It’s hard to have much sympathy for “Tesla investors”.
Side issue re the American flag: it’s always been a bad idea to let it become co-opted by right-wingers, and now by MAGAs. Contempt for the flag (and veterans) plays into the hands of the far right, who by cheering on big cuts at the Veterans Administration are truly contemptuous of veterans along with Trump, who’s made his feelings amply known.
Drive a Tesla, get Seig Heils?
Do Uyghur Lives Matter?
ETA - shoulda refreshed my half-completed post. Several other folks have snuck in while I was away. So this is semi-redundant.
Yeah. Huge difference in commitment required between “I won’t buy a Tesla”, “I’ll sell my Tesla”, “I’ll sell my Tesla at a large percentage loss.” and “I’ll sell my Tesla at a large loss compared to my budget / net worth.”
Lastly, Tesla is, right now, uniquely capable as a self-driving car. If you want self-driving in an ICE or an EV, Tesla is (mostly) the only game in town.
I suspect for many Tesla owners, the FSD is the more important feature than the EV. I believe that’s true of our OP. Which means him finding a suitable substitute vehicle, costs ignored, is substantially impossible.
A lot of people are technically “Tesla investors” who you might not suspect. Have a 401k? Does it invest in an index fund that tracks the S&P 500, or the Total Stock Market? Congratulations, you’re a Tesla investor.
I disagree. A glut of used Teslas hitting the market prematurely (relative to the date they might have otherwaise made it to the preowned market) can’t be good for the sales of new product, at full price at least.
I don’t expect anyone to do much of anything. But, as I said, I believe there is a significant difference between, “I can’t afford to” and “It would not be financially advantageous for me to do so.”
It is easy to espouse views so long as you are not willing to incur much expense or inconvenience in doing so.
It’s not hard to find out if your mutual funds have any substantial stake in Tesla.* If so, it might be time to switch to another one.
By the way, is it OK to be quietly contemptuous of Cybertrucks and their owners?
*I checked. Zero investment in Muskery.
Which point I made later in the same paragraph you snip-quoted. I’m not annoyed, just setting the record straight for completeness.
And for those of us with other brand EVs, do we utilize the Tesla supercharger network? I have mixed feelings but will probably use them if on a long trip and it’s the best available high speed charger.
As @LSLGuy noted, no other car has anything close to the “self” driving function as Tesla. That’s the entire reason I bought the car in the first place. I quickly came to love the EV part and I will never own an ICE car again.
True. A strong Trump Musk supporter is still considering that they may want to resell in a few years, and knowing how much their car value drops as soon as it leaves the lot has impact. The low resale value also impacts the cost of leasing a new vehicle.
My impression is that many (not all) Teslas were bought more as a status statement than any other reason. Not for being green. Not for self driving. Ah well if the car now gets looks of a different sort.
I can’t imagine that they’d care. They’d just do their job.
I’d personally put any sticker on a refrigerator magnet in general before putting it on my car. I could remove it first but I wouldn’t bother.
That’s different. As I said earlier, I’m willing to make compromises on relatively minor matters like that. If I was on the road in an EV that needed charging, I’d certainly use a Tesla charging station if the alternative was a major inconvenience.
But buying a Tesla is different. It’s a major investment that also implies that you’re buying in to an ongoing partnership for support and maintenance. I want nothing to do with any partnership with any Musk-run organization, let alone transferring wealth to him.
I am in the minority here but I wouldn’t even recognize a Tesla on the road unless I was close enough to read the logo. I am not in the market for an EV at this time so it was just not in my wheelhouse.
So I looked at some images online and will practice recognizing the brand on my drive to Gettysburg this week (work conference).
I do recognize the monstrous cybertruck and have actually seen a few over the last year. Ghastly!
Incidentally, the three friends of mine who gave me the most crap for buying a Tesla have recently been perfectly happy to sit their drunk ass in it while I played designated driver.
When I was growing up it was said there were two types of Jews. The ones who said they wouldn’t be caught dead driving a Nazi car like a Mercedes, and the rest who could afford to buy one.
I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make.
If you were a sober designated driver, then what difference does it make what the vehicle is?
If you were as drunk as they were, then you were not only criminally breaking the law, but putting everyone’s lives in danger including yourself, your friends, and other drivers on the road. “Full Self Driving” is anything but “Full”. What on earth are you trying to say here?
47 announced on TS his plan to buy one, musk thanked him on twitter.
I’ve always wondered if 47 drives his own car. I’ve seen him on a golf cart but never behind the wheel of an automobile
I don’t drink at all. I’m always the designated driver. I just teased them for giving me shit about the car but were willing to make use of it. My joke fell flat.
CT aside, they’re not all that distinctive. But the geographical distribution of Tesla sales is very different from that of e.g. Camrys.
If you live where they’re common you see them all day every day. Driving around my part of suburbia, there’s one in nearly every blob of cars sitting at a boulevard traffic light. Often more than one.
In other parts of the country you may have to drive in locally typical traffic for a few days to see one.
Had all the musk evil followed by controversy never happened, eventually Teslas would have been as ubiquitous as any other minor brand of sedan, and be geographically distributed about the same too. They never got there and now are very unlikely to do so.