Well, it has been a while! I recently moved to a new home. And was sick with the flu for a while. And I just wasn’t sure what to think about all the shenanigans Elon’s up to these days. I even went so far as to check out the 2024 Prius Prime as a protest for what’s been happening lately. Then the deal of the century flashed across my screen – $249/month lease for a 2025 Tesla Model 3 long-range RWD, available thru March 3rd! After a bit of research, I decided to trade up from my fantastic 2023 Model 3 RWD (‘short-range’ LFP) to the long-range Highland variant. And I take possession of my new computer on wheels tomorrow (March 15 at 11am in Warminster, PA)
So, I’m going to stop here because I want to see how all the numbers work out before continuing this post. My thinking is, that at $249/month, I’m putting less money into the car than I would have seen with depreciation over 36 months, and then I get to experience all the EV technology improvements 3 years down the road with a new purchase or lease. That’s the thinking anyway. This is my first lease, and with Tesla the whole process is as simple and transparent as can be.
I’ll be back in a couple days to report how the whole lease experience went down, and first impressions of the Model 3 long-range Highland. I’ll do the math then and we’ll see just what kind of deal this really is…
It’s March 16, and I have a new car in the garage!
And what an amazing car it is. It’s fast, comfortable, safe, efficient, and not very expensive*. So let’s look at what this car is going to cost me over the next 3 years:
- My out-of-pocket cost to initiate the 36-month lease is $4175.41. This covers a bunch of things that one would need to pay for any new car purchase, beyond the actual cost of the vehicle. And one of the reasons the number is as low as it is is due to the $7500 federal tax rebate, and a $500 referral bonus.
- Then my monthly lease payment is $272.71, which is basically $250 plus some unavoidable taxes due with each payment. That said, over 36 months, I’m paying $9817.56 in lease payments, which might seem like a big number until you realize I’m not putting cash out for this car. The $33,000-ish dollars I would have paid for this car up front is sitting in investments appreciating (hopefully). So in the end, most of the money I spend on the lease will be covered by return on investments, making my monthly cost nearly zero.
OK, so I have up-front expenses and a fixed monthly cost. Add all that up and divide it by the number of days I ‘own’ this car and you come up with $12.78/day. Add another $2.32/day for auto insurance, and you come up with a wopping $15 and change for each day I ‘drive ‘own’ this car.
I have even gone so far as to switch to a ‘time-of’use’ rate from my electricity provider (PPL), so will save a bit on energy by charging off-peak. And as we all know, maintenace is minimal though PA has annual safety inspections which cost a little. Then there are tires. We also know Teslas are hard on tires. But my bet, considering the way I drive, I’ll still be running the original tires when I turn this car in at 30k miles.
All in all, this is looking like a very inexpensive lease arrangement. And this is such a great car! Perfect car, perfect deal…
** update **
So how do you make your perfect car better? Add stuff! Here’s what I decided to purchase to make my 2025 Tesla Model 3 RWD Long-Range car even better:
- Steering Wheel Cover – the stock steering wheel slips thru my hands more than I like. Love this cover!
- Foot Pedal Pad Replacement – the stock pedal pads are just gross. These are much better!
- Door Side Storage Trays – OK, not essential, ’til you spill something into these side trays.
- Rear Trunk Organizer Side Storage Boxes – Also not essential, but very handy and they clean things up back there!
- Console Organizer Tray Set – These ARE essential!
- Cargo Liner Floor Mats and Cargo Trunk Mats – Also essential. Can you imagine not having floor mats? Yuck! And
- Trunk Soundproofing (for cars without rear speakers) – I don’t know how this installation will go, but having those empty subwoofer racks in the trunk bothers me. Beside hiding the speaker racks, the additional soundproofing should be significant. Update: I’m adding this to my ‘essential upgrade’ list as well. Not only does this finish out the trunk area (which Tesla should have done) but it does effectively soundproof the trunk area. Do this!
- Sunshade – A must for summer sun. I bought this shade for my 2023 Model 3 and lo and behold it fits my 2025 as well. Yeah!
- Mud Flaps – These are necessary for every Model 3. I’m waiting to install these ’til after my tow hitch is installed since the rear bumper cover needs to be removed for the hitch installation. These flaps require no drilling, which is important when installing these on a leased car where they might need to be removed at some point.
- Air Vent Cover – Tesla has redesigned the rear section of the frunk and now routing of water away from the air intake vent is improved. Still, the grill above the intake is fairly open to debris. This vent cover has an additional screen which improves filtering of debris.
- Stealth Tow Hitch – Since this hitch will be used primarily for carrying e-bikes there’s no need for an electrical hookup. That said, the $750 I’m spending on this installation is a bargain compared to Tesla’s $1300 installation charge. Plus the ‘stealth’ hitch is completely hidden until it’s needed and the 2″ receiver is installed. And of course, the receiver can be removed whenever it’s not needed, and it’s easy to do. Just be forewarned that during the installation process, you will feel like you have completely destroyed your car. But when all is said and done, you’ll be happy with the result:
- Model 3 Dashboard Décor Wing – Carbon Fiber – and why not? I’m not down on the stock dashboard wing, it’s nice, but not so much in keeping with the rest of the dash. SO, bring on the Wing (installed August 13):
Before
After
Close-up view:
LOVE this upgrade!!! Very subtle, but effective. This should be standard equipment…
I made several other mods to my 2023 that I’m not making here since this is a lease, but these mods I consider to be necessary and not that expensive.
** update **
Above, I stated that I’m paying about $15/day for this car, but I failed to include by daily cost to keep the ‘tank’ filled. Power in our area is about .20 per kW, so it’ll cost me $400 a year to drive 10,000 miles, which means my average daily ‘fuel’ cost is going to be about $1.10 to drive approx. 27.4 miles. That’s still pretty good ‘fuel’ economy. Not great, but not bad…
Bottom line: I need to budget about $16.20/day to ‘own’ and drive this car. Thinking about all the other ‘fixed’ expenses I pay each day for home owner’s dues, taxes, insurance, medical coverage and prescription meds, utilities, food, etc., this daily expense to drive ‘the best car in the world‘ is but a drop in the bucket.
** update **
I never did get used to the ‘stalkless’ 2025 Model 3 (Highland) turn signal buttons on the steering wheel. So when the optional turn signal stalk became available to order, I jumped. This is not a cheap upgrade (something like $600 after tax, which includes installation). And not only is the stalk a great upgrade, but the new steering wheel that’s part of the mod has a much improved button layout as well. This IS the way it should be and I am so glad I splurged for this mod. Here’s the stalkless steering wheel button layout:
And the new steering wheel after the stalk mod:
Love it!