MikeMelga

Yes it is. 250CDI BlueEfficiency. I´ve had it for almost 6 years. Great fun on the highway, comfortable. I like the car very much, so I am keeping it. For city driving it is a diesel, so not much fun, but the turning radius is great, so very easy to park.   Bear in mind to have more thorough services after 170.000km. Especially exchange the turbo hoses before they "explode", like mine did, leaving me stranded on the highway.   Do not buy anything below 220CDI, as it will be underpowered.

My commute is quite short, around 26km per day. Plus an average of 50km per weekend. Giving some extra room, I calculated around 13000km per year, which is quite low. This value goes up to 18000 if my wife drives it to work. My Merc C class (diesel) gets around 7L/100 on the commute, 4.5L/100 @120km/h and 7L/100@150km/h. Add perhaps 0.5L for winter time. My Merc B (petrol) is doing around 9L/100 on the commute in winter and perhaps 8.5 on the rest of the year. Yeah, pretty bad.   The Model 3 is extremely efficient in city driving due to regenerative braking. I will post some values as soon as I start driving it.

I saw it all. Extremely fascinating for SW developers and also electronics developers. I was a bit surprised, they seem to be on a better path than I expected. Anyway, I did not order FSD as I basically don´t need it. I will just put myself on mitlerer ring and the standard autopilot should be enough for 90% of the way to work and back. It just needs to keep distance to front vehicle, maintain lane and avoid collisions with lane changers. All of that should be covered with the basic AP package.

I was comparing in terms of price, I haven´t driven a recent Passat. I have a Merc C station wagon from 2010. The Model 3 is roomier inside, both in height as in legroom. Unfortunately it is not a station wagon, so the trunk is of course smaller. Having said so, for long stuff (let´s say a 2 meter IKEA door), the reclining back seats allow it easily. The trunk is quite deep!   Regarding being good enough for 2 kids, depends on the age. You can easily seat 2 kids on the back. You can probably place 2 strollers on the trunk, depending on how good they fold.   Overall, the M3 has a surprising amount of interior space, as the electric powertrain frees a lot of space, no only in the front, but also in the back, for example by not having a fuel tank.   https://insideevs.com/news/335587/tesla-model-3-baby-seat-and-stroller-test-video/   Regarding sizes, here are the Mercedes, M3 and Passat comparisons: (length/width/capacity) Mercedes C estate 2010: 4596 / 1770 / 17.2 Tesla Model 3: 4694 / 1850 / 15 VW Passat estate: 4767 / 1830 / 20.7  

I´ve done a similar comparison for immediate purchase cost. The Long Range AWD starts at 55.000€ in Germany. The Long Range Rear Wheel Drive is arounnd 49-50k€ (you can order it by phone). Which is cheaper than a similarly equiped Merc C (>60k€) and slightly cheaper than a similarly equiped VW Passat (56k€). I haven´t done full TCO analysis, but I guess it would be cheaper than a similarly equiped VW Golf after 3-5 years.   So that´s my sales pitch when my colleagues try to say it is a luxury. It is as expensive as a Golf, roomier than a Merc C, with a performance of a Ferrari and the safety of a tank!

Btw, did some math loosely based on data I found on this site: https://forum.abetterrouteplanner.com/blogs/entry/22-tesla-model-3-performance-vs-rwd-consumption-real-driving-data-from-233-cars/   Considering city and highway driving, considering percentage of that driving in the cold, considering charging efficiency, I ended up with 1850kWh per year (which is not much). This should save me between 50 and 70% of fuel cost vs my current car, depending on which value you take for electricity. Considering circulation tax, maintenance, etc, I estimate a saving above 2000€ per year, before depreciation.

I currently have E.ON. I simulated on their site https://www.eon.de/de/pk/strom/heizstrom/tarifberater.html and got these values for 3000kWh day consumption and 1800kWh night.     Are these values right? 25c day, 19c night? (plus grundpreis, of course)  

So I finally confirmed my Tesla Model 3 order this past week! It will take some weeks to receive it, but in the meantime I want to prepare for it.   I came up with some topics where I could use some help and maybe this is also useful for others thinking on moving to EVs.   Questions: Is there an electricity tariff for night charges? My supplier is E.On but I could move to another. Any useful tips on where to do in-city charging? Which charging stations are cheaper? How to register for them? Useful smartphone apps for charging stations? I´ve seen google maps has them now, but maybe there are more useful ones. Any recommended electrician in Munich to change the garage installation for higher amperage? Or does Tesla recommend one? How much should I expect for a service like that? What other cable/adapters would I need to be on the safe side, i.e. maximum compatibility with all charging stations. Any "must have" accessories for the car? I will get a USB drive for the "Sentry mode" for sure!   Bear in mind, I will probably do most of my charging at home, but if it is much cheaper outside, I would go once a week to a public charger.

Forum admins: can we automatically block posts with links to zerohedge? Jeremy, either that or an ignore! Please stop posting shit from that site!

The move from Korea, Japan and China(!) to Vietnam started in large scale more than 5 years ago. We have some customers with factories there. There are a lot of infrastructure problems, but overall it pays off. As an example, we had serious issues in Vietnam with burning equipment due to extremely bad electric supply problems.   Malaysia is also a trendy destination, with better infrastructure, but higher wages.

Europe needs to be energy independent, especially coal independent. Not only for the economy, but also as a geostratetic policy. This can only come from massive investment in battery storage, plus renewables, plus nuclear.

I develop scientific instruments for a worldwide market, in a German company. Chinese companies have tried to copy our devices to offer a lower cost version. They completely failed because: our personell production costs are less than 10% of overall cost, so there is no advantage in making it in China our IP cannot be copied by simply inspecting the mechanical system This is where European companies must push forward! Making something where labour cost is not important. And adding value on parts which are hard to copy. Germany has a lot of areas where this is true, so there is a bright future there.   Now, regarding automotive, they are completely fucked up, because they are living in denial and shit scared of Tesla. They should be investing strongly on battery manufacturing and not relying on Korean and Chinese suppliers. They should ditch diesel fast and move on to electrics fast. They might be lucky because Fiat and the french manufacturers will probably go bankrupt first. So they will have time to join forces and eventually save some jobs. But sticking the head in the sand is plain stupid.   The other general issues with german economy are: software development (or the lack of it) product vs customer perspective low risk taking "stick to the plan" mindset

My recommendations is to get a proper AC and, if possible, heated sits, for the winter. Also get ABS and ESP on top of your list, unless you like driving sideways in the ice in January.

The caveman in me would never invite them to a hunting partie. Unfortunately nowadays the useless survive and prosper. The movie "idiocracy" portraits what would happen in 500 years if idiots reproduce faster than smart people. I think it will be more a matter of useless people reproducing faster.

Well, first I was referring to other persons, as @zwiebelfisch said. Second, I said alfa or beta. Third, I know very well where I am placed in the food chain. 4th, I´ve stopped 2 street robberies (being commited to others) and a few years ago I reported in this forum that I stood up against 2 skinheads that were threatning some people.