want it.

Smart, and logical, but that's not my situation. I'm an entrepreneur who only gets paid if the project du jour is successful. I'll know by December about my latest. If it flops, I'll be sticking with my Camry for another few 100K miles (I'm lucky enough that I can live on savings, but it'd be imprudent of me to do so luxuriously).
 
Smart, and logical, but that's not my situation. I'm an entrepreneur who only gets paid if the project du jour is successful. I'll know by December about my latest. If it flops, I'll be sticking with my Camry for another few 100K miles (I'm lucky enough that I can live on savings, but it'd be imprudent of me to do so luxuriously).
That makes sense. Since this is round 3 of the referral program since last fall, one can only imagine round 4 will happen in a time frame that works for you.
You will be all over these forums for months to come! Can't wait to see where you land on your order come December!
 
I don't think you have to order a single option to be happy. You can order the autopilot later if you don't want to spend the $2500 + tax up front. I don't know if enabling the autopilot for $3000 later is taxable. Might be. Might not. I would miss the power liftgate from the premium package but nothing else and I could certainly live without it if money were an issue. I don't have the heated steering wheel in my Subzero package but I don't use the other 3 features. I wouldn't pay $1000 for a heated steering wheel. Standard radio with Slacker works for me. I like MC Red but the free black and white colors both look good. I have the leather seats but lots of people are very happy with textile. I don't have pano roof and have never wished I had it. Standard wheels and tires look great. I wish I had a D for better traction but is it worth $5000 if money is tight. Hell, no.

You might be able to buy an inventory car with a few thousand miles for a small discount or with an option you want for the same price as the base model. You might get AP2.0 hardware if you're lucky.

So don't feel bad about buying the base car with no options. You will love it. You have 5 months to study this forum and decide if any of the options are worth the cost to you but that's another thread.
 
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However, here are the things I'd suggest you get, even if you go for the base model:
1) Navigation

This is standard on all cars, and has been from the start.

2) Get the heated steering wheel. Our car doesn't have it, and it is a super nice feature.

Good point. Would have loved that when I lived in Montreal, Canada!

3) Not an issue if you're buying new, but if you're considering buying CPO or used, and you drive in remote areas often (we do), get the twin chargers. Its not often that you'll come across 240v supplies higher than 50 amps, but when you do, its really nice to be able to take advantage of that with the dual chargers. New cars are capable of charging to 72amps, so it doesn't matter.
The standard charger is now rated at 48 amps, and you can have the full 72 amps unlocked by Tesla for a fee.
 
Probably not buying till December, hopefully they'll have another program by then. Thanks, all.
I was going to say you can order now by placing a $2500 deposit, lock in the price and the referral credit and specify later delivery... but I just noticed someone beat me to it (hi, @e-FTW !). fyi if policy hasn't changed, the deposit is refundable within 1 week of ordering, or if you cancel your order after that they keep your money but you can apply the deposit to a future Tesla purchase.

OTOH I think there's good chance there'll be another referral program, Tesla seems to like doing these and word of mouth is their best (and only) advertising. so no need to rush if you're not ready, take your time, there's lots to learn and many helpful people around here.

Back to your original question, I don't think you can go wrong with the base model, there's not really any absolutely must-have options. The base 60 will still be an awesome car. You can add AP and upgrade to 75kW later via s/w upgrade if needed. Plus with the free over the air firmware updates, every once in a while you may feel like you have a new car. If you really twisted my arm to pick hardware options that make the car a bit more luxurious and perhaps better resale value - I'd say next-gen leather seats and pano roof. Other things like wheels you can add 3rd party ones later.

Like others here, my S is a much more expensive car than any I previously owned (double the price, although I bought previous car 15yrs ago). Though I didn't buy a no-options Model S, I was trying to keep the price down and choosing the smallest battery at the time allowed me to add some options I did want like AWD, pano etc. A trade-in, referral credit and gov't EV rebate also all greatly helped out the final price. Had there been a 60 kWhr battery s/w upgradeable to 75kWhr when I bought, I probably would have done that considering my typical driving. I wasn't originally going to buy AP up front but at last minute I added it.
 
Standard radio with Slacker works for me.

I researched audio today (consensus: definitely opt for premium on X, but not on S), and kept seeing that term, Slacker. Can you explain?


I have the leather seats but lots of people are very happy with textile.

I take corners with brio (I'm used to driving like a Tasmanian devil in my Miata), and I understand stock seats aren't very grippy, so this might actually be an upgrade I do. Plus, I thought Wshowell made some really good points about the features that are extra important upon resale. That's an important concern, as I'm probably not going to drive this till it drops. Once Model 3 clears its waiting list, I'm downgrading (hopefully with a year or two still left on my warranty, again, for resale value).

I wish I had a D for better traction but is it worth $5000 if money is tight. Hell, no.

I keep hearing that the S rides like it's on a rail, due to low center of grav due to the batteries at the bottom of the chassis....yet I keep hearing the D has better traction. I'm having trouble reconciling. Is it "great" without the D, and "super-fantastic" with it? Or what am I missing?
 
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