
Comparison of the Practical EV: Tesla Model 3, Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf - rising-sky
http://www.motortrend.com/cars/tesla/model-3/2017/the-automobile-2-0-chevrolet-bolt-ev-premier-vs-nissan-leaf-sl-vs-tesla-model-3-long-range/
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SpikeDad
If anyone was expecting fair and reasonable comparison you haven't been
reading auto magazines very long.

Early in the article:

>As if there weren’t enough built-in tension already in this test, Hong rolls
a grenade into the big picture takeaway from the comparison: “Comparing this
Model 3 to the Bolt and Leaf isn’t fair—like comparing a BMW 3 Series with a
Camry or Accord.”

Because they're comparing off the shelf standard equipped Bolt and Leaf with
the top of the line Tesla with extended battery and advanced features.

Sure it's because that's all they had but then they should have waited to do a
review. But like tech journalism, auto journalist is all about the reads and
clicks in the 21st century.

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omgwtfbyobbq
I'm not sure if that's the base Leaf because Nissan doesn't appear to have
pricing on their website, but they definitely tested a loaded Bolt. The base
Bolt starts at $36,620 according to a quick search and the one MT tested was
$43,905.

Th big difference to me is that Tesla is the only one so far offering a larger
battery and Autopilot/FSD, which add $17k to the price of the 3.

Hopefully Tesla will make the base 3 available early next year so the base
version of each car can be compared.

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dubyah
The Leaf SL in the comparison is the top trim level available.

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ucaetano
Wait, they compared the $60,500 Tesla with the $43,905 Bolt and 2/3 of the
reviewers chose the Bolt.

The only one who chose the Tesla talks about how sub-par it is overall, with
"infotainment and autonomous systems are still a work in progress", but "new
software features are being beamed in seemingly every night" and then
magically the Tesla comes out on top?

That's before we go into "our finishing order in this first-ever comparison
test of affordable long-range electric vehicles".

"affordable".

$60,500.

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omgwtfbyobbq
Yeah, I'm not super clear on how they chose the 3 either. I think mentioning
the positives about the cars they didn't pick is normal though.

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maxxxxx
Wow. The Tesla's price as tested is almost twice base. And I thought BMW is
bad about this.

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jackhack
Yes, what a surprise that they ranked in order of price, but what did surprise
me was how dramatic that price difference was: $60k Tesla, $41k Bolt, $37k
Leaf. Who would have thought - a car that costs twice as much gives a better
experience. A correlation between price and experience?

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maxerickson
"Practical".

These are still quite expensive cars.

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sokoloff
My (highly optioned) 2015 LEAF was $22K after incentives ($7500 in federal and
$2500 in state cheese, a few grand in Nissan cash, a free level 2 charger,
some dealer concessions, and 0% financing for 5 years).

The 2018s are more (larger battery), but the net price will still be
significantly cheaper than the average new car transaction price which is just
a few dollars shy of $35K. (I tried to find the median; it was not easy and I
gave up and took the average. I would bet that the median is still well over
$27K.)

