Should I buy a Tesla Model 3 or a Ford F-150?

If you've narrowed it down that far, I think you should go with the Fiat 500.
 
F150

I sat in a Model 3 and it’s not exactly spacious nor comfortable (at least to me). Plus the Tesla Model 3 that they’re building today is closer to a $50K vehicle. Get the F150 and buy a Fiat 500e as a second vehicle if you want electric. (Not that the Fiat 500e will last very long, but you won’t drive it much anyway with a F150.)
 
F-150 is a utility vehicle, especially in 4wd. We use ours for hauling gardening supplies and the 4wd comes in very handy in the winter where we live. It's also great for carrying ATV's and hauling a travel trailer. Today's trucks ride like luxury cars and my truck with a 385 hp V8 is no slouch when it comes to passing other vehicles. Really, there is no comparison to be made between a Tesla M3 and a Ford F-150 as they are different as night and day. He needs to ask himself what he really wants/needs in a vehicle and that'll make his decision a whole lot easier.
 
If you’re a high wing guy: F150
If you’re a low wing guy: Model 3

I’ll see myself out...
 
ktup-flyer said:
Don't disrespect the M3 like that...
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I didn't see BMW on the list . . . .

If he needs to carry more than a couple bags of groceries very often, or needs the vehicle to sit high enough to straddle a Coke can, get the truck.

If he wants to look badass and doesn't ever carry anything or go on long trips (more than 100 miles from home), get the Tesla.

If he still can't make up his mind, get a truck. They do some of most everything, the Tesla only does the one thing for a short distance.
 
If you gotta ask, tell your 'friend' to turn in his man card immediately
 
A Chevy Spark would be my vote.
 
Mini Cooper - it’s as androgynous as the two offered choices, cost less, does less.
 
Clark1961 said:
Mini Cooper - it’s as androgynous as the two offered choices, cost less, does less.
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I've ridden in a mini a few times, silly interior styling and terrible ride. It might as well be a Dr. Who car.
 
Smart Car. In fact, buy two, and weld them back to back. You will never have to back in to or out of a parking space again.
 
Used Ram 1500 with the EcoDiesel. You can feel good about being “green” while driving a diesel truck that grenades motors like a Cirrus.
 
Hank S said:
I didn't see BMW on the list . . . .

If he needs to carry more than a couple bags of groceries very often, or needs the vehicle to sit high enough to straddle a Coke can, get the truck.

If he wants to look badass and doesn't ever carry anything or go on long trips (more than 100 miles from home), get the Tesla.

If he still can't make up his mind, get a truck. They do some of most everything, the Tesla only does the one thing for a short distance.
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Brad Smith said Tesla M3...
 
Sac Arrow said:
Smart Car. In fact, buy two, and weld them back to back. You will never have to back in to or out of a parking space again.
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24F0EC9B00000578-0-Double_trouble_Art_rs_Bondars_from_Latvia_has_fused_together_the-a-42_1421929923501.jpg
 
How do you compare a tesla to a truck? I mean two completely opposite missions. Does he actually need a truck? Does he like sitting on the ground?

But honestly friends don't let friends drive ford...tell him to spring for a Tundra. And for the record I drive a Chevy Z71 that gets a whopping 14mpg.
 
Split the difference and by a Ford Model T.
 
simtech said:
How do you compare a tesla to a truck? I mean two completely opposite missions. Does he actually need a truck? Does he like sitting on the ground?

But honestly friends don't let friends drive ford...tell him to spring for a Tundra. And for the record I drive a Chevy Z71 that gets a whopping 14mpg.
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Ohhhh no! Tundra...incredibly over priced
 
simtech said:
All trucks are stupidly over priced. Only thing with Toyota is they hold their value better...though you pay more so it's likely a wash.
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I would argue that diesels hold their value best of all.
 
Depends if he wants to have a vehicle before the next millennium.

Cheers
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I would argue that diesels hold their value best of all.
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I would agree with that! That also falls into the Toyota realm of, well it cost more from the start so 10 years later they will still cost more. I need to figure out comparable fords, chevy, dodge, and yota and see what they are worth compared to MSRP and see if percentage wise they are all close for the drop or if others really hold value better than the other.

At any given dealer around my parts they are offering 12-16k off their trucks and even with that they are still $50k! Yeah no thanks ill keep my ol 2004 that ive owned forever.
 
Tesla is so passé. GM EV1 is the future!
 
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Depends on the mission. Truck is taller, therefore has a better AoA, whereas the Tesla has a better panel. The truck burns mogas and has a much higher useful load, but the Tesla can cruise faster but with shorter range. Hangar, or tied down outside? Hangar is almost mandatory fir the electric toy car. The F150 on bush wheels can go off airport a LOT easier than the battery powered car.
 
Dang look at that, I didn't need to do it after all. But yeah Toyota is where its at for resale. I bought a new Tacoma xtra cab 4x4 in 2003 for $22k and in 2009 sold it for $13k. What is that almost 60%, right inline with what the above article said.
 
denverpilot said:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgor...ues-among-all-vehicles-for-2018/#2d8bea986675
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Interesting article, and probably mostly accurate. The thing for me is that I rarely buy 5 year old vehicles, I'm typically more in the 8+ year range when I buy something. Laurie's "new" car that we bought her last year was a 2009 Mercedes with 94k miles on it. Our "beater", the 2003 E55 (which I bought in 2016 with 190k) is just shy of 220k miles on it now, working on its semi-restoration.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Interesting article, and probably mostly accurate. The thing for me is that I rarely buy 5 year old vehicles, I'm typically more in the 8+ year range when I buy something. Laurie's "new" car that we bought her last year was a 2009 Mercedes with 94k miles on it. Our "beater", the 2003 E55 (which I bought in 2016 with 190k) is just shy of 220k miles on it now, working on its semi-restoration.
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Yeah same here for the most part. ( I always say “for the most part” because someday I might be tempted to burn money, but haven’t yet. Ha.)

I thought the article was fascinating in that if your lucky/smart/got the right vehicle, new ... it’s worth about 35% of what you paid for it, in only 5 years. On the BEST vehicles out there for depreciation.

At average mileage (12,000 a year), that’s only a 60,000 mile vehicle!

We put way more than average miles on a vehicle (close to 20,000 each) per year, so buying new is literally lighting a large pile of money on fire in the back yard.

With today’s prices a very large pile of money. Losing 70% of a typical new car price over five years is ugggggly.

Which is fine if that’s what someone wants to do. But we’re not fans. We’ve purchased some very nice cast offs by single owners who had to have new... to keep up with whoever their Jones’ are.

Both the Yukon and the Lincoln were purchased around 60,000. Both still looking and driving like new. One was actually owned by the owner of the car dealership. (The Lincoln). The other was owned by an insurance agent in Colorado Springs. (She left her business card and some other paperwork in it and it was clear she was the owner not just someone’s insurance agent. The dealership missed taking the paperwork out of the glove box. Ha.)

We’ve put roughly 100,000 miles on both of them and the only major maintenance has been the stupid cam phasers on the Ford / cough / Lincoln. It also had a heater core leak and the steering wheel has to come off to remove the dash for that nowadays so I let a shop deal with that. The kids there actually thought that was “fun” and took photos of it with the dash out. Haha. I’d just be cussing and angry the whole time that the dash has to be removed to replace a heater core in a modern pickup truck, so best to let the kids have their fun. Hahahaha.

But if you remove consumables like tires and brakes and such and just count things breaking, the Lincoln has cost an additional $4K over its well-discounted price we paid for it, and the Yukon has needed nothing but a fuel pump.

I do need to sell the diesel. It’s just sitting out there depreciating, most days. But it runs so well I hate to give it up. :) I’m also torn on whether I should repair the fifth wheel hitch (couple of bolts went missing during its last tow, very odd) or just remove it (its cosmetically old and a little rusty) and whether to fix a small hole in the driver’s seat and peeling paint on one of the wheel bump outs, but I suspect none of those things really matter selling a 2001 in 2017. It’s mechanically sound other than the aforementioned bolts and those would be easy to fix, but I doubt I’d do anything but break even on fixing the hitch. It’s just “the right thing to do” so someone doesn’t try to tow with it like that, even after being warned.
 
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