JD Power Initial Quality Survey

[Richbot]

I got one in the mail and gave me some time to reflect on the car last night and 4100 miles in 3 months (more than any of our other cars did in most of 2020). It was a good exercise and forces you to think about what you actually like and don't like about the car. I'ms ure if any human actually reads it they'll get a laugh out of my comments. But, overall, 9/10 I think. I really like it a lot. My objections are, primarily, minor complaints and as a family car, it's just an excellent car. I've had a lot of pretty good cars over the years and all of them have had a list of "this was a dumb engineering choice" issues about this long, but none of them had the QA and cosmetic issues this car had from the factory.

Things I dinged it on:

- Dim footwell and cargo lights (I fixed with a replacement kit)
- carpet coming out from under the front driver's side kick panel trim due to carpet dead pedal (I fixed with some doublestick tape)
- Panel fitment generally isn't awesome, it wasn't awesome when the car was delivered on the frunk or trunk, and still isn't though the SC did what they could without taking stuff apart. Most of the remaining issues are where the wing doors meet the car when closed. The sheetmetal and door "handles" all line up, but everything else has to look juuust a little wonky to line up at those points.
- Driver's side window sticky/slow/squeaky - this was a problem on delivery and I gave the SC an opportunity to fix - they verified the issue buit whatever they did ("adjustment"?) didn't help. A little dry silicone lube ont eh seals and the problem is gone. WTF Fremont, lube the windows, the other three windows have always worked great
- Paint quality isn't perfect (some drips and inclusions in a couple places), but I'm pleasantly surprised given the company's reputation, it's pretty good (white)
- Shudder/ride height-related power restriction - this is half-assed engineering that I shouldn't have to deal with - but it doesn't really impact me so far beacuse I don't use the higher suspension settings, ever, because I like my wagons low
- Phantom braking in cruise, AP and no "dumb" cruise control option for when adaptive speed control is acting foolish - seems silly not to offer this option to people who can't or won't trust the adaptive cruise due to phantom braking events spooking them
- Headlights aren't good enough in this price segment containing mostly very excellent headlights. They're fine, about on the same performance level as the LED's on my Tundra, but not on the same level as the rest of the price range, or indeed, many nice cars costing half as much - it's one of the few "human factors" points Tesla missed the mark on from behind the wheel IMO
- Front sunshade doesn't articulate out to the side windows - this is just flat stupid
- No spare and no mobility kit is also just flat out stupid as hell

There were others, but it surprised me to realize that the powertrain, suspension tuning, UI, interior generally, the wing doors and the powered doors generally, the charging and range and energy management and autopilot, have all been upside surprises to me overall thinking about what my expectations were before taking delivery. Yeah the wing doors are dumb and don't fit right, but they have their benefits and help the car be weird enough to not just be an electric minivan/station wagon. I miss the panoramic windscreen when I'm not driving it.

I did enough research to know what I was getting into and to not expect perfection. I've been pretty pleasantly surprised. It's a good car. And I'm pretty picky.

Also, they sent me a dollar bill for my trouble

 

[KentuckyX]

I got one in the mail and gave me some time to reflect on the car last night and 4100 miles in 3 months (more than any of our other cars did in most of 2020). It was a good exercise and forces you to think about what you actually like and don't like about the car. I'ms ure if any human actually reads it they'll get a laugh out of my comments. But, overall, 9/10 I think. I really like it a lot. My objections are, primarily, minor complaints and as a family car, it's just an excellent car. I've had a lot of pretty good cars over the years and all of them have had a list of "this was a dumb engineering choice" issues about this long, but none of them had the QA and cosmetic issues this car had from the factory.

Things I dinged it on:

- Dim footwell and cargo lights (I fixed with a replacement kit)
- carpet coming out from under the front driver's side kick panel trim due to carpet dead pedal (I fixed with some doublestick tape)
- Panel fitment generally isn't awesome, it wasn't awesome when the car was delivered on the frunk or trunk, and still isn't though the SC did what they could without taking stuff apart. Most of the remaining issues are where the wing doors meet the car when closed. The sheetmetal and door "handles" all line up, but everything else has to look juuust a little wonky to line up at those points.
- Driver's side window sticky/slow/squeaky - this was a problem on delivery and I gave the SC an opportunity to fix - they verified the issue buit whatever they did ("adjustment"?) didn't help. A little dry silicone lube ont eh seals and the problem is gone. WTF Fremont, lube the windows, the other three windows have always worked great
- Paint quality isn't perfect (some drips and inclusions in a couple places), but I'm pleasantly surprised given the company's reputation, it's pretty good (white)
- Shudder/ride height-related power restriction - this is half-assed engineering that I shouldn't have to deal with - but it doesn't really impact me so far beacuse I don't use the higher suspension settings, ever, because I like my wagons low
- Phantom braking in cruise, AP and no "dumb" cruise control option for when adaptive speed control is acting foolish - seems silly not to offer this option to people who can't or won't trust the adaptive cruise due to phantom braking events spooking them
- Headlights aren't good enough in this price segment containing mostly very excellent headlights. They're fine, about on the same performance level as the LED's on my Tundra, but not on the same level as the rest of the price range, or indeed, many nice cars costing half as much - it's one of the few "human factors" points Tesla missed the mark on from behind the wheel IMO
- Front sunshade doesn't articulate out to the side windows - this is just flat stupid
- No spare and no mobility kit is also just flat out stupid as hell

There were others, but it surprised me to realize that the powertrain, suspension tuning, UI, interior generally, the wing doors and the powered doors generally, the charging and range and energy management and autopilot, have all been upside surprises to me overall thinking about what my expectations were before taking delivery. Yeah the wing doors are dumb and don't fit right, but they have their benefits and help the car be weird enough to not just be an electric minivan/station wagon. I miss the panoramic windscreen when I'm not driving it.

I did enough research to know what I was getting into and to not expect perfection. I've been pretty pleasantly surprised. It's a good car. And I'm pretty picky.

Also, they sent me a dollar bill for my trouble

I agree 100% regarding the headlights; very good, just not great. I was a bit surprised, coming from a Model 3, that the X's headlights (I've got the premium ones on my 2017) weren't better than the 3. The 3, imo, are the best headlights I've ever experienced. I've also got some fitment issues with my back lift gate; particularly the right side. I also had hoped it would be quieter on the inside, given its price point. Everything else seems within spec to me. If only the previous owner had been as careful as I am about protecting the interior and exterior finish, I'd have nearly a perfect car.

 

[Richbot]

It's funny you mention it, the 2017 100D's I test drove were a big part of what ultimately convinced me to get one. The higher-mileage models I tried out were no better or worse for wear (other than some of the oddities around the falcon doors) than any other 3-4 year old luxury car I've purchased in the past. I figured if they had gotten the '17's that close to the mark, the 2021's must be even better. I was half-right, the running gear and dirty bits are indeed better, but the rest of the car is still the same "old" weird, somewhat slapdash, but still pretty awesome Model X heh

 

[Richbot]

Update: my only nagging Pre-Installed Factory Fresh Tesla Certified Excellent mechanical issue with the car, the driver's side window seals were dragging too hard on the window glass, causing way too much resistance and slow/no close and noises when wet.

Mobile service replaced this morning, I drove one of the other vehicles to work, easy peasy. I have a road trip coming up and will report back on that, but otherwise, so far so great. Since I posted this review we've had the pleasure of a 7-person + 3 hour (round-trip) road trip, and many other happenings and goings-on have occurred. Kids still love it and prefer it, etc.

Lifetime average over 6100 miles is 316 wh/mi and falling as the miles rack up, though that will probably stop during this upcoming long road trip which will not be an economy run. Month of May average so far is 271 wh/mi, mostly commuting, on my 70% highway commute. Two megawatt-hours. About 1/3 of my electricity comes from home charging, the rest comes from free charging on a 5-20 plug at work. Free supercharger miles are all but gone, but my cost to run the thing works out to about $173 in "fuel". Which compared to our 17mpg fleet of other cars, is quite the savings. Luckily the insurance is so high that it doesn't matter how much I save on fuel, so I won't pick up any other expensive habits with the extra cash I don't have

 

[Richbot]

Oh and I'll add, man, mobile service is a revelation. SCheduled via the app, got confirmation from service and was able to converse via app messaging, this morning switched to voice and text with the tech, tech had everything he needed in the (Tesla) service vehicle to do the work assuming it was an easy issue like a regulator or seals, he talked through me in detail what he would do and sent a photo of the culprit, and verified operation, called me to confirm, and clearly gave a crap about making sure I was satisfied. WTF IS HAPPENING WHERE IS THE UPSELL DON'T I NEED TIRES?!?! ISN'T MY UNDERCOATING EXPIRED?! I'm so confused

 

[ngng]

 

[Richbot]

Does initial mean "when it leaves the factory" or "when Tesla mobile service gets around to finishing the car"?

 

[mswlogo]

Update: my only nagging Pre-Installed Factory Fresh Tesla Certified Excellent mechanical issue with the car, the driver's side window seals were dragging too hard on the window glass, causing way too much resistance and slow/no close and noises when wet.

Mobile service replaced this morning, I drove one of the other vehicles to work, easy peasy. I have a road trip coming up and will report back on that, but otherwise, so far so great. Since I posted this review we've had the pleasure of a 7-person + 3 hour (round-trip) road trip, and many other happenings and goings-on have occurred. Kids still love it and prefer it, etc.

Lifetime average over 6100 miles is 316 wh/mi and falling as the miles rack up, though that will probably stop during this upcoming long road trip which will not be an economy run. Month of May average so far is 271 wh/mi, mostly commuting, on my 70% highway commute. Two megawatt-hours. About 1/3 of my electricity comes from home charging, the rest comes from free charging on a 5-20 plug at work. Free supercharger miles are all but gone, but my cost to run the thing works out to about $173 in "fuel". Which compared to our 17mpg fleet of other cars, is quite the savings. Luckily the insurance is so high that it doesn't matter how much I save on fuel, so I won't pick up any other expensive habits with the extra cash I don't have

You should shop around on insurance. I pay about the same as my $40K Jeeps. Progressive is a common one that is generally low. There are a few. Some insurance companies are excessively high on Tesla's.