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My Tesla experience

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Thought I’ll provide brief commentary of my Tesla experience, may relate to some. This post is of my views, and I do not intend to impose my views on anyone.

I currently own 3 Teslas, 2022 M3P, 2022 MY and 2023 MYP, prior I had a 2021 M3 SR+. I have a MX Plaid and CT on order.

I am no Tesla fanboy or a nerd but I am into cars, bikes, aircrafts, anything in mobility.


Pre Tesla

I grew up driving VW - VWs, Audis, Porsches and Skodas. My last ICE cars were SQ7, RS3 and Skoda RS.

My earliest engagement with Tesla was in 2015, when I was keen on a MS. The 7 months wait and the support (concerned of the lack of) made me walk into an Audi dealership. Fast forward to 2021, when there were some 1500 Teslas enroute to Australia, so for the first time, I’m able to get into a Tesla in 3 weeks.


Preparation to electrify

Anxiety and questions questions questions! Thankfully, this forum is a great place. People here are generally helpful. So big thank you to those who reached out to me then.


My journey so far

Range - I travel 25K annually, there is no range anxiety with proper planning. I have a home charger installed, but have not used it regularly (2 times in the last 12 months). I rely on free Chargefox public chargers and solar to juice my EVs.

Savings - I have saved circa $4500 annually from fuel, more if I factor in scheduled services required for an ICE car.

Charging - Fortunately, I have a free 22kW Chargefox charger (3km) and a free council 50kW fast charger (5km) near me. Admittedly, I see myself ‘planning my visit’ now as these stations are getting crowded with the increasing EVs.

Behaviour - Moving into EVs will see some behavioural change. For me, other than planning my journeys in the days to come (I keep my cars’ SOC at 50%), one positive behaviour change I experienced is my health. Instead of paying for gym membership, I chose to walk back home when I charge, walking back when the charge is completed. Walking evolved to running earlier this year. I lost 4kg since.

Service - This is where legacy brands are put to shame. I have 20+ services recoded and every appointment (mobile and on-site) is seamless. Note there is nothing problematic here, just being my OCD self, I schedule a service for anything from stains to the seats, trims to rattles. The longest they had my car was 5 days (loaner provided), to diagnose a rattle on the rear parcel shelf. This issue was looked at before, but seemed to reappear. And after 5 days and 250kms of testing, the culprit is my plastic shopping basket handles vibrating while the car is in motion 😂😂. We missed that because the basket is contained in the boot’s well. Kudos to the service team.

Service costs - Had 2 alignments and balancing done, one cabin filter change so far, adding up to $600. Try that with Audi.

Accident - I had 2 unfortunate experiences, my M3 SR+ and my M3P were both rear ended. Both took 5 months and 3 months to get back into the road due to lack of parts. Hope Tesla has upped the game since.

Driving - A familiar theme, driving is different from an ICE car, in a good way to me. Acceleration is instant, speed is maintained up/down a slope and regeneration is great.

Quality - Having seen the MS, build quality is definitely better than Fremont. And it has gotten better since 2021.

Comfort - Comfort is generally good, but not on par with the premium brands. The new comfort suspension is way ahead of the previous set up.

Software - I am not fussed with the typical complaints - phantom braking etc, as we are still the beta testers in Tesla speak. I enjoy driving, I do not engage driving aids regularly. Still, I like how the car updates itself and I find something useful like the signal cancelling function.


Think the above covers the ‘daily facets’ of owning an EV.

To this day, Tesla has matured and progressed. I have tried other cars from BYD to Porsche to Cupra to Hyundai, none can match Tesla’s offerings. And it’s my own opinion. I look forward to the competition catching up, offering good options as we transition to more EVs.

Ta.

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Miles? Bleep! Red Alert! Another American has shown up in the Australian forum! Please take your freedom units elsewhere ;-)
I don't know but I appreciated all the effort he went to in compiling his thoughts. So he was from the US and used miles etc. Didn't detract from the overall review IMO.
Well in fairness a fair bit of it is not relevant. For example, the average aussie owner gets no-where near the phone number or email address of service unless they have a major issue, and once the issue is resolved you are swiftly cut off. Comments that no other car brand let you test drive alone are false in Australia….I wont spell them all out and although the writer spent time gushing over his Model 3, any new potential owner needs to understand that it should be read with a lot of caution if buying in Australia. Have a quick look at the issues in the Model Y waiting room to see how unhappy those awaiting their tesla are with the australia experience
 
Well in fairness a fair bit of it is not relevant. For example, the average aussie owner gets no-where near the phone number or email address of service unless they have a major issue, and once the issue is resolved you are swiftly cut off. Comments that no other car brand let you test drive alone are false in Australia….I wont spell them all out and although the writer spent time gushing over his Model 3, any new potential owner needs to understand that it should be read with a lot of caution if buying in Australia. Have a quick look at the issues in the Model Y waiting room to see how unhappy those awaiting their tesla are with the australia experience
Okay I get that but to be fair I'm certain it was done with the best of intentions. Are we precluding Americans from our forum simply because they don't live in Oz? And the issues you refer to in the Model 3 Waiting forum are predominantly regarding delayed delivery. The fact is we are all facing that problem and the delivery delays are obviously not all Tesla's. For instance, Grand Eagle spent 23 days waiting to dock in Port Kembla and now another 5 days (so far) in Brisbane. Poor infrastructure on our docks has a lot to do with it.
 
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Okay I get that but to be fair I'm certain it was done with the best of intentions. Are we precluding Americans from our forum simply because they don't live in Oz? And the issues you refer to in the Model 3 Waiting forum are predominantly regarding delayed delivery. The fact is we are all facing that problem and the delivery delays are obviously not all Tesla's. For instance, Grand Eagle spent 23 days waiting to dock in Port Kembla and now another 5 days (so far) in Brisbane. Poor infrastructure on our docks has a lot to do with it.
The complaints are more around the lack of tesla communication and organisation around the issue. Nothing new there.
I have no problem with anyone from any country participating, but its about as useful as me going to the US site and telling them how to home charge or deal with their service team
 
wait guys, felt most of my points are globally relevant, the Tesla ecosystem is all that supports our customer experience when owning a vehicle, solar or power wall.....also as an investor/stock price
Umm no, tesla unfortunately think global means usa. In australia we get two models of car only, we do not get to interact with service people and sales drop you as soon as you drive out. We do not have access to the same FSD beta, and indeed any significant tesla feature we typically get access two years after release, if at all. Our updates are typically to fix bugs caused by the last update, and many of us have to put on an american accent to get the low quality half baked voice system to work, and indeed it works better than the very amateur cruise control and lane keeping thrown our way, which unlike all other brands is still in a beta status. We also do metric and use a different plug and voltage, and superchargers are at a significantly less density than the rest of the world….sorry usa get. Our app certainly does not provide any form of access to anything other than our cars and powerwall. I also suspect our petrol (gas) and power prices are significantly different to yours.
Other than that yeah no difference.
 
I respect your response. Elon is spending too much time in India and France, we have to pay attention to our brothers in the bush.
I feel the Cybertruck needs to also get to Australia in the theme of Madmax. Can you imagine what aftermarket mods people in the bush will do to a Cyberturck? wow
Good Day
 
Umm no, tesla unfortunately think global means usa. In australia we get two models of car only, we do not get to interact with service people and sales drop you as soon as you drive out. We do not have access to the same FSD beta, and indeed any significant tesla feature we typically get access two years after release, if at all. Our updates are typically to fix bugs caused by the last update, and many of us have to put on an american accent to get the low quality half baked voice system to work, and indeed it works better than the very amateur cruise control and lane keeping thrown our way, which unlike all other brands is still in a beta status. We also do metric and use a different plug and voltage, and superchargers are at a significantly less density than the rest of the world….sorry usa get. Our app certainly does not provide any form of access to anything other than our cars and powerwall. I also suspect our petrol (gas) and power prices are significantly different to yours.
Other than that yeah no difference.
Holy cow, why didn't someone tell me this before. I'm cancelling my order and buying a Mustang V8 o_Oo_O
 
The charging experience is totally different, with split-phase 120v 15a or 240v 50a (both limited to 80% continuous load), vs our weak 230v 10a. And most public DC chargers here aren't superchargers. We're at the mercy of Tritium's factory seconds.

The cars look the same but have different battery architectures and chemistries. Oh, and it takes extra skill to operate a touchscreen with your left hand in a moving RHD vehicle (pro tip: keep a finger on the side and reach with your thumb). And I can usually get the voice controls to understand me on the 3rd attempt (map zoom out is the one that irks me the most, because it keeps auto zooming in in the first place!).

The roads are totally different with many concrete paved interstates that wreck your tyres, where everyone drives 20mph over the limit, which was already much faster than our speed limits, wrecking your battery range. Here if the TACC bounces you back up to your previous speed as a road goes divided, which it does, you can be hit with a merciless speeding fine in the mail two weeks later.

It took ages for the car to start recognising variable speed limit signs on gantries above freeways, and it sometimes forgets after a software update. And it still thinks a 40 sticker on the back of a moving bus is a legit speed limit sign. And autosteer thinks the guide lines through an intersection are an invitation to slam into the next lane over.

Also, our cars cost a fair bit more to buy, with no federal subsidy, a few state grants, and a 2.6c/km ZLEV tax in one state (feared to be three soon enough).

Yeah, the experience of Americans in the Australian forum is so relevant.
 
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I respect your response. Elon is spending too much time in India and France, we have to pay attention to our brothers in the bush.
I feel the Cybertruck needs to also get to Australia in the theme of Madmax. Can you imagine what aftermarket mods people in the bush will do to a Cyberturck? wow
Good Day
I don't think you deserve too much criticism for missing that you were posting in the Australian section, it is easy to do. Please do understand that the US experience is very different from the Australian one. In all sorts of fields, Australians pretty regularly deal with US-centric information which assumes we use the same units and have the same rules and standards as the US, so it can be a little annoying sometimes.

Please also be aware of our stereotype of the ignorant American who thinks Australia is a desert occupied by Crocodile Dundee and his "cobbers" who get around by riding kangaroos and saying "Crikey" when we are bitten by the third snake for the day. Most of our population live in cities, and it is very unlikely that the Cybertruck (in its current form) will be attractive to people who genuinely live in the "bush" hundreds of kilometres from the nearest petrol station, let alone charging infrastructure. Those people would laugh their arses off at the styling of the Cybertruck.

All that said, you are welcome to express your enthusiasm for your car and the general experience. Australians tend to react badly when they feel someone is being overly effusive, or trying to sell them on an idea, so that might have been partly why you triggered some annoyance. Don't worry about it, it is ok to be a fanboy if that's how you feel.

Imperial measurements still suck though. Metric forever! 🙂
 
Got it
Hope the EV market pays more attention to Australia for there are alot of possibilities in your country
We are amazed at the solar leadership
My ausie stereotypes just ended

Yep, being able to run your EV on nothing but sunlight is pretty great. And don't worry, some of us have oversimplified stereotypes of Americans which don't stand up to any scrutiny. Most of us are aware that you aren't all drawling cowboys and rednecks who like wrasslin' bears. Thanks for your contribution.