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My 2013 Model S has had its share of issues. My car is on its third drivetrain. Am I unhappy about it? Nope. Was it a hassle? A little. Was it a show-stopper? N

My 2013 Model S has had its share of issues. My car is on its third drivetrain. Am I unhappy about it? Nope. Was it a hassle? A little. Was it a show-stopper? Nope. Did Tesla always take care of the issues to my satisfaction? Absolutely. Would I buy another Tesla? Not only YES but I cannot imagine ever buying anything else ever again. Tesla's huge weakness continues to be communication between company and customer. That is and always has been my number one area of concern. Not reliability. Except in terms of communications reliability. They are terrible at managing expectations. At providing quick and timely updates. At explaining functionality (ESPECIALLY in the age of autopilot) for not only safe driving but also simply maximizing enjoyment of all the car's capabilities. Tesla as a company is a shambles when it comes to communicating. It unfortunately continues to be a low priority to fix it. I wish CR would ding Tesla for lousy communications. Because customer complaints about their weakness as communicators go unheeded. But I would still buy a Tesla again and plan to.

petersellers 11y ago
As someone who typically drives cars outside of their warranty period, I don't understand the lack of concern about reliability after your 3rd drivetrain. I suppose if you are leasing the car that is one thing, but with that kind of warranty work I would be extremely hesitant to buy a used Tesla.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  The Model S powertrain warranty is 8 years/infinite miles.
  - ansible 11y ago
    My current car is 14 years old. My previous two reached 16 and 17 years. I try to run then as long as possible because cars are money sinks.
    - toomuchtodo 11y ago
      The future won't be like the past. I don't expect to own a car 8 years from now in any scenario (electric self driving cars on demand). Owning a vehicle just seems like such a waste, so much capital tied up in something that sits around all day. Could you imagine airlines that let aircraft sit idle 95% of the time?
      - ams6110 11y ago
        There won't be any self-driving on-demand cars in 8 years. Maybe 28.
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
        tbabb 11y ago
        8 seems like an extremely reasonable guess.
    - cloudwalking 11y ago
      The Tesla motors will get much more reliable with time. Nobody has mass-produced such a high torque motor before, it will take time to get the manufacturing ironed out. They will certainly get them to last much longer, but even if they don't the motor unit is only a couple thousand dollars and only takes a couple hours to swap. A Electric powertrain is significantly simpler than a combustion vehicle.
    - CardenB 11y ago
      Well then this is obviously not an issue for you. You don't sound like the type to be an "early adopter" for cars, so I think it would be out of character for a consumer like yourself to buy a Tesla is the first place. I don't think they're alienating a significant portion of their demographic by not catering to people who only buy a car every one or two decades, especially considering they're selling a luxury sedan and they're the only successful American automotive company for at least a few decades.
macNchz 11y ago
I'd say your expectations around car ownership are significantly out of line with a typical car buyer or someone who may be reading Consumer Reports. I don't think most people buying cars have any real expectation about communication or any relationship with the manufacturer of their car, and having the drivetrain replaced twice would seemingly be a dealbreaker in terms of brand loyalty for a great many car owners. Obviously early adopters make for a different market, but I think your experience only serves to confirm Consumer Reports' latest report.
- secabeen 11y ago
  Out of curiosity, why would a drivetrain replacement be a dealbreaker? The replacement is usually a one or two day job in the service center, and they give you a loaner Tesla while they have it. Why do you care if they pre-emptively replace your drivetrain?
  - foobarian 11y ago
    It's hard to gauge how widespread these failures are if only people who had problems report in. My anecdata point is that my 2014 Ford had no issues whatsoever and I would find it extremely annoying if I had to waste time driving to/from service centers for things that most modern cars haven't been failing at for years. Even more so if I paid as much as the Teslas cost.
  - macNchz 11y ago
    Any sort of repeated major problem with an essentially brand new car would be a dealbreaker to many people because it's so rare with most modern cars. It's an inconvenience in day-to day-life caused by something you paid a premium on to buy new, and it's an indication that once the warranty runs out, you're stuck with potentially expensive repairs. Even if you don't intend to keep the car, reliability problems hurt the resale value.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  I don't see the problem. Early adopters are shaking out the bugs in the Model S and the Model X. If Tesla adopts the Uber model, you're never going to care if the car has problems, it'll be Tesla's problems. All of this hand wringing assumes car ownership is going to continue as it has in the past. I'd say the tea leaves are showing something different with self driving cars advancing as quickly as they are. Tesla Model: * Sell expensive cars to people who are rabid enthusiasts. * Hustle hard to get Superchargers and Gigafactory done (funded by expensive cars from step 1) * Perfect autopilot/autonomous systems * Sell Model 3 to those who want to buy it, rent by the mile to those who don't want to buy * Profit hard.
jarek 11y ago
A 7 Series on its third drivetrain within three years would have people tearing up message boards about how terrible internal combustion engines are

petersellers 11y ago

As someone who typically drives cars outside of their warranty period, I don't understand the lack of concern about reliability after your 3rd drivetrain. I suppose if you are leasing the car that is one thing, but with that kind of warranty work I would be extremely hesitant to buy a used Tesla.

toomuchtodo 11y ago
The Model S powertrain warranty is 8 years/infinite miles.
- ansible 11y ago
  My current car is 14 years old. My previous two reached 16 and 17 years. I try to run then as long as possible because cars are money sinks.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    The future won't be like the past. I don't expect to own a car 8 years from now in any scenario (electric self driving cars on demand). Owning a vehicle just seems like such a waste, so much capital tied up in something that sits around all day. Could you imagine airlines that let aircraft sit idle 95% of the time?
    - ams6110 11y ago
      There won't be any self-driving on-demand cars in 8 years. Maybe 28.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
      - tbabb 11y ago
        8 seems like an extremely reasonable guess.
  - cloudwalking 11y ago
    The Tesla motors will get much more reliable with time. Nobody has mass-produced such a high torque motor before, it will take time to get the manufacturing ironed out. They will certainly get them to last much longer, but even if they don't the motor unit is only a couple thousand dollars and only takes a couple hours to swap. A Electric powertrain is significantly simpler than a combustion vehicle.
  - CardenB 11y ago
    Well then this is obviously not an issue for you. You don't sound like the type to be an "early adopter" for cars, so I think it would be out of character for a consumer like yourself to buy a Tesla is the first place. I don't think they're alienating a significant portion of their demographic by not catering to people who only buy a car every one or two decades, especially considering they're selling a luxury sedan and they're the only successful American automotive company for at least a few decades.

macNchz 11y ago

I'd say your expectations around car ownership are significantly out of line with a typical car buyer or someone who may be reading Consumer Reports. I don't think most people buying cars have any real expectation about communication or any relationship with the manufacturer of their car, and having the drivetrain replaced twice would seemingly be a dealbreaker in terms of brand loyalty for a great many car owners. Obviously early adopters make for a different market, but I think your experience only serves to confirm Consumer Reports' latest report.

secabeen 11y ago
Out of curiosity, why would a drivetrain replacement be a dealbreaker? The replacement is usually a one or two day job in the service center, and they give you a loaner Tesla while they have it. Why do you care if they pre-emptively replace your drivetrain?
- foobarian 11y ago
  It's hard to gauge how widespread these failures are if only people who had problems report in. My anecdata point is that my 2014 Ford had no issues whatsoever and I would find it extremely annoying if I had to waste time driving to/from service centers for things that most modern cars haven't been failing at for years. Even more so if I paid as much as the Teslas cost.
- macNchz 11y ago
  Any sort of repeated major problem with an essentially brand new car would be a dealbreaker to many people because it's so rare with most modern cars. It's an inconvenience in day-to day-life caused by something you paid a premium on to buy new, and it's an indication that once the warranty runs out, you're stuck with potentially expensive repairs. Even if you don't intend to keep the car, reliability problems hurt the resale value.
toomuchtodo 11y ago
I don't see the problem. Early adopters are shaking out the bugs in the Model S and the Model X. If Tesla adopts the Uber model, you're never going to care if the car has problems, it'll be Tesla's problems. All of this hand wringing assumes car ownership is going to continue as it has in the past. I'd say the tea leaves are showing something different with self driving cars advancing as quickly as they are. Tesla Model: * Sell expensive cars to people who are rabid enthusiasts. * Hustle hard to get Superchargers and Gigafactory done (funded by expensive cars from step 1) * Perfect autopilot/autonomous systems * Sell Model 3 to those who want to buy it, rent by the mile to those who don't want to buy * Profit hard.

jarek 11y ago

A 7 Series on its third drivetrain within three years would have people tearing up message boards about how terrible internal combustion engines are