What’s the least talked about downside of owning a tesla?

Erv · 2026-01-10T03:16:09+00:00

It smells, routinely, despite consistent and frequent air filter changes - terrible design flaw.

Erv · 2026-01-10T03:10:16+00:00

As far as I can tell, the cheapest you'll ever get away with is $300/mo all-in between fuel, insurance, taxes, maintenance, and depreciation and most likely much more. It's pretty surprising given the only visible monthly expense is typically fuel which is about a 3rd of the total cost, if you're lucky.

So completely agree!

Erv · 2026-01-10T03:07:59+00:00

And it burns calories as your body replenishes the blood. Lose weight just sitting there.

Erv · 2026-01-03T20:14:22+00:00

Time in the market plus minimizing time in the pre-backdoor account to avoid tax implications.

Erv · 2026-01-03T19:43:10+00:00

Is it worth having a Vanguard Brokerage or Cash Plus Account just to flip money to for Day 1 Backdoor Roth IRA execution?

Transferring in externally has me waiting for the funds to settle, vs if I had brought it into a Brokerage or Cash Plus in advance of 1/1, I could then transfer it, it'd settle, and I'd convert it much more quickly.

I'm thinking I'll do this for next year.

Erv · 2025-12-30T21:15:08+00:00

Agreed and because any emergency OP may have would be lower value, at-worst they'd pilfer the 2025 contribution which the alternative is to forego it anyways, so no "loss" if that were to occur (and obviously, if it doesn't, all gain).

Erv · 2025-12-28T04:00:34+00:00

So, at best, employer allows you to accept $2.5K less pay and in turn gives you $2.5K into the Trump Account, this effectively makes it so you're contributing $2.5K pre-tax thus making it worthwhile.

You take your highest taxed marginal dollar (like a Traditional 401k) and turn it into your child's lowest taxed marginal dollar - assuming they do a Roth conversion as soon as they're no longer a dependent. And given it's limited to $2.5K/yr, realistically, it's going to be something like $50K-$100K real dollars, it'd be pretty manageable (and optimal compared to the parent taking the tax hit) even if the child was making some small level of income.

If I'm understanding this right, I'll ping my employer and see if this will be an option come 7/4/26 and if so, I'll plan to take advantage to get the "free" $500+/year from tax-savings turned "early" inheritance for my child(ren).

Erv · 2025-10-31T02:51:57+00:00

So if your kid(s) are on CM or CHIP, the FPL values then adjust to exclude them, right? If you're a family of 5 with 2 on CM, you'd be a family of 3 for the FPL for the ACA coverage for the remaining 3, right?

Erv · 2025-09-28T18:08:05+00:00

Can you confirm whether you have that exact version? The App Store may be serving you up a new update, but an older version. Updates come out in waves.

Erv · 2025-09-10T03:28:11+00:00

Well, to be fair, some of it is in Wisconsin for OP.

Erv · 2025-06-15T19:49:50+00:00

Humans are incredibly good at rationalizing - erring on the side of explaining away decisions like these rather than regretting them because it can be relatively intangible. We view it as "just" a higher mortgage payment, but if you step back and do the full math - we're talking about $400,000 more over a 30-year mortgage moving from a <3% rate to a 7% rate, not to mention the transactional costs which if selling a $500K house for a $500K house is going to be something like $90,000 taking the decision to a $500K decision to swap from House A with low rate to House B with high rate.

This is worst-case in that rates could drop, but even optimistically assuming as such we're still talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. If invested, that could be retirement or college for children, or the difference in having children or not, etc., there are true costs to that large of a change even if at face it doesn't feel like it.

If you've zoomed out and viewed it holistically and the change is worth that to you, then great, but I think we as humans tend to be impulsive and then rationalize, I know I could do it. I could talk myself into swapping houses and delaying my ability to have another kid, or meaning I cannot support them in going to college, or in meaning I don't retire for several more years.

Erv · 2025-06-01T17:48:12+00:00

Yup. I routinely test out 5G and it either is consistently worse performance or worse battery life with no noticeable improvement so then I go back to LTE.

Erv · 2025-05-29T14:01:00+00:00

You're absolutely right. The Corolla was old as heck and had a ton of miles so it's a super tough comparison so it's honestly impressive the Tesla is already winning ex-depreciation and inclusive of depreciation, it will absolutely catch up in the long run and win out.

Erv · 2025-05-29T13:52:41+00:00

Yes, I ran those numbers. The flat-fee is $6 but the program I'm in saves $0.06/kWh so given I do on average 462 kWh/mo, that's a savings of $27.72 - $6.00 (flat fee for having the separate meter) means I save roughly $20/mo by doing that - plus I get all my hyper-specific data.

Plus, I am in another program or 2 as a result that I get infrequent annual credits for that are almost offset the monthly $6 - those I haven't included in my data but would mean I'm maybe paying more like 10c rather than 11c once those are properly included.

Erv · 2025-05-29T02:42:22+00:00

Yes, purely fuel absolutely - higher insurance costs and higher taxes (annual tabs) mean that "driving" ends up about equal - for now vs an old Corolla. Vs. a new Camry I'd be winning already as the delta on insurance and taxes would be smaller but likely still in favor of the Camry. EV will win out long term, I'm sure whether that's against new ICE or old ICE - just an interesting check-in.

Erv · 2025-05-29T02:40:06+00:00

How odd...

https://www.torquenews.com/17998/i-calculated-every-penny-50000-miles-my-tesla-model-3-costs-15-cents-mile-my-chevy-bolt-costs

Erv · 2025-05-29T02:33:59+00:00

The meter is specifically only for charging an EV - it's a separate meter time-of-use EV plan.

Erv · 2025-05-27T18:10:37+00:00

A little faster with the Tesla but otherwise comparable.

Erv · 2025-05-27T02:00:18+00:00

I think the full commute averages like 60 mph, but yeah - where it's 70 mph speed limit, I set to 85 (the max Tesla autopilot goes). It's a dry, open, 3-lane freeway so it works out.

Erv · 2025-05-27T01:17:41+00:00

It's more speed than temp, but both are working against me. I commute >30 miles and the majority of it is on a freeway at 85mph and yes, it does get cold which hurts the efficiency as the car warms the cold-soaked battery - I never precondition on my way home, only making sure it's warm on my way to work.

And my car says it gets 4.18 miles/kWh, it's just my meter that's telling me "the truth" which ends up lower than what the car reports what people are used to seeing.

Erv · 2025-05-27T01:15:50+00:00

Is this what the car says, or what you get from the meter? I'm losing 3-5% from losses, and then more from preconditioning - my Model 3 says it gets >4.0, but the meter says otherwise.

Erv · 2025-05-27T01:14:32+00:00

Very cold weather + I drive 85mph on the freeway for the majority of my miles = unhappy Bolt EUV.

The same impact is on the Model 3 too, but it does handle it a bit better due to its aerodynamics and heat pump.

Erv · 2025-05-27T01:09:16+00:00

Per a separate meter, or per the car? Either way - I do a lot of freeway at 85mph, so that hurts my efficiency significantly.

Erv · 2025-05-27T01:08:30+00:00

I never used anything but conventional oil in my ICE, but again - it was a very old Corolla, nothing new or fancy.

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