Today was finally the big delivery day after waiting since Oct 20. Overall the car was much better than I feared but still had usual issues with passenger door, trunk, and tail lights gaps. Both front and rear passenger door hinges were scraped to bare metal. You can tell Tesla was in a rush since there was glue residue in many areas, grease marks, fabric stains, and even tape left on the glass and interior trims. What took the cake were the misaligned stitching that created two sets of holes in the headrest They made me accept delivery before allowed to inspect interior too. To Tesla’s credit I made a service appointment today and already got email a new headrest was ordered. Maybe my expectations were set low that overall was still pleased. I am very particular (read: OCD) with my cars and I spent 2hours at delivery. I guess it’s like watching a movie...just expect the worst and walk away ok.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Delivery / Service Issues (panel gaps, delivery delays / issues / Service problems etc)
- Thread starter Protect1989
- Start date
Just took delivery of our new 2021 Model 3 LR AWD this morning. Lovely car overall but I have to say many of the major panel gaps are pretty poor. Driver’s door fit is probably the worst and echoes recent photos of others in this thread. But there are at least half a dozen other dubious panel gaps/fit issues around the car. It definitely needs a visit to the SC to deal with it all.
I’m going to give them 1 chance to sort it out otherwise I will reject the car and start again. I’ll post some photos when I get chance. It’s not pretty close up and looks like the panels were just thrown on!
If this had been my first Tesla and I didn’t realise how great they are to drive I would probably have rejected it on the spot.
On a positive note it looks pretty awesome in white/white with the new black exterior trim. The new design aero caps look much better too. Touchscreen is much nicer than in our 2018 MX. Haven’t had chance to drive it yet, but I have little doubt it will be great.
So yeah, basic build quality (or at the very least PDI) is still a Tesla problem.
I’m going to give them 1 chance to sort it out otherwise I will reject the car and start again. I’ll post some photos when I get chance. It’s not pretty close up and looks like the panels were just thrown on!
If this had been my first Tesla and I didn’t realise how great they are to drive I would probably have rejected it on the spot.
On a positive note it looks pretty awesome in white/white with the new black exterior trim. The new design aero caps look much better too. Touchscreen is much nicer than in our 2018 MX. Haven’t had chance to drive it yet, but I have little doubt it will be great.
So yeah, basic build quality (or at the very least PDI) is still a Tesla problem.
I was wondering how you'd reject delivery at this point, but just realized you are in UK which still has the 7-day return policy, right?
Yeah, UK distance selling law allows me to return it within 14 days if I’m not happy. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but I could do without leaving my brand new car at the SC right now. I had it home delivered specifically to avoid the hassle of going there in the first place.
Cleo-n-Company
Member
Folks -
Long time Model S owner here -- cancelled an M3 order a couple months ago after an interminable wait and the necessity of getting some wheels pronto.
My question - and am not trying to start a fight with anyone...
For the life of me I can not figure out why the typical mentality is to accept these highly flawed vehicles with the understanding that Tesla will address these issues (or attempt to do so) at a later point ?
None of us would ever do this with any other purchase we ever make. Certainly not with any other car purchase during our lifetime. I've bought probably 12 to 14 new cars. Never even considered taking home something that looked like these Model 3 Frankensteins.
My point being... if larger percentages of buyers refused these cars, wouldn't that finally send the message to Elon and company that this is an unacceptable way to doing business ? Hurting the bottom line is all that Elon cares about.
Long time Model S owner here -- cancelled an M3 order a couple months ago after an interminable wait and the necessity of getting some wheels pronto.
My question - and am not trying to start a fight with anyone...
For the life of me I can not figure out why the typical mentality is to accept these highly flawed vehicles with the understanding that Tesla will address these issues (or attempt to do so) at a later point ?
None of us would ever do this with any other purchase we ever make. Certainly not with any other car purchase during our lifetime. I've bought probably 12 to 14 new cars. Never even considered taking home something that looked like these Model 3 Frankensteins.
My point being... if larger percentages of buyers refused these cars, wouldn't that finally send the message to Elon and company that this is an unacceptable way to doing business ? Hurting the bottom line is all that Elon cares about.
For me it’s simply that the issues are not that big a deal in the overall scheme of things. Our last Nissan had some dodgy panel gaps too. Also test drove a Volvo and Land Rover and both had minor panel fit issues too. This Tesla is probably the worst, but still light years ahead overall. Let’s not talk about Porsche 911 engine reliability issues either. Other cars are far from perfect.
In theory, yes, but that's not likely to happen. Tesla has the lowest quality ratings of any manufacturer, it doesn't advertise and still manages to sell every car it can produce. The Cybertruck is hideous and it wouldn't matter if the panels were put on by drunken chimpanzees, they will sell through the roof. Elon knows it is less costly to fix defects early in the manufacturing process, unless they don't get fixed at all, so he has this wacky 95% complete model and I'm sure the numbers to support his approach. People do complain online, but how many owners simply shrug off the defects? I'm guessing most.
The nearly 30 year-old Lexus ad (with the ball bearing rolling over perfect body gaps) ended with "The relentless pursuit of perfection". For Elon, it is "The relentless pursuit of production".
I took delivery of my Model 3 on December 18th. I inspected the car when it was delivered and I didn't notice anything that looked "serious" per se. On delivery, I noticed:
- Misaligned headlights.
- Misaligned taillight.
- Pillar cameras full of condensation.
- Exposed steel between doors.
- White marks/streaks on the seats and the doors (due to the adhesive?).
After a few days, I decided to dig a bit deeper:
- Wheel well liner was falling off. The SC tried to fix this with ZIP-TIES.
- Rear passenger won't close without slamming it shut.
- The seals around the back windows are hanging off (worse on the door that won't shut without slamming it).
- The paint is already chipping around the wheel well.
Today, I discovered a few more issues as well:
- There's a knocking sound coming from the rear driver's side passenger door.
- My seats are creasing after a few weeks of owning the car.
Here's a link to the pictures/videos: New Model 3
Unfortunately, my SC isn't being very helpful. The seat creases are "within spec" and they won't budge on the other items listed above. I love the idea of Tesla, but I am really disappointed with my purchase.
- Misaligned headlights.
- Misaligned taillight.
- Pillar cameras full of condensation.
- Exposed steel between doors.
- White marks/streaks on the seats and the doors (due to the adhesive?).
After a few days, I decided to dig a bit deeper:
- Wheel well liner was falling off. The SC tried to fix this with ZIP-TIES.
- Rear passenger won't close without slamming it shut.
- The seals around the back windows are hanging off (worse on the door that won't shut without slamming it).
- The paint is already chipping around the wheel well.
Today, I discovered a few more issues as well:
- There's a knocking sound coming from the rear driver's side passenger door.
- My seats are creasing after a few weeks of owning the car.
Here's a link to the pictures/videos: New Model 3
Unfortunately, my SC isn't being very helpful. The seat creases are "within spec" and they won't budge on the other items listed above. I love the idea of Tesla, but I am really disappointed with my purchase.
Cleo-n-Company
Member
OK - I appreciate the response. I've had 3 new Volvos over the years, and have generally warm and fuzzy memories of these guys. I never noticed any panel fit issues on mine.
As far as cars in that "far from perfect" category... my history with BMW's is lovely proof that other cars are far from perfect. I just never felt that I was being asked to swallow broken glass with the BMW's. I would identify the broken glass and they would fix it. Maybe with a grimace on occasion, but usually with a smile and a thank you for my loyalty.
Last edited:
Cleo-n-Company
Member
I'm with you -- 99% of Tesla buyers and owners never get a whiff of this site and couldn't care less either. They just want their cars to work, and in many cases want to look cool in a Tesla.
It's just strange to me shrugging off the defects on a 50K and up purchase.
As far as the Cybertruck - I swear to god - so many truck people in my part of California will never buy that thing just out of principle. Forget the horsepower... forget the range. If it doesn't have some Cummins diesel and dualies they won't touch it.
Last Volvo we owned from new was pretty reliable up to 100k miles, although in the first year the intake manifold came loose on a motorway trip and put the engine into limp home mode. Beyond 100k miles everything started to fail and the engine finally blew up at around 150k miles - car was scrapped. Panel gaps were great though!
Bought a new BMW, sold it within 6 months due to the harsh ride quality and unbelievably noisy interior. It had so many squeaks and rattles you couldn’t tell where they were coming from. It was the worst I’ve ever experienced in any car. Panel gaps again great though!
Owned about half a dozen Porsche 911s over the last 20 years and every single one had serious reliability issues. Worst was the 996 Carrera with the infamous IMS bearing failure = replacement engine under warranty at 25k miles. Great panel gaps though! Oh wait, actually my 997 had a badly fitted bonnet on delivery.
Wife had a MK2 Nissan Qashqai right before the model 3. Again bought new in 2014 when it was launched. Panel fits were not very good, especially around the doors. It was fairly reliable though, just a few electrical gremlins along the way. Not the most exciting drive, just an A-B car.
I’ve been driving a Tesla MX since 2018 and it has been brilliant! Panel gaps are not the best ever, but that doesn’t stop it being the best car I’ve ever driven overall. Reliability has also been 100% so far over 40k miles.
So I wasn’t that surprised to find panel fit issues with our new Model 3. But I didn’t reject it because I know it will drive better than anything else in its class, which for me at least is much more important.
Having said that, if Tesla could bring their build quality up to scratch it would be the icing on the cake. I would say other manufacturers have much more work to do on their EV design and tech to compete. I did look twice at the Polestar before ordering the Model 3, but as an overall package the Tesla still wins, despite the flaws.
Turd polishing at its finest, lol. But seriously, automotive perfection is not really about panel gaps is it?
Cleo-n-Company
Member
Pain of rejection ? I didn't know Model 3's were so sensitive.
But thanks for providing your reasoning. As I said - I'm just wondering "why" at this point. If Covid wasn't killing half of California (OK mild exaggeration), maybe I'd lead some protest in front of Fremont HQ.
Cleo-n-Company
Member
It would just seem uneven panel gaps were conquered sometime not long after the Ford Model A. But I did love my BMW Z4 despite its many foibles too.
Similar threads
