I personally think incentives are a good thing. Massive price cut on the Model Y pushed me to buy one. Had there been no price cuts, I wouldn't have bought one until my Polestar lease is up in Jan 2025

 

Thats one reason why I have stayed with a large sedan vs going to an SUV, how soft the large sedan segment is and the deals! An EQS580 or a Range Rover would certainly cost way more to lease than a $20,000 more expensive S Class or 7...

 

where you are, the average house price is probably a million, right? and the average salary is without question way higher than other parts of the country, so it's never surprised me that there's so many nice cars in california, because as a percentage of disposable income, a car isn't a huge deal there relative to other places.

if you sold/returned half your fleet you could get one. kidding! i know each has a 'role' there.

i never ever thought i'd buy a 6 figure car by the way, but did it now almost 3 years ago! shocking.

 

Me neither. I never thought I would drive a $123k car or even worse, a $63,000 minivan. And to target $135-$145k for the replacement car? Crazy.

To put it into perspective that Pacifica costs more than ANY car I have ever had other than the LS460s and the S560. Cars have gotten stupid expensive.

 

Well, the most expensive car I've ever owned is the Model Y, at $57k otd. Just 3 years ago I would have never imagined spending that much on a car, and when contemplating it I always snapped out of it.

Yeah, cars have gotten stupid expensive, even with Tesla price cuts, they are still expensive, it's just we've gotten used to the increase. Kinda of like $5 a gallon gas is now normal

 

maybe in taxifornia. not here. reg is about $2.90 here now. premium about $3.50.

 

It's not taxes that make gasoline prices high. It's rip off refineries.

Speaking of taxes, we don't even pay the highest taxes, that honor goes to places like NY, NJ, and DC etc. California also gives us generous tax breaks (write off's include property taxes, DMV fees, mortgage interest, homeowners insurance, EV and solar credits). I get more tax breaks from California than I do from federal taxes

 

Um, no.

California currently has the highest fuel excise tax in the nation, at 58 cents per gallon. Just edging out Pennsylvania's 57.6 cents. But importantly, CAs goes up by 4 cents/gallon every July. So having claimed the title, they will never lose it.

But it doesn't end there. There's an additional 23 cents/gallon cap-and-trade tax. Another 18 cents/gallon for low-carbon fuel programs. Then two cents "underground storage tax". Plus of course the 18.4 cents federal excise tax that everyone pays. Oh, and a 3.7% sales tax on top of all of that.

When you add it all up, you pay roughly $1.45/gallon in tax. Literally triple the national average, 2.5x what I pay in tax-happy Illinois, and SIX TIMES what it costs in Georgia.

 

enjoy that, it’s not typical lol. Gas here is about $1 more

 

There is absolutely no reason taxes should make gasoline nearly $5 a gallon. Yes, we have the highest taxed gasoline, but it shouldn't be as high as it is.

Anyway I don't fill up in the traditional sense, so high prices at the pump don't affect me as much, except when we shop and pay higher prices at stores

 

You are right, taxes alone do not account for the price differential. On the other hand, Prop 13 reduces our property tax bill by a significant amount. So it's swings and roundabouts, even here in "taxifornia"

 

I pay $11K a year in property tax, on a property valued at $1.2 Million (I didn't pay that much, thankfully!) On the other hand, my colleague in San Antonio pays over $15K on his property that he paid less than half of my property. He also pays all kinds of hidden taxes like "Energy fees". So although he doesn't pay state income tax, they figure out other ways to rob Peter to pay Paul. Now my cousin in NJ, now that's crazy how much property taxes they pay! Her husband works in NYC, and he told me he pays $40 a day just in tolls commuting from Edison, NJ to New York City. Work at home was probably a blessing for him!

Back to the i7. I'm just cringing at just thinking what the registration, taxes and Insurance will be....

 

Depends if you get top tier or not. Royal Farms and Wawa by me are $3.99 for 93 octane. Top tier by me is probably $0.25 more.

 

tx def. has high prop taxes. my prop probably valued about same as yours and my prop taxes are $6500. and we don't have state income tax either.
but at $11k, you're still paying ~$900/mo. in property taxes there!

 

It's definitely not cheap to live where I do, but when I do my state taxes, I can write off property tax. I always get a refund from the state, but Fed if I do get a refund, it's usually like $200. Fed has also limited SALT deductions, so I'm sure those living on the East Coast really feel this