How honest are you about Tesla issues when speaking to friends/family that want to buy a Tesla?

[jdcollins5]

Yes, why wouldn’t I?

I share my experience which has been nothing but good. Good buying experience, good delivery experience, and good driving experience for 8 months now. I do tell them that not everyone had my experience with the Raleigh sales office, especially during the 3Q and 4Q delivery pushes.

I am sure to try to answer all of their questions, concerns and false narratives they have heard. I tell them my personal experience with EAP and NoA which has been good, but also tell them the issues it currently has. I tell them about the continuing improvements through updates.

The good of this car so outweighs the negative that it is not a problem sharing all of it!

 

[SMAlset]

I'm honest but then neither one of our cars has had any real issues. The software version glitches that come up I guess have been the only ones I'd say can be irritating at times until a correcting update comes out.

I don't open my trunk on my Model 3 when it's pouring and I do have a 3D Maxpider cargo liner inside anyway. I wish there was internal lighting where the front USB connectors are since I've been using a storage device for my TeslaCam/Sentry Mode and it can be hard to see inside there, but my phone has a flashlight mode so just an inconvenience when I need access. I don't have a problem or phobia about closing my frunk like some people seem to have and neither of our cars has a dented frunk from useage.

My backup camera during one update would go black for a period of time, generally a number of seconds, but that seems to have resolved itself after subsequent updates. My husband did have a wait to get his car into the Tesla body shop when some commercial truck scraped the rear panel and bumper on his car. It was driveable and the time in the shop was less than a week. The other drivers insurance picked up our rental car during that time. Anyway that's been my/our experience and certainly no worse than the numerous service center visits nightmare I had with trying to get my Avalon's A/C fixed at the dealership before I traded it in for my Model 3 -- and Toyota never was able to repair the gap they left on my dashboard after they broke clips and left me seeing daylight through the parts inside.

 

[Scott7]

You have to be a hardcore EV fan to deal with planning your routes from charger to charger and how long to stay to make it to the next one.

I'm guessing you don't have a garage? People without access to a private garage (or other way to charge at home) is essentially the only group of people I would caution against an EV at this point, even a Tesla.

I have a 2 car garage and the charging has been such a non-issue over the last 3 years that we got rid of our remaining gas car last week.

 

[al503]

I tell anyone who asks that the car (PUP) dynamically, in terms of acceleration/braking/handling, is superb and punches well above it's weight class.

I also tell them that it's not perfect and that I've had several minor issues that:

1. have been taken care of by the SC,
2. have been taken care of by updates,
3. that I have or will attempt to fix, or
4. issues that I can live with.

 

[groovidad]

From delivery to the present, I am fortunate to NOT have any issues that I would consider serviceable or unacceptable. That said, I know that I am somewhat of an "anomoly", considering things folks have posted on their troubles.

When folks inquire I give them everything I know regarding (+) and (-). Yet, I ALWAYS refer them to the blogs and YouTube vids. I spent over a year and half researching everything Model 3. THAT is why I am now a proud owner!

 

[Nocturnal]

I'm very upfront. I describe the couple, quickly resolved repairs I had early on. The occasional software bug and the downsides of charging on road trips. Then I talk about how that's all such small potatoes and the benefits of the car dwarf any negatives.

 

[Silicon Desert]

I'm really honest. I tell them to definitely buy one. It gets 800 miles to a charge and can be fully charged in just 3 minutes. All insurance companies give a $500 rebate every year due to safety. The car can drive coast to coast while you sleep in the back seat. Most states exempt the car from receiving speeding tickets so it is ok to drive 100 mph on most any interstate. Full 1 million mile warranty on everything and no service needed. I could go on, but that alone is worth the price.

 

[GolanB]

I'm really honest. I tell them to definitely buy one. It gets 800 miles to a charge and can be fully charged in just 3 minutes. All insurance companies give a $500 rebate every year due to safety. The car can drive coast to coast while you sleep in the back seat. Most states exempt the car from receiving speeding tickets so it is ok to drive 100 mph on most any interstate. Full 1 million mile warranty on everything and no service needed. I could go on, but that alone is worth the price.

You forgot the part about being able to retire because the car is the breadwinner in the family.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I tell them to buy as many as they can afford because it's an appreciating asset!

 

[verystandard]

I will tell my friends the following:

Buying Tesla, sure that sounds good! on the plus side:
1. To have friendly customer service before purchase go for Tesla, very nice smile indeed.
2. Model 3 is awesome to look at inside out, black color is awesome because it is black and because it is free.
3. White interior for Model 3 is stunning, no question about it. With white exterior, white interior and sport wheels you feels like you are Prince Charming on white horse.
4. You don't feel bad when you Pedal to the Metal because you are doing this for the environment right?
5. When your range is down to red, you love the fuzzy feeling when you found a unoccupied free level 2 EV charger while you on some shopping mall 25 miles away from city center.
6. You smile when you pass thru gas station and you aren't miss anything for the 92 octane gas price
7. You are entitled to have custom license plate such as "BYE GAS" "LUVMUSK" "LUVTSLA" because you own a Tesla, you can't do that with Corolla or Civic (not type R)
8. If you own a Black Tesla, you will have a new hobby call daily car washing, because your Black Tesla is a dirt magnet
9. Your level of emotional intelligence will increase as you keep seeing the others got a way better deal than you when you buying a Tesla Model 3 (ex. I've found a inventory model 3 got $10000 off! I'm the luckiest person ever), you will be a better man/woman eventually if you can survive this.
10. You will stop looking at your favorite porn site less and less because you now spent all the time going back and forth to Tesla page, checking if today's spot price for AP/FSD is going up, down or unchanged.
11. You start appreciating ugly things, you keep telling yourself that AERO wheels is beautiful, marvel of engineering and fuel efficient but deep down your mind you know that looks as cheesy, ugly as a Metro geo hubcap.

On the minus side:
1. Inconsistent, inaccurate info feeds from Tesla, it is company culture and that's gotta change.
2. The sales will sell you with any tactics they can come up with (Over promised, false or misinformation) turns out they just BS because they want to push for quarter sale
3. To have a car that you paid for $50000CAD that doesn't comes with basic carpet
4. Customer chat to treat you like XXXX and appears to be really irritating to chat with you, leaving you with more questions than answer after the chat is finished
5. To have a car that you can't drive for weeks or months after you crash due to no parts availability
6. Sky high insurance rate (ICBC i bet you will raise the price next year) that probably can't offset with the gas saving cost
7. Appreciating asset according to Elon (Everyone can buy the same car as mine for $6000CAD less in BC now than 2 months ago!)
8. If you pick black color, when you on the charging station, the guy paid extra money for paint will look down to you as "Oh look he is cheap because he got free paint"
9. Why you pick black interior! you know deep down on your mind you want white interior, you screwed up and now you have to suck it up! Everytime you see a white interior M3 next to you, you will be crying deep inside you.
10. Why you pick white interior! you know your son is a monster and he will try to ruin your interior, you know your husband will wear his sandpaper jeans and ruin the surface, and now you leave a mark in there that you can't get rid of, you can't sleep that night and now you regret why you picked white interior! Should've cheap out and stays with black and forget.

 

[SSedan]

I have a 2014 S and have had some troubles and I am honest with folks, I live in a cold climate and winter energy use spikes hard. I talk up the pros too and things like range calculations working well and guiding you to superchargers perfectly. Supercharger stops usually working out well meal wise and leading to a more relaxed trip.

 

[Allx]

Tell them all and summarize .... pros outweigh cons by a lot so far (although use-case matters - constantly at -40 maybe it gets rough ) Building a car company from the ground up in a tenth the time traditional ones took and spearheading the creation of a market isn’t without a few bumps along the way but the m3 changes your definition of what a car should be the minute you drive it.

 

[sperkin]

I have a garage and that’s the issue with EV. Not everyone has a garage. There needs to be lower prices, more superchargers, and longer range to get EVs into the mainstream. Even with a garage it’s tough. Sometimes we get home at a low charge but need to get out again. Now since they added more superchargers the lines have been shorter, but still not enough superchargers.

As for my family and co-workers.

One coworker is all about hybrids so he can go where ever anytime while using less gas. These type of people I will not try to convince because they will hate it at superchargers.

Other just graduated and lives in an apartment but wants a Tesla. I’m pushing him hard to go with the RAV4 hybrid or a 4Runner. He will hate visiting Superchargers due to inconvenience.

Many co-workers make fun of Tesla owners and Tesla in general. They just hate EVs so no convincing them.

I just don’t trust my parents with a EV because they don’t know how to plan routes as they travel a lot. I feel better that they can jump into their RAV4 no matter what the gas tanks shows. They can get a fill up anywhere.

My brother owns a few businesses and can’t rely on a Model X to get him where he needs to go on time due to slow charge up over gas. He drives all day checking on his businesses. He rather pays $$$ gasing his ICE SUV. I’m stunned by his $50 gas bill per day. I actually tried hard to get him into a Model X but gave up. He is an EV hater at this point.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I think it ultimately comes down to how serious they are.

If someone is really serious about buying a Tesla I'll try to cover the bases in terms of which EV's are out there, and which one is suited towards there needs.

I'm more of a fan of EV's then Tesla specifically. Obviously it's hard to escape the gravitational wave that is Tesla due to their large supercharger network, and some other stuff that separates Tesla.

I also try to make sure they know FSD is a big fluffy dream with sprinkles. Basically to make sure they temper their expectations.

But, mostly I give advice on the best approach to take in purchasing, delivery, etc.

If they're not really serious than it's most joking around.

 

[David_Cary]

Interesting all the comments on service and the company....

I have a 2015 S. I rarely deal with the company. Here are my last 2 dealings
A year ago - 12 V battery warning. They scheduled service in 2 days and came to my place of work and did it in the parking garage.
A month ago - airbag recall. They came to a different place of work and replaced them. They texted me to set it up. They were flexible when I had a change of plans. They texted me and told me my tires were 3/32 (which I knew). They did offer to make some money to replace them which I declined.
2 mobile services. Like little gremlins that fixed my car without me even knowing about it. If that is bad, please tell me what a good company acts like?

Ordered a LR3 - March. Did it on the phone. Not a lot of updates regarding timing - and it wasn't particularly straightforward to get an answer. But it came. Home delivery - took 10 min on my dining room table to sign paperwork. No QA issues. They should copy ubereats tracking by text. "Your car is in production" - "It is one the was to the SC" - "It is being prepped" etc. Theoretically the website does that but I didn't see it work very well on the 3. So that is a legitimate gripe. But I am pretty sure that GM doesn't do any of that.

Now - it is my wife's car. Does she complain about things sometimes? Yes - collision warnings. I turned it to "late". I think we are all good. But the parking sensor warnings are louder on the 3. I can't seem to find an adjustment other than shutting them off. Part of this is that she never had a car with sensors before. And I did teach her Ctrl-Alt-Delete a week ago.

But I have to tell you, the Model 3 is much better than a 2015 S when it comes to MCU responsiveness and internet speed (I don't have LTE - missed it by days).

 

[Allx]

My brother owns a few businesses and can’t rely on a Model X to get him where he needs to go on time due to slow charge up over gas. He drives all day checking on his businesses. He rather pays $$$ gasing his ICE SUV. I’m stunned by his $50 gas bill per day. I actually tried hard to get him into a Model X but gave up. He is an EV hater at this point.

Same situation here, he’s eyeing Rivian (400+ mi); like yours, my brother stomachs huge gas bills so the price of the truck isn’t scaring him off (he’d save loads on gas daily and “having a gas station at home” sounds good to him).

 

[whopper]

https://jalopnik.com/consumer-reports-rescinds-tesla-model-3-recommendation-1832791379

Commenter:
"Friends of mine have two Teslas, a Model S P85D and a Model 3. Both have build quality reminiscent of my folk’s ‘85 Oldsmobile - not exactly a product of GM’s glory days. Not even in the same planet as a BMW, old or new. Sloppy fit and finish, and sub-par materials for the price everywhere you look. The Model 3 has had to be towed back to the Mothership *4* times since they took delivery about three months ago too. Impressive. The Model S replaced a Model S 60 that was an epic piece of crap from day 1. They have now said the Model 3 is the LAST Tesla they will ever buy. These guys are prime Tesla demographic. Wealthy, work-at-home tech nerds. And even they have had enough."

Bubble burst..word travels fast

"The best advertising is a satisfied/happy customer"

Tesla = DONE

 

[TomServo]

As an early adopter (bought my 2012 Volt in March 2012, followed by a 2013 and now a 2017) I tell anyone who ask's the "unvarnished" truth on my experience owning 3 Volt's continuously since March 2012. My integrity is more important than being a FANBOY. Having said that my 3 Volt's have been the best vehicles I have ever owned. Too bad GM killed it. Oh and my metrics on my 2017 can be seen on VoltStats.net just search for Von Zipper. Over 98% all electric in 33 months of DD duty. Best kept secret in the automotive kingdom. Now looking to buy a M3 going into retirement. Looking forward to this experience.

 

[Astrotraveler]

I tell them the reasons we bought the car: (1) It is the safest car on the road, (2) It is all green (3) Unlike all other cars on the road today, it is designed and built to be updated - the car I'm driving today is better than the one I bought and next year it will be better than it is now.
There are some issues: (1) the sales staff is no different from any other brand, (2) sometimes it does things I don't understand.
Nothing else delivers as much "WOW" for this kind of money! I consider it an "E ticket" (for those old enough to remember)

 

[Austindude]

I tell them the reasons we bought the car: (1) It is the safest car on the road, (2) It is all green (3) Unlike all other cars on the road today, it is designed and built to be updated - the car I'm driving today is better than the one I bought and next year it will be better than it is now.
There are some issues: (1) the sales staff is no different from any other brand, (2) sometimes it does things I don't understand.
Nothing else delivers as much "WOW" for this kind of money! I consider it an "E ticket" (for those old enough to remember)

I like and I agree with everything you said. I will add however that I do also tell people that want to buy that Tesla the company still has lots of growing pains. I always end the conversation with the fact that this is the best car I've ever owned and that I've owned many great cars from Porsche, BMW, Acura, etc.