AnxietyRanger
Well-Known Member
Cross-shopping the Model 3 and the I-Pace just doesn't make sense to me. The I-Pace will cost close to twice as much, and one is a sedan while the other is a SUV. Cross-shopping the Model X and the I-Pace makes more sense.
What do you do when, given the 2017-2018 timeframe, the only large-battery premium BEVs are expected to be: Model 3, I-Pace, Model S, Audi e-tron quattro and Model X (in the expected size order) and none of them exactly fits what you are looking for? Well, IMO what you do is, you narrow in on the comparisons that most closely fits what you are looking for and then decide between them.
I have a Model 3 reservation and I-Pace is the alternative I am intently looking at for it. (I am not in any hurry in pulling a trigger, so others may enter the equation of course too.) And we are on a Model 3 where another member @sparkypete is in the same boat as myself. Whether or not it makes sense to you, it seems to be happening.
And the reason why it does make sense to me, is the limited selection of large-battery premium BEVs on the market. There hardly is an optimal model for most of us. They are all compromises in some ways, so they are all competing with each other, crossing usual class, size, brand and price lines with reckless abandon. This simply is not a normal market. Not when Prius owners buy Model S's...
I would personally never cross-shop a Model X and an I-Pace (perhaps because I already have a Model X, which by the way I came to from two sedans...), though I can see why someone would. To me the I-Pace looks to be a smaller and cheaper car. It is not comparable to Model 3, but then it is not really comparable to Model S/X either. It is in-between. I am happy with the Model X and was happy with the Model S before that, but next I *am* looking for that in-between.
And for someone looking for a large-battery premium BEV in a class below Model X (that is not Model S), that leaves Model 3, I-Pace and possibly Audi e-tron quattro, though that may be end up too big and pricey (maybe the e-tron Sportback woulld fit better, assuming its timeline fits with mine, in which case Model Y might appear on the radar as well).