When you purchase one of these do you get to see it first? The normal car buying process is awful but if the door doesn't shut right or there is wind noise, then I don't buy it.

Yeah, you inspect and can refuse delivery if you have any issues or take delivery and schedule the fix at a service centre later.

If you refuse delivery what's the wait for the next one? Since they are drastically underproducing, I assume it's quite a while?

As for getting new cars repaired... I bought my one and only Ford about 4-5 years back and there is nothing more frustrating than taking a brand new car to get fixed. Wind noise, faulty electronics, and the utter disaster that was their in-car infotainment system. I ended up getting rid of it after 2 years and will never buy a Ford so long as I live. I don't have the cult of personality around Ford like people do around Tesla which I guess lets them put up with the bullshit.

My first and only new car was a VW Jetta. Unfortunately it was purchased in the first few years of VW's Mexico plant which was still working out the kinks. I'm sure cars made in Germany or Mexico are equivalent today, but at the time not so much. It was really disheartening to need regular repairs on a new car. It was also no fun to discover VW hadn't engineered for the South's heat. Every plastic window hanger failed after two summers, leaving the electric windows stuck. Combined with regular issues with the AC system it turned me off buying another new VW or Audi for that matter. If I ever buy another new car it'll be Japanese.

I had a 2001 Jetta and it had the plastic window clip issues too.

The car I got after ditching my Ford is in fact Japanese - is 4 yo with 60k miles and hasnt needed more than fluid changes. I've never been back to the dealer.

I hear you. My 97 Corolla is still cheaper to keep running now than my Jetta was 10 years ago.

Well this is the crux of it isn't it? Is the automation about right but is taking a bit more of a learning curve? Or is the automation to ambitious and much of it will have to be rolled back. The next two or three months should see the proof of the pudding. Lay you bets now.