Thanks to all of you that say to enjoy the Lotus, don't worry I will, it will be my 3rd so I know I won't be disappointed
(I definitely have some brand loyalty there)
Yes my view towards getting the Model S was definitely tech, image and rarity related, rather environmental.
Just to be clear, I'm not cross shopping a P85D vs a Lotus exactly. I already have an Elise as a weekend car and the Exige is basically upgrading that.
The Model S is my daily driver, and I'd planned on keeping it 3 years, then get shot. It was always the plan, and has been for my last 4 cars. I cross shopped the Model S against my TCO budget, so I probably would have had a nearly new top spec E class soft top, or a 6 series, or ... who knows.
CharlesD85 hit the nail on the head and said it's a crapshoot and he's right, however with no used examples to gauge how much a car is likely to be worth, the biggest ownership cost factor for me (I do <10k miles per year) is the residuals. At the time we had Elon pronouncing they would be worth 50% after 3 years. I put some store in that (though as I was funding this my self I took it with a grain of salt, and have set a book value at 40%). They simply aren't going to get close to that in the UK market. (Loaded P85's are cropping up at 65% of new in under 10 months already).
To the people saying "but it's bleeding edge tech." Yes, but unfortunately this isn't an iPad we are talking about, it's not something most of us can buy out of a months disposable income. I bought it as a car, and viewed it just like every other car I've bought.
For Tesla to succeed as a car manufacturer, as boring as it sounds I think they need to re-evaluate their launch strategy, people need visibilty in what is typically their second biggest purchase. Even iPhones have a clearly telegraphed release cycle.
Being in the UK isn't helping either. With such a lag between order and delivery, cars are literally becoming obsolete before they've been delivered. We aren't even a year in and all the launch cars are now discontinued (OK the S85 remains but let's be honest it's a runout model, the 70D is a better fit for the UK market, and I wholly expect them to be worth more secondhand given the attraction of AWD over a negligible real world range. A 60 is sufficient in the UK for me unless there is an OTA amphibious mode update
). If I were choosing, I'd say now the model desirability for the UK market looks like: P85D>S85D>S70D>P85>S85>S60.
I do wonder if the "production problems" with RHD cars are actually Tesla doing their best to push back the D cars, because they know full well the impact it's going to have on used cars. This is even more important here, given there's no older UK cars acting as a lower bound for pricing. In the US at least there are 2 year old cars that set the scene, here people buying will be looking at cars all of a similar age, so will just hold out for ones with auto-pilot, or more worryingly for owners that had delivery last month, people holding out for the D cars.
Right now if a friend asked me about buying a Tesla, the only way I can recommend it is if they buy under the guaranteed residuals program (something unavailable at UK launch). Otherwise it's just too risky.
The biggest shame is I feel this way. Tesla worked so hard to get me on board as a customer, and now I'm pretty certain I won't be a repeat one.
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My best EV use on a charge in my 2012 Volt was ~58 miles/93km. I still suggest the Volt to people who I talk to who need a car but can't quite make the jump to Tesla. It's a pretty good car.
Volt v2, will certainly be on my list as a replacement for the Tesla, if GM decide to sell it here. I can easily do 95%+ of my journeys on the Volt's EV range, and it's plenty fast enough for commuting in.
The promotion of the the V1 Volt here in the UK (as the Vauxhall Ampera) was pretty poor. Cynically you might suppose it would have crippled sales of the "Insignia" if given a fair run
I know a few owners, and they have nothing bad to say about them.