Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Does anybody regret buying Model X for your main car?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
just out of interest, what is your monthly electricity cost? i'm $10-$12/month in the warmer months and $15-$20/month in cold months...

I don't think we can really compare. I'm in Vaughan Ontario Canada. Not sure where your from so don't know what you pay per kilowatt hour. I used to pay between $120 to $130 a month now it's about $40 to $50 dollars more. This is in Canadian funds.

To give you a better idea of actuall kilowatt usage I have always spend about 970 to 990 kilowatt hour per month. Now it's in the mid to high 1400 kilowatt hour. We have a almost 3000 sq feet home. With kids who don't turn off lights.

My wife's Lexus GS costs about $80 per fill-up. Sometimes twice a week. My 99 Honda civic that I still drive on a daily basis has been costing me $48 per fill up I get 500kilometers per fillup
 
  • Like
Reactions: WINGIT
My S on 21s is smoother than my X on 22s....maybe its a driver mindset.
The S is slung low and just owns the road. My X is hungry and just eats it.

I bought her P100D X with 20" wheels to hopefully make it ride better. I wanted the 22" wheels but I was sure the 22" ride quality would be so bad I would need to buy an Honda Odyssey.

It is a shame they cannot put higher quality suspension parts on a $155K SUV to make it ride smoother.
 
I am surprised by the X having a rougher ride. I have two friends that have Xs who owned a S - they both said the X was smoother and quieter.

Maybe they went from 21" on the S to 20" on the X?
The X is noticeably harsher over sharp bumps. I think it's due to the aforementioned extra weight with the same suspension components.

If you want to experience a vast difference in ride, weight and handling, drive a Model 3 and a Model X back-to-back. The relatively lightweight 3 feels so incredibly different than the X.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WINGIT
My main goal of the X was to keep here from getting a minivan. Sliding doors are hard to beat getting kids in and out.

The conversation went like this.

Me - Lets get a P100D X instead of the Honda Odyssey. I don't want a minivan.

Her reply- $155K SUV with unproven doors in comparison to a $50K minivan that does everything great.

Luckily logic has never been my strong point.
 
First off I love my Model X. It's an early 90D with 6 seats. I probably would prefer a 7 seater with the foldable 3rd row that is available now as the 6 seater is not the most practical.

I have learned to deal with all the nuances the car comes with that are mostly charging/range related. It has changed my perspective on travel and we just do things differently now. No big life changing shift, just different. We also rarely use the FWD's since we are not hauling people as much as stuff, so there is that.

Having said all of that I am not sure that the average person is willing to make many of the adjustments that the Model X, and long range EV's demand. Whenever I encounter a person who is interested in buying one I try to point out some the lifestyle advantages and disadvantages to them so they are not surprised later.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ModelX and WINGIT
I have mixed feelings about our X. We have a six seat 90D with most upgrades.

Things I like:
  1. Electric drivetrain is great. No lag at all. I used to drive manual and felt automatic drivetrains were a compromise. Not any more.
  2. Handling is really good for a SUV.
  3. The steering is very precise.
  4. The door are really easy to get baby in and out of the car seat. You don't have to bend at all.
  5. 6 seat makes it really comfortable and airy in the cabin. It's like business class vs economy.
  6. Really easy with old people to get in and out vs any other SUV and Sedan.
  7. Frunk is great to put food and avoid filling the main cabin with the aroma.
  8. Not needing to go to the gas stations. The car is fully charged every morning.
  9. Always on backup camera. Substitutes for lack of blind spot monitoring.
Issues I don't care about:
  1. I don't have issues with premium feel of cabin compared to my Mercedes. I think it is good enough.
  2. I don't mind the panel gaps.
Things which I don't like:
  1. Extremely noisy at highway speed. Took it to service center and they said that it is within spec. I went on a drive with a technician and she was complaining that it was due to the huge windshield and wish Tesla had gone for a normal windshield.
  2. Bad reliability. I have been much more luckier than others. Still the issues I have faced as follows and no other cars I have owned have had issues like these. So I wonder what issues could pop up at an inconvenient time. Issues:
    1. Seat belt indicator didn't work on delivery
    2. 12V battery died within 2 months
    3. One of the key fobs suddenly stopped working
  3. Potential issues to keep in mind if you are driving a bit away from civilization:
    1. Battery power of course. You need to plan a lot more with electric car.
    2. Tires - no spare. Most cars which don't have a spare have Run flat tires. So technically you can drive 100 miles or so to get to a place which can fix it or at least to a place with cell phone coverage. With Tesla, if you have a flat and don't have cell phone coverage you are screwed.
  4. Usability issues:
    1. I don't know who decided to make the top of dash glossy. It shines on the windshield many times of day, blinding you.
    2. Sunshades are useless.
    3. Wish they had made a seven seater where you can remove the seat to make it 6 seater. It would have been best of both the worlds. Or at least have provided a separator from trunk if you want to use it in 4 seat mode.
    4. Glovebox doesn't have a lip.
  5. Issues compared to car in similar price range:
    1. No blind spot monitoring. Seriously, even 10k cars have it now.
    2. Lack of a 360 degree camera. Makes it a pain to park and I am very finicky about being exactly centered between the lines. I know Tesla is working on it. But there is no timeline.
  6. Too much unwanted attention. Even in the Seattle Area, almost every time I park someone would want to come up and chat about the car. It's really crazy when you are outside the urban area. In some cases people have stopped the car in middle of the road to look at the doors when we were parked on the side of the road.
  7. It can be a huge pain to repair your car, in case it is in an accident.
  8. You need to be a lot more careful with opening falcon wheel doors when you are parked on the side of the road.
  9. It is expensive. Make sure you want to spend this much on a car. I can easily afford this car, but I am frugal and keep thinking whether I should have spent this much on a car.

Overall, I think this is a great urban car if you have kids. It has space, is safe, good to drive. A tad too big, but I think you can live with that.

However, for longer trips there are other cars which are lot more comfortable. The noise at highway speed really bugs me. If I am going on a route which has super chargers, I am fine. Otherwise I would avoid taking this car, because I like avoiding worst case.

If our X had the following, it would be my dream car:
  1. More trust in reliability.
  2. Less noise at highway speed.
  3. Run-flat tires or spare tire.
  4. Blind spot monitor.
  5. Air suspension for choosing comfort vs sportiness.
Hopefully, in 4-5 years Tesla or someone else will have a car which has all of these and that would be my next electric car.

So, weigh all the pros and cons and don't make a rushed decision. In our case, we will soon be buying one more car for our longer trips.
 
I'm happy with my X as my daily driver and occasional road-tripper & camper.

Sunshades are useless? No way! You can fold out part of them to double their size. They flip down as well as up so doubling the effective height. They can angle where you need them if the sun is in an odd place. The passenger can flip open the mirror to get its lights on, then angle the sunshade to give them a reading light. Great shades IMHO!
 
  • Like
Reactions: WINGIT
You should be able to see this in many videos but here’s a recent one.
Watch @ 3:50

I tried this today. This is not BSM. This is just ultrasonic sensors, which are not very reliable, can't handle fast moving objects and are limited in distance.

And lack of BSM is the reason why Tesla has a disclaimer in lane change on Auto Steer if there are fast moving vehicles in adjacent lanes.

To summarize, Tesla doesn't have Blind Spot Monitor. And for me that is the really big miss.
 
I tried this today. This is not BSM. This is just ultrasonic sensors, which are not very reliable, can't handle fast moving objects and are limited in distance.

And lack of BSM is the reason why Tesla has a disclaimer in lane change on Auto Steer if there are fast moving vehicles in adjacent lanes.

To summarize, Tesla doesn't have Blind Spot Monitor. And for me that is the really big miss.

Yet.

My AP1 car will never have anything better than the ultrasound, which is indeed iffy at best.

However, AP2 cars have the fender cameras looking directly into the blind spots. At some point, I expect a firmware update will start using a neural network to recognize cars in the blind spot on the fender cameras.
 
I tried this today. This is not BSM. This is just ultrasonic sensors, which are not very reliable, can't handle fast moving objects and are limited in distance.

And lack of BSM is the reason why Tesla has a disclaimer in lane change on Auto Steer if there are fast moving vehicles in adjacent lanes.

To summarize, Tesla doesn't have Blind Spot Monitor. And for me that is the really big miss.
Really? That's a bummer. My test drive guy showed me those arcs and told me they appear when a car is in the blind spot and I believed him.
 
Really? That's a bummer. My test drive guy showed me those arcs and told me they appear when a car is in the blind spot and I believed him.

Unfortunately Tesla employees mislead in their discussions. Need to be careful with what they say.

In my case, they did a demo on AP1 car for show functionalities which didn't exist on the car I was buying!
 
Yet.

My AP1 car will never have anything better than the ultrasound, which is indeed iffy at best.

However, AP2 cars have the fender cameras looking directly into the blind spots. At some point, I expect a firmware update will start using a neural network to recognize cars in the blind spot on the fender cameras.

I hope they do. Given the shitty implementation of Auto wipers, which never work when you expect them to, I won't hold my breath.
 
Really? That's a bummer. My test drive guy showed me those arcs and told me they appear when a car is in the blind spot and I believed him.

Everything you've described is true.

However, the ultrasound that's driving the blind spot indication isn't as long range, fast acting, or reliable as the radar most cars with blind spot monitoring use, so the indication doesn't pop up as quickly or when the car is as far away, and it can be confused by environmental conditions sometimes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WINGIT
I hope they do. Given the shitty implementation of Auto wipers, which never work when you expect them to, I won't hold my breath.
While I would agree that the auto wipers are not stellar, are you using auto position #2? While counter intuitive to me, position #2 is much better and sort of works most of the time for me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WINGIT
My main goal of the X was to keep here from getting a minivan. Sliding doors are hard to beat getting kids in and out.

The conversation went like this.

Me - Lets get a P100D X instead of the Honda Odyssey. I don't want a minivan.

Her reply- $155K SUV with unproven doors in comparison to a $50K minivan that does everything great.

Luckily logic has never been my strong point.

We went from a minivan to Model X, then back to another minivan after lemoning the Model X. Model X is great when the FWD works and have no overhead obstacles, but it wasn't that great when we are constantly fighting the doors. Model X being an EV is also a big plus compared to any minivan, since we always wake up to a full range ready to go. But when it comes to convenience with 2 young kids, there is nothing that beats a minivan.