I always hated how Tesla used gas savings as part of "how cheap" their cars were. It felt dishonest. Just give me the damned msrp without tax credits or gas savings.
In the end, I thought their pricing and buying process was a breath of fresh air compared to my experience with my Audi. By the time I walked out of the Audi dealership I had spent about $6k more than the original quoted price they gave me on the floor. I had about 3 pages of papers that look like excel sheets "explaining" it all. Tesla gave us a half page sheet with maybe 6 line items that clearly explains the costs.
The gas savings really do add up though. One of my previous comments I did a rough TCO between the Model 3 and my Audi A4 and found we saved about $1500 a year in fuel costs. After 5 years the car ended up being about $10k cheaper than my Audi despite it having a higher sticker price
This would imply a really huge running cost on the Audi over the Tesla in addition to gas - what's that cost? Assuming it's a new car, I assume repairs etc are covered under warranty?
My original comment with more details is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18773680
Also my Audi doesn't have any Autopilot equivalent so I probably should have left that additional $5k out of the cost of the Model 3.
To clarify, I think you're not comparing "electric car" with "petrol car", you're comparing it with "petrol car for which I happened to pay a $20k premium because it's a status symbol".
Changing oil in an Audi, past a free service period, adds up, though.
Must've been very loaded A4, too.
I wouldn't say it was "very loaded". I got the Premium Plus with Black Optics package.
Gas is SF is very expensive, though, but then so is electricity.
Similarly, a few years ago I went with my mom to buy a basic necklace chain for my sister. We went into a few department stores and my brain kind of melted at the mental gymnastics required. Our budget going in was like $30-50 for example. The sticker price would be $80, but the whole store was 40% off! And this rack was an additional 20% off today only! Trying to compare prices between different stores was really annoying and my mom pointed out this was normal. I think the older generation like the gamesmanship of it and younger people are really turned off by the whole idea.
For Germany: Go to a dealer, price including all taxes etc. will be listed on the car. Talk to them and you can typically get a little bit off, even some solid discount if models are about to change or whatever. But you will not pay any more than stated (if you don't get tricked into some dubious credit).