Doesn’t most of this stuffapply to basically all EVs?
I have done zero research and I know these dealbreakers:
- Microtransactions for a car (e.g. autopilot features, features already built-in, but subscription locked)
- A tablet on the dashboard is a UX nightmare, since it can’t be used blindly (you should focus on the road, please).
- The futuristic retracting doorhandles are a nightmare for firefighters, since you can’t easily pull people out of crashed Teslas.
- The whole cybertruck debacle
- Wasn’t the estimated reach that the car supposedly had explicitly programmed to overestimate?
Edit: aparrently, the doors are very hard/mostly impossible to open when the power goes out.
I definitely do not want to defend Tesla here, but other manufacturers are unfortunately following the same path. It’s ridiculous. BMW is putting most of the extra features into the car on a technical level, but lock them down so you can’t use them unless you pay a fucking monthly subscription for e.g. the seat heaters. What the actual fuck has gotten into manufacturers?
And the touchscreens? I’m soooo glad that the German equivalent to road and safety announced that the safety rating of cars will go down in the future if there are no haptic controls. I definitely like a sleek appearance, but form follows function for fucks sake.
/rant
My mom has one, and the door handles are so awkward, I really don’t think I’ll ever get used to them. From the inside, it’s easy enough, but it’s also just a button, with no physical unlatching mechanism, and the window has to go down slightly when the door opens, so I would not want to be in there if it lost power.
She does generally like the thing though.
There’s a separate handle on the inside to be used when there’s no power. It’s to be used in an emergency, and works without the window going down
Yeah this has happened to me once, so I think I just defrost the car ahead of time now. Don’t recall what I did to get in that one time — probably just scraped some ice, waited a minute for it to defrost, or used a different door? It’s a con, but carries very little weight on my pro/con list. I like the frameless look and would make the same tradeoffs as Tesla did. It’s that insignificant of a problem IME
Maybe it’s not a big deal in warmer countries but for northern Europe it seems stupid as fuck
The high end Tesla’s have the stupid doorhandles. The low end (Y and 3) have manual door handles, they’re just recessed so you have to press the thick part in to present the handle. In practice it’s a non issue unless things that are slightly different stun lock you into inaction.
The subscription thing is overblown in my opinion.
Autopilot is the big one where it matters. You get TACC and Auto steer on freeways for free.
Navigation on autopilot, auto Lane change, auto park, summoning the car and moving the car through the app are all locked behind an Enhanced Autopilot option you can buy.
FSD unlocks austosteer on city streets and auto stoping/going at stop signs and traffic lights. You can buy it outright or rent it on a month to month basis, and switch between the three modes at will.
Most non-autopilot features are free but require internet, so you can either pay Tesla ~$9 a month for unlimited car data, or connect your car to wifi (hotspot while driving).
I think only careoke, live traffic / satellite view on maps, and remotely interfacing with the car (viewing the car cameras through the app, etc) actually require a subscription to premium connectivity, but I’m not 100% sure those don’t work over WiFi.
oh, there’s also a one-time performance package you can buy if you want to destroy your tires even faster than normal.
And I won’t defend the goofy Cybertruck (I would drive one of it had launched for at the promised price and range), but how does that existing count as a mark against owning an EV, or even a Tesla?
The subscription thing is overblown in my opinion.
I’d like to own my vehicle, please. Without the manufacturer requiring a backdoor into it, basically making repairs impossible.
but how does that existing count as a mark against owning an EV, or even a Tesla?
It doesn’t count as a mark against owning a Tesla. It’s just an example that you can’t assume that potentially good designs by Tesla engineers could be overturned by a billionaire manchild. And I never said anything against EVs in general.
I got the unlocked speed and I’m still on original tires at 28,000 miles. Still have plenty of wear before they need replacing too.
The problem is not stomping on the accelerator, since the car has very effective traction control. The problem is cornering. These are very heavy cars, and cornering is rough on tires even on a light car. So have a bit of fun off the line if it’s safe to do so, then corner like a grandma and your tires should last reasonably well.
- Yes, cars being built today are copying features from Teslas. New ones still don’t match my UX from a 5 year old car.
- Micro-transactions are so very stupid, and I’m not saying Tesla doesn’t have any (think I paid a one-time fee to increase the 0-60 performance after Tesla improved the tuning of the same motors for another product), but IMO there is nothing being sold that a reasonable person would expect to have come with the initial purchase. Y’all make it sound like it needs a constant internet connection to check if you’re subscribed to Tesla+ in order to put the car in drive or something.
- The TESLA tablet is pretty incredible. Other vehicles tablets are not. I will die on this hill (should have happened by now according to the many people who haven’t used it). I can easily travel with zero screen taps or glances due to the amount of things that have been considered and automated. If I do need to change something, I DON’T need to look DOWN near the cup holders or try to decipher a couple stalks. I have zero disdain or concern for the lack of physical buttons. I realize that my generation may have some biases in this regard.
- The door handles are different and require a few seconds to figure out the first time, sure, but I’m not concerned. Firefighters are experienced and resourceful and the Tesla has a higher safety rating than other vehicles.
- Cybertruck pedal design flaw is horrible. It’ll be fixed before it causes further injury. The news of this is not enough to make me think I should be looking at other manufacturers yet (have you seen the flaws they produce?).
- Oh right forgot about that range SW. I do count that against them. Luckily for me and most other Tesla drivers, it didn’t make a difference due our ability to wake up to full range and access the really good routing and supercharging network. But yeah, glad it was caught.
- There are backup door handles that require no power. They are intuitive (most first timers use it instead of the electronic ones by accident).
Was gonna reply to your points but I’m not gonna do the research for you lol
Please tell me, how a door that doesn’t open if the power goes out is a good idea?
I know that you can manually open it if you rip out some speaker grills and pull at a hidden lever. But try to remember that in an accident where you accidently drove into a pond, because you didn’t realize the car was in reverse because a touchscreen has no haptic feedback of the state the car is in.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-manually-open-tesla-door-if-battery-power-dies-2023-8
All of them have an easy way to open the doors, although it’s true that on some of them only the front doors have a manual release.
I’m not familiar with any Tesla that requires ripping speaker grills out to open a door. The mechanical door handles that are added for emergency use are perhaps too intuitive due to their prominence over the electronic opener.
