I think I read somewhere that Elon Musk said something along the lines of, if you make EVs that people will want to buy, they’ll buy EVs. Well, I’m that guy. I like tech stuff and would have bought an ICE if it had the tech I wanted.
Anyway, last car was a 2012 Infiniti M sedan I bought in 2014. It had all the cool features of its time. Loved it and I would still be driving it today but a hail storm destroyed it. When looking for a replacement, I was dissapointed that Infiniti hadn’t made significant advances in the last decade. Decided early on that I waned my next car to not just be ‘adaptive cruise control’ but also ‘lane keep assist’ but almost all the cars I researched that had a lane keep assist had reviews of it ping ponging back in forth in its lane. I could never deal with that. The ones that seemed better were only offered in crossovers or bigger… I like sedans. So I ended up coming back to the Model 3 over and over again. I rented one on Tuvo and it was over. Most fun car I’ve ever driven.
The funny thing is that my wife had a completely different take than me. She only rode in the right seat of the rental. She didn’t get the fun of the car but she did see the very simplistic design of the interior compared to the overly complex design of my Nissan inspired Infiniti. She interpreted that as cheap whereas I interpreted it as refined. Different tastes. But that’s fine, this is my car. She can enjoy her Mini Cooper (she is English after all) when she wants a weird eccentric experience.
I ended up buying one from Tesla’s CPO used inventory. For one, I’ve always bought used so that was my initial search criteria (though I did look at comparing new with tax credits, it was still better used) but the car from Tesla hit the price point and options I was waiting to find before anywhere else did (I was using a nationwide search on all the major engines… airline employee, can travel with ease with little expense). Putting down a deposit on a car I’ve never seen, not even a photo, was nerve racking. Auto insurance effective three days prior to delivery showing a vin number was annoying. Some other weird querks only attributed to buying from Tesla. But the car itself…
I bought a 2018 (live in the south so the heater wasn’t much of a factor for me) Model 3 LR RWD with about 50k miles. It’s in better shape than my 2012 Infiniti was when I bought it in 2014 with similar miles. It looks new, almost. Only signs of used (and I do mean only) I could find were some minor scratches in the plastic edges of the trunk insert and only because I was looking for something. I can’t even find rock chips in the front area of the car… did the prior owner not drive above 30? Battery is giving better range than the 2022 AWD I rented. I get that RWD is lighter than AWD but I thought the 4 year difference and older battery type would be a bigger factor. I’m beyond shocked and feel like I won the lottery. Someone babied this thing… unfortunately for this car, that’s not me. This will be a daily driver for me parked without a garage until the next hail storm forces me out. But man, this thing looks good now.
Anyway, now that I have the car in hand and can actually see what the car has, I’m looking at minor mods and such. Definitely needs tinting for my tastes. Already ordered a wireless charging adaptor for the car to make it similar to the rental unit I tried. Some other little things. I was planning on taking the aero wheels off but they look better to me in person than in pictures I’ve been sifting through the last few months and will probably just leave them on and enjoy the range. Any suggestions from the gallery?
Anyway, last car was a 2012 Infiniti M sedan I bought in 2014. It had all the cool features of its time. Loved it and I would still be driving it today but a hail storm destroyed it. When looking for a replacement, I was dissapointed that Infiniti hadn’t made significant advances in the last decade. Decided early on that I waned my next car to not just be ‘adaptive cruise control’ but also ‘lane keep assist’ but almost all the cars I researched that had a lane keep assist had reviews of it ping ponging back in forth in its lane. I could never deal with that. The ones that seemed better were only offered in crossovers or bigger… I like sedans. So I ended up coming back to the Model 3 over and over again. I rented one on Tuvo and it was over. Most fun car I’ve ever driven.
The funny thing is that my wife had a completely different take than me. She only rode in the right seat of the rental. She didn’t get the fun of the car but she did see the very simplistic design of the interior compared to the overly complex design of my Nissan inspired Infiniti. She interpreted that as cheap whereas I interpreted it as refined. Different tastes. But that’s fine, this is my car. She can enjoy her Mini Cooper (she is English after all) when she wants a weird eccentric experience.
I ended up buying one from Tesla’s CPO used inventory. For one, I’ve always bought used so that was my initial search criteria (though I did look at comparing new with tax credits, it was still better used) but the car from Tesla hit the price point and options I was waiting to find before anywhere else did (I was using a nationwide search on all the major engines… airline employee, can travel with ease with little expense). Putting down a deposit on a car I’ve never seen, not even a photo, was nerve racking. Auto insurance effective three days prior to delivery showing a vin number was annoying. Some other weird querks only attributed to buying from Tesla. But the car itself…
I bought a 2018 (live in the south so the heater wasn’t much of a factor for me) Model 3 LR RWD with about 50k miles. It’s in better shape than my 2012 Infiniti was when I bought it in 2014 with similar miles. It looks new, almost. Only signs of used (and I do mean only) I could find were some minor scratches in the plastic edges of the trunk insert and only because I was looking for something. I can’t even find rock chips in the front area of the car… did the prior owner not drive above 30? Battery is giving better range than the 2022 AWD I rented. I get that RWD is lighter than AWD but I thought the 4 year difference and older battery type would be a bigger factor. I’m beyond shocked and feel like I won the lottery. Someone babied this thing… unfortunately for this car, that’s not me. This will be a daily driver for me parked without a garage until the next hail storm forces me out. But man, this thing looks good now.
Anyway, now that I have the car in hand and can actually see what the car has, I’m looking at minor mods and such. Definitely needs tinting for my tastes. Already ordered a wireless charging adaptor for the car to make it similar to the rental unit I tried. Some other little things. I was planning on taking the aero wheels off but they look better to me in person than in pictures I’ve been sifting through the last few months and will probably just leave them on and enjoy the range. Any suggestions from the gallery?
