Tesla Model 3 LR (New) vs. BMW 330i (used)

[kanishkab]

Hello Tesla community!

Reaching out to you as I am currently in the market for a car and would love to have your opinion. I am confused with a 2 year old BMW 330i (28.9k GBP) vs. a brand new Tesla LR. I am so confused that I have booked them both with 100 pounds deposit

1. Why BMW? I am thinking this may be my last gas car so I want to have a bit of fun with that. 330i is probably not the definition of fun but its a looker! The 3 other things that work in favour of BMW are 1) capability to use Waze 2) Heads up display (still not used to a center screen) and 3) capability to limit vehicle speed limit as per the street speed limit (in BMW on a single click of button the car locks the max speed to a street's max speed limit. I am not referring to cruise control)

2. Why Tesla? Fun to drive, Super cost savings, environmental factor, panaromic glass roof. I found the sitting position to be a bit 'squatting' both at front and back (i am 6'1)

Where am I confused?
I was under a clear assumption that cost of owning the BMW would overall be cheaper than Tesla especially that the car i am looking at is 22k cheaper. However, a math over the 4 year period says otherwise. Do you think the below makes sense based on your experience of owning petrol and tesla cars in the UK?

	Tesla (brand new)	BMW (2019)
Fuel cost per month (10k miles per annum)	29	144
Insurance per month (assumed to be same)	60	60
Tax per month (BMW is above 40k, taxed at luxury car rate)	-	40
Maintenance (BMW has 25 per month service pack)	-	25
EMI (Taking tesla loan for my car)	544	-
Total cost of ownership per month	633	269
Total cost of ownership in 4 years	30,392	12,933
Upfront cost (downpayment for tesla, full for BMW)	24,217	28,970
Residual value (50% for tesla, 30% for BMW)	25,000	13,200
Total cost	29,609	28,703

If Tesla is so close to BMW, I would then go ahead with my tesla purchase! What's your take?

 

[moodel_tree]

Really interesting question and also numbers. I think you may get a bit of bias on this forum, as I know I would vote with my heart (and head, as to me those numbers on a 2yr old BMW seem a little steep compared to the Tesla, value proposition wise) in your situation and say Tesla.

For me, when I ordered my M3 LR, it worked in both heart and head. I did like you did and shopped around, looking at equivalent ICE vehicles and what I wanted out of the vehicle. For me, only the M3 LR could check all the boxes I wanted it to, and the finances also aligned with my decision. The upfront cost was higher, but the cost over the entire ownership of the vehicle was much lower than other cars I was looking at (all ICE, things like Audi S4's, Merc C classes, Porsche 718's, etc.). Also, for me, the M3 LR was more of a jack of all trades car, coming from a Golf R that had a good balance between lightning performance (satisfy petrol head) and daily practicality (satisfy cruiser), the M3 fit my needs better than anything else.

Another key factor was simply that it was electric. I was kinda done with ICE cars and wanted to experience electric and invest in that future. Plus for me, the interior is just so far ahead from a tech head perspective, it made every other interior (especially the 718's!) feel incredibly dated -- although the merc was really nice and audi not too far behind, if not a little dark and dingy compared to the Tesla's massive bright open airy space.

There was a big decision though, like yourself, around it probably being the last ICE car I will own, I was highly tempted to go with the 718 because 'I won't be able to do that in 5-10 years, whereas a Tesla I can buy again in future', but ultimately I went back to my must-have's list and the 718 just didn't check enough boxes for me to please both the avid petrol head/life is short part of my brain and my reasonable part of my brain.

I have a huge notes list in my phones notes app that I sat and thought about before thinking about any car (although the M3 was the primary reason, I did want to shop around). This helped me set, beyond financial boundaries, a fixed list around what I wanted out of the car, and I think that is going to be your best bet here. Working out exactly what you want out of the car and comparing the two, as it seems like finances aren't really at play here anymore.

 

[yfwt]

Hello Tesla community!

Reaching out to you as I am currently in the market for a car and would love to have your opinion. I am confused with a 2 year old BMW 330i (28.9k GBP) vs. a brand new Tesla LR. I am so confused that I have booked them both with 100 pounds deposit

1. Why BMW? I am thinking this may be my last gas car so I want to have a bit of fun with that. 330i is probably not the definition of fun but its a looker! The 3 other things that work in favour of BMW are 1) capability to use Waze 2) Heads up display (still not used to a center screen) and 3) capability to limit vehicle speed limit as per the street speed limit (in BMW on a single click of button the car locks the max speed to a street's max speed limit. I am not referring to cruise control)

2. Why Tesla? Fun to drive, Super cost savings, environmental factor, panaromic glass roof. I found the sitting position to be a bit 'squatting' both at front and back (i am 6'1)

Where am I confused?
I was under a clear assumption that cost of owning the BMW would overall be cheaper than Tesla especially that the car i am looking at is 22k cheaper. However, a math over the 4 year period says otherwise. Do you think the below makes sense based on your experience of owning petrol and tesla cars in the UK?

	Tesla (brand new)	BMW (2019)
Fuel cost per month (10k miles per annum)	29	144
Insurance per month (assumed to be same)	60	60
Tax per month (BMW is above 40k, taxed at luxury car rate)	-	40
Maintenance (BMW has 25 per month service pack)	-	25
EMI (Taking tesla loan for my car)	544	-
Total cost of ownership per month	633	269
Total cost of ownership in 4 years	30,392	12,933
Upfront cost (downpayment for tesla, full for BMW)	24,217	28,970
Residual value (50% for tesla, 30% for BMW)	25,000	13,200
Total cost	29,609	28,703

If Tesla is so close to BMW, I would then go ahead with my tesla purchase! What's your take?

Also if you’re in London remember ULEZ is almost free apart from £10 per annum, plus road tax savings and other cities will have ULEZ zones too hence more charges and cost of fuel is more dynamic than electric. For now it’s an easy choice before more and more EVs are o the road and the government changes its tax regime. Obviously understand people thinking of the end of the era moment with a sports car - maybe an extra car for the weekend? ;-)

 

[init6]

Getting a brand new car for the same price as a 2 year old car? Does it make any difference what the models are?

 

[DaSwede]

Hello Tesla community!

Reaching out to you as I am currently in the market for a car and would love to have your opinion. I am confused with a 2 year old BMW 330i (28.9k GBP) vs. a brand new Tesla LR. I am so confused that I have booked them both with 100 pounds deposit

1. Why BMW? I am thinking this may be my last gas car so I want to have a bit of fun with that. 330i is probably not the definition of fun but its a looker! The 3 other things that work in favour of BMW are 1) capability to use Waze 2) Heads up display (still not used to a center screen) and 3) capability to limit vehicle speed limit as per the street speed limit (in BMW on a single click of button the car locks the max speed to a street's max speed limit. I am not referring to cruise control)

2. Why Tesla? Fun to drive, Super cost savings, environmental factor, panaromic glass roof. I found the sitting position to be a bit 'squatting' both at front and back (i am 6'1)

Where am I confused?
I was under a clear assumption that cost of owning the BMW would overall be cheaper than Tesla especially that the car i am looking at is 22k cheaper. However, a math over the 4 year period says otherwise. Do you think the below makes sense based on your experience of owning petrol and tesla cars in the UK?

	Tesla (brand new)	BMW (2019)
Fuel cost per month (10k miles per annum)	29	144
Insurance per month (assumed to be same)	60	60
Tax per month (BMW is above 40k, taxed at luxury car rate)	-	40
Maintenance (BMW has 25 per month service pack)	-	25
EMI (Taking tesla loan for my car)	544	-
Total cost of ownership per month	633	269
Total cost of ownership in 4 years	30,392	12,933
Upfront cost (downpayment for tesla, full for BMW)	24,217	28,970
Residual value (50% for tesla, 30% for BMW)	25,000	13,200
Total cost	29,609	28,703

If Tesla is so close to BMW, I would then go ahead with my tesla purchase! What's your take?

If you are planning to keep the car more than 4 years, it will quickly change these calculations. Plug in numbers for a two to three of more years ownership and then look at the comparison.

 

[DenkiJidousha]

capability to limit vehicle speed limit as per the street speed limit (in BMW on a single click of button the car locks the max speed to a street's max speed limit. I am not referring to cruise control)

When driving our model 3, after six months this is one of the things I miss most from previous cars. Without gears and engine noise as feedback, I find it far too easy to silently creep over the limit - and the traffic aware cruise control (TACC) is not always appropriate in these situations. Of course, it is not impossible that Tesla could add this feature in a software update - but that does seem to be a long shot.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

Americans seem to not understand what a speed limiter is, often confusing it with TACC.. so they don't see the need. Hence no pressure on Elon to add it (not that that's a guarantee of anything either eg. waypoints). Tesla will always cater first for their primary market.

 

[sparkymark75]

Have you checked insurance? Ran some quotes? I've found that insurance for Tesla was quite a bit more expensive. For my Audi S3 I was paying mid £300s. Lowest I can get for my Tesla is just over £500. Not a massive difference but a difference nonetheless.

 

[C225]

Funny you mention this as i did the same thing, i am taking the opportunity to cash in on the used market and change my current 18 month old Merc that is on PCP whilst i can make a profit. I considered a few electric cars, Tesla, Polestar 2 and XC40 electric and i was looking at a brand new BMW 320i XDrive as my last gas car.

The Tesla LR was my favourite of the electrics so i did a direct comparison of costs over 4 years for both on a lease in my case and they came out near enough identical which surprised me as the Tesla is a £12k more expensive car so i went ahead with the Tesla. The only thing is obviously paying more a month for Tesla but you make savings everywhere else compared to the petrol car.

I agree with @sparkymark75 though on insurance, when i did quotes the BMW was around £300 comapred to the £550 ish the Tesla would be,

 

[Mrklaw]

If you don’t need the range, an SR+ will be even better and still outperform the 330i

is a 2018 330 still a 6cyl or did they switch to 4 cyl turbos already? I liked my 6cyl BMWs but a tesla is so easy to live with especially if you can charge at home. I’ll have a look at the i4 in a few years but I’m never going back to ICE and don’t miss it at all

 

[AnthonyLR]

I just drove my wife’s Lexus RX450h on a two hour round trip. Compared with my M3LR it honestly feels like a barge. Also the lack of Autopilot was such a chore. She had Waze on her iPhone and I found the screen absolutely tiny. I did like the speed camera alerts and hope Tesla will introduce these one day.

On the trip my wife asked me if I had seen the price of petrol recently and then caught herself and laughed. Filling up is such a chore.

 

[Nick77]

For the Beemer you can add MOT and normal wear and tear items like brake pads and discs, over the life of 3 years. The Tesla won't need any new pads or discs in that period. Plus it doesn't really need servicing other than a few visual checks plus the cabin filter every two years (can easily stretch these to 3 years honestly), which you can do yourself nice and easy.

If you are charging at home there's the cost of installing a charger too. Unless you plan to charge via the 3 pin plug. Add on a smattering of Supercharging for longer trips as well.

 

[Jason71]

Both cars may need tyres. The M3 will come with a new set but the BMW probably not.
for the record the rears on my M3 lasted 13K and they are about £150 per corner. Fronts still lots of life at 18K.

 

[gidster99]

When driving our model 3, after six months this is one of the things I miss most from previous cars. Without gears and engine noise as feedback, I find it far too easy to silently creep over the limit - and the traffic aware cruise control (TACC) is not always appropriate in these situations. Of course, it is not impossible that Tesla could add this feature in a software update - but that does seem to be a long shot.

I forget the exact setting, but I have the Tesla set to beep at me if I go more than 3 mph over the speed limit - it works really well as a reminder to slow down as it is otherwise so easy to go over the speed limit.

The only issue is where it beeps at me when it has incorrectly picked up a side road 30mph sign instead of sticking with my main road 50 mph etc. But if you ignore the beeping for long enough it does stop !

 

[Olibol]

If you want a last hurrah with a petrol car, I’d recommend getting the Tesla and something old, cheap and sporty as a bit of weekend fun. Modern petrol cars (unless very expensive) don’t provide any thrills that would outweigh the benefits of the Tesla.

I also wouldn’t worry about things like head up displays. Not once in the time I’ve been driving my LR has it been any inconvenience to dart my eyes left for a fraction of a second every now and then.

 

[Adopado]

Not once in the time I’ve been driving my LR has it been any inconvenience to dart my eyes left for a fraction of a second every now and then.

I now find that the position of the speed indicator on the Model 3 screen is easier to monitor than having a dial speedo that you look at through the steering wheel. As you say "dart" your eyes as against peer into the depths!

 

[Jagdipa]

I was in the same position as you 6 months ago. I have to say, if you buy a BMW then no one will care. You see them everywhere. If you buy a Tesla then everyone will care and want to have a ride with you. You just don't get that feeling with anything else.

I have never regretted my desicion. Although I do miss having things like a heads up display and using waze for speed cameras.

Everything is a balance, and you never get the perfect fit. Just pick what's your best fit!

 

[GRiLLA]

Any options available to lease through a salary sacrifice? Only paying 1% BIK this year, then 2% means that you are saving large amounts of tax. Only available for fully electric.