to add about build quality to my other post, the m5 was bought 2.5 hours away so after driving that far I couldn’t even drive the car home, on the way home from the dealer after the headlight was fixed I noticed one of the buttons next to the knob was not clicking or working which required I drive back 2.5 hours to have that replaced, again on a brand new car that cost 139k. The reason I bought the model y for the wife in dec 2020 was due to me and the wife buying her a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee that for 10 months were just stuff of nightmares. The jeep had a laundry list of issues such as transmission grinding will driving, the dash and screen turning off while driving, water leaked inside the electrical compartment which caused multiple other issues including lights that wouldn’t turn on, the car would get stuck and not moved if parked on any type of incline, the ac/heat would turn off and only way to reset it was by parking and turning the car on then off. Tesla gets a lot of criticism but that’s not because of build quality or issues, it’s mostly from jealousy or people being envy over the cars technological advantage over ice cars. To any posters reading this, when you go pick up your Tesla go into it with an open mind not some predetermined judgement that the car will have issues, if it does have issues set up a service apt and have Tesla fix it.
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TBrownTX
Active Member
A neighbor of mine just picked up a brand new VW. I cringe every time I walk my dogs past that thing. The hood is installed crooked and lights don’t line up. my Tesla is not perfect, but that VW is just embarrassing.
My advice to new buyers... If you have never taken a checklist or looked for these kinds of issues on any other car you have already purchased, don’t start now. If you never read about it here, would you even look?
Tim
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
That's true. There were 3 cars in the lot when I picked mine up and all 3 of us were there at the same time. I spent about 45 minutes walking around and around and looking at everything. The other two people were still inspecting when I left. I've never done that with any car before and never would have even thought to do so.
That said, I do all my own washing, claybar, ceramic, etc. on every car I've owned for the last 30 years, including adjusting (old) doors/windows and everything else that needs work along the way. I know every inch of every car and I have never seen anything like the flaws in the Tesla. Never seen paint issues beyond a speck of dust in the clearcoat. Never seen glass the wrong size or shape, doors the wrong shape, dirty handprints on the misaligned headliner, or anything else like this. One of my headlights was protruding 1/4" from the bumper! Yeah, I woulda noticed something like that on any other car ever.
TBrownTX
Active Member
Picked up my black M3P today in Schaumburg, IL. No contact with a single person. Pretty cool. The car was pretty dirty and needs a good detail but only could find some scratches on the charge point cover. Amazing car and experience. Will take better and more pics once it's clean.
Attachments
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
The same as everyone else's. The passenger door isn't stamped properly so the top front corner doesn't line up with the fender/A-pillar. Mine's way better than the December builds but they clearly haven't fully corrected the tooling. I also get a lot of wind noise from the passenger side that sounds like a window is open and it appears that the B-pillar weatherstripping doesn't touch the passenger window.
I guess I lucked out. No panel gaps. Perfect paint job. Practically no road noise. I’m usually doing 75-80 on the freeway (AZ). Quiet. I still can’t believe this is my car. I bought it blind. Never driven it before.
As an observation you mention you know every inch of every car but I’m going to assume that’s subjective because I could also assume you haven’t been in a new Maserati which has god awful build quality, jeeps have terrible quality, honda, Chevy and the terrible interiors they have, Ford with the lose plastics both inside and outside of the car, ram trucks with misaligned panels and terrible paint, Kia, Hyundai, and Infiniti which I owned in high school had headlights that wouldn’t sit flush to the misaligned fenders. You say your Tesla has wind noise like a window is open, you should try riding in a Hyundai Sonata or a Kia telluride, both of which I’ve been in due to friends owning those cars and the issues are there. The reason I’m bringing that up is that every car manufacturer has some issues here and there. Tesla is roughly 15 years old and every manufacturer went through issues when they started off, Tesla gets more attention due to the higher entry price tag ,social media and because of Elon.
i gave examples of some manufacturers that I myself know for 100% fact have issues in the vehicles I’ve seen from family, friends and coworkers. I’m mentioning this so new Tesla buyers are not scared when they go buy the car thinking they are buying a lemon. As mentioned earlier a BMW m5 I bought in 2020 for 140k had issues on delivery day. Issues happen and those issues didn’t stop me from enjoying the heck out of the m5.
TBrownTX
Active Member
Wait a minute, the damn door isn't stamped correctly. Is this a 2021 only issue, this is making rethink a tesla purchase
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
Yeah, if you go back about 110 pages in this thread (jeez, am I that old?) you'll see some of the door stamping issues. I think it was a new error that they introduced for 2021 models. It's much better in the March builds but there's clearly still an issue with the tool. Something went terribly wrong in December with the trunk and passenger door tools but the trunk "tool" got fired and the door "tool" got some on the job training so things are much better now.
Just took delivery of my Freemont M3P MSM a few days ago here in Europe - so build date obviously a couple of months ago. Probably the most stressful build up to getting a car in 35 years of motoring after reading all the horror stories , even though common sense says that it's the dissatisfied owners that are posting most often. Had driven my wife mad on our walks round town as I stopped to check out shutlines on all the parked cars from other manufacturers. One thing I noticed was how many small 'misalignments' there are when you look for them. Some time spent examining a lot of the delivery stock on the Tesla lot before I bought mine showed me that there are a lot of Teslas without any issues. My own car appeared pretty flawless when I picked it up - a very small scratch at the end of the wooden dash panel that is too small too bother about - other than that it's all good
I got plenty of time to look round the car before signing for it. I'm coming from 2 Mazdas where the bar is set pretty high regarding quality and reliability, but even there I can remember all the problems with gearboxes and issues with the roof wearing when the new MX5 was lauched. Definitely a good idea to check your car as people obviously do have issues, but with hindsight, I wish I'd stayed a bit more positive.
I got plenty of time to look round the car before signing for it. I'm coming from 2 Mazdas where the bar is set pretty high regarding quality and reliability, but even there I can remember all the problems with gearboxes and issues with the roof wearing when the new MX5 was lauched. Definitely a good idea to check your car as people obviously do have issues, but with hindsight, I wish I'd stayed a bit more positive.
Snade
Member
That's funny, my wife was driving the M3P for the first time yesterday and I was in the passenger seat and I asked - "did we leave a window open".
By the way, I have found this thread very very helpful. I am fortunate to live a 30 minute drive from a Tesla service center, so I will take a short list of minor issues to address in a week or so. The comments that other brands have issues is true. I have never looked at every panel gap before.
My wife loves the car - totally thinks it is amazing.
As I posted before, this car is so fast, it's crazy. I also like the suspension, and the feel of the steering is good, better than I expected. I dig the look of the wheels. The sound system is terrific. The software enabled functions take time to understand and adjust to, but are fricken amazing.
That is the scoop.
Snade
Did some light stalking of the SC this morning. No P3D. Guess that means I come back tomorrow. Pickup Monday 11:30.
Got my early call from Devon today, make that 55 deliveries on Saturday. Kinda worked out nicely, because I was able to convince them not to wash it prior to delivery. 
TBrownTX
Active Member
Got my early call from Devon today, make that 55 deliveries on Saturday. Kinda worked out nicely, because I was able to convince them not to wash it prior to delivery.
Yay congrats! Can't wait to see the pictures. And don't be surprised if it's FILTHY. I saw mine fresh off transport, what a mess (rail/truck).
Tim
Got my automated delivery confirmation call!
It’s happening!
It’s happening!
Can I just say 9am to 6pm is a ridiculous waiting time
Getting mine today at 2. How this lined up to the first formula 1 race weekend qualifying session day of 2021 I have no idea (f1 has become my favorite sport of late, and quali is my favorite part of the weekend so today is like double Christmas for me), but I feel like I’m going to have to continuously remind myself that I am not Lewis.
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