The title says it all. I would say that time frame was when Tesla switched into a car company I wouldn't necessarily call premium. Pressure from Model 3 manufacturing and cost I assume. Many if not all decisions since then have been to cut costs, even if they claim green credentials. No more real leather, no grey interior, no opening panoramic roof, less colors, no radar, and the list goes on. I am happy with my 2016 90D and I am still holding on to it because it provides good value, Free everything etc. But I doubt it highly its replacement will be a Tesla, we'll see. For now I will hold on to it a couple more years.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Tesla lost it way when it ditched Mobile Eye and real leather
- Thread starter zambono
- Start date
The Lorax
Member
Same reasons I love my horse: real leather; hay is cheaper than both gas and electricity; fully customized (no two are exactly the same); better ride height (I can see even see over the roofs of some trucks!); built in off-road capabilities; four wheel leg drive for snow and mud; no scheduled maintenance; reliable autopilot (I've yet to hit any obstacle); built-in sentry and alarm system (never a scratch in a parking lot!); and best of all, if I own two, I never have to buy a third (they are self-replicating! Take that,'full self driving'!). Ahhh, the good old days. 
I love your horse tooSame reasons I love my horse: real leather; hay is cheaper than both gas and electricity; fully customized (no two are exactly the same); better ride height (I can see even see over the roofs of some trucks!); built in off-road capabilities; fourwheelleg drive for snow and mud; no scheduled maintenance; reliable autopilot (I've yet to hit any obstacle); built-in sentry and alarm system (never a scratch in a parking lot!); and best of all, if I own two, I never have to buy a third (they are self-replicating! Take that,'full self driving'!). Ahhh, the good old days.
jabloomf1230
Minister of Silly Walks
Yeah, but try to get one in blue.
beatle
Active Member
I agree that not all changes to the cars have been positive. AP2/3 definitely seem behind in the basics of highway driving where driver assistance is most valuable. I also miss my 2015's sunroof and (better) blue color, but other changes are not objectively worse. Dual pane windows, better fit/finish, matrix headlights, sentry mode, ventilated seats, adaptive suspension, a quieter cabin, charging speed, acceleration, efficiency, and range are all improvements over the older cars that anyone should be able to appreciate.
As for leather, I'd say at this point it's more a relic of luxury, at least for a seating material in a daily driver car. Synthetic materials perform better in the ways that leather originally did. It is more durable, consistent, require less/no upkeep, and is now equally comfortable. Sure, synthetics don't wear in and develop a patina like a nice pair of leather shoes, a belt, watch band, or horse tack, but for a car I don't want patina. I want it to remain looking new.
As for leather, I'd say at this point it's more a relic of luxury, at least for a seating material in a daily driver car. Synthetic materials perform better in the ways that leather originally did. It is more durable, consistent, require less/no upkeep, and is now equally comfortable. Sure, synthetics don't wear in and develop a patina like a nice pair of leather shoes, a belt, watch band, or horse tack, but for a car I don't want patina. I want it to remain looking new.
Ostrichsak
Well-Known Member
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
I am not impressed by most changes since my 16 90D, the longer range along with the quicker charging is probably the only real upgrade to the vehicle in the past 7 years. I'll hold on to it until the second generation vehicles of the competition are on sale. Tesla will soon have to earn its money real soon.
lowtek
Active Member
Wow, have you even sat in or drove a 2021+ model? Night and day better in every way.
SoCalDude
Life is good!
The pre refresh are great cars. The new one isn’t bad either. Just drove it from Orange County to Las Vegas. It’s quiet, comfortable, sound system is excellent, the system tells me how long to charge, it’s fun, and the software always has something new. I have no regrets on the refreshed Model S. FSD works well. The steering wheel nags is my biggest complaint. Tidal music downloads to the car are amazing quality sound.
vcor
Tech Specialist
Tesla is now on it's fifth generation of the Model S, with major internal changes and features with each generation (2012, 2014 AP1, 2016 AP2 Refresh, Raven, Palladium). The AP1 2016 is 2nd generation. Almost everyone else is still on the first generation. Others are planning the 2nd generation in a few years where the grill will be changed and they will offer a new paint color. Internally, maybe they will fix a few software bugs, that will never be fixed in their first-gen car.
beatle
Active Member
You say range and faster charging are the only "real upgrades" as if the others don't have value. Perhaps they're not important enough for you to upgrade, but they are noticed and appreciated by others. There are also not a lot of major changes as I think Tesla did a pretty good job on the S from the beginning. "Revolutionary" change is not always good *cough*yoke*cough*.
I wish Tesla would offer a few more colors like they used to. It also seems silly that the two new colors are only available in Germany, and they are only offered on the Y, not their flagship models.
Tesla should also change the door handles to body color. This would have been a disaster in the early years where door handles were a consumable item, but now that the handles are more reliable and are often repaired and not replaced when they break, there's no need to keep a pile of different body colored handles on hand. I think Tesla is too cheap and is too afraid of slightly growing their parts catalog to do this though. I've said this in other threads, but the black door handles and trim look like they belong on the base model of a car from the end of the last century. I don't think I'm alone here as I cannot find any manufacturer who uses black door handles; everything is body colored.
I was thinking exactly this today after some long freeway drives in France. Although I get really frustrated by lots of the niggles that really shouldn't be present and I certainly do not rate
Tesla's handling of FSD development in the UK, it is amazing that the Model S was so good at the time it was conceived and has survived as long as it has. I do wonder too how things might have worked out differently if Tesla hadn't dropped Mobil Eye.
TBH I think it would be a great statement of brand value to stand by that first design and continue development around it for as long as possible. Look at models like The Beetle, The Mini etc. I think The S could be the icon of EV's if Tesla stood by it.
My Raven LR is for me pretty much the best compromise and not really improved on with things I care about with newer versions. Tesla needs to pick up it's game and deliver real FSD to UK before I would consider a new Tesla ahead of the MS R LR.
Last edited:
I've got a peeling yoke that says otherwise. Experienced premature wear in my three MS's that would have never occurred in a leather application. All brush wearing. Driver's side entrance pillar, yoke. All covered by warranty but way earlier than leather.
How many miles? Garaged? Typical ambient conditions?
While leather does look tired as it gets beyond a certain level of use, I think it usually holds up a lot longer than synthetics as long as it isn't massively abused. So far the seats on my 2019 car are doing fine, but they haven't really seen much use.
Always garaged, 2021 about 6k miles but the peeling started within the first 1000 miles. I don't see anything wrong with the seats. No abuse just normal wear and tear getting in and out of the car. Tesla replaced lower driver piller covers on our 2013 about 2 yrs into ownership. And now that I think about it they actually replaced it with plastic pieces. BUT the original pieces were actually leather wrapped.
I wear weight lifting gloves to reduce the nicks on the Yoke. I'll look into yoke replacement toward the end of my warranty period.
I wear weight lifting gloves to reduce the nicks on the Yoke. I'll look into yoke replacement toward the end of my warranty period.
beatle
Active Member
I've seen the yoke problems. Looks like a poor implementation trying to spread too little butter over too much bread. As for the other places, it sounds like Tesla might be cutting corners where they shouldn't. When I had a motorcycle seat reupholstered, I asked the shop what they recommended. They typically worked on high end European marrques like Porsche and Jaguar, and they used a lot of leather. For the best wear, however, they said a marine grade vinyl would be overwhelmingly better than cow, even if you're garaging the bike. I went with vinyl. A few years later I sold the bike and it still looked new, even after several thousand miles, a few rain storms, and several track days, always shifting around on the seat.
I think it still comes down to cost - and Tesla shouldn't further cut corners by skimping on the quality of their synthetics.
So the question is: Where was Tesla headed? I thought the mission statement described exactly where Tesla was and IS headed.
All these statements are your WANTS not the way to complete THE MISSION. Would what's typed in this thread help complete the mission faster? If you think it would help the mission, why are you talking/typing about it instead of doing something about it?
Rawlinson disagreed and decided to go to do what I believe is described in this thread.
So has Tesla lost the way or lost sight of THE MISSION?
All these statements are your WANTS not the way to complete THE MISSION. Would what's typed in this thread help complete the mission faster? If you think it would help the mission, why are you talking/typing about it instead of doing something about it?
Rawlinson disagreed and decided to go to do what I believe is described in this thread.
So has Tesla lost the way or lost sight of THE MISSION?
lowtek
Active Member
Ostrichsak
Well-Known Member
Bingo. People incorrectly think that companies have any sort of obligation to anything other than profit. If you can get behind a cause you believe in while making a profit that's even better but the goal of companies is and always has been making a profit or they're not around. There's nothing wrong with that either. Where people get mixed up is thinking that they owe them something or care about them on an individual basis due to good marketing. Stop looking for moral values in brands and expecting them to "do the right thing" and you won't be let down. Expect them to turn a profit and determine if you want what they're selling. Remove the emotional connection from your "things" and life suddenly becomes much more simple and far more enjoyable.
Similar threads
