I bought into, and still believe in, the promise of a Tesla for the masses. And me, I'm the masses. I really, really want an electric car. A 35k Tesla is just (barely) within reason for my finances. The other electrics don't appeal like a Tesla. Not at all.
But then my '04 Prius, best car I've ever owned, started calling for maintenance I wasn't willing to invest in at 172k.
And the math, it just doesn't lie. The farther away the ever-receding Tesla delivery date, the less rebate there will be. Put with that the fact that, after rebates and Toyota's aggressive moves to get rid of 2017 cars, the cost of my new Prius Prime got down to $16k. So we're talking probably $10-15k less than the M3. That is one major chunk of change to a lot of people, including me.
The EV mode range of the Prime is nothing major. But the overall mileage with regular charging becomes ridiculously high. It became really hard to justify waiting around for a Tesla. $10-15k will buy an awful lot of other things. Heck, maybe I'll finally get that vintage Gretsch guitar AND a car.
Thing is, the Prius Prime, which clearly has Tesla nods all over the place, is a really great car. It's some stiff competition for the ecology-minded buyer without a trust fund. Tesla is going to have more competition than it thinks.
I hope, like crazy, that by the time I'm ready to relinquish the Prius Prime, there's a Tesla that fits my needs and my budget. Because I'll still be rooting for it, and hoping there's one with my name on it. And I hope all of you who are waiting are rewarded in a big way when you finally get an M3. I'll be jealous.