As a potential Tesla customer I am concerned about the number of articles, forum posts and videos that highlight sloppy manufacturing of Tesla cars. These are mostly paint, body panel alignments and sometimes interior fittings. Of these issues owners often comment that eventually Tesla service corrects a majority of them but it’s a process. When I asked the Tesla rep he told me that no longer applies to Model 3’s as they’ve sorted the process. What are the experiences of Tesla owners here upon receiving their cars. Were you satisfied?
Mine is 2019 Std Rng Plus Model 3 (March 26, 2019) and it has 25,474 miles with both AutoPilot and Full Self Driving: June 26, 2020 upgraded to 2020.24.6.1 - Typical updates occur ~6 weeks apart and have fixed earlier problems and increased peak charging rate from ~102 kW to ~170 kW. Autopilot problems like: (1) too close to line on a curve; (2) 3-way intersections trying to take an unexpected lane change; (3) intersecting, curved intersections trying to 'split the difference' and hit the curve/ditch in the middle; (4) traffic light and stop sign recognition and requiring manual intervention to proceed. So the car is better than it was in March 26, 2019 and I haven't had to visit a dealer to get these updates and fixes. I have repaired the passenger side, wheel bearings after hitting the curb. Tuning the car with after market products appears to improve range and performance. My current efforts are to null the expected ~4%, first year, battery degradation. SuperCharger network is awesome having upgraded 120 kW stations with 150 kW stations and seen even faster DC charging, 145 kW. SuperCharger cost per mile is ~2x cheaper, ~$0.03-0.035/mile, than our former Prius which included a Prius Prime. Using the "chill" mode, I daily beat the other traffic across the intersection and reach the speed limit ~200 yards ahead of the rest of the traffic with 'lane choice.' We also have a 2014 BMW i3-REx, the backup car, and it is 4x more expensive to travel 120 miles to Nashville, $24, on EV versus gas, $6 for premium. Does that answer your question? Bob Wilson
That’s great information but I think I may not have been clear in my question. What I’m asking is when you first picked up your car were you satisfied with the quality of the build? Meaning, was the paint, body panels and mechanicals from the factory up to your standards for a car at its price point?
Yes, the trade-in Prius is on the left and the new Std Rng Plus Model 3 on the right: The 2019 Model 3 has about half the cost per mile of the former 2017 Prius Prime. The Prius did not have fast DC charging and only 16 A, J1772 charging. On March 26, 2019, yes. Over a year later on Friday, June 26, 2020, the car has 25,474 miles and was 'over the air' upgraded that afternoon to 2020.24.6.1. I'm averaging ~6 weeks between software upgrades. The car has the current versions of AutoPilot and Full Self Driving which is +90% of my driving. We paid off the auto-loan in October 2019 by selling part of our TSLA shares. Owned free and clear, we carry just liability insurance. The most recent metric suggests the battery degradation is in the 4% range, 232 miles vs 240 miles, which exceeds my expectation of 5%. This year, I plan to tune the car to compensate and recover the original range. BTW, the 2020 Model 3 is rated at 250 miles. My charging options are: Tesla distribution and SuperChargers; NEMA 5-15, 14/50, 14/30, 10/30, TT-30; and J1772. I have tested a 50 kW CHAdeMO adapter and was not impressed. Regardless, it runs $3.00-3.50/100 miles for cross country driving. Around town, $2.70/100 miles from home with over seven free L2 chargers, about 1/3d of the city miles. I plan to put on staggered front tires and wheels that are lighter, narrower, and taller along with some aerodynamic tweaks: (1) reduce air inlet size; (2) test extended rear spoiler, and; (3) test vortex generators. I'm also interested in some "mud flaps" in front and rear of the tires to smooth the air flow and test rear wheel well covers. Bob Wilson
Let me suggest joining a Facebook, Tesla club and asking your quality question there. The reason is you'll find new owners with little to no operational experience. I'm spoiled as an owner because I have over a year of experience. The ONLY thing I did not know was the cross-country, EV cost but soon benchmarked: $25 to drive 714 miles to Detroit $60 to drive 1,980 miles to Dallas TX, Coffeyville KS, and home There is nothing about the Std Rng Plus Model 3 that has disappointed. Even the rough-edges of AutoPilot and Full Self Driving have been corrected with each release. Bob Wilson
The issues cited by the OP are making me holding back from purchasing a Tesla, especially a Model Y. There have been many YouTube videos showing the paint, panel, and interior fittings defects noted by buyers on their deliveries. I don't live in a state that has a Tesla service center. I'm reluctant to buy a $60K vehicle that comes with a host of problems that won't necessarily be fixed right away, and may involve transporting the vehicle to another state for repair.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/25/21302804/tesla-ranks-last-on-influential-jd-power-quality-survey And if you need more info just google Tesla Quality Issues...
Definitely do your research. While there are quite a few issues reported on various sites I think it's fair to say that Tesla does take care of problems should they arise. A lot of the Model Y problems I think are attributed to making second quarter deliveries. I certainly don't have the facts, I don't even own a Tesla. You should do as bwilson suggests and either browse or join a Tesla forum.
The problem with looking at alarmist, or even outright full-on anti-Tesla articles (sometimes hit pieces pretending to be articles) is that they almost always cite extreme outlier examples and cherry-picked data deliberately chosen to tear down Tesla's good name. Ditto for forum members like "R P" who have an extreme anti-Tesla bias. It's safe to ignore his link; we can be entirely sure it goes to one of those hardcore anti-Tesla hit pieces. That's not informative at all. I also find it amusing that hardcore Tesla bashers love to cite the "pay to play" JD Powers fake "awards", as if they had any credibility. Nobody ever heard of JD Powers before auto makers started bragging about their JD Power ranking in their ads. This is like one of those celebrities who's only famous because she's famous! You can read about why no informed person should believe anything JD Powers says here, or here, or here. Indeed, in my opinion. Tesla deserves credit for refusing to go along with the fake "JD Power award" pay-to-play scam! * * * * * Does Tesla make the occasional "lemon"? Well of course they do, just as every auto maker does. Let's not forget that "lemon laws" existed long before Tesla, and there were good reasons to create those laws. But it's not rational to judge the quality of a model of car based on a few outlier examples, either very good or very bad. The rational person will look at the average quality before making a buying decision. So what's an "average quality" for a newly made Model 3? I suggest the answer can be found in a "deep dive" analysis of a Bloomberg survey of 5000 Model 3's. The analysis concluded that Tesla's fit-and-finish, altho certainly problematic in the past, is now above industry standard: "Let's Take A Deep Dive Into Bloomberg's Tesla Model 3 Owner Survey" But the real problem is that it's a fallacy to apply a general rule to a specific case. Sure, Tesla's build quality for the Model 3 is now, apparently, above industry standard, but what about the particular unit that Tesla delivers to a buyer? What would really be a forum service to would-be Tesla buyers would be to point to a detailed checklist which a buyer should go thru before accepting delivery and finalizing payment to Tesla. Something like this: "Tesla Model 3 Delivery Checklist 2020 (PDF Download)" However, caveat lector ("let the reader beware"): I'm not a Model 3 owner, so I can't speak from personal experience on the subject of whether or not that checklist is the best. Perhaps someone like Bob Wilson can point to one that's better?
I have different problems with Consumer Reports but throughly agree that the first model year of a new car should be avoided. So my Std Rng Plus Model 3 was depending upon how you count, the third year although it may be more accurate to call it the 12th quarter production model. Mine just a smaller battery (light weight,) single motor (not a race car,) and rear wheel drive. Bob Wilson
