Up Close And Personal On Model 3 Quality Issues - Do They Scare You Away?

Tesla makes some great cars, but one area that the company has had some trouble over the years is in the area of fit and finish. The main culprits are typically poorly-fitting trim and body panels, and also paint blemishes. Jason Fenske, host of the excellent YouTube channel Engineering Explained, just bought a brand new Tesla Model 3. Here’s what he found.

Fenske’s new Model 3, which has only about 22 miles on its odometer, doesn’t seem to have much in the way of trim issues (at least, he doesn’t mention any), but the explainer-of-engineering does point out paint concerns, and finds that body panel gaps tend to show more variation from side to side than his Subaru Crosstrek’s do.

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OneOfOne - 12/27/2018 9:58:34 AM

+4 Boost

youtubers buy teslas. they tend to be millennials. nobody cares what millennials think.

MDarringer - 12/27/2018 10:22:00 AM

+5 Boost

Tesla's lack of quality and its well-documented reliability issues are enough to keep me away.

mre30 - 12/27/2018 10:36:55 AM

+8 Boost

Tesla has had quality problems for its entire existence, sometimes terrible quality problems. This is more of the same. Tesla is just a lower quality vehicle, manufactured by an under-capitalized car company.

I guess we will all soon find out what the story is...TSLA Earnings Date
Earnings announcement* for TSLA: Feb 06, 2019. Going concern or NOT going concern?

Its all smoke and mirrors until someone signs on the dotted line for the SEC certifying that the financial results are accurate and complete.

mre30 - 12/27/2018 10:42:46 AM

+8 Boost

How many hipsters in Idaho and the American West? There have a been a few who said on Youtube that their Tesla's are pieces of junk.

Tesla's downfall will be its abandonment by male hipsters who just throw up their hands and go back to driving their Suburu Crosstrek's. I love that this guy also drive's a blue Suburu Crosstrek - just classic.

30-40 year old hipsters are Tesla's bread and butter and they are abandoning the brand in droves.

SanJoseDriver - 12/27/2018 2:46:06 PM

-3 Boost

Sorry, that's not what the sales are saying.

MDarringer - 12/27/2018 4:44:37 PM

+1 Boost

When someone says "sorry" they are not sorry. They are actually saying "f-you".

Hawk - 12/27/2018 4:15:46 PM

+2 Boost

Makes them all the more desirable - in a primitive artsy way.

TheSteve - 12/27/2018 9:39:47 PM

+10 Boost

It's not JUST the low build quality that makes Tesla a "must avoid" for me. It's also...
-- Mediocre styling, inside and out
-- Premium price tag without a premium look or feel
-- "Driving a PC" experience (big iPad dashboard)
(all other EV issues aside)

Meanwhile, Audi has announced an EV SUV (the eTron) that'll compete with Tesla on features and price, plus it looks much more like a regular vehicle rather than embracing quirky styling and UI design. An EV sedan will follow. Porsche's soon-to-arrive Taycan will also be competitive to Tesla in terms of features and price, while retaining Porsche's positive attributes, which include delivering a premium vehicle for the premium price tag.

Will Porsche and Audi have a home run? Who knows? We'll find out in the coming months.

Since the new Porsche Cayenne Hybrid was announced, I've started paying a lot more attention to hybrids and EVs, and I'm glad there are more and more non-Tesla options showing up. An EV is not right for me... yet... but EVs are rapidly gaining traction as battery technology changes and competition heats up.