Posting the same thread on two forums was perhaps the most informative action I could have taken.
I mean, we are biased for sure, but holy crap! I am laughing so hard at the ignorance of the comments on that forum. I hope and trust you already know better. If there is anything they posted that you cannot see through, please ask for clarification. I don't want to go and create an account on their forums just to correct them because that is bad internet manners. But I really don't want you to make your decision off of some misinformation about the Tesla.
As someone who actually used to own a Civic (although, it was NOT an SI, so I didn't have all that performance) and a manual transmission to boot, I can honestly say I do NOT miss having a transmission. And you will likely beat just about anyone in a 1/4 mile just because they will not get the shifting exactly perfect... which is required in order to hit the advertised numbers. To add, the advertised numbers on the Tesla are also wrong, 4.2 seconds is actually a worst case scenario and most people get 4 seconds or slightly better.
I am drawn to this post in particular on the first page:
Your clueless and are reading too much print as far as the REAL tesla goes.
I didn't see a mention on your cons list of highly explosive super capacitors under your feet.that tend to blow up during a serious impact.or catch car on fire.
Or waiting list.
Or no dealer for warranty work.
Or many bugs still unfixed.
Or NOWHERE to buy parts from
Or regenerative brake maintenance.
Or finding someone to work on the maintenance portion of it in a timelyanner.
Or being strapped to a power cord for life.
Or having to plan out trips to make sure you have a hookup
Or high insurance
Or cost of disassembly when you need to replace the batt pack under your feet which require extensive labor that you can't do at home unless you want to kill yourself.
Am I missing something? Yes plenty but those are something elon forgot to mention to people
The fire issue has been talked about ad nauseum here on these forums and with the new underbody shielding is virtually a non-issue... unless you happen to be doing 100+ in a 25, crash through 6 objects and split the car in half, you should be fine... so uhhh, a little advice... don't do that!
waiting list... yeah that's true... technically that would also be true for any custom ordered car that you can't buy straight off the lot. There are ways around this, if you choose.
Dealer/Warranty - FUD, plain and simple. Tesla has proactively repaired many things on the car without you having to scream about it. Depending on where you live, they should have an SC near enough to you that you get a decent turn around. This is also quickly growing and is primarily what they are expanding their footprint on right now. So in 6mo to a year any worry you might have here will be gone.
bugs unfixed? I guess the guy would have to clarify what he is referring. There are minor, we will call them, gripes about the car, but no car is perfect. Most anything serious that people have faced you will not deal with because they are about to start their third year of production on this model.
Parts: true/untrue. If you want to fix the car yourself... true. If Tesla (or in the case of body repair, an authorized repair shop) is going to fix it, untrue. Hope this changes in the future but for now, it is tightly controlled.
regen break maintenance? Do they even realize how regen works? All that is done through the motor itself. This actually leads to LESS maintenance on your actual real breaks... you will get 100k+ miles on your breaks (which are some of the best breaks in the world)
timely maintenance? true/untrue: When you actually get your car in for service (which by the way, they come and pick the car up from your location and leave you with a loaner... Honda isn't a "luxury brand" so you are unlikely to get that kind of service) their average turn around time is 1 day. The true part is that because they have so few service centers right now, they are a bit overloaded and it can take a while for you to get an appointment for a non-major issue (like 1-2 months). This will of course also resolve itself over time.
strapped to power cord: you are currently strapped to gas... I and most others find this a pro, not a con.
planning your trips, anything along a main supercharger route requires almost no planning. As density improves this will be reduced further. In a few years, this will likely be a total non-issue. I also am assuming they will further improve the software of the car to assist here. But this is generally way over blown.
high insurance? depends on perspective. Compared to other 100k performance cars, most here have reported that the insurance is actually much lower. Going from my 08 civic to the Tesla S85 was only a double on the premium. I was paying 70$ a month and now pay 140$. I would say that is not a bad jump considering I went from a 16k car to a 96k car.
cost of disassembly? ummm yeah, I don't think most people have the electrical expertise to do this, but there are enthusiasts out there who are learning. Go check out some of the work that people have done with Roadsters outside of Tesla's control. This will shift as more people pick up these skills. I am sure some things will eventually become as common as "changing the oil" or "changing the breaks". That is what you get for being on the cutting edge of technology. I don't think you are going to have a ton of luck working on a Bugatti Veyron either without going to a specialist... not much difference here.
- - - Updated - - -
whoops, I missed that you actually replied to the guy I was griping about with those same corrections. Nevermind you are apparently pretty well informed
I do reiterate though that if anything seems confusing or misunderstood to please feel free to ask here, I am many others will not fluff the truth about the car. It is what it is and you either love it or don't (and most people love it!)