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I've driven the model S on two different occasions. It was incredible. However, I went with my second BMW because of how incredibly awful the tesla interior was

I've driven the model S on two different occasions. It was incredible. However, I went with my second BMW because of how incredibly awful the tesla interior was in terms of fit and finish. The car had 30k miles and there was constant rattling and noises coming from various areas of the interior made worst by the fact that the car was completely silent. I'll revisit Tesla in another 5 years when they've had time to work out their quality issues.

henrikschroder 10y ago
Almost same story here, I picked a Mercedes E-class instead of the Tesla, the interior completely blows the Tesla away at half the price. Yes, the Tesla is super fun when you get to push the speeder, but the rest of the time it's just not. This was also a year before Tesla launched their "autopilot", and I picked an E-class with Mercedes' self-driving tech which had already been on the market for years at that point...
J-dawg 10y ago
Given what Tesla have achieved, and the engineering hurdles they have overcome, it's kinda strange that they neglected the interior so much. I would have though that this would be one of the easiest parts of a car to get right. Hire some established car interior people from existing companies, and work with existing suppliers of luxury manufacturers. The interior is the one part of the car that doesn't need to try to be innovative, so they could have basically just copied their German rivals. Am I missing something about how hard this is? Also, is it really that bad? I've never driven or ridden in a Tesla, but I've looked inside one in a showroom and thought it looked pretty nice inside.
- henrikschroder 10y ago
  I think a lot of it is psychological and about branding and luxury signaling, but I also think that build quality is one of those things where you have to get everything right, it really is a case of the whole being larger than the sum of the parts, so you can't just subcontract out the parts and slap them together. And at the end of the day, quality costs, and the price of the Model S is high enough already. My soon 3yo Mercedes E-class doesn't squeak, rattle, flap, wobble, dinkle, pop or waffle anywhere. Nothing. Meanwhile, the Tesla I test-drove felt much cheaper. It's nice enough, but it really feels like the cheapest entry-level German luxury cars, while it's priced like their highest-end cars. I've also seen reports that build quality is hit-and-miss, they start to squeak and rattle after a while if you're unlucky.

henrikschroder 10y ago

Almost same story here, I picked a Mercedes E-class instead of the Tesla, the interior completely blows the Tesla away at half the price. Yes, the Tesla is super fun when you get to push the speeder, but the rest of the time it's just not. This was also a year before Tesla launched their "autopilot", and I picked an E-class with Mercedes' self-driving tech which had already been on the market for years at that point...

J-dawg 10y ago

Given what Tesla have achieved, and the engineering hurdles they have overcome, it's kinda strange that they neglected the interior so much. I would have though that this would be one of the easiest parts of a car to get right. Hire some established car interior people from existing companies, and work with existing suppliers of luxury manufacturers. The interior is the one part of the car that doesn't need to try to be innovative, so they could have basically just copied their German rivals. Am I missing something about how hard this is? Also, is it really that bad? I've never driven or ridden in a Tesla, but I've looked inside one in a showroom and thought it looked pretty nice inside.

henrikschroder 10y ago
I think a lot of it is psychological and about branding and luxury signaling, but I also think that build quality is one of those things where you have to get everything right, it really is a case of the whole being larger than the sum of the parts, so you can't just subcontract out the parts and slap them together. And at the end of the day, quality costs, and the price of the Model S is high enough already. My soon 3yo Mercedes E-class doesn't squeak, rattle, flap, wobble, dinkle, pop or waffle anywhere. Nothing. Meanwhile, the Tesla I test-drove felt much cheaper. It's nice enough, but it really feels like the cheapest entry-level German luxury cars, while it's priced like their highest-end cars. I've also seen reports that build quality is hit-and-miss, they start to squeak and rattle after a while if you're unlucky.