There are a lot more issues with Tesla besides FSD.
I do not want to get into it but when I purchased my Model Y it was the only SUV electric style vehicle which had a reliable charging network
Buying a tesla was a no-brainer since I waited less than 3 weeks for mine (vs 18+ months for the original car on my list), plus the charging network, plus that fact that my husband always wanted a tesla, plus the fact that (I thought) it would fit all my criteria for a vehicle. It was Sept 2020, our city didn't have a sales floor (even if I could have test driven at that time, I don't know if our shutdown restrictions allowed for that) so we bought it having viewed another owner's car from 3' away and never sitting in one, let alone driving one, and picked it up without having anyone demo the car to us.
I completely missed that it didn't have blind spot cameras (it does now). Coming from a car with no auto wipers, until 2023 the wipers seemed great but OTA updates can give (blind spot) and take-away (radar and auto wipers.)
My list of reasons to hate teslas is long but, because I paid for FSD, I do have V12.3.3 (and could have V12.3.6 but I'm waiting for a real reason to update, not incremental) and I will say that when you get access to it (and you will; patience my friend), you will be surprised at how good it is especially if you ever experienced any older version of FSD.
With each new FSD release we would enable it, try it, and disengage the moment it failed for us and use that to define where it would be engaged. Until V12, while it worked well on highways (although I can't compare it to other brands lane-keep and TACC so don't know if it is better), we never made it even a block from highway exit ramp without disengaging. Now we can (but under intense supervision, and sadly, the FSD on highways is less reliable, which is surprising because it is still the V11 software (although we upgraded from V11.4.3, not 4.9 so perhaps that's when the downgrade happened.)
I will concede that the OTA updates while they give and take away, mean neither of us are stuck with the version of "full self driving" (another BS name from lord elon) that our cars shipped with. Since I actually paid for it, that is a plus although it took 3.5 years until V12 before I believe FSD may not always be a dangerous party trick.
Many ask me why I still own the tesla given my hate for it, and the answer is that we are a one-car family and my husband loves it. He deserves a car he loves but knows that this will likely be his last tesla unless I die before we need to replace this car. We keep our cars 7 - 8 years so I'm still 3 - 4 years out from having to find a replacement. I'm hoping the tesla will last because currently I don't see anything on the market that fits my criteria. I came from a crossover and desperately miss the squared off back so I can hold more than the hatch back. So it isn't like I can pick any one of the nice sedans on the market. Nor can I go full-size with a Pacifica because we park in a public underground garage and it would be awfully tight, not just for us but our neighbours on either side. So I wait and watch. And while I'll never go pure ICE, I suspect our next vehicle will be a PHEV because of where we live and where we like to travel.
