But he’s willing to trade for one of the following:

I really like the exterior styling.

The subway is electric and breaks all the time. Being electric doesn’t mean it’s reliable at all.

Does it matter? Ford sells twice as many F-series in one month than Honda sells Fits in an entire year. You're not going to be hitting a Fit. You're hitting another truck, and you're not going to have a mass advantage.

He only has one kid. That seems like overkill. 

I dont know. I bet over half the population agrees that being shown something that cost, on average, $35k and is likely your second largest expenditure is an attractive sales tactic. 

They're a corporation that makes cars, not an indie band. 

What pre-orderers thought Tesla was going to give them for $35,000:
- Incredible EV range
- Leather seats
- Power everything
- Deep customization options
- State-of-the-art autonomous driving capabilities
- Free supercharging
- A BMW 3 Series alternative

Your math is way off. Actually your entire post is way off. A basic Civic with the 1.5L Turbo 4cyl and CVT (most common drivetrain) gets a combined 35mpg. The avg driver in the US drives around 12,000 miles a year. 12,000/35 = 343 gallons of gas per year.. at $2.50/gal.. thats $857 in gas per year. How in the hell did…

They’re offering an extended test-drive period where you can order a car and get it for a week and then return it if you don’t want it. Which is a workaround but given that when I buy a car I typically test drive lots of stuff and it takes me a while to make up my mind, possibly not a workaround that is actually…

It actually kind of stuns me that car loan debt is 1/9th of mortgage debt.

Your anecdote aligns with their Tesla cold weather performance graph almost perfectly. 40% drop in range.

I know I’m preaching to the choir, but I really wish I could get a decent mid-size sedan with a stick. Remember when you could buy an Acura TL with a six speed? I’ve never bought a brand new car in my life, but if they stuck a 6 speed in a Legacy, that might change.

Only 5% of buyers want wagons - kill the wagon

It’s an SUV now.

I...like it?

That is one sexy wagon.

You’re going to use some prediction about Mt. Kilimanjaro as your measuring stick on global warming?

Fremont PD sounds like a 25 year old trying to explain to his parents how he justifies a $750 per month payment on a 3 year old Model S. “Well you see when you calculate gas and maintenance and deduct that from the car payment...”

To me, while Toyota and Honda can slap on some plastic bits and say their cars are sporty (because they look like it), most of the Mazdas I’ve owned leaned toward actually being sporty and fun to drive (as far as handling).