The hidden COST of having a Tesla... (scroll to bottom)

I hear @Owen Raszkiewicz is trying to get @Drew Meredith to drop his aspirations for the (phenomenally good-looking) new Prado and get an EV.
I’ve had a few vehicles in my time from a couple of new Ford Rangers, a Hyundai van, and old German convertible*, a Golf, a 1997 Pathfinder, a Subaru outback and Forester… probably more.
Performance and comfort-wise, it’s chalk and cheese. The driving experience is a bit funny the first time but after about 15 minutes you start to question why other cars are so clunky and out-dated. (Brake pedal, who?)
Now, I’ve had a Model Y for 18 months and we have paid a total of $180 in “fuel” costs which was entirely due to supercharging on trips SYD-BRIS and SYD-CAN return. The rest of our 18,000km has been paid for by free public charging stations or strictly using our 17kW solar array at home (Free, or an export sacrifice of $0.06/kWh which is $7.20 per 800km)

Servicing? Not required. Just change the tyres every few years, get the brakes inspected. Everything is sealed. Very few moving parts.
Safety? Even the Chinese market is realising the premium is warranted vs virtually any other vehicle on the global market.
Battery warranty? Fine. There are 15yo Tesla’s with old battery tech that have done some 500,000km+ with minimal degradation and have been flogged as rideshare or hire vehicles. Show me even a Land Cruiser that’s done over 150,000km that isn’t pissing oil everywhere…
Software updates? I’m driving a car that’s now better than the day I received it. Fact.
Plus, having driver profiles set up means my partner and I can swap cars whenever (towing, child seat, marketplace pickup etc) and everything automatically switches from seat, mirror and steering position to navigation settings and my spofity/music/audible.
Depreciation? The lost value is more than accounted for in reduced running costs - plus with Vehicle to Grid (or Home) this will soon be a way to save further on peak home energy costs.
I’ve done both of these on a Novated lease and you’d need to see if it’s right for you, but I’m happy with both on a 3-year NL (staggered 12 months apart) with the intention to buy-out the Model Y with our expected fuel/servicing savings (as I’ve personally added roof racks and tow ball and we won’t need a newer car) and the Model 3 is good enough to want to keep, but we’ll see where life has taken me at that point. Both should be purchasable under expected resale value - and I’ve been pretty generous with the discount rate.
Range anxiety? Not an issue. Charge when you want to, not when you need to. If you’re doing more than 500km in a day then you’re likely going to meet supercharging stations (pre-programmed into your route) which is usually less than a 15 minute stop after several hours of driving.
Long Drives? The thing basically drives itself. The computers are all capable of running FSD and it’s really just a legal thing now. We recently did a 3-hour drive of which only 17 minutes involved my direct control. In a base-model vehicle.
Insurance? Not meaningfully different to what I was previously paying for a similarly priced vehicle as a 27yo male with an…*imperfect driving record.
Performance? Model 3 AWD LR with Acceleration boost (0-100 in 3.9 seconds) is $73,322 drive away.
For the same performance (albeit, obtaining more street-cred) you’d need something like:
Audi R8 V10 - $275,000
Mercedes C63 AMG - $195,000
Porsche 911 - $300,000
(and regenerative braking on windy roads is very much like engine braking on a nice sports car)

Not to mention the super easy app integration and settings like dog mode, preconditioning the vehicle temp, Sentry Mode for those trips to the dark side of town, and a FRUNK *which in the Model Y can fit 12x pizzas and 3x Garlic Breads
**Model 3 untested
I haven't carried keys or a wallet now for a couple of years. We’re already living in the future.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM and COST that I’ve experienced, is the near immediate desire to get rid of our other car and get a Model 3 as well. More to that point, I couldn’t resist going for the AWD Long range, and subsequently 0-100 speed upgrade because #diewithzero

PS. The one polarising thing I’ll add is: don’t buy a Hybrid if you expect to save money and/or the environment. Lol.

PPS. There is usually a referral code, so anybody looking to get one should ask a friend with a Tesla for $1,400 off. Me included.