Did I Make a Mistake Skipping EAP?

[doehringm93]

So I just took delivery of my Model 3 LR RWD last Thursday and love it so far. My buddy took delivery of his P3D this past weekend. I'll admit, having the extra power would be nice, but it just wasn't feasible for me financially. He does though, have EAP.

I did however, skip out on EAP. The unit I test drove had it, but I just couldn't justify the 5K for it. After riding around in my friend's car, I suppose I see more value in it now.

Does anyone else regret not getting EAP? I'm not too fond of the idea of plopping down 6K to get it now (versus financing it over 5 years), so I guess I'll just have to live without it. I'm just curious how others without EAP feel? One thing I will say is, I think TACC should be standard. That's an option I had on an Altima rental car a few weeks ago, I'm rather surprised Tesla doesn't offer that as standard.

 

[neo302]

With EAP now, it depends on your commute. If you drive on the highway a lot or take a lot of road trips, it is worth it IMO. I love it.

 

[Forcelite]

How your feeling is how most feel after they have eap vis a trial or a loaner. ALSO, I have a feeling that same feeling will creep in once some early auto pilot features come out that many eap owners don’t have. Still to this day they have all features , but that won’t be the case soon enough .

 

[Xenius]

EAP to me is a must have. But your car is still awesome without it.

That said, again, it's a must have.

 

[listairee]

As of this morning, EAP is no longer $6,000. It is now $7,000.

Source: Tesla increases price of Autopilot when bought after delivery as it launches new features

 

[RayW]

It now shows $7K in my account to get EAP after purchasing the car. Strange marketing strategy, it would be nice if Tesla sent an email before raising the price. They’re shaking people off the fence into the wrong yard.

 

[Offandon]

I rented a M3 for 5 days and that is what pushed me over the edge to order one. My original thinking was that I did not want EAP because I really wanted to drive a car like this plus the fact I never use cruise control in my current car. But I figured while I was renting it I should try out all the features. It only took one ride for an hour using EAP to sell me on the idea I had to have it lol. I am very glad I rented the car before ordering one.

 

[GoodOmens]

For me, EAP was one of the (many) deciding factors between the Tesla and the Bolt. The fact EAP is more useful now then when I first bought the car is just icing on the cake.

I'll prob pay 5k for FSD down the line if it ever comes to fruition.

 

[Pied]

I did not get EAP. I do wish TACC was standard though. Other than that, no regrets.

Reasons I did not get EAP:
- I don't drive to work.
- My wife drives local if she takes it to work.
- Road trip only occasionally. Maybe once every 3 months or less.

 

[Knightshade]

It’s now shows $7K in my account to get after purchasing the car. Strange marketing strategy, it would be nice if Tesla sent an email before raising the price. They’re shaking people off the fence into the wrong yard.

On the contrary- doing that makes it more likely people will buy it up-front, which is what they want.

Folks who already own can still get the lower price (for now anyway)


As to if EAP is worth it, it's literally the reason I bought the car.

 

[Vines]

I absolutely would consider this one of the main reasons I bought this particular car. Otherwise I'd probably have something much less nice.

ITS FREAKING INCREDIBLE! I have a long commute mostly on highways, and the combination of EAP, plus the carpool lane means I arrive refreshed, and overall about a 30-60 minute shorter commute. If FSD is as awesome as EAP, I'll certainly buy that too.

 

[djgarrett21]

I'd say you made the right decision for your financial situation. Yeah it is nice to have extra bells and whistles but it is an amazing car without EAP. Say you got a 72 month loan, EAP would cost you an additional ~$70/month. Not an insignificant amount for many folks.

I bought it and I'm glad I did, but it is clearly still in beta. I bought it because I viewed EAP and FSD as fun features I get to experience. I didn't buy FSD at time of purchase and looking back kinda wish I did (save myself $2k and spread the cost out).

So unless you do a lot of freeway driving I'd say EAP is not a must-have at this point. It will get better but it isn't to that point IMO. If you regret not having fun features to play with then that is a different scenario.

 

[Rockster]

I don't want to ever own another car without EAP. In stop and go rush hour traffic it's a lifesaver. It cuts down on driving stress immensely. On long road trips it's a lifesaver. It's wonderful even if it never gets any better.

 

[Saghost]

It's a lot of money, so there probably isn't a single answer for everyone - folks that never drive in heavy traffic or long distances may not get much value.

For myself, I won't buy another car without Autopilot or an equivalent system. It's a potential literal life saver and makes heavy traffic so much easier.

 

[doehringm93]

I suppose some more details are necessary. I drive about 45 minutes each way to work, only about 10 minutes of that is on the highway, the rest is on two lane windy roads, around residential areas, etc. I also can't think of the last roadtrip I've done, so that's basically a non-issue for me.

Maybe if EAP goes down in price in the next few years I'd consider it. My main reason for buying the car was due to it being electric (I was spending $60+ a week on gas) and NOT slow, plus I guess I can say I was a Tesla supporter before owning one, so buying a Bolt was never an option.

 

[Knightshade]

I suppose some more details are necessary. I drive about 45 minutes each way to work, only about 10 minutes of that is on the highway, the rest is on two lane windy roads, around residential areas, etc. I also can't think of the last roadtrip I've done, so that's basically a non-issue for me.

Maybe if EAP goes down in price in the next few years I'd consider it. My main reason for buying the car was due to it being electric (I was spending $60+ a week on gas) and NOT slow, plus I guess I can say I was a Tesla supporter before owning one, so buying a Bolt was never an option.

Is the 35 minutes not on highways in any significant amount of traffic?

If so TACC alone would be worth the $.

Without EAP you just get "dumb" cruise control.

 

[CCIE]

I miss not having smart cruise control, which for some reason is only included with EAP. I'd be willing to pay $2k for that alone.

As for auto-steer (which is really what people mean when they talk about EAP), I don't regret not paying for it. I did the EAP trial in September and it made too many mistakes for me to ever trust it.

 

[doehringm93]

Is the 35 minutes not on highways in any significant amount of traffic?

If so TACC alone would be worth the $.

Without EAP you just get "dumb" cruise control.

Not all of it is but some of it. Autosteer I think I can live without (my friend's made several mistakes in the 15 minute drive we made to dinner last night). TACC is really what I want. I wish they sold that feature separately (cough, or included it as a standard feature as it's not that uncommon these days anymore).

 

[Knightshade]

Not all of it is but some of it. Autosteer I think I can live without (my friend's made several mistakes in the 15 minute drive we made to dinner last night). TACC is really what I want. I wish they sold that feature separately (cough, or included it as a standard feature as it's not that uncommon these days anymore).

FWIW, I've used the TACC equivalent on a number of other luxury cars (Lexus, Infiniti, etc) and mostly they suck compared to the Tesla version... usually some combination of either follow distances too long so you're constantly being cut off/slowed down and/or required minimum speeds (like it only works over 30 mph in one I was in recently for example) making it useless in stop-and-go traffic where the Tesla is simply awesome since it'll go all the way down to stopped and then start again on its own.

Basically when I was car shopping I was considering available driver assist features pretty heavily because I've got a 35 mile-each-way drive daily, and other than having none of these types of features my existing paid-for car was quite good (Lexus IS350). The Tesla system was the only one that was worth actually buying a new car for. If it didn't exist I'd still just be driving the Lexus.

 

[Eno Deb]

It's a luxury. If you had to stretch financially to buy the car, you made the right decision. Enjoy the instant acceleration ... which is only possible by driving yourself.