”This thing is magnificent, a little rainbow-farting space ship, so obviously representative of the next step in the history of autos.”
Tesla’s are also very reliable, despite what CR would have you believe. Owner satisfaction is higher for Tesla than any other car, even Porsche 911 and Corvettes. CR admits that owners would not be satisfied with unreliable cars, and then ding TM3 for touchscreen glitches.
Actually, my touchscreen did freeze several times last year under the original firmware. There was an issue where the internet radio streaming would stall if LTE dropped out just as you were skipping a track. They fixed it at the end of last year and the screen hasn’t stalled even once since that OTA update.
My TM3 literally just got 5% faster due to an OTA update this week, because Tesla decided they had too much margin in their motor design.
Finally, the TCO of a RWD standard range Model 3 is lower than a Honda Accord. These cars have a bad reputation for being expensive. My friends ask me how I could possibly afford a car that will ultimately cost less than a $35k ICE vehicle.
[1] - https://www.wsj.com/articles/first-ever-review-of-the-tesla-...
In addition someone who typically buys top Mercedes model that uses 15 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers every 3 years, buys new iPhone every two years, flyes 5 times a year to spend holidays in a beautiful but distant locations simple does not give a crap about climate changes. That is obviously such person is very pro-eco and wants to fight climate changes (verbally) and even donates some anti global warming foundation and advocates strict CO emission regulations (especially in developing countries) but the last thing such person would do is to restrict its own consumption.
There are plenty of higher quality electric vehicles.
The acceleration is one tiny aspect of customer satisfaction.
Tesla has worst in class interiors and reliability. Not having buttons or trays is something only Tesla can get away with.
Is it better for the environment to buy a used car? Or better for the environment to buy a new car?
You need to realize that other people have different priorities than you do. Not everyone cares that their car be as luxury as possible. They just want a good electric vehicle, and there's nothing that beats the Model 3 at that price point -- not in range and not in performance. Yeah, maybe it doesn't have leather seats as nice as the BMW, but most people don't prioritize surface-level luxury above all else, and especially not hardware/car nerds.
Perhaps you should have a personal experience with them before going around just repeating what you read somewhere or from your imagination.
Slow down there.
Not everyone cares about climate change.
The _only_ reason I got a Tesla was for the acceleration and social status. With the Model 3, status has been diluted. Is climate change happening and being accelerated by humans? Yes. Do I care? No. I'm actually selling my P3D and switching to a Porsche 911 because of the Tesla brand dilution.
Disclaimer: I work at Google.
For other people who like speed and performance, Tesla's are the cheapest way to get there.
I generally like Teslas but unfortunately they were not meant to be driven at high speeds for what other people consider as a normal period of time, as can be seen for example in this YT video [1] of a Tesla's battery over-heating after driving at 190-200 kph on the German autobahn. Their 0-to-100 kph times are excellent, though.
It's not an insane speed, a new VW Golf can handle 170-180 kph pretty damn well, hell, my 12-year old 1.4l hatchback can do 130-140 kph for hours at a time quite as well, too.
Car enthusiasts won't get a Tesla because Tesla's ARE inferior to the competition at that price point.
You don't buy a Tesla because you want your car to work for 2 years without breaking, you buy a Tesla to show friends.
I know luxury Ford products sold 20k/yr, and those were some seriously high end SUVs. Same price point.
I cannot see how Teala is sustainable.
Edit, the reliability problems aren't unique to Tesla, any new car has them. I don't understand why people straight lie about it not having reliability issues.