Tesla Motors

The driving experience is unmatched. All electric with 310 miles of range is plenty. We went to FL from NC over Thanksgiving of 2018 with only 2 stops a Superchargers each way. 40 minute charge time each stop. Cost per mile of electricity is $0.03/mile, whereas cost of gas alone (not including oil, filter, radiation fluid, trans fluid, etc that my EV does not need!) is ~3x at $0.10.

We charge at home about every other night very easily overnight with a 220V NEMA 14-50 plug. The Model 3 can pull up to 32A from that and charges at 28 miles of charge per hour added to the battery with that current. To prolong battery life I usually dial the current back such that it'll get to the charge level I set (about 80%, or ~250miles) about 1 hour before we need the car the next morning, so between 12 and 18amps usually. Batteries lose some charge in cold weather, but it's very manageable. They say up to 30%, but I've seen maybe 20%. Simple to plan for though.

Autopilot and Navigate on Autopilot are amazing! Too much to say, but this is the best car I've ever owned, period. No shifting, not transmission, just smooth continuous acceleration, and great torque from 1rpm with dual electric motors. Immediate response at any speed. Beautiful car inside and out, and the experience is the thing that is so amazing. All glass roof, minimalist dash with all controls on the 15inch touch screen, two control knobs on the steering wheel, a turn signal lever and a gear stalk. However, those things are somewhat customizable also, and changed function based on what mode you're in. If you're parked (in "Park"), and playing the include Atari video games, the knobs on the steering wheel and the steering wheel itself become controls for the video games!! Wow!

Ok, I could go on an on, but you get the idea. It's really hard to go back to driving our other cars now: Toyota Sienna Van, and Honda Accord. Can't wait to get our next Tesla vehicle. I don't see every buying another brand if I can afford it. And I'll certainly buy used if I end up with another gas car, but I may buy a used EV before I do that if the need comes for another car when the Toyota or the Honda needs replaced.

Oh, I must talk about the regenerative braking! I hardly ever used the brakes - usually only from 15mph to zero, maybe a little sooner if I'm coming in quicker, but one can basically drive with the accelerator pedal and regulate both speeding up and slowing down in most normal driving situations. What does this mean? ... well, of course, that brakes hardly ever wear out! Another savings versus a gas car.

The infotainment is so far ahead of the competition that it is incomparable - as if we hit fast forward a decade or more. The Tesla touchscreen and navigation work so well that they replaced my iPhone as my navigation source. I’m not a safety expert, but I can say that the AWD version is hard to lose control of. The 2nd day I had the vehicle my city, St. Louis has 9 inches of snow and the Model 3 gobbled it up. Since then other snows or ice events have occurred and I’ve found it to be the most stable sedan I’ve ever driven despite not purchasing winter tires.

I am no audiophile, however; the sound system exceeded my expectations. Driving the vehicle is pure joy. Or glee. Both. It is so quiet yet so responsive. I simply laugh when getting behind the wheel of other vehicles now - they all feel so outdated and cumbersome. Having the Model 3 accelerate quietly, quickly, and on demand is such a game changer and driving with 1 foot while relying on regenerative braking for deceleration simplifies the experience. Tesla truly made the world better by introducing the Model 3 as everybody benefits from the increase in attention every new vehicle on the road will receive in order to compete. Based on my experience there is no competition as far as driving dynamics and infotainment. Everybody will have to improve.

As far as reliability, I've had no issues with the car and I must say its been the most enjoyable car I've ever driven. Nearly 4 months of driving now and I love it as much now as the day I drove it home. I think the issues that people complain about are temporary as Tesla is a new car company and every new company has growing pains and they are not solved overnight. You can't compare Tesla to Mercedes or Lexus who are legacy car companies who have had years to perfect their service. Best car I've owned.

All the updates are done over the air, some improvements are obvious and some subtle. No more trips to gas stations - we charge Model 3 at home (We do have solar panels installed, not from Tesla as a local company offered better deal), or at work occasionally. We charge the battery between 25% to 90% in order to extend the battery lifespan (8-year warranty), so we get about 180-200 miles between charging, not a problem at all for my wife who drives 10-15 miles round trip to work.

I drive to office once a week. It is 70 miles from home, but there are 4 Tesla Supercharging stations along the way, charging speed at 250-350 miles/hour. So I drive the 2016 Model S that has lifetime unlimited supercharging, plus I can use carpool lane! (To use the carpool lane, one does need to get stickers from DMV for $22 in California.) The car is so responsive and fun to drive. Because of energy regeneration system, one rarely uses brakes. Some owners reported no change of brake pads till 90K miles! Only thing that might need to be replaced more often are the tires. We do keep one gas car at home for emergency or airport use (2014 MB E350), driving it reminds us how primitive automobiles used to be. :):)

We had no issues with the Model 3 so far. The 2016 Model S had a warning for one of the 12 parking sensors. I used Tesla app in my phone to schedule an appointment. A service rep called beforehand to address my concerns. The service center in San Diego is very nice, everything went smoothly. While they were working on the sensor, I was provided with a complimentary loaner car (2018 Model S with 3000 miles).

(1) Multiple visits - almost had a daily visit to the showroom for 5 consecutive days to apply a referral code. Every salesperson assured me that it could be done easily and short end of the long story is that it took them so long to figure out that this was not possible once the order was placed.

(2) Submitting a "Case" via website lands in a black hole - there are no notifications or follow-ups to assure that your concerns have been lodged.

(3) Although a delivery advisor was assigned after 2-weeks, there was minimal follow-up on next steps or required information. I seemed to be more interested to purchase than Tesla wanting to sell - so I relentlessly followed up to ensure all items were checked and delivery was on-track.

(5) I receive an out of office notification from delivery when I tried to confirm my delivery schedule. Department is closed on weekends, so have to wait until Monday.

(6) ONE day prior to delivery when I finally got someone on the phone, I find out that the delivery is pushed out by a week, and that a new delivery advisor has been assigned. When I demanded to know why was I not informed, the customer service rep responded that the new rep is on vacation and doesn't even know that she has a new case assigned to her. REALLY?!!!

As far as pushing out the delivery date - rather than fessing up that they missed it, they now try to convince that it was due to state laws in TX (check had to be mailed prior to delivery). For a company that is so far along in technology you'd expect the system to recognize that this customer is in the state of TX and not provide misleading information as seen below on my account. "Payment Method. Pay the final balance with an ACH transfer prior to delivery, or bring a check from your financial institution on delivery day. We will prompt you after this step." So here I am - with a cashier's check in hand expecting to hand it over to the advisor at the time of delivery. AND I had confirmed this on the phone earlier that this indeed is the process!

I have no idea of when the car will be delivered. The scheduled date on the site is of no value. It got pushed out from a 2-week to 3-week to now 4-weeks. And my trust is gone away completely. Tesla needs to get their act together - manufacturing and car delivery isn't rocket science. At least push out notifications to the email on file when there are changes.

Lastly it is hard to believe that none of the employees or the managers are empowered to help with making sure the user has a good experience. I am still upset that I can't use my referral credits and Tesla continues to miss the mark repeatedly as I keep getting tossed around in their policies and procedures. I can see so many opportunities for them to make amends and help users with a better purchasing experience.... and I haven't even received the car yet! Hope my driving experience is better than what I've dealt with so far.

Next the issue was with the car on delivery - it didn't have air valve cap, and the rest were different colors! On my request to get all the same - they fought with me over it for like 20 minutes! I bought a new car?! I want to have it right! Next I recorded multiple issues that model 3 had, they forgot to mention it had to be put down in system at the delivery! I am not buying Tesla every day?! So instead of going into service right away it took 10 days! But wait! Why would a new vehicle needs service right away?! I had issues like mis-alignments, microphone doesn't work, lights burned out, nick on the door, missing important parts, list goes on.

Ok, so it’s in service. We come to pick it up and boom NEW SCRATCHES! Misalignment even WORSE! Paint job done terribly - the front lights have paint all over on edges. My snow white interior is messed up!!! The driver seat is ruined! Brand new car is a freaking Frankenstein and NOT NEW! I am paying for something I do not drive! So they take it back for service, again... And I am so mad, and I cannot return it! I want to return this vehicle! It was not what was promised to me! What I bought! Aside from all of the above issues, the customer service is NON existent! Emails, calls to moon - nobody replies back! The manager at the physical location just ignores! I had to drive myself and waste my time back and forward - with NO result! Stay away from TESLA - Technology is there, but the rest doesn't exist!

Tesla later dropped the price to only $5K for people who bought their car at the same time I did, but didn't purchase EAP+FSD. People, including myself, were understandably upset: I hadn't even received FSD (still haven't), and Tesla dropped the price and didn't offer me a refund of the difference. But Tesla did offer to invite everyone who purchased FSD to their Early Access Program. That was 1 1/2 months ago. Since then, I have contact Tesla several times, by phone and email, and asked them to confirm if I would be invited to this program. Not when, just IF. Would Tesla really at least keep THIS promise. At first, they denied the promise was made.

Give one piece of information and then completely backtrack and lie to our face saying "no we never said that". Our own salesman who sold us the car, would pick up my calls after 3 days of trying and his answer would be 'you're not my only client'. Keep up the good work and soon there will be none. People go to Tesla for their cars, otherwise no one would step into such a ** for this kind of customer service.

A couple of days later, I was told that "you haven't ordered autopilot" and later, they reneged on their "extended autopilot" promise. I ended up canceling the order on the spot. The attitude of the people who work there is unacceptable. Elon Musk would be much better off closing the sales stores who are actually making it worse for the customers. They are claiming that their car buying experience is different - they are right -- its is WORSE than anything i have experienced in the past 25 years with Lexus, Acura, Audi and BMW. I can TOTALLY relate to the reviews on this forum. I experienced it first hand. NEVER AGAIN! They said I will get my refund in 7-10 days. Hoping that doesn't turn into a new nightmare (fingers crossed).

The day I went down to the delivery center to pick up my car and assuming they would of course adjust the price to what Tesla just came out with it was a disaster. My appointment was for 10:30 am, I arrive and they tell me "we weren't sure you would be coming" huh? I already confirmed. Later I realized it was because so many people had been cancelling their orders after the price adjustment and Tesla telling everyone with active orders to go pound sand. They then told me to come back after 2pm because it was still sitting in some lot somewhere and they never brought it over to the delivery center. Even without all the other problems Tesla is having you would think if you're paying over $118,000 for a car you would get the red carpet treatment and everything would run smoothly, not Tesla.

It's obvious this company is going BK and soon. I thank my lucky stars I didn't get stuck with this piece of crap and a soon to be BK company and no warranty etc. I'm now working with my credit card company to get my deposit refunded, I understand American Express has been very good to its customers, well see how Visa/UBS handle my issue, I'm hopeful.

The interior also does not need the bright and overpowering screen which will constantly distract the driver. I also do not agree with the speedometer in the centre of the dash as it is not easy to see as you have to take your eyes fully of the road. I like to see physical buttons on a car so you don't have to scroll through pages and pages of settings just to change something. I could go on and on saying why Tesla's are poorly designed and you should change/sack your complete design team and start again to create a successful company. If not the car will take the company into liquidation and Tesla will not be a car company for long.

However from experience and from the point of view from a test drive or from a viewing, I have only seen images of the different models. This has given me no desire to test drive or purchase one of the Tesla models and I don't feel I will be unless the design of the car is changed. I could go even further with discussing this but I am sure this will give you an insight in how I feel about the design of the Tesla. Reducing the price will not necessarily to sell more cars as the design and looks of the cars is more important than the price.

The sales representative then told me that I could not use these monies to buy another car and that my check would be cashed and the funds would be held by Tesla for 30 days, then returned to me. I subsequently bought another Tesla on 12/29/18 for which I paid with another check, as the funds from the previous check could not be used for this purchase. As of this date, 3/3/19, over 2 months after purchase, I have received no refund from Tesla. I have called Tesla multiple times and been told they would get back to me. No one has called back.

Finally after 2 months I cancelled the charge with my credit card company and continued to follow up. Still nothing until I refused to stop calling and they had some clown tell me that if I committed to a solar system on my home he would refund my deposit. I laughed and asked for his name which he mumbled and refused to spell. After I hung up on him, I immediately called back and spoke to Roman the assistant manager. He fluffed off the clown who tried to coerce me in a solar system and refused to divulge his name.

After repeated attempts to find out who this clown was I finally contacted the district manager Adam ** and explained that his team were dishonest and unprofessional. Oh and then I tried to reach a representative at the corporate level and they told me there are no phone numbers to call and I would have to send an email or go to Tesla chat? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? WHAT A JOKE!! If you really want a Tesla I would highly recommend you purchase it online from Tesla or go to a different dealership. Oliver ** is a lying, spineless weasel.