I wouldnt buy a Model 3 again

[DrChaos]

This is true. But no one forced them to design cars with expensive to repair wheels. They could have put some sort of ablative shielding on the wheels so that they can be repaired easily when they get damaged.

How exactly is that supposed to work? Like what sort of material did you have in mind that would work as a wheel, and would not let curb scrape the metal below it?

 

[stopcrazypp]

This is true. But no one forced them to design cars with expensive to repair wheels. They could have put some sort of ablative shielding on the wheels so that they can be repaired easily when they get damaged. Either design it so that it's hard to damage, or design it so that it's cheap to repair when it takes damage. Don't do none of the above.

Not sure this is a reasonable expectation. I don't know of other manufacturers doing anything similar, do you have examples? It's just not a high priority. I see plenty of curbed wheels when I walk past cars of other brands in the city. Basically most modern alloy and larger wheels I see have some sort of curb damage. The only ones that I generally rarely see damage are the small diameter steel wheels (although I still see some examples with damage on their hubcaps).

Most premium "sporty" cars tend to have larger rims with lower profile tires. Tesla wasn't "forced" to necessarily (they could have added 15" steel wheels), but it's a general market expectation and trend. They also have to consider rolling resistance (given optimizing for efficiency is a big point for Tesla) and also cornering performance (Tesla has a goal of making a very safe car, and generally Teslas have been excellent in the "moose" tests). Those are all probably far higher priorities than rim protection.

Other manufacturers make it where damage is much less likely to occur because they have all around view or bird's eye view or whatever they want to call it in their vehicle, so you can easily see where the wheels are and where the curbs are when you are parking. Tesla not only has wheels that are easy to damage, but left that feature out. Actually, my PHEV has wheels with higher rims, sidewalls that protrude beyond the rims, AND all around view. I can easily park it without having to get out of the vehicle to check where the rims are with respect to the curb if parking on a street with an irregularly shaped curb (like at the end of a cul-de-sac). It's rare that I hit the curb because of the all around view but even if I do, it's not the end of the world. Doing the same thing in the Tesla, I'd have to get out of the car at least once and possibly 2 or 3 times to make sure the wheels don't get damaged.

The occupancy network might make this finally possible (although currently they only have plans to replace USS outputs with it), previously without the under mirror camera and low front camera this function was impossible.

About your PHEV, presumably you are talking about your Outlander PHEV you mentioned in previous posts? That uses 55 profile tires which are just large enough to be barely not low profile. Given its an SUV, it's expected to have tires with higher profile, and sidewall stiffness is not necessarily as high a priority.
For example, 3 major SUV PHEVs failed the moose test (including the Outlander):
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...toyota-rav4-does-it-spectacularly-152578.html

 

[Glamisduner]

There are some very nice features about this car but there is a lot wrong. To paraphrase Elizabeth Barret Browning let me count the ways. The letters, symbols and numbers on the home screen are too small particularly on the map; there is no parking assist (in contrast to every high quality car available in the 21st century); the latest software update disabled my garage door opener; and I could go on but I will dump this as soon as a good electric sedan is available that doesn't cost the moon. Does any one believe the Tesla engineers read the many gripes on this forum and ever think of responding in a positive way to correct the many issues?

What are you looking to buy next?
My home link has always worked, but they did move the button to the bottom left for a while and it would get blocked by other messages like door open or fasten seatbelt etc (Super annoying because I thought it was gone for a while too). It's because I get out of the car to open the gate to my house, I don't put my seat belt back on to park it, so it was hidden under the seat belt warning....
Mine has the auto parking feature (park assist?), but you gotta pay for it. However I almost never use it as I'm afraid it will curb my wheels.

 

[KenC]

Easy to curb wheels? I just assumed when cars went to lower and lower profile tires, it became easier and easier to curb wheels. At last that's what I figured when I got my first BMW. I curbed all of those wheels.

 

[STS-134]

Not sure this is a reasonable expectation. I don't know of other manufacturers doing anything similar, do you have examples? It's just not a high priority.

Probably because the people who design this stuff aren't the ones responsible for paying for the repairs if they're damaged in a scenario that most people would consider "reasonable wear and tear". Parking a car, especially in a cul-de-sac, should not be like walking on eggshells. Having to get out of the car to check the position of the wheels is really intolerable, although not as intolerable as paying $160 for every small mistake.

I see plenty of curbed wheels when I walk past cars of other brands in the city. Basically most modern alloy and larger wheels I see have some sort of curb damage. The only ones that I generally rarely see damage are the small diameter steel wheels (although I still see some examples with damage on their hubcaps).

To damage to hubcap on a small wheel or a wheel with rims high off the ground, you REALLY have to screw up. Which is the type of car I was used to driving before I got the Tesla. When I learned to drive, it was fine to keep rolling (slowly) and if you felt the wheel hit the curb, you knew you screwed up, but there were no real financial consequences. It's kind of like taking bad photos with a digital camera vs. with film. Now with regard to photography, we've moved forwards but with regard to wheels, we're going backwards.

Most premium "sporty" cars tend to have larger rims with lower profile tires. Tesla wasn't "forced" to necessarily (they could have added 15" steel wheels), but it's a general market expectation and trend. They also have to consider rolling resistance (given optimizing for efficiency is a big point for Tesla) and also cornering performance (Tesla has a goal of making a very safe car, and generally Teslas have been excellent in the "moose" tests). Those are all probably far higher priorities than rim protection.

The occupancy network might make this finally possible (although currently they only have plans to replace USS outputs with it), previously without the under mirror camera and low front camera this function was impossible.

About your PHEV, presumably you are talking about your Outlander PHEV you mentioned in previous posts? That uses 55 profile tires which are just large enough to be barely not low profile. Given its an SUV, it's expected to have tires with higher profile, and sidewall stiffness is not necessarily as high a priority.
For example, 3 major SUV PHEVs failed the moose test (including the Outlander):
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...toyota-rav4-does-it-spectacularly-152578.html

Never heard of the moose test but yes, it's the Outlander PHEV. I've never had to maneuver it like that but that's pretty bad. I can tell just by driving it that it sucks at cornering though, and I didn't need a test to tell me that. That's one thing I like about the Model 3 and dislike about the Outlander PHEV. But at the time I bought it, the only real alternative was the Cayenne S E-Hybrid, and that one had literally about half of the all electric range of the Outlander (about 12 miles). But one thing I like about the Outlander, other than the all around view and the wheels that aren't so easily damaged, is that it has a 120V/12A inverter and two NEMA 5-15 outlets in it and can act as a second emergency generator in a pinch. And the inverter is actually a pure sinewave inverter and it provides cleaner power than my actual purpose built backup generator (and is the only thing that can recharge my computer UPSes which don't like the inconsistent line frequency of the backup generator and frequently switch to battery backup mode). I'm just afraid to use the Outlander PHEV as a power source most of the time because if you don't monitor the battery level, the engine could start and fill the garage with carbon monoxide. You'd think that Tesla would be able to do something like this, with their > 75 kWh batteries. Ford did it with the F-150 Lightning and they even have a 240V/30A inverter in that car. With the Tesla, I wouldn't need to worry about being poisoned by carbon monoxide because the vehicle would simply go down to 20% SoC and then shut down.

 

[one2many]

All very strange I say.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Never heard of the moose test but yes, it's the Outlander PHEV. I've never had to maneuver it like that but that's pretty bad.

I had to do a similar maneuver in the East Bay on CA-24 in the few days that it was extremely foggy in the previous month. A deer and a fawn ran out into the highway and they were not visible until very late (so didn't have time to change lanes well ahead of time). I had to do a quick maneuver to avoid them and car handled it admirably (no instability or sliding at all and I was able to easily straighten out and continue on as if nothing happened).

 

[imwco]

You would if the car were priced at the true cost though. I think the problem is that last year the cost was way greater than the value given the quality issues, and software improvements in the backlog

 

[pikeman]

If you’re driving 20-21” wheels in the typical urban environment, what do you expect? I think it’s lunacy to put 21” wheels on a daily driver unless you’re willing to bear the expense without whining.

 

[Malaromane]

No body shop is obligated to provide a loaner as it relates to accident repair. @Malaromane stated they got rear ended (thus accident). This has nothing to do with dealer / MFR provided loaners etc. It DOES speak to how long repairs can take due to lack of availability of parts and such, though.

There should be no expectation for a dealer / mfr supplied loaner vehicle for accident repair. The expectation that is being missed is being repaired in a reasonable time frame, which is something that tesla body shops miss all the time (and people are rightly frustrated about that).

Agreed. I did not expect -- nor did I ask for -- a loaner when my Model 3 was dropped off with Tesla. My insurance company rented me this misery-inducing Kia Soul that I absolutely abhor driving.

As for the repairs, there's finally been some activity. My vehicle was torn down and the official estimate provided to my insurance company. Latest statement was that the parts have been ordered and, once in, the repairs will take at least a month to complete. But who knows how long it will take to actually get the parts first.

My car was handed off to a different service rep and this one has been far more responsive to messages (both in-app and via email) the few times that I've had some questions so on that front, I'm a little happier with the service. But I still stand by my original post that while I love my Tesla, I'm not sure I'd buy another one just based on this experience.

 

[AdrianPD]

From early after receiving my Tesla 3 I have had buyers remorse because there is so much wrong with it in a world of modern cars. The latest Consumer Reports really puts its fingers on the major issues.
The ride is stiff and uncomfortable, transmitting all road irregularities to the passengers particularly in the rear seats;
The Blind Spot Warning system is inadequate and barely exists since there is no audible warning;
Controls are not intuitive and changes have to be made from the central console;
And the Parking Assist is laughable even with the upgrade which only arrived about a week ago.
Sure Musk is innovative but his arrogance to know best results in an overall inferior product.

Although I had to take a financial hit I am glad that i was able to unload the Tesla 3 for a wonderful, superior in every way, Hyondai Ioniq6 sedan.
All Tesla owners should consider the long term viability of the brand in a growing competitive market.

 

[tesluv108]

Was the 3 your first Tesla? To me the ride quality of the S was far superior.

 

[AdrianPD]

And what about the BWS, the fiddling around to do simple things like adjustying the mirrors, the absence of adequate and audible warning of objects near to the car....

 

[stopcrazypp]

And what about the BWS, the fiddling around to do simple things like adjustying the mirrors, the absence of adequate and audible warning of objects near to the car....

The BWS does have an audible warning (enable it under Controls > Autopilot > Blind Spot Collision Warning Chime), it seems you just don't know how it works (it does not work like other cars).
Basically it only warns you if you are making an action that heads toward a car in your blind spot (with chime off, it shows the car in the blindspot in red in the visualization):
Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla
What it doesn't do is show a warning as soon as something is in the blind spot (which is how people may be used to how it works in other cars).

For adjusting the mirrors, given it's done only once and is saved to your profile (plus it drops down when reversing to see the curb), I'm personally not seeing the issue in using the scroll wheels to do it. I guess if you are the type of driver to constantly adjust your mirrors on the fly, you might not like it (but if you have only two preferred positions it's easy to just set two profiles and switch it and it'll be much faster than any manual adjustments even in cars with dedicated controls).

 

[AdrianPD]

As I stated earlier there is nothing intutive about the controls. And, while backing out of my garage in my new Ioniq6 another car came down the alley and my car stopped automatically. I never experienced that with the Tesla (although I never had such a collision). I've had a similar experience with my (lower market) Prius. But if you are happy I am happy.

 

[OldPro]

There are some very nice features about this car but there is a lot wrong. To paraphrase Elizabeth Barret Browning let me count the ways. The letters, symbols and numbers on the home screen are too small particularly on the map; there is no parking assist (in contrast to every high quality car available in the 21st century); the latest software update disabled my garage door opener; and I could go on but I will dump this as soon as a good electric sedan is available that doesn't cost the moon. Does any one believe the Tesla engineers read the many gripes on this forum and ever think of responding in a positive way to correct the many issues?

We are extremely pleased with our 2018 Model 3 LR. Let me count the ways..

 

[st_o_p]

I wouldn't buy another Tesla either.
The driving performance of my Model 3 is absolutely fantastic - the acceleration, handling, stopping, the whole thing. Which is the only reason I keep the car.

Pretty much everything else is endless annoyance. The comfort in the cabin is horrible and is annoying me every time I drive it. The software updates that actually make things worse turned out to be the one of the biggest downsides of this car. Having to take my eyes off the road to find the heated seats place on the screen cause there is no button - all the time. The lack of HUD. The cabin noise.
Autopilot got a lot more horrible since they disabled the radar - talking about 1diotic decision. FSD is completely useless - as much as it costs now, if I can get back my $6K I paid for it in 2019 - I'd be glad to get that refund; money completely wasted.

And going up to Model S basically fixes nothing of that.
Can't wait until the luxury brands - Merc, BMW and Audi finally get viable electric cars out there so we don't have to put up with half-baked experience. They're almost there, but not quite there yet. Probably another couple years.

 

[TomT]

Does any one believe the Tesla engineers read the many gripes on this forum and ever think of responding in a positive way to correct the many issues?

Nope!