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As someone who lives in SoCal I find a heated steering wheel very useful in the winter driving through the canyons. Basically to each his own. But the one thing every Tesla owner should have is autopilot! It almost makes LA traffic tolerable.Hi, I'm looking at a new S90D, but it's a major purchase for me so I'm looking to save where I can. But, I'm willing to spend if it's a good investment in terms of enjoyment and longevity of the car.
So far I'm thinking AP and full self-driving, which are big appeals of the car. Are any of the other options considered must-have? On that note, are there are any options that are a clear waste of money? For example, I'm buying in CA so the sub-zero package isn't useful at all.
Correct me if I am wrong, but FSD @ 3000 now versus a 1000 extra when ordered later on when the FSD is actually working, say in Two years time.
That means ordering now will be a 16.5% interest rate on that investment.
That doesn't apply when Tesla never delivers. Since I plan to keep the car for at least 4 years, I take my chances on it, so I did order the FSD.
They still charge you sales tax on these items when you add them on later. And if you are financing your car hopefully you are doing it at 1.49-2%, so over two years it's really negligible. But your point at a new car being a depreciating asset as opposed to an investment is a good one for not getting FSD because the longer you have to wait, the less the car using FSD is worth, and the shorter amount of time you have to actually use the features on the vehicle before you are expected to replace it.Hold on there, Bucko. That 16.5% figure needs a critical look.
It is actually less than $1000 extra to wait. If it is added at the time of purchase, you pay sales tax on that $3K increase on the car price. If you add it later, you don't pay sales tax on the $4K. So if I pay 8% sales tax on the new car, that is $240 or so on that $3K. My net cost for waiting is now $760. Those financing the car purchase are also paying interest on that initial $3K for the year or two until they'd have upgraded, so their net cost of waiting to upgrade would be even less. The fly in the ointment is if the FSD upgrade price changes.
The other point is that a new car isn't an investment, it's a wasting asset.
I know they charge tax on the software battery upgrades...It's my understanding that tax isn't collected on a software update but I am far from sure about that.
The point about a car being a depreciating asset and not an investment was just that. Websters defines investment as the outlay of money usually for income or profit. That is different from purchasing something that will certainly lose value as it is used and as it ages. There is nothing wrong with purchasing a wasting asset, it is just wrong to term it an investment.
This has no bearing on whether someone should choose FSD or not, whether now or two years from now. If someone wants it, I say go for it. As for me, it is a better fit for me to wait until it is here then purchase it despite the increased cost. I'll be happier that way and my happiness is worth the $1000. Overall, as a retired geezer, I'm pretty amazed that it is even possible. I love technology. I'll pay the $4000 to be on the leading edge. You see I went to college before there were calculators, and now I'm getting a car that not only runs on batteries, it can drive itself. You can't put a price on that.
I say "Go Elon!"
Does anyone expect to see fad features in a few months time? Eap isn't even at parity yet with ap1, at least not when it comes to stability.@D.E. @whttiger25 maybe I shouldn't have called it an investment. My thought was that a 3000 spend on a feature that will develop over time is not bad considering that you otherwise need to make 16+ % on that money elsewhere.
Personally, I didn't think more than a few seconds about ordering FSD. It is small change compared to the total price of the car, I don't lease and I expect that in a few months time we begin to see parts of the FSD appear in the car. I live, work and breathe in the startup world and like to be on top of these kind of developments.
So all the arguments above might be true, but there is also a thing called gut feel and emotion in play here.
And in fact, despite a vehicle being a depreciating asset, if you have a decision to pay $3000 now or $4000 later, the only reason to NOT pay $3000 now is if there is a risk of loss. Which - there is - uncertainty about the features FSD will have, the timeline of those features, and how much use you will get out of them. So choosing to pay $3000 when those risks exist vs $4000 when those risks do not exist is an investment, one with an expected 33% return compensating for those risks. This decision is totally decoupled from the car and the depreciation of the car, because we are simply talking about paying for a feature and that feature's expected utility for you.@D.E. @whttiger25 maybe I shouldn't have called it an investment. My thought was that a 3000 spend on a feature that will develop over time is not bad considering that you otherwise need to make 16+ % on that money elsewhere.
Personally, I didn't think more than a few seconds about ordering FSD. It is small change compared to the total price of the car, I don't lease and I expect that in a few months time we begin to see parts of the FSD appear in the car. I live, work and breathe in the startup world and like to be on top of these kind of developments.
So all the arguments above might be true, but there is also a thing called gut feel and emotion in play here.