Well, we received our new inventory MX last week. The whole delivery experience was very good and we were in fact able to test drive the car before signing the delivery paperwork. Everything on the car was exactly as advertised and it looked great.
My frustration started on the test drive with a rattle above my head on the drivers side. Turns out this is due to a sloppy fit of the magnetic post that pops out to hold the sun visor in place. Not sure how this will be resolved in the long term but for now I'm just making sure there is a little pressure on that post. The pressure pushes the post against its sleeve and prevents rattling. Still feels a little bit "rigged".
To Tesla's credit they did point something out that I would have missed at delivery. There was about an 8th of an inch gouge or hole in the upholstery on the lower part of one of the third row headrests. This is the part they have ordered and that will be replaced by a ranger.
Another annoying "noise" issue has slowly crept up and I haven't yet isolated the source. It's a sort of creaking or squeaking sound if the car hits the slightest bump. I believe it might be either the FWDs or the anchor points of the second row bench. I know those are quite different areas but I haven't had the opportunity to sit in back to chase it down yet. My point is just that it makes the car seem "flimsy" and less solid. Obviously it's solid where it counts, judging by the crash ratings, but that's different than quality.
The remainder of my issues relate to exterior molding and trim. There are several exterior pieces and one interior on the lift gate. One was discovered at delivery and is documented but the others we noticed during the first week of driving. The one we noticed at delivery is a pretty obvious misalignment of plastic pieces at the lower right rear. It's a junction of the lower bumper piece and a wheel well trim behind the falcon door (see pictures). One of the others is also related to rear wheel trim but on the driver side. It looks like the clips that are supposed to hold this piece in, aren't grabbing tight enough so the piece looks like it's falling off and you can see the clips inside.
Finally, as we were at the grocery store, we opened the rear lift gate and I was hit in the head by a piece of falling trim off the lift gate. Come on man! There is a small trim piece that forms the finished side edge where the taillight and liftgate meet. It looks like this piece is designed to be friction fit to the screw posts of the taillight and is further secured with.... Velcro. I think the failure on my vehicle was related to the Velcro not adhering well to the plastic trim piece. Still feels like this is a pretty shady design. I expected better, especially in the areas we can see. What's going on in the areas we can't see? I guess we just cross our fingers and hope for the best.
So, after all of the negative comments above, are we happy with the car? Absolutely. It drives great and the other systems in the car are all functioning as they're supposed to. Time will tell on the ultra white interior but for now, we're loving it!
I hope for Tesla's sake (and ours since our fate is tied together after this major purchase ) that they can get these quality issues under control soon. Mass market consumers of the M3 will not be at all forgiving of these kinds of issues.
My frustration started on the test drive with a rattle above my head on the drivers side. Turns out this is due to a sloppy fit of the magnetic post that pops out to hold the sun visor in place. Not sure how this will be resolved in the long term but for now I'm just making sure there is a little pressure on that post. The pressure pushes the post against its sleeve and prevents rattling. Still feels a little bit "rigged".
To Tesla's credit they did point something out that I would have missed at delivery. There was about an 8th of an inch gouge or hole in the upholstery on the lower part of one of the third row headrests. This is the part they have ordered and that will be replaced by a ranger.
Another annoying "noise" issue has slowly crept up and I haven't yet isolated the source. It's a sort of creaking or squeaking sound if the car hits the slightest bump. I believe it might be either the FWDs or the anchor points of the second row bench. I know those are quite different areas but I haven't had the opportunity to sit in back to chase it down yet. My point is just that it makes the car seem "flimsy" and less solid. Obviously it's solid where it counts, judging by the crash ratings, but that's different than quality.
The remainder of my issues relate to exterior molding and trim. There are several exterior pieces and one interior on the lift gate. One was discovered at delivery and is documented but the others we noticed during the first week of driving. The one we noticed at delivery is a pretty obvious misalignment of plastic pieces at the lower right rear. It's a junction of the lower bumper piece and a wheel well trim behind the falcon door (see pictures). One of the others is also related to rear wheel trim but on the driver side. It looks like the clips that are supposed to hold this piece in, aren't grabbing tight enough so the piece looks like it's falling off and you can see the clips inside.
Finally, as we were at the grocery store, we opened the rear lift gate and I was hit in the head by a piece of falling trim off the lift gate. Come on man! There is a small trim piece that forms the finished side edge where the taillight and liftgate meet. It looks like this piece is designed to be friction fit to the screw posts of the taillight and is further secured with.... Velcro. I think the failure on my vehicle was related to the Velcro not adhering well to the plastic trim piece. Still feels like this is a pretty shady design. I expected better, especially in the areas we can see. What's going on in the areas we can't see? I guess we just cross our fingers and hope for the best.
So, after all of the negative comments above, are we happy with the car? Absolutely. It drives great and the other systems in the car are all functioning as they're supposed to. Time will tell on the ultra white interior but for now, we're loving it!
I hope for Tesla's sake (and ours since our fate is tied together after this major purchase ) that they can get these quality issues under control soon. Mass market consumers of the M3 will not be at all forgiving of these kinds of issues.
