10 ms·

Why didn't you buy a Tesla?

• srhtftw 4y ago
  I don't think highly of people who own them or are associated with them.
• tacosbane 4y ago
  they are glued together in a tent, and feel like it
• gcheong 4y ago
  We had a deposit on a model 3, but by the time they started coming out we decided we didn't want to spend that much on a new car. So we bought a used Fiat 500e and it's worked fine for us. I figure if we ever need to drive further than we do now, we'll just rent something for the time we need it but haven't needed to yet.
• bradlys 4y ago
  No place to charge at home. I like sports cars that have the top go down. I like noise. Didn’t have any real connection or soul. Terrible seats for driving on backroads. Super hard to stay in place. Kept sliding all over the seat due to no bolstering. I was considering buying an Ariel atom around the same time I was looking at a Tesla - if that gives you any idea of what I like.
• andreskytt 4y ago
  Firstly. The range does not work for me. I need the car for long drives in the cold winter or hot summer. In the latter case, I need to have a bike on the roof and there is unlikely to be charging where I go to. I do not wish to sit and wait for the car to charge after a day full of sports. Secondly, the boot space does not work for me. I need to lug sports stuff and guitars/amps on a regular basis. Unless I go for the truck (and I don’t want to), there’s not enough space. Thirdly, the Tesla is just an awful car from the inside: the seats follow the worst US traditions of softness without comfort, there’s the bloody screen (the lack of physical buttons has been moaned about elsewhere in this thread). Fourth, I do not like the trust model. Somebody being able to fully control my car remotely? Nope. Fifth, I do not like the ecological footprint of the batteries. Sixth, it’s bloody expensive. I can get at least two fully loaded lightly used under-warranty bmw 530i tourings for the price of a model X. Which are better cars for me as a user. I could also go on about dubious engineering choices both physical and software, the antics of mr. Musk etc. But paying double the price for what is a worse car along every dimension?
• MaurizioPz 4y ago
  I can't afford one
• pseufaux 4y ago
  I think you’re confusing the difference between a technical person and someone who loves technology. HN is a mix between technical people and people who love technology. Technical people don’t tend to jump on the newest bandwagon without seeing how it plays out in real life. In general, Teslas have been lackluster in the way they have dealt with user interface, general build quality, and customer support.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• shams93 4y ago
  [flagged]
• ClassyJacket 4y ago
  Because I don't make anywhere near enough money. I would if I could.
• warrenm 4y ago
  - don't need a new vehicle yet - they won't hold my whole family
• lbhdc 4y ago
  I really wanted one, but its too impractical. There are no or very few charging stations where I live, it gets very cold here, and I often find I need to drive across the country driving through rural areas that have limited charging coverage. I dont think its really a tesla problem, but an ev problem. Right now ice cars seem more aligned with my needs.
  • Tempest1981 4y ago
    > where I live, it gets very cold here Aren't they popular in Norway? (Are you somewhere colder?) https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/hitting-record-electric-cars-sales-norway-near-80-2022-2023-01-02/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/hittin... "Four out of five new cars sold in Norway in 2022 were battery powered, led by Tesla"
    • timbit42 4y ago
      "The climate of Norway is more temperate than could be expected for such high latitudes. This is mainly due to the North Atlantic Current with its extension, the Norwegian Current, raising the air temperature; the prevailing southwesterlies bringing mild air onshore; and the general southwest–northeast orientation of the coast, which allows the westerlies to penetrate into the Arctic." - Wikipedia Norway's average low temperature in January is only -5C (23.5F), so it isn't as cold as Sweden and Finland and isn't anywhere near as cold as Canada's prairies which get down to -50C in the winter. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Norway#Weatherboxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Norway#Weatherboxes
    • lbhdc 4y ago
      I am not sure what its like in Norway. My understanding is the temperature reduces the effective capacity [0]. Heated garages aren't very common around here (I don't have a garage at all), so raising the temperature of the car would be a challenge in the winter months. I drove ~1,800mi this past weekend (mostly through rural parts of the country), that would have been challenging (assuming possible) in an ev. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_charge#Voltage_method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_charge#Voltage_method
• dekhn 4y ago
  because FSD is a lie, and the cars have significant quality problems that must be addressed during inspection/pickup.
• treeface9000 4y ago
  I like having the option to do a long distance road trip. It's easy to find gas stations and it only takes a minute to fill up. I rarely see charging stations and I doubt it can recharge in just a minute.
  • carlmcqueen 4y ago
    I live in the midwest and own a non-tesla EV, and the minute you get out of any kind of bigger cities your chances of finding a level 3 are quite sparse. There are a LOT of chargepoint level 2s, but level 3s seem to be at car dealerships who don't offer it to everyone, hotels that don't allow it for everyone, etc. We did a 80 mile each way day trip to visit someone and bring them back and had to line up lunch in an area with no great food options so we could sit for the 30 minutes to get back up to 80%. With it being cold in the midwest our advertised '280 range' or '180 range at 80%' never is even close to that. It's like the olden days before really efficient ICE vehicles.
• bobkazamakis 4y ago
  Early adoption isn't for financed purchases.
• balaji1 4y ago
  Tesla seemed too complicated to me, I’d be an early adopter(actually early consumer). Just drive a Honda or Toyota. But I heard friends bought a Tesla since an online order was easier than dealing with car dealers. And Tesla is not a sports car or a luxury car. So why buy them.
  • baking 4y ago
    If you don't like/trust your car dealer go to another one. Just make sure that they don't keep you from leaving. When they ask to make a copy of your drivers license make sure you get it back right away. Don't hand over the keys to your car to get a value for a trade-in until you've agreed upon a price for the new car. (And know the fair value of your trade-in before you walk in so you can turn down their trade-in offer.) And don't be afraid to walk. You haven't wasted your time if you've learned about a new way for car dealers to try to screw you. One time a "sales manager" showed me a number for a car which I agreed to and then he took it to his "manager" and came back with a higher number. I said goodbye and never looked back.
• mytailorisrich 4y ago
  It's very expensive and it's electric. I don't have a £50k+ budget (here in the UK) to spend on a car and I am still cautious about the practicality, maintenance costs, and resale value of an EV. At the moment it seems that Teslas/EVs are fine in term of practicality if you only commute locally and can charge every day at home, but then that makes the price tag even less palatable. So I intend to keep my diesel (boo!) for as long as I can and see where things go.
• newaccount2021 4y ago
  [dead]
• watwut 4y ago
  Why did I not bought Subaru? Why did I not bought Toyota? Why should I buy it? Why being technical would imply buying Tesla? I did not had burning need to have electric vehicle and the charging network here is not super practical. It was always expensive car, I prefer better cost benefit ratio. I also want more reliable car (I always checked reliability indexes and stats before buying car). Tesla was status symbol, pepple bought it cause it was "cool", but I did not cared about having that all that much.
• sergiotapia 4y ago
  Tried to look into one about a year ago. Really long wait times, and feels weird that if anything goes wrong I can only go to Tesla for repairs. The "iphone" of cars? I don't use iphone... I don't know how true this is. I'm used to taking my cars to my local mechanics. Can I take a tesla to a local mechanic?
• seattle_spring 4y ago
  Because the Rivian I bought is better in almost every way. Also, by the time I even considered an EV, Musk had begun associating with the IDW crowd and that made the idea of supporting him physically repulsive to me.
  • umeshunni 4y ago
    IDW?
    • ortusdux 4y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_dark_web https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_dark_web
    • tshaddox 4y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_dark_web https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_dark_web Basically a group of extremely successful people with massive audiences who complain about “the woke mind virus” and “being silenced by cancel culture” unironically.
    • iUsedToCode 4y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_dark_web https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_dark_web
• tw98521358 4y ago
  Quality problems, and just wired early adopter computing glitches that make for a potentially frustrating experience. Ended up with a different brand electric
• Waterluvian 4y ago
  Tesla is too "sexy" for me. I want an electric car that works, is generally boring, does not have any hype culture, does not have an ongoing series of major software updates (or any, if possible...). I don't want a ton of cute gimmicks. I don't need my horn to change or my car to do parlour tricks. Honestly... I just kind of want a base model Subaru Forester but electric.
  • b7we5b7a 4y ago
    Funny - that's exactly how I perceive my M3: boring. And I love it (3y driving it). If you get the feeling it's hyped, stop believing the media (esp. about Elon) and rent it for a week, or a weekend's long trip. Most of the stuff you setup once and you forget it exists, because the car was designed to stay out of your way. I have done 0 maintenance in 3y, except for tire rotations. Most "OMG I NEED A BUTTON" things are either reachable via voice control (usually good enough if you ask me), or you may have already AP engaged and you can do it via touchscreen in <3s. Climate control is usually good at keeping a good temperature w.r.t. to the outside, so it's mostly a +- 0.5°C quick-tap when it feels to warm or too cold (and the up/down controls are always present on-screen). Integrated navigation w/ Supercharger network is so amazing, it's boring. I can hop in the car for a 2000km unplanned trip, and the car will make sure I get there by planning all charging stops, preconditioning the battery for fast charging, and you can also add intermediate destinations to plan more complex trips. The first time I checked out my parents new cars (my father owns VW ID.4, my mother a Peugeot e-208) it felt like the Enterprise's deck, with buttons popping out everywhere, and you usually need a phone to have modern/up to date navigation support in addition. Updates are usually about rolling out new (mostly opt-in) features, or bugfixes, or sometimes improving quality of life considerably (latest was "auto blinkers", last month). Sometimes they are required to improve or fix critical battery/powertrain/driving management issues. When they decide to shuffle stuff in the UI without appeal, that sucks, agreed, but it's usually for the better and it's generally an easy transition - in a couple days I usually forget I had a different UI. I can tell you for sure I'd rather have any time a 30m update installation overnight every couple weeks, than fiddling 3 days preparing a 64GB USB stick in the right format for the car to consume, only for it to fail multiple times. Or bringing in the car for service a couple days just to allow perform a "recall" that could have been only virtual. Or dealing with Bad Software Practices® anyway, like releasing v3.4 but calling it "v3.3 (rev 2205)" in the dashboard (all parents experiences). The cute gimmicks are an opt-in, you don't need to use/enable them all the time, or at all :)
• twalla 4y ago
  Because Elon Musk is a massive chode who I'd rather not enrich or be perceived to be a supporter of. Also, I don't drive very much.
• temp2022account 4y ago
  I bought an Elantra in the last year, and it's self-driving capabilities (lane tracking + cruise control) are an order of magnitude more responsive than a friend's Tesla. So my reason is quality, but it means I leave behind giant screens and pay about 10% more for fuel than my friend did last year (we ran the numbers last weekend - $910 vs $980 for 2022).
• raincom 4y ago
  Some reasons: - living in apartments which don't have charging ports/stations - not enough home equity to buy model X/Y - not enough salary to make monthly payments - your kids get bullied because you drive model 3 [1] - electric vehicle is always a second vehicle in a household, and you need to have another ICE vehicle. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4HX8qPrHUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4HX8qPrHUg
• Imnimo 4y ago
  I really, really don't want to use a touch screen while driving. Unfortunately it's looking like my options will be very slim on that front even outside of Tesla by the next time I have to buy a car.
  • motohagiography 4y ago
    Just the other day I was considering what a modular synth UX for an electronic vehicle might look like. e.g. a satisfying AD/ADSR and cutoff with weighty knobs, precision milled rails and bearings. It may be niche, but really, if I could tweak the power curve of my accelerator, and have my driving experience as an expression of those micro "tonal" adustments, I wonder if that could really make the electric vehicle experience.
  • regularjack 4y ago
    I'm in the same camp, can't stand touch screens while driving. I've been researching EVs and there are still cars with physical controls, e.g. Kia Niro, Hyundai Ioniq 5. If you look at YouTube reviews of cars, the lack of physical controls is often one of the things they complain about. I'm convinced car makers are paying attention to feedback on this topic, and hopefully it's a fad that will die soon.
• chuckSu 4y ago
  [dead]
• JumpinJack_Cash 4y ago
  The ratio of quality of life acquired per dollar spent is simply too low, because you are essentially buying a giant battery with a car built around. And it shows given the boring design language and the lack of quality in materials (both inside and outside the vehicle) And on top of all that I just know business owners, the moment they start talking about 'mission' and 'vision' or 'future' is the moment they are trying to screw you over. Likewise the moment they start to advertise themselves in their personal capacity it's because they know that the product is weak and can't stand on its own merit, so it needs constant cheerleading/fluffing. I used Windows before I knew who Gates was, I used Amazon before I knew who Bezos was, I was googling before I knew who Sergey & Larry & Shcmidt were, same with Facebook and Youtube. In the car department I am very happy with my BMW 3-series. If I ever feel the need to drive faster than that, I'll just go to the track and pay for 10-15 laps on a Corvette or a Mustang, a Ferrari or a Lambo if I feel exotic. That's about it, I also don't care about climate change, emissions , the Ozone layer and all the stuff that Tesla zelots seem to be so extremist about .
• nerdwaller 4y ago
  I have a 2006 vehicle I can still work on and is reliable - so there's no reason to get anything newer for me or my wife. I'd easily jump in it and do a cross country road trip (and will at the end of January).
• lancesells 4y ago
  1. I went through the checkout process years ago. The thing that struck me was how hidden and false all the prices turned out to be. It felt scammy with all the "Potential Savings" being shown. Right away my trust is down. 2. I believe they have cameras inside the car uploading to Tesla HQ. GTFO with anything like that. 3. As I understand it the build quality is fairly low for the price. This is possibly a rumor but it's another thing about trust.
  • sounds 4y ago
    A similar note that gave me pause. (I eventually pulled the trigger and bought a model 3 but it took me a looong time.) - I want to be able to hook up a small, efficient generator, maybe as a back-mounted module. But Teslas can't be charged while in motion. (I don't want to _own_ such a generator. I want to rent one for long distance trips. Preferably one that uses 100% Ethanol or some other carbon neutral fuel. You get the point.)
  • ajross 4y ago
    > The thing that struck me was how hidden and false all the prices turned out to be. It felt scammy with all the "Potential Savings" being shown Uh... that's the only spot where there's any adjustment shown[1]. Everything shows list price in the configurator. You want red, it shows "$2000" right there on the button. No adjustments. I mean, have you actually purchased a car from a dealer? It's just wild that you'd thing Tesla of all parties was the one obfuscating the transaction. It's the smoothest and most obvious purchase experience on the market. > I believe they have cameras inside the car uploading to Tesla HQ This is wildly wrong, where did you read that? Someone lied to you. There's a camera for driver attention monitoring (IIRC there's a rumor it'll soon be usable for video calls too), but no video telemetry happens. "Tesla HQ" does see where your car is though, and has access to stuff like charge data. Mostly people view that as a feature; there's a robust community of analysis tools available for us to nerd out over the cars. (To be fair: FSD beta vehicles will batch upload video from the exterior cameras on disengagement for training purposes, but that's an opt-in program). [1] For reference: they're adjusting for fuel cost of the vehicle vs gasoline, which I can attest is a very real effect. My 19k mile model Y has spent $1100 on electricity so far.
• blamestross 4y ago
  My experience is that there are 2 flavors of tech people and cars: - I make computers do cool things and having software running most of my car sounds fun - I prevent computers from doing bad things and having software running most of my car sounds horrifying I'm in the later camp. I drive a Nissan Frontier where the only computers are the CAN bus (and maybe some specific engine parts) and an aftermarket rear view camera addon. Hand crank windows. One lock.
  • hennell 4y ago
    That's a similar view I have when it comes to voting. I work with tech, and I'd not trust any tech-only system of voting because theres so many areas it can go wrong or be exploited. I'd accept electronic voting only if they print a paper ballot after and a spot check system is in place to confirm the counts. I have more faith in cars and planes, as at least those have more public failures.
• allears 4y ago
  I don't need another car -- one is enough for me and my wife. If I did need a car, I couldn't afford a Tesla. If I could afford a Tesla, I wouldn't buy one because of poor fit and finish, buggy and unstable software, and general disgust at Elon's antics. Besides, there's plenty of other choices for an EV, and many more on the way.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• MuffinFlavored 4y ago
  1. I think V8 twin turbo German luxury sedans are cool (exhaust notes, torque curve, modifications, etc.) 2. cars can be a hobby (even if they aren't cheap and not the greatest for the environment) (detailing them, modifying them, going to car meets/clubs with owners loyal to the brand for years who have specific history and knowledge/experiences/stories) 3. I'm too much of a control freak to be able to "relax" while the car "drives itself" (to any degree). 4. I kind of like "being a hipster" and avoiding what's mainstream. I don't see how one can have a strong sense of identity when everybody has a Tesla.
• taylorhou 4y ago
  Honestly, the biggest reason was interest rates. Secondarily - they haven't changed their appearance literally since they launched. I took delivery of my Rivian R1S in December instead of a Model X and I haven't been this excited about a new car since my first Model 3. This coming from an owner of a model 3 and 2 model Y's.
• shishy 4y ago
  They feel cheap to me on the inside, I hate the big screen in the middle (prefer slightly older cars with knobs and buttons instead of touch screens) and generally avoid things with too many "electronics" because they're harder / more expensive to service / repair. (Yes, I realize this is true of a lot of other cars besides Teslas, I don't buy them either)
• liminal 4y ago
  In the past I would have considered a Tesla, but now I wouldn't want to be associated with Elon in any way
• mertd 4y ago
  They are overpriced by around $20k for the fit and finish. Build and materials quality were ok to overlook when Teslas used to be the only sensible EV option. Now the market is full of interesting EVs. Why pay German car money to get a car that's built like a budget car?
  • notacoward 4y ago
    > built like a budget car Not even. Most budget cars don't have this kind of crap going on. https://youtu.be/5_kAz2v7scQ?t=733 https://youtu.be/5_kAz2v7scQ?t=733 There's a bunch of bad stuff noted throughout the video, unfortunately interspersed with random modding/repair stuff, but the substandard welding seems like the worst. That's unsafe to begin with, and I've seen multiple reports of related rust problems in as little as two years in coastal climates - less than a Yugo and those were famously bad. It's an absolute no-go in a car that costs so much.
• Hamuko 4y ago
  I don't want to pay that much for a car, especially for how little I drive. Even a used Model 3 is at least 38,000€, and the insurance premiums are crazy. I also don't think that Teslas are cool and that they look goofy.
• bcrosby95 4y ago
  They're too expensive and I work from home so I rarely drive. I have an ICE car from 2007. It has about 30k miles on it. From both a money and an environmentally friendly aspect, I'm pretty sure a shiny new Tesla would pretty much never pay for itself. And I view cars as tools not toys.
• cameroncooper 4y ago
  I recently bought a vehicle and fully considered a Tesla. In the end, I decided that the build quality wasn't what I have come to expect for a car in that price range. There is a trend amongst luxury cars, I think driven by Tesla, of moving towards minimalism, which to me feels like a move away from luxury.
• mnd999 4y ago
  Many reasons: - I don’t need a car - I don’t like the look of them, particularly the interior. - I live in an apartment with only on-street parking so I’d have to rely on public charging points which are expensive and subject to a lot of competition.
• fetus8 4y ago
  I find the design language of the whole Tesla lineup to be boring and look outdated as of now. The exterior design hasn't truly been updated since the Model 3 launched 5 years ago. The interior of their cars are boring and frankly very cheap feeling. I just rode in a brand new Model 3 and was astonished by the plasticky feeling interior. I currently drive a Kia Stinger GT2 which I think will be my last ICE car. I am hoping more and more EVs launch and look more and more like ICE cars. I generally don't like the design and exterior body lines of Teslas, the Kia EV6, and say the Nissan Leaf. When Hyundai or Kia puts out an EV version of their existing sedans with a sporty option (N-Line or GT) I'll probably upgrade out of my Stinger and into an EV.
  • fooblaster 4y ago
    what do you think of the ionique 6? - https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/vehicles/ioniq-6 https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/vehicles/ioniq-6
    • fetus8 4y ago
      The Ioniq 6 definitely has my attention, especially the N-line variant they were showing to the press a few months back. This is the kind of thing that will pull me away from sporty ICE cars for sure.
  • pleb_nz 4y ago
    I'd like to add lack of tactile physical controls to the list. I've had three bad experiences in safety situations that would have been avoided with tactile physical controls. And since then, my opinion has changed to that of certain controls that are required during operation of the vehicle should remain tactile.
    • fetus8 4y ago
      Yeah, I am not a fan of the all touchscreen interfaces either. I am extremely glad that Hyundai/Kia hasn't fully gone that route in their ICE cars yet. My partner's 2022 Ram TRX has a giant touchscreen but still has a lot of physical knobs and buttons for control too. I drove a Ford Mach-E over this past summer, and was disappointed that Ford went all touchscreen in that EV.
• threemux 4y ago
  Mainly comes down to not wanting to pay luxury prices for a car that is anything but. Lots of build quality issues, spartan interior, and actual ergonomic design replaced with a giant tablet. Many people are so used to the giant tablet now they don't even know it can be better. Mazda is one of the few automakers that gets this right.
• cheapliquor 4y ago
  I don't like them
• Tempest1981 4y ago
  I was hoping to see a styling update by now. Too many identical Teslas, in identical colors, everywhere you look.
• izolate 4y ago
  Besides the fact that I prefer ICE, and need a 4WD off-road vehicle, I don't want to further enrich Elon Musk.
• theandrewbailey 4y ago
  Because the Honda Accord I've had for a few years runs fine and meets my needs. I plan on driving it until it won't anymore (almost 100k miles down, 100k-300k to go). And for you CO2 nerds: a new car costs a lot of CO2 just to manufacture, no matter what it runs on. Running my existing 100% ICE car until its inoperable will produce less CO2 than manufacturing an electric one. I also live in an area whose electricity is still mostly powered by fossil fuels.
• itake 4y ago
  Teslas are not great daily drivers, because maintenance can put the vehicle out for weeks.
• into_infinity 4y ago
  I didn't buy an EV early on, when Tesla was really the best choice, because I didn't want to spend a lot of $$$ just to be an early adopter of an immature technology. I did buy an EV recently, but at that point, Tesla really doesn't have a competitive edge. They made EVs cool, but other manufacturers now have cars that have better interior styling and better performance for a comparable price.
• jvolkman 4y ago
  I'm holding out for fully-electric minivan.
• hprotagonist 4y ago
  In no particular order: - I'm cheap, and they're not. - tablet UX sucks. - dangling an extension cord out of my apartment window also sucks. - FSD is a lie. - baby it's cold outside: https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/winter-ev-range-loss https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/winter-ev-range-loss - I have a perfectly good ICE car that is fully paid off and I intend to drive it into the ground and it's only got 75k on the odo and it'd better be good for another 200. - I am waiting for the Cambrian explosion of EVs to chill out before I'm comfortable settling on some basic expectations for a return to sane driver controls, and ideally the simpler the better. - Elon's an ass. - Surprise lithium fires also suck.
• speedgoose 4y ago
  A Tesla is expensive compared to many cars. Also on the used market. Some people cannot justify the cost compared to the many alternatives. Brand loyalty is strong. Some will buy a shitty car from their favourite brand instead of reading a bit. When money isn’t a problem, some cars are better in some aspects. I like the Tesla Model S but if I had the money, I would consider a Posche Taycan or a Mercedes EQS. Though I would perhaps not tolerate their software as I understood it is far from being perfect. Fear of change is also something important. Having a Tesla in Norway is way past the early adopters phases but some people still resist and will be very late just to be safe. Tesla provides a shitty owner experience. Ordering one is very easy and great, it’s like ordering an Apple device. But picking up your car on a shitty parking using your phone and having no humans in the loop may feel strange. Spare parts are not available quickly and it is known. Tesla should improve that because it is not uncommon to hear about someone who can’t use his broken Tesla for months because some parts are still not delivered. Some people like internal combustion engines and the noise, the smell, the vibrations. I understand them and I think they will become rare as they are getting old. Elon Musk. I ~~use ArchLinux and program in Rust~~ currently own a Tesla by the way.
• yellow_lead 4y ago
  The forum posts from a former Tesla engineer describing SSH'ing into moving cars to do updates scared me. I don't want a car that updates or can be hacked so easily. There are other reasons but this is my biggest.
• slowmovintarget 4y ago
  Because Winter is a thing, and I need my transportation to work.
• chriskinsman 4y ago
  I eventually did. Despite: * distaste for musk personally * cheap feel of cars * concerns around fit/finish Came down to: * supercharger network and all the issues folks with other brands have with other charging networks * what I perceived to be a short term technology lead and track record other manufacturers don’t have * availability. I got a model y in 4 weeks. Some of the others I considered were a year or more out.
• activitypea 4y ago
  It's a bad car with a good infotainment system and driver assists 5-10 years ahead of everyone else. If you don't care about those things, there's very little reason to own one. I drive a banged up 2003 Renault and prefer its fit and finish, ergonomics and comfort to the tesla model 3. Also, I find Tesla's design ugly and charmless
• qmarchi 4y ago
  So, to start, I'm a leasee of a 2021 Polestar 2 Launch Edition. My thoughts are generally based on comparisons to that car. The architecture of Tesla's infotainment system is abhorrent to me. If there's a flaw on the system that causes it to crash, you're left out in the dust with regards to any of your information surfaces. This is relevant since last year, there was an issue where Google Maps (which provides the map tiles for Tesla) was returning 500-style errors for requests and Tesla's entire infotainment entered a boot loop, restricting visibility on Speed and alerts generated by the car. For contrast, Polestar based their system where the infotainment system (Android Automotive) runs as a virtual machine on top of the RTOS the runs the rest of the vehicle. This provides the system some redundancy in how things operates on multiple levels. Google Maps crashes? ANR from Android. Android crashes? Infotainment reset. The key difference is that Polestar is a _car_ company that draws it's lineage from Volvo who is nuts about being safe in the vehicle, even at the expense of all the bells and whistles. That's not to say that they're perfect though. Polestar's mobile app is _aweful_. It crashes frequently, it's slow to update the status, and overall it's just Volvo's app. Anyways, if anyone has any questions about the car, I'm happy to tell both sides.
• dcchambers 4y ago
  By far my biggest complaint and the #1 reason I won't buy one is Tesla's insane drive to remove almost all physical controls and lock everything behind a touch screen interface. In cars physical buttons for many things are usually better. Period. Trying to navigate a virtual menu on a touch screen (that constantly changes via software update) to activate something like the window defrost/defog isn't just inconvenient, it's dangerous. In general the insides of the cars are far too barebones and cheap feeling. I don't get why people think them sticking a full size computer monitor in the car makes it high end. Give me refined, tactile physical buttons and controls for the features essential to safe driving and give me a cool touch screen for the other stuff. The FSD lies. Elon's crazy antics the last few years. His "leadership" and decision making at Twitter has made me second guess everything he has a hand in. The list of "why not buy" grows longer than "why buy" every day. Especially now that the rest market has caught up and there are other actual options out there. I also think plug-in hybrids are the best choice for many people right now. A 30-40 mile electric range gets most of us through our daily commutes, and you've got the gas motor for long trips so you don't need to plan charging in advance...you just get in the car and go.
  • Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
    Dedicated physical knobs and buttons are the best UI tools for most common car features (headlights, wipers, signals, stereo volume and on/off, etc, etc.). Like this previous HN discussion about touch screen menus to open glove boxes. Insanity. I would not buy a car that was centrally touch-screen controlled. Long live knobs and buttons! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33390906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33390906
  • ajross 4y ago
    > Tesla's insane drive to remove almost all physical controls and lock everything behind a touch screen interface. I dunno, I kinda like it. Have you spent some time driving one? You might change your mind. I guess I don't quite understand the concern here. Defrost buttons aren't in a standard place anywhere, you need to hunt for them. In a Tesla you can just put it in autopilot while you do. Or you can click the (physical, heh) right thumb button on the wheel and say "Turn on Defrost". I'm not going to tell people not to hate Musk (and I'm certainly not going to defend the disaster at Twitter), but... the cars are really, really great. No, not everyone is going to like everything, but when I see stuff like "insane", "cheap", "lies", "crazy" in posts like this, I think it's pretty clear the rhetoric has gotten way too far ahead of the truth.
• perardi 4y ago
  Because I’m waiting for the delivery of this… https://www.caranddriver.com/kia/ev6 https://www.caranddriver.com/kia/ev6 …which looks better, is relatively affordable, has a dealer network behind it that can actually do repairs, and isn’t so…boring. A Tesla is the default—it’s what you buy to show people you have an electric car.
• rahul342 4y ago
  Tesla wasn't my first EV but the second one. So to partially answer your question, I didn't feel Tesla is a good value for money compared to Chevy Bolt (which was my first EV). I still believe it so. The newer models of Bolt drive even better. Tesla's build quality feels lower (cheap paint, body parts that don't seem to fit well, shitty UX with the single tablet screen) I would still buy a Bolt over Tesla but I needed an electric SUV & model Y is the only option.
• hennell 4y ago
  1. Probably can't afford one 2. Don't need a car 3. Can't drive Tbf a few years back I watched a whole thing on the Model 3 and rather liked the look of it and it's options. I've since seen a lot more about the low build quality and the inability to repair anything outside Tesla, that I'd have questions before buying one as well. And honestly having seen Elon's fast paced 'do the first dumb idea you have without thinking about it' approach to twitter, I'm not sure I really want any Tesla, for fear he might suddenly change features there as well.
• mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
  Set aside all things going on with twitter, etc. and they are just too expensive. Its a luxury car, the base model is more expensive than a base model BMW 3 series (at least when I looked a while back). I know I'm comparing EV to ICE but from a purchasing standpoint, I'm buying a car and the choice isn't "buy EV first" for me, its many other factors. A couple of big factors other than price are: I'm not a huge fan of the external styling and not a fan of large LCD panels in cars either (or touch screens). If/when I buy an EV, I will want a faster charging device at home which is added cost. I have similar reasons for not getting solar panels either: they are ugly and the ROI is like 10 years out so I may never see any return if I move. There is an interesting solar roof shingle out there that looks like a normal residential roof.
• greyface- 4y ago
  Because I don't want Elon or anyone associated with him to have remote access to my vehicle. Also, I don't like using touchscreens while driving.
• regularjack 4y ago
  Elon Musk, no physical buttons (i.e. everything in the touch screen), price.
• nkozyra 4y ago
  I thought I would, because I'd love to have an electric vehicle and it seemed like Tesla was going to rewrite what we think of cars. They weren't especially flashy outside but looked good enough. Then I got in one. Hmm, this looks like a Toyota with a big screen (that has a ton of issues itself). Went on a few trips with an owner. The handles that retract had to be replaced a few times. I'm thinking, this is a feature nobody needed and now it's a new source of issues. On a longer trip we have to stop at several WaWas for twenty+ minutes. On the way back after stopping to charge the message "Your Tesla might not restart" appears on his infotainment screen. A number of similar interactions leaves me to believe that if that's the best there is in electric vehicles, we're not there yet. The cars do not seem premium (but command a premium price), suffer from some unnecessary own goals and often seem cobbled together.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• MarkusWandel 4y ago
  Single car family (by choice, not economic necessity). I like alternative commuting (bike in the summer, walk+bus in the winter). EV would be great most of the time, but we still have elders to visit who live beyond-EV-range away and in one case, in the sticks with no high-capacity EV recharging infrastructure nearby anyway. If it was an EV as a second car, no problem, it would probably get 90% of all the use. As for what EV? Just like the particular kind of geek that I am is closed-system resistant and therefore avoids Apple (and is disappointed by where Android, Windows, and (if a certain L.P. has his way) even Linux is going), I just don't like the "great car if you 100% buy into the ecosystem/religion" thing of Tesla. I'd prefer something that is more of a normal car that happens to be electric, rather than a cult object. But with the single car requirement, what I actually want is a plug-in hybrid with enough battery to go about 100km on a charge. That too would make 90% of our mileage electric without sacrificing the dino juice powered instant go anywhere capability. But nobody makes those, or do they? The 2023 Prius Prime looks like the pick of the litter of the 50km-ish plug in hybrids; will have to look at it. It has to pass the rear seat headroom and trunk space comparison to our current 2012 Civic. I fully expect thing to tilt more in the future. Once 30 minute charging stations outnumber dino juice gas stations - even out in the sticks - and the electricity from them is competitively priced, then gas cars are over.
• jabthedang 4y ago
  [dead]
• fsloth 4y ago
  Too expensive. When my current car breaks down I will probably get the cheapest 5 - 10 y old second hand car I can find which is likely to have an ICE. The car after that is probably electric (so maybe a decade or so).
• solarhess 4y ago
  I wanted an electric car. I did not want to be an early adopter of any brand. I value reliability over style and coolness, so ended up with a Nissan leaf. I'm very happy with it for my daily driving. It's a little boring, but very functional, reliable and a great value. The leaf and other ~$35k electric cars actually save me money over gas cars. Any electric that costs more than about $40k would be more expensive to own than a gas car. The leaf will go to my teenager in a few years, and then I'll probably buy a mid size hybrid crossover. The electric car is good for daily driving near home, but not great for road trips in the rural mountain west.
• toast0 4y ago
  Part 1: I prefer the utility of gasoline. Visiting a fueling station for a few minutes every 300-700 miles (depends on vehicle) is less hassle than plugging in. I have gasoline fueled lawn equipment, so I have range extenstion available if I needed to travel longer distances between fueling stations, or if I want to fuel a vehicle at home (two 5 gallon cans go a long way). I get the argument that charging at home/work can be convenient, but gasoline is currently more convenient to me. My PHEV has a two year service interval, which is not onerous, my gas only vehicles have a one year service interval, which is ok too. Part 2: Tesla is a non-traditional car company, and while that can be good, it has many negatives: a) there is not a good service/warranty network. Dealership service is mediocre, but widely available. b) there is not good parts availability c) I've heard there are many production changes within a model year, making it harder to match parts. d) OTA upgrades are IMHO a net negative for a car; reducing incentives to get software right the first time e) I've not seen any other car company try to convince the general public that the cause of an owner's death was the owner's negligence. Other car companies have the decency to not comment on pending investigations and not cast public aspersions upon the deceased. Other car companies do cast aspersions at review organizations and sometimes news organizations, but generally not regular people. f) selling FSD is clearly fraud, and why would I buy from a fraud, unless the fraud gets me more power, smoother idle, better fuel efficiency, and an above market buy-back? (Thanks VW) g) I need useful headlight controls and wiper controls. I have one vehicle where it's difficult to turn off headlights, and that's enough. Like a phone without a headphone jack, a car where you can't easily turn off the headlights when you need to is something you can work with, but it's very annoying. I'm not spending Tesla car money to be annoyed unnecessarily. h) fit and finish don't seem to match expectations based on price
• netfortius 4y ago
  1. Once a Volvo owner (first in the early 90s - changed four since), always a Volvo fan. 2. If not Volvo, then Audi, BMW, Mercedes, in that order 3. If none of the above available within a desirable price range, then Japanese, S.Korean, or French 4. If none of the above, then Mustang (Ford) 5. If none of the above, then maybe a Tesla, once the present executive leadership departs, and environment for engineering quality prevails
  • srfwx 4y ago
    How do you feel about Volvo now being a Chinese company?
    • netfortius 4y ago
      Same as anything else "Chinese" related. If the executives support the engineering talent and manage the business in favor of quality products - I could really care less.
• Apreche 4y ago
  I don't need or want to own any car. Cars are destroying our society. Electric cars are not that much better than fossil fuel cars. Even if I was going to buy a car, I wouldn't buy a Tesla. Everything I've seen suggests they are awful overpriced cars. Plus, I'm not giving any money to Melon Husk.
• troutwine 4y ago
  I don't think I'd take one even if it was free. The logistics of charging are challenging but not insurmountable, I manage to charge my Prius just fine. My primary concern is the ever-changing interface inside the vehicle. I'm aware other brands have hopped on the glass cockpit trend but Tesla's over-the-air updates make the problem of developing some kind of consistent muscle memory much, much worse, let alone how much of the vehicle's functions run through that panel. Related, the technical leadership of the company is... erratic. I quite like human-in-the-loop automation when safety outcomes are improved -- think radar based cruise control -- but Tesla vehicles's automation is not, well, not safety focused but 'feature' focused. They chose a flawed sight method for the vehicles and then way over-promised what was possible with that flawed method. Why would I trust they could get the fundamentals right too? There's a strain of naive utopianism that runs through Silicon Valley culture, the sense that if we could just rub enough computer on a thing it will become better necessarily, decades of industrial practice and safety research be damned. Teslas are the ultimate consequence of that mindset.
• cryptoegorophy 4y ago
  Because people would rather read about it than actually try it. Bashing on FSD/Autopilot? Have you even tried it? People hate Tesla as if Elon personally made it for them. It is currently best value for money when you compare and actually try other options.
• jdc0589 4y ago
  It doesn't fit my lifestyle. I spend as much time as I can out in national forests and helping friends out on their rural farms. In reality it's not that much time, but it's the important part of my life, and I don't drive much if i'm not doing something like that. I can't pull a stuck tractor out of a field or take an unmaintained trail down to secluded river/creek access in a Tesla. Better EV options for me are on the way, but they all cost way too much. It will be another generation or two before I really consider an EV seriously.
• mrj 4y ago
  I bought a Bolt. I was put off by Tesla long before all the recent stuff with Twitter, but here are some actual complaints about the car itself: I really don't like the interior of the Tesla. I want a speedometer in front of me. And I want to use my phone, wireless Android Auto is all I need. I absolutely will not pay for another device (and a subscription fee!) when I have my phone. And I want some real buttons. My original reason (years ago, admittedly) was because my coworker missed a day because an overnight update prevented his door handles from opening. Yeah.. I absolutely do not trust software devs to patch my car that regularly. :) The biggest reason was probably a lack of trust. I put my family in my cars. Recently, I saw they had an issue with the force that the window closes and the software didn't stop the window closing if there was a block (like a my kids or dog). That's the sort of thing I expect established car manufacturers to have figured out already, and why I bought a GM rather than Tesla with a very shaky quality history.
• skiddo 4y ago
  I managed to snag a New ‘21 Honda Clarity - half the price of a Model 3 (after waiting ~4 months for the $7,500 tax credit). While the vehicle is actually a PHEV, I have been able to drive the car primarily on battery (13k miles - 12k exclusively on battery): -30 miles or less driven per day on average. -“Free” unlimited charging in front of my townhome -Free charging at work -Michigander in the suburbs (charging network is abysmal) -Desire to go up north on a whim without range anxiety (fall back on ICE)
• delecti 4y ago
  Because I work at a different car company, and get a free-ish (no monthly payment, but still have to pay taxes/fees/registration) lease as a staff engineer. Also, having worked at a software company (Amazon) and now a car company, I don't want a car made by a software company.
• zirgs 4y ago
  Too expensive. I'll wait until it's under 10k eur.
• lph 4y ago
  Tesla's attitude and approach to self-driving technology has been and continues to be outright negligent. There's no way I'm trusting "full self-driving" which clearly cannot live up to its name. It feels like P.T. Barnum is trying to sell me a car. If you ignore that aspect, Tesla's only advantage is its electric technology, which conventional automakers are quickly reaching parity on. Meanwhile, Tesla has never reached parity in build quality or finishes. Which leaves you with a mediocre, expensive car. The most appealing thing about buying a Tesla, to me, is not having to deal with a normal car dealership.
• thebigspacefuck 4y ago
  There was no cheaper Tesla option 10 years ago when I bought my car so I couldn’t afford it. Now I drive very little so even a $30K car would be too expensive even if I save on gas money. I feel everything about EVs will get better in the next few years so I am holding out as long as possible.
• behohippy 4y ago
  Not a good fit for lifestyle. I'm rural, and I haul around ATVs and dirt bikes with the main destination being 300km away and even more rural. My pickup truck is a way better choice for that. I used to tow a utility trailer with a small gas car. It worked fine, but this is just so much easier and more luxury. I don't believe any EV could handle this use case.
• pwinnski 4y ago
  I have bought two (2) EVs, neither of them Teslas. Why not: 1. Too expensive. I grew up too poor to spend that much money on a car. I recently failed to pull the trigger on a $65k Volvo XC40, so the initial Tesla models that were even more expensive than that are clearly right out. 2. By the time a less-expensive model came out, it came with what seemed like the worst possible UI imaginable. Not having an instrument panel in front of the driver is ludicrous. With no other issues, those two alone explain why I did not buy a Tesla. But of course, there's more. Although I initially passed up the brand because of the high cost, I developed more reasons with time. In as near to chronological order as I can recall: 3. "Full Self-Driving" is either a delusion or a swindle, and the continued insistence on it puts me off the brand. 4. "Fit and finish" issues are widespread, and I cannot fathom spending so much on a car and then accepting bits that aren't fit together perfectly, and I lack the personality needed to aggressively follow up and get them all resolved. 5. Open defiance of the authorities during a pandemic that was killing people rises to almost the level of a sole disqualification by itself. It pushes several of my buttons at once. 6. The open antagonism between the company and drivers is bizarre. Every time a high-profile collision prompted Tesla to release information most people would consider private in an attempt to show that it wasn't the company's fault, I grew less likely to consider any purchase ever. 7. "Pedo guy" and related. Ultimately, the owner of Tesla has worked hard to make himself the face of the company, while also engaging in what should be brand-damaging behavior. It didn't seem to damage the brand, but rather encouraged his fans, which itself damaged the brand in my eyes. Long before his purchase of Twitter, he had destroyed any possibility of me wanting to be associated with his companies' products. Fortunately, you asked for my reasons, so I assume there won't be a devoted legion of fans arguing every point below. My reasons are my own, and don't have to convince anyone else.
  • Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    > 3. "Full Self-Driving" is either a delusion or a swindle, and the continued insistence on it puts me off the brand. I think FSD will happen eventually. What people don't understand is that if you buy FSD now, you're not paying for a feature you get now, you're paying for a feature that you'll get later as it's developed. You're paying for early access in the beta. Also, Elon has stated that the price of FSD will increase over time as it improves. By buying it now, you're insulating yourself from future price increases. That said, Elon's marketing of it is pretty deceptive. He talks as if it's only 6 months away, but you'd have to have had your head in the sand to not notice that he's been saying FSD is < 6 months away for YEARS. If you're spending thousands of dollars on a feature that seems very pie-in-the-sky, then I would hope you'd do research on it first. Even just 10 minutes of research would yield a conclusion that FSD isn't there yet and won't be there for several years. If it matters at all, I've been a Tesla owner for 3 years, did not buy FSD, and will not buy FSD. Autopilot is all I need.
• SAI_Peregrinus 4y ago
  I rent. Nowhere to charge at home. Also touchscreen for important controls is an instant "will not buy" for me.
• cholantesh 4y ago
  When I first heard of them, I had no need for a car. Once I had a need for one, it was out of my budget. When I finally sat in one I was unimpressed. That massive touchscreen is so distracting, and various other UX aspects annoyed me, like having to push a button to open the door as opposed to pulling on a lever. I've also never been so keenly aware of bumps in a road, but it could simply have been the condition of the unit I was in.
• ShakataGaNai 4y ago
  Bought a Tesla, delivered in September 2022. We did extensive test drives and research before we ordered it (which was Feb 2022). Is it the bestest car ever made? No. But is it the best EV? So far, yes. It's also an amazing demonstration (sometimes both for better and worse) of why software everything is great. Do I think Elon is a douche nozzle? Hell yes. I wish he'd finish killing twitter and shut up. Do I hate how some of the controls are done? Yes. Do I think some of their choices like removing USS are dumb? Heck yes. But on the flip side they have the only fully integrated EV experience and it makes a HUGE difference. If you think it doesn't today, just watch Out of Spec Review's "Unwrapping The Christmas Week From Hell For EV Drivers Using CCS" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4e8GfBzqSk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4e8GfBzqSk I may not love everything about a Tesla, but I know that when I drive it I'll be able to charge it. We're still in the chicken/egg stage of charging in the USA. Tesla's the only company to have it really figured out and that makes all the difference.
  • Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    Yeah, the Supercharger network is an under-appreciated and under-advertised feature of driving a Tesla. If I want to drive south out of Portland to California, along I-5, there are 6 CCS charging locatinos with 4 chargers each that are at least 70 kW, totaling 24 chargers along the I-5 corridor in Oregon outside of Portland. Meanwhile, there are 7 Tesla Supercharging locations with a total of 70 stalls. Also, Superchargers tend to be a bit less expensive than 3rd party CCS chargers. I'd be nervous driving a car that only charges via CCS.
    • greyface- 4y ago
      Allegedly, Superchargers are going to add CCS: https://electrek.co/2022/05/10/tesla-add-ccs-connectors-supercharger-stations-us-elon-musk/ https://electrek.co/2022/05/10/tesla-add-ccs-connectors-supe... That said, non-compatibility seems to work in Tesla's favor currently, so who knows if/when it'll materialize.
    • ShakataGaNai 4y ago
      Haven't done a lot of long distance in the Tesla yet, frankly because we don't drive a huge amount to begin with. However we were driving from the SF Bay Area to beyond Sacramento and back just before Christmas. There were no less than 7 super chargers on our direct route. When one was full due to holiday traffic, the car automatically redirected us to a different supercharger. Even tells you which superchargers are faster than others. We still opted for that "full" supercharger because it was more convenient for when we wanted to stop. But we knew what we were in for in advance because the car told us. The wait time was almost nothing. Also every charger was functioning at full capacity without issue. If you want the "I don't need to think about fueling up" feeling like ICE vehicles have, the only option today is Tesla. I hope that in a few years that will be a totally different story. That others will be out there will their own extensive (functioning) charging networks, and other manufacturers will have kick ass vehicles.
• micah94 4y ago
  Are you going to summarize all the answers? I think they are just too expensive (seems to be #1 reason or #2). The idea of a $1000 monthly payment is abhorrent to me. For the price so many other cool cars come into the picture. I like German cars. I drive a late-model Audi A4 that I bought outright for under $20k. I'll probably hop around from there to BMW and Mercedes. Drive all the cool cars I couldn't afford when I was younger. Even though I work in tech and can appreciate what Tesla is trying to do -- hell, I love that they put the name TESLA back into the public consciousness -- I'm not a fan of the cars. I think the roadster is cool, but that could only be a plaything. And again, waay too expensive when you consider what else you could get in that price-range. Anyone buying those probably already has a fleet of SUVs and a carbon footprint the size of Godzilla.
  • m348e912 4y ago
    >>Are you going to summarize all the answers? No
• cheztir 4y ago
  I already own one, but wouldn't buy another. I daily drive a 2013 Model S with 130k miles, it doesn't have autopilot or other gimmicks. When I got the car Tesla was the only real game in town for a serious, capable EV with a hint of luxury. Now they have serious competition. Having experienced their support and quality decline, combined with Elon's descent into whatever the hell this is (it certainly isn't leadership), my next vehicle purchase will likely be from one of the legacy brands. Especially as more L3 chargers are built outside the supercharger network.
• taylodl 4y ago
  Tesla's, and EV's in general, cost too much. When I do the math, number of miles I drive, cost of gas, cost of maintenance - all the costs associated with car ownership - the projected payoff for a Tesla for me is 20-25 years. I don't think the cars will last that long. I'm excited about other automakers getting into the fold. If they can get the costs lowered by $15K-$20K then it'll be economically viable.
• juancn 4y ago
  The lack of physical buttons for common operation of the car is unnerving. It makes operation unnecessarily difficult. Everything commonly done in the car should have a physical control associated with it that can be operated by touch alone.
• pornel 4y ago
  I went for Ioniq 5 instead. • It has an outstanding design. Tesla's approach of making average-looking cars was a great move a decade ago to counter reputation of EVs being weird experiments, but now it's just bland. • It has physical controls for most things. Model 3 is too minimal to the point of being gimmicky. • It has Car Play. Tesla has better-quality software, but I don't like their monochrome map design in particular. In Tesla there's no other choice. • Where I live there aren't many Superchargers. • I prefer driving assists in Ioniq. It's hard to describe, but my overall feeling is that it wants to cooperate with the driver rather than take over and replace the human entirely. Both are nice when they work well, but when they fail, Tesla is more stressful and harder to correct. • Ioniq has a HUD and a 360° camera. • Not tainted by Musk's antics.
• marssaxman 4y ago
  Too expensive: I wouldn't value any car enough to spend so much buying one. (I always buy used cars anyway.) The touch-screen-driven interface completely turns me off. Real knobs and buttons or GTFO. I do not want any vehicle which phones home, especially not if it's going to download new software and change the way it works from one day to the next. Tesla's self-driving system seems like an especially bullshit-ridden attempt at solving a very hard problem, and that reduces my confidence in their overall engineering quality.
• notacoward 4y ago
  (1) Poor ratio of price to quality. I'm not keen on spending a $20K fashion premium at all, but even less so when I've seen so many pictures and videos of improper welds, panels that don't fit, etc. (2) Just not a fan of the "design language" as another commenter put it. I positively do not want everything run through a built-in tablet, especially with all of the bugginess people have noted. That's fine for navigation and entertainment, but I want real physical dials and buttons for the basics. (infinity) Elon is a total douchenozzle. I was saying so at least six years ago, when my new FAANG co-workers all gave me some serious side-eye for that, but it really wasn't a factor in my decision. I ended up getting a Nissan Leaf SV+ which I like quite a lot. With the benefit of hindsight I now think I would have been even better off getting the electric Mini despite its pathetic range (I drove a Mini for 13 years before and literally cried to see it go). A plug-in hybrid might be an even better fit for my actual needs. But that's all water under the bridge. I'll give full credit to Tesla for doing an awesome job on charging systems (both ends), and for providing a necessary prod to other makers, but as a purchaser the rest seems mediocre to actively bad.
• drivingmenuts 4y ago
  Every article I read about Tesla says that they are overpriced and shoddily made, appealing to people with more money than sense. Additionally, and I admit this might be unfair, I do not like Elon Musk in the least.
• GeekFortyTwo 4y ago
  Got a Q4 eTron. Reasons not to get a tesla included: Musk's behaviour lately, quality of the Tesla product, in cabin controls, availability. We've all seen the erratic behavior, so no need to go too far on what, but my wife really soured on him around the time of the kids trapped in a cave situation. That was the start for me too, but it's just gotten worse, and I don't want to be associated with that. Had a friend get in my Audi for a test drive and was wowed by the build quality compared to his parent's Tesla, just night and day difference. Admittedly the software needs work, I notice issues the most on the user management side of things. There are real buttons in my car, yes there is a touchscreen for plenty of options, but turning on my seat warmer is one button. All electric cars were hard to get when we bought, we just happened to have a line on the Audi Q4 eTron that would get it in reasonable time. Had to be 4 wheel drive and able to tow a small trailer, and while the Tesla options offered that, so did the Audi and others. (Seems that 2022 model year was when all non-Tesla electric crossover sized vehicles started to offer towing.)
• orwin 4y ago
  The real reason is that i don't need a car. In the city, i'm faster with my speedbike 99% of the time, with have enough battery to go to my friend's houses 20 minutes away from the city border. If i have to carry stuff, i just rent a small truck, this often cost me less than 40€, and if i have to go far, i go to the airport with my bike in 25 minutes (same time with a care) or to the train station in 4 minutes (four time as fast as with a car). Also, i dislike driving EVs.
• lawn 4y ago
  - General quality issues - Subpar support - Expensive as a luxury brand, but it does not feel luxurious - Touch panels - Weird design decisions like the changing of the steering wheel, just to be unique but sacrifices usability. - The immoral marketing of their lousy self driving - Elon Musk
• foogazi 4y ago
  I do want one but: 1. my 2012 car still works 2. Stopped driving in the pandemic 3. not sure I can go full EV yet I am looking at Hybrid minivans though
• 1970-01-01 4y ago
  Towing is why I didn't buy a Model 3 in 2018. I have no need for a larger vehicle if I can have a class II hitch. IMHO, Model 3 is a great vehicle, better than almost all other EVs, and that includes all their controversial UI decisions, but refusing to support towing was such a stupid decision it resulted in no sale.
• Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  I currently own a Tesla, but for my next car, I want to resist a Tesla, but I probably won't be able to because Tesla will be the only person offering the car I want. I bought my Model 3 Performance because I wanted ripping fast 0-60 without breaking the bank, both in purchase price and economy. I can afford more now, and I'd really much rather drive a smaller 2-door, but the only option I'd be able to afford is a Roadster 2.0. Nobody else makes a high-performance EV coupe that's still in the low 6-figures. The Rimac Nevera is just way out of the question with its $2M price tag. As far as reasons I want to avoid Tesla: - Fit and finish concerns. My M3P was flawless, but I've seen people order a Model S Plaid (Their top-end $140K car) and it was riddled with glaringly obvious issues. I don't want to spend $200K on a Roadster and then still worry about potentially rejecting it at delivery because of finish issues. - Elon Musk has grown to be a real piece of shit, to be quite blunt. I don't want to be associated with him if at all possible. - I don't like where Tesla is headed with UX. Removing the stalks in favor of touch-sensitive buttons on the ~~wheel~~ yoke is not good UX. - I'd like to simply avoid using such a controversial brand.
• chenxiaolong 4y ago
  After driving a new rental Model Y for 1000+ miles recently, my biggest complaints are: * The sound proofing feels as if it did not exist. The cabin noise in my family's old minivan is even quieter than in this car. * The ride is incredibly bumpy (I hear this issue is specific to the Model Y?). You feel each and every bump, even on newly paved roads. * Autopilot, at least on the roads I drove on, was significantly worse than other manufacturer's lane-following systems. I was driving on straight highways that frequently switched between one lane and two lanes. Without fail, every time the two lanes merged into one, autopilot would get confused and jerk the steering wheel left, steering the car past the double yellow lines (USA) into the oncoming traffic lanes. The screen's depiction of what the car saw did not match reality at all in this situation. * The automatic emergency braking triggered at least once every time I was on the highway. There were definitely things I did like about the car, but I would never consider personally buying a Tesla for the reasons above.
• seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  I bought a BMW i4 instead. So better interior, but a worse software experience and charging network.
• iJohnDoe 4y ago
  It’s seems like everyone that has a Tesla drives like a complete asshole. Drives way too close to people (tailgating). Drives way too fast all time, even in neighborhoods. Drives way too aggressive. Drives way too entitled. I’ve seen some crazy stuff from people driving a Tesla. Driving on the shoulder when traffic backs up. Zipping around people to steal parking spots. I don’t want to be a Tesla driver and ever be associated with the above behavior.
• erik_seaberg 4y ago
  I expect to use third-party mechanics, and Tesla seems to have a problem with that. We also didn’t own a garage until October. I paid off a Hyundai last year. I will probably drive that into the ground, and then find some other used EV whose batteries have a good reputation.
• trynewideas 4y ago
  I wouldn't spend more than $40k on a car under any circumstances, period. I just don't drive cars of any kind for any reason often enough to justify it. Even when I did I never spent that much, inflation adjusted or not, to buy a car. I don't have any faith in or desire for any manufacturer's autonomous driving features. I'm brand-agnostic and don't care if a car looks good (my current car's a 10-year-old Honda Fit). I tend to have more canine passengers on car rides than human, so rear seating is irrelevant (they're always folded down) and cabin luxury is futile (everything's covered in dog hair). I'm a homeowner with my own garage in a moderate-sized city, a low-milage driver with good transit access in a relatively mild climate, and I have a vet and grocery within walking distance, so the car's mostly used for longer-distance dog-moving, cargo-moving, road trips, or to avoid rain. My longest round-trips are under 120 miles and decreasingly frequent, so range isn't an issue. Most of my round trips are under 40 miles. Also, EV tech for cars seems to be too immature still to expect the same lifespan and reliability that I've gotten, and will probably continue to get, from the Fit. I simply don't see myself driving an EV built today for 10 years at <$400/year total maintenance cost like I've pulled off with the Fit. Even my total gas spend on the Fit has been <$700/year over its lifetime, and probably <$400/year over the last two years. So for me to even consider a Tesla, it absolutely must: - cost less than $30k; my Fit was $17k ($22k inflation-adjusted) new off the lot - have physical controls for convenience options - have easy entry/exit for my older dogs, particularly a low chassis and tall rear hatchback door - have the same or better cargo capacity (57 ft3) as the Fit - match or exceed competitors (or the already-10-year-old Fit!) on TCO over the next 10 years, assuming I continue to drive <4,000 miles/year Even if this hypothetical Tesla pulls all of that off, it also has to beat my other options: - Change nothing. Keep driving the Fit until it falls apart. So far, inertia's been winning. Since the pandemic my total driving's dropped to under 4,000 miles/year and continues to drop. Gas prices, even at their worst earlier this year, never caused me to break a sweat. Even with its age the Fit is still in great shape thanks to the low milage, still gets 28/40mpg, and still has an utterly ridiculous resale value of $10-$17k locally thanks in part to Honda no longer selling them in the US in favor of god damned crossovers. - Stop owning a car altogether. Sell the Fit and buy an ebike for shorter trips, a motorcycle for longer trips, rideshare when those or public transit won't work, rent a truck to move large cargo, and rent a pet-friendly RV for vacations and road-trips. The money I'd save each month from switching from car to motorcycle insurance would cover extra delivery costs and rideshares. I already have a manual road bike, motorcycle license endorsement, and the gear for all-weather biking, and live in a relatively bike-friendly city. Buying both a cargo ebike and motorcycle would cost the same or less than any EV I'd buy. ($2-5k for the ebike, $12-20k for a Zero S or SR; hypothetically possible to sell the Fit, buy them, and come out net-zero.) I'd have lower total maintenance costs right up to the point where I fall off of either of them and have to deal with the US healthcare system, something I'd have to deal with anyway if I crashed my manual bike (or Fit, tbqh). I'd also get more exercise and outdoor time, and could convert more of my garage to a workshop/office. - Buy a Chevy Volt EV 1LT, which I can literally buy today for $26,890. It has physical convenience controls, a low chassis with easy entry/exit for my older dogs, 57 ft3 rear cargo capacity, and about the same chance of randomly catching fire or otherwise failing for EV-specific reasons over the next 10 years. As a bonus, it's almost as ugly and boring as the Fit.
• iertrproper 4y ago
  I cancelled the order because they removed the radar and sensors. I heard that autopilot started behaving badly after these changes. What is the point of getting a vehicle in which features/components get removed every month just for showing the operating margin?
• Dudelander 4y ago
  They're simply not economical if you do the math. You're still better off getting a fuel efficient gas powered car. The cost of a new Tesla needs to drop by around 20k before it's worth it, even with the tax break.
• lordkrandel 4y ago
  Car is one of the worst investments