Nor will they sell you parts to repair it.

So truely the Apple of cars then.

Not exactly. Apple is renowned for the build quality of their hardware.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8 - The horrible truth about Apple's repeated engineering failures. - Louis Rossmann

The only difference between Apple and its competitors (Dell, Acer, Samsung, etc) is that Apple's shiny brand image makes content like Louis Rossmann's compelling. If the same treatment was applied to the likes of Dell and Acer, they'd be looking just as bad if not far, far worse than Apple.

(To be clear, the above is regarding Apple's engineering specifically, not about their business practices. I agree that Apple's competitors are generally far better at parts supply and general right-to-repair matters.)

Funny because I've never had problems with, what is commonly accepted as the lowest of the three you mentioned: Acer, like I have with Apple. I have an old Chromebook C710 that just. will. not. die. My Partner's newer Macbook only has one working USB port now. There are more Apple products in my product history graveyard than everything else. Combined.

I've long come to the conclusion that people simply treated their Apple devices better and not that they actually were higher quality or better engineered.

Fascinating. My own experience has been exactly the opposite. Every single Apple product I've ever bought has worked perfectly for their entire useful life. My own Apple graveyard is a stack of devices in perfect working condition. Whereas I'm looking at my pile of non-Apple devices and every single one of them had to be repaired, replaced or abandoned due to hardware failures. I've had to replace numerous Lenovo tablets and the last (expensive!) Dell laptop I bought started randomly crashing upon resume from sleep.

And don't get me started on the Microsoft Surface Book. My partner (who worked at Microsoft) chose this as their work laptop. Junk. Driver problems. DRIVER PROBLEMS on MICROSOFT'S own hardware, managed by MICROSOFT'S own IT department.

Tesla design and build quality can sometimes be pretty good after several years of questionable revisions.

Unless you've been watching Louis Rossman's repair videos for the past few years and have seen the same design flaws never getting fixed.

Not sarcasm + sarcasm?

Surely this is a joke

That's an outdated perception. Look up flexgate. Apple acknowledged that they built faulty hardware, and yet still won't fix my laptop. Fuck 'em.

At least the battery isn't glued in.

As far as I can tell other manufacturers don't do any direct-to-consumer sales either - Honda seems to basically be a middleman to selling you parts that your local dealership has in-stock.

That is because, for historical reasons, they are generally not legally able to. Tesla has actually done great work pushing back on the requirements many states had to franchise automobile sales. However, almost every existing manufacturer has the entire country divided up into franchises and it is a legal nightmare to unpack it.

I’m a little confused by this statement; but here are my service options for my datsun. I can order parts from my local dealer, an online dealer, (and I’ve never tried it but I assume from Nissan), and finally the Nissan Motorsports department.

If Tesla chooses to have no dealerships, then I have to go to them for support.

If I go to a dealership and get ripped off, I can call the manufacturer and they can assist with the problem. Happened to our TSX when the motor was burning oil and the guy who was at the parts shop was saying it was within spec. I had to get a support representative from Honda involved with the repair.

They provide parts to more than just dealerships. There are plenty of auto parts warehouses you can order OEM parts from.

This 2017 news from electrek[1] contradicts your claim.

[1]: https://electrek.co/2017/01/30/tesla-opening-up-service-repl...

Electrek is a very biased website in favor of electric vehicles so it makes sense they would say positive things about Tesla.

Also, the first sentence of that article is about how this is only a thing in Massachusetts because of right to repair laws.

If Tesla could, they would brick or make certain systems not operational if you don't use first party parts.

I agree that Electrek is biased, but they usually provide substantive materials in terms of source and quotes to backup their claim.

Also, it is a 2017 article, and things have improved since then. For example, Tesla has released their parts catalog for all models.

Things are still far from prefect though, as you still can not buy those parts. Hopefully with this new Right to Repair Executive order - this situation will improve.

What good is a parts catalog if you can't buy the parts?