[robg]

Originally Posted by rumatt

When I read this it made sense.... and yet I thought to myself... "Hmmmm, I seem to have done the exact opposite in both cases." (Slow E46, Fast Model 3). I was thinking about it today and realized why.

With the BMW, in order to get the power you also need to take a number of other things - a stiffer ride, stupid aggressive wheels/tires, a louder exhaust, a race inspired engine that "loves to rev" (translation: you need to rev the shit out of it to get the claimed power), and a boy-racer styling.

I'm finally realizing that for me these all fall into clyde's "want to want" category, not "actually want".

With the Tesla I can have the power without any compromises. I get a normal sedan (well, by some definition normal) that doesn't sacrifice any of the characteristics I actually want in a daily driver - it's comfortable, quiet, efficient, doesn't look boy-racer, and is excellent to commute to NYC with it's regen-braking and 1-pedal driving. But if I'm feeling frisky I can also accelerate 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. It's stupid fast without the down sides of a sports car.

I left the test drive thinking, "I want to want a sports car, but I actually want one of these."

Makes sense. I’d point out that in the e46 days you didn’t need to pay extra for a refined engine or decent steering / suspension. Good point on the performance model 3 being a sleeper.