Used S VS Audi A4

[Todd Burch]

Get a Model S with AP, which will be a lifesaver for your long commute.

Why charge at a Supercharger? 150 miles is well within the range of an 85, even in the winter with a heavy headwind.

Just leave the house at 90% charge in the morning, and arrive home in the evening with plently left. Recharge overnight, and you're ready to go in the morning. The time you save from visiting the gas station (and not going to the Supercharger willbe very noticeable!

 

[Chrisshould]

Thanks everyone

 

[Chrisshould]

Get a Model S with AP, which will be a lifesaver for your long commute.

Why charge at a Supercharger? 150 miles is well within the range of an 85, even in the winter with a heavy headwind.

Just leave the house at 90% charge in the morning, and arrive home in the evening with plently left. Recharge overnight, and you're ready to go in the morning. The time you save from visiting the gas station (and not going to the Supercharger willbe very noticeable!

The Main point being dropping my current gasoline bill to as close to zero as possible, to not only help pay for the much higher monthly payment, but also justify owning a non hybrid

 

[Chrisshould]

There is a wide range of opinions here which I appreciate all of them. But I am
Now leaning towards it wouldn't be enough of a savings to justify the new expense, I will look into buying a dealer car but it just may seem waiting on the III is the best idea

 

[YBT]

Finally - something to consider as you consider the S. This is probably my biggest complaint with the car. (true in all areas except maybe CA).
You can't pick your nose when you're in your car.
Like...ever.
There is ALWAYS someone looking at you and your car. Literally...always.
People holding their phones on the steering wheel behind you taking pictures.
Pedestrians pointing and staring.
Motorcycles pulling up next to you in traffic to visit.
Complete strangers in parking lots walking around your car while you are coming out of the grocery store with a cart full of junk food and sugar'd soda (they can be very judgy - especially the granola tree hugger crowd that is interested in your EV)
Police officers curious to see if you see them, and if you'll launch or not.

There. The true colors of S ownership.

I hope you jump. I do I do.

Funny you mention this. I don't own an S but my contribution to the OP would be every time I see an A4 I'm basically yawning and/or gesticulating for them to HURRY UP the light is GREEN!

Every time I see a Tesla I'm glued to the inside of my window like a wide-eyed gecko (very dangerous without an AP enabled vehicle, please don't try this at home)

 

[PtG62901]

Moving close to work isn't an option then? If we value your time at $40/hour, how many hours a year are you driving to and from work? That cost is more then the car? $40 X 250 days X 3 hours per day? That is $30,000 of time per year. Ouch. At $20/hour, $15,000 per year. To me, it isn't the cost of the car, it is the cost of the commute.

The car question can only be answered by understanding what you can afford and what you want.

 

[AMPd]

Buy a CPO Model S. No need to wait. You get a full factory warranty. You can lease it for less than what your A4 is costing you to own. And obviously it is a far superior car to an A4.

As for the $7500 Federal tax credit, if you buy a Model S inventory car (never been titled, they are sold as new cars) you will get the rebate. Call Tesla and talk to them about it.

You say you "have a lot of questions" but I'm not seeing them in your post.

How can a CPO be leased? I'm interested in a P85+ and would appreciate it if you could point me in the direction of more information.
Thank you..

 

[xav-]

I have a lot of questions.

I drive a 2014 Audi A4 140 miles a day work commute, #'s include

$400 car payment
About ~ 800 miles a week
About ~ 3 fill ups a week at about ~ $33 a fill up = ~ $100 a week for gas
~400-600 spent a year on oil changes
~400-800 a year on tires

Costing me about $1000 a month to drive

There is a super charger near my work, it would replace that 145 miles in 22 minutes......

I would love some opinions from anyone taking the time to read this....
I really wanna Tesla III but can't really wait that long till delivery and plus I'd be so far down the line I wouldn't get the $7500 tax rebate

CPO s are worth like what? $10k more than brand new? Then all of them are legacy cars that are famously unreliable. You drive a lot you need something strong. I would buy new and remove some options..

And forget about supercharging where are you going to find the time for that on a daily basis? I would charge at home.

But you know the positive? You are one of the few who can actually get a new S without really spending much more than you already are.

You can go to your wife and say "we need to get a tesla to reduce our bills". Then you can tweet to Elon how much money you are saving. He will love your story.

 

[mikeash]

Stopping at the supercharger every day is going to get annoying really fast. If you have to do that, I'd recommend against. However, if you can get 240V charging installed at home or at work, then go for it. If you get a used one, make sure it has Autopilot, that'll make the long drive so much nicer.

 

[Todd Burch]

The Main point being dropping my current gasoline bill to as close to zero as possible, to not only help pay for the much higher monthly payment, but also justify owning a non hybrid

Depending on your electricity bill, you might save about $5-10 a day going to the Supercharger. Is that worth your time, the hassle, and the extra miles you'd put on driving to it? Probably not.

If you feel like you're going to have to seriously skimp to justify the purchase, I'd wait. Although the driving experience is well worth it IMHO.

 

[Alketi]

2012 Audi A4 owner here. No real problems with the car -- enjoyable, and certainly smaller than the S.

And, it'll be the last ICE car I ever own.

I've got a Model 3 reservation and absolutely can't wait for the car.

If it were me, I'd place a Model 3 reservation now, and pick up a 2-year lease on something else. End of 2018 timing for a Model 3 might just work out perfectly.

 

[WannabeOwner]

The Main point being dropping my current gasoline bill to as close to zero as possible, to not only help pay for the much higher monthly payment

Move to the UK! Here taxes on gasoline mean that a 30 MPG car costs about 8 times as much in gasoline as a car charged on off-peak electricity. For a high mileage driver putting that saving on the monthly payment sorts out the differential.

My understanding is that in USA the fuel prices are much closer ...

 

[dalamchops]

your math works, go for it. Screw the people that are deterring you from supercharging, 140mi is plenty long distance to me. It'll be the greatest car you've ever driven.

 

[mikeash]

Fuel prices are indeed much closer here. Around me, the cheap stuff is a little over $2/gallon. With my electricity prices, it's equivalent to about 50MPG in terms of cost. Still awesome for a car as large and powerful as the Model S, but nowhere near your 8x differential.

 

[Electroman]

If I were you, with the amount of driving you are do, run - don't walk - and get any S with Autopilot. Buy or steal doesn't matter.

You will then realize that it is worth every penny or even more. That is assuming much of your commute is on the highways.

I have a round trip 75 mile commute, and I used to looks for way to work from home just to avoid the commute. Look for ways to avoid peak hour traffic. Now with the S, I don't care. I drive to office everyday, as it is simply lot more enjoyable and lot less stressful on my S with AP. And the difference is very apparent during the frustrating stop and go peak hour commutes.

 

[xav-]

Move to the UK! Here taxes on gasoline mean that a 30 MPG car costs about 8 times as much in gasoline as a car charged on off-peak electricity. For a high mileage driver putting that saving on the monthly payment sorts out the differential.

My understanding is that in USA the fuel prices are much closer ...

Here, an electric car has basically the energy cost of a Prius. Ironically in California the cost of gas is more expensive but so is the cost of electricity (15 ct per kWh in my case)

 

[Chrisshould]

Stopping at the supercharger every day is going to get annoying really fast. If you have to do that, I'd recommend against. However, if you can get 240V charging installed at home or at work, then go for it. If you get a used one, make sure it has Autopilot, that'll make the long drive so much nicer.

You can't find a used tesla with AP because all the people that own Teslas's without AP are trading them in for new

 

[Chrisshould]

Stopping at the supercharger every day is going to get annoying really fast. If you have to do that, I'd recommend against. However, if you can get 240V charging installed at home or at work, then go for it. If you get a used one, make sure it has Autopilot, that'll make the long drive so much nicer.

I would still get the charger installed at home, I just want to use it a bare minimum

 

[Chrisshould]

2012 Audi A4 owner here. No real problems with the car -- enjoyable, and certainly smaller than the S.

And, it'll be the last ICE car I ever own.

I've got a Model 3 reservation and absolutely can't wait for the car.

If it were me, I'd place a Model 3 reservation now, and pick up a 2-year lease on something else. End of 2018 timing for a Model 3 might just work out perfectly.

You make a good point, but I don't think a lot of people know that the government only gives out like 250,000 clean car rebates to each company in America ...... So as far as I heard as soon as they sell over that number all the other people are SOL, MEANING technically every car that they sell NEW before you get your III means it knocks off one more person from the bottom of the list that WOULDA received that tax rebate

Has anyone else heard this? I could be wrong

 

[Chrisshould]

your math works, go for it. Screw the people that are deterring you from supercharging, 140mi is plenty long distance to me. It'll be the greatest car you've ever driven.

Is there any actual truth to the idea you CAN NOT supercharge daily?