Where does the evolution of the CT Buyer arrive?

[Freemarket]

On the eve of me going to pick up an edition 1 Denali after 8 months of owning a CT means absolutely nothing about the CT.

The family loves it, but I question whether or not that’s because of the rear screen access to Netflix, YouTube etc or because of the cool factor….

For the 3 year old, it’s watching “a show”

For the 12 year old it’s the jealous middle schoolers drooling over the future.

For my wife, she enjoys those two factors.

For me, I’m endeared to the off road capabilities that exceeded my 2022 Raptor.

As to the Denali, it hasn’t at all moved me to sell the CT, I can’t. They won’t let me!

But 440 of miles of range is compelling as heck, plus all the add on’s that GMC seems to get right.

It was hard for me to move from getting a 2022 Platinum Lightning with 10k miles right now for $54k (a 40k discount over MSRP), but almost too easy for a new Denali for $100k and 0% interest for 60 months.

The unavailability too of the lightning at Ford dealerships really was the nail in the deal. 10 days out they told me. Good luck with that!

So, all that to say, I’m excited to have the Denali EV added to the fleet for the work I do.

I doubt it will de throne the CT for the family use case, but I’ll remain open and report back. There’s definitely more to follow on this story.

Will especially be interested to see Tesla roll out the extended range battery (which I do have a deposit for), perhaps at even less than originally offered, but I won’t hold my breath. The CT community would benefit immensely if they offered it at a reasonable cost, but the compelling efforts to bring even more buyers to the table for Tesla would be astronomic IMO.

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[pricedm]

I'm looking forward to your impression after you have enough time behind the wheel.

I get the alure of "more range"...some day I might replace my Model Y with a Lucid Gravity, for road trips. But FSD is hard to beat...

 

[Freemarket]

I'm looking forward to your impression after you have enough time behind the wheel.

I get the alure of "more range"...some day I might replace my Model Y with a Lucid Gravity, for road trips. But FSD is hard to beat...

With my 2022 Raptor you get hands free (ish) but the nag to touch the steering wheel is about 2-3 times worse than my 3 Tesla’s with FSD. The lane keep is super floaty between lanes.

I’m expecting the same with the Denali, but hoping for some improvement. Not at all a factor for purchase though for me.

Holding an open hand with any of these new technologies is the only way to go at this point. I’m naturally an early adopter and am cursed with FOMO. Buy high, sell it cheap.

I’ve owned a 2022 Performance Y too. Also, a 2021 Audi E-tron. The E-tron destroyed all of luster of the Model Y for me. The Y’s saving grace was really FSD and range.

 

[Kaz109]

On the eve of me going to pick up an edition 1 Denali after 8 months of owning a CT means absolutely nothing about the CT.

The family loves it, but I question whether or not that’s because of the rear screen access to Netflix, YouTube etc or because of the cool factor….

For the 3 year old, it’s watching “a show”

For the 12 year old it’s the jealous middle schoolers drooling over the future.

For my wife, she enjoys those two factors.

For me, I’m endeared to the off road capabilities that exceeded my 2022 Raptor.

As to the Denali, it hasn’t at all moved me to sell the CT, I can’t. They won’t let me!

But 440 of miles of range is compelling as heck, plus all the add on’s that GMC seems to get right.

It was hard for me to move from getting a 2022 Platinum Lightning with 10k miles right now for $54k (a 40k discount over MSRP), but almost too easy for a new Denali for $100k and 0% interest for 60 months.

The unavailability too of the lightning at Ford dealerships really was the nail in the deal. 10 days out they told me. Good luck with that!

So, all that to say, I’m excited to have the Denali EV added to the fleet for the work I do.

I doubt it will de throne the CT for the family use case, but I’ll remain open and report back. There’s definitely more to follow on this story.

Will especially be interested to see Tesla roll out the extended range battery (which I do have a deposit for), perhaps at even less than originally offered, but I won’t hold my breath. The CT community would benefit immensely if they offered it at a reasonable cost, but the compelling efforts to bring even more buyers to the table for Tesla would be astronomic IMO.

You caught me at the “off road capabilities exceeding the raptor “ statement.

I am FAR more comfortable in my raptor off road than I am my CB. My 2020 raptor was 4ft in the air by day 7 of ownership, then trading that in for a 2023 it was 4ft in the air on day 1 of ownership. I am 4 months into my CB ownership and have yet to take flight.

 

[Freemarket]

You caught me at the “off road capabilities exceeding the raptor “ statement.

I am FAR more comfortable in my raptor off road than I am my CB. My 2020 raptor was 4ft in the air by day 7 of ownership, then trading that in for a 2023 it was 4ft in the air on day 1 of ownership. I am 4 months into my CB ownership and have yet to take flight.

Fair point! I haven’t sent the CT that hard either to get it off the ground, but both Raptors I’ve owned I’ve hit some big jumps and it does great!

Power however, in Baja mode, CT crushes it. There’s no waiting on the motor to get to the power band you need, there’s just immediate availability of power that begs you to push even harder.

I don’t expect the Denali to get anywhere close to either, but I’m looking forward to seeing how well it does.

 

[Freemarket]

I'm looking forward to your impression after you have enough time behind the wheel.

I get the alure of "more range"...some day I might replace my Model Y with a Lucid Gravity, for road trips. But FSD is hard to beat...

I’m prepared to be disappointed in “super cruise,” but hopeful that it does better keeping a lane than my Raptor. FSD is so dang good! There is no question that GMC/Ford and any of the mfg’s are no where close.

 

[ChiTownCT]

I’m prepared to be disappointed in “super cruise,” but hopeful that it does better keeping a lane than my Raptor. FSD is so dang good! There is no question that GMC/Ford and any of the mfg’s are no where close.

Even with this "handicapped" FSD we have, I still use it 80% of the time, I can't imagine going back to full time driving..

 

[Arctic_White]

I'm looking forward to your impression after you have enough time behind the wheel.

I get the alure of "more range"...some day I might replace my Model Y with a Lucid Gravity, for road trips. But FSD is hard to beat...

Agreed; no autonomy, no sale.

I can't fathom anyone would buy a car in the future that doesn't drive by itself. Ergo, all non-Teslas would see their value plummet if the above is true.

I'll also say that Tesla could have given the Cybertruck 500+ miles of range by adding more battery cells. GM's battery pack is literally twice the size!

No way is GM earning any semblance of a profit on any Sileverado/Sierra EV they sell. The batteries are humongous on those things.

 

[pricedm]

Agreed; no autonomy, no sale.


GM's battery pack is literally twice the size!

I did a 400 mile one way trip over Thanksgiving. Maybe I had my hands on the steering wheel 30 minutes of the drive. Very relaxing! Agreed, no FSD, no purchase by me.

Long range is helpful, but the GM method of low efficiency, large batter (and high weight) isn't an optimized engineering solution. I hope Lucid can sell their technology to OEMs.

 

[L3it3R]

Fair point! I haven’t sent the CT that hard either to get it off the ground, but both Raptors I’ve owned I’ve hit some big jumps and it does great!

Power however, in Baja mode, CT crushes it. There’s no waiting on the motor to get to the power band you need, there’s just immediate availability of power that begs you to push even harder.

I don’t expect the Denali to get anywhere close to either, but I’m looking forward to seeing how well it does.

Baja mode in the CT is hilarious. I take it down a trail in central PA that all other vehicles we've ever taken down it struggle to go 15-20MPH at well over 45MPH and it just wants to go faster - only reason I don't is so I can slow down for the blind rises in case another vehicle is coming.

 

[Freemarket]

This was not expected, but I got to the dealership and couldn’t go through with it! I can’t believe I flew to Dallas to find myself coming back home tonight on another flight.

Road noise was immediately noticeable to me at 35-40. Textile headliner, soft tonnaeu cover flapping in the wind. The driver shifter is awkward. Nearly cut my finger on the plastic when I adjusted the seatbelt height in the B pillar. I wouldn’t have been able to live with it. Lots of great features, but not at $100k.

 

[dalton108]

I'm looking forward to your impression after you have enough time behind the wheel.

I get the alure of "more range"...some day I might replace my Model Y with a Lucid Gravity, for road trips. But FSD is hard to beat...

As adamant as I am that we need more range, FSD will always trump that for me.

 

[L3it3R]

This was not expected, but I got to the dealership and couldn’t go through with it! I can’t believe I flew to Dallas to find myself coming back home tonight on another flight.

Road noise was immediately noticeable to me at 35-40. Textile headliner, soft tonnaeu cover flapping in the wind. The driver shifter is awkward. Nearly cut my finger on the plastic when I adjusted the seatbelt height in the B pillar. I wouldn’t have been able to live with it. Lots of great features, but not at $100k.

Shame. Was hoping for good competition

 

[pricedm]

This was not expected, but I got to the dealership and couldn’t go through with it! I can’t believe I flew to Dallas to find myself coming back home tonight on another flight.

Road noise was immediately noticeable to me at 35-40. Textile headliner, soft tonnaeu cover flapping in the wind. The driver shifter is awkward. Nearly cut my finger on the plastic when I adjusted the seatbelt height in the B pillar. I wouldn’t have been able to live with it. Lots of great features, but not at $100k.

I appreciate your feedback. I have a $100 deposit on GM but was thinking recently time to get my deposit back. I was tempted to look at a Silverado EV3 for sale by Hertz at $55k but…nah. I’ve driven my sister’s Rivian Max pack “400 mile range” R1T but again…nah.
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[Freemarket]

I appreciate your feedback. I have a $100 deposit on GM but was thinking recently time to get my deposit back. I was tempted to look at a Silverado EV3 for sale by Hertz at $55k but…nah. I’ve driven my sister’s Rivian Max pack “400 mile range” R1T but again…nah.
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GMC and Chevy are really going to struggle in the high end EV market if they keep using the same parts bin for the bulk interior finishes. It just cost me time and money to find that out since there were none in my home town. Reviews of the Denali really had me believing it was premium and I could justify the $100k. The Platinum Lightning is the sweet spot at this point at $50k (used) IMO.

I remember driving out of the Tesla dealer this year with the CT and its price tag. No regrets that day or 8 months later. I expect I’d feel the same on the lightning at $50k. Brand new, no thanks.

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