Today I stopped by the jaguar dealership to look at the ipace and at the Audi dealership to look at the Etron.
I first walked into the jaguar dealership and sat in the new ipace to check out the interior and exterior. I like the exterior but I was NOT impressed with the interior. I found the seats very uncomfortable compared to my 2017 Tesla MS. It didn’t even seem like the interior was “premium” in any way. I’d take the MS interior way over this. Too many little screens. I then spoke to a sales rep. Older gentleman and I was telling him that I like the looks of the exterior of the ipace and thought it was great more manufacturers are brining on electrics. His response “well, we’re being forced to.” I thought, oh here we go. He then went on to say “for a commuter car, they’re great. But for any long distance destinations, you are hopscotching around. They need to have at least 400 miles of range.” I thought to myself, once they reach 400, this guy would then just move the goal posts and say they need 500. He then went on to say how he knew a Tesla owner who got stranded on the side of the road due to miscalculation of his charge. This “salesman” was anti-selling the EV so much that if I was only slightly knowledgeable on EVs, I’d never want to look at another one again. I then said Tesla does now get 370 miles of range and his response was, “only in the summer.” The guy wasn’t wrong, but he certainly made the “range problem” seem much worse than it was. He kept coming up with straw man situations how like he couldn’t drive to Indianapolis (260 miles) and back in one day in an EV really easily. I have driven my Tesla out of state many times. True you can’t do cannonball run style trips but I still prefer to have more convenience the rest of the year. The salesman just ignored my comment.
Needless to say, I was NOT impressed with (Dave) at that Jaguar dealership nor the ipace interior.
I then went over to the Audi dealership and spoke to Chris. Night and day difference in sales reps. I thought the etron had a nicer interior and definitely felt well made. Seats felt better compared to the ipace but I still prefer my MS seats. I also still prefer my MS interior over the etron with the layout, screen and functionality. But I do feel that the eTron interior was better built. Didn’t care much for the exterior. Trunk space was okay but they did at least have a spare. Chris was definitely all for EVs and excited for them.
Still felt best to get back to my car.
All I can say is that having to rely on dealerships for selling a product can definitely be hit or miss. I’m glad Tesla doesn’t have that issue. Tesla just needs to get much better with their communication. They are lacking in that area. I lost a potential MX referral because of how poor the communication was between the sales staff and this buyer was. When I purchased my MS in late 2016, I had a really good experience with Tesla. Maybe that too is hit or miss.
I first walked into the jaguar dealership and sat in the new ipace to check out the interior and exterior. I like the exterior but I was NOT impressed with the interior. I found the seats very uncomfortable compared to my 2017 Tesla MS. It didn’t even seem like the interior was “premium” in any way. I’d take the MS interior way over this. Too many little screens. I then spoke to a sales rep. Older gentleman and I was telling him that I like the looks of the exterior of the ipace and thought it was great more manufacturers are brining on electrics. His response “well, we’re being forced to.” I thought, oh here we go. He then went on to say “for a commuter car, they’re great. But for any long distance destinations, you are hopscotching around. They need to have at least 400 miles of range.” I thought to myself, once they reach 400, this guy would then just move the goal posts and say they need 500. He then went on to say how he knew a Tesla owner who got stranded on the side of the road due to miscalculation of his charge. This “salesman” was anti-selling the EV so much that if I was only slightly knowledgeable on EVs, I’d never want to look at another one again. I then said Tesla does now get 370 miles of range and his response was, “only in the summer.” The guy wasn’t wrong, but he certainly made the “range problem” seem much worse than it was. He kept coming up with straw man situations how like he couldn’t drive to Indianapolis (260 miles) and back in one day in an EV really easily. I have driven my Tesla out of state many times. True you can’t do cannonball run style trips but I still prefer to have more convenience the rest of the year. The salesman just ignored my comment.
Needless to say, I was NOT impressed with (Dave) at that Jaguar dealership nor the ipace interior.
I then went over to the Audi dealership and spoke to Chris. Night and day difference in sales reps. I thought the etron had a nicer interior and definitely felt well made. Seats felt better compared to the ipace but I still prefer my MS seats. I also still prefer my MS interior over the etron with the layout, screen and functionality. But I do feel that the eTron interior was better built. Didn’t care much for the exterior. Trunk space was okay but they did at least have a spare. Chris was definitely all for EVs and excited for them.
Still felt best to get back to my car.
All I can say is that having to rely on dealerships for selling a product can definitely be hit or miss. I’m glad Tesla doesn’t have that issue. Tesla just needs to get much better with their communication. They are lacking in that area. I lost a potential MX referral because of how poor the communication was between the sales staff and this buyer was. When I purchased my MS in late 2016, I had a really good experience with Tesla. Maybe that too is hit or miss.