Just a few questions before placing my order...

[liuping]

As for the "you will want to drive this car more" comments....not really agreeing with that for the OP. He drives the car 60-70 miles daily. I doubt that he will want to drive more than that.

Maybe not during the week, but on weekend, longer drives are a definite possibility when the car is so much fun to drive. I only drive 40 miles round trip for my work commute, but I've so far averaged 2000 miles month.

I could not have made several of those trips with a 60kWh battery. A couple were hard with the 85 since the Superchargers are not all in place yet.

In the grand scheme of thing spending an $7000 on the 85kWh upgrade is not that much and will be more than worth it over the life of the car. In 10 years, when the pack has degraded somewhat the 85 will still get you to the superchargers. The 60 is going to be hard pressed to make it unless you are driving 55MPH. I plan on keeping my Model S for a very long time, so the 85 will keep it viable long into the future.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

In the grand scheme of thing spending an $7000 on the 85kWh upgrade is not that much and will be more than worth it over the life of the car. In 10 years, when the pack has degraded somewhat the 85 will still get you to the superchargers. The 60 is going to be hard pressed to make it unless you are driving 55MPH. I plan on keeping my Model S for a very long time, so the 85 will keep it viable long into the future.

Fair point but, it's more than likely that, in 10 years, the Supercharger density will be so high that even a degraded 60 pack can hop between SCs with ease.

I've done a couple of long road trips with little effort in my 60. It worked flawlessly for me. The extra 50-odd miles with an 85 may help reach some destinations a little more easily and may help skip an SC stop here and there but, there'll surely be other destinations that are out of reach of even an 85 but, could have been reached with a theoretical 110 as someone said above. So, there's always an exception to the rule.

My suggestion would be to "optimize for the common case"; the 60 appears to work for many of us quite well for all of our needs. It's a slippery slope to letting the options and upgrades add up very quickly otherwise. I do agree that folks in areas with harsh winters may definitely need the added insurance of the 85.

To tell the truth, folks who've lived only with an 85 may not be able to fully comprehend that the 60 works just as well, with just a tweak here and there. I don't know if that's really worth $8k (no, don't bring up that free tire "upgrade"; it's nothing more than a means of justification to the wife ) + sales tax + lost opportunity for other uses for that money (in my case, the $11k that I saved -- free SC for early 60s + CA sales tax -- has done very well in TSLA).

My mission (!!) is to make the Model S appear more affordable to a larger swath of potential buyers who may be on even tighter budgets than many of us were on to this point. If they get the drift from knowledgable members/owners here on the forums that it's pretty much "85 or bust" and that prices them out and puts them off springing for the car altogether, that'd be an unfortunate loss and a missed opportunity.

60 + supercharging + tech package is a killer "starter" combo IMO for many people :biggrin:

 

[Btrflyl8e]

Fair point but, it's more than likely that, in 10 years, the Supercharger density will be so high that even a degraded 60 pack can hop between SCs with ease.

I've done a couple of long road trips with little effort in my 60. It worked flawlessly for me. The extra 50-odd miles with an 85 may help reach some destinations a little more easily and may help skip an SC stop here and there but, there'll surely be other destinations that are out of reach of even an 85 but, could have been reached with a theoretical 110 as someone said above. So, there's always an exception to the rule.

My suggestion would be to "optimize for the common case"; the 60 appears to work for many of us quite well for all of our needs. It's a slippery slope to letting the options and upgrades add up very quickly otherwise. I do agree that folks in areas with harsh winters may definitely need the added insurance of the 85.

To tell the truth, folks who've lived only with an 85 may not be able to fully comprehend that the 60 works just as well, with just a tweak here and there. I don't know if that's really worth $8k (no, don't bring up that free tire "upgrade"; it's nothing more than a means of justification to the wife ) + sales tax + lost opportunity for other uses for that money (in my case, the $11k that I saved -- free SC for early 60s + CA sales tax -- has done very well in TSLA).

My mission (!!) is to make the Model S appear more affordable to a larger swath of potential buyers who may be on even tighter budgets than many of us were on to this point. If they get the drift from knowledgable members/owners here on the forums that it's pretty much "85 or bust" and that prices them out and puts them off springing for the car altogether, that'd be an unfortunate loss and a missed opportunity.

60 + supercharging + tech package is a killer "starter" combo IMO for many people :biggrin:

Very well said -gg. Having driven a 60 for almost a year now and 15,000 miles, all of your points are spot-on.

 

[Phillymomof4]

Just to reiterate what some have already suggested, I'd absolutely get the 85 if you can afford it. I know you want to keep your payments at $1000 and don't drive that much, but you will definitely drive, or want to drive, more than you do now or expect to. Everything affects your mileage/range and you'll be surprised how often you get less than expected range (especially if you live where it's cold). I'd forgo the dual charger before the 85.

I'd absolutely get the tech package. It sucks that the tech features aren't standard in this expensive a car, but I wouldn't enjoy this car nearly as much without them. I have read that adding the tech package later can be very $.

The pano roof adds 2" of headroom to what is already a kinda low header. I'm not that tall (5'4") but my husband is taller, and passengers are taller than I am, and having that extra headroom helps. And I love opening the roof on gorgeous days.

Those are just my two cents.

 

[amitb00]

I believe if you can't afford 85 with options you like, you can't afford even 60. Please do take a look at the finances thoroughly.
85 will make car much more usable. If anyone says that he can save money by using ice car on long drives, I agree. Buying Tesla is not for saving money. Putting 8k extra makes it so much more usable. Tech pkg and pano roof are awesome. You can go with parking sensors and twin chargers as well. You will love the car.

 

[golfski]

- auto-tilt mirrors when reversing - very handy when parallel parking, and I don't want to scrape those wheels

Is this true? I was told by sales agent during a test drive that the "folding" mirror assembly was part of the tech package but the auto-tilt mirrors were standard on the car. Can someone without the tech package confirm?

I just confirmed a 60kWh with only the pano roof as an upgrade. I found these forums to be very helpful as to what people find to be must or nice to haves. in the end, the car was the must have, everything after that was a nice to have. I opted for the textile seats because of concerns that two car-seats would permanently stretch/indent the leather and those who have them seemed impressed with the quality. The panoramic roof seemed to be the best bang for the buck. In addition to the ability to have a roof-rack and additional head room, it seemed to change the whole experience of being in the car for the driver and passengers. The tech package seamed full of little things that I live without already and certainly didn't seem to really be all that "tech" when considering this car is one big gadget, but does bring it more up to par with a standard luxury sedan. I'm sure I will end up adding super-charging at some point but had no immediate plans to use it. In the end I am very happy with my choices, but having said that - I have not had the opportunity to actually see a "base" model in person, the ones you test drive have every option possible!

 

[Btrflyl8e]

I believe autotilt mirrors require saving to a driver profile, which requires the tech package.