I am pretty sure my car (early Model 3P, August 2018 build) doesn’t have even AP 1. It might have the hardware for it, but I don’t believe it has radar cruise. It just has “set it at X speed and it will maintain it” cruise.

Not sure about emergency braking. fairly confident it didn’t when I bought it but who knows what they’ve added OTA.

Your car has AP 2.5 hardware - that is what the early 3s came with, and all cars have the hardware. AP 3.0 hardware was added sometime in 2019 — my mom’s 3 has it, which was delivered in Dec ‘19

I remember you not opting for any form of Autopilot when you purchased. What I can’t remember is when Tesla started including the basic features in cars that didn’t have it optioned. I think they may have done that when they dropped Enhanced autopilot circa 2019…

If you check the upgrades section of the app, I’m curious what AP options you could add now? I can add FSD… wondering if you can add Enhanced or just “Autopilot” also? (Not that it makes sense to add any of these on a 4.5 year old car)…

You may have some of the safety features avail — the Safety menu in the car will show what is avail…

According to the app I could add Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot, and “Full Self Driving.”

Autopilot is 3K (LOL), Enhanced Autopilot is 6K (LMAO), and FSD is 15K (ROFLMAO).

The last two require purchase of the first one, so they’re really 9,000 and 18,000, respectively.

Really actually quite glad I don’t have to worry about phantom braking. I’ve never missed autopilot (or even used the standard cruise control), and would never endanger my family by used Enhanced Autopilot or FSD. So, I think I actually made out ok here.

Wow. Those prices put even Porsche and bmw to shame


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See… I always used cruise control all the time on earlier cars. If you don’t use those, AP isn’t for you…

Was at a local mall this weekend where there's a Tesla showroom. It's been a long time since I've checked one out and was kinda curious to see if the build quality had improved, etc. Anyway, I ended up test driving a RWD Model 3. I have to admit, it was pretty impressive: great acceleration, fun and nimble feel, good storage in the center console, rode reasonably well over poor road surfaces, good stereo and pretty comfortable seats. Overuse of screen based controls continue to be annoying of course...but I do have to give them credit for putting a power adjustable steering column in a car at this price point (usually you dont see that until you get into 5 series territory).

Kinda tempting in light of the tax credits...with federal and local credits I could buy one for around 33k. Seems like a lot of car for that amount.

BUT as we've spoken about here, I dont think I can bear the thought of supporting Elon Musk in any way.

Also stopped by the JLR dealer at the request of my wife since it was close by. They had an ex demo I-pace that they've now made a CPO. Great spec and my wife loves this car. But they're asking some stupid amount for it (like 5k over MSRP)!!

For 33K there’s nothing that can touch the Model 3, gas or electric. That’s a smoking price for what you get.

But, yeah. Fuck Elon.

$33k , wow that is cheap. Maybe I should go buy one to replace the GTI:eeps:

I still remember test driving the Tesla 3 awd dual motor and left thinking I need to get one of these !! That car was just too cool !!

Yep..I was thinking about what else you can get at that price. It’d be stuff like: jetta GLI, civic Si, base GTI, base integra.


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Is this car for you or one of the kids ?

Neither (my kid is only 8 btw). Just was curious to check out the Model 3 and it was a nice excuse to not accompany my wife to Crate and Barrel. :)

JST's comment got me thinking about what else you can get for that price..so that's why i listed out those other cars. I do agree with JST that it seems like the overall best daily driver type car in that price range unless i'm not thinking of something else. Personally, i can't get past the Elon connection so its a non starter for me.

My ex, who’s had multiple BMWs and a Porsche, just bought the M3 Performance. (She had a Y previously and did not like its handling.) After getting over the lesser fit and finish versus the Germans, she is quite happy with it. She is committed to EVs at this point and is not ready to make the leap to Taycan, etc. But a Porsche EV is what she really wants next.

Her car and my 4 GC were comparable in price. There is no comparison in build quality (mine being far superior), but they are apples and oranges. And her car is still probably the best value in a performance EV.

She feels similarly about, Elon, BTW. He really is toxic for the company at this point.

Never too early to start planning. :)

Yup- once you get to the 70k+ price range I dont think I'd be happy with any Tesla. I keep circling around various options in that price range and can't quite settle on something. I'd also like a Taycan at some point, but just can't stomach spending what they're asking for it. Objectively, BMW probably makes the best cars in the 70kish range; that'll get you multiple options w/ the b58 or a pretty nice i4.

One thing that Model 3 test drive re-affirmed for me is that with EVs there's not a lot of reasons to get the more powerful version all else being equal. Even the base Model 3 felt more than powerful enough for a daily driver; and its not like w/ gas cars where more power also goes along with higher cylinder count (and therefore better sound and refinement). I think i had the same thought after driving a base Taycan but its been a while.

I was kind of thinking the opposite, Rob. It seems totally worth it to get the more powerful version (price-dependent, I suppose) because unlike a gas/diesel vehicle there's basically zero efficiency penalty for buying the more powerful electric model.

I am seeing that price when I build it for my zip too. Did he lower the price? I thought it was a lot more expensive nowadays or is that jus the SUV version?

The one caution I would note is making sure that you’re eligible for the tax credits which Tesla may be building into that price. I think the most recent credits have an income based sunset.

yes I was wondering that, thanks for pointing out

I could see that perspective as well. Personally, having a quicker EV doesn't really do much for me. Even the relatively "slow" ones have more than enough acceleration for public roads and feel torquey and responsive. I kinda feel like you'd quickly just get used to whatever amount of power there is and the thrill would quickly fade. I guess I feel similarly about ICE engined cars below a certain threshold of acceleration; but there's way more variation in how the power gets delivered that often correlates with a larger more powerful engine (and better transmissions too).

Yep. The 7500 federal tax credit now has a income cap for elgibility. There's also an MSRP price cap for sedans (55k) and SUVs (80k). Starting in April, there will be additional guidance around where the battery is assembled and the minerals are sourced. Unclear if any EV or PHEV will qualify for some or all of the credit at that point. (For example, the LFP batteries in the RWD model 3 are sourced from China).

However, there's also currently a loophole that exists for leasing companies to take advantage of a similar credit that doesn't have all those restrictions. They can of course use that to lower the cost of the lease. Some VW brands were running a promotion about a month ago that featured this credit. Hard to tell if Tesla makes use of this credit as part of their current leases since they dont provide much detail.

The state and local tax EV credits vary in their elgibiltiy as well but are generally less restrictive. It's nice when you can combine both.

Yes they lowered their prices again about a month ago since they once again qualified for the federal tax credit (which now sets price caps for sedans and SUVs). They also seem to have temporarily cut certain models (for example, you can't currenlty order a regular AWD 3; only a performance version).