I am a first-time Tesla purchaser. My current/previous vehicles are/were Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. I was completely thrilled with my Model 3 extended test drive and was very excited to join the Tesla family. No sales pressure, no negotiating, no hassle and a few clicks to order - what a joy!
I pay attention to detail but I do not believe that I am overly picky. I realize that Tesla is a relatively new player in the automotive world, and not all the kinks have been worked out yet, which is understandable. Further, in general, I do not have an expectation that an American car manufacturer will excel at build quality compared to its Japanese and German counterparts.
Having said that, disappointingly I have now had to refuse delivery of two SR+ due to quality issues.
One of the doors was clearly misaligned in the first vehicle. The chrome trim did not line up, and the front part of the door flared out at the bottom noticeably. I was told that everything was "to spec" and was shocked to be informed by the delivery associate that Tesla should not be compared to Mercedes or Lexus as it is a young company. It was a bit off-putting, to be honest. I looked at the many other Model 3's at the delivery center and most, but not all, had better aligned doors. Somewhat reluctantly (in part because I sold my vehicle in preparation of delivery day!), I refused delivery in hopes of getting one with no obvious issue.
The second vehicle (see attached images) had very significant paint and panel gap issues. Several globs of paint were present on the rocker panel of one side. On the other side of the vehicle, one edge was not painted at all. The closed trunk looked like someone had left it ajar. The rocker panel on one side had completely loose plastic trim (I could place my finger into one gap). The rear bumper also had plastic trim that was not aligned. For this particular vehicle even the delivery advisor told me there were no excuses and I should refuse it.
I'm sure some of these things could be fixed and the first or second vehicle could be made "acceptable" even though technically, nothing must really be wrong with them because they were deemed to be "to spec" before leaving the factory, right? But shouldn't these things have been identified and rectified BEFORE the vehicles ever left the factory, as part of quality assurance? And if these are the things that I, with an untrained eye, can easily identify, I shudder to think of how many things are "to spec" but lack quality in areas that I cannot see, or do not know how to examine properly.
Should Tesla expect owners to have their brand new vehicles require "rectifications" immediately upon purchase? Is that part of their new car-buyer experience? My gas/time/effort is worth something too...
Maybe I have bad luck and the third time will be a charm???