Canadian Model S and X Owner Thoughts...

[Struja]

They have to appear to at least fight the “rich people toys” argument that gets levied against EVs en mass, thus taxing the more expensive models gives government a “see, we’re hard on the rich” talking point while providing incentives to the less expensive versions.

I guess for me, I never saw my purchase of my S as a “rich person toy”. At the time, it was the only viable EV option for me, considering my range needs, family size and charging availability for long trips. Luxury didn’t drive my purchase, range did. I think when I bought mine, only the 100D offered longer range and for me….range was king so (at least to me) this “luxury tax” looks like a “range tax” when you apply it to an EV. Truth be told, if I was in the market for a pure luxury vehicle, there are probably more luxurious options than a Model S at the same price point but my decision was never driven by that criteria.

It seems one of the side effects of this tax will be to punish those who want the longest range possible to suit their needs.

 

[shellderp]

I have a 2019 S P100D, I share a lot of your sentiments. The car is amazing but things are constantly breaking. About to replace the 2nd headlight because of fading. Had to replace a drive unit as a preventative measure, they never told me what was wrong with it, the car just said to replace it. Acceleration shudder "fix" did nothing. Seat replaced for rocking, but it's back a year later and they won't replace it again. Even the cheapest cars don't have seats that wobble.

I didn't really have a better experience with my previous Hondas or Audis, things were always breaking. The good thing is I've never had anything stop me from driving the car, the things that break are just nuisances. Surprisingly no door handles yet...

The service here in Waterloo is pretty good, usually get a loaner and not much wait.

If my car was totaled today, I have no idea what I'd do. I would love to get a Plaid, but the luxury tax is a pain, and I'd lose my mind trying to use the yoke, especially the capacitive buttons.

 

[Klyde99]

I have known and drove tesla cars since the early days as both of my buddies has an S and X, hence the luxury to drive them for multiple different road trips. I always wanted to get the S but i know its due for a refresh/upgrade either internally or externally or both, judging where Tesla as a company is heading in its operations. I am an investor by profession hence I always have a timeline and a horizon into the future about what companies are likely to be doing. (*I dont own any TSLA shares due to macro reasons). Long story short, I committed to the '22 S Plaid after Munro teardown and allows the world to see what is in it, and there are many improvements.

Since my Plaid delivery, i have been enjoying the car, every seconds of it, no issues so far, probably issues starts to come later who knows, but when it comes, I will deal with it. For this much enjoyment, i would gladly take the potential risk. I used to hate driving, traffic etc; now i really like driving this car particularly, and I used to own AMGs and bmw M4 etc.

At the end of the day, its down to the objective that you are trying to achieve, if reliability is top priority, then go for other cars; if you just want to enjoy driving, perhaps another tesla? New engineering products are bound to have some reliability issues however, I think Tesla cars definitely improved significantly especially the newer models.

 

[zwz002]

Interesting thread and I definitely share a lot of the sentiments here. Wanted to give my 2 cents as well.
I have bought 4 Teslas and still own 3 of them, though I definitely wish I had used the money to buy TSLA during those years... time machine, I know...
My first Tesla was a 2016 S60 when we lived in Southern California, absolutely loved it and the density of Superchargers in California was fantastic. We loved the car and the experience. The car had minor issues but Service was awesome and always addressed the problems. It was unfortunate that we had to sell it in the end when we moved to Toronto as at the time, you couldn't import a used Tesla, other than the original Roadster, to Canada. I tried to work with multiple Tesla teams in California and Canada, but they just wouldn't accommodate. You could say that they don't really care about the rare customer that relocates across the border and wanna bring the car over. Tough luck I guess.
After moving to Toronto, I ended up buying the first batch of Model 3 LR. A completely different experience from a owner's point of view, I'd say. Service is noticeably different, they just never seem to go the extra mile for the customers anymore, kinda like what one of the previous posts mentioned. I understand the customer base is a lot bigger now with the 3 and eventually the Y, so it's really just all about expectations.
I then picked up a CPO 2016 Model X and boy, it was just repairs, repairs, and repairs. Nothing major or serious, but it's just in constant need of minor repairs. The infamous shudder, door latch issues... you name it. I still own it and my kids love the space and FWDs, but the quality issues are just part of the user experience and most of us I'm sure have simply gotten used to it and decided to live with it.
Then we relocated to China. I think this is where my experience would differ the most from many others. Right after we settled, I bought my wife a Model 3 SR made from the Shanghai Giga and the build quality was pretty darn good. The issues I had with my Model 3 in Canada were mostly non-existent. We've owned it for almost two years now and only had 1 visit to Service for a software issue. But what I'm really trying to get at is, the EV market in China is way more competitive than in North America. Tesla has this massive lead in the US/Canada, maybe shrinking with Rivian/Lucid/etc. catching up, but there's really not much competition compared to China, where Tesla is up against NIO, XPeng, BYD, just to name a few. So competition definitely pushes Tesla to up their game, whether it's build quality or service.
Where as in North America, when most Tesla owners that are in the market for another car, what's the alternative if you wanted another EV that's comparable say to the Model X? Almost nothing exists in the marketing right now. Hence we live with the issues that the car has, not because, at least not for me, that we love the company/car so much that we would ignore the problems, but because we don't have much choice.

 

[wayner]

Interesting perspective. I have had a Model S for 7.5 years and the quality of service has definitely gone downhill. I used to own a Lexus and there was a much higher quality of service given to Lexus owners vs Toyota owners, even when they were at the same location. The Tesla service used to be more like what you would expect from a luxury car dealership, that is no longer the case. The one good thing is when they do mobile service, but going into the Toronto Lawrence site is a step down from where it used to be.

 

[sandman1330]

The issue with the Lux tax on EVs is moreso to do with the additional cost of entry, simply because the car is an EV.

Let's be honest, if the Model S was an ICE car it might cost, what, $60K? It's no more "luxurious" than my wife's Lexus NX300, which cost half as much. The additional price point comes purely from it being an EV, not for the luxury. So when it comes to EVs, the Lux tax is really taxing us for choosing to purchase an EV. It should have been excluded from the lux tax (and I did submit this feedback last year when they were asking for it, of course I'm not sure if anyone even read it.)