I traded in my Model S for a Prius Prime

[SO16]

Uhm, you're posting customer satisfaction scores, but we are talking about quality of the build. Pretty sure the data backs up my claims:

Tesla ranks last on influential JD Power quality survey

Tesla cars suffered 250 problems per 100 vehicles, well above industry average of 166.

www.theverge.com

JD Power says Lexus is most dependable auto brand, ranks Tesla 30th out of 33

J.D. Power studies serve as an industry benchmark, and its results can drive sales and impact insurance premiums for owners.

www.cnbc.com

Don't think my experience with build quality or dependability is rare at all. It's actually the norm.

Well about that JD power survey... It doesn’t mean exactly what people thinks it does.

 

[voltaren]

I fully expected some of these responses .

My intent was not to compare the MS and Prius Prime... way different cars. I’m just shocked how much Tesla’s advantage has shrunk. Add the reliability factor, and I decided against a replacement Tesla.

I also want to take a break from beta testing a car. That beta testing cost me at least $15k/yr in depreciation per car. Certainly less for the cheaper M3/MY—so those owners don’t need to opine. Sure, I could own them longer for less depreciation, but I wouldn’t own outside Tesla warranty.

I bought my first Tesla in 2014. I’ve been invited to most reveals and events; attended a few. I love the company and think Musk is a genius. My MX was terrible and was lemon law’d. My MS’ locked me out many times, door handles broke on numerous occasions, had to wait 6 weeks for an appt, MCU died, had to wait 2 months for a fix. I still went through and bought new Teslas, partly because they drive amazingly and the customer service *used* to be good.

To many people who are incredulous, your honeymoon period may end; I hope it doesn’t. I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on my Teslas and each one has been troublesome. My two month old MY needed a SC visit immediately after delivery. I’d love to be one of the select few that have had no issues. They’ll get there one day.

 

[Hayseed_MS]

Every vehicle specific forum lists a lot of issues with the vehicle. Hard to draw a real conclusion for a good or bad decision. I have owned well over 10 brands (including Euro luxury brands) in the last 30 years. All have had issues some minor some major including have two cars repurchased by the manufacturer. On all those vehicles that I had major issues, I have been on their forums and found people that have had excellent luck and on the vehicles I loved, I have found the opposite.

Take the forums for what they are - pros and cons. I look for patterns and trends. This is my first Tesla. Coming from Land Rover and Jaguar so I should be ready for anything.

 

[Tigers]

I fully expected some of these responses .

My intent was not to compare the MS and Prius Prime... way different cars. I’m just shocked how much Tesla’s advantage has shrunk. Add the reliability factor, and I decided against a replacement Tesla.

I also want to take a break from beta testing a car. That beta testing cost me at least $15k/yr in depreciation per car. Certainly less for the cheaper M3/MY—so those owners don’t need to opine. Sure, I could own them longer for less depreciation, but I wouldn’t own outside Tesla warranty.

I bought my first Tesla in 2014. I’ve been invited to most reveals and events; attended a few. I love the company and think Musk is a genius. My MX was terrible and was lemon law’d. My MS’ locked me out many times, door handles broke on numerous occasions, had to wait 6 weeks for an appt, MCU died, had to wait 2 months for a fix. I still went through and bought new Teslas, partly because they drive amazingly and the customer service *used* to be good.

To many people who are incredulous, your honeymoon period may end; I hope it doesn’t. I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on my Teslas and each one has been troublesome. My two month old MY needed a SC visit immediately after delivery. I’d love to be one of the select few that have had no issues. They’ll get there one day.

What happened to the Y?

 

[Puma2020]

I have a LR AWD Y. My wife has a 2017 Prius.
I can only hope to afford a S at some point.
She loves her car, and I love mine.
Due to the Pandemic and not driving around as much, she's had to worry about the gas going stale. My electrons do not appear to go stale.
She does have to go to... what is that called again... oh yea, a petrol station on occasion (usually during the fun times like when it is -20 and the winds is howling).
Plus get the oil changes. However, I do have to fill up my own windshield wiper fuild now.

Back in the 80's when I met her, she had just purchased her first car... a Chevy Chevette. ROFL. When I drove it, I used to tease her by calling out "Turbo Boost" and turning off the A/C. She got screwed by Chevy and especially the local dealer. I pushed her to get rid of the Chevette and steered her to Toyota. She never looked back. She loves her Toyotas. They do make some decent cars.

I was very tempted to get a Prius in 2003 but couldn't justify the price and got a Corolla Sport instead. Got it with a standard so I could teach my kids how to drive a standard. They all learned that and will likely be the last generation to know how. After 15 years and 200K miles, it still had the original muffler (yes, EV owners are saying what's a muffler), transmission and even the shocks. I was surprised how well it lasted.

I do not see myself ever going back to an ICE.
I did see Engineering Explained YT video on the Rav4 Prime, so I could see how others might go that route.

But the frequent gas stops and oil changes and moving parts that could go bad...
and as the grinch would say... oh the noise, noise, noise, noise.

 

[voltaren]

What happened to the Y?

Significant front end shimmy (progressively worse with speed; couldn’t drive over 60mph). Wouldn’t update at all/nav didn’t work (required SC visit). 1” gouge/tear in the rear seat. Missing cargo trim pieces (see photo).

I usually mock people who complain about small paint defects and panel gaps... This MY had some pretty bad paint defects and the hood was pretty poorly aligned. I didn’t mention this to Tesla because it’s par for the course. And this was a cheaper car... not $100k. The Prius Prime had zero defects, and I inspected the hell out of it... in an effort to be fair.

 

[Tigers]

Significant front end shimmy (progressively worse with speed; couldn’t drive over 60mph). Wouldn’t update at all/nav didn’t work (required SC visit). 1” gouge/tear in the rear seat. Missing cargo trim pieces (see photo).

I usually mock people who complain about small paint defects and panel gaps... This MY had some pretty bad paint defects and the hood was pretty poorly aligned. I didn’t mention this to Tesla because it’s par for the course. And this was a cheaper car... not $100k. The Prius Prime had zero defects, and I inspected the hell out of it... in an effort to be fair.

Wow, unbelievable. Did you buy it during an end of QTR rush? Not that it should matter, but that's exceptionally awful.

 

[voltaren]

Wow, unbelievable. Did you buy it during an end of QTR rush? Not that it should matter, but that's exceptionally awful.

Late Jan/early Feb delivery. “Contactless” delivery, but I still went to the door and told them about the trim pieces and seat gouge (pic attached). They told me to come back for a service visit.

 

[SO16]

Late Jan/early Feb delivery. “Contactless” delivery, but I still went to the door and told them about the trim pieces and seat gouge (pic attached). They told me to come back for a service visit.

Yup. Pretty bad. No question.

 

[Physicslawyer]

My 2017 Prime gets 70 mpg without plugging it in. I have 173k miles on it, no issues so far. Our 2007 Prius has almost 500k miles. I'm still buying a Tesla. I will always have a Prius though as a second commuter/travel car.

 

[David_Cary]

I think Tesla has greater inconsistency than the average manufacturer. That was my point.
My car has been good to great. And, depreciation has been reasonable. Better than average Euro luxe. But that is also inconsistent for some who bought a different model at a different time.
BMW doesn't drop prices as much as Tesla so depreciation is more consistent. They also have more experience with manufacturing so there are a bit less inconsistent. Mine you, they still are bad but more consistently bad rather than terrible.

Listen, no one should be defending Tesla's consistency in initial quality. That being said, my wife's 3 has never seen the SC at 2 years and 19k. The gaps are not perfect but I haven't found an egregious paint error. My S had 1 small build quality issue and is sitting at $900 in total repair costs that would typically be covered by warranty - at 90k.

I really don't think there is a "select few" with zero problems. I think there is a small majority. We have to rely on surveys to get the real answers and those surveys generally aren't favorable for Tesla.

But they aren't horrible either. A few people here have had horrible experiences and like to talk a lot. But have a few friends with Tesla and they are all members of the "select few".

 

[Hayseed_MS]

I am very skeptical on surveys. Too many biases out there - you can get a survey to say whatever you want by asking the questions and controlling the sampling. Usually you can find two opposing surveys.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

What year was your S and how does your X/3 compare in terms of part failure?

2013. My 3 was significantly less problematic, as well as my X. However as the cars got better, customer service got worse. 2013-2018 customer service was amazing, I told everyone to buy a tesla. then it became worse than a used car dealer selling cash only $2k cars. so now... i say wait it out. when they have more cars than they can sell maybe they will look at why.

 

[ucmndd]

A Prius is a fantastic piece of utilitarian kit for someone who gives absolutely zero squirts about driving for pleasure and wants reliable, hyper-economical transport. If that were the only thing that mattered, every one of us would be driving Priuses.

 

[tomas]

AYFKM? Enjoy your Prius

 

[skiwhmts]

I think alot of Tesla owners have had or still have a Prius in the family. If you are looking for a plug in hybrid as opposed to a full EV its a great choice.

 

[InternetDude]

Im trying to talk to a few dealerships about a honda clarity. I forgot how annoying salesman are. Every single one "Come down and well talk about price". Makes me not want to even get the car anymore.
Uggh I hate dealing with that. Tesla really spoiled me

If you pay MSRP at Honda no negotiation is really needed, easy peasey smooth transaction LOL

 

[SO16]

If you pay MSRP at Honda no negotiation is really needed, easy peasey smooth transaction LOL

Not always.

Honda Civic Type R Sees Big Markups at Dealerships

Since the Honda Civic Type R went on sale in the U.S. in June 2017, they have not stopped selling with a markup. Read more here!

www.motortrend.com

 

[dhrivnak]

I fully expected some of these responses .

My intent was not to compare the MS and Prius Prime... way different cars. I’m just shocked how much Tesla’s advantage has shrunk. Add the reliability factor, and I decided against a replacement Tesla.

I also want to take a break from beta testing a car. That beta testing cost me at least $15k/yr in depreciation per car. Certainly less for the cheaper M3/MY—so those owners don’t need to opine. Sure, I could own them longer for less depreciation, but I wouldn’t own outside Tesla warranty.

I bought my first Tesla in 2014. I’ve been invited to most reveals and events; attended a few. I love the company and think Musk is a genius. My MX was terrible and was lemon law’d. My MS’ locked me out many times, door handles broke on numerous occasions, had to wait 6 weeks for an appt, MCU died, had to wait 2 months for a fix. I still went through and bought new Teslas, partly because they drive amazingly and the customer service *used* to be good.

To many people who are incredulous, your honeymoon period may end; I hope it doesn’t. I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on my Teslas and each one has been troublesome. My two month old MY needed a SC visit immediately after delivery. I’d love to be one of the select few that have had no issues. They’ll get there one day.

You are putting a lot of restrictions on your criteria. I for one owned a Roadster for 9 year. I lost $10,000 in depreciation, a more manageable $1,100/year and with most of those years out of warranty I racked up $2200 in repair bills. Not exactly aweful for a first generation car.

 

[jsight]

*Trigger warning* For many, the Prius Prime is more efficient, cheaper to operate, and has a smaller life-cycle carbon footprint.

Absolutely, the Prius is much more economical than a Tesla. It is a well engineered car.

TBH, if you'd be perfectly happy with a Prius, a Model S is major overkill.