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Potential Repair costs

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Ah, I was looking at google's result... should have checked the EPA site directly for the 22/31 25 combined mpg number on the 2WD model.
Yeah and people appear to be reporting that they are easily exceeding that. That is something I have seen over and over again with diesels as they appear to surprise fuel economy wise while turbocharged small displacement petrol engines do not do as optimistically.

I realize that the diesel-petrol price spread will probably increase against diesel once the world's economy picks up, but I value efficiency more than anything else and diesel is insanely efficient. Of course VW was cheating, but I will not judge diesels just because of the arrogance and shear stupidity of a company who actually thought they could get away with that. The fact that they did not think someone would "fact check" their claims is just insane.
 
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I really hope consumables are affordable. up here, the salt is so bad, and the winters so long, I had to replace the front calipers and rear brake hardware (along with pads ahead of time because of the spring failure) around 50K and 8 years. I did it myself for about $280. I was already unhappy about spending this much, but if the price was more than twice this, AND I couldn't do the job myself, I would be straight up mad
 
This thread depresses me but was inevitable. There was a time when the average guy could repair his own ICE car. You could actually open the hood and see the part that required repair or replacement. One owned a Chilton manual for his car and did his own repairs to save money. It took awhile, but Detroit finally caught on. First came the computers, then the shrouds. Everything got covered up and buried so-to-speak. New tools were developed to service the cars and were only available at service centers. They were going to get you back into their facility whether you liked it or not.

At this point, I'm sort glad I'm sitting somewhere around 207,000 in line tax credits or no. I'm also glad I'll be within 15 miles of the closest service center but I presume many more will be opened in the L.A. area. As I said earlier, QC, QC and more QC.
 
I'm still not sure, but I might just play it safe and lease my 3.
I'm on the fence about this as well.

Pros:
  • Get to experience the 3 early on without committing to a car that may have lots of potential problems
  • Can lease, then buy a brand new 3 which will hopefully have those problems sorted.
  • Not locked into a technologically rapidly-advancing car. No fear of the car becoming obsolete in a few years.
  • Don't have to worry about out-of-warranty costs down the road.
Cons:
  • Mileage limits (expensive to go over, expensive if you don't drive enough). I never feel like I'm getting a good deal when I rent something and there's a limit
  • More money in the long run if I decide to buy/lease a new 3 after.
  • Tesla leases are expensive
  • I don't own the car, which means I can't do whatever I want with it.
I am seriously considering leasing my first 3 and going along for the ride while the teething issues are figured out and the 3 becomes a reliable car after a few years. I expect to be at the service center often, but it'll be okay because I don't own the car and won't have to worry about ugly first gen problems rearing their head after the warranty expires.

Then I'll buy a new 3 after the lease is up. This way I get a new car, it's more reliable, and has better technology, all while experiencing the 3 ASAP.

I would lease all my cars if I knew mileage would never be a problem and it wasn't more expensive over time. It's nerve-wracking knowing you have a set limit for the year and I don't need the extra stress. I just want to drive the car when I want, where I want. I don't want to limit myself or force myself to drive more to get my money's worth. I hate limitations. I don't want to have to budget my miles per week/month or whatever. I also like owning stuff. It's mine.

So I may just suck up the lease for the first three years, then buy.
 
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I'm still not sure, but I might just play it safe and lease my 3.
That thought occurred to me as well, but I drive too many miles for a lease to work. I may be leaning more towards just skipping EV's this round and getting an ICE based car just to give Tesla a time to get their reliability in order. This may be my last chance to get something with a big v8 again as those engines are going away due to fuel economy and emissions regulations. The thought did occur to revisit the Tesla 3-5 years later and get maybe a Chevrolet SS(6.2 litre v8), Dodge Charger SRT8 392(not likely due to poor reliability of FCA products), Mustang GT. All of that instant EV torque is great, but it will never match the pure sound you get from a good old home grown v8 uncorked with a Borla exhaust system. We will see though as I am all over the place right now in terms of what I would get if I decided to wait out the Teslas.
 
Have you ever been to a dealer for repairs?

Much less a dealer in attempting to repair an EV?

That's why.

yes, and no. I think I see your point, though. I see, at least around here (and if I'm driving to get it serviced/fixed, I'd might as well just go to tesla), dealers and independent shops inflating repair prices if in no other way "sitting on" the car a while extra and putzing around instead of just fixing the thing. at least at tesla, you should get a "guaranteed" repair price of sorts, as the technicians will be getting paid to do this job as prescribed by tesla, and will have all the important info to perform the work. I'm just not thrilled with the idea of having to drive 10 hours round trip to get my car touched by tesla.

I also hope similar to gm (unlike audi/vw) they put some engineering into better fluids/components that are just naturally easier on fluids, and research on service intervals, so service intervals can be something we feel better about following, and better about paying a dealership to service
 
I'm on the fence about this as well.

Pros:
  • Get to experience the 3 early on without committing to a car that may have lots of potential problems
  • Can lease, then buy a brand new 3 which will hopefully have those problems sorted.
  • Not locked into a technologically rapidly-advancing car. No fear of the car becoming obsolete in a few years.
  • Don't have to worry about out-of-warranty costs down the road.
Cons:
  • Mileage limits (expensive to go over, expensive if you don't drive enough). I never feel like I'm getting a good deal when I rent something and there's a limit
  • More money in the long run if I decide to buy/lease a new 3 after.
  • Tesla leases are expensive
  • I don't own the car, which means I can't do whatever I want with it.
I am seriously considering leasing my first 3 and going along for the ride while the teething issues are figured out and the 3 becomes a reliable car after a few years. I expect to be at the service center often, but it'll be okay because I don't own the car and won't have to worry about ugly first gen problems rearing their head after the warranty expires.

Then I'll buy a new 3 after the lease is up. This way I get a new car, it's more reliable, and has better technology, all while experiencing the 3 ASAP.

I would lease all my cars if I knew mileage would never be a problem and it wasn't more expensive over time. It's nerve-wracking knowing you have a set limit for the year and I don't need the extra stress. I just want to drive the car when I want, where I want. I don't want to limit myself or force myself to drive more to get my money's worth. I hate limitations. I don't want to have to budget my miles per week/month or whatever. I also like owning stuff. It's mine.

So I may just suck up the lease for the first three years, then buy.
Don't use Tesla's leasing company US Bank. They are horrible to work with. They lack disclosure, impossible to get in touch with. Send incorrect documentation. A bureaucratic nightmare to work with. And yes, overpriced.
 
Don't use Tesla's leasing company US Bank. They are horrible to work with. They lack disclosure, impossible to get in touch with. Send incorrect documentation. A bureaucratic nightmare to work with. And yes, overpriced.
Ah yes, this is another con. I've heard the nightmares and horror stories of leasing cars. Extra paperwork and fine print that I'd rather avoid, and not knowing if I'll be hit with a repair fee at the end because something is "broken".

When you buy, everything is on you. You're in control. Not so much when leasing.
 
I have my issues with GM, but the success of their extended service intervals is better than any other companies' Ive seen.
Many manufacturers do the same thing. Ford has been using an oil life monitor for a long time now to determine the proper intervals. Vehicles theoretically can go 10-12k miles per oil change which is what most GM vehicles do. Much of that credit goes to advances in oil technology along with use of either semi-synthetic or full synthetic oils.
 
I understand, but GM has been doing this since the 90s even with regular oil in most engines until the relatively new dexos standard. The ford program may work, but chrysler and vw/audi come to mind as companies that didn't do all their homework before trying this.

For example, the battery coolant. Are they really needing a special coolant? Or could they use evans waterless coolant that can keep up with the most high performance engines, and never need replacing, all at a minimal extra cost. If they are using a special coolant, why not commission evans to develop a new coolant that will never need replacing? For pete's sake, I never need to replace the coolant in my jetta, with factory coolant. The only thing I would expect to service on a modern electric car is the gear reduction oil (should be synthetic, so long life) and brake fluid, both of which SHOULD be owner serviceable