Tesla owners are overwhelmingly men, and the most common occupations are engineer, software engineer, and manager of operations, one study found.
This is true for me, I have an S.
I’ll also never buy another tesla again but I’ll drive this until the wheels fall off. It’s 5 years old now.
Always refreshing to see somebody who owns one of these cars and hasn’t immediately forgotten all expectations of build quality from an automotive manufacturer. I’ve seen intelligent and analytical people just turn their brains off at the suggestion that these cars aren’t perfect, when the procedure for getting one repaired reads like it’s from Apple.
How is the battery holding up? All Tesla owners I know sold theirs before the 2 year mark worrying that they might need to replace the battery for the price of a new car, always sounded like a misconception to me.
Even for all that is correct to criticize about Tesla’s build quality, the batteries do hold up a while;
Even Tesla’s warranty cites 70% capacity after 8 years / 120k miles, which roughly tracks with real world results.
Although I’d never buy one, the battery seems to be one of the least issue prone areas; usually people cite interior/exterior build quality, a total lack of serviceability and software issues as the main things when it comes to Teslas.
We used to receive the US-built Tesla’s, and now we receive a mix from the Chinese and US factories. The Chinese ones are way better built. Even the options from MG and BYD are impressive. But it’s not all great though, GWM Ora that many journalists are going on about is… Less than acceptable when it comes to quality.
I’ve even had fewer software issues once I got into the FSD beta, at least as far as interior stuff and general driving. The FSD itself is much better, too, but it’s still in beta so it kicks up the odd issue here and there, but as long as you’re paying attention to the road like you’re supposed to be it’s absolutely fine.
The thing gets me about the “$XX,000” battery replacement figure is that people are talking about the dealer quote for a battery replacement. If your vehicle is in warranty (and Tesla has an 8 year battery warranty), then the dealer replaces the battery for free. If it’s not under warranty anymore, there’s no reason to get your battery replaced at the dealer. Third party shops will do it for a fraction of the cost.
I’ve heard the tires are what really cost money because the car is so heavy it wears them out really fast.
It’s really not too bad compared to any other new car these days. I’m at 20K miles on mine and I’ve still got enough tread left to pass state inspection. As for weight it’s definitely not a light car, but my model 3 long range is supposedly 4250lbs, where a BMW M3 is around 3900 lbs, so not a massive difference (but a difference nonetheless).
What really gets you is how you drive it. Electric cars (and especially teslas) have a TON of torque, so if you’re constantly flooring it, that’ll wear out the tires super fast. But I bought mine mostly for safety and tech, so I keep it in chill acceleration mode and drive like a granny to keep my family safe
