Model 3 not recommended and also highest owner satisfaction from Consumer Reports

[Gpa9504]

I was one of the first in my neighborhood owning a Tesla (MX). Sold it after 8 months. Told many friends to steer clear. The car was great- the company not so much. And I believe you’ve got to buy the “company” along with the car. Service/repair needs are always a possibility.

And...here I am buying a M3. I am probably dumb. But it’s not a primary car and my expectations are severely tempered. If they disappoint me this time- they truly and unforgivablely will suck.

 

[juanmedina]

How is Subaru #1? Ring lands anyone? Welds failing on the firewall? Or the new Subaru Ascent that was recalled?

500 owners and CR subscribers seems like a tiny data set.

 

[MuleTrainBill]

Well I won't say my experience was perfect especially in the buying process but love the model 3 and haven't had any issues with it. I ordered two at the same time finally decided to cancel the second order and got my check in record time. Still waiting for the new updates that allow me to have dog on board mode and security mode. I think for a new company they're doing a fantastic job.

 

[Daniel in SD]

How is Subaru #1? Ring lands anyone? Welds failing on the firewall? Or the new Subaru Ascent that was recalled?

500 owners and CR subscribers seems like a tiny data set.

I think it's because they're more reliable than other cars. Also, Subaru is not #1 on CR's rankings, Toyota is.

 

[juanmedina]

I think it's because they're more reliable than other cars. Also, Subaru is not #1 on CR's rankings, Toyota is.

15:41 mark

 

[Mod3forMe]

Do they listen? This is for cases if they were close and capable of buying one?

Friend: "I'm going to go buy one today!"
You: "Ummmm its not really going to be for you."
Friend: "Ok, thanks for advice. I won't buy it and thank you for having integrity and not whoring out your ref code just so you can get a photo launched into space".

Kind of. A friend of mine wanted to buy one who lived outside of Winnipeg. Planned to drive 200-300KM regularly in a day. I told him to dig deep on the research of the battery and real world cold weather range. On paper he thought the 500K range should have no trouble doing 300KM in a day several times a week. But once you stick with charging to 90% you are now at 450KM range. Lots of people are seeing their range reduced as much as 40% in cold weather, wind, snow on road etc etc. . Now you are down to 270Km range.

I said you might have drive with heater off on bad days to make it home.

 

[Daniel in SD]

15:41 mark

I thought you were talking about just reliability! Those are just average "overall" ratings which seem sort of silly since you really only care about one rating when you're buying car.

 

[Daniel in SD]

How is Subaru #1? Ring lands anyone? Welds failing on the firewall? Or the new Subaru Ascent that was recalled?

Just FYI for the weld issue only 9 vehicles were delivered to customers. They were recalled, inspected, cleared and returned to customers. I believe the ring land problem was mostly on modified engines. Now the head gasket issue was certainly a debacle! That was on cars sold more than 15 years ago though and it seems like Consumer Reports weighs recent data heavily. They rate the German brands way too highly IMHO. Sure they'll be flawless for the first 50k miles but after that they're a disaster!

 

[dfwatt]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this without some kind of meaningful data that really supports what CR is claiming.

I found CR's treatment of the record (high) level of owner satisfaction ratings on Model 3 troubling, in terms of how deeply the data was buried on their website - it was virtually invisible. I have a subscription but couldn't find it without a whole lot of work.

While I get that reliability is a big issue at CR, we have two Model 3, delivered in nearly perfect condition. And while that's just anecdotal, I wonder what the real data is, and whether it's just panel gaps and paint or something more serious. In any case, something seems potentially fishy here, as discussed in this earlier Blog on CR and Tesla Model 3. CR has flip-flopped on Tesla so many times it makes you dizzy.

 

[dfwatt]

I wouldn't recommend it from a reliability standpoint.

However, from a fun factor (acceleration/handling) or tech standpoint I will and do recommend it.

I've been mostly lucky (knock on wood), to have had only 1 major issue, and a few minor issues. I won't kid myself, or anyone else - I'm always worried that the car may have a not so easy to resolve problem pop up, and then I'll have to wait over a month for an appointment.

Still love the car though.

Curious what the major issue was? We have two Model 3 DMP+. Most serious issues were a too tight trunk latch, and some minor paint issues. Otherwise, knock on wood, perfect - and all issues were resolved professionally and reasonably promptly. Nothing major though, so perhaps I haven't really stress tested their systems. Yet.

Performance, ride, handling, efficiency, cost of operation, touchscreen operating system, autopilot, all best in class. While I do hear horror stories, I can only report that overall, our experience has been great, and the car is a revelation in so many ways.

 

[SD_Engnr]

Curious what the major issue was? We have two Model 3 DMP+. Most serious issues were a too tight trunk latch, and some minor paint issues. Otherwise, knock on wood, perfect - and all issues were resolved professionally and reasonably promptly. Nothing major though, so perhaps I haven't really stress tested their systems. Yet.

Performance, ride, handling, efficiency, cost of operation, touchscreen operating system, autopilot, all best in class. While I do hear horror stories, I can only report that overall, our experience has been great, and the car is a revelation in so many ways.

Failed front drive unit after around 5 weeks and 940 miles.

 

[MagnusMako]

I think Tesla's, or Model 3's atleast are basically amazing cars until they aren't. Meaning, while everything is working well aside from minor quirks, the car is incredible. But for the portion of people who do end up with one's that have flaws and require service, or multiple service appointments, or parts replacements, or difficulties with technicians diagnosing problems accurately, or with tech's believing something is not a defect when it is - their life is probably as difficult as it is for a large portion of other people throughout the nation. Tesla has admitted they have a service problem and it's a top priority for Elon Musk to fix it this year based on one of his recent tweets. So the gamble is buying the car that you hope works and continues to work flawlessly during this period in which people are ending up waiting months to get the necessary repairs done, because Tesla has a huge problem with stocking, or rather distributing replacement parts to service centers. This is a real issue, I've seen it documented in many YT videos, and I feel bad for anyone who has to deal with it. I consider myself lucky that nothing major has happened yet - even though I've already dealt with many small problems that I see reported by others as well. As long as the repair turnaround problems are ongoing, it's going to be compounded by the fact that there are more and more Model 3's on the road and the backlog for getting repairs done is only going to get worse until it gets significantly better. All in all, this year is probably going to still be a rough one for Tesla, but I think next year will be a great one if they can fix the service problems along with ironing out both bigger and more subtle problems in production and quality control.

 

[PARNY]

CR reliability ratings are based on data from user surveys. They rated the car below average in reliability because owners reported enough problems relative to other brands to rate the car that way. They praised the way the car drives. I own a Model S and like others say on this thread, the cars are buggy. Love the S but don't see how Tesla can be successful in the mass market selling cars to people who are not comfortable rebooting their screens or dealing with buggy software (especially for new features). I really want Tesla to succeed and own stock in the company but two issues that will kill the brand are poor quality and a sales and service organization that does not communicate, communicates false information or does not follow up. Hopefully the CR survey and the resulting hit to the stock will drive the company to make some changes.

 

[dfwatt]

Failed front drive unit after around 5 weeks and 940 miles.

Ouch! So the car wouldn't move, or could you drive with rear motor? Any word from Tesla on what the critical component failure was?

 

[Az_Rael]

Oh.. the Tesla Ipad sometimes is wonky.

1.) It can be updated.

Color me unimpressed with Tesla's ability to fix wonky screen behavior in any sort of timely manner. They broke the XM radio interface on my S for long enough that I forgot how it was supposed to work, and I have been dealing with several software bugs on my 3 for over a year at this point. They are confirmed software bugs because everytime I bring the car in, service says, "oh, that will be fixed in the next update"

So I think it is a legit gripe. I am annoyed at having to futz constantly with the streaming because it often gets stuck in a loading loop or skips songs randomly, etc. I hate having to wait over a minute sometimes for my screen to boot and climate to fire up, especially in 100 degree weather. I hate the newer no audio bug that has me wondering if my blinkers are on because I can't hear them that I have to put the car back in park to fix. It would be nice if it all just worked, because right now it does distract from my enjoyment of the driving experience that is wonderful.

 

[SD_Engnr]

Ouch! So the car wouldn't move, or could you drive with rear motor? Any word from Tesla on what the critical component failure was?

Car seemingly drove okay, if you exclude the high pitch squealing sound that was coming from an inner CV joint. They gave me zero information regarding the failure, but indicated that the replacement motor was a newer revision/iteration.

 

[dmurphy]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this without some kind of meaningful data that really supports what CR is claiming.

Bingo.

They rate Cadillac much worse than average on reliability, but that’s all I’ve driven the last 7 years and both have been flawless.

They slam my model over its electronic shifter. It takes about 2 1/2 seconds to figure out. Push in the button, pull towards you to put it in drive. Not sure why that’s worth a bad rating, but it is. Same exact style shifter BMW uses, but they don’t say a word.

Worst issue I’ve had in 7 years was a spurious “check transmission” error message on the dash. Performed fine, just a bogus error message. A quick firmware update fixed it.

So ... when it comes to ANY American car manufacturer (Tesla included) - take CR with a huge salt lick.

 

[vickh]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this without some kind of meaningful data that really supports what CR is claiming.

I found CR's treatment of the record (high) level of owner satisfaction ratings on Model 3 troubling, in terms of how deeply the data was buried on their website - it was virtually invisible. I have a subscription but couldn't find it without a whole lot of work.

While I get that reliability is a big issue at CR, we have two Model 3, delivered in nearly perfect condition. And while that's just anecdotal, I wonder what the real data is, and whether it's just panel gaps and paint or something more serious. In any case, something seems potentially fishy here, as discussed in this earlier Blog on CR and Tesla Model 3. CR has flip-flopped on Tesla so many times it makes you dizzy.

I'd be curious to see the raw data too.

Similar to flip-flop on M S 12 Models Lose CR Recommendation Over Car Reliability Issues

 

[Ron2andia]

I love my P3D but the company and it’s employees have alottttt to learn about customer service... just not good experiences so far... has my wife against buying a second one which was the original plan. I still want to but she says they tainted the buying of your dream car.. I want to argue but she is right.

 

[Brando]

500 sample size/145,000 built = 0.34%
~80,000/145,000 built = ~55% < 90 days old

new car < 1year old vs car > 1 year old

Thank you early adopters for helping bring on the BEV revolution.

PS- panel gaps still not a concern of mine. But with a used car, who would care.