Out of curiosity, what do you hate about your Tesla?

[TaoJones]

Separately, there are three likes that immediately come to mind:

1. TACC being worth the price of the car. While AP1 TACC remains more stable or confidence-boosting than AP2 TACC *so far*, either one combined with AS can provide a safer, more relaxed and therefore more enjoyable driving experience. It allows more ground to be covered, if that's the goal for the day, or for more sanity while schlepping home during the evening commute. I think nowadays my head would explode if I had to drive 25 miles home from a meeting at rush hour (actually there's nothing rush about it, and it can easily be 2 hours, thankyewverymuch) - without TACC.

2. Feeling refreshed after driving all day and then some. It sounds crazy to a non-Tesla owner, but we know how it is. I won't post the longest 4-figure legs I've done due to whatever necessity or curiosity existed at the time, but there's something to be said for the *methodology* that Tesla has enabled via their, imo, greatest competitive advantage for now - that being the global infrastructure/SC network.

3. The absence of clutter in the earlier AP1 RWD models. Having that full-sized frunk and microwave, and custom-fit microwave luggage, and yacht floor... that was really nice - almost unicorn nice. More cargo capacity than my friend's BMW X5 SUV, too. Not that I remind him of this occasionally. Not a fan of the microfrunk, nor of the center console.

I hope to like in the future: massaging seats, an in-car hotspot, 360-degree view with built-in dashcam/cloud functionality including the ability to download specific minutes of video, glass breakage detection, a more secure frunk, and of course...

... an optional *built-in* espresso maker.

We are civilized people, after all.

 

[xanatos]

The car is very good and I am satisfied - but the service organization and their policies is just utter crap. Nobody knows anything about anything, nobody will answer to anything, don't pick up the phone, never return e-mails, can't keep up their appointments, will never touch anything they have not sold and installed themselves, try in every way to deny warranty claims, exorbitant prices when not warranty +++

I have had Audi, Mercedes, Toyota, Nissan and BMW before, and the customer service was on a totally different level.

I second that, e-mails to support or sales is often slow and sometimes you don't get an answer at all. For the price they are charging, I don't understand how their communication can be so bad sometimes. Shouldn't customers get more attentive treatment if they are paying so much for a car?

 

[xanatos]

Our Tesla has been in the shop around 18-19 times now in the 2 1/2 years we have owned it. Has anyone else been in this situation. Corporate doesn’t seem to mind and our local service department is inundated with other Tesla vehicles.... love Tesla just would like a vehicle that works. Any advice ?

I am in the same boat, so far mine has been in the shop 10 times in the 1.5 years I have owned it. Granted it was a CPO, but then again, that means they should have fixed everything as part of their "stringent" (read: non-existent) reconditioning CPO process before giving me the keys.

 

[xanatos]

1) car is a bit too wide and the doors are a bit too thick, making it hard to open the doors wide enough to buckle/unbuckle the kids from the car seats. Sometimes the spaces are so tight that I can only open the door wide enough for the kids to squeeze through, then close the door and buckle them from the outside while the window is down.

2) rear trunk latch makes loud grinding noise, but service center refuses to fix it under warranty on the grounds that "it still works".

3) rear window defroster takes like 10 minutes to heat up and work, whereas my 2007 Odyssey is instantaneous.

4) spent the first 6 months visiting the service center almost every month, which really detracted from being able to enjoy the car.

5) so far 10 service visits in 1.5 years of CPO ownership (see sig), including most recently a spontaneous windshield crack from manufacturing defect causing stress fracture (are you kidding me?!)

In general it feels like the car was made by a company that is making cars for the first time (which they are).
So they end up with issues/bugs that more established car companies have already figured out long ago.
Basic usability that we take for granted in other cars is definitely not the norm for Teslas.

 

[jddssc121]

1. Blind Spot Monitors
2. Rain sensing wipers are in beta
3. Music "loading errors"
4. Backup camera frozen image bug
5. Lack of AP2 parity with AP1
6. TACC is dangerous compared to other mfgr's implementations. I don't trust it
7. FSD broken promises
8. Ventilated seats are worthless
9. No door storage
10. Nav routing is terrible
11. Voice commands are lacking
12. Windshield ghosting
13. Rear window visibility

 

[zambono]

This is turning out to be more of a love-fest. I'm still impressed by how much people are willing to tolerate because they love the car so much.

I anticipate loving everything (even when compared to my last car - a really great Lexus) but have to wait a few more weeks for my car to arrive.

Tesla is going to have a hard time having repeat customers in 4 years time when there will be numerous options and there might be other National quick charging services. I for one will not buy another electric unless it goes 400 miles, charges 80% in less than 20 minutes, and interior quality and amenities are superior.

 

[achilles992000]

the car is too big. needs to go on a diet. trim the sides and length.

 

[bradjc]

the car is too big. needs to go on a diet. trim the sides and length.

That’s a Model 3.

 

[Puggle]

Like all my fellow European and Australian drivers - I HATE the single reverse light on the Model S.

I am forever getting strangers telling me that one of my reverse lights is broken. Even when my car looks a million bucks and parks itself in front of them, this design flaw just drags the whole thing down.

In case you're wondering, in these markets the right hand side reverse light is the rear fog lamp. Also makes it very dangerous when reversing in heavy traffic because we drive and park on the left (so no reverse light visible to passing cars).

 

[xuan]

I hate how I do not know how to disconnect my charger... I had to try multiple time every day... maybe I am not doing it right

 

[mknox]

Ironically, the Model S used to have this feature.

View attachment 273581

That makes me sad to see how much better the UI used to look. I guess I'll have to add the UI "downgrade" that happened a year or two ago to my "hate" list. I still do not care for the new so-called "clean" UI look and much preferred the original one.

 

[arcus]

No "hate" here, just a wish for being able to justify P100D one day

 

[David29]

That makes me sad to see how much better the UI used to look. I guess I'll have to add the UI "downgrade" that happened a year or two ago to my "hate" list. I still do not care for the new so-called "clean" UI look and much preferred the original one.

Agreed. In particular, the thin, light colored font that is so doggone hard to read. totally contrary to good human factors. Instead it is as if they want the instrument cluster to look "current" with today's fads for web design and magazine styles, with faint colors, rather than for it to be useful and effective.

I forgot this one for my earlier list.

 

[DKPowers]

I absolutely HATED the six month wait I had to endure after I ordered the car.

I don't hate anything about the car itself. Sure, there are plenty of things I'd change and stuff I hope will improve but it is still the worlds best car, even if it's not perfect.

 

[Skotty]

Not the car per se, but I do hate the app. My Ford Focus Electric, which cost about 1/7 as much, has a MUCH better app. I don't understand why the app for the S is so limited.

I'm curious. The app for my S has everything I want on it. I can't think of anything I would add. What additional features does the Ford Focus Electric app have?

 

[Joe F]

Right before the wipers fail to clean their chitinous (tm Bighorn) little carcasses off the windshield, yep. Necessitating gallons more per year of wiper fluid than with any previous 2 or 3 cars combined - and that's without, or *with* an exterior windshield nanocoating (think Rain-X on (prescription) steroids). (Dislike #1)
[snip]
Back to the awestruck critters for a moment. Ever finish a road trip with a whooooole bunch of the little bastidges adorning your front end? Well, there's medication for that - er, strike that, wrong topic. Actually, what works great, believe it or not, especially if there's *still* residue after you've washed the car... dryer sheets. Try one and see - like little chitinous carcass magnets, they are. Do *not* overdo it, but for occasional spot cleaning, having one handy is helpful.

Wow, Tao, sounds as if you've been driving through a swarm of locusts! That is one of the signs you know. Could be the universe is telling you something...

Never heard of using dryer sheets. Will keep it in mind. Thanks.

Tip: Long road trips should start out with a liberal application of Griots Garage Bug Barricade on the bumper. Followed up with Poorboy's Bug Squash at a supercharger as needed using a cheap microfiber towel, and you're good to go. A little Optimum No Rinse and more GGBB if you're still tripping, and off you go.

Just watch out for other signs, like earthquakes and natural disasters. Unless you're in CA, then you can probably forget that one. Maybe.

 

[JayyyDeee]

That makes me sad to see how much better the UI used to look. I guess I'll have to add the UI "downgrade" that happened a year or two ago to my "hate" list. I still do not care for the new so-called "clean" UI look and much preferred the original one.

I think the UI looks better for the most part but I do wish I could easily see the date. (something I never realized I wanted until I saw that it used to have the date)

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I think the UI looks better for the most part but I do wish I could easily see the date. (something I never realized I wanted until I saw that it used to have the date)

Did you notice that the calendar icon shows the date? Sure, it's not on the CID but it is displayed on the calendar icon.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Navigation first, last and middle. Whether it's sending me 3 hours out of my way to do a giant loop getting to the Groveland supercharger from Yosemite, or deciding it should send me all the way up the peninsula through San Fransisco to get to Sacramento or just ridiculously trying to send me off the freeway only to immediately get back on it, it's completely unreliable. At this point, I use the navigation purely to estimate charging time at superchargers and estimated battery percentage. And even there, I've started supplanting it with abetterrouteplanner, which is only partially hamstrung by the horrendous browser.

Only other complaints are that AP could always use improvements and the issue I had with the HVAC system causing overheating of the battery while charging. The latter was taken care of under warranty, though not before the car lost 8 miles of rated range in about a week. I've thought of escalating that, but it'd be a hard thing to actually prove in any way and, outside replacing the battery entirely, I doubt anything could be done about it.

Given the negativity in this post, I feel the need to point out that I absolutely love pretty much everything else about this car. In my first year of ownership, I put more than 24,000 miles on it; far more than I've ever driven any other car in that time period and that largely stems from the pure joy of driving it and how much easier it makes it to do trips(storage capacity and AP features).

 

[icefree]

No "hate" here, just a wish for being able to justify P100D one day

To extend on what I saw someone else post, you don't have to justify a Tesla (or any purchase, really), you just have to answer these 4 questions:
1. Do you want it?
2. Can you afford it?
3. Is it the right time?
4. There are no other questions.