How much do I need to make to own a Tesla Model S?

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Austin

I've been trying to determine how much I need to make to own a Tesla Model S and have money for other things.

I'm a senior in college, i'm a single man, and will probably be for a while. No gf, no kids, no trouble.

I understand I can't do it now, but when I find a job, what's a reasonable salary to own one?

They cost anywhere from $580-$800/month.

Thanks in advance.

Answer
expect to be earning around 150k per year with no debt to be able to comfortably and intelligently afford one.
they say that a car should never ecer be worth more than half of a years salary. with the tesla model S going up for around 70,000 (the basic one with little options and government rebates) around 150k a year means that you will be spending close to but not more than half your salary on the car. sure you can always finance it. but you will still be paying quite a lot more with interest.

you must realize that the tesla model s is not an entry level car. it competes with the BMW 5 series while providing new technology. early adoption is never cheap and with the added cost of the luxury in the tesla, its not a car for everyone.
I love the model S but honestly i want tesla to make cheaper cars for more people. (when tesla makes an electric to compete with a honda civic i'll buy it right away)

edit. you may want to check out this website
http://www.teslamotors.com/true-cost-of-ownership

When you were a kid what was something you thought?

Patti

only rich people could afford? Did you ever get to have it when you were grown? I was a farm kid and thought only rich people could own color tvs, fur coats, and automatic dishwashers. Got a color tv and dishwasher when I was grown, but never really wanted a fur coat, decided it would make me looker fat and didn't really want fur either.

Answer
Yeah, color TV was one. A car with air conditioning. An SLR camera. A BMW motorcycle. A tape recorder! A refrigerator with a separate door for the freezer and an icemaker! Believe it or not, an electric typewriter. I never believed I'd ever own a house until I was in my 30s. And when I was a kid, I never thought I'd own a computer. 8^)

A few years ago I was lucky enough to get to borrow a little boy, the grandson of a friend, as a sort of adopted nephew. I'd pick him up one Saturday a month and take him to a zoo or a museum or something. He lived in a little apartment all his life and he was shocked to see that we had our own washer and dryer. He thought we must be really rich. He also thought only rich people ate in restaurants.

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How much do I need to make to own a Tesla Model S?

electric cars for kids bmw image

Austin

I've been trying to determine how much I need to make to own a Tesla Model S and have money for other things.

I'm a senior in college, i'm a single man, and will probably be for a while. No gf, no kids, no trouble.

I understand I can't do it now, but when I find a job, what's a reasonable salary to own one?

They cost anywhere from $580-$800/month.

Thanks in advance.

Answer
expect to be earning around 150k per year with no debt to be able to comfortably and intelligently afford one.
they say that a car should never ecer be worth more than half of a years salary. with the tesla model S going up for around 70,000 (the basic one with little options and government rebates) around 150k a year means that you will be spending close to but not more than half your salary on the car. sure you can always finance it. but you will still be paying quite a lot more with interest.

you must realize that the tesla model s is not an entry level car. it competes with the BMW 5 series while providing new technology. early adoption is never cheap and with the added cost of the luxury in the tesla, its not a car for everyone.
I love the model S but honestly i want tesla to make cheaper cars for more people. (when tesla makes an electric to compete with a honda civic i'll buy it right away)

edit. you may want to check out this website
http://www.teslamotors.com/true-cost-of-ownership

When you were a kid what was something you thought?

Patti

only rich people could afford? Did you ever get to have it when you were grown? I was a farm kid and thought only rich people could own color tvs, fur coats, and automatic dishwashers. Got a color tv and dishwasher when I was grown, but never really wanted a fur coat, decided it would make me looker fat and didn't really want fur either.

Answer
Yeah, color TV was one. A car with air conditioning. An SLR camera. A BMW motorcycle. A tape recorder! A refrigerator with a separate door for the freezer and an icemaker! Believe it or not, an electric typewriter. I never believed I'd ever own a house until I was in my 30s. And when I was a kid, I never thought I'd own a computer. 8^)

A few years ago I was lucky enough to get to borrow a little boy, the grandson of a friend, as a sort of adopted nephew. I'd pick him up one Saturday a month and take him to a zoo or a museum or something. He lived in a little apartment all his life and he was shocked to see that we had our own washer and dryer. He thought we must be really rich. He also thought only rich people ate in restaurants.

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can someone dish the dirt on RB26DETT engine?

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Scott S

i wanna swap it into my car, but i wanna know if its really for me. i want a car that will thrash most on the road, (my cars very light) and one that can keep the traction and handle well also.

is the engine reliable, easy to maintain, anything you can tell me about it would be fantastic, would it be worth the amount of money i will be spending

Answer
No turbo engine is reliable or easy to maintain. Those snails hanging off the engine, along with the increased plumbing, electronics, etc. just make more systems and components with a likelihood to fail. As far as engines go, overall, the RB is very well built, and the engine will last you the lifetime of the car, as long as you don't do anything stupid like arbitrarily turn up the boost a ton, run the engine lean, and melt the engine.

If you have a 240SX here in America, then no it is not easy to maintain. If something breaks in your car, have fun letting it sit for 4-6 weeks while the part is shipped from Japan. You would be spending $15,000 just to get it swapped into your car (assuming that you have a 240SX, because if you have any other car, then you are out of luck). I am just going to throw out there that if you have to ask, you can't afford it, and you won't be able to finish the swap. Also, sticking a huge twin turbo 6 cylinder engine where you probably have some 4 cylinder will NOT help keep traction OR handle well.

To the guy below me:
No turbocharged engine made to be the top-performance engine of a company is "very reliable." It was made to flow a lot of air and to make a lot of power, but this comes at the cost of reliability. Parts break, rubber dries out and cracks, fittings fail, etc. Is it worth having a turbo car? In my opinion, yes. My DSM is a blast to drive, but I bought an old Accord to drive day-to-day so that I am not putting the wear on high performance parts.

As to the price: This is a 17 year old kid with a late 80's BMW asking the question that we are answering. Let's not even consider that this engine will not physically fit in his engine bay, and pretend that he had a 240SX, which, besides the Skyline, is the easiest engine bay to swap the RB26DETT in to. First, is your car set up for the swap, for example do you have the brakes and the suspension necessary to hold an engine that is much bigger, in addition to having turbo hardware? OK, well, see you after the suspension and brake upgrade. Don't forget to add a fuel pump. Also, you will need to add a radiator that will be large enough to handle the increased heat. Regardless, get yourself some new electric fans because the factory ones won't fit with an engine 2 cylinders longer than the factory one. Are you going to run any sort of aftermarket intercooler with that engine? Now, you say $3-5K for the engine, I think that price is optimistic, but let's say $4,000 delivered to your door. Now, which transmission are you going to use? Oh, that's right, now you have to source one from an RB25, another $1,000. Now, you will need a modified oil pan, engine mounts, wiring, driveshaft. Care to chime in on prices for these? Were you going to just stick the engine in? The engine, transmission, turbos, etc. are all used. So, give the engine a good once-over and replace whatever you need. At the very minimum, waterpump and timing belt, although you'd probably do oil pump, gaskets, clutch and flywheel, etc. while the engine is out of the car. Like I said, order them now, because it takes a while for them to be shipped from Japan. Wow, I sure hope that there is nothing else inherently wrong with this used engine and transmission that came out of a wrecked vehicle. OK, now it is time to get the engine into the car. Swap it in with the custom mount kit, clear up any issues, like, oh wait, those twin turbos don't clear the steering rack, awesome. I could keep going with this, but I am NOT just answering questions for the points, or I would not make all of my answers involved. You are looking at minimum $10,000 not including labor, and considering that everything goes right the first time. Ever worked on a car project before? Good luck with that happening.

Who calls that a Design?

ROBERT P

OK, so now that we have batteries that can complete high speed, long range comute's without recharging why is it every hybird car look's like it came off the side of a Chevron gas pump or a Kid's Kar toy box. Why must they all be so God awful UGLY? Yes, even the TESLA. Personaly I think it looks like a kind of tricked out Mazda or @ best a BMW /4 which is not that bad but still leaves ALOT to be desired. Why not an electric Panoz or replica Ferrari 328? need a 4 seater? How about a 12volt BMW 850 or Duracell 612 Scaglietti, let's get with it and send the Prius and Fit to the boneyard before they takeover the small minds of mush that are our kids.

Answer
hybrid cars are slow. And heavy. If you want a hybrid car that looks neat, then buy the car, and turn it into a hybrid or electric car. High performance car companies aren't interested in that market, because the majority of people would never be interested in a Ferrari that has the added weight of 10 batteries. They're finely balanced, performance machines - and hybrid's just arent. They have small narrow tires for minimal drag, and ugly aerodynamic designs. I guess trying to save the environment comes at a cost.

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