No other car in history has changed this much after taking ownership as much as the Tesla Model 3 has in its first two years.

I’ve driven mine over 50,000 miles which means I have no more new vehicle warranty so I’m here to show you what Model 3 ownership has really been like and if it’s actually worth the $50,000 I paid for it.

Service & Maintenance

The 2-year mark for owning a Model 3 is sort of significant because that’s when one of the biggest concerns of owning a Tesla comes into play: Service & Maintenance.

Tesla doesn’t actually require service intervals for the Model 3, but in the manual they do recommend some service at the 2 year mark. Here’s all the service & maintenance I’ve had done to my Model 3 in its first two years (all have been covered for free under the warranty and repaired by a Tesla Mobile Ranger at my location).

Early on, my driver door handle wasn’t closing as quickly as it should have been. Not long after that my windshield wiper was making a clicking noise. Last year my cellular LTE data stopped working. Finally, a couple months ago my driver door was making a clicking noise. I started getting my tires rotated every 15,000 miles, but luckily there’s a tire place in my city that gives me free rotations so no money spent on that so far.

As you can see, all of those were minor repairs that cost me $0 and none of them prevented me from actually driving the car safely from point A to point B so the core driving reliability of my Model 3 has been pretty much perfect.

Once I hit the 2 year mark I figured I would go ahead and do the recommended service because I plan to own my Model 3 as long as possible, so I opened my Tesla app and scheduled a service checkup. Tesla quoted me $600 for cabin air filter replacement, wiper blades replacement, brake caliper cleaning, and brake fluid replacement.

This was a bit of a sticker shock to me, but since this is all just recommended and not actually required I requested only the brake caliper and brake fluid service which ended up being $390. After factoring in the $30 air filter replacement, the total I’ve spent on maintenance comes to about – wait for it – $420. Elon, I see what you did there you sly dog you. That means I’ve spent about $8 on maintenance for every 1,000 miles traveled. Not bad at all if you ask me.

Charging & Electricity Cost

Let’s talk about one of the unique aspects of owning a Tesla – charging the car. Some people who have never owned an electric vehicle are quick to bring up the argument “Doesn’t it take long to charge? Where will you charge it? Are you scared you’ll run out of battery?”

I’ve never run out of battery or been stranded, and about 90% of the charging happens at home overnight while I sleep when electricity is very cheap. Owning an electric vehicle has saved me both time and money by never having to stop at gas stations during my normal daily driving.

The only time I charge at a Tesla Supercharger station is when I’m traveling on a road trip. In fact I’ve only Supercharged 29 times during my first 52,000 miles and I’ve only spent $54 on Supercharging so far.

My off-peak home charging rate is about 7 cents per kWh, and since 90% of my miles traveled were done by charging at home that’s about 46,800 miles. My Model 3’s lifetime average efficiency is 244 Wh/mile and if we consider a 90% wall to wheels efficiency my home charging cost comes to about $900.

After adding in Supercharging, my total cost to travel 52,000 miles is right around $950. That means for the same cost of 6 months of cable TV, you could drive over 50,000 miles in a Tesla Model 3. (Seriously, cut the cord if you haven’t already)

That’s pretty crazy, right? That fact that I haven’t even spent $1,000 on charging after 52,000 miles. Of course these are all approximate estimates, but the point is the cost to drive a Tesla Model 3 is way cheaper and more convenient than any gasoline vehicle.

In fact, most people don’t even need to get an additional charging outlet installed at home. On a normal electrical outlet a Long Range Model 3 can regain 60 miles of range overnight assuming it’s charging for 12 hours.

Improvements Over Time

Finally, let’s talk about the Model 3’s improvements. I recently made a video about the things I dislike about my Model 3, but the beauty is that Tesla can fix a lot of those nit picky complaints through a free software update, which they’ve provided plenty of those since I got my Model 3.

You may have heard about many of these new software updates such as the big one that came out around the holidays that gave Model 3 owners more sophisticated voice commands.

Through free software updates Tesla has given my car fart mode, new games, and entertainment apps like YouTube and Netflix which are a game changer for my wife when we are Supercharging.

But it’s not just new quirky features that are being added. Legitimate improvements to the actual performance of the Model 3 have come from software updates. My car has become 10% quicker since getting it in 2018, and my driving efficiency has improved from things like the “Hold” feature.

Tesla also pushed a software update that improved the Model 3’s motor efficiency and based on the Tesla Stats app, my estimated range is now 329 miles. That means after 2 years and 50,000 miles, my estimated battery range has increased by 19 miles. That’s unheard of and completely crushes the argument that the battery will need to be replaced any time soon due to degradation.

Other cool features have also been added like Smart Summon which lets the car drive to me in a parking lot, along with Sentry Mode which records security footage from the car’s cameras and lets me view the footage directly from the touch screen display.

Of course one of the best Tesla features, Autopilot, is constantly improving and getting better as more Tesla owners drive their cars which makes the neural network exponentially more intelligent with each mile driven.

This type of dynamic improvement cannot be found on any other car. The Model 3 is an absolutely amazing vehicle, and an even more enjoyable piece of technology. It’s truly a giant gadget that brings so much joy and convenience to me as an owner while also improving the environment ever so slightly by making me never need nor want a gas car ever again.

What do you think of the Tesla Model 3? Let me know in the comments below!