Newbie Questions

[Bootneckshuffl]

Hi everyone,

Newbie here so please be gentle.

Looking to take a M3 LR on lease, having never leased before I’m understandably a bit cautious.

I’ve spent ages trawling different leasing companies, taking down quotes etc and all seem to be pretty much the same to be honest.

Ive noticed that Tesla are leasing through their own website but they seem to be a bit more pricey than the rest, my question with this is, is there any benefit/advantage to going direct through Tesla? Has anyone done this or is everyone just going 3rd party and why?

Also......circling the white interior, yes it looks amazing but would like to hear from those who have it, what they think, do they regret it etc. I like many others have a couple of kids and whilst they’re not absolute monsters, they’re still kids all the same. Yes the seats are apparently easy enough to clean but how will they look in a year or 2? Any better or worse than the Black say?

Anyway, enough from me, would love to hear everyone’s input on the above and of course any hints, tips, advice as I start my journey and relationship with Tesla.

Peace.

 

[NewbieT]

Leasing: I went direct with Tesla/Black Horse about a year a ago. There isn’t really a benefit. I guess you don’t deal directly with Blackhorse so there isn’t a 3rd party in the delivery update loop. Be careful / check as not all lease companies give you (full?) access to the Tesla app, which you definitely want. I’m sure you’ll get lots of suggestions for lease companies here or on the Leasing tread.

 

[Bootneckshuffl]

@NewbieT

thanks for the info, good point about the Tesla app, never even considered that!

From what I’ve seen so far, there’s a few quid at best between quotes from different firms.

To be honest, there’s something a bit more reassuring about going direct with Tesla, know it may sound stupid.

Jury still out on PCP or Lease too, know it’s been covered loads on here, guess it’s down to personal choice.

 

[stonecoldrmw]

Lease will get you in the car, for cheaper but you won't have as many options at the end.

PCP will get you in the car for a higher price per month, but will also give you more options at the end of the term.

 

[Jeeves]

Little to be wary of with leasing, but I suggest you check the excess mileage charges. In my experience, they tend to be much higher on leases than PCP.

I chose to lease mine, but everyone’s circumstances are different. I’ve never wanted to retain a PCP car. I was new to EVs and Tesla. I felt that EV technology was moving so quickly that I was even less likely to want to keep it. For me, I still think that was the right decision.

I chose the white interior and don’t regret it one bit. I find it easy to clean when required and that isn’t often. Still looks like new after 11k miles and 9 months, but mine isn’t subjected to kids that often.

 

[Joelly]

From my experience of leasing through a different company, it can be hard work. Going direct SHOULD make the experience a little less stressful as you’re only dealing with Tesla. The leasing companies operate differently and have different expectations.

can’t help with white seats I’m afraid as I personally wasn’t a massive fan. Not heard anything bad about white compared to black from my year of being around here though.

If you do place an order, don’t forget to place yours using a referral code. I have dropped you a private message which includes my
Link (if ordering direct with Tesla) and my code which you would supply to the leasing company at the point of order. This gives 1000 free supercharging miles (400kwh). Great for the first few road trips.

 

[bhav]

If you're leasing I would think really hard about any extras you're considering (i.e. wheels, white interior, FSD, tow hitch).

[My personal view] Given you'll never own the car or have any equity in it, getting these add ons is a pure indulgence - i.e. you're really paying for the privilege and won't see any 'return' on it (other than the unquantifiable enjoyment of being in the car with a white interior, for example!).

Whereas with a PCP I assume the balloon payment / resale value at least somewhat factors in that you spent extra on some addons upfront.

Nevertheless, I went with a lease - I love the freedom of not worrying about the end point and I'm not totally obsessed about the car being absolutely perfect since it's not mine anyway and it worked out stacks cheaper via salary sacrifice (which I appreciate isn't an option for many people).

 

[Chalks99]

Hi everyone,

Newbie here so please be gentle.

Looking to take a M3 LR on lease, having never leased before I’m understandably a bit cautious.

I’ve spent ages trawling different leasing companies, taking down quotes etc and all seem to be pretty much the same to be honest.

Ive noticed that Tesla are leasing through their own website but they seem to be a bit more pricey than the rest, my question with this is, is there any benefit/advantage to going direct through Tesla? Has anyone done this or is everyone just going 3rd party and why?

Also......circling the white interior, yes it looks amazing but would like to hear from those who have it, what they think, do they regret it etc. I like many others have a couple of kids and whilst they’re not absolute monsters, they’re still kids all the same. Yes the seats are apparently easy enough to clean but how will they look in a year or 2? Any better or worse than the Black say?

Anyway, enough from me, would love to hear everyone’s input on the above and of course any hints, tips, advice as I start my journey and relationship with Tesla.

Peace.

You are (probably ) sure to get the 1000 free supercharger miles (via referral) if you deal directly with Tesla

 

[Jason71]

can't comment on the white seats but one comment on the black ones ( that favours white). In the recent hot weather, what with the glass roof, they get very very hot as in you can't sit down in shorts hot. Less of an issue with the Tesla than most cars since you can pre cool the cabin if you remember but I assume not an issue at all with the white. So if I lived somewhere consistently hot I might go for white. Since I live in the UK where mud it more of an issue than heat generally I am happy with my black seats.

 

[MrBadger]

I think the surfaces of the car will get similarly uncomfortably hot no matter what the colour of the surface. Shiny metallic seatbelt clips can get very hot indeed. A lot to be said of fabric interiors. A previous car of mine had full glass roof but fabric seats and I never felt it too hot to sit in.

 

[Roy W.]

I can’t help with the leasing, as I bought outright, but we have got red paint and white interior.

Absolutely no qualms here about the white seats, we’d have them again. Car is 10 months old with 12k miles, and they’re like new still. I’ve only ever wiped them down the once, at about 8k, with a wet-wipe as recommended. After using one wipe on all the seats it finished looking as clean as if it just came out of the packet!

Having watched lots of videos about the white, I think the only thing you need to be wary of is new-ish denim, where the dye can transfer. Luckily, after spending all my money on the car, I can’t now afford any new jeans...

I’d certainly recommend getting some decent all-weather mats for the winter. I’ve got the Tesla carpet mats for summer, and some rubber ones for winter.

Let us know what you finally decide on!

 

[Mr Miserable]

Not much to add really but I would agree that you don't want to tick many, if any, options since the leasing company would probably try and recoup the cost of any options within the period of your lease.
Do shop around. I know many 'leasing companies' are actually just brokers for a couple of big players but there are some really bad deals out there. Beware of headline rates that look good but when you examine them a bit closer you see them for what they are eg 5000 miles annually. This is not a car to drive 5000 miles annually, I don't care who you are!
Use a spreadsheet to determine your overall cost of ownership over the period of the lease for each quote you receive.

 

[Durzel]

I can’t help with the leasing, as I bought outright, but we have got red paint and white interior.

Absolutely no qualms here about the white seats, we’d have them again. Car is 10 months old with 12k miles, and they’re like new still. I’ve only ever wiped them down the once, at about 8k, with a wet-wipe as recommended. After using one wipe on all the seats it finished looking as clean as if it just came out of the packet!

Having watched lots of videos about the white, I think the only thing you need to be wary of is new-ish denim, where the dye can transfer. Luckily, after spending all my money on the car, I can’t now afford any new jeans...

I’d certainly recommend getting some decent all-weather mats for the winter. I’ve got the Tesla carpet mats for summer, and some rubber ones for winter.

Let us know what you finally decide on!

How often do you wear jeans? I have only driven my Model 3 about 4 times since getting it at the end of March, and each time I've worn chinos instead of blue jeans (which is what I would normally always wear, even to work when I was commuting pre-virus). I'm pretty scared about dye transfer.

Even on an oldish pair of jeans if I have receipts in my pocket they'll end up turning blue eventually, so I don't it's a problem for just new jeans.

 

[Durzel]

My newbie question..

How important is it (or not) to leave the car plugged in, even when it does not need to charge?

I haven't been driving my car due to working from home full time and lockdown, and the times I have driven it I've just charged it up to 80% and then ended up getting back home on 65% or so. After I've finished driving I set the charge level to 50% and just leave it unplugged.

I'm worried though that there is some kind of battery conditioning/refreshing that might need to be done, using shore power, and that it's not good for it to be unplugged for weeks at a time? I'm sure the manual does say to leave the car plugged in at all times where it's possible.

Am I just worrying over nothing?

 

[Roy W.]

How often do you wear jeans? I have only driven my Model 3 about 4 times since getting it at the end of March, and each time I've worn chinos instead of blue jeans (which is what I would normally always wear, even to work when I was commuting pre-virus). I'm pretty scared about dye transfer.

Even on an oldish pair of jeans if I have receipts in my pocket they'll end up turning blue eventually, so I don't it's a problem for just new jeans.

When I’ve not had my shorts on I normally wear jeans all the time in the car, but they are very well washed, a mixture of black (now grey) and blue. Same with the Mrs.

We’re just careful not to wear any denim that hasn’t been through the wash cycle a good few times.

During one of our test drive visits I had a discussion with Mr Tesla about the white seats. The seats in the showroom car were quite blue in places. Mr Tesla demonstrated the baby wipe method and it just came straight off.

The main danger is staining of the seat stitching, because that won’t wipe off, and would be quite hard to clean.

 

[Roy W.]

My newbie question..

How important is it (or not) to leave the car plugged in, even when it does not need to charge?

I haven't been driving my car due to working from home full time and lockdown, and the times I have driven it I've just charged it up to 80% and then ended up getting back home on 65% or so. After I've finished driving I set the charge level to 50% and just leave it unplugged.

I'm worried though that there is some kind of battery conditioning/refreshing that might need to be done, using shore power, and that it's not good for it to be unplugged for weeks at a time? I'm sure the manual does say to leave the car plugged in at all times where it's possible.

Am I just worrying over nothing?

I wouldn’t worry. I’m just keeping ours between 40-80%, unless we’re going on a longer trip. Mine’s gone almost two weeks between being charged once during the lockdown.

Once we’re back in regular use (2022? ) I’ll probably run it down to less than 10% and charge up to 100%, just to make sure the battery management system is recalibrated.

FYI my car is garaged at home, so I don’t use Sentry Mode, so negligible phantom drain.

 

[JupiterMan]

worked out stacks cheaper via salary sacrifice (which I appreciate isn't an option for many people).

If you are employed, do check if your employer operates a salary sacrifice scheme, and if they don't, enquire (like I did) whether they could set one up. There are some areas to be aware of relating to pensions in particular, but if appropriate can save a hefty amount off the lease cost and is straight forward to set up (lease companies offer this service).

My M3 will be my first lease (previously always PCP'd), and I did it this way for these savings.

 

[Jez_GB]

My newbie question..

How important is it (or not) to leave the car plugged in, even when it does not need to charge?

I haven't been driving my car due to working from home full time and lockdown, and the times I have driven it I've just charged it up to 80% and then ended up getting back home on 65% or so. After I've finished driving I set the charge level to 50% and just leave it unplugged.

I'm worried though that there is some kind of battery conditioning/refreshing that might need to be done, using shore power, and that it's not good for it to be unplugged for weeks at a time? I'm sure the manual does say to leave the car plugged in at all times where it's possible.

Am I just worrying over nothing?

I hold with the mantra "A happy Tesla is a plugged in Tesla" - Clearly there is no issue with leaving the car unplugged for longer periods of time, however if the car needs to perform any kind of self diagnostic check/wake-up/whatever, you will not suffer phantom drain and any pre-conditioning you might opt for will use shore power. It's also a great anti-theft device!

 

[MrBadger]

I find the car periodically tops up as and when it feels like it, often several times a day.

As a result, I don't leave plugged in unless we are due a good continuous run of sun and the car needs a few charges - we get 10-11% in our 4 hour Go window so requires more charges to return back to to around 80% (I generally let it fall to around 40% then top backup to around 80%).

I also took to dropping the charge limit soon after charging to avoid these 'topups'.

As a PV owner, I like to be in control over what and when we have large power requirements.

Come the winter, if the car is still being little used, I will reassess the situation and will probably plug in more.

 

[Bootneckshuffl]

Thanks everyone so much for the input.

Would love to hear more.