Do not listen to the naysayers, this car has had no problems in the 9 months I owned it. Your total cost of ownership is going to be much less than that of other comparable cars.
I really don't know how you can make up the difference in cost between this and a Chevy Bolt. But I would love to see your assumptions for depreciation, maintenance, repairs, financing/opportunity cost, electricity, and insurance.
+1, this would be a helpful analysis to see, given how Tesla is aiming to revamp total cost of ownership with everything from fueling, maintenance/service, insurance, etc.
Here is a TCO articles comparing the Model 3 vs other cars
https://evannex.com/blogs/news/total-cost-of-ownership-tesla-model-3-vs-toyota-camry
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/10/07/tesla-model-3-total-cost-of-ownership-estimate-crushing-it/
The Bolt is not comparable since it does not have a charging network or the same range. I have made multiple long-distance trips (Massachusetts, DC etc) and have charged at the Tesla network.
I appreciate the links. The first article uses $39k as the purchase price of the Model 3. That is about $19k less than jamesbond007 paid for his so not very relevant here. The second article assumes a $7500 tax credit which I believe is no longer the case for new Tesla vehicles. The Chevy Bolt on the other hand does still qualify for the credit.
Following the second article and adjusting for the removal of the tax credit and the slight difference in price paid the total cost of ownership comes to about $53.5k. KBB says the total cost of ownership for a Chevy Bolt is
$38.2k. And don't say they aren't comparable. 238 miles is nothing to scoff at and is nearly identical to the base level Model 3. It's a tradeoff, you pay more money and you get more range, but don't try to pretend the Model 3 LR is has cheaper TCO than a Chevy Bolt. I hear you on the charging network, but this will even out over time. The Hyundai Kona EV, Kia Niro EV, and Nissan LEAF all have 220+ mile range as well and I would assume also beat the Model 3 LR for TCO. Probably roughly the same ownership costs as a base Model 3.
If range is a high priority then plugin hybrids are much better comparisons than the BMW 3-Series and Toyota Camry in the articles you linked. 5-year TCO for select plugin hybrids that beat the Model 3 LR's $53.5k:
$41.7k - Ford Fusion Energi
$42.6k - Chevy Volt
$45.2k - Toyota Prius Prime
$46.4k - Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid
I couldn't find numbers for the Honda Clarity Plug-in, Kia Optima Plug-in, Kia Niro Plug-in, Hyundai Ioniq Plug-in, or Hyundai Sonata Plug-in, but I suspect they all beat the number as well. And this is all only considering new vehicles, used would obviously be much cheaper. From a financial perspective the Model 3 is suboptimal. There are certainly other reasons to consider one, but saving money is not currently one of them.