Tesla Model 3 Standard Range ($35,400) Starting To Be Delivered With Software-Locked Range & Features — Should You Buy?

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John Rougeux recently ordered and took delivery of a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range with 570 miles on the odometer. He was charged $35,400 (there was a $400 price increase recently), but he got $1,250 off since the car had 570 miles. Buying cars with a few miles but full warranty as a new car seems like a great deal to me. If you get $1,250 off for 570 miles, I’d love to get $12,500 off for 5,700 miles.

The Case To Buy The Standard Range

The reason to buy the Standard Range over the Standard Range Plus is to reduce the cost by $4,500, so you can afford a great car with just a few minor limitations.

1. You don’t mind stopping every few hours to charge on long trips or you don’t take many long trips or you have another car to drive on those trips. In the end, 20 miles doesn’t make much difference anyway — if you really want to go a long ways, you would need to upgrade to the Model 3 Long Range. There are so many charging stations now that you are not going to get stranded, just have to stop more often and take a little longer to charge.
2. You enjoy driving the Model 3 and don’t have interest in Autopilot right now — you can always buy it later for $3,000 with your gas savings and get credit card miles for upgrading.
3. You don’t care about fog lights.
4. You might lose immersive sound in a future update.

You see, with a software-limited pack, you can charge to 100% every day, since that will by 220/240 or ~92% of the real pack, and that is totally fine. If you have the SR+ and have 240 miles of range, you probably charge to 90%, or 216 miles, every day (if that). So, as I said, if the items above don’t bother you, it’s a great choice.

The Case To Buy The Standard Range Plus

The Model 3 Standard Range Plus is a somewhat high-quality option over the Model 3 Standard Range. how much does the difference matter? Here are some reasons to choose the somewhat higher cost trim:

1. You know you want Autopilot right away and you want to put it on your loan.
2. You care enough about fog lights, immersive sound, and 20 miles of range to pay an extra $4,500.
3. You don’t want the hassle of picking up the phone or going to the Tesla showroom — you want to order online.

With either the Standard Range or the Standard Range Plus, you are getting so many features that originally were going to be part of a $5,000 premium interior package but Tesla decided to include in every Model 3:

1. Glass roof
2. Auto-dimming, power-folding mirrors
3. Vegan leather seating (read about and watch our exclusive tour of the seat factory)
4. Center console
5. Power seats and steering adjustment
6. 4 USB ports (instead of 2)
7. Docking for 2 smartphones
8. Premium cabin materials throughout, including real wood dash

The Case To Buy The Long Range Rear Wheel Drive Model 3

1. You get faster charging and have to stop less often to charge. You eliminate range anxiety even further.
2. You get streaming music and tune in radio (with the 2 previous options, if you wanted this, you needed to do it from your phone).
3. You get live traffic and satellite images on your navigation screen.
4. You get Homelink to open your gates and garage doors.
5. You upgrade the sound system from very good to the best I’ve every heard.
6. You get heated rear seats.

The All Wheel Drive and Performance models are beyond the scope of this article. Those are very nice, but must be out of the price range of someone considering the Model 3 Standard Range.

Conclusion

I think a lot of people assume you can’t get the Model 3 Standard Range because it isn’t on the website, but if it meets your needs and it allows you to get into a Tesla instead of buying an inferior car (i.e., anything else), I encourage you to think about the trade-offs and see if it is right for you!

If you want to take advantage of my Tesla referral link to get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging on a Tesla Model S, Model X, or Model 3, here’s the link: https://ts.la/paul92237 (if someone else helped you, please use their code instead of mine).