Off Topic Amazing quality on early Model Y builds

:
2019 CX-5 AWD
I am not a Tesla hater. I watch the company with great interest and they deserve full credit for starting the EV movement. However, the quality issues are abundant, which I why I bought a Japanese car. My 2019 CX 5 AWD was under US $26k with the factory hitch, so it was cheaper than any new Tesla, as well. Price really matters.

Some of these issues should never have left the factory, and they are still having problems with condensation in the taillights after years of previous issues with that problem.
I was expecting that configuration to cost around 60K, but he says in the video it's 70K. That's a big asking price.

It looks really good though, I'll give it that. Hopefully the quality will get better over time.


 
I've always been a late adopter, but value those who live on the bleeding edge.
Good for them for shaking out the bugs and leading the charge. We all eventually benefit. And good for Tesla for shaking up the car sales regulatory environment.

The personality of their founder only adds to the cult-feel.

Regarding the quality issues...there's risk in shoving stuff like that out the door in order to keep the cash-flow positive. I don't know how calculated that risk is, though.

I wonder what life is like at the sales offices.
 

EW8jqkIWkAEwj9I.jpg
 
When I got my car coated, I asked the detail guy about the quality of the Mazda paint and he said it was fine and nothing like Tesla paint, which he said is the absolute worst in the industry.
 
The interesting thing is if you search for Model 3s on Autotrader and sort by price, there are a ton of 1 and 2 year old Model 3s with branded/salvage titles per the Carfax reports. More than you'll find for any other car.

I'd be concerned about wind noise with those misaligned panels. The other thing that goes along with Tesla is higher insurance premiums, about double what you'd pay for a CX-5 or RAV4.

But almost everything is rosy according to CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/business/tesla-profit-outlook/index.html I guess there is still a strong market for them.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, if any car i bought, from any manufacturer, had these kind of issues, I'd be raising a fuss.

On a side note, why do people rave about Tesla dashboards? Its a slab of plastic with a tablet stuck on it. They don't do it because it's "cool" they do it because its cheap. Less engineering, less complicated build. But those people act like its the best thing since sliced bread
 
Mmmmm......sliced bread.....
I toyed with the idea of getting a Tesla, but at my point in life (I almost qualify as a codger) I wanted something that at least had some history of reliability and didn’t have a face even a mother couldn’t love. All the cars I’ve had over the past 30 years I got rid of because of computer related issues that couldn’t be fixed reliably as parts were no longer to be had. We’ll see how the Mazda does over the years. With Teslas, it’s all computers. Come to think of it, my laptops either become obsolete or something craps out in a few years also.
 
Right now Tesla's major advantage over EV competitors is the Supercharger network. It cost a lot of money to build out, no one else can yet match it and the Electrify America chargers are expensive. Range is another issue. You can fill a gas car in less than 5 minutes, Tesla's high speed chargers (except for a few experimental V3 ones) take about 40 minutes to get to 80%. Now imagine hunting around and driving out of your way for an Electrify America charger if you don't own a Tesla. That's a major inconvenience on long drives. These may be lesser issues later, but they're issues now. You're paying more and dealing with compromises in range and reliability.
Also, the cost savings of using electricity instead of gas are frequently overstated.
 
Back