Very cool! I wasn’t in the door until around 6pm, so mine shows Dec 2017-Feb 2018. Hopefully it really will be by December! I’ll definitely try the Model S soon. Thanks! Let me know when you end up taking delivery!
Some people will be disappointed if the Model 3 doesn’t sprout wings and fly you around the world, but just like expecting enhanced autopilot to come standard, that’s unrealistic. Sure I held out a tiny glimmer of hope that it was going to be included, but I think most people didn’t expect it. I follow a lot of blogs/forums about Tesla and electric cars, and the consensus from day one that it would be extra. The $5k price point was actually pretty in line with most estimates, though I didn’t anticipate fully autonomous to be an extra $3k on top of that. Many car companies are starting to come out with features similar to autopilot in the past 5 years since Tesla came out with it, but it seems that Tesla is still leading the pack in this technology and continues to update their software regularly.
Check out youtube for some really cool videos of people using autopilot. I was watching one yesterday where some guy drove about 2,000 miles without touching the steering wheel outside of pulling off the freeway and into super charging stations. He was even hands off in certain city locations and it worked relatively well.
Tesla appears to be following its well-worn playbook by building the most profitable versions of the Model 3 first, in order to bolster profitability. As long as Tesla has enough orders for the 310 mile range, upgraded-interior Model 3 to fill all of its production capacity, I doubt it will bother building many (or any) of the baseline $35,000 versions.
I know it’s not a fair comparison, but as far as AD technology the CT6 I am sure uses some kind of a driver facing monitoring camera and it will not likely to offer a level 4 AD any time soon. So for $58k+ you are still getting a polluter with not much of a tech compare to the model 3.
Ya they’re really smart to do it. I may have considered saving the money and gone for the base model, but since it won’t be available until mid next year, I’m not even considering it. Everyone I know is so anxious to get the car that they’re all planning to get the long range version. Honestly though, I wanted a 300+ mile range from the day I heard about the Model 3, so I’ll be getting what I’ve wanted.
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Interesting. I wonder if that will negatively impact production at all? Hopefully they’ll at least be able to accomplish their 20K cars per month plan by the end of December.
So since this site is primarily all about the cost of cars, I wanted to see what you think about the cost of the Model 3? Someone created this online calculator for the Model 3. It’s a little difficult to swallow since the price just skyrockets with all the features.
https://meadorjosh.wixsite.com/model3cost
Monthly payment is a whopping $909/month for 72 months + $2500 down + $1000 deposit (assuming an interest rate of 2%) if you order with all the bells and whistles!!! Never in a million years would I think I’d be considering a $1000/month car! Granted this is the PURCHASE price. Knowing me, I’ll likely be driving this for the next 10+ years. I’m thinking I’ll put the $10k down if I qualify for the tax refund (federal + CA). This makes the payments $790/month + $2500 down.
The other thing I’m considering is leaving off the $3k price for the full self driving mode which doesn’t even exist yet. That brings the price to $742/month. Still outrageously expensive, but it definitely feels a lot less painful, especially for a purchase.
Thoughts?
It seems that Tesla – with the Model S and Model X – has been successful at getting some people to spend more on their vehicles than they did in the past. If you read the Tesla forums you will see this over and over.
If you base your car buying/leasing decisions solely on total cost of ownership, Tesla ownership rarely makes sense. There is almost always a lower TCO alternative (of course, few people decide solely on TCO; there’s emotion, safety, pride, and so many other factors.)
Back when the iPhone came out 10 years ago, some people wondered how Apple would get people to pay so much for a phone. But it unlocked so much new value that millions of people no longer question spending $600-1000 for the device.
In terms of creating new value, the Model 3 isn’t equivalent to the iPhone…yet. The unknown is if/when Tesla adds value to vehicle ownership that does not exist today. By that I mean, true unique value, like being the first and only self-driving vehicles and/or the only vehicles that can self-drive and earn money for their owners. I’m going to wait to buy one once the value is apparent, just as I did with iPhone.
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Many good points. Though I don’t see the value in the iphone (not to start a iphone vs android war) 
I’m willing to pay a premium for a car that I really love since historically I’ve kept cars for 10+ years. I agree with you though that fully autonomous driving really will set it apart from all other cars. My gut feeling is telling me though that even if Tesla pulls out some magic and somehow manages level 5 autonomy, government red tape will still hold off progress of this technology for at least the next 10 years. I may be on my next car by then.
EDIT: I fixed the link for the cost calculator above to his new one in case anyone’s interested.
If you really want to save some money just wait a few years. Can this car ever live up to all the hype ?
Think of this car as fashion. The posers would love to be seen in the latest thing. And when it’s no longer so unique and cool then prices will moderate. When Grannies start buying Model 3’s then the fashion crowd will move on !
I’m old enough to remember 98 VW Beetles selling for $10-$15k over MSRP. Ditto for the Chrysler PT Cruiser. and other cars. Remember “Dubs” ?
15 years from now you can tell your friends… I can’t believe I paid $50k for a Model 3. And they didn’t even have hyperglide back then ! What was I thinkin ?
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Great points, but for me personally, this car really does seem like a game changer. I could wait, but I’m really not willing to wait the 2+ years until Tesla is able to push through the backlog of current Model 3 reservations. Worst case is I’d get the truly base model version. At the $35k price point (before tax incentives) that’s a bargain even without the extra features.
So any updates after the hype of 50 teslas M3 delivered if they actually built/sold any more? Hopefully more than 50? If the target is 1000 a week, shouldn’t there have been at least 1k ready by now :)???
Or is this the 1st circle of production hell?
Actually it was the hype of 30 delivered in July. The other 20 were for testing purposes. I’ve seen lots of pics of Model 3 sightings on the streets with higher VIN numbers, so I assume production is on schedule. Actually according to Musk they were planning to produce 30 in July, 100 in August and then it would go up exponentially from there ramping all the way up to 5000k per week by December. I’d assume September should see about 1000 deliveries, then 5000 in October, 10,000 in November and 20,000 in December. So far musk has been on schedule with Model 3 releases so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
Tesla calculator estimates how much it actually costs to buy a Model 3
I prefer the calculator I posted above because it lets you input state rebates and lets you see what your payments are for a higher downpayment. Spoiler alert… it’s a crap ton more than $35K for people that want all the options! 
Watch a Tesla Model X beat a Lamborghini Aventador in a drag race
haha. Saw that! Teslas have ridiculous acceleration, but anything longer than 1/8 mile and it would’ve got smoked. What I didn’t get was that the Model S P100D somehow lost to it. It looks like the Model S took off the line a second later.
It looks like Tesla managed to deliver 75 cars for the month of August and now are predicting 1500 in September. Wow that is a slow trickle … Looks like Bolt is selling better and is now doing 2k units a month …
Seems like they’re pretty close to their planned schedule, so I’m feeling good about it. Also, if you’re referencing the insideEV article, then they estimate delivery of 40-75 Model 3s, which is purely speculation based on Musk’s original plan of producing (not delivering) 100 Model 3s in the month of August. I’ll be thrilled if they really manage to produce 1500 for September and they stay on track with the expected 20,000 cars a month in December.