You raise valid points. For you the Tesla is a transportation tool, and reliability and cost is critical to your ownership decision. I was concerned too, especially given Consumer Reports recent downgrade on the Tesla cars. But then I found this post - a YouTube video from Consumer Reports discussing reliability in general, and Tesla in particular:
Fast forward to the 9:33 mark on the video for the Tesla discussion. In the video the Consumer Reports team gives more details than the written publication provided. Among the interesting points. For Tesla Model S cars evaluated by Consumer Reports there were only about 1500 TOTAL consumer reports. Since many of those were early production cars, which had acknowledged problems, the "fail" rate for problems was very high, and given the limited number of consumer cars evaluated the problems became a larger percentage of the total number of reviews, providing a very poor rating.
That doesn't mean that you won't have problems, or that the problems are/were insignificant, but it does suggest that with more cars on the road, and significant changes in the production method over the year, reliability is likely better than Consumer Reports initially stated. They also comment on the Model X - which had very poor reviews and reliability ratings - and noted that a significant portion of the poor reliability ratings related to "gimmicks" - features that are somewhat unique to Tesla and had issues with usability and other problems (10:10 on the video). These items create reliability downgrades, but don't necessarily reflect the disability and other issues.
On the Model S they note that Tesla made production changes that made the air suspension standard. That system had "issues" when it was first designed and the downgrade of the Model S is related to the Air Suspension problems. (12:00 on the video). They also note that the Tesla S has more options than it did originally, which also affect reliability. Features such as dual wheel drive, upgraded navigation, etc. All of these features, at least initially, had some glitches, and with the small sample size it affects the rating (12:45 on the video).
The CR video describes their average rating for the Model 3 at 12:55 on the video. There they state that the initial Model 3 was RWD only, with limited variations as most of the cars were LR Deluxe interior cars. Reliability was also based on few cars, but with less complexity the reliability was better than the S or X with more options and more things to cause problems. I suspect that as AWD and Performance versions of the Model 3 become more common it's possible that Model 3 reliability will fall somewhat.
CR reports also suggests that if you are concerned with long term reliability (on any car) consider leasing instead of owning. That gets you into the car, and limits long term reliability issues, although at a higher net cost (leasing is more expensive). 14:06 on the video discusses this for all cars. Another option is to buy a long term extended reliability, also offsetting potential costs.
I'm not suggesting that the Tesla will be without problems, but it is worth noting the methodology that Consumer Reports uses, recognizing that small sample sizes can distort results and production changes also impact ratings.
Good luck regardless of the car you decide to buy.
