My point is that while some of the cars from Tesla are of unacceptable quality to most, others are still really fine cars, but with very minor flaws (like a scratch or smudge) that should not be rejected.
A scratch on a $40k Model 3 can be considered a minor flaw. On a $100k Model S absolutely not. Or any other car that costs as much for that matter. If a brand new S550 or Taycan have a scratch, reject them.
I agree that a poorly put together car should never be offered to a customer. Panel gaps should be aligned prior to presentation, etc.
So based on that, most Tesla cars shouldn’t be for sale, right? Almost every single Model X I’ve seen had misaligned panels. Model S seems to be a lot better in this regard somehow.
But I also see people rejecting a car because of a dirty visor or a bracket inside the frunk that is not perfectly painted. Believe that many of these cars could be accepted and enjoyed for many years. Kind of like the tiny scratch on a door handle area that "could not be unseen".
Again, the price level sets expectations. If a $20k Accord has a dirty visor, well, it’s a bit embarrassing for the company, but not a lot of room to complain because it’s cheap. But $100k car should be well taken care of at every single step of production and delivery. That’s at least my expectation as a customer. A dirty visor or poorly painted areas are a red flag to me alarming me that who knows what else was also done poorly on the car. Unaccceptable.
45 minute inspections with high intensity lights and high definition photographs can reveal imperfections in most any mass produced vehicles.
Twisting my words won’t get this discussion very far. Let’s not pretend that we are talking about X ray inspections or 45 minute high intensity light thorough walkthroughs. The issues we are talking about here are noticeable after a few minutes of somewhat careful walkthrough of the car. Just go to a Tesla store and count how many you can find by glancing at the car for 10 minutes. The number will be non zero.
Guess I am just wanting some balance here.
Guess we all are, but balance doesn’t mean the same things to everyone I guess.
Some posts have featured customers that have rejected one vehicle after another, and posted with glee that they could find a flaw in most every car on the lot (they are that good at it).
That’s not the topic here. I don’t care about people like that.
Another example would be a person that spends his time, looking at others cars...from 50 feet away, and feeling bad for them.
I can just smile at this.
Instead could rejoice that perhaps that owner is enjoying every mile they travel in such a fantastic and confortable car.
Everyone has their opinion. The cars are definitely not fantastic. Their batteries and motors are absolutely fantastic, no question. That’s the only part of this car that can be considered fantastic. Everything else is acceptable at best. Software, quality of materials, build quality, sound proofing. None of that is even close to fantastic. The batteries and EV excitement make it really worth to drive.
I have owned Jaguars with horrible orange peal paint. Have owned a 911 with some of the most precise panel gaps, but spent most of it's time in the shop. Owned Rolls Royces that sat for months awaiting repair parts. Driven other American cars with panel gaps worse than Tesla, and also driven well built and efficient Asian cars that were dependable as could be, but also boring to a fault to drive.
Pointing out Tesla’s problems doesn’t mean I am saying other companies don’t have problems. It’s funny how Tesla fans always try to twist the comparison argument in their favor. So when it makes Tesla look better, they will compare it all day long with other companies, but when other companies do better, Tesla fans will say “it’s not a fair comparison, Tesla is only X years old.” Decide for once if comparing Tesla with other companies is acceptable or not, and stick to it.
I have seen well designed German cars, but their companies lied to the customers about the amount of pollution they were emitting and the amount of fuel they would consume. I have seen companies sacrifice safety features to save a few cents per car. I have read about companies cheating their employees out of pay with illegal programs and seen companies lay off thousands of "valued employees" to move their production to areas where they could pollute more.
Uhm, seriously? Why not mention Tesla and Elon lying and deceiving customers all the time? Full self driving in 2016, anyone? FSD by end of 2019? It’s approaching fast, they better deliver. Model 3 timelines? Yellow screens “are not a warranty item”? Did you read about SolarCity mess? Their factory nightmare in Buffalo? Free supercharging for life, but not really because if the car went through a dealer, they strip it off the car? Lowballing trade in values on their own vehicles while at the same time respecting KBB values for ALL other brands? And on and on. Non argument.
Another point is that it is easier to make a perfect $20,000 simple gasser, than to make a state of the art, groundbreaking "running on Sunshine" change the world evolutionary personal transportation vehicle.
agree and disagree at the same time. Tesla has done a Herculean job with EV transportation. They’ve changed the world for the better and no one can take it away from them. They’ve started a revolution. But that’s not the topic here and it also still doesn’t mean that they aren’t making poorly built cars and have horrific customer service that’s getting worse by the day with decisions like these. And isn’t one of the huge arguments to buy a Tesla or any other EV the fact they have way less parts so they are easier and cheaper to maintain? How and why are they so much harder to assemble then? Wasn’t even Elon ambitiously claiming he can automate almost the whole process at the gigafactory? Piece of cake right? Cheers!