I recently visited the local Tesla Showroom, where they have several models in the parking garage. Just a normal walk around each vehicle and I could easily find at least a couple of defects on every one of them. Panel alignments, paint defects, loose trim, etc. On the test drive, wind and road noise is excessive, as are squeaks and rattles. Which mirrored what I saw back in 2019 when I was originally giving Tesla a serious consideration. The more egregious defects being what appears to be the early build Model Y's. All technically fixable, but why would they not already be addressed on a Demo vehicle? Because as we've all noted - most people don't care and/or notice.
I can do the same walk-around and test drive with my wife, and she may only notice 10% of what I'm seeing. At least until I point it out, and even then, she may not care. After all, it's new and shiny, EV coolness, etc.
Which at least for myself, means that the notion of "you'll mostly find negativity on forums and doesn't represent the full picture" just goes right out the window. Yes, there is some truth to that old adage. But I've been on forums for decades with a wide range of vehicles. You can't dismiss these "complainers" when they are this prevalent and I can clearly see these same issues on my own.
With that said, I do like Tesla, and I love what they're doing on the EV front. I want them to improve and continue to succeed. That won't happen if people keep making excuses for them. As their market dominance increases, so too will scrutiny from car buyers who aren't willing to dismiss so many quality issues when there are increasingly more competitive alternatives showing up on dealer lots.
I placed an order for a Tesla Model Y Performance this week. Given the potentially wide discrepancy in quality between each vehicle, a demo vehicle may be nothing like the one sitting in front of the Tesla SC with your name on it. So I'll see how it goes. I'm willing to accept some minor defects if Tesla agrees to fix it. Understanding, this is still relatively early for a new model. If not, I'll return it, and buy something else. Which Tesla is fine with, as I'm sure somebody else will happily accept it, defects and all.
