Indeed, Model 3 is still very far from affordable. In Finland it sells starting at $70,600 (taxes included). I'm assuming there are also import duties from the US, though don't know the details. Needless to say, at this price point there are probably more people looking for an apartment than a car.

While the model 3 may be luxury, it looks crazy cheap compared to the electric Audi, Volvo, BMW, and Porsche competitors... doubly so if you consider range. The model 3 even looks pretty good on a cost to own basis compared to non-luxury cars like the Toyota Camry or Honda accord.

The cheapest Tesla (around $40k these days), isn't too far off the average cost of a new car ($34,000) and most will save easily $6k in maintenance and gas over the life of the car. I suspect most would consider the model 3 interior too spartan and plasticy to be consider luxury.

I tried Tesla test drive and one thing I don't like is how cheap it feels inside. Low quality materials. So you cannot compare just their prices without mentioning materials and build quality.

I've used similar nav systems from BMW, Subaru, and Toyota and they seemed like lame software running on a 5-10 year old phone. Poor touch screens, smaller screens, poor voice recognition, and poor nav. I'd rather they just have an aux port for music and let me hang my own tablet on the dash somewhere.

Overall fit/finish for the model S was not as nice as an Audi I've been in, but was plenty good for me.

The model 3 is of course substantially less luxurious. Single smaller display instead of two displays. Many less buttons/switches. I've only done a test drive in the 3. But I do have several friends that have switches from S to 3, or 3 to S, and they speak very highly of the 3. No doubt the 3 is built to a much lower price point, and you can tell. I think part of the Tesla plan is to have you touch nothing but the steering wheel or the display. I suspect the voice commands will get better over time, they already handle nav and music well.

But when it comes down to it, I'd pick performance, handling, and range over more expensive interior.

Not like Audi, Volvo, or BMW is selling anything close to the model 3 price and range. I drove a Chevy Volt (comparable on price, but not so much on range or performance) and it was nowhere close to the model 3.

Who is willing to buy a slower car and pay 50% more for 2/3rds the range just to get a nicer interior? Not me.

Thought the same, but the newest Volkswagen generation has improved a lot. Their touch screens and software feel much much more usable than even 2 years ago.

My subjective impression is it basically went from major annoyance to "quite usable". I recently used it on a trip from Northern Germany to Amsterdam and it worked really well.

People did not expect $36k. $28k vs $36k is HUGE.

It's not as good as originally promised, but still a pretty good deal in my opinion. Just depends how much people are willing to spend for good acceleration, avoiding trips to gas stations, and avoiding spending $1000-$1200 of gas per year. Of course electricity is not free either. My last fill up in California was $3.99 a gallon and I spent $51. I do that about 4-5 times a month.

For about 15 minutes, before they rolled that back.

Honestly that's the biggest red flag, to me - the chaotic mix of announcements, retractions, chops and changes to their pricing and marketing strategy. As an outsider it feels like the company has cool tech but lacks adult supervision.

Beyond that, what you looked at used to cost $37,500 with autopilot as an optional $3k addon. Now it always includes autopilot but costs $2k more. Again, not exactly "zero extra cost".

Cars in the 35-45k range are routinely referred to colloquially as "luxury" cars. I agree you can quibble with this terminology, but it is absolutely common to refer to these cars as luxury, albeit the absolute low end of luxury.

I didn’t even count the offerings from Japan which are even less.

Personally I drive a cheap car. Average new car prices have gotten crazy high relative to median incomes, enabled by low interest long term financing. A lot of buyers are ending up overextended.

Every sales graph I've ever seen has relatively cheap cars such as the Fiesta, Golf, Corsa, etc. at the top. Not big Mercedes or BMWs.

But people who want saloons and estate cars are largely buying from the three Germans, and not Japanese or Korean.

So in the USA, or at least in California they are very common. Part of their popularity is their fleet use makes them direct cheap in the used market, and they tend to be pretty reliable despite the complexity of two separate drive trains.

Following your logic the model 3 isn’t a luxury car either.

[1]https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g15379432/small-entry-...

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/best-cars/top-10-best-lux...

Edit: Sort of reminds me of the differences in defining "class" between the US and the UK :-)

My volt was super expensive in 2011, but 8 years on it still drives like the day it came from the factory. Unlike my Jeep (which i love) that is only a year old and already has aches and pains and squeeks and of course, drinks gas like its going of style.

BTW, when people shop for cars, the purchase price isn't the TCO. How much fuel will you be using and how much maintenance will you dump into it?