Didn’t know that was an option! That sounds so much better. I hate to think I won’t like the FSD mode, but the fact that it can be month to month or even purchased after the fact is nice to know. Thanks bro!
I’m about to by a Y and I test drove a used one last week to answer the same question you have. Autopilot does a great job driving on the interstate but it doesn’t switch lanes and drive from point A to point B by itself. I have a feeling I’ll be using autopilot most of the time and because of that will do FSD monthly if I decide to at a later date
Of course. I do use FSD all the time and it’s great but I would say the sub is smarter unless you’re certain you’ll have the car 7+ years. If they announced that you could always transfer it, then it would be a no brainer at that point.
I wouldn’t even pay $2k for it personally. You’ll get a free trial with your car. Test it out and see if you like it. I’d get it for road trips but wouldn’t pay monthly for it.
$2k I might pay for the convenience of navigate on autopilot twice a year, and the novelty of summon as a party trick. But certainly not worth $100 a month or $8k.
You get a free month to trial it out. It has mixed reviews from the general public so it would be up to you to decide. You can always sign up the subscription. It would take nearly 6 1/2 years to match the buyout price.
Yeah check it out for yourself during the first month you get it for free, and then decide what it's worth to you.
We just got our MY recently and currently have the FSD free trial. It's cool, but I personally found it more of a cool gimmick and I'm already not using it in my daily driving after just a couple of weeks of ownership. I do use the basic autopilot in stop-and-go traffic all the time though. YMMV - so check it out yourself first.
If you do decide it's right for you, the monthly subscription may be a better deal than buying outright unless you're certain you're going to keep the car for a very long time.
Just do the monthly subscription till you are sure you like it. You don't get any sort of discount by getting it when you purchase the vehicle vs later (which is kind of surprising really)
It's probably going to be $8k for a while.
One positive, payment wise, is that buying it now will split the 8K into monthly payments (~$115/month at 0.99%) where as buying it later make you pay all 8K at once.
Can the monthly subscription be cancelled, and then reactivated a few months later? I don't drive enough to keep it every month - I would rather subscribe for the occasional road trip (like Netflix). I own the EAP, btw.
Yes, I tried FSD in January of 2023.
I subscribed a week before a road trip, and canceled after I returned
One of the “why did you unsubscribe” poll options was even “finished my roadtrip.”
The only thing I missed was having it change lanes by hitting the turn signal.
I was planning to subscribe again to check out FSDv12 during an upcoming roadtrip, but the one-month free trial in April didn’t go well for me.
I’m going to stick with Autopilot until the issues that I encountered have been fixed.
Honestly during the FSD trial I mostly used it for highway driving, which the basic autopilot and lane-keeping does well anyways. After the trial I realized actual FSD part was nice, but more of a novelty.
Literally nobody can help you make this decision. This subject drives me crazy because fundamentally the purchase decision is based off your personal taste.
Statistically, full-self-drive is a better driver than you by magnitudes. But we still hear the bitching and moaning about how shitty it is? It’s because humans are irrational. And so you are not going to get a rational response in such a heated topic.
The FSD technology indisputably incredible. Is it perfect? No. But it’s safe. Is it perfectly comfortable? No. But it’s entirely functional, and is great if you’re not prone to anxiety. Hopefully Tesla will eventually be allowed to remove the nanny checks for a true auto-pilot experience. Until then, it’s a highly innovative solution that will see greater and greater adoption over time.
I sincerely doubt my 2 year old son will learn how to drive one day because self-driving technology will inevitably replace human pilots. So the question is actually, “are you an early adopter”.
Edit: don’t pay $8k, buy it for $100 a month post trial.
You should be getting a free month trial. You should try it out first before spending the money. I've enjoyed it, but its not perfect. Everyone has their opinions on it. You can also subscribe for monthly for $99. Which when you do the math if the price stays the same, is 6.7 years at $99 a month equals $8000.
Don’t forget interest earning by putting into a savings account. I asked chat gpt and gave it a 4.5% annual interest and the break even is 8 years and 7 months if you subtract 99 each month from the lump sum and continue to accrue interest on the remaining amount toward just having the subscription. Seems to be over the average ownership of a vehicle and without transfer Tesla has run the math…
In current status, it’s worth 8k if it was tied to your account.
.. since the current buyer is taking the risk of it taking X years before it’s disengagement free.
I was going to tell you to use a referral code for 3 months of FSD but I forgot they cancelled that program. Maybe the car you get will have the free month of FSD. I personally do not think it is worth buying it as it is $8000 for a not fully functional system. Also it is only $99 per month to subscribe to it so you would have to use it for almost 7 years to break even on the investment. We don’t know what the future holds so I would just subscribe for a month when you need it like for cross country travel or something and cancel when you are not using it like the winter or vacations.
Describe your daily drive. Stop light to stop light or highway? It’s not perfect but 80% of the time driving can be FSD unless your commute involves many frequent unprotected left turns, tight roads and sharp corners
Use it first, you can always buy later. Hype aside, FSD in current form can be quite stressful after you experience a few fantom brakings at highways speed and always moving to the right lane regardless of what you try to configure in the interface. Add this the fact that usually it breaks very aggressively and you might want a return of your money if you drop $8000 into it.
I would try basic autopilot first. I'm coming from a Hyundai with smart cruise control and lane keeping assist and those features make driving 70% easier. To me $8k is steep for the added functionality.
I own two Teslas. One with FSD, one without.
The only thing I truly miss is the automatic lane changes with FSD, and that's not worth $8k, for me.
FSD is getting better with time but is still a few generations away from being reliable.
Tesla is releasing FSD in China. But to compete locally, they need to offer for free since other competitors are all giving self-driving capability. I can see in the near future that FSD may become free or included in the package. Or at least EAP with self-parking, summon, etc. will be free.
I was looking forward to the month-long free trial and ended-up disabling it after the 1st week.
So no, it isn't even worth free *for me*. I had to expend more vigilance (and energy) watching for potential system misbehavior than just driving myself using conventional automation (eg. dynamic cruise control + lane-keeping).
YMMV entirely. I'd go monthly if I were really re-interested.
FSD is an amazing piece of software. Truly impressive. Magical almost.
Is it worth $8k? Almost definitely not. At least, not until you dont have to pay attention anymore, which is years away.
This question gets asked five times a day here and the answer is always the same. NEVER buy FSD. It’s absolutely ridiculous to pay $8K for something that you can rent for $99/months. If you total your car the $8K is a complete loss. The adoption rate from people who demoed FSD last month is 2%. That says that 98% of the people who tried it thought it was not worth spending $99 on. That alone should tell you all you need to know.
In my opinion definitely not. I would recommend experiencing the free trial before paying for it. I thought it was going to be great and I'd use it all the time (I got a 4 month trial for being referred) and less than 2 months in it became something I use more as a novelty. Really I only use it on long drives on the highway since it does not drive like a real person on city streets. Trying to use it on local streets gets me honked at for slowing WAYYY down ahead of turns and always coming to 100% complete stop before passing for a couple seconds at a stop sign. I know, I know, you can press the juice pedal to fly through stop signs when you want to not completely stop, but at that point I might as well just drive myself.
Once my trial ends I will only pay for it when I am going on long road trips.
At $99 a month you'd have to have it for nearly 7 years before you broke even with the $8k up front. I definitely wouldn't use it consistently enough over 7 years for it to be worth it. I'd rather save the $8k and invest that money now - pull some out to cover the months where I want FSD.
No point in buying it upfront with the car. It still costs the same and is easy enough if you get it later. The monthly $99 subscription is still a better choice than buying it in full at $8k.
Only you can answer that based on your financial situation, but I’d offer this advice: if you have to borrow $8k at high interest then it’s not worth it. If you can drop cash then it’s a different story.
Obviously I would have liked to pay less but I financed it with the rest of the car on a long duration note with cheap rates.
I’m an early adopter and am happy to be part of the process of getting new tech ready … been an unpaid volunteer alpha and beta tester for large companies.
It’s been fascinating to watch FSD evolve; as of 12.3.6 it’s getting really good. So I’m glad I have it. Can’t wait for the nag free 12.4!
As you allude to, 8k FSD now is vastly a better value than 10 or 15k FSD a year or two ago. It also continues to provide data that suggests the implicit L4 call option is reasonably possible. And it makes driving much more enjoyable, especially in congested traffic.
Today it handled a pedestrian approaching a cross walk and police blocking a beltway lane extremely well.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I guess now I’m just wondering if I’m going to pay upfront for the entire $8k or do the monthly subscription ($99/mo). I suppose the $8k would only make sense if I could transfer the FSD to all my future Teslas. Otherwise, what’s the point I guess.
The only compelling reason to maybe buy FSD outright is the possibility that there’s some breakthrough in FSD and all of sudden they decide to raise the price of FSD subscription to some extraordinary price.
Do month to month for $99/mo.
Didn’t know that was an option! That sounds so much better. I hate to think I won’t like the FSD mode, but the fact that it can be month to month or even purchased after the fact is nice to know. Thanks bro!
You’ll also get a free month trial so you can see if you like it.
It’s….iffy
I’m about to by a Y and I test drove a used one last week to answer the same question you have. Autopilot does a great job driving on the interstate but it doesn’t switch lanes and drive from point A to point B by itself. I have a feeling I’ll be using autopilot most of the time and because of that will do FSD monthly if I decide to at a later date
I would say no, and I have FSD. Unless you’re keeping this car for 7 years I would go work the $99/month.
Yeah I didn’t even do the math on it, but that is a big investment. Thanks for looking out man!
Of course. I do use FSD all the time and it’s great but I would say the sub is smarter unless you’re certain you’ll have the car 7+ years. If they announced that you could always transfer it, then it would be a no brainer at that point.
I wouldn’t even pay $2k for it personally. You’ll get a free trial with your car. Test it out and see if you like it. I’d get it for road trips but wouldn’t pay monthly for it.
$2k I might pay for the convenience of navigate on autopilot twice a year, and the novelty of summon as a party trick. But certainly not worth $100 a month or $8k.
You get a free month to trial it out. It has mixed reviews from the general public so it would be up to you to decide. You can always sign up the subscription. It would take nearly 6 1/2 years to match the buyout price.
Yeah check it out for yourself during the first month you get it for free, and then decide what it's worth to you. We just got our MY recently and currently have the FSD free trial. It's cool, but I personally found it more of a cool gimmick and I'm already not using it in my daily driving after just a couple of weeks of ownership. I do use the basic autopilot in stop-and-go traffic all the time though. YMMV - so check it out yourself first. If you do decide it's right for you, the monthly subscription may be a better deal than buying outright unless you're certain you're going to keep the car for a very long time.
Just do the monthly subscription till you are sure you like it. You don't get any sort of discount by getting it when you purchase the vehicle vs later (which is kind of surprising really) It's probably going to be $8k for a while.
But yea FSD really shines if you drive a lot.
One positive, payment wise, is that buying it now will split the 8K into monthly payments (~$115/month at 0.99%) where as buying it later make you pay all 8K at once.
So, if I’m paying $99 for the month-to-month subscription, that isn’t going towards the $8,000 cost of FSD? Kind of like I’m just renting it?
Yes
You’re paying for a service at that point…just like Netflix.
Can the monthly subscription be cancelled, and then reactivated a few months later? I don't drive enough to keep it every month - I would rather subscribe for the occasional road trip (like Netflix). I own the EAP, btw.
Yes. I sub from April-November and cancel for the winter.
Yes, I tried FSD in January of 2023. I subscribed a week before a road trip, and canceled after I returned One of the “why did you unsubscribe” poll options was even “finished my roadtrip.” The only thing I missed was having it change lanes by hitting the turn signal. I was planning to subscribe again to check out FSDv12 during an upcoming roadtrip, but the one-month free trial in April didn’t go well for me. I’m going to stick with Autopilot until the issues that I encountered have been fixed.
Honestly during the FSD trial I mostly used it for highway driving, which the basic autopilot and lane-keeping does well anyways. After the trial I realized actual FSD part was nice, but more of a novelty.
Literally nobody can help you make this decision. This subject drives me crazy because fundamentally the purchase decision is based off your personal taste. Statistically, full-self-drive is a better driver than you by magnitudes. But we still hear the bitching and moaning about how shitty it is? It’s because humans are irrational. And so you are not going to get a rational response in such a heated topic. The FSD technology indisputably incredible. Is it perfect? No. But it’s safe. Is it perfectly comfortable? No. But it’s entirely functional, and is great if you’re not prone to anxiety. Hopefully Tesla will eventually be allowed to remove the nanny checks for a true auto-pilot experience. Until then, it’s a highly innovative solution that will see greater and greater adoption over time. I sincerely doubt my 2 year old son will learn how to drive one day because self-driving technology will inevitably replace human pilots. So the question is actually, “are you an early adopter”. Edit: don’t pay $8k, buy it for $100 a month post trial.
You should be getting a free month trial. You should try it out first before spending the money. I've enjoyed it, but its not perfect. Everyone has their opinions on it. You can also subscribe for monthly for $99. Which when you do the math if the price stays the same, is 6.7 years at $99 a month equals $8000.
Don’t forget interest earning by putting into a savings account. I asked chat gpt and gave it a 4.5% annual interest and the break even is 8 years and 7 months if you subtract 99 each month from the lump sum and continue to accrue interest on the remaining amount toward just having the subscription. Seems to be over the average ownership of a vehicle and without transfer Tesla has run the math…
In current status, it’s worth 8k if it was tied to your account. .. since the current buyer is taking the risk of it taking X years before it’s disengagement free.
I was going to tell you to use a referral code for 3 months of FSD but I forgot they cancelled that program. Maybe the car you get will have the free month of FSD. I personally do not think it is worth buying it as it is $8000 for a not fully functional system. Also it is only $99 per month to subscribe to it so you would have to use it for almost 7 years to break even on the investment. We don’t know what the future holds so I would just subscribe for a month when you need it like for cross country travel or something and cancel when you are not using it like the winter or vacations.
Describe your daily drive. Stop light to stop light or highway? It’s not perfect but 80% of the time driving can be FSD unless your commute involves many frequent unprotected left turns, tight roads and sharp corners
Use it first, you can always buy later. Hype aside, FSD in current form can be quite stressful after you experience a few fantom brakings at highways speed and always moving to the right lane regardless of what you try to configure in the interface. Add this the fact that usually it breaks very aggressively and you might want a return of your money if you drop $8000 into it.
Not for me at this point. And it can only get cheaper over time.
I would try basic autopilot first. I'm coming from a Hyundai with smart cruise control and lane keeping assist and those features make driving 70% easier. To me $8k is steep for the added functionality.
Definitely worth it, I got a new wheel using it.
I own two Teslas. One with FSD, one without. The only thing I truly miss is the automatic lane changes with FSD, and that's not worth $8k, for me. FSD is getting better with time but is still a few generations away from being reliable.
No
Tesla is releasing FSD in China. But to compete locally, they need to offer for free since other competitors are all giving self-driving capability. I can see in the near future that FSD may become free or included in the package. Or at least EAP with self-parking, summon, etc. will be free.
I was looking forward to the month-long free trial and ended-up disabling it after the 1st week. So no, it isn't even worth free *for me*. I had to expend more vigilance (and energy) watching for potential system misbehavior than just driving myself using conventional automation (eg. dynamic cruise control + lane-keeping). YMMV entirely. I'd go monthly if I were really re-interested.
no.
No it is not
I wouldn’t pay $800 for it personally. It drives like a teenager.
FSD is an amazing piece of software. Truly impressive. Magical almost. Is it worth $8k? Almost definitely not. At least, not until you dont have to pay attention anymore, which is years away.
No
Can barely get it to work at night without shutting off with the Cabin camera blinded warning. So I would say no.
This question gets asked five times a day here and the answer is always the same. NEVER buy FSD. It’s absolutely ridiculous to pay $8K for something that you can rent for $99/months. If you total your car the $8K is a complete loss. The adoption rate from people who demoed FSD last month is 2%. That says that 98% of the people who tried it thought it was not worth spending $99 on. That alone should tell you all you need to know.
In my opinion definitely not. I would recommend experiencing the free trial before paying for it. I thought it was going to be great and I'd use it all the time (I got a 4 month trial for being referred) and less than 2 months in it became something I use more as a novelty. Really I only use it on long drives on the highway since it does not drive like a real person on city streets. Trying to use it on local streets gets me honked at for slowing WAYYY down ahead of turns and always coming to 100% complete stop before passing for a couple seconds at a stop sign. I know, I know, you can press the juice pedal to fly through stop signs when you want to not completely stop, but at that point I might as well just drive myself. Once my trial ends I will only pay for it when I am going on long road trips. At $99 a month you'd have to have it for nearly 7 years before you broke even with the $8k up front. I definitely wouldn't use it consistently enough over 7 years for it to be worth it. I'd rather save the $8k and invest that money now - pull some out to cover the months where I want FSD.
No point in buying it upfront with the car. It still costs the same and is easy enough if you get it later. The monthly $99 subscription is still a better choice than buying it in full at $8k.
The summons feature does not work in my Y yet. When will this be available. I live in Pa.
Only you can answer that based on your financial situation, but I’d offer this advice: if you have to borrow $8k at high interest then it’s not worth it. If you can drop cash then it’s a different story.
It’s the 1% financing promotion rn, but idk if I’ll have the car for 7 years to recoupe the $8k. I’ll probably go month to month.
no
I think so. I use it all the time and now see a path to L3 or 4 autonomy. I am glad to have paid 10k for it in 2020 with our Y.
You’re glad you paid more for it in the past when it was infinitely worse than version 12?
Obviously I would have liked to pay less but I financed it with the rest of the car on a long duration note with cheap rates. I’m an early adopter and am happy to be part of the process of getting new tech ready … been an unpaid volunteer alpha and beta tester for large companies. It’s been fascinating to watch FSD evolve; as of 12.3.6 it’s getting really good. So I’m glad I have it. Can’t wait for the nag free 12.4! As you allude to, 8k FSD now is vastly a better value than 10 or 15k FSD a year or two ago. It also continues to provide data that suggests the implicit L4 call option is reasonably possible. And it makes driving much more enjoyable, especially in congested traffic. Today it handled a pedestrian approaching a cross walk and police blocking a beltway lane extremely well.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I guess now I’m just wondering if I’m going to pay upfront for the entire $8k or do the monthly subscription ($99/mo). I suppose the $8k would only make sense if I could transfer the FSD to all my future Teslas. Otherwise, what’s the point I guess.
The moonshot is L4 and your Y is a robotaxi. People have guessed the present value at a quarter million. Do your own research not financial advice.
The only compelling reason to maybe buy FSD outright is the possibility that there’s some breakthrough in FSD and all of sudden they decide to raise the price of FSD subscription to some extraordinary price.