California man asks Tesla Model Y Performance owners what their monthly payment is and some are wildly different
Published on Feb 16, 2026 at 12:30 AM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Feb 13, 2026 at 3:42 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
This California YouTuber asked Tesla Model Y Performance owners what their monthly payments were – and the answers varied dramatically.
Dennis CW has produced a ton of content about Teslas and EVs, often sharing his thoughts and feelings on individual cars.
This time around, he was interviewing owners about their monthly payments.
And while you might expect a trend, the answers he got were on a wide spectrum.
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How much were these Tesla Model Y Performance owners paying out per month?
Performance was the top reason these owners were so fond of their Tesla Model Y Performance, having moved over from performance-oriented gas cars.
In Dennis’ video, three men were highlighted: Sam, Dave, and Jason.
They all had different things to say, even though there were some common threads throughout.
For Sam, he was a fan of the driving experience and speed, and had been motivated to buy the car by the now-extinct $7,500 federal tax credit.
“I pretty much like everything [about Tesla] except that they now don’t make the S and the X,” Sam told Dennis.
As an IT consultant making between $200,000 to $300,000 a year, he had a lot of wiggle room for cash to splash – and that’s exactly how he paid for his car.
Thus, he doesn’t have any monthly payments to speak of.
That wouldn’t be the case with the second interviewee, Dave, who had upgraded to the Tesla Model Y Performance from the Model 3.
His biggest gripe with the car was the lack of Apple CarPlay.
In terms of paying for the car, he’d received $7,500 federal tax credit and a $500 loyalty credit.
After putting down $25,000 on this $57,000 car, he financed the rest at 3.99 percent.
His monthly payment is $715.
Fortunately for him, he’s a transportation engineer in the EV infrastructure field, so he’s on a six-figure salary.
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How much was the third owner paying monthly?
The third owner that Dennis interviewed, Jason, had a somewhat different experience from Dave.
He’d put down around $5,000 and was making monthly payments of around $1,000 at an interest rate of between 4.4 and 4.8 percent.
His career was in real estate development, where the income could vary from $50,000 to $500,000, depending on the person.
It was an interesting insight into the monthly expenses that came with Tesla ownership.
This won’t be the first or last time you see Dennis talking Teslas online.
He’s previously made videos about aspects of his Tesla Model Y, whether it’s discussing the ride quality or comparing it to the older version.
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Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
