please honest opinion only

[Saghost]

Instead of taking hasty generalizations from owners with both good and bad experiences, let's look at a much larger sample:

Tesla slips several spots in Consumer Reports reliability ranking

That's Consumer Reports aggregate data from a large pool of owners - not forum posts, not a few owners recounting anecdotal experience.

Tesla has very poor reliability.

Even if you accept this report at face value, it isn't what they're asking about.

The OP wanted to know if the car was going to leave them stuck by the side of the road or in a garage one day.

CR is tracking number of times someone takes the car to a service center to get something changed. While Tesla has a higher number of these, very, very few of them are side of the road events.

CR is also comparing to other cars of today, all of which are better than they were in the past. Relatively high numbers of visits now isn't the same as high numbers of visits in the past, let alone unreliable from the past.

 

[Ande]

never had an critical problem, door handle is not one, got it fixed very soon after reporting.
Got a Tesla loaner on every service, clean car after service.
Much more happy with the purchase than ANY previous car, also , the car still make me smile, and want to drive, - that's more than I can say about any of my previous cars - most of then gave that feeling for a few months at best.

The only downside, is that silent acceleration, comfort and technology have made me really picky about cars. Among "normal cars, There is no Mercedes or Audi I would own anymore... among sports cars, my head finds the unnecessary noise annoying, and the dead slow throttle response just pathetic. ... waiting for right RPM to get power... BAH !

 

[David.85D]

And I’ll toss in something else - never felt service was padding the bill with unnecessary work. If you’ve ever gotten the hard sell at the dealer for a $350 “intake clean” (Toyota) or a $1500 brake job on a one year old car, or $900 estimate to replace the 12V battery (I’m looking at you, BMW) then you’ll understand.

Tesla Service is not cheap, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve never pressured me even the littlest bit for extra service.

 

[Struja]

Much more happy with the purchase than ANY previous car, also , the car still make me smile, and want to drive, - that's more than I can say about any of my previous cars - most of then gave that feeling for a few months at best.

+1 on this.

I have had mine for 2 1/2 years and I still get excited to drive it. I said this to my son once...

"You ever walk through a parking lot and look at a car and say, boy I wish that was my car, well... that's what I think everytime I see my car".

FOR ME... there is no better car on the planet (that might change when the Roadster 2.0 comes out), although the roadster isn't all that practical for a wife, 2 kids and hockey equipment!!!

 

[David.85D]

I find the door handle failures to be extremely unfortunate. May be completely responsible for the low reliability ratings. I’ve had 5 mobile service visits in just over 2 years (3 complete replacements, 1 gear replacement, one adjustment).

I have done my annual service visits for fluid changes and checkups. Other than that the only repair I’ve needed was a squeaky wheel bearing. Was never stranded.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

First off you probably did it wrong by soliciting such feedback on this forum. You know you will get polarizing responses, both which will not really answer your questions regardless of how you like to spin it or how you try to ask for their "honest" opinion. Because let's face it, there will be some who are not honest, some who might be misleading because they are a fan or detractor, or some who left out a lot of details. I recommend you just read the forum and ask a few selective questions to real owners in life and come up with your own conclusion.

If you want my opinion, PM me and I can tell you.

 

[ChadS]

I have driven Teslas for over 9 years. My wife has driven them for over 6 years. They have never let us down - they have always gotten us where we want to go

As others have noted, they do have more "reliability" issues than other cars. But not necessarily more than other cars in the same class (well, the X does), and they are rarely breakdowns. An awful lot of them are noises and hardware fitment issues.

Of course breakdowns happen sometimes - true with any car. Our neighbors have been stranded in their Acura. While Tesla can take an awfully long time to fix cosmetic issues, that is partly because they prioritize. If you have a breakdown, it is addressed immediately.

Accidents are another matter. Tesla can be slow with replacement parts; that is a real downside. I have never had a disabling accident in my life; I figure if I ever did I could get a rental car or use Lyft if my transportation need is great. If that is not acceptable for you, then Tesla is not for you yet. (Too bad as you will miss out on other good stuff though).

Tesla has some real issues, but suddenly breaking down and leaving drivers stranded is not something I am concerned about with Tesla more than other cars.

 

[DMan]

Hondas and Acuras can break down and leave you stranded too don't forget. I have friends that buy Japanese cars for reliability and when they end up in the shop it is a very painful reality for them. Tesla is still proving to be reliable than most.

 

[Uncle Paul]

One of the reasons for the popularity of Honda vehicle is that they have a great reputation for dependability. Still if you read their forums, you also will see lots of owners complaining about one problem or another. All Honda dealerships have huge service facilities and they are mostly very busy repairing the cars that they have sold. They also have a fleet of loaner vehicles for the use of those in service. Some are free and some cost money.

My experience with Tesla has been fantastic. In the two years I have owned my X it has been remarkable. Super safe, roomy and versitile. Had it for a warranty item and they gave me a Tesla as a loaner.
Others have not been so lucky, and you can see them post on the forums their frustrations.

If you are asking if someone will guarantee that you will never have a service issue, then you have come to the wrong place.

The current cars are safe, well made, very reliable and a joy to drive. Lots of families enjoy and drive them every day without problems.
Many buy them because they do not want to expose their kids to the poisionous fumes that come out the exhaust pipes. They are doing their part to provide less pollution, especially in Urban areas where there are already too many gassers driving around.

Our grandkids call our Model X the spaceship, and always want to ride with us when we are going out as a group.

Might be worth while for you to stop into your friendly neighborhood Tesla service center to check things out for yourself in Vegas. Then maybe a demo ride at the showroom. Bring the kids along and see if "driving on Sunshine" might be a good option for you.

If you go quickly you might find yourself eligible for a nice $7,500 Federal Tax credit this year

 

[Jlwine]

Please honest opinion only.
I know this is beautiful car, I like it and you like it.

We currently own Honda Accord touring 2018.
That car we are using for going to work, take kids to school , grocery shopping…..

We also own Acura MDX for long distances.

If we trade our Accord for Model S (CPO) can we trust that car to be Reliable commuter car ?
Most important - even if something happen and we cant use it for tomorrow can we get loaner from Tesla right away?
Being without a car one day is no option for us and we can use Acura only for emergencies (one or two day)

If you are in my shoes would you just wait one or two more years, drive Accord and wait until situation with Tesla service department get better ?
(im member of local Tesla group and there are lot of complains about long wait and not able to get substitute loaner car)

Its been the only car I have owned since July of 2016--and not a single mechanical breakdown.

 

[Tam]

...beautiful car...

Mine have been beasts that act like hard-working donkeys.

I got a very short commute so my gasoline car mileage was about 5,000 to 6,000 miles annually.

I thought with a Tesla, I might drive even less because there've been not an electric charger in every major intersection.

I was wrong! I have driven my Tesla like a maniac. My radius has been Sacramento in the north, San Francisco in the west, Las Vegas in the east and San Diego in the south.

Tesla just glides as if butter gliding off a hot surface and it's so fun to drive and unlike my former gasoline cars that stalled because I counted on the abundance of gas stations, I have never been run out of battery since 2012!

I now have Model X and 3 but I worked my former 2012 Model S the most. They all visit Homedepot for fertilizer bags and lumbers but I was young and stupid and loaded almost 2,000 pounds of rock chips in my Model S each time for 6 trips with the distance of 20 miles each way.

Then I read about a complaint about suspension defect it scared me so I read off the weight capacity from the driver door sill to realize that the maximum I should carry weight (including myself) is 1,067.3 lbs.

I then have complied to that weight restriction after the fact and I have pampered my Teslas as workhorses (not donkeys) and it's been so great with no suspension problem at all!

Thus, I can say that my Teslas have been very reliable.

 

[Mediocrates]

CR is tracking number of times someone takes the car to a service center to get something changed. While Tesla has a higher number of these, very, very few of them are side of the road events.

Cite your data for this conclusion.

CR is also comparing to other cars of today, all of which are better than they were in the past.

Cite your data for this conclusion.

I don't know what time frame "cars of today" means in your statistics, but Consumer Reports gathers data on models from 2000-2018, which would include all Tesla models:

Consumer Reports' Car Reliability FAQ


Consumer Reports data also indicates a notable drop in Tesla reliability from 2017 to 2018 (which was already below average in 2017).

 

[kaidou]

Please honest opinion only.
I know this is beautiful car, I like it and you like it.

We currently own Honda Accord touring 2018.
That car we are using for going to work, take kids to school , grocery shopping…..

We also own Acura MDX for long distances.

If we trade our Accord for Model S (CPO) can we trust that car to be Reliable commuter car ?
Most important - even if something happen and we cant use it for tomorrow can we get loaner from Tesla right away?
Being without a car one day is no option for us and we can use Acura only for emergencies (one or two day)

If you are in my shoes would you just wait one or two more years, drive Accord and wait until situation with Tesla service department get better ?
(im member of local Tesla group and there are lot of complains about long wait and not able to get substitute loaner car)

If I were you, I would trade in Acura MDX for MX CPO.
I've seen recently that 2016 MX 90D with almost full options around $ 63k range.

Why would you trade in the brand new (or almost new) 2018 car? I would rather keep it for now.

 

[animorph]

I don't think any of our previous ICE cars DIDN'T let us down once or twice. Mostly Porsches and BMW's. Alternator belt (which took out the alternator), timing belt, motor bottom fell out at 40k miles, alternator itself, ABS system failure (very little braking left), loose spark plug wire ruined a cylinder with raw gas, accessory belt broke (no power steering), and an accident which took weeks to repair. Most of which required a taxi and tow. Notice many of those things are problems Tesla's don't have (yea!). And yes, we did regular maintenance.

No immobilizing problems with our Tesla's so far, though we haven't had them for long.

I don't think any car is going to be 100% trustworthy. That's why we have two cars when we could get by with just one. But maybe soon, between Uber and future autonomous driving fleets, we won't need any cars of our own. Also, we had rental cars to carry us through the worst of the no-car periods. It wasn't the end of the world.

 

[S'toon]

And I’ll toss in something else - never felt service was padding the bill with unnecessary work. If you’ve ever gotten the hard sell at the dealer for a $350 “intake clean” (Toyota) or a $1500 brake job on a one year old car, or $900 estimate to replace the 12V battery (I’m looking at you, BMW) then you’ll understand.

Tesla Service is not cheap, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve never pressured me even the littlest bit for extra service.

I once was looking at the itemized bill of a repair by a dealer for a car I had. "Tightening bolt, $60."

 

[mattack4000]

Unless you really need the space of the s, I think a 3 is a better buy. The ap1 cars are pretty dated at this point

 

[dark cloud]

Unless you really need the space of the s, I think a 3 is a better buy. The ap1 cars are pretty dated at this point

Sorry, but my AP1 doesn't feel dated whatsoever.

 

[Tam]

Cite your data for this conclusion.

If I understand from Consumer Reports, it collects all complaints / problems including those that I don't consider them as "problems."

I don't mind that sometimes Model S handles don't automatically present when I approach the car. I just need to push on them instead. But some owners would list that as unreliable.

The same with when the displays are blank. I just do a reboot and move on but others would cite that as unreliable.

The same when a display just reboots on its own while the car is moving (for 45 seconds with no adverse effect). Some would freak out and cite that as unreliable. I don't. I don't lose any propulsion, braking or steering so I don't freak out but some do!

Some cite "unreliable" for Falcon Wing Doors crashing onto obstacles. I don't because the manual says I am to monitor to make sure they don't hit obstacles.

 

[David.85D]

I don't mind that sometimes Model S handles don't automatically present when I approach the car. I just need to push on them instead. But some owners would list that as unreliable.

Don’t know where this came from. All the repairs to my door handles were for broken parts that kept them from operating. Not a software or user issue.

 

[Richt]

It is hard to know CR methods as they don’t publish them but for work I did an analysis of JD Powers statistics once. I can dig up the quotes but since CR and JD Powers track average reliability and use surveys you can draw done correlations.

First is that the average reliability for JD Powers is much much higher. And the type of defects have changed dramatically. In the 1970s defects were drivetrain and big parts. Now at least for JD, about 25% of their defects are user interface problems. In fact entertainment systems are a huge percentage of their defects. Finally the bands on cars have tightened dramatically. That is the the difference between best and average is tiny. At least for them as little as2 more defects per 1000. Finally at least for JD there is no deifferencr beteeen a drive train falling out of a car and

Cite your data for this conclusion.




Cite your data for this conclusion.

I don't know what time frame "cars of today" means in your statistics, but Consumer Reports gathers data on models from 2000-2018, which would include all Tesla models:

Consumer Reports' Car Reliability FAQ


Consumer Reports data also indicates a notable drop in Tesla reliability from 2017 to 2018 (which was already below average in 2017).