this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
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Depends on how you define “high end.” Most people consider the build quality as a major factor in what makes a car “high end.” Tesla’s are notorious for some of the worst, if not THE worst build quality in the industry. The materials are cheap in quality and QA is seemingly non-existent, with cars frequently being shipped that are duds or begin to literally fall apart (like steering wheels coming off mid drive) extremely quickly.
Tesla has innovated the industry but other manufacturers have caught up and are putting out cars with the same features that have higher build quality and are less expensive.
A friend of mine bought a new Model 3 at launch here in Germany. He had to drive a couple of hundred kilometers to pick it up in a city with a port. When he arrived, he was escorted to a warehouse with 100s of Teslas in it. His was actually outside in the parking lot. He was told that he could inspect the car for one hour to find potential faults like panel gaps, scratches in the paint or runny paint (it had been raining the night before and the car was still wet lol).
He found two fault which were going to be sorted out for him no charge. He told me this while we were sitting in the vehicle and I said "oh, so stuff like this scratch in the dashboard here?" and he looked at it and said "... I haven't even noticed that one -_-"
All in all a very strange way to sell a car and pretty unheard of, especially here in Germany and with a brand new car.
Tesla is weird here in they don’t have “regular dealerships”. You buy direct from the manufacturer, instead of a private owner dealership chain. Idk how Tesla deliver cars specifically but every time I’ve bought a car you test drive it, then you look it over. You see if it’s missing anything like floor mats or they are adding something like clear vinyl or CarPlay they give you basically an IOU for those thing. Also, if you notice anything like a ding or scratch you get that in writing too. I usually don’t take delivery until everything is there/fixed so I don’t have to go back and forth 10 million times. It sounds like your friends experience was pretty similar.
I have however been inside their service center and know quite a few Tesla mechanics. That’s run quite differently to other dealerships service depts I’ve been in.
I’ll never own a Tesla because the surveillance sketches me out, but their “cheaper” models can do 0-60 in like three seconds with full torque. That’s preeeeeeeeetty higher end.
Virtually all electric cars go 0-60 in under 6 seconds, with most around 4 seconds.
But even so, I didn’t dispute the performance of the Tesla in terms of driving power, just commenting on the poor build quality and how some people may exclude it from being considered high end because of that.
That’s fair! For the cost my friend paid for his, I would say it’s a much higher end car than any other cars in that bracket, features-and-performance-wise. It’s been a few years now and nothing feels shoddy, the interior isn’t crazy impressive but nothing is broken!
Fast doesn’t equal high end. Fit and finish and overall build quality and reliability do. If you look at a Bentley or Rolls (so so not my type of car, but I respect what goes into one), you can instantly tell the workmanship and quality product that went into the car. You look at a Tesla and you could easily be on a Toyota or Chevy lot.
Also, pretty much all electric cars are that fast off the line. That’s the beauty of electric vehicles.
The surveillance is one of the features I like. Built in dash cameras that surround the car and work non-stop, even when parked? Hell yes. If someone ever fucks my car up in a parking lot and takes off, I'll have something more substantial than just a dent or busted mirror to show the insurance company and possibly take action against the person who did it.
I love the idea of those features, but not to a placed dialed into a headquarters 24/7 transmitting all of my data to a private Corp. SUPER convenient and awesome features, but Tesla was already busted sharing what were supposed to be private videos around the office of people driving in their cars.
Yeah that part I agree with. I like the idea of the cameras and understand why they are needed for the self driving; but I want it all self contained. I don't want any of that data to leave the car unless I pull it out from a thumb drive or otherwise physically connected device.