FSD With Purchase Or Wait

[OCR1]

The reason you don't find FSD useful today, is because they haven't released it yet. But do you find AP useful?

No, I find it completely worthless.

As far as comparing it with a Lexus LS460 - seriously, you bought an LS460 and $35 vs. $100 to fill your tank bothers you and cheap gas is your favorite feature? Something doesn't add up here.

Yes. And the Lexus was $300/month vs $35.

And the minimalist interior, you've just bought into the marketing. I like minimalist too. I don't like cheap. Tesla's interior is cheap and poor quality.

Then maybe it’s not the right car for you.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Then maybe it’s not the right car for you.

Well yeah I figured as much. I just sold my X and S, and haven't fully kicked the habit of visiting these forums.
I can totally see where you are coming from though, as a 4 year Tesla owner/veteran, I know how the reality distortion field works.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

One thing though, Tesla has 2 really amazing qualities,
a) AP
b) Driving dynamics

.. and perhaps that it is the only practicalish EV .. if you must have an EV.
I am surprised you find AP worthless. To me that was the single best part of owning a Tesla.

 

[OCR1]

Well yeah I figured as much. I just sold my X and S, and haven't fully kicked the habit of visiting these forums.
I can totally see where you are coming from though, as a 4 year Tesla owner/veteran, I know how the reality distortion field works.

Or perhaps you don’t have the ability to see anyone’s point of view if it differs from yours. I suspect I’m not the first person to point this out to you.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Or perhaps you don’t have the ability to see anyone’s point of view if it differs from yours. I suspect I’m not the first person to point this out to you.

Not sure why you have resorted to personal attacks. I just said, I can totally see your viewpoint. Anyway, got better things to do than fight on an internet forum on a Sunday night.

 

[Dan84]

Don’t let Tesla FUD or FOMA cloud your decision

Wait until the product is actually delivered and functioning well.

In current state “FSD” is unreliable at best and dangerous at worst.

It might be fixed with HW3 and software updates, but no one knows.

If you really feel the need to buy now, then first use the trial that’s sometimes offered.

 

[jebinc]

So I'm planning on getting a model 3 next month and deliberating if i should buy FSD with purchase or not. If you believe Elon's timeline about how good it will get, then I think its an easy buy right now (before the price goes up). I would say currently Nav on Auto pilot is only worth about 2-3k more to me at the moment than AP, but I'm afraid if i wait to buy post purchase, the price may rise a lot more.

Curious on others thoughts on this and if current owners have seen enough progression in the software to think Elon's given timeline may be accurate.

I take delivery of my LR AWD w/FSD tomorrow. While I figure Elon's timeline is overly optimistic, I figured I only live once, so what the heck - take my $6000 and I'll hope for the best...

 

[DavidS314]

Don’t let Tesla FUD or FOMA cloud your decision

Wait until the product is actually delivered and functioning well.

In current state “FSD” is unreliable at best and dangerous at worst.

It might be fixed with HW3 and software updates, but no one knows.

If you really feel the need to buy now, then first use the trial that’s sometimes offered.

This is a reasoning i don't agree with actually and my logic on this is why i think its better to buy now. Everyone who has paid cheaper prices for FSD, should in theory, be getting a much cheaper price by paying in advance/ before its well functioning. Assume in 1 year FSD is ready and fully functional, there is no way it would still cost 6k. I feel that if you wait until it its an extremely valuable and fully functioning feature, the price will increase as well.

 

[Urbancowboy]

Why do you need an EV? Climate and pollution aside, and not everyone cares about that. Plenty of people have other problems to worry about, like charging issues in apartments.

Need is a strong word. HOV access alone is a big draw for me and many others. Saves hours of life otherwise spent in agony. And I find basic AP more than enough for the commuter use case. 28 highway miles, mostly in the HOV lane. The TACC and auto steer are a dream and make my life so much better. NoA would provide very little marginal utility for me.

And it’s also a ton of fun to drive when I’m not in traffic.

To the OP, my vote is wait. I would either put that money towards a P or save it for the future.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

@Urbancowboy .. I think I can agree that HOV access is a huge big deal if you are a commuter. Also AP and driving dynamics of Tesla are quite top notch.

 

[WilliamG]

I love getting updates and trying out new features. If you want to enjoy the FSD feature rollout, buy it now.

Agreed.

 

[insaneoctane]

My opinion is that because you should be getting HW3.0, you have some choices depending on your outlook. if you have confidence in FSD actually happening in an acceptable timeline then buy it now as the price will only go up once FSD is a useful product. If you are uncertain of the time line or if the product will ever be useful then wait for the proof. You might get lucky waiting if there is another sale (which I doubt will be significant) but it's a crap shoot like the stock market. I do know this: FSD, if it arrives before the other manufacturers have something competitive and it proves to be useful will command a premium and we don't know how much that will be (probably a function of how much sooner than the competition and how useful or good the product is). Good luck.

 

[Dan84]

This is a reasoning i don't agree with actually and my logic on this is why i think its better to buy now. Everyone who has paid cheaper prices for FSD, should in theory, be getting a much cheaper price by paying in advance/ before its well functioning. Assume in 1 year FSD is ready and fully functional, there is no way it would still cost 6k. I feel that if you wait until it its an extremely valuable and fully functioning feature, the price will increase as well.

Thanks, this is great illustration of the Tesla FUD/FOMA sales tactic.

Considering the competition is rapidly closing in, there won’t be much room for Tesla to increase pricing on FSD if they want to remain competitive. As such, chances of drastic price increase are minimal.

 

[DavidS314]

Thanks, this is great illustration of the Tesla FUD/FOMA sales tactic.

Considering the competition is rapidly closing in, there won’t be much room for Tesla to increase pricing on FSD if they want to remain competitive. As such, chances of drastic price increase are minimal.

The one thing i would be most sure of is no one catching up to tesla in terms of automated driving. In terms of AI learning where huge amounts of data help develop the tech, no one is close to tesla in their fleet on the road gathering data.

 

[Jigglypuff]

One thing though, Tesla has 2 really amazing qualities,
a) AP
b) Driving dynamics

OK, so AP is cool and all, but driving dynamics? Wut? It seemed good to me, but nothing amazing. The M3P is all about acceleration.

Also AP and driving dynamics of Tesla are quite top notch.

Kinda repeating yourself.

The one thing i would be most sure of is no one catching up to tesla in terms of automated driving. In terms of AI learning where huge amounts of data help develop the tech, no one is close to tesla in their fleet on the road gathering data.

AP is impressive in many ways, but Tesla doesn't lead in automated driving. GM, Waymo, and probably others are ahead. Super Cruise is hands off and wins in comparisons. AP is half-baked. As it gets better, it's still not what I'd call close to fully baked.

Also this FSD anytime soon is Full of *sugar* Dreaming.

But damn does the M3P accelerate.

 

[DavidS314]

Super cruise uses HD maps that only works on highways that they have pre mapped out.. Sure it works great on roads that they have mapped if nothing has changed, but it cant expand beyond their maps. Waymo, AFAIK, uses much more expensive sensors that i don't think are affordable on a consumer level.

 

[Thp3]

As far as comparing it with a Lexus LS460 -[…]

And the minimalist interior, you've just bought into the marketing. I like minimalist too. I don't like cheap. Tesla's interior is cheap and poor quality.

As a previous Lexus owner, the Tesla interiors are better. It’s not better materials, Altho I luv the vegan leather for its feel and clean-up ease. It’s better design and utility.

I want Tesla to continue to update my car with OTAs. This year, about every four weeks, I’ve gotten an update (2019.8, 2018.12, 2019.16, 2019.20.). Now the car has better smoother lane control and often displays “construction” as I enter those zones. The FSD option gives the best Tesla experience. It only gets better as the updates roll in.

So you can participate ( invest) in the future or wait on the sidelines for it to arrive. Buying FSD will help Tesla develop it. And, yeah, the price is likely to go up as it becomes functional.

If I couldn’t charge at home, I wouldn’t have bought an EV. Tesla supercharging Network makes long trips easy, so just that is a major reason to only buy a Tesla today. Tesla safety car design, AP and FSD are huge automotive safety improvements, protecting you from other drivers.

Also make sure you get decent WiFi where you’ll park the Tesla. Now what color are you getting?

 

[diplomat33]

So I'm planning on getting a model 3 next month and deliberating if i should buy FSD with purchase or not. If you believe Elon's timeline about how good it will get, then I think its an easy buy right now (before the price goes up). I would say currently Nav on Auto pilot is only worth about 2-3k more to me at the moment than AP, but I'm afraid if i wait to buy post purchase, the price may rise a lot more.

Curious on others thoughts on this and if current owners have seen enough progression in the software to think Elon's given timeline may be accurate.

I recommend getting FSD now. The price will most likely go up when more FSD features are released. And when true self-driving is real, the value of the FSD option will skyrocket even more. If you wait, you run the real risk of having to pay a lot more for features that you will suddenly really want. Also, if you get FSD now, you do get some really nice features like Nav on AP, Auto Park, Auto Lane Change, and Summon. Those features make Autopilot much better than the basic version. Also, Tesla promises traffic light and stop sign recognition and automatic city driving later this year. And while automatic city driving may not be perfect self-driving out of the gate, it will still be another really nice feature that will dramatically improve Autopilot from the basic version. Plus, if you buy FSD now, you are all set and can enjoy future features and improvements simply from over the air software updates. So overall, FSD is a must have IMO.

 

[notAnExpert]

Why do you need an EV? Climate and pollution aside, and not everyone cares about that. Plenty of people have other problems to worry about, like charging issues in apartments.

Nobody “needs” an EV. Perhaps nobody needs anything more than a reliable used car costing $5K that goes from point A to B.

I don’t set climate and pollution aside. I don’t expect everyone to care about what I care about. I don’t live in an apartment.

Your original question was why buy a Tesla if not buying FSD. I gave you my reason – i.e., a 300+ mile range car with nationwide fast charging network making it almost as versatile as an ICE car, for me and my family. I’d imagine tens of thousands of Model 3 buyers did it for the same reason, not the FSD vaporware.

 

[turnem]

FSD when finished will be .. navigate on autopilot .. not limited on inside roads.
If you've used navigate on AP on freeway, they'll smooth it out further and remove the restriction of using it past the exit.
It is a very awesome feature IMO, but by buying a Tesla this is the best part of owning a Tesla.
I'll go as far as saying that if you don't buy FSD, why are you buying a Tesla? Reality is, by buying a Tesla you give up on SO MUCH.
Interior quality, 100s of other features, ... but AP is a pretty damned good feature. Why not take it the whole distance by buying FSD?

The issue of course is, FSD isn't a reality today!
And Elon has said "Model 3 is an appreciating asset" - I'm calling BS on that.
Even when FSD is 100% ready and operational, there are significant downsides of owning a Tesla.
And AP is a n up side. Market will dictate the price, and the federal tax benefits going away do not help.

Great points made here. If I think back to my purchase (a whopping two months ago) the main reason I got it was for autopilot and all the technology. So I didn't even think twice about paying for FSD!

But reading these forums makes it clear that some folks expect perfection out of the gate while some (like me) realize we are on the front edge of the technology and understand all that comes with that.