I’ll take the $500 and buy a nice pillow for my pax. 
1 Like
It seems to be a bad time to buy a car (new or used) right now, compared to earlier in the year.
Tesla new car prices have been increasing this year:
https://insideevs.com/news/513232/us-tesla-modely-price-increase/
While other brands may not have changed MSRPs, reduction of discounts and incentives, or increased dealer markups on popular models, have effectively increased new car prices for many other brands. Used car prices have also generally gone up since earlier this year.
Just a quick comment on what you read (especially on the internet) about Tesla: the short seller playbook is to short the stock of a company, then pay someone to write articles bashing said company to try to make the stock price fall. It’s incredibly cynical, but apparently totally legal. So when you do an internet search for anything about Tesla, be aware that the source may be very, very biased - Tesla has been the most shorted company for the last ten years, and it isn’t even close.
Thanks for this.
I don’t mean that this is a major consideration (I referred to it as “background noise.”) I’ve done a fair amount of legal work related to the SEC and shareholder disclosures, and if, for example, an investor paid someone to tank a stock by writing an article to benefit from a short AND there was no basis for the article, I’d be virtually certain that the SEC and the feds, along with state securities regulators would come down hard. Plus Marketwatch is pretty mainstream as a leading financial media company.
Again, I emphasize that this is a small consideration. Indeed, when I got the driveout lease prices of the two cars we are considering, Tesla came out FAR ahead. That’s good enough for me over a three-year lease!
But your caution is well-taken.
So are you going for it? I’m assuming a Tesla in your garage will be happening soon?!
I’ve enjoyed this thread!!
Signed, sealed, but not yet delivered! We put down the deposit, making sure to get all key promises in writing. The young Tesla salesperson was great and helped move this to closure quickly.
HINT: if you push hard enough, first-line salespeople at Tesla can offer you some bonuses!
CC folks: you have been ABSOLUTELY amazing. I had no idea about issues like charging, etc. In every case, you’ve great. Thank you so much.
I am going to start exploring how we can make charging at home an effective reality. This is likely going to include a new sub-panel in our garage and/or a solar option. I will come back to you on these too, given how much I have learned from every one of these posts. Together we can learn so much. From threads like this, I learn how little I know about stuff.
Peace and have a great weekend!
3 Likes
YAY!!! There are a couple of Tesla forums (not the one run by Tesla) that have super experts on the electric stuff. I could just barely understand it myself but finally got someone to tell me what I actually needed for my driving situation and I am very happy with what I ended up installing.
Congrats! What color did you pick? (Not that a whole lot of choices, lol).
There are truly not a lot of choices with most things about this car. And I love that! Almost EVERYTHING is already standard on the car.
We went with blue for now, but I understand we have quite a bit of time to change our minds. White is the only free color, with black, blue, and red adding more cost. For some odd reason, red costs the most.
Anyway, it takes a few minutes to configure the Tesla on the website when ordering. With the other brand we were looking at, it was a nightmare as mentioned above. Whenever I picked certain options, the website would determine that previously selected options wouldn’t work, and I had to guess which ones to remove.
Nice color choice. Our X is blue, too. Initially, Mr. wanted a grey (why?) but a blue dealer demo with 500 miles became available, and we grabbed it. $5k discount for that much wear and tear. It was still considered a new car for all purposes.
For Telsa owners: has anyone considered getting the white seats rather than the black seats? Given the glass roof, we’re getting some feedback from Tesla owners that the white seats are cooler. Interestingly, from what I’ve read, white seats are not too hard to maintain.
Until we started looking at Teslas, we had NEVER considered getting a car with seats, much less seeing them in real life. Now, however, we are noticing this while our car is on order, and I am actually seeing quite a few Teslas with white seats (in the Bay Area).
As always, I welcome the shared wisdom of the CC community. This is a GREAT place to get directly relevant feedback from some folks blessed with incredible wisdom!
don’t have the white seats, but my co-worker does in his X, adn he loves the seats. Has a couple of young kids and says that they clean up easily (the seats, not necessarily the kids!).
I did the white seat battle in my head while I was waiting. The only thing that kept me from it is I had a VW with light seats and my over-dyed blue jeans stained them and it would not come out. I have a black 3 with no tinting with black seats. The only time I have been too hot in 3 years was this week when temps averaged 115. There is cabin overheat protection that won’t let the car interior get over 105. Plus you can leave the a/c on when you are not in the car and it uses very little energy. Don’t get white seats because you are worried about black being too hot for sure.
1 Like
My neighbor has the white seats. She has children and 2 dogs. Pretty seats
White seats look particularly good when paired with blue or red paint.
On the outside of the car by the factory, not on the seats by a toddler, right? 
2 Likes
I’ve read online that the white clean up fine from blue jeans.
That would be awesome. Wonder if they teflonized the material. Off-white leather in our old Lexus van was hard to keep from getting color transfer. I gave up on cleaning it, and the youngsters who inherited the van did not mind that the seats were less than pristine.
technically, Teslas have some sort of faux leather (easier to clean and better for the environment).
Indeed, Tesla refers to the material as “vegan.”