Thinking to back out from my MXLR order after doing extensive readings here, thoughts?

[blancexx]

I was thinking to get a model x a month ago, and did a test drive and also rented from turo for a whole day. I really liked it.
However it was too expensive so I looked elsewhere.
Last week with price cut, i realized i can get it for 72500, I immediately placed the order that night. And now I got a delivery day arranged for tomorrow afternoon. (didn't expect custom order to come in this quickly)

With so much excitement, I started reading many forum posts to prepare myself for it.
And I came across a lot of rather alarming things.

It's not that I didn't do any research upfront. I did read a lot of general review/thoughts on tesla, and model X, youtube and reddit etc.
And I'm prepared for general QC issue, like panel gaps, minor software glitches etc. I like the auto present door on the demo/turo I tried, learning that new MX can only open a inch slowly because of no USS pissed me off but I guess i can live with it.

However, some of the other issues reported really starting to scare me and makes me lose confident in taking the delivery. Major ones so far are:

1. Phantom breaking. I knew there are some, but thought it would have been sorted out by now. After doing extensive research, that doesn't seem to be the case and actually seems to be getting worse with recent SW updates. I can't imagine myself using ACC that breaks randomly every now and then, really defeats the purpose of a relaxing drive experience. With tesla's track record of overpromising and under deliver, like vision based park assist still not working properly after nearly half year, I'm really not having much faith in it ever gonna get fixed in the next year or so.

2. shaft and tire premature wear. seems to be a common issue tracing back 7 years from the start that never got addressed. Looks can be addressed by getting aftermarket suspension/chamber kits, but having to spend the money and arrange to installation (i never worked on cars before) already gave me a headache..

3. loss of power steering. Really scares me, multiple report of this plus NHDSA opening investigation suggests this is more widespread than some random one off issue. Most I read are people expericing it at low speed, but I can't imagine if that happens when I'm on highway, and my family are in the car with me.

Plus all the horror story of going to service center just to get things not fixed and ignored, or causing more damage.
I understand that most people would come to forum to complain about things, while those without the issue just live with their car happily and not making any comments most of the time.

But these 3 issues look to be foundamental issues that would affect all tesla/model x.
My wife already is not a huge fan of model x, I had to make trade offs to make her accept me ordering one. Plus with recent price cut, future depreciation of the car is not all over the place that I can hardly make a proper estimate, especially if the car turns out to be a lemon and tesla fight really hard to not take it back, I'd have a hard time selling it used without losing a big chuck.


Even though my heart still wants a model x, but the more I read about it, the more my mind tells me this is a stupid purchasing decision that I'm highly likely to regret after the honey moon phase.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jimboy435]

You are reading too many negatives..not everyone has those problems. You test drove it and lived it for a day or so and liked it, then you should go for it. If you try to find “issues” you will find it with every car. I usually say go with your gut..if you think if makes sense go for it.

 

[EbS-P]

1 will get better with time… how long will it take?????
2 yep it come with the car. At least you are aware. Not a deal breaker.
3 could happen but it’s not very common. More common is a Ford, Kia, or Hyundai burning up while parked.

Smart money says Model Y performance with stock 19” wheels.

I bet there will some good deals in used MXs in the next few months. It’s a cool car with no real competition. 36k miles on my 2016 MXP Mcu1 that have had for 18 months. It’s a car with cool/funky doors that smack me once a week. I have had new axels, new upper control arms a new rear bumper wiring harness and a cold weather supercharging issue that has not been figured out yet.

The new MXs are going to be better but not perfect. If I had 80k to spend it would be on my list. The biggest concern you I have that you listed is your wife. You have to live with her not me. How often will she be riding with you?

 

[bayareaever]

I had a ‘22 X since traded in, and now another one order with new pricing. I had fit and finish issues with the ‘22 which were all addressed at the service center free of charge. None of them were deal breakers. It’s an awesome car despite the quirks- I say go for it! This pricing with free paint and tax credit is an all time low. Also the refresh model is much better imo than pre-refresh so comparing old pricing is not really accurate.

 

[Predation]

#2 is one of the main reasons that would make me hesitate.
Also, the amount of issues and fitment issues with the FWD.

 

[Bigriver]

@blancexx, I have had my model X for almost 6 years now. No other car has ever been so much fun. Yes, phantom braking can still occur, but it is rare for me. Yes, tires wear faster than on any car I have ever had, but that is the only maintenance cost I have. Absolutely never heard of the power steering problem.

My local Tesla mobile ranger is amazing. A unique experience to have someone come to my house and who really knows his stuff. Tesla service is in the positive column for me.

Get your dream car and have some fun.

 

[blancexx]

1 will get better with time… how long will it take?????
2 yep it come with the car. At least you are aware. Not a deal breaker.
3 could happen but it’s not very common. More common is a Ford, Kia, or Hyundai burning up while parked.

Smart money says Model Y performance with stock 19” wheels.

I bet there will some good deals in used MXs in the next few months. It’s a cool car with no real competition. 36k miles on my 2016 MXP Mcu1 that have had for 18 months. It’s a car with cool/funky doors that smack me once a week. I have had new axels, new upper control arms a new rear bumper wiring harness and a cold weather supercharging issue that has not been figured out yet.

The new MXs are going to be better but not perfect. If I had 80k to spend it would be on my list. The biggest concern you I have that you listed is your wife. You have to live with her not me. How often will she be riding with you?

wife rides with me 90% of the time lol
she primarily hates the look, think it's as ugly as bmw IX.
and not a fun of lacking stalks, capacity touch buttons, and all the touchscreen that she feels very distractive while driving.

We reached an agreement that she will not be driving the car unless absolutely needed, and I'll need to do all the driving no matter where we go.
Plus if she ever finds the car she likes and wants (there isn't one right now), i'll need to respect her and be willing to spend the same money on the model x to get her that, for which I'm prepared to sell the model x if the moment calls for lol

 

[theslimshadyist]

I was thinking to get a model x a month ago, and did a test drive and also rented from turo for a whole day. I really liked it.
However it was too expensive so I looked elsewhere.
Last week with price cut, i realized i can get it for 72500, I immediately placed the order that night. And now I got a delivery day arranged for tomorrow afternoon. (didn't expect custom order to come in this quickly)

With so much excitement, I started reading many forum posts to prepare myself for it.
And I came across a lot of rather alarming things.

It's not that I didn't do any research upfront. I did read a lot of general review/thoughts on tesla, and model X, youtube and reddit etc.
And I'm prepared for general QC issue, like panel gaps, minor software glitches etc. I like the auto present door on the demo/turo I tried, learning that new MX can only open a inch slowly because of no USS pissed me off but I guess i can live with it.

However, some of the other issues reported really starting to scare me and makes me lose confident in taking the delivery. Major ones so far are:

1. Phantom breaking. I knew there are some, but thought it would have been sorted out by now. After doing extensive research, that doesn't seem to be the case and actually seems to be getting worse with recent SW updates. I can't imagine myself using ACC that breaks randomly every now and then, really defeats the purpose of a relaxing drive experience. With tesla's track record of overpromising and under deliver, like vision based park assist still not working properly after nearly half year, I'm really not having much faith in it ever gonna get fixed in the next year or so.

2. shaft and tire premature wear. seems to be a common issue tracing back 7 years from the start that never got addressed. Looks can be addressed by getting aftermarket suspension/chamber kits, but having to spend the money and arrange to installation (i never worked on cars before) already gave me a headache..

3. loss of power steering. Really scares me, multiple report of this plus NHDSA opening investigation suggests this is more widespread than some random one off issue. Most I read are people expericing it at low speed, but I can't imagine if that happens when I'm on highway, and my family are in the car with me.

Plus all the horror story of going to service center just to get things not fixed and ignored, or causing more damage.
I understand that most people would come to forum to complain about things, while those without the issue just live with their car happily and not making any comments most of the time.

But these 3 issues look to be foundamental issues that would affect all tesla/model x.
My wife already is not a huge fan of model x, I had to make trade offs to make her accept me ordering one. Plus with recent price cut, future depreciation of the car is not all over the place that I can hardly make a proper estimate, especially if the car turns out to be a lemon and tesla fight really hard to not take it back, I'd have a hard time selling it used without losing a big chuck.


Even though my heart still wants a model x, but the more I read about it, the more my mind tells me this is a stupid purchasing decision that I'm highly likely to regret after the honey moon phase.

Any thoughts?

Remember, people usually come to forums for issues or to complain. This usually creates a loud voice but in reality, it'is a very small sample size. I don't think that I've ever come to the boards to boast about how awesome my vehicle is over and over and over. I mainly use to trouble shoot or collect enough real world data points to convey to the service center.

 

[rpo]

The falcon wing doors are incredibly frustrating. They take forever to open/close. The sensors see obstacles that don't exist. Service cannot fix that. When they fail to open, you have to hold the interior open/close button and it moves in slow motion and adds 20 seconds to the time.

The front doors are also motorized and worked great until Tesla removed the ultrasonic sensors about a year ago. Now those doors open a few inches and stop...and then you have to wait a couple seconds before manually opening them further otherwise the useless electric motor will fight against you. Supposedly this will be fixed with a software/camera update, but it's been a year and it's still broken, so.....

 

[holeydonut]

The falcon wing doors are incredibly frustrating. They take forever to open/close. The sensors see obstacles that don't exist. Service cannot fix that. When they fail to open, you have to hold the interior open/close button and it moves in slow motion and adds 20 seconds to the time.

The front doors are also motorized and worked great until Tesla removed the ultrasonic sensors about a year ago. Now those doors open a few inches and stop...and then you have to wait a couple seconds before manually opening them further otherwise the useless electric motor will fight against you. Supposedly this will be fixed with a software/camera update, but it's been a year and it's still broken, so.....

I'm going to second what RPO says. I had a 2023 Model X; and before it ate it the FWD were very sub-par. Half the time they'd just open up half the time. And the front doors would only barely pop open in the most sad way possible. Like it looked more like a defect than on purpose.

We had a 2018 loaner and the FWD were amazing. Easy open/close in the garage or outdoors. The front doors would open fully and auto close when I sat down. It's too bad the 2018 stank of dog farts and otherwise rattled like a 10 year old Dodge minivan. But the FWD were good lol.

 

[btpdx]

I just picked up a X Plaid and even though not a huge fan of the front doors not fully opening the falcon wing doors are awesome - makes loading the kiddo so much easier than our previous 3 or Y. Love the amount of room. No issues with fit and finish at delivery. Only issue was slight vibration at high speeds and took it into the service center that identified it as bad/ defective tires. They swapped the bad tires out and vibration went away. So far, no regrets at all. It’s a much nicer car than the 3 or Y.

 

[posity]

Forums are all about belly-aching, regardless of the product. They are a terrible way to get a sample of the positive experiences. We've owned our X for 5 years and it is the best car I have ever owned. Saves us a ton of money on energy and is fun to drive. The superchargers make driving the car equivalent to an ICE: just get in and drive with no charging anxiety. Once you drive a curvy mountain road with the superb Tesla regen, and realize you've never touched your brake, it is a fabulous driving experience.

If you are the kind of person that has to have everything perfect and work just like your ICE, then new tech like a Tesla may not make you happy. But if you are the kind of person that uses a PC with all its little quirks, and you are happy with working through the learning curve and some quirks of your PC, then my guess is you'll be ecstatic with your X over the long run.

It's pretty obvious the majority of Tesla owners are happy with their cars - because they are selling robustly and if you look on these forums, you'll see person after person that has owned multiple Tesla's. My mobile ranger was a technology rock star: he could fix anything and it was incredibly convenient to have him show up at our front door. My service center is a 3 hour drive (bummer), but they have always gotten the work done well (with a little extra friendly encouragement: just like any shop). I can't imagine going back to an ICE, and certainly will never walk into a dealership again and go through that horrid experience and the people that work at dealerships. I would never consider any other EV simply due to the supercharger network size: it is a thing of beauty to have the car tell you every supercharger in the area and how many stalls are available in real time. It is a car like no other.

 

[uberAsian]

I was thinking to get a model x a month ago, and did a test drive and also rented from turo for a whole day. I really liked it.
However it was too expensive so I looked elsewhere.
Last week with price cut, i realized i can get it for 72500, I immediately placed the order that night. And now I got a delivery day arranged for tomorrow afternoon. (didn't expect custom order to come in this quickly)

With so much excitement, I started reading many forum posts to prepare myself for it.
And I came across a lot of rather alarming things.

It's not that I didn't do any research upfront. I did read a lot of general review/thoughts on tesla, and model X, youtube and reddit etc.
And I'm prepared for general QC issue, like panel gaps, minor software glitches etc. I like the auto present door on the demo/turo I tried, learning that new MX can only open a inch slowly because of no USS pissed me off but I guess i can live with it.

However, some of the other issues reported really starting to scare me and makes me lose confident in taking the delivery. Major ones so far are:

1. Phantom breaking. I knew there are some, but thought it would have been sorted out by now. After doing extensive research, that doesn't seem to be the case and actually seems to be getting worse with recent SW updates. I can't imagine myself using ACC that breaks randomly every now and then, really defeats the purpose of a relaxing drive experience. With tesla's track record of overpromising and under deliver, like vision based park assist still not working properly after nearly half year, I'm really not having much faith in it ever gonna get fixed in the next year or so.

2. shaft and tire premature wear. seems to be a common issue tracing back 7 years from the start that never got addressed. Looks can be addressed by getting aftermarket suspension/chamber kits, but having to spend the money and arrange to installation (i never worked on cars before) already gave me a headache..

3. loss of power steering. Really scares me, multiple report of this plus NHDSA opening investigation suggests this is more widespread than some random one off issue. Most I read are people expericing it at low speed, but I can't imagine if that happens when I'm on highway, and my family are in the car with me.

Plus all the horror story of going to service center just to get things not fixed and ignored, or causing more damage.
I understand that most people would come to forum to complain about things, while those without the issue just live with their car happily and not making any comments most of the time.

But these 3 issues look to be foundamental issues that would affect all tesla/model x.
My wife already is not a huge fan of model x, I had to make trade offs to make her accept me ordering one. Plus with recent price cut, future depreciation of the car is not all over the place that I can hardly make a proper estimate, especially if the car turns out to be a lemon and tesla fight really hard to not take it back, I'd have a hard time selling it used without losing a big chuck.


Even though my heart still wants a model x, but the more I read about it, the more my mind tells me this is a stupid purchasing decision that I'm highly likely to regret after the honey moon phase.

Any thoughts?

This is the thing with the Internet... You only hear the bad things, not the goods things.

 

[mfmvdsande]

Exactly... problems happen everywhere, but not as often as you read on forums.
I am happy with my X plaid: no problems with FWD. Parked under a tree they will only open halfway even if there's room, but that's the software going for safety. Manual override wil open them fully still.
I regret the limited opening for the front doors too. Was a nice extra in the old models. Not a show stopper and still.... maybe the future software will fix this problem! A happy MXP driver here!

 

[Richbot]

Sounds like you're using this as a family beater, and that's what we've done - 39,000 miles on the X in under 3 years of ownership, the fastest I've put miles on any vehicle I've ever owned with the exception of my college-commuter Civic. I have HW3 and a Legacy X, so I'm not exactly apples to oranges, but phantom braking is nonexistent on my car with autopilot only (do not have EAP or FSD). That's the only dealbreaker I can think of for me, if the cruise control didn't work without stomping on the brakes for no reason.

I've gone through 3 front axles and 9 tires so far. That's a lot. But it's a high-performing, heavy vehicle, putting as much energy into the tires as any pickup truck, if not more, with much smaller tires than any powerful pickup truck has on it. If you go into it with your eyes open, you'll do that math ahead of time and be unsurprised. I'm also a longtime German car owner, so for me tire wear just means the tires are working

The doors are annoying and awesome at the same time.

Personally, if I were buying today, I'd look for the newest Raven Performance 7 seater I could find. But that's because I think the new interface is stupid, and if an aftermarket signal/wiper stalk option came available, that'd fix my last objection to the new cars now that the stupid Yoke is a $1000 upcharge (lol, nice work Tesla).

If you liked it, I say proceed, just proceed with your eyes open knowing it's not going to perfect, because almost no interesting car is ever perfect, that's why they're so interesting, to paraphrase an old chinese curse that is probably misattributed to the chinese. There isn't a more interesting/higher-performing vehicle out there that can also transport my family including its two long-legged dogs in space and comfort. Trust me, I've looked every time the car annoys me, which is often. But the highest praise I can give for a family truckster is that it just *works*. I never wonder about that. It's been pretty dependable, and has not had a near-stranding incident yet, which is more than I can say for some of our German stuff by the time it hit 40k

 

[Unclepaul]

At current pricing, the Model X is a great choice.
Like all vehicles on enthusiasts forums, you will see people complaining that they are imperfect. That is the case with the X as well.
For the most part they are well engineered and top of the line Evs.
For families with kids, they are remarkable and capable.
As executive transportation they are first class as well.

 

[Richbot]

At current pricing, the Model X is a great choice.
Like all vehicles on enthusiasts forums, you will see people complaining that they are imperfect. That is the case with the X as well.
For the most part they are well engineered and top of the line Evs.
For families with kids, they are remarkable and capable.
As executive transportation they are first class as well.

Yep. At $80k base, $90k for never-before-seen-in-a-3-row-vehicle performance trim, it's a pretty good value I think.

If you compare it against, say, the Porsche Cayenne, you get a significantly more spacious, faster car for about *half* the cost of the high-performance trims. When Plaid was $130k, not so much, but at $90k, holy cow that's a lot of capability for the money. The dual motor is maybe a little less amazing on the spec sheet, but if you qualify for tax breaks in your state, it starts to get really competitive. I think in some places you can stack incentives down into the mid-$60k range...

To be clear, I am in no way suggesting you get the same quality of product as you get when you are buying a Porsche. lol, just no. Porsche (and VWAG generally for their high-po models) does some things that are deeep into diminishing returns territory to make sure everything you touch is exceptional, and works, even in the worst conditions imaginable. Their products are validated for the bleeding edge of the envelope in all directions, it's just a different level of engineering requirements, and that means $$$$$.

But if capability per dollar is the priority, Tesla is yet another american car company that can give you that if you're willing to overlook some small very large quality/durability/usability fumbles, and you get some nice upsides, like the network

I've also noticed the X has gone from oddball spaceship to just another minivan in my area in the last 3 years. Which is a good thing I think. Nobody else has really tried to do a low-to-the-ground luxury family hauler. Mercedes couldn't pull it off with the R-class, because their design language was 2020's BMW-esque on that car, but Tesla has managed to break into the family hauler market without making a Range Rover copy, and without making a boring car.

Just watch your head

 

[CTruck_BMW]

Tesla YouTubers are the most silly human-being on earth. Do NOT made personal decisions based on people trying to sell views. They make a big deal out of nothing.

I just got my Tesla Model S. The gaps and panels are as good as what I had in my Mercedes S-class flagship!

 

[double07]

I love my 2023 MXP that I picked up the end of June. I am coming from 2020 MSLR. Both S and MXP are not perfect; Yes, I did have few minor issues with MSLR and I loved my MSLR(almost did not want to trade it in ). No real concern issue so far with my new MXP. and I will say no car is perfect regardless of brand and I had many and all had issues. You sounded like you are changing you mind and that is nothing wrong with that. As other said, you are reading in too many nit-picking issues. Will I buy another Tesla? Absolutely...

 

[ngng]

Yep. At $80k base, $90k for never-before-seen-in-a-3-row-vehicle performance trim, it's a pretty good value I think.

If you compare it against, say, the Porsche Cayenne, you get a significantly more spacious, faster car for about *half* the cost of the high-performance trims. When Plaid was $130k, not so much, but at $90k, holy cow that's a lot of capability for the money. The dual motor is maybe a little less amazing on the spec sheet, but if you qualify for tax breaks in your state, it starts to get really competitive. I think in some places you can stack incentives down into the mid-$60k range...

To be clear, I am in no way suggesting you get the same quality of product as you get when you are buying a Porsche. lol, just no. Porsche (and VWAG generally for their high-po models) does some things that are deeep into diminishing returns territory to make sure everything you touch is exceptional, and works, even in the worst conditions imaginable. Their products are validated for the bleeding edge of the envelope in all directions, it's just a different level of engineering requirements, and that means $$$$$.

But if capability per dollar is the priority, Tesla is yet another american car company that can give you that if you're willing to overlook some small very large quality/durability/usability fumbles, and you get some nice upsides, like the network

I've also noticed the X has gone from oddball spaceship to just another minivan in my area in the last 3 years. Which is a good thing I think. Nobody else has really tried to do a low-to-the-ground luxury family hauler. Mercedes couldn't pull it off with the R-class, because their design language was 2020's BMW-esque on that car, but Tesla has managed to break into the family hauler market without making a Range Rover copy, and without making a boring car.

Just watch your head

Totally agree with everything here.