Advice on getting 2022 M3LR vs M3SR

[theocguy]

TL;DR (or won't read) : Advice on which one to get 2022 M3LR vs 2022 M3SR when already ordered 2022 MYLR.

Hi there,

I would like to get your feedbacks / comments / advice on getting a 2022 M3LR vs 2022 M3SR?

I have already put an order for MYLR. My family is sharing 1 mini-van at this moment as I have been working from home for last 2 yrs. We know we will get another car eventually, and plan to sell the mini-van. In short, we would need to buy 2 cars and sell the existing one.

Does it make sense to get a M3LR or just get the M3SR as it is the base level and cost 8k less than M3LR? I will drive the M3Sr as daily commute, and possible to do some short trip within 100 miles (1 way) distance. If we plan to do a long road trip, we would use the MYLR.

I also looked into other EVs in the market. They do have lower MSRP as the base, but once i added few options to get to the similar functions/ features on M3LR (AWD), the price gets higher, of course. I also considered other EVs might be qualified for Fed Credit 7.5k. However, I also consider the auto dealerships will raise 5-10k market adjusted price as well. I have a sense that the "net" might get washed even with the Fed Credit. Secondly, I heard the Fed Credit 7.5k is to offset the tax liability and not the refund.

I am not sure if I can claim that as I normally get the tax back.

 

[Knightshade]

If you get $ back or not is irrelevant to the tax credit. Just your initial tax obligation.

Refund= Tax obligation minus how much you pre-paid throughout the year (via payroll deductions or whatever).

So for example if you had a tax obligation of $10,000... and had paid in 12k throughout the year you get a $2000 refund.


The tax credit reduces your obligation before doing that math. So in the same case as above, your obligation would be reduced from 10k to 2.5k. You still pre-paid 12k so now your refund would be 9.5k.



That said- sticking just to Tesla, if you only need a second car for local drives, and don't care about the other differences like performance or the nicer stereo, then the SR+ seems like the right choice.

 

[theocguy]

If you get $ back or not is irrelevant to the tax credit. Just your initial tax obligation.

Refund= Tax obligation minus how much you pre-paid throughout the year (via payroll deductions or whatever).

So for example if you had a tax obligation of $10,000... and had paid in 12k throughout the year you get a $2000 refund.


The tax credit reduces your obligation before doing that math. So in the same case as above, your obligation would be reduced from 10k to 2.5k. You still pre-paid 12k so now your refund would be 9.5k.



That said- sticking just to Tesla, if you only need a second car for local drives, and don't care about the other differences like performance or the nicer stereo, then the SR+ seems like the right choice.

Thanks for your feedback.

I will check out some reviews on the real world range on the SR+. with the possible overstated EPA 272miles, and I will possible to discount it to 250miles in real life, I think it will work for my usage as local drives, and sometime going to somewhere far (within 60-100 miles one way). The worst I will just charge for 10-15 miles on Supercharger to get home.

Saving 8k right off the MSRP seems a good saving to me as the MYLR is already over 6xk with taxes and fees.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Does it make sense to get a M3LR or just get the M3SR as it is the base level and cost 8k less than M3LR? I will drive the M3Sr as daily commute, and possible to do some short trip within 100 miles (1 way) distance. If we plan to do a long road trip, we would use the MYLR.

It does not look like you will drive the Model 3 in a way that the extra range of the LR over the RWD/SR+ would matter (although the RWD/SR+ would not be bad on road trips even with the somewhat more frequent recharging stops).

With the RWD/SR+, the LFP battery will mean less worry about battery capacity loss -- note that the LNCA batteries in the LR are recommended to charge to a level lower than 100% except on long trips, so your daily use range on the LR over the RWD/SR+ may not be as large as the listed difference. For example, if you charge the LR to 76% for daily use to preserve the battery, that would give range that is about the same as the RWD/SR+ charged to 100%.

 

[PaulSu]

Hi there, I had a 2019 SR+ and sold it and moved to a 2022 Long Range. I also got in priced back in October before all the price increases. Having said that it was a much improved vehicle over the 2019 SR+, especially for the AWD in our Southern Ontario winters. The extra range, and all the upgraded goodies from 2019 to 2022 are nice improvements. However, the 2022 SR+ will have most of those improvements, other than stereo, faster charging, faster 0-60, AWD, etc. Either is a great choice.

 

[theocguy]

Hi there, I had a 2019 SR+ and sold it and moved to a 2022 Long Range. I also got in priced back in October before all the price increases. Having said that it was a much improved vehicle over the 2019 SR+, especially for the AWD in our Southern Ontario winters. The extra range, and all the upgraded goodies from 2019 to 2022 are nice improvements. However, the 2022 SR+ will have most of those improvements, other than stereo, faster charging, faster 0-60, AWD, etc. Either is a great choice.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your feedback. Did you get a good real life range on the 2019 SR+ (like close to what they claimed)?
How was the resell value on SR+?

 

[3sr+buyer]

I will check out some reviews on the real world range on the SR+. with the possible overstated EPA 272miles, and I will possible to discount it to 250miles in real life,

It is definitely possible to match or exceed the rated range and economy if you drive economically.

However, the following common factors can reduce range and economy:

• More use of friction braking (i.e. frequent need to brake harder than regenerative braking can slow the car).
• Higher highway speeds.
• Roof cargo, especially at highway speeds.
• Underinflated tires.
• Replacement tires that are not as low rolling resistance as the ones that come with the car.
• Rain, snow, headwind, or extreme temperatures.

You may want to consider how your economy compares to the rated economy in other cars (especially if you had EVs before).

 

[theocguy]

It does not look like you will drive the Model 3 in a way that the extra range of the LR over the RWD/SR+ would matter (although the RWD/SR+ would not be bad on road trips even with the somewhat more frequent recharging stops).

With the RWD/SR+, the LFP battery will mean less worry about battery capacity loss -- note that the LNCA batteries in the LR are recommended to charge to a level lower than 100% except on long trips, so your daily use range on the LR over the RWD/SR+ may not be as large as the listed difference. For example, if you charge the LR to 76% for daily use to preserve the battery, that would give range that is about the same as the RWD/SR+ charged to 100%.

Thanks for your feedback as well.

It is right that I might not be driving the Model 3 requires to have extra range for a long period of time. I plan to charge it at home 99% of time when I am not using that far from home.

It definitely would be fun to have the faster speed - 1.6 sec diff between LR vs RWD/SR+ for 0-60. but I am not driving that on a track, nor trying to do that on freeway.

Would you think the RWD/SR+ would give me enough power to get out some sticky situation, such as in a light snow area, or to speed up for avoiding some crazy drivers bumping to the rear.

I used to have a Honda Pilot SUV with 4WD, and wanted to do some lite offroad. Living in So. CA just does not give much changes on driving in heavy snowy areas, and never took it for any lite offroad at all.

 

[theocguy]

You may want to consider how your economy compares to the rated economy in other cars (especially if you had EVs before).

Tesla would be my first EV

with all the common factors you have listed, definitely considered them as well. I do drive somewhere 5miles above the speed limit. No cargo on the roof, and leaning to use the regen brake rather than the actual brake to slow down except for emergency situation.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Would you think the RWD/SR+ would give me enough power to get out some sticky situation, such as in a light snow area, or to speed up for avoiding some crazy drivers bumping to the rear.

In snow, I would not think that (safe) acceleration is power limited, rather than traction limited (even if you have winter tires).

In terms of other street driving, it is hard to imagine that the RWD/SR+ is "too slow" to accelerate out of sticky situations where accelerating away is needed and there is clear space ahead to accelerate into.

 

[jjrandorin]

Would you think the RWD/SR+ would give me enough power to get out some sticky situation, such as in a light snow area, or to speed up for avoiding some crazy drivers bumping to the rear.

All Teslas are fast... even the slowest of them, which the SR+ is. People go down the rabbit hole on this stuff but, let me turn the above question around on you.

You currently drive a minivan, right? You obviously think the minivan is "fast enough to get out of some sticky situation, to speed up for avoiding some crazy drivers bumping to the rear" right?

Do you believe the minivan is faster than the SR+? If not, then your current car meets whatever criteria for this statement you have so anything that is faster meets that particular criteria.

 

[Jeremy3292]

Sounds like the SR+ is perfect for the OP when he won't be driving very far and already has an MYLR.

Also remember the SR+ is to be charged to 100% even for regular use (LFP battery), whereas the LR variants are not to be charged to 100% regularly (NCA batteries). That make the daily range of the two much closer.

 

[Nujec]

We got a 2021 M3 LR as our first EV. Have only really used the extra range when holidaying in places without nearby superchargers or ability to charge overnight.

Now considering getting another 2021 used MR to replace our low mileage petrol second car and feeling that SR is more than enough range for a second car. A used LR is a lot more expensive.

If the LFP battery had been available in 2021 I'd have been tempted just to get the LFP SR model because it sounds like it may degrade much more slowly - to early to tell yet though. I certainly don't use the extra acceleration of the LR, it's way faster than needed for daily driving.

 

[oreobbq]

Would you think the RWD/SR+ would give me enough power to get out some sticky situation, such as in a light snow area, or to speed up for avoiding some crazy drivers bumping to the rear.

The SR+ is pretty quick. It will beat most cars off the line. It doesn't have the same punch as the awd variants but the speed builds nicely.

I certainly don't use the extra acceleration of the LR, it's way faster than needed for daily driving.

 

[derekmw]

Keep in mind the base Model 3 now also has the LFP battery so you can charge to 100% everyday where as the other ones should not be charged above 90% daily. So for a daily scenario, the range difference isn't that different. It'll be a different story if you do a lot of long drives where you need to charge along the way.

Another thing to be mindful of though is if you put in this order before the price changes that happened last week, any changes to your configuration will update the price of your car to the new updated prices.

 

[mendokusyayi]

Sounds like the SR+ is perfect for the OP when he won't be driving very far and already has an MYLR.

Also remember the SR+ is to be charged to 100% even for regular use (LFP battery), whereas the LR variants are not to be charged to 100% regularly (NCA batteries). That make the daily range of the two much closer.

I find this fuzzy (and this is often used in comparing LR and RWD): comparison of full LFP vs 80% NCA battery and calling them similar range. It only matters if you are driving 250-260 miles daily, which is a much less common use-case.

For regular commutes (say 50miles or even 100 miles), both cars are okay. So effectively you just need a car that has much lesser range for daily commute (and nightly home charge). So there is no point to even charge the LFP battery to full every night even if it is okay to do -- you are just wasting electricity IMO.

The long range matters when you are doing a road trip, and at that time charging the NCA battery to 100% is totally fine for the 80 miles of more range!

For the OP, the RWD should work just fine especially since they will likely used the spacious MYLR for family/road trips.

 

[Jeremy3292]

I find this fuzzy (and this is often used in comparing LR and RWD): comparison of full LFP vs 80% NCA battery and calling them similar range. It only matters if you are driving 250-260 miles daily, which is a much less common use-case.

I agree but the point is that you don't want to be charging to 100% on an NCA battery regularly but doing it on an LFP battery is actually recommended by Tesla. Note I said "daily range" not "road trip" or "overall" range.

For regular commutes (say 50miles or even 100 miles), both cars are okay. So effectively you just need a car that has much lesser range for daily commute (and nightly home charge).

Yes, which is why I recommended the SR+ for the OP's specific situation even though I personally own an M3LR.

So there is no point to even charge the LFP battery to full every night even if it is okay to do -- you are just wasting electricity IMO.

Tesla says to charge to 100% at least once per week in the owners manual for the LFP battery.

"If your vehicle is equipped with an LFP Battery, Tesla recommends that you keep your charge limit set to 100%, even for daily use, and that you also fully charge to 100% at least once per week. If Model 3 has been parked for longer than a week, Tesla recommends driving as you normally would and charge to 100% at your earliest convenience."

The long range matters when you are doing a road trip, and at that time charging the NCA battery to 100% is totally fine for the 80 miles of more range!

Yes, that is what I do for road trips.

For the OP, the RWD should work just fine especially since they will likely used the spacious MYLR for family/road trips.

Yes, that's what I said in my post; we agree.

 

[Suns_PSD]

Personally I feel like the penalty for AWD in an EV is so small (no efficiency loss) that I would not even consider an EV without AWD.

It's not exactly the same situation but in my 4x4 diesel pickup I can barely drive off on rain slicked roads in 2wd, which in fact can become a safety issue at times.

 

[jjrandorin]

Sounds like the SR+ is perfect for the OP when he won't be driving very far and already has an MYLR.

OP does not have the Model Y yet, I dont believe. They have " an order in" for it. Thus the questions about "does it get close to rated range (we know the answer is "no, not when driven in the average persons normal driving conditions".

 

[mswlogo]

If I’m not mistaken Model 3 SR has one advantage. An LFP battery. No degradation and you can charge to 100% routinely and get full use of the battery.