Kaido
Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
- Feb 14, 2004
- 48,414
- 5,270
- 136
There is a category of people who always buy the cheapest model. There's a surprisingly high amount of psychology that goes into purchases, especially in terms of having a really expensive "halo car" & then a rock-bottom car, which creates contrast, and this herds most people into the "good value" model that has the bulk of the features in it, so it's usually for two reasons: to bolster low-end sales & to drive the majority of people into a higher-cost model.
I have a buddy who is in the "cheapest model" group. It's a funny group because it's almost never actually about the money (because why wouldn't you just buy a $19k Civic instead, or a cheaper EV model, like a fairly mature Nissan Leaf, as opposed to a stripped-down, barebones 3?) , but it's typically emotionally-driven by a variety of factors, including what you "feel you deserve" (either because you feel like you only deserve the least-feature model, or someone from your family is in your head pressuring you to buy the cheapest one, or you want to avoid the appearance of buying the fanciest model, etc.). My buddy jumped through hoops to get the cheapest possible Model 3 (I think he had to call in for the off-menu one), when the price difference was hardly anything at the time & he could just have just waited a month or two to save up a bigger down payment, as he didn't need the car right away & isn't a "I gotta have it right now" type of person". So now he has a RWD, low-range, non-AP Tesla, which is basically....just an electric car. Might as well have saved some money & gotten a competitor at that point, lol. So many features that makes a Tesla enjoyable are neutered out at that point, and he wishes he had gotten some of the better features, but mentally & emotionally, for whatever reason, he's simply locked into "the cheapest model possible" mindset. But wouldn't get like a cheapo brand-new Nissan Versa or Kia Soul or whatever, lol.
As far as the Y goes, if you liked the 3, you'll love the Y! I personally think the 3 is way better-looking design-wise, but with all purchases, you almost always care more about functionality a few weeks into ownership than looks (unless it's very specifically for a high-performance sports car weekend toy type of purchase). The Y looks like a bloated jellybean, but it's more comfortable to sit in, has more headroom, more legroom, more storage space, etc. I mean, I'd love a Model 3, but if you gave me the choice of either the 3 or the Y right now, I'd definitely go with the Y as my daily driver! The 3 is faster than the Y (3.1s vs. 3.5s on the performance version), but I can tell you that 3.5 seconds in the Y feels blisteringly fast lol. So it kind of depends on what you're after & what you want to use it for. I'd definitely recommend test-driving it, just to get a feel for it! If the Cybertruck wasn't shipping EOY & then mass-shipping next year (well, maybe...we're on Elon-time here haha!), I'd be more interested in getting a lease for the near-term. But man, I'm stupid excited about the Cybertruck!!
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