Tesla turned me from a very excited customer into what I am now. I wasn't a Tesla Stan/Fanboi but was very positively inclined toward Tesla. That does bring up another stupid decision of Tesla, at least for all of that have them. Opening up the SC network to everyone else. How is that going to play out for all of us Tesla owners? I already see jams at some chargers. Add in a lot of people who have no concept of supercharger etiquette, not like all Tesla owners are good in this anyway, and they dilute or eliminate the one area where nobody was close to them, and one of my key decisions for buying a Tesla in the first place.
As for road tripping in my Tesla, I've decided after about 9k miles on road trips, I'll just rent an ice car instead. Less hassle, I get there quicker. I don't have to deal with the stress of phantom braking, and it typically costs less for energy. I did the math on my last road trip, given current gas prices at that time, it was about the same as an ice car getting 30 mpg. So even the SC advantage is more about convenience than savings. Not to mention on the cold days it worked out to closer to about 23 mpg since my range was impacted.
When my friend who bought an MS LR got his just before mine and had at least 25 major issues, and mine showed up a week later, my hopes were pretty dim. I can't believe they would even deliver a car where the driver's door wouldn't open because there was basically NO GAP between the door and the fender. Or there was such a gap in the hood that on the rainy day it was delivered, water was already pooling in the frunk when I opened it up. Yep, a great way to start your ownership experience on a 100k car. They couldn't get the console shift buttons to light up and the touch screen was being wonky so it was hard to even get it to reverse out of my garage. Service was so backed up they couldn't even get to my brand new car for a month. They just told me to drive it with the way the door was. Sure, that would have resulted in a lot of body damage and a considerable amount of repainting. So yes, Tesla earned the disillusionment they caused. That is just the highlight reel. Pales in comparison to my friend's S. Compared to him I was the lucky one. Car spent the first 3 out of 4 months in the shop getting fixed for stuff that should have been taken care of before delivery or even a simple PDI check should have caught.
Maybe Tesla will turn it around by the time I am ready to buy again, but instead of locking me in as a customer, they've done the opposite. I was theirs to lose so to speak. They pretty much lit all my goodwill on fire.
As for road tripping in my Tesla, I've decided after about 9k miles on road trips, I'll just rent an ice car instead. Less hassle, I get there quicker. I don't have to deal with the stress of phantom braking, and it typically costs less for energy. I did the math on my last road trip, given current gas prices at that time, it was about the same as an ice car getting 30 mpg. So even the SC advantage is more about convenience than savings. Not to mention on the cold days it worked out to closer to about 23 mpg since my range was impacted.
When my friend who bought an MS LR got his just before mine and had at least 25 major issues, and mine showed up a week later, my hopes were pretty dim. I can't believe they would even deliver a car where the driver's door wouldn't open because there was basically NO GAP between the door and the fender. Or there was such a gap in the hood that on the rainy day it was delivered, water was already pooling in the frunk when I opened it up. Yep, a great way to start your ownership experience on a 100k car. They couldn't get the console shift buttons to light up and the touch screen was being wonky so it was hard to even get it to reverse out of my garage. Service was so backed up they couldn't even get to my brand new car for a month. They just told me to drive it with the way the door was. Sure, that would have resulted in a lot of body damage and a considerable amount of repainting. So yes, Tesla earned the disillusionment they caused. That is just the highlight reel. Pales in comparison to my friend's S. Compared to him I was the lucky one. Car spent the first 3 out of 4 months in the shop getting fixed for stuff that should have been taken care of before delivery or even a simple PDI check should have caught.
Maybe Tesla will turn it around by the time I am ready to buy again, but instead of locking me in as a customer, they've done the opposite. I was theirs to lose so to speak. They pretty much lit all my goodwill on fire.
