I ordered a Model 3 Standard Range + last week for delivery in the January-February 2021 time frame. I'm trying to decide whether to order the Full Self-Driving option. Is it worth the $7,000?
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Full self driving capability
- Thread starter Michelle_eriw
- Start date
CharleyBC
Active Member
Michelle, if you search the forum a bit, you'll find tons of discussions on whether FSD is worth it at various price points. Lots of impassioned opinions on both sides, as well as folks more in the middle.
Considering only a portion of FSD functionality is currently available, I'd say it's only worth it if you intend to keep the car for a long time, since it may be a long time until you get your money's worth.
My wife and I bought the no-longer-available Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) on ours two years ago for $5K, and subsequently added FSD as an upgrade when it was on sale for $2K. So there's your $7K. We intend to keep the car until it dies of old age, so for us, it was worth it. It's a very individual call.
Considering only a portion of FSD functionality is currently available, I'd say it's only worth it if you intend to keep the car for a long time, since it may be a long time until you get your money's worth.
My wife and I bought the no-longer-available Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) on ours two years ago for $5K, and subsequently added FSD as an upgrade when it was on sale for $2K. So there's your $7K. We intend to keep the car until it dies of old age, so for us, it was worth it. It's a very individual call.
Puddles
Member
Welcome to the forum, and congrats on making a great decision on a new car 
While these guys are seeming less than welcoming, their points are valid. Search is your friend, and making an introduction is polite.
I tell anyone who asks me that question that it is only worth it a) if you think it's super cool and must have it to play with, or b) you drive long distances on freeways, often. Only you can decide if a toy is worth what it costs, and the benefits of offloading the drudge work of driving on long trips is undeniable.
If you're not a techie and work near your home, my opinion is that it's not worth it.
While these guys are seeming less than welcoming, their points are valid. Search is your friend, and making an introduction is polite.
I tell anyone who asks me that question that it is only worth it a) if you think it's super cool and must have it to play with, or b) you drive long distances on freeways, often. Only you can decide if a toy is worth what it costs, and the benefits of offloading the drudge work of driving on long trips is undeniable.
If you're not a techie and work near your home, my opinion is that it's not worth it.
CyberGus
Not Just a Member
While I won't roll my eyes, I will deflect with "Is it worth it to you?"
Without FSD, the Tesla will still have Autopilot that will keep you in your lane and adjust your speed on the highway. But you need FSD if you want autopark, or summon, or automatic navigation. The fully-autonomous feature has been in "Real Soon Now" status for quite some time now, so there's no telling when it will be available.
That's said, I ordered my Tesla with FSD, because FOMO. And it's cool.
Without FSD, the Tesla will still have Autopilot that will keep you in your lane and adjust your speed on the highway. But you need FSD if you want autopark, or summon, or automatic navigation. The fully-autonomous feature has been in "Real Soon Now" status for quite some time now, so there's no telling when it will be available.
That's said, I ordered my Tesla with FSD, because FOMO. And it's cool.
Yes. the lease on my current vehicle expires then, and my CDs mature then, so I can't afford to buy it until then. So regardless of the current delivery time, I requested that time frame for delivery.
In case you're wondering why I ordered it now instead of waiting, the $2.000 pride reduction may be temporary, and I wanted to place my order before any eventuality of a price increase.
You're welcome.
Thanks Charley. I'm planning on getting a 72-month loan, so yes I do plan to keep the car for a long time.
I actually shouldn't have asked whether it is worth the money; I should have asked whether it's useful enough to bother with in the first place. My test drive car had it, and I wasn't convinced either way.
Thanks.
Welcome to the forum, and congrats on making a great decision on a new car
While these guys are seeming less than welcoming, their points are valid. Search is your friend, and making an introduction is polite.
I tell anyone who asks me that question that it is only worth it a) if you think it's super cool and must have it to play with, or b) you drive long distances on freeways, often. Only you can decide if a toy is worth what it costs, and the benefits of offloading the drudge work of driving on long trips is undeniable.
If you're not a techie and work near your home, my opinion is that it's not worth it.
Well, I am a techie; former Apple and other Silicon Valley companies employee, yada yada.
I'm retired, and with rare exceptions, my freeway driving is about 20 miles each way three or four days a week. Once or twice a month, I'll drive 100 miles round trip on freeways.
CharleyBC
Active Member
That settles it. Buy it!Well, I am a techie; former Apple and other Silicon Valley companies employee, yada yada.
Thanks. I added it to my order, but I can remove it if I feel that I need to.
MXLRplus
Active Member
So far, nobody who has ordered FSD since 2016 has gotten their money's worth out of it.
And there is no guarantee that the hardware in a 2020 Tesla will actually support FSD.
IIRC, HW 2.0 and 2.5 were said to support FSD (pending regulatory approval™), but here we are at 3.0.
Puddles
Member
Well, I am a techie; former Apple and other Silicon Valley companies employee, yada yada.
Now that you've told us, don't you have to kill us?
No; everything I worked on is old history, so you're safe.Now that you've told us, don't you have to kill us?
But if I told you what I did when I was a counterspy in the US Army, then I would have to kill you. (And I was one; I'm not making it up.)
RayK
Active Member
@Michelle_eriw Here's my take (63yo male; test engineer in Silicon Valley for over 43 years but now semi-retired, no military experience):
I rented a Model 3 through Turo.com in January 2018 and posted about it here in the forum. I ordered my LR RWD car June 2018 without EAP or FSD and received it in July. I initially said to everyone here that I wanted a car I drove myself and wasn't interested in something that would chauffeur me around. After having the car for several months, Tesla offered a two week free trial of EAP. I ended up liking it so much that I bought it ($5500, excluding tax). Almost a year later there was an announcement that the FSD price would increase soon (from $3K). A major benefit was that the hardware upgrade to HW3 (from 2.5) would be included. I figured that the price would never come down (it did at one point), and as I had just got an MBO payout at work, I caved and purchased the option. So I went from "no way I'd buy those things" to "yup, here's my credit card" in less than a year.
Was it worth it? At just slightly more than $9K when you include CA sales tax, I think it was. Although I'm not driving as much as I used to I do appreciate the Navigate on Autopilot (NoA) function, as well as Auto Lane Change (ALC) every time I'm out on the highway and the wifey is not with me; she is still not a convert to the technology. I've used Auto Park a couple of times to impress my family, but otherwise think I can park the car myself a bit faster than the AI. Smart Summon is a gimmick to me and have never used it but I have used the regular Summon to fit the car into a tight parking space at work several times. I have currently enabled the traffic light visualization function but NOT allowed the car to automatically stop at signs and lights. I'll leave it up to others to teach the AI to be smart enough to correctly handle 99.99% of the times that the car needs to be aware of its surroundings. That the technology should only improve over time and be downloaded into the car for free, convinced me to buy in.
I rented a Model 3 through Turo.com in January 2018 and posted about it here in the forum. I ordered my LR RWD car June 2018 without EAP or FSD and received it in July. I initially said to everyone here that I wanted a car I drove myself and wasn't interested in something that would chauffeur me around. After having the car for several months, Tesla offered a two week free trial of EAP. I ended up liking it so much that I bought it ($5500, excluding tax). Almost a year later there was an announcement that the FSD price would increase soon (from $3K). A major benefit was that the hardware upgrade to HW3 (from 2.5) would be included. I figured that the price would never come down (it did at one point), and as I had just got an MBO payout at work, I caved and purchased the option. So I went from "no way I'd buy those things" to "yup, here's my credit card" in less than a year.
Was it worth it? At just slightly more than $9K when you include CA sales tax, I think it was. Although I'm not driving as much as I used to I do appreciate the Navigate on Autopilot (NoA) function, as well as Auto Lane Change (ALC) every time I'm out on the highway and the wifey is not with me; she is still not a convert to the technology. I've used Auto Park a couple of times to impress my family, but otherwise think I can park the car myself a bit faster than the AI. Smart Summon is a gimmick to me and have never used it but I have used the regular Summon to fit the car into a tight parking space at work several times. I have currently enabled the traffic light visualization function but NOT allowed the car to automatically stop at signs and lights. I'll leave it up to others to teach the AI to be smart enough to correctly handle 99.99% of the times that the car needs to be aware of its surroundings. That the technology should only improve over time and be downloaded into the car for free, convinced me to buy in.
If that's your normal usage then I'd say yes, the FSD option is probably useful to have. It will make even longer trips more relaxing, if you don't mind keeping your hands on the steering wheel and foot hovering over the brake. I've taken my car from San Jose to Disneyland via I-5 once and last year I went up to Squaw Valley and skied the 4th of July. Both trips were easy to do using the Supercharger network and NoA/ALC functions. If you haven't already, try to rent or borrow a Model 3 with the FSD package and try it out yourself. That should give you enough information to see if it's something you like/want or not.
Congrats ~ my SR+ just turned one and I still can’t wait to drive it every day!
Tesla recently said there would be a subscription plan for FSD by the end of the year. No indication of cost yet though!
Tesla recently said there would be a subscription plan for FSD by the end of the year. No indication of cost yet though!
Fernand
Active Member
I think you are much better off spending the 7K on the next trim level.... lwawd. You will want it.
FSD isn’t worth 7K... but if you want to spend 7K on a dream a dream is harder to quantify the value of.
I spent 6K for fsd on my model 3 sr+... then loved the car so much i wanted more car, so i got a model y lrawd, convincing myself it was OK because i wouldn’t get FSD this time around since it’s not really worth it anyway.... i just couldn’t let the dream go though so i ended up forking over 7K for a wink and a smile...
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I don't need the extra 70something range, nor all wheel drive, so the extra $9,000 isn't worth it to me.
