Goodbye all; Good riddance Tesla

[Watts_Up]

When I was in the finance office at the BMW dealer,

Why not using your own bank or a credit union?

Note: BMW is not a bank. So you paid someone at BMW to call a bank on your behalf and make additional profit every month from you. What a scam.
And I hope you don't get a lease instead of a loan, unless you can deduct the lease from your taxes if you have a business. A lease is another scam.

 

[DukeofURL]

I'm on my fifth Tesla. The first one, a 2017 S 100D, was awful. It had so, so many problems and spent months in service until they finally bought it back and I gave them one more chance. The replacement (a 2018 S 100D) was as good or better than the 10 BMWs I've had, and when I replaced it with a 2021 Plaid S, that has been as good or better than my past 10 BMWs. I've also had 2 model Ys, which have been pretty much perfect.

Like it was said upthread, the large majority of Teslas are reliable and very low (almost no) maintenance, but the QA is sometimes lacking, and if you get one of those cars it's best to push it back, as the service infrastructure hasn't really expanded since they were selling 10k cars a year - it's woefully behind.

I'm friends with people at my local BMW dealership, they invite me to all of their ride & drive events, and ask me each time when I'm coming back. I tell them every time "When you come out with an all-electric M5 CS, give me a call".

 

[Tiger]

When I was in the finance office at the BMW dealer, he asked me if I was excited to be getting a new car. I said I was more excited to be done with.

I'm curious if you got back to ICE or did you get BMW EV? What did you get?

 

[Need]

Why not using your own bank or a credit union?

Note: BMW is not a bank. So you paid someone at BMW to call a bank on your behalf and make additional profit every month from you. What a scam.
And I hope you don't get a lease instead of a loan, unless you can deduct the lease from your taxes if you have a business. A lease is another scam.

When I had BMW before, they usually have amazing rate that can't be beat by your own bank. I think my first X5 was 0.9% and 2nd one was 1.9%. Even when I switched to Tesla, I used Tesla's financing which happened to be Chase bank back in 2017 and it was 2.9%. My own credit union at the time was over 3%.

 

[Need]

I'm curious if you got back to ICE or did you get BMW EV? What did you get?

Check his post's signature.

 

[Tiger]

Check his post's signature.

Ah, ok I have considered that one myself but from Tesla you simple get more bang for the buck, I wouldn't pay 40k for "better service" (or give up on performance), I'd rather hire my own white glove Valet to handle the service

 

[SO16]

It's been an interesting ride, from loving the car at first, to despising what the company has become. The Tesla was my worst car owndership experience in 40+ years of car ownership. From Rivetgate (the old-times will remember that) in winter 2015/16, disabling the car for 4 months, waiting for parts, to 2022, waiting for a replacement air shock for 6 months, again disabling the car.

When I was in the finance office at the BMW dealer, he asked me if I was excited to be getting a new car. I said I was more excited to be done with Tesla. He said it's amazing how many times he's heard that before. Would I ever buy another Tesla? A resounding NO, unless the madman in charge is replaced with someone who cares about the customer experience, after the sale.

Bye all.

Thank you for your initial support to make it possible for the rest of us to get newer (and usually improved) vehicles. I bought my Jan 2017 MS90D build in late 2016. Fortunately my experience has not been the same as yours.

 

[Watts_Up]

BMW made a good start in the past with the ActiveE based on the BMW 1 Series and the "Electronauts" driver program.

Later on the i3, with an ultra light body made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), was quite advanced,
but the battery was too small, and the range extender was anemic. The tiny tires didn't lst very long,
and the price of the i3 was too high, closer to a Model S 60 at the time.

The i8 was absolutly beautiful, but the 3 cylinder hybrid was not a good match.
Both the i3 and the i8 if they have been updated with larger lithium-ion batteries
would have been a blast, but instead were discontinued.

All the i3, i8, and futre i5... projects get killed and replaced by converting ICE models into EV,
something making the car not optimum for EV driving.

BMW don't really trust the battery technology and plan instead to use the Toyota Hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Honestly, I wonder what will be the BMW future, compared for example to the Volvo and Polestar who start to be very popular in Europe.

 

[1speed]

When you want to talk to someone Tesla service can be frustrating, but when you weigh the convenience of mobile service, scheduling via the app, and very low maintenance, I find the Tesla model to be better. Also usually when Tesla fixes something, if they have a newer better part you usually get that. I've never had Tesla "find a problem" when I take the car in for maintenance the way traditional dealers do.

 

[dwbv]

Time will tell if I made a good move. First impressions from day 1 - the fit and finish is superb, the interior is luxurious, the ride is great, the UI is overly complex and has a steeper learning curve than Tesla's.

I'm genuinely curious why you didn't go Taycan if you were able to write a check for the BMW?

I'm brand new to EV ownership with less than 2 months of experience. Was gonna jump straight to RS E-tron GT or Taycan Turbo but was afraid that I would dislike EVs and then having a hard time unloading either of those cars. Tesla was a cheaper option and safer bet to unload easier if I changed my mind.

I've sat inside a Taycan and it's fit/finish is eons beyond Tesla, as well as build quality.

 

[rlsd]

1 person opts out. 20 persons opt in. More police use of Tesla.
Now I will see less annoying BWM, Audi, Mercedes,... owners trying to pass me when I am on the road and they will be stopped by Tesla cars.

South Pasadena's police cars will soon all be Teslas

The city is leasing 20 Teslas through Enterprise for at least five years for police patrol duties, administration and detective work.

www.latimes.com

 

[Gwgan]

Barry, thank you for your years of service.
Please mark your calendar to post an update at 6 and 12 months. You still have perspective to offer.

 

[Barry]

Barry, thank you for your years of service.
Please mark your calendar to post an update at 6 and 12 months. You still have perspective to offer.

Thanks for your comment. In that case, I won't delete the bookmark for this forum I will try to do so.

Why not using your own bank or a credit union?

As I wrote upthread, I paid in full. No financing. I was in the finance office to do the paperwork for the registration, etc., and the sales pitch for unwanted extended service, etc.

 

[Barry]

I'm genuinely curious why you didn't go Taycan if you were able to write a check for the BMW?

Two reasons:
1. IMO the Taycan is overpriced for what it is.
2. It's range is woefully inadequate for my needs. From Nov-Apr I drive up to the Colo Rockies to ski (140 mi RT, 5000 ft net elevation gain) every week. Weather can be dicey, needless to say. I want to be able to make the round trip easily without charging.

 

[cmarshack]

Why not using your own bank or a credit union?

Note: BMW is not a bank. So you paid someone at BMW to call a bank on your behalf and make additional profit every month from you. What a scam.
And I hope you don't get a lease instead of a loan, unless you can deduct the lease from your taxes if you have a business. A lease is another scam.

Have you ever purchased a non-tesla? Every dealer makes you sit with the "finance office" even if you pay cash or have your own financing. It's where they try to rake you over the coals and sell you all the $h!t nobody wants or needs. They are the ones that sign the car over to you. It's one of the reasons Tesla's sales motion is the best in the business.

 

[ampitupco]

2. It's range is woefully inadequate for my needs. From Nov-Apr I drive up to the Colo Rockies to ski (140 mi RT, 5000 ft net elevation gain) every week. Weather can be dicey, needless to say. I want to be able to make the round trip easily without charging.

From what I understand, the range of the Taycan is woefully understated. And it charges insanely fast. I agree on the overpricing.

 

[father_of_6]

When you want to talk to someone Tesla service can be frustrating, but when you weigh the convenience of mobile service, scheduling via the app, and very low maintenance, I find the Tesla model to be better. Also usually when Tesla fixes something, if they have a newer better part you usually get that. I've never had Tesla "find a problem" when I take the car in for maintenance the way traditional dealers do.

I agree with all of this, and prefer Tesla's service model to the others. I recently brought our van in for an inspection and they told me I needed a new steering shaft... I said, "No way, you have the wrong vehicle"... the guy came back 45 minutes later and said, "the technician is young, this isn't a safety concern, don't worry about it". LOL, Yeah, OKAY... service has a sales quota too!

On the flip side, Tesla definitely hasn't grown their service to keep up with the number of cars they sell. I'm 1.5 hours from my closest service center, no mobile service, and they're so busy they're always in defense mode (hence the common "in spec" response, or "cannot reproduce").

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Have you ever purchased a non-tesla? Every dealer makes you sit with the "finance office" even if you pay cash or have your own financing. It's where they try to rake you over the coals and sell you all the $h!t nobody wants or needs. They are the ones that sign the car over to you. It's one of the reasons Tesla's sales motion is the best in the business.

While annoying, all you have to do is learn to say "No" to everything they have to offer. It's definitely not worth fleeing for Tesla just to avoid saying "No" a dozen times.

 

[bnsfengineer]

Tesla needs a lot of work on service centers. Letting people down is not good for business.

The real question is....do they care?

 

[TLLMRRJ]

The real question is....do they care?

No. They did the math and decided it's better for them not to care.