They are two quite different cars with optimum trade offs for two very different use cases. I wouldn't think the money would have any influence in your decision of whats best for you, except to perhaps rationalize it. I know some have a lot of fun with numbers. Im glad the SE will be going to someone who can enjoy the go-cart handling and that better suits their purpose. Acceleration and high speed road capability are great virtues, but over the years I've found enjoying that legally and without undo risk to the drivers license takes just about all the fun out most of the time. Something like the little SE is much easier to enjoy on back roads, most of the time. But yeah, its a city car, well done and relatively inexpensive to own. If you are looking for a fun for the buck quotient, then you may want to consider what percent of your drive time will be fun and what percent is transportation appliance time.
I used to enjoy playing with spread sheets to rationalize the decision I want to make, but at my age, I'm of a mind set of throwing the spread sheets out the window and just buying what suits my purpose. I can always make more money. There isn't one vehicle that fits every purpose well, of course. A 10 year old Jeep for nasty weather and cross country towing, A 20 year old Vette for cruising, a 5 year old ¼ ton sleeper hot rod pickup for home depot and fun, the new SE for around town fun... perhaps they are not the very best in every class, but put them together and its feature rich affordable fun ... and I have a spread sheet that proves that without a doubt
Thanks for the reply.
I know different individuals have different priorities and considerations for their own circumstances and I fully respect that, as someone who used to own coupes with manual transmission.
I am just at the stage that I still need to transport my kids and share the new (2nd) car with my wife occasionally. Hence I value if a car can be appreciated by more people in the family. I know I will be paying more for the Tesla M3 SR+ (given my rough spreadsheet estimates) but feel like it’s worth the extra money and the sacrifices (in some aspects) aren’t that great, compared to the SE. I still hope to own a version of mini someday, just not now.
