By Dan Neil | Photographs by Lauren Vied Allen for WSJ

Curious minds have always wanted to know: What kind of car does The Wall Street Journal's car critic drive? I typically avoid sharing this information, lest it be taken as an endorsement or else used against me as proof of some undisclosed bias. Hah! This guy Neil is so in the bag for the Honda Odyssey! I wonder what he got paid?

And I hate disappointing readers who would rather imagine me bombing around in a classic Aston Martin or Porsche. Perhaps they see me wearing a snap-brim cap? Jodhpurs? You can never tell with some people.

If we're spending your money, sure, it's Ferraris all around. When it comes to my money, I am a very hard case. As a salaryman with two kids at home, my goal is to pay the absolute least for as much car as I can find, all in -- purchase price, insurance, taxes, fuel, repairs, maintenance, warranties and emissions.

Recently I bought a car, just like any other civilian. My daughter is getting her license in September and she will need one next year for work and school. I ginned the numbers for months, through all the appropriate algorithms -- purchase price, operating cost, advanced safety, comms and convenience features. Bringing a lifetime's expertise to bear, I arrived at what I knew to be the most rational, reasonable and responsible choice I could make.

And now my neighbors think I'm soft on Nazis. Sad trombone.

You guessed it. In early January I bought a lightly used 2022 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range, with 22,000 miles on it, for $26,400. The timing wasn't entirely my own. I had been putting off buying any car for a couple of years but decided to pull the trigger before the Trump administration could end the federal tax credit for used EVs -- in this case amounting to $4,000.

I also thought it wise to buy before the administration's tariffs on imported vehicles, auto parts, aluminum and steel, wherever they land, had a chance to drive up prices. Tesla had lots of low-mileage used cars in circulation as it pushed updated versions of Model 3 and Y, softening residual values. I tracked inventory volumes and depreciation curves morning and night. My arithmetic also tabulated a $500 referral discount from my sister in law. In the end, the price I paid was practically grand theft auto.

But then the zeitgeist went sideways. In the three weeks between my hitting the Buy button on Tesla's website and receiving the "Ready for Pickup" text, Tesla CEO Elon Musk officially joined the Trump administration, forming an alliance between the man who virtually created the EV industry in the U.S. and the one who most wants to see it unplugged. Climate change is a hoax. Drill, baby, drill.

The cognitive dissonance has been epic. In less than three months, Musk's starring role in the administration has turned the progressive semiotics of the Tesla brand upside down. The car once chided for signaling virtue now suggests sympathy for the devil. "It's like driving around a great big MAGA hat," said my wife, Tina.

I clearly misjudged the depth of feelings involved -- probably because I don't follow Musk on social media and so remained blissfully unaware of the daily trolling and slagging. My job is to review cars, not assay carmakers' characters.

Objectively and empirically, the 2022-vintage Model 3 is a fantastic little car -- rock solid, quick and strong, with a host of cabin conveniences and an infotainment system that only gets better with time, thanks to regular over-the-air updates.

It is also one of the safest cars on the road, with five-star crash ratings across the board, and a phalanx of advanced driver-assist systems including robust lane-keeping intervention, which I hope will keep my daughter out of the ditches until she gets the hang of driving.

For the money, nothing comes close. Is it reasonable for consumers to deny themselves Teslas' performance, efficiency and safety just because Elon is a putz?

And what about the greater good of buying a modest, zero-emission vehicle? The Model 3 is still the right thing to do, no matter how many stiff-armed salutes Musk throws around.

Many of the regulars at my local coffee shop in Raleigh, N.C., are Tesla owners. I put it to the group: Given Musk's involvement in the Trump administration, would you ever buy another Tesla?

"Oh, hell no," said Richard "Gus" Gusler, a lawyer, local bar owner and former fanboy. He ordered his Model 3 on the first day Tesla began taking reservations. His bright-red sedan can take him from his driveway in Raleigh, N.C., to his beach house at Cape Hatteras on a single charge. With the Full Self-Driving feature engaged, Gusler has made several round trips from Raleigh to the Pinehurst Country Club (about 140 miles) practicality hands free. "It's amazing," he said.

Gusler now feels "betrayed." At one point he considered putting his car in a crusher in protest, then thought better of it. "I will never buy another Tesla," he said. "But I don't think I can part with the one I have."

I suppose I am guilty of a lack of imagination. As Musk and Trump grew closer during the final months of the presidential campaign, I assumed Musk's rightward drift would hurt Tesla's image and probably have an impact on residual values. In fact, I was counting on it.

But I never thought it could get this bad or go so far, with extremists vandalizing showrooms, torching supercharger stations and attacking cars on the street. There have been boycotts in the auto industry before, but Elon blowback is turning into a rout. In Germany -- Europe's largest car market and the one most antagonized by Musk's trollery -- Tesla sales are down 71% in 2025, according to a survey of local registration data conducted by the electric transportation site Electrek.

In the world's largest car market, China, February sales were off 49%, year-over-year. In Australia, sales fell 72% in the same time frame. (In both markets, part of the slowdown is related to delivery backlogs for the updated Model Y.)

California -- the largest EV market in the U.S. -- was somewhat ahead of the curve when it came to Elon fatigue. Tesla sales were down almost 12% in 2024 even as EV sales overall held steady. The decline is not monocausal, of course; it's impossible to suss out what percentage is owed to Musk's mouth.

The Street is not amused. Tesla's market capitalization has fallen nearly 50% since a high of $1.5 trillion in December, to around $760 billion. The decline in share price didn't slow down until last week, when Trump and Musk appeared together at the White House to kick the tires of new models. President Trump said Musk has been treated unfairly. He then went on to pick out a red Model S from the selection in the driveway. Add to the coalition of the dismayed: fans of the Hatch Act.

Some owners have tried to distance themselves from Musk. Bumper stickers proclaiming "I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy!" started showing up on Teslas last year. Last month my daughter brought home a bumper sticker that read "Muck Fusk!" Honey, that's inappropriate, I told her. Dyslexia is nothing to laugh at.

And yet if I had January to do over again, I would still buy the Model 3. Because Elon was right before he went wrong.

Regardless of politics, everyone should take the time to read Tesla's "Master Plan" to eliminate fossil fuels. By combining solar panels, backup batteries and EVs, homeowners can create their own energy ecology, allowing them to harvest electricity from the rooftop and use it to power their cars. This, of course, constitutes the conservative case for vehicle electrification, an energy solution that's homegrown, self-reliant and beyond the reach of world events. Tens of thousands of Americans are already there.

The Model 3 was the only piece I was missing. Two years ago I bought a Tesla Powerwall and an array of rooftop solar panels -- a recent tropical storm had blown down a big tree that was shading my rooftop. In case of outages, the Powerwall will keep my lights on for up to three days. And every day, the system effectively zeros out my per-mile fuel costs with sunlight.

I was just waiting for Tesla's prices to come down. The next thing I knew my car was going around telling people I wanted to privatize Medicare.

Like I said, not an endorsement. I'll be OK, though. After years of driving other people's ridiculous phallic symbols, I've stopped caring what other drivers think.

Besides, in a town where it seems every other car is a gray Tesla, it's easy to blend in.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2025 20:00 ET (00:00 GMT)

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