My perspective on this is that I
want to be upbeat about Tesla in so far as it impacts UK customers, but I'm finding it difficult, for the following reasons (in no particular order):
- "Full self driving" development has been non-existant in the UK/Europe. Literally nothing of substance has changed in the ~3 years I've owned my M3P. All I can actually remember happening is the car seeing speed limit signs, and "Traffic Light Stop and Go". This is very different to the picture that was painted when I bought the car (I was naive).
- ..consequently FSD (the option) feels like a massive scam. I keep telling myself not to think about how much I would have had I put that £5,800 in Tesla shares - for example - in March 2020 rather than an option that is almost completely crippled.
- None of the features in EAP/FSD - Summon, Autopark, NoA, etc have seen any material (UK/Europe) improvement since I've owned the car. Summon is hopeless, whereas Kia/Hyundai enjoy full remote summon & self parking from several metres away. Mercedes have level 3 lane keeping, several other prestige and non-prestige brands also have a version of lane keeping.
- Hardware just keeps getting downgraded or deleted for no good reason. This doesn't directly affect me because I haven't bought a new car, but I had been keen to consider "refreshing" my M3P with a new one, but whilst there have been things added (Ryzen, heatpump, heated steering wheel, etc) there have also been things just arbitrarily taken away for no good reason (passenger lumbar, USB data, ultrasonics). It feels to me like Tesla are testing the limits of what they can get away with without materially affecting actual demand.
- Software development seems almost entirely centred on gimmicks while fundamental things that don't work as well as on other, cheaper cars is left unfixed for months, or years. Auto wipers is still highly variable, auto headlights has only just recently been improved (substantially, to be fair). Matrix functionality doesn't exist even though cars have come with those headlights since Q1 2021. One could argue that we're not entitled to any software updates post-purchase - like with non-Teslas - but that runs counter to one of the assumed USPs of the car, in my opinion. The lion share of software development seems to be focused on Full Self Driving (Beta) which we won't get a sniff of here for years.
All in all it feels like Tesla are resting on their laurels with the cars, when that's the opposite feeling I had about them when I bought mine. it is depressing to think about.
I can fully understand being put out about FSD, or even EAP. Had two different Model 3 courtesy cars the other week, one had FSD and one had EAP (had to send the first one back as it was making a knocking noise over 60mph!), FSD wouldn't even engage NOAP for me, so was totally useless and EAP, when I did get NOAP working, it was more of a hassle than a help, badgering me about changing lanes to overtake when it knew I was about to come off the motorway.
I very nearly got EAP when getting my MYP, so glad I didn't bother. Wasn't going to do it on the M3P I got in 2019 as that was a lease car, even if FSD was half decent, I wouldn't have got the value from that.
Other than the ultrasonics, I can't say the other changes have worried me too much, I can understand how it might annoy others though. The heat pump, upgraded processor and heated steering wheel have made a big difference, the screen is a treat to use, everything is instant, never had a car with a heated steering wheel before, never knew I needed one until I had it
. The heat pump has meant that the MYP is looking to be slightly more efficient than my older M3P, didn't think it would with the bigger/taller car and wheels.
Hopefully the FSD stack will make it over here, getting rid of a lot of the issues we face in regular AP and beyond, that would hopefully restore some "faith" in Tesla again, same with engineering their way out of the removal of USS.
There have been some nice small improvements, but yes, more 'fun' stuff than useful