What are your deal-breakers when buying any car?

[Mr. Watts]

Deal-breakers for me are:

1. Dealers, don't like them. Too much talk and upselling. I know its their job I just don't like the fact that you almost have to be very rude with some before getting what you want
2. Lights in the vanity mirrors. Owned a Chevy Impala a few years ago and the mirrors had no light, aka useless at night
3. Manual seat adjustments. Can't stand those either.
4. Slow acceleration (not a problem with Tesla)
5. Storage for cups and magazines.
6. Manufacturers known to have a history of recalls. My life is worth extra time in quality control. Hard enough to drive in NY/NJ without having my car trying to kill me too.

 

[182RG]

1. Substandard customer service, poor communications, false promises. Be honest, and communicate with me. I'll patiently wait for valid reasons and issues.

2. A dealer. Last 2 vehicle purchases were via Internet and email only. "Give me best price, no trade, I'll bring a cashiers check for the total transaction, have it ready". I test drove vehicles at a dealership that I wasn't buying from.

3. Lack of DIY parts post warranty. Brake rotors and pads, etc.

4. Options I don't want packaged together.

 

[182RG]

Oh, Falcon Wing Doors would be a deal breaker....

 

[Unchangeable]

1. Substandard customer service, poor communications, false promises. Be honest, and communicate with me. I'll patiently wait for valid reasons and issues.

2. A dealer. Last 2 vehicle purchases were via Internet and email only. "Give me best price, no trade, I'll bring a cashiers check for the total transaction, have it ready". I test drove vehicles at a dealership that I wasn't buying from.

3. Lack of DIY parts post warranty. Brake rotors and pads, etc.

4. Options I don't want packaged together.

That's a good list. I would include the upselling/extended warranty stuff.

 

[jsanford]

Interesting. I bought my first new car 20 years ago and walked away from it at one dealer only to buy it another, due to:

1) Chauvinistic, condescending, nasty sales rep. Only bought one car since I got married and the sales rep read us right, and talked to both of us.
2) Complicated alignment adjustments. We adjust the alignment twice a year on our cars.
3) Perhaps we're unusual, but if I don't like the baseline model car, then it won't change my mind to add a lot of options.

 

[Max*]

We reserved a Model 3, and we will 100% be buying it, pretty much no matter what Tesla offers. The question is, for whom?

If it's for my wife, she has no deal breakers and would be happy with the base $35k car (maybe $35k + paint color, and looking at her paint color history it's been black, red, black, so she's due for a red one ).

If it's for me, I have a slightly longer list of items that I must have in the Tesla, though I expect Tesla to come through on all 4 bullet points
1. AWD (They already said they'll have this)
2. Decent performance (a 5-second 0-60 would be sufficient, so I'd need the "bigger" battery, but not really interested in the performance models).
3. Leg room (I'm 6'1", and I like to sit with the front seat all the way back when I drive, so I need to fit comfortably and have at least a little bit of room behind me for the kids to fit)
4. Heated/auto-dimming side mirrors (silly, I know, but if Tesla doesn't offer this as an add-on, it'll be enough to make the Model 3 my wife's car)


My previous dealbreaker which doesn't apply to Tesla would have been manual transmission. I wouldn't buy an automatic car, I didn't feel it was as fun to drive. After test driving the Tesla, that's no longer a requirement.

 

[BravoSarah]

Diesel

Best car I ever owned was my VW Jetta TDI. I miss that car, ran on veggie too. 

 

[sunrocket]

1. Substandard customer service, poor communications, false promises. Be honest, and communicate with me. I'll patiently wait for valid reasons and issues.

2. A dealer. Last 2 vehicle purchases were via Internet and email only. "Give me best price, no trade, I'll bring a cashiers check for the total transaction, have it ready". I test drove vehicles at a dealership that I wasn't buying from.

3. Lack of DIY parts post warranty. Brake rotors and pads, etc.

4. Options I don't want packaged together.

Abolutely! same here - email , get the price, bring the check, sign and peel rubber

 

[Tiberius]

Yet another off topic thread. Off Topic

 

[Durandal]

The thing that almost ended it for me was the dealer experience at closing. Spent 3 1/2 hours closing a deal that should have taken no more than about 30 minutes. Had to sit through pitch after pitch for this add on and that extended warrantee. Never ending line of hard sales crap. Finally had to threaten to leave to get it to come to an end.

With no dealership to deal with, I don't foresee that being a problem.

Dan

I feel the same way. I hate, hate, hate, dealing with dealers. There is nothing that irritates me more than being lied to, and for them to not admit they had been lying when you call them out on it with proof as well. (Like me taking my Kia to the dealership and arguing about service intervals until I go get the owner's manual and they argue a different line, pretending like I didn't just blow them out of the water.)
So, no more dealerships for me.

Beyond that, a deal breaker for me would be cost. I plan on M3 + AWD. Anything else I can afford after that is bonus. I'm fairly utilitarian.

 

[jkk_]

Probably a missing steering wheel. Of course they might come up with some system that works but I just don't see joysticks working for cars.

 

[Dutchie]

Deal breaker: not being a Tesla.

Really, I have been looking at other cars and there are non for which I get a warm-and fuzzy-feeling from. If I buy anything else it will be just a waste of money.

 

[Lukas99]

Deal breaker for me?

1. AWD + larger battery combined for more than 9.000 EUR
2. Small trunk, lets say less than 450liters space (already sucks it is a sedan)
3. Extras priced same as Model S, I belive M3 is a different market and it is supposed to be a high-volume affordable car
4. I hope that pricing in EU will be fair, on exchange rate basis + transport.

Otherwise, I am easy, my limit is around 50k EUR incl. VAT

 

[wdolson]

Having just gone through this process for the first time in over 20 years and having crossed a lot of cars off my list before coming to the Model S, there are a number of issues ranging from an absolute must down to pretty darn important and nothing else made the cut.

1) I have very long legs and not enough leg room on a long trip leaves me stove up. I also broke my tailbone when I was a kid and it's not normally a problem, but if I'm crammed into a space with poor legroom for too long I will start getting pains shooting down my legs and will barely be able to walk when we get to our destination. So lack of legroom is a 100% deal killer and it eliminated about 95% of the cars out there. Trucks or SUVs would have worked (they usually have better legroom), but I don't want a vehicle like that unless I'm hauling something and I only want to drive it for that task.

2) I also had a trifecta of highly desireables
- Better gas mileage than my Buick (18/24)
- At least equal acceleration to my Buick (8s 0-60)
- At least 80% of the cargo space of my Buick (20 cu ft)

There were a few cars that just barely met these requirements, but I thought just marginally better gas mileage on a car 24 years newer was an embarrassment.

There were only two sedans I looked at that had enough front seat legroom the seat would go back too far. The Model S was one of them, and the steering wheel telescoped more than any car I'd seen too. A big plus when I have to run the seat back so far.

And of course the Model S blew away all the 2nd tier requirements.

The original poster was saying the deal breaker for the Model S was failing the McDonald's test. They have improved that a lot. There is now a real console in the front with good sized cup holders and it looks like there will be rear cup holders soon. The Tesla store already sells an aftermarket console for earlier Teslas with the cup holders. I've also seen some aftermarket seat pockets and I'm thinking of getting some, though it's a low priority since we don't have kids.

 

[wdolson]

Interesting. I bought my first new car 20 years ago and walked away from it at one dealer only to buy it another, due to:

1) Chauvinistic, condescending, nasty sales rep. Only bought one car since I got married and the sales rep read us right, and talked to both of us.
2) Complicated alignment adjustments. We adjust the alignment twice a year on our cars.
3) Perhaps we're unusual, but if I don't like the baseline model car, then it won't change my mind to add a lot of options.

When I bought my Buick I had a lot of problems with dealers not taking me seriously ro trying to jerk me around. I went to the Buick dealership in Bellevue and they ignored me, I couldn't even get anyone's attention and they weren't busy. I went to the downtown Seattle dealership and they tried to play standard dealership games with me telling me I wasn't going to find a better price anywhere, even though I already had a quote from another dealer for $2K less. I went to the Mercury dealer in Renton and told them what I was interested in and the only car he would show me was a used Lincoln that was essentially a pimp mobile. The interior was so black it sort of sucked all the light out, it was weird and one of the ugliest cars I've ever seen. He wouldn't let me test drive the car I was interested in.

Valley Buick in Auburn did take me seriously and I ended up buying from the fleet manager there. What's ironic is it was the closest dealership since I lived in Kent at the time.

 

[WileyTheMan]

Pushy sales people. I can even get past the ones who don't know much as long as they are honest about it and don't try to BS you. At least they can go find out for you.

Beyond that, I think I am pretty tolerable to differences in quality and options as long as the product itself serves the primary purpose. The majority of the vehicles I purchased in the past were performance-based off-shoots from the main family (Ford Focus SVT, F-150 Lightning, Taurus SHO), so the primary want was the performance. I had quality issues with the Focus (thankfully not the other two), but I still loved it.

My primary need/want for a Model 3 is this: A good-looking, 200+ mile electric car that can fit five people for less than $45k. A close second is excellent performance. So far, no other vehicle that I've seen on the market fits that bill.

 

[22522]

The car needs to be best of type, quiet, 8 seconds to 60, good road feel. Last car purchased was a 2011 BMW 328i.
Nothing new on the market today is compelling, save the 3.

 

[Plum Loco]

TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control)

Got into a lot of trouble when I was younger for speeding so I got used to cruise control to keep me decent on the road.

Never cared until I got a 2019 Honda CR-V and suddenly I discovered my linchpin. After taking many long drives one of the things I hated was setting a cruise control speed, coming up behind another car, then having to tap the brakes to cancel. Then once the car moves (ideal) or (more than likely) I’d pass them in the right lane having re hit the resume button. Wash… rinse… repeat.

TACC took the thing that pissed me off most about driving long distances and just made it not a thing. Yeah, there are always assholes using the left lane not to pass… but now I don’t have to do a bunch of stuff to compensate for their idiocy. Set the speed, distance, and I’m good to go.

 

[wdolson]

TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control)

Got into a lot of trouble when I was younger for speeding so I got used to cruise control to keep me decent on the road.

Never cared until I got a 2019 Honda CR-V and suddenly I discovered my linchpin. After taking many long drives one of the things I hated was setting a cruise control speed, coming up behind another car, then having to tap the brakes to cancel. Then once the car moves (ideal) or (more than likely) I’d pass them in the right lane having re hit the resume button. Wash… rinse… repeat.

TACC took the thing that pissed me off most about driving long distances and just made it not a thing. Yeah, there are always assholes using the left lane not to pass… but now I don’t have to do a bunch of stuff to compensate for their idiocy. Set the speed, distance, and I’m good to go.

Doug DeMuro, the YouTube car reviewer, has said TACC is a must in any car he gets for running around. He doesn't consider it necessary in his "weekend" vehicles because he's not usually dealing with traffic jams then. He travels around Southern California to do his reviews and he said TACC has been a huge relief on the freeways on weekdays.

 

[jetytri]

My dealbreakers are:

1. Energy efficiency - electric if possible or plug in hybrid, wouldn't get another gas only car
2. AWD - need this for living in the mountains in the east coast
3. Aesthetics - not the most important but if a car is especially unattractive, i will definitely look at other options