What Don't You Like About Your Tesla?

[alevek]

Kool Aid drinkers stay away! These comments should be taken as constructive criticisms to help Tesla improve their products so that those who see these as problems would stay with Tesla rather than switch to other makes.

I'll start:
Funny front end.
Self presenting handles. Annoying and unnecessary complexity.
No grab handles, no door pockets.
Regen level too low. Add option to bring car to a complete stop. Other than at the track I like driving my I3 better than the P85D.
Autopilot. Useless for me. Develop 99.99 reliable AEB, then waste time on autopilot.
Falcon Wing doors. Enough said

 

[kort677]

 

[oktane]

Bad door and window seals
Bouncy non-active suspension
Soft paint
Lack of physical buttons for common controls
Wind noise
Degrading performance as state of charge decreases
Poor autopilot
Lack of basic safety features
No front camera
No surround camera
No CD player
Dim headlights
Only 3 homelink capacity
Brakes too small for car weight and performance
Ugly windshield wipers
No blind spot indicator on side mirrors
Cheap interior quality
Not enough key fob sensors (not on every door)
Dim trunk lighting
Regen won't stop car to 0 mph
Headrest too firm
No visor lights
No shade for panoramic glass
No soft closing doors
No head up display
No points of interest on navigation
No Spotify

 

[azred]

I hate our 2016 Model S period, exclamation point. You guys with your petty lists of complaints don't know how good you have it.

My wife continually takes our S to work leaving me to drive our hopelessly slow Civic hybrid. Every day I make numerous traffic merges and wonder which one will be my last. Stress, baby, stress to the MAX. Hopefully our Model 3 order gets filled before divorce court becomes the only solution to my misery.

I could also complain that the S' cup holders won't hold a 44 ounce Big Gulp, but you can see why I won't bother. Priorities. Also, last week I heard sugar-free sodas may contribute to dementia. (Or at least I think I heard that. Can't remember for sure.)

Tesla. Bad. Musk. Bad. Global warming fake and so bad.

 

[boaterva]

Lol, on topic a bit, I think Tesla needs to work out the whole 'car is on the instant it 'sees you coming' idea'. FIne, but it shouldn't instantly go into 'ready to go, let's go...' like a puppy. It can turn on, but not connect to your phone, etc. until perhaps you sit down, or put it in Drive, or something.

There need to be levels of 'readiness'. Or maybe we need to make the garages faraday cages....

 

[BluestarE3]

That I reserved mine over a year ago and it's still not available!

 

[KidDoc]

No coat hangers.. seriously so easy.

That's about it really.

 

[jbcarioca]

Lol, on topic a bit, I think Tesla needs to work out the whole 'car is on the instant it 'sees you coming' idea'. FIne, but it shouldn't instantly go into 'ready to go, let's go...' like a puppy. It can turn on, but not connect to your phone, etc. until perhaps you sit down, or put it in Drive, or something.

There need to be levels of 'readiness'. Or maybe we need to make the garages faraday cages....

After the first few months I became accustomed to "instant on" and have grown to depend on it. Now anything else seems seriously primitive. My ICE is a BMW so I really hate having to actually put the non-kay-key in a slot prior to pushing the button and waiting for explosions to commence. I no longer easily tolerate explosions in cars, but I must wait for a Model 3 to replace it.

 

[Skotty]

Poor parts and service manual availability
Limited jack and stand points
Poor 12v battery access
No aux in audio port

 

[kort677]

the very worst thing about the tesla experience is the repair experience.
ignoring the body work/parts fiascos, the replacement part supply (or lack of) issues and the very long waits for services to be completed is IMHO a big bug in the soup.

 

[CharlieLab]

Driven my MX now for about a 1,000 miles. Quite honestly not a lot I don't like, but if I tried really hard to think of something...and these are based on comparative issues with my other luxury ICE cars...

- sun visor doesn't rotate to cover the drivers side window
- premium seats don't have extended seat cushion adjustment
- no armrest 2nd row (I have the 5 seater)

That's about it. Oktane, not sure which model you have, but I don't see a lot of those issues on my MX

 

[mspohr]

It's trained me to just walk away from the car and it will turn itself off and lock up.
Gets me into trouble with rental cars. (I once left a rental running in the parking lot for 20 minutes while in the store)

 

[Az_Rael]

My biggest pet peeve is the lack of a seatbelt height adjustment. I am short and it is uncomfortable. I had to buy a leather padded cover to go over it.

I also noticed the other day that the lack of adjustable headrests probably makes the car a little less safe for my husband. He has a long torso and the headrest on the original seats stops just above the back of his neck, so if he were rear ended, it wouldn't provide much protection.

 

[boaterva]

After the first few months I became accustomed to "instant on" and have grown to depend on it. Now anything else seems seriously primitive. My ICE is a BMW so I really hate having to actually put the non-kay-key in a slot prior to pushing the button and waiting for explosions to commence. I no longer easily tolerate explosions in cars, but I must wait for a Model 3 to replace it.

I have to ask, why would you put the fob in the slot? I've only done this when I'm going to leave my BMW for service. I think that's all it's for... to stop it from falling on the floor.

 

[kort677]

I have to ask, why would you put the fob in the slot? I've only done this when I'm going to leave my BMW for service. I think that's all it's for... to stop it from falling on the floor.

I had an X6 with keyless start for awhile and the electrical system would flake out on a regular basis, it would lose all it's settings and other PIA issues, one morning the car just wouldn't start at all. somehow I got it going and brought it into the service center. Apparently, according the service guy, you need to plug the key in fairly often to retain power to the fob, and other things.
after the car would not start that one time my wife lost confidence in the car she was afraid of getting stranded, a few weeks later the was gone.
BMW builds some great cars but their electronics are just too flaky

 

[TexLaw]

Not a whole lot, but here are a few

-- Rearview and side mirrors -- They are small and of little use, especially the rearview mirror. Yes, the rearview camera is excellent, so long as it's clear, but the screen in an odd place to glance check, even if you have it on the top half of the screen. The rearview mirror barely even seems like an afterthought.

-- Inside storage -- There's not much of it, and what is there also is poorly thought out and of little use.

-- "Console" armrest -- My elbow barely reaches it.

-- No CD player -- Wouldn't be a problem if something like the USB could be organized worth a flip.

-- No cell phone mirroring

-- Very, very limited app -- Sure, it's mighty nice to have an app in the first place, but it's more flash than substance. About the only function I've found regularly useful is to turn on the A/C remotely. I'll admit, that's very nice, but there's so much more. Would it really be that terrible to be able to schedule charging or initiate firmware upgrades?

 

[Snerruc]

Nothing so far. "It just works"

 

[boaterva]

I had an X6 with keyless start for awhile and the electrical system would flake out on a regular basis, it would lose all it's settings and other PIA issues, one morning the car just wouldn't start at all. somehow I got it going and brought it into the service center. Apparently, according the service guy, you need to plug the key in fairly often to retain power to the fob, and other things.
after the car would not start that one time my wife lost confidence in the car she was afraid of getting stranded, a few weeks later the was gone.
BMW builds some great cars but their electronics are just too flaky

Huh. Maybe newer cars are different and the fob is rechargeable? Sorta off topic for this board, but in my 2009 328, it has the same battery as a Tesla, and it lasts a year. There is no contact in the 'hole'.

 

[dgpcolorado]

...I'll start:
Funny front end.
Self presenting handles. Annoying and unnecessary complexity.
No grab handles, no door pockets...

I'll second these and add folding mirrors, for the same reason.

I also don't like

• The lack of a console (but that has been fixed on newer cars, as has the gaping fish mouth nose on my 2014 car).
• The lack of a 3.5 mm auxiliary jack in the entertainment system for use with my MP3 player, which is very frustrating for me. No, I am NOT going to listen to audio books on my phone nor even link my phone to the car; I don't use a cell phone while driving. You folks who do scare me, same as drunk drivers.

• The big one: my car is down 13% on battery capacity and Tesla Service says everything is normal from their remote viewing and won't fix it. 13% might not be a big deal for 85s but it is a serious PITA when one is driving an old style S60 because longer trip legs become difficult and I have to charge much longer and higher to be able to do them at all. My 99% range is just 180 RM. Hour plus charges are routine for road trips. So is driving at 65 mph or less on longer trip legs, just to make it. Yet everyone says Tesla batteries degrade just a few percent in the first few years. Right. (My car is three years old and has just 31k miles on it; I thought degrading batteries was a Nissan LEAF thing, guess not.)

 

[Retired]

1. Lack of interior storage (door pockets and back of seat nets or pockets)
(sometimes in some places you need a real paper map)
2. Lack of tie down loops in trunk or places to hang cargo nets.
3. Lousy trunk lighting. (yes, I have PUP)
4. Lack of 3.5mm audio input jack.
5. Rear view mirror too small.
6. Sun visors not effective for sides.
7. Lack of front camera for parking curbs
8. Lack of surround view (large car makes parking garages a scary event)

These are all minor gripes. I think they would contribute to customer satisfaction more than is believed by Tesla.