I hate my Tesla! Don’t buy one!

[AutomaticMan]

Fooled you! I love my Tesla Model 3 LR! Took a trip in it yesterday, and now that I have Enhanced Autopilot - which I think makes the driver assistance aids work better, which has eased concerns I had about those systems in another thread recently - it really struck me just how brilliant this car is.

I really am turning into a fanboi! I love the interior design, it’s so minimalist and calming. I’m so glad Tesla didn’t go down the route of other premium manufacturers putting so many busy design details all over the interior that they look too much. Stepping into a Tesla is like stepping into a cool, minimalist, modern apartment. Whereas something like a Merc or a BMW reminds me of going to my grandparent’s place when I was a kid, with little nik naks all over the place on every surface.

The user interface and software is a league above rivals, and I am forever amazed at how much performance you can get from a car at this price point. Ok, a M3LR isn’t cheap, but try finding another car for the same money that has this much interior space and comfort and performs as well. The Supercharger network (and integration with the sat nav) makes long journeys a breeze. No more scrutinising Zap-Map the night before a trip as I had to do with my other EVs.

In fact, there is just one problem with this car. And that is the fact that I’m not the only one who has discovered that these are phenomenal cars, so they are absolutely bloody everywhere now! I’m someone who always used to make left field car buying choices as I liked having something relatively unusual that you don’t see a lot of on the road. I was always the guy buying Citroens when my friends were all in VWs. I remember hating the Ford Focus for years, because there were millions of them on the road and they just seemed boring. And sadly for me, the Tesla M3 is becoming the same… the number of times I’m parked alongside multiple M3s in the same colour is astounding and makes me feel boring for having the same car as everyone else!

So, great car, but if the rest of you all could stop buying so many of them so that I can feel like I have a uniquely special car, I’d really appreciate it!

(Disclaimer - hopefully people take this as the tongue in cheek post that I intended it to be. I do feel like a bit of a sheep now for having the same car as everyone else when I used to like having something rarer, but I don’t really want people to stop buying them as I want Tesla to remain successful! Also, I’ve got residuals to consider!)

 

[Adopado]

So, great car, but if the rest of you all could stop buying so many of them so that I can feel like I have a uniquely special car, I’d really appreciate it!

Ah yes ... but I remember the "old days" ... in 2019 young children would tug at their parents' sleeves, excitedly pointing and shouting "Tesla"! (This really isn't a joke!) I was as excited myself when I actually saw another one on the road.

 

[Dilly]

Ah yes ... but I remember the "old days" ... in 2019 young children would tug at their parents' sleeves, excitedly pointing and shouting "Tesla"! (This really isn't a joke!) I was as excited myself when I actually saw another one on the road.

Yep, those days are gone. 40 mile rooun trip on the A47 last week, we saw 5 going and 6 coming back. 5 were blue like mine!
even in 2021, I had a group of boys give me a Mexican wave as I passed their school

 

[Jason71]

Ah yes ... but I remember the "old days" ... in 2019 young children would tug at their parents' sleeves, excitedly pointing and shouting "Tesla"! (This really isn't a joke!) I was as excited myself when I actually saw another one on the road.

I can 100% back that up. It was crazy. Almost every kid literally pointed an shouted. I honestly don't think a Ferrari would have attracted more attention. Yet to most people over the age of 25 it was completely invisible with the few exceptions of the ones who asked " what is it?" in a carpark.

 

[init6]

5 were blue like mine!

There are only two colours...

 

[prabhu]

Today the inevitable happened to me. I was on NoA and must have momentarily dozed off and missed the AP nags. So the car disabled autosteering for the rest of the drive, and I ended up driving for a nearly 100 miles old school with just tacc. It wasn't bad, but it felt like too much work forever.

 

[Temper Tantrum]

but if the rest of you all could stop buying so many of them so that I can feel like I have a uniquely special car, I’d really appreciate it!

That's deffo one of the downsides these days. The 'exclusive' ship has long since sailed as they are everywhere.

 

[MikeeUK]

Same for me.....2019 and 2020 generated a lot of interest around my area as I only saw 2 or 3 M3s...kids spotting me on their bicycles and trying to race me, grown men hanging out the window pointing and shouting "Tesla!" and the most common was the numerous Sentry videos of ppl having a good nose around the car and some even taking selfies. I still get people come up to me at public charging stations and ask about range, cost, charging etc but that's about it.

Obviously all very superficial but made me feel a bit "special" out on the road back then! lol

 

[Dilly]

Today the inevitable happened to me. I was on NoA and must have momentarily dozed off and missed the AP nags. So the car disabled autosteering for the rest of the drive, and I ended up driving for a nearly 100 miles old school with just tacc. It wasn't bad, but it felt like too much work forever.

I Could be wrong, but I thought if you stopped and parked up for five mins, it would let you back into AP

 

[prabhu]

I thought if you stopped and parked up for five mins, it would let you back into AP

Yes, I thought about it, but in the end, I didn't want to take a break just for the auto steer.

 

[freekie]

Ah yes ... but I remember the "old days" ... in 2019 young children would tug at their parents' sleeves, excitedly pointing and shouting "Tesla"! (This really isn't a joke!) I was as excited myself when I actually saw another one on the road.

My children used to count them accumulatively when we bought back in 2019! We see more now in a day than we saw in a week back then. Also fondly remember the excitement of children in the street saying ‘Tesla’.

 

[Beasts]

You could move to our area, rural NW Ohio, and rarely see another Tesla. Maybe 1 or 2 in a six month period! But we don't get much notice or interest on the road or in parking lots. Only on road trips or in bigger cities do we spot Teslas with any frequency or have ICE cars pull up next to us wanting to challenge our car's performance. In conversations with neighbors, who definitely know about our S, the conversation never turns to Tesla unless we mention something about the car and even then it's pretty much a dead end - "Oh, really? Well did you notice that new house going up over by Harry's?" Not complaining except that it is kind of frustrating to be so excited about the car and have people react with absolutely no interest. It may have something to do with the fact that a significant number of people in this area have been employed by either GM or Ford for their working lives.
I had one teenager come up to me while parked at the library who complimented me on our car and I was so surprised that I was almost at a loss for words. I thanked him and we had an awkward, short conversation before he went back to his car. To this day, a couple months later, I wish I knew who this individual was so I could get in touch and offer him a ride and have a decent talk about Tesla. And apologize for my reaction.

 

[Jaydeeuk1]

Have had lots of people coming over wanting to know more about tesla. Not had this much attention in one of my cars since the toyota IQ I bought back in 2009.Took my brother out for a ride as he had no idea I'd got one, and didn't know much about them. Had him in tears laughing with farting indicators, and neighbours wondering where the hell that goat noise was coming from.

The problem with it is it will ruin any 'normal' car.

 

[Adopado]

You could move to our area, rural NW Ohio, and rarely see another Tesla. Maybe 1 or 2 in a six month period! But we don't get much notice or interest on the road or in parking lots. Only on road trips or in bigger cities do we spot Teslas with any frequency or have ICE cars pull up next to us wanting to challenge our car's performance. In conversations with neighbors, who definitely know about our S, the conversation never turns to Tesla unless we mention something about the car and even then it's pretty much a dead end - "Oh, really? Well did you notice that new house going up over by Harry's?" Not complaining except that it is kind of frustrating to be so excited about the car and have people react with absolutely no interest. It may have something to do with the fact that a significant number of people in this area have been employed by either GM or Ford for their working lives.
I had one teenager come up to me while parked at the library who complimented me on our car and I was so surprised that I was almost at a loss for words. I thanked him and we had an awkward, short conversation before he went back to his car. To this day, a couple months later, I wish I knew who this individual was so I could get in touch and offer him a ride and have a decent talk about Tesla. And apologize for my reaction.

That really is a very different experience to the UK. Most people here are aware of the push towards electric motoring and most of the TV advertising features either full EVs or Hybrids. I find the majority of people therefore have lots of questions. There's plenty of scepticism from some people of course but most are genuinely interested to find out how it is to own an electric car. There are lots of EVs on the road that people don't even realise are electric ... I sometimes miss them myself unless I notice the green patch on the license plate that most recent models have. Teslas stand out a bit due to the design, and they gained publicity through Youtubers doing acceleration tests ... so younger people will always know the brand ... and have an opinion. People who choose to own fast (ICE) cars always know about Teslas and they tend towards being somewhat defensive of their own choice ... so they like to tell you how many miles they can drive without having to fill up, because being competitive they need to feel that their car is better in some respect or other... and range discussions are always going to be a "win" for them!

 

[GlynG]

My 2020 M3P must be a lemon - a Friday afternoon car because my car is completely different to what others say regarding build quality, paint, rattles.
Admittedly my car has only 7K miles on the clock but I don't have any panel gap issues, no dodgy paint work - its machine polished, paint corrected - so no swirls and no paint is peeling, thin or falling off - it absolutely gleams. Inside the car no matter what the road I don't have any rattles or squeaks at all and so far no issues with the car - it all just works perfectly.
I have had the recall notice regarding the coaxial cable to the rear camera -about 6 months ago and waiting for Tesla to give me a date to have a look at it but no issues with the camera, and just yesterday I noticed the rear spoiler has peeled away from the boot lid on the nearside so I used the app for the first time for a ranger visit - which today was available but taking the grandkids away so scheduled for the 28th.
I do love my car but as time goes on I'm beginning to hate Tesla and their sneaky penny pinching cost savings - and I see in the USA they have deleted the ranger visits in one state - just little bits here and there to save a few bob. Tesla has changed from trying to produce the most futuristic and best car they can to optimising their profits by shafting their customers by covert value engineering.

The model 3 is still selling fantastically well and although there have been changes, the car is fundamentally a 5 year old car and a substantial refresh will be needed soon - somehow I don't see Tesla retaining "best EV" title for much longer as the others are making great strides in producing from the ground up EV designs with more features and options, similar performance and range and better assembled vehicles. Tesla are sitting back on their haunches and allowing their USPs to diminish - indeed even embracing that. Elon has always been critical of Bezos but they are morphing into to being the same - and it isn't Bezos changing at all.

 

[yessuz]

Today the inevitable happened to me. I was on NoA and must have momentarily dozed off and missed the AP nags. So the car disabled autosteering for the rest of the drive, and I ended up driving for a nearly 100 miles old school with just tacc. It wasn't bad, but it felt like too much work forever.

stop at nearest possible place - like services or layby, open driver's door, close and you are good to go

 

[yessuz]

I Could be wrong, but I thought if you stopped and parked up for five mins, it would let you back into AP

it is enough to open the driver's door - just stop,, open door, close it, engage to drive.

 

[Adopado]

The model 3 is still selling fantastically well and although there have been changes, the car is fundamentally a 5 year old car and a substantial refresh will be needed soon - somehow I don't see Tesla retaining "best EV" title for much longer as the others are making great strides in producing from the ground up EV designs with more features and options, similar performance and range and better assembled vehicles. Tesla are sitting back on their haunches and allowing their USPs to diminish - indeed even embracing that. Elon has always been critical of Bezos but they are morphing into to being the same - and it isn't Bezos changing at all.

You obviously don't follow the Munro teardown information that appears via Youtube (for casual interest) or via detailed reports that other companies buy from them. They reverse engineer and analyse cars from all different manufacturers. They are frequently amazed at the speed of development taking place in Tesla design and manufacture. The body shell may look the same but it's quite clear that the Model 3 is not a 5 year old car under the skin. There are multiple battery pack revisions, suspension revisions, motor revisions, heating/cooling revisions, not to mention continuous software revisions. Tesla change things so quickly they don't even try to follow the standard "year model" pattern ... you're as likely to get a change with the next car delivery! (To the extent that it becomes quite confusing which cars contain which revisions.)

 

[12Pack]

You could move to our area, rural NW Ohio, and rarely see another Tesla. Maybe 1 or 2 in a six month period! But we don't get much notice or interest on the road or in parking lots. Only on road trips or in bigger cities do we spot Teslas with any frequency or have ICE cars pull up next to us wanting to challenge our car's performance. In conversations with neighbors, who definitely know about our S, the conversation never turns to Tesla unless we mention something about the car and even then it's pretty much a dead end - "Oh, really? Well did you notice that new house going up over by Harry's?" Not complaining except that it is kind of frustrating to be so excited about the car and have people react with absolutely no interest. It may have something to do with the fact that a significant number of people in this area have been employed by either GM or Ford for their working lives.
I had one teenager come up to me while parked at the library who complimented me on our car and I was so surprised that I was almost at a loss for words. I thanked him and we had an awkward, short conversation before he went back to his car. To this day, a couple months later, I wish I knew who this individual was so I could get in touch and offer him a ride and have a decent talk about Tesla. And apologize for my reaction.

Well, rural USA is like 3rd world country (BTW I come from rural CA). Most people don't know or care about the rest of the world or anything new....

 

[Beasts]

12Pack,
Sadly true! It took me a while when we first moved here to accept that fact. At first I thought that it was just because we were outsiders.