The question seems so polarizing and cult-driven on both sides, that it's really hard to have an opinion about what the actual car owners have to say.
I also don't love the hype machine side of Tesla around future products and features. "Full Self Driving" is so close to fraud I'm shocked the FTC hasn't investigated or sanctioned them already. Semi, Roadster 2.0, and Cybertruck are all vapourware and have been for years.
The pros: Very sharp steering. Driver profiles that set the seats, steering wheel, and mirrors are excellent. Every other car maker that limits you to 2 or 3 presets is blow away by just how easy Tesla makes it in the UI to have as many profiles as you need. Supercharger network is great, especially since you simply drive up and plug in. Backup camera is excellent. Preheating/cooling from the app is delightful.
Cons: Model 3 should have been a liftback. Ride can be a bit harsh on rougher tarmac. Not being able to charge at CCS stations is a disappointment (fixed in the EU thanks to directives). Paint colours are way too expensive. Autopilot and FSD drive like drunk teenagers; do not trust at all. Phantom braking while in adaptive cruise is annoying. Road and wind noise are quite noticeable compared to other cars of similar price. Headrests don't adjust and the rear ones can't be removed for better visibility. Rearview mirror is tiny for no reason. Touch screen only interface is annoying sometimes. I'd like some hard buttons for some key systems like wipers and HVAC.
If I was buying today I'd get a Hyundai Ionic 5.
Now that we're comfortable driving EVs, our next car wouldn't be a Tesla.
The car itself is nice and i don't really care at all about visual stuff that people seem to get up in arms about (panel gaps, etc). It's more that I'm not a fan of walled garden products and Tesla seems happy to call themselves the apple of cars. Proprietary charging cables, service centers, insurance... I do hate dealerships though, so I'm hoping other manufacturers follow their lead on that.
The important parts of the car work well, the over the air updates to noticably improve it are cool, and i do think their approach to self driving is the most sensible to get their first. Still i think level 4 or 5 autonomous driving will be a lot farther out than they'd like customers to believe and their marketing for it as Full Self Driving is borderline fraud in its current state.
What’s making me want to switch is the lack of CarPlay support. Apple Maps is so much better than Tesla’s navigation UI, it makes me look forward to renting a car when I travel.
Navigate on Autopilot is OK but suffering from a lack of improvements the last two years. Now that news came out recently about new camera/radar HW coming out, I’m just assuming our HW3 (current gen) cars will be left behind with no way to upgrade.
Edit: I also want to add a lack of investment in new Supercharger stations the past two years. I’m sure there have been a lot popping up in CA/TX, but very few in my region. It’s like they’re just planning to cede the local market to Ford, etc.
As far as "worth buying" - what do you think? A forty five thousand dollar product that does the exact same thing as others that cost three thousand, albeit with running costs significantly lower. Those running costs don't add up to making Model 3s better than cheap used ICE cars that get 30+mpg.
I don't understand the mentality of people who want a "good value", "worth buying" vehicle yet wish to buy new - I'm not fully up-to-speed about the corporate/tax benefits of doing so, but I know that a personal choice to buy a new vehicle while paying VAT is one of the worst decisions you'll make in your life.
That being said, my impression of the Model 3 is as follows:
- The interior is not as premium as I'd expect for the price tag, and the quality control issues are unacceptable.
- It can be a performant little milk float, and seems genuinely well engineered from a drivetrain/battery point of view (E.G. Nissan Leafs of the same age seem to have significantly worse battery lifetimes, presumably because of their under-engineered battery health management).
- Driving-wise, it's zippy, and the suspension feels much nicer on British roads (think: Swiss cheese) than my m240i (though people online claim that BMW purposefully made my generation's m240i's suspension horrible).
- Infotainment has a bunch of useless crap that no one should care about. Significantly more tacky than what my beamer has, and nowhere near the quality nor well integrated nature of the Audi infotainment/digital features. That being said, if you want to talk overpriced vehicles, Audi seems to be the king in that respect.
I've driven all over the US with this car. I hated road tripping before getting it.
I'm waiting for my comp to go up slightly so I can trade in my wife's car for a 2022 or 2023 Model S Long Range and give her the Model 3. (I never lease; always finance.)
Unless Ford seriously catches up in the software and autonomy space, I'm not buying anything other than a Tesla.
When you’re paying to be on the bleeding edge, you’re willing to compromise. Such is life. Thank you for your contributions to the products!
(former Tesla investor)
People brag about 70k and 100k on their Teslas like it is something impressive. It isn't at all.
Here’s an S that has gone 900k miles: https://insideevs.com/news/559261/tesla-models-p85-1500000-k...
https://twitter.com/gem8mingen/status/1479108423685840905
There’s no more than 20 moving parts in the powertrain, of course it’s going to be reliable. Even the brake pads last the life of the vehicle now due to aggressive regeneration.
Mazda called, they want their 1980s marketing BS back.
From a pure technical perspective, yes, less moving parts are more reliable. From the perceptive of some upper middle class consumer who has to pay some godawful price for any given part to be swapped out a simple minor oversight in the "systems that are common to all cars" portion of the system can easily make the simpler system "unreliable" in practice. Furthermore, mileage alone is not going to unlock the "inadequate design of plastic components causing failure as they get brittle" failure mode. That comes with age.
That said, you may be right. Toyota basically lied to these same demographics for 15 yr about "don't worry guys, we fixed the frames on the new ones" with no apparent reputational damage.
Yeah. Still not really impressive.
That is like saying, "My Toyota has gone 1m miles. Oh, I replaced the drivetrain twice. So what?"
Toyotas go 1m and you don't even notice: https://www.toyotaofnorthcharlotte.com/blog/the-million-mile...!
Almost asking a barber if you need a hair cut.
The Teslas are fine. The FSD (Fools Self Driving) software is a scam.