It will be interesting if Tesla actually shows up in small claims court. That may be a first, but you may have the downside of being local to Tesla in NorCal and they can just send someone that is local and well informed.
Like
@Dewg says, your case is a bit different. I don't think it's a lost cause though, but this matters on the facts.
If Tesla is telling you that you would *eventually* get FSD on MCU1, but not the Beta, then I think you have a reasonable case. I see two facts:
1) You were advertised a car that has "all HW needed for FSD." You've been waiting years for FSD. Now you are being told that while others can get FSD, you cannot because your hardware is not compatible "yet." Well, clearly you have different HW, and where has Tesla made a specific statement that they guarantee that MCU1 will support FSD? Tesla is also famous for keeping software in beta for literally a decade. AP on AP1 cars is still beta after 9 years. Auto wipers are beta since 2017. You have zero faith that Tesla will exit beta in the reasonable lifetime of this car, absent a statement from them that they promise it will exist by a specific date. (Side note, if you can get Tesla to say, in court, on the record, that FSD NON-BETA will exist on MCU1 within a specific timeframe, you may have just bankrupted Tesla)
2) Elon specifically said that FSD
beta is available to
anyone in North America, a full 7 months ago. He did not caveat this with "if you have MCU2." So again, false advertising.
I think in a lot of ways this comes down to what you asked Tesla BEFORE you bought MCU2. Did you ask them when FSD beta would be available for your car? Did you go to subscribe and see a message that said "your hardware is not compatible"? Do you have documentation of this? Do you actually have FSD on your car now that you have MCU2 and you didn't when you had MCU1?
To note, while my MCU2 claim was a warranty one, my HW3 claim was not and is similar. I couldn't subscribe without a HW upgrade, and that upgrade was not free. I covered this in my original post, that if I did not have the warranty claim on MCU2, I would have gone with the "not FSD compatible" route like you are.
When you go to court, you need all of this to be clean and clear. Pretend I'm the judge. Remember that I know NOTHING about Teslas. What information are you going to present that is clear, concise, and shows damages that you believe Tesla is responsible for? Do not get into the weeds, do not complain about Elon, do not discuss how you thought your car would take your cat to the vet by itself by now. What was in writing when you bought the car that you believe Tesla is not upholding. Go....