Tesla S P85D - quicker than a Panamera Turbo.

[Laconian]

Judging by your fleet, I'm pretty sure you could afford it.

[12,000 RPM]

Autopilot mode? You guys are cheering the end of cars.

U haz serious control issues

[Lebowski]

I love Tesla, but I'd still get an i8 for a few very simple reasons:

a) Not for sale here
b) The infrastructure isn't ready. I couldn't travel far and I do travel far a lot.

If I lived in the People's Republic of California, I'd get one. (If I could afford it.)

Having to plan a road trip around the location of their supercharger stations is a nonstarter for me.

[2o6]

$100k is not the stratosphere. Maybe upper troposphere.

That's priced out of a lot of people's realms.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I checked the website out, and the little payment estimator thing.

Their funky math aside, it really wouldn't be that bad. If you choose to factor in fuel.

I imagine most spend atleast 50 dollars a week(if you have a average commute). Take 2 to 300 dollars of fuel cost off that 900 and that puts you around 600. Sadly I'm sure alot of people have 500 dollar car payments so it's not outside the realm.

Now, if they had something smaller and less powerful for around 50K then those would sell like hot cakes.

[Submariner]

This Tesla is S550 money - not exactly a middle class car, that. 

[GoCougs]

"Afford" is a relative term. If you can only buy the car after their "special" financing (whereby the bank takes the tax credits and other subsidies and factors it into the lease) can one really "afford" it?

[Morris Minor]

They sorta pushed it - the Volt is the best hybrid; plug-in or otherwise; on the market.

Much less risky to develop an ATS than a $100,000 Model S esp. given that Detroit abandoned the luxury flagship/halo long ago.

I'm still convinced that had Chevy built a $100,000 Model S virtually no one would have bought it. Tesla is IMO very much riding the Apple phenomenon.

There also the frisson you get knowing that the lumpen proletariat is paying a large chunk of the tab for your ride.

[Raza]

The death of cars is marked by a 3.2 0-60, four door sedan that can pull over a 1g laterally, and basically has independent control of torque vectoring to each individual wheel?  Wat

Yes.  Full size Power Wheels that drives on its own is the beginning of the end. 

[Raza]

U haz serious control issues

Say bye-bye to your modded Accords and Preludes.  Say bye-bye to fun in a car. 

[S204STi]

Just thought I'd point out, Tesla is not necessarily trying to compete with anyone. Musk just seems to be using the company as a test bed for cars and tech that mainstream automakers are reluctant to build, funded by early adopters. The cars are revolutionary for its own sake, and Tesla had not flinched at sharing their tech with others. For example, Benz is using a Tesla system in their new electric car. The autopilot will probably be licensed out as well. The next big thing will be the battery tech, for which Tesla is building their own plant in the U.S. and I'm sure that'll be licensed out to other automakers as well. It seems to work because they are willing to take risks that others aren't, and to sell to a niche market which doesn't really threaten the rest of the auto world, dealers excluded perhaps. That's another topic...

[2o6]

Aside from the super dense battery tech, I'm not sure how Tesla is that innovative. They've got a lot of interesting gadgets, but I don't understand - a lot of Tesla's product seems to be more design driven, not dissimilar to Apple.

[MrH]

They're the kings of 3 phase AC motors and controls for electric cars. The rest of the car is well done too.

Not sure how much more innovation you're expecting out of them

[2o6]

They're the kings of 3 phase AC motors and controls for electric cars. The rest of the car is well done too.

Not sure how much more innovation you're expecting out of them

Yes, but many people think its the 2nd coming and will put GM and every conventional automaker out of business because Tesla is so smart

[GoCougs]

Aside from the super dense battery tech, I'm not sure how Tesla is that innovative. They've got a lot of interesting gadgets, but I don't understand - a lot of Tesla's product seems to be more design driven, not dissimilar to Apple.

I completely agree. The only real effort Tesla should be congratulated on is convincing people that a $80k-$100k electric car is some sort of world changer.

[2o6]

I completely agree. The only real effort Tesla should be congratulated on is convincing people that a $80k-$100k electric car is some sort of world changer.

And not necessarily good design driven - more so design for design's sake. The stupid touch screen IP is a textbook example of this. Some of the Model S's interior looks a bit homemade and cheap.


And they've not even sold 10K copies since introduction.

[GoCougs]

They're the kings of 3 phase AC motors and controls for electric cars. The rest of the car is well done too.

Not sure how much more innovation you're expecting out of them

Tesla in turn took 3-phase motor control from the servo and robotics industry, which has been doing the exact same for ~20 years (4 quadrant control, regenerative braking, load sharing, PWM, etc.).

[GoCougs]

And not necessarily good design driven - more so design for design's sake. The stupid touch screen IP is a textbook example of this. Some of the Model S's interior looks a bit homemade and cheap.


And they've not even sold 10K copies since introduction.

I don't care for the 17" interface either. There are some quality control issues too - I have yet to see a Tesla in the flesh that doesn't have misaligned body panels or rear hatch. Sales are tapering off too.

It's interesting but it's really just another novelty.

[2o6]

I don't care for the 17" interface either. There are some quality control issues too - I have yet to see a Tesla in the flesh that doesn't have misaligned body panels or rear hatch. Sales are tapering off too.

It's interesting but it's really just another novelty.

I think they've carved out a niche, though. This techno-wizardry mixed with attractive design and novel first-adopter technology is a niche for tech types who have lots of dough (Laconian).

[thewizard16]

Video of a launch plus the auto-pilot.

http://youtu.be/7quu551ehc0

Holy shit.

It's still a stratospherically expensive product for the very rich, and reliability is still an unknown quantity.
Also, the interior kind of sucks.

Eh, It's not stratospherically expensive, it's just really expensive. Some days the average price in my gym's parking lot pushes $90k (bastards), so the Tesla S is well within the realm of the upper middle class apparently, not just coastal millionaires. As far as the interior goes, the materials and build all feel very high quality. I'm not a huge fan of the "everything is a screen" direction they took it, but that's the way most of the new luxury cars now are looking (my biggest annoyance with the new S class as well) so we'll learn to deal with it I suppose.

[Lebowski]

$90k car is not "upper middle class" territory w/o living wildly beyond ones means.

[MrH]

Lol, yeah, this forum has a very loose definition of middle class.

[CALL_911]

I don't think that's endemic to this forum

[Laconian]

$90k car is not "upper middle class" territory w/o living wildly beyond ones means.

I think it's a reasonable price for an an aspirational car. The German manufacturers routinely use their $100k+ models (i7, S-class, 7 series, etc.) as testbeds for new tech, and nobody complains. Why can't Tesla do the same? IMO they are doing a better job with greenfield engineering.

[12,000 RPM]

Zillow says I can afford a $950K home and a $5K/mo mortgage

A piddly $1300 S-Class lease is nothing to the aspirational American

Dont be mad at folks willing to sacrifice to live the lifestyle they deserve Lebowski.

[Lebowski]

Zillow says I can afford a $950K home and a $5K/mo mortgage

A piddly $1300 S-Class lease is nothing to the aspirational American

Dont be mad at folks willing to sacrifice to live the lifestyle they deserve Lebowski.

Jesus. I just went to Zillow's affordability calculator after reading this, apparently I didn't shoot high enough.

[12,000 RPM]

Jesus. I just went to Zillow's affordability calculator after reading this, apparently I didn't shoot high enough.

They are going to get people killed

Even half of that is more than what I'm comfortable doing. They are off by what I want to do by about 2/3

[MrH]

 

I'm not surprised though.  When I went to buy a house, I applied for a loan.  They never told me what I was pre-approved for, so I called them.  They asked what range I was looking at, laughed when I told them.  Apparently I was pre-approved for double.  I thought I was stretching things a bit buying when I did.  I can't believe they give out loans like that.

Then again, a former coworker of mine is building a $350k-$400k house with his wife.  I highly doubt they're cracking even $100k combined

[Payman]

 

I'm not surprised though.  When I went to buy a house, I applied for a loan.  They never told me what I was pre-approved for, so I called them.  They asked what range I was looking at, laughed when I told them.  Apparently I was pre-approved for double.  I thought I was stretching things a bit buying when I did.  I can't believe they give out loans like that.

Then again, a former coworker of mine is building a $350k-$400k house with his wife.  I highly doubt they're cracking even $100k combined

A $350-450k house on a 100k household income is not unreasonable.

[MrH]

A $350-450k house on a 100k household income is not unreasonable.

For a 25 year old couple, yeah, it totally is.  Especially in southwest Ohio.

The guy lives for keeping up with the Joneses.