Have watched countless reviews of the new refreshed Model S, I guess in hopes that somehow I might be convinced to stick with Tesla after 9+ years already, once my current lease is up next year. Unfortunately, most are just re-iterating my decision that my current Model S will sadly be my last. I've already spoken to the reasons several times.
But what does make me sad....., I've been with Tesla since the start. Regardless of whether I can bring myself to buy another one of their current offerings, I will still always root for their success. After watching every review complain about Tesla's build quality, many saying it's actually gotten worse, rather than better, I'm saddened to see it. After 10 years, there's no reason they couldn't have improved by now.
I was able to drive a new Plaid and sadly, I have the same view as most of the online reviews. The one I drove was worse than my 2019. Paint was horrible! Seeing many, many, many complaints that the paint quality is worse than ever. Bubbles, mis-matching colors, over-spray, etc, etc.. I thought maybe it was just the "ONE" I happened to see, but sounds like it's most of them coming off the line today.
What shocked me most however, was to discover that while Tesla did away with all the chrome, which I am a huge fan of (chrome is so 90's), only to discover that they really didn't do away with the chrome after all!!! Shocking that they made the decision to have all black trim, so why not simply produce these pieces out of black molded plastic like every other manufacturer in the world does???. NO, THEY PAINTED THE FRIGGEN CHROME PIECES BLACK! Very thinly I might add. The car I drove, despite having only 2,100 miles on it, had massive chips all along the front edge of the black PAINTED mirrors!! Revealing the chrome below. The door handles, when they popped out, show some chrome as well, very cheap looking. What were they thinking? Has to be MORE EXPENSIVE to paint the chrome pieces, adding another step to the process, rather than just using black plastic to start with!! WOW. I'm sure the Tesla fanboi's will have some excuse for why it makes sense. I can usually forecast what those excuses will be. But, in this case, I can't even come up with a bogus reason of why that makes sense!
Add that to trim pieces being rolled over inside, roof liner being mis-aligned. Typical uneven fender gaps. And yes, for a car that's increased to a whopping $145,000, even me, having long ago accepted that Tesla is not a "luxury" car and has always demonstrated some build quality issues, I have to agree with the reviewers, it simply is unacceptable for a $145,000 car to present itself in such a manner. It's not acceptable for a $50,000 car (Model 3), let alone one that costs 3 times as much.
Sadly, some of it won't change right away as Tesla is still able to sell more cars than they can build, especially in current times with parts shortages all over. As much as I love what the cars are, after 9 years, I'm finally jumping off the bandwagon next year. Tesla will always be better in range and acceleration, but, 3.0 0-60 is still way more than I need and 250-300 miles of range is still more than my bladder can handle. So, having a car that does 1.9 0-60, other than for party tricks to show off to new passengers, and one that goes 400 miles instead of 300 miles, really has no benefit to me, and likely most. Maybe for some that travel long distance on a very regular basis. But for me, 99% of the time, 250-300 miles in range more than gets the job done just fine. Charging infrastructure is expanding and not really much of an issue anymore. Tesla's AP is better than most, but, the appeal of true hands off driving is more appealing and now being offered by most other manufacturers. I never use AP on the streets anyway. So, the must haves that kept me with Tesla for so long (Range, charging, AP), there are now viable alternatives that do it in a much fancier package (with actual "luxury", unmistakably better build quality, and actual "DRIVER FRIENDLY" cars that you don't have to go fumbling through the screen to do EVERYTHING). I have no problem with a few buttons, allowing for 1-step control versus Tesla's 3-4 taps to get where you need.
When Full Self Driving is actually a reality, as these cars were designed for (ahead of their time), then I'll likely be back. But, unfortunately, true FSD won't be a reality for quite some time, thus I still need a car to be simple to use and have driver friendly simplicity and capability. My 2019 Model S is a perfect balance of both. The Model 3, not so much. The new Model S, just amplified all the things I didn't like about the Model 3, and then some.
I have no doubt Tesla will continue to be successful. But, with viable competition that now exists (and many more coming), some changes will certainly have to be made in the future for that to continue much longer. I hope to be back someday. But for now, $140,000+ certainly opens me up to quite a few intriguing options that are available or coming very soon.
But what does make me sad....., I've been with Tesla since the start. Regardless of whether I can bring myself to buy another one of their current offerings, I will still always root for their success. After watching every review complain about Tesla's build quality, many saying it's actually gotten worse, rather than better, I'm saddened to see it. After 10 years, there's no reason they couldn't have improved by now.
I was able to drive a new Plaid and sadly, I have the same view as most of the online reviews. The one I drove was worse than my 2019. Paint was horrible! Seeing many, many, many complaints that the paint quality is worse than ever. Bubbles, mis-matching colors, over-spray, etc, etc.. I thought maybe it was just the "ONE" I happened to see, but sounds like it's most of them coming off the line today.
What shocked me most however, was to discover that while Tesla did away with all the chrome, which I am a huge fan of (chrome is so 90's), only to discover that they really didn't do away with the chrome after all!!! Shocking that they made the decision to have all black trim, so why not simply produce these pieces out of black molded plastic like every other manufacturer in the world does???. NO, THEY PAINTED THE FRIGGEN CHROME PIECES BLACK! Very thinly I might add. The car I drove, despite having only 2,100 miles on it, had massive chips all along the front edge of the black PAINTED mirrors!! Revealing the chrome below. The door handles, when they popped out, show some chrome as well, very cheap looking. What were they thinking? Has to be MORE EXPENSIVE to paint the chrome pieces, adding another step to the process, rather than just using black plastic to start with!! WOW. I'm sure the Tesla fanboi's will have some excuse for why it makes sense. I can usually forecast what those excuses will be. But, in this case, I can't even come up with a bogus reason of why that makes sense!
Add that to trim pieces being rolled over inside, roof liner being mis-aligned. Typical uneven fender gaps. And yes, for a car that's increased to a whopping $145,000, even me, having long ago accepted that Tesla is not a "luxury" car and has always demonstrated some build quality issues, I have to agree with the reviewers, it simply is unacceptable for a $145,000 car to present itself in such a manner. It's not acceptable for a $50,000 car (Model 3), let alone one that costs 3 times as much.
Sadly, some of it won't change right away as Tesla is still able to sell more cars than they can build, especially in current times with parts shortages all over. As much as I love what the cars are, after 9 years, I'm finally jumping off the bandwagon next year. Tesla will always be better in range and acceleration, but, 3.0 0-60 is still way more than I need and 250-300 miles of range is still more than my bladder can handle. So, having a car that does 1.9 0-60, other than for party tricks to show off to new passengers, and one that goes 400 miles instead of 300 miles, really has no benefit to me, and likely most. Maybe for some that travel long distance on a very regular basis. But for me, 99% of the time, 250-300 miles in range more than gets the job done just fine. Charging infrastructure is expanding and not really much of an issue anymore. Tesla's AP is better than most, but, the appeal of true hands off driving is more appealing and now being offered by most other manufacturers. I never use AP on the streets anyway. So, the must haves that kept me with Tesla for so long (Range, charging, AP), there are now viable alternatives that do it in a much fancier package (with actual "luxury", unmistakably better build quality, and actual "DRIVER FRIENDLY" cars that you don't have to go fumbling through the screen to do EVERYTHING). I have no problem with a few buttons, allowing for 1-step control versus Tesla's 3-4 taps to get where you need.
When Full Self Driving is actually a reality, as these cars were designed for (ahead of their time), then I'll likely be back. But, unfortunately, true FSD won't be a reality for quite some time, thus I still need a car to be simple to use and have driver friendly simplicity and capability. My 2019 Model S is a perfect balance of both. The Model 3, not so much. The new Model S, just amplified all the things I didn't like about the Model 3, and then some.
I have no doubt Tesla will continue to be successful. But, with viable competition that now exists (and many more coming), some changes will certainly have to be made in the future for that to continue much longer. I hope to be back someday. But for now, $140,000+ certainly opens me up to quite a few intriguing options that are available or coming very soon.
. No new car when released is going to be perfect when released there is going to be issues that will take time to iron out.
