Would you mind sharing what you consider to be fluff? There must have been recognized design trade-offs as well as consequences to “more range” that the team had to negotiate. As I don’t value “range” above ~320 miles much (a nice-to-have for sure as I never thought about range at all the entire time I owned ICE vehicles), I’m glad the AWD CT wasn’t designed to meet needs of outliers; I would stand to gain all these other features in its place. Total ownership experience and design toward efficiency remain the theme. If the name of the game is simply “large battery”, you’d do better looking elsewhere.
Just curious: Were you also waving the flag of larger hard drive that Sandisk MP3 had over that of the iPod and more RAM with HTC smartphone over that of the iPhone?
Tesla Foundation series includes:
$295 1. All-Weather interior liners
$115 2. glass roof sunshade
$40 3. Center console tray
$45 4. Gear locker dividers
$40 5. Vault D-rings
$25 6. L-track hooks
$25 7. L-track bottle opener
$1,000 8. White decor (current Tesla upcharge from black to white interior)
$600 9. Powershare charger
$1,000 10. Powershare/Powerwall v3 gateway plus installation up to $4,000
$3,000 11. 20 inch Cyberwheels with 35 inch tires (based on Rivian upcharge and cost of one Cyberwheel spare $1,200)
$7,000 12. FSD if configured on order
$1,000 13. Lifetime premium connectivity ($100 per year)
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$14,185 plus Powershare gateway installation - up to $4,000
All good points and it might be the perfect vehicle for you. I on the other hand made a reservation in 2019 for a Tri with 500 mile range and 14K towing capacity in order to replace my business truck and RV tow vehicle and or motorhome.
Now fast forward to 2023 : all this came with a substantial price hike AND lower towing and range and IF you want a higher range add another 16K but don't expect it before end of 2024.
As some other poster pointed out to me in another forum whining won't get you anywhere. So i will probably pass on my FS invite and be hopeful the larger battery will someday be available. But I am still excited that the CT is finally out