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Vehicles - General
Hey all,
I know this gets posted a fair but, but hoping to get some more recent opinions on the current lineup.
We're looking to add a 2nd car, which will primarily be a commuter / popping around town car. We already own a Subaru Outback as our "Big Car", so we're debating whether to get the 3 or the Y in addition.
My commute is ~85 miles round trip (mostly highway, Southern California) which I do ~2-3x per week. It's about 60-90m in the car each way, so I want to make it as enjoyable/comfortable as possible.
I'm also on the taller side (6'2''), and we have 2 young kids (newborn and 2.5 yro), and while it won't be our primary car for moving the kids around, the ability to house car-seats and some gear is good (running kids to preschool, etc).
So, curious to hear if others are in a similar situation and which direction they went and why.
Also - this will be a lease, we don't qualify for the EV credit on a purchase, and with 2 young ones we're not quite sure what our car need will be in a few years, so we're comfortable paying a premium to lease for a few years and re-evaluate after its up.
Prince isn't an ultimate deciding factor, but obviously the 3 being cheaper is better.
TLDR - Adding a 2nd car to family, these are priorities, which direction would you go?
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Comfort as a commuter for a decently tall person, commute is ~85mi round trip 2-3x per week
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Have 2 young kids (newborn + 2.5yro) and while its not our main kid transporter, car does need to be able to take carseats and some storage for around town stuff
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Already own a subaru outback as our 'big car' for family hauling etc, so this will be a 2nd car.
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Will be leasing
Thanks
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Get the Y.
In 6 months you will replace the Outback with a second Y.
You will hate driving the Subaru for your weekend trip with the family.
Why would you buy a second, small, low car at basically the same price?
Source. I still have a Subaru, because we have 4 (soon 5) drivers in the family. It's only driven when there is no Tesla (or Rivian) available. Hmm, thinking about it, maybe you will buy a Rivian :-)
There's plenty of recent reviews out for 24 Model 3.
You can answer it yourself and it's pretty obvious as with any car purchase. Go demo drive both. Don't be lazy.
The 3 is cheaper and the Y has more storage. The 3 is a good commuter that can easily haul 2 young kids. The Y would mostly likely replace your outback as the primary car. It has almost as much storage as an outback. My 3 is getting lots of miles because it does most things very well and is obviously efficient. We only drive the other gas car if we have to. If you were buying w/ a tax credit and 2 kids I'd suggest the Y. But since you're leasing with no credit I'd want to know how much cheaper the 3 is? Either will likely be fine for you but I'm guessing the tesla will get driven a lot and the outback will be reserved for when you need max range or max cargo. I think you should rephrase the question as which is a better daily driver for me and can handle 90% of my driving duties. I think if you test drive them it will be obvious to you.
If you are going to lease, stick with the RWD version. Depending on what state you live in, you can drive the capitalized cost down really low with the federal tax incentive (still applies to leases) and any available state incentives. Because these incentives are typically flat dollar amounts, they have an outsized effect on driving down the price of leasing.
I'm 6'3 and came from a VW Golf. The Model 3 has slightly more cargo space after accounting for the front trunk and has more headroom. The second row legroom is about an inch less, but we only have a 3-year old sitting back there and we have her in the middle position in the Graco Slimfit which is very compact. Our other car is an XC90 so I wasn't interested in the Y at all because I personally loathe SUVs.
If you're over 6ft, get the Y. The 3 feels VERY cramped in comparison.
I have two sons who are 6'2", and they have been pleasantly surprised in the backseat with the space and comfort. If you're always the driver, I think there's plenty of space for a 6'2" driver in the 3, though.
Y of course