Tesla Fans!

[buddha2lotus]

You guys are awesome, thank you! You took the time to respond in detail and did help me understand, I appreciate it. In return, I'll try to provide my views into the conversation, rather than just receive input.


I wish I knew about that thread, I would not have created this one. I actually read almost all of the contributions to that. Thank. you.


It is interesting; the interior arrangement, not materials or quality - which I know nothing about - is what puts me off about Tesla. Similar arrangement in the Rivian is also playing negatively in my mind at this time.

The negatives of the Rivian are countered with this multi-purpose functionality, and is still making me stay in the game.


I do have hard time relating to similar sentiments about performance. Someone else wrote in another thread with the R1T they are looking to ambarass some unsuspecting sports car driver at the red light. Speed does not do much for me, nor acceleration. I have never been to a drag strip, nor have I raced anyone on the street.


I've got to see this fireplace thing


I think I will, thank you. There are very close Tesla centers near me, it is very accessible, so even though I won't be buying one, I should actually go and see one.

There was a time I cared deeply about brands, but no more. The ownership experience is far more important nowadays. I have been bitten far too often and hard by being loyal to a few brands in the past, which I won't do again.


I think I understand this. Although there are more than a few conflicts in this thinking, I think I get the power of that conflict.


Now, this is really weird.


Unfortunately, I am bit too close to the energy industry with the exception of oil&gas. The "EV" as a solution is actually playing the reverse effect on me. I am fully on board with reducing and eliminating our carbon footprint, but I do not believe EVs will do that. On the other hand, I do like and am encouraged that the lobbyists and marketing efforts for renewable energy are gaining ground against oil&gas, I just hope it won't be short-lived.


More than an automobile enthusiast, I am a driving enthusiast. I just love driving. I used to commute 3 to 3-1/2 hours for many years. Even then I enjoyed driving the cars. I like cars that resemble jetliner cockpits, love buttons, lights, signals, etc. I cannot explain it, I just do. My wife keeps telling me that I should not buy a Rivian, "it does not have buttons, you will hate it." She has a point I am afraid.


Yes! I can relate to this. In my time, it was about Beta vs. VHS, Commodore vs. Atari, Gates vs. Jobs, NetWare vs. Windows NT, Cisco vs. Fore, Motorolla vs. Blackberry, ie vs. NetScape, etc. I think the Tesla thing may be even stronger amongst some than these examples.


How do you feel about the Rivian purchasing experience thus far?
Please don't answer that, haha, it has been trying for many, I have never been through something like this before.


I am so glad she is alright, this must have been a horrific experience.


As a driving enthusiast, I am finding it difficult to adjust to technology. I make my living in technology, so it is not foreign to me. However, I feel that each time I buy a new car, technology has taken something away from me once again. At the same time, some of the examples you have listed are superb, the right way to take advantage of new technical capabilities for sure, and I know I have to accept and move on.

I love driving. I enjoy shifting gears, engine sounds, tire chirps. I look forward to every single corner to execute the perfect fast-in/fast-out. I also used to love working on my cars, but with age, it has become more of a chore than enjoyment.

EVs are not all exciting to me. The R1T is exciting. My wife really dislikes my choice, she tries to convince me of an SUV. I am sick and tired of SUVs. Regardless of propulsion, a multi-purpose truck is what I want.

I wish the R1T had more of a cockpit rather than mimicking Tesla. I am starting to understand the Tesla owners, and maybe I have to give in and accept that most EVs will have something drawn up from Tesla as they were the first mass-appeal EV.

I do hope Rivian succeeds, and I do hope Lucid and others succeed as well. We need more than just Teslas roaming around. At the same time, I do feel the heavy dependence on technology will play against us in the longer term. It almost feels like buying a smartphone or tablet to me. You know it won't be usable in 5-6 years, or the OS won't upgrade anymore, because you don't have enough storage, memory, or whatever. I hope I am wrong on this.

Thank you again for all of the insightful responses, and I hope I have not bored you.

I thought the same regarding not being that excited driving an EV. That was until I actually drove the Model S. The instant torque and acceleration and flat as a pancake cornering prowess made me an instant fan. If you haven’t yet, just schedule a test drive with a Tesla and you’ll understand the experience. It really is pure exhilaration and to have that in a four door sedan is just amazing.

Sponsored

 

[Sdvictor]

Not a "why" for Tesla fans ,but the attacks on Missy Cummings, and Musk playing into them, are disgusting.

This alone is unacceptable and a huge knock against Tesla and EM. Cummings is a highly respected academic when it comes to her field. Her field of study isn't even anything new nor controversial. Daimler and Volvo were studying these things about human cognitive function, driver assist systems, and distractions 2-3 decades prior. And I recall correctly, none of this was surprising at the time. None of the Autopilot crashes and fatalities are surprising giving these studies. I think Quinn from Snazzy Labs said it best

 

[JeremyMKE]

There are a lot of really good perspectives on this list. I will state simply. Elon and Tesla fundamentally changed automotive history.

The automotive experience for the user is fundamentally different and is NOW approachable in a way never before possible.

That kind of disruption creates Fans and detractors.

We are all reaping the benefits of Teslas innovation with the options in front of us. It is EXTRAORDINARILY difficult to create this kind of disruption with a business and supply chain like automotive. That tenacity and success is going to create strong advocates.

I am not an Elon fanboy but I am strongly appreciative of the change he helped bring to the world.

 

[Biturbowned]

Agree with most of the things Tesla owners have said in this thread. Our Model Y is the best car we’ve ever owned, full stop. The cars are constantly getting updates, supercharger network is a major moat for Tesla and it’s an insanely unassumingly fast car (we only have a long range model). You really need to drive one to get it. We would buy another one in a minute.

People who have never driven one like to conflate Tesla with Elon Musk. The two are inextricably linked, but that downplays the role of all of the hard work of really talented people that made it work. The panel gaps aren’t great, the paint is pretty bad and a lot of people would say the interior is sub-par for the pricepoint. Fair criticisms, but overshadowed by all of the good things imo. We would buy another one in a minute. YMMV.

 

[Joel]

Agree with most of the things Tesla owners have said in this thread. Our Model Y is the best car we’ve ever owned, full stop. The cars are constantly getting updates, supercharger network is a major moat for Tesla and it’s an insanely unassumingly fast car (we only have a long range model). You really need to drive one to get it. We would buy another one in a minute.

People who have never driven one like to conflate Tesla with Elon Musk. The two are inextricably linked, but that downplays the role of all of the hard work of really talented people that made it work. The panel gaps aren’t great, the paint is pretty bad and a lot of people would say the interior is sub-par for the pricepoint. Fair criticisms, but overshadowed by all of the good things imo. We would buy another one in a minute. YMMV.

I am still amazed that the paint and panel gaps have not been improved. It’s definitely a process issue. So every time I get frustrated with Rivian and the delays or lack of transparency if they can put out a solid vehicle without those issues. Then the delays will be more than worth it. I mean it’s been almost 3 years since I put in a preorder. What’s another 6 months or so.

 

[Riventures]

I don't know when it all started, but I think today's society, and I should limit this to American metropolitan areas, has come to accept degraded quality, faults, and errors in many things. Or maybe it was always like that and I just did not realize it somehow.

My first car was a Chevy Cavalier Coupe, bought it when I was 24 in the late '80s, $7,800 new if I remember right. It drove well, took me from A to B and back, never had a mechanical problem. But the interior was so subpar that I could not wait to ditch it. Since then I never bought an American car ever. Now, my perception is changing a bit and maybe I will have one in the near future from one of the Big 3.

I don't think anyone in those days would have bought even a cheap car as the Cavalier if its paint did not look right or panel gaps were not quite aligned or little 2-line digital info screen (with green lettering, no less) acted weird. It appears today we are willing to accept such shortcomings for the other benefits. I am not quite there yet as a person. I don't want a car, or a house, or medical facility that has a "continuous improvement, until we get it right" approach.

A car is too much of an expense for me, I want it 95% right, not 70-80%.

 

[Monkey]

Elon is crazy…. To accomplish all that he has, one has to be a certifiable nut job. That said, Tesla is an amazing company and they’re making great cars. There are some quality control issues and fit and finish problems at times. But for every car with obvious QC issues, there are a 300 more that are just fine and they’re getting more consistently good all the time. The drivetrain is bullet-proof.

The cars are not 100% perfect, no vehicle is. I’m on my second Tesla and will happily buy more. Am I a fan? Yes. A fanatic? Definitely not… in fact, some of the fanatical Tesla fans kinda scare me a bit. I’m sure we’re going to have plenty of Rivian fanatics too. I think I’ve already spotted a few around here.

As for trying to explain what it is about Tesla to someone, it’s really difficult. You don’t really “get it” until you go spend some time driving one. Go take Model S, Performance or Plaid, for a day-long demo drive. If you don’t get it after that, then I guess Tesla is not for you.

 

[TessP100D]

I can only give you my personal perspective.

Tesla was really the first electric car that I would consider to be a mass market product. With its performance specs and the super charger network that they created peaked my interest. Once I did my test drive I was ready to buy. I purchased a Model S, had more performance than the Vette I used to own in both acceleration and cornering and could comfortably fit 5 adults. The driving characteristics certainly made be only want to consider electric vehicles moving forward.

The interior of the car is OK for a 75K dollar car but I find it hard to imagine the same interior in the car at 120K.

I've had my Model S for 5.5 years and still consider it one of my favorite vehicles. If it had the multi purpose capabilities of the R1S it would be my favorite.

Given my experience with the Model S, I am patiently waiting for what I believe will be my future favorite vehicle sometime before Summer of 2022...

Well said.

 

[Monkey]

I am still amazed that the paint and panel gaps have not been improved. It’s definitely a process issue. So every time I get frustrated with Rivian and the delays or lack of transparency if they can put out a solid vehicle without those issues. Then the delays will be more than worth it. I mean it’s been almost 3 years since I put in a preorder. What’s another 6 months or so.

The thing with the paint and panel gaps is not that they’re consistently bad.. Because they’re not. They’re inconsistent. You will have a few perfect cars roll off the line and then a car with weird gaps on one side or a misaligned rear hatch. Then a batch of cars with mismatched paint directional on the bumper pieces. I actually shouldn’t even mention that last one. I see people complain about it all the time, but pearl white paint is funny and hard to match consistently. I can go to a Porsche dealership and show you a mismatched pearl white bumper on a Taycan if you want. The biggest issues I see consistently are panel gaps, followed by hastily or poorly installed door seals and trim pieces. Most of the minor stuff happens with many car makers, but will be identified during QC before shipping from the factory — Tesla does not do this. If the car has operable doors and windows and drives, it’s within spec. Then when a car gets to a dealership, most car dealerships do the Pre-Delivery Inspection or PDI and fix any other minor things they come across. Tesla service centers do not do this. They tell the customer to look it over and report anything they find within 24 hours and they’ll get right on it. Some service centers are great and handle things well. Others are not and don’t get things fixed.

Paint quality is largely OK. Much better on the S and X than on the 3 or especially the Y that comes out of a circus tent. It’s not to the level we would expect from most higher-end cars. You’re buying a $60K car, but you’re getting a paint job you would expect on a $30K Hyundai or Kia. And some cars just show up with bad paint.

Interior is often something people say is “cheap” and I don’t really feel it’s cheap. It’s very minimalist. Lots of people have not liked the vegan leather because it’s “not leather, just cheap vinyl”. But those complaints are dissipating as other automakers are shifting away from real leather.

Our Model X, early VIN 2016, was practically flawless. Sold it when we took delivery of our Model Y. Given the current market, I wish I had kept it. It was the best car I have ever owned. And I would buy a second one in an instant. The Model Y is different, better in some way, not as good in others. I like the smaller more agile driving of the Y vs the X, but prefer the X overall. Our next Tesla will be either another X or the Cybertruck.

 

[Joel]

The thing with the paint and panel gaps is not that they’re consistently bad.. Because they’re not. They’re inconsistent. You will have a few perfect cars roll off the line and then a car with weird gaps on one side or a misaligned rear hatch. Then a batch of cars with mismatched paint directional on the bumper pieces. I actually shouldn’t even mention that last one. I see people complain about it all the time, but pearl white paint is funny and hard to match consistently. I can go to a Porsche dealership and show you a mismatched pearl white bumper on a Taycan if you want. The biggest issues I see consistently are panel gaps, followed by hastily or poorly installed door seals and trim pieces. Most of the minor stuff happens with many car makers, but will be identified during QC before shipping from the factory — Tesla does not do this. If the car has operable doors and windows and drives, it’s within spec. Then when a car gets to a dealership, most car dealerships do the Pre-Delivery Inspection or PDI and fix any other minor things they come across. Tesla service centers do not do this. They tell the customer to look it over and report anything they find within 24 hours and they’ll get right on it. Some service centers are great and handle things well. Others are not and don’t get things fixed.

Paint quality is largely OK. Much better on the S and X than on the 3 or especially the Y that comes out of a circus tent. It’s not to the level we would expect from most higher-end cars. You’re buying a $60K car, but you’re getting a paint job you would expect on a $30K Hyundai or Kia. And some cars just show up with bad paint.

Interior is often something people say is “cheap” and I don’t really feel it’s cheap. It’s very minimalist. Lots of people have not liked the vegan leather because it’s “not leather, just cheap vinyl”. But those complaints are dissipating as other automakers are shifting away from real leather.

Our Model X, early VIN 2016, was practically flawless. Sold it when we took delivery of our Model Y. Given the current market, I wish I had kept it. It was the best car I have ever owned. And I would buy a second one in an instant. The Model Y is different, better in some way, not as good in others. I like the smaller more agile driving of the Y vs the X, but prefer the X overall. Our next Tesla will be either another X or the Cybertruck.

The m3 that go to Florida must be the bad batch. We turned a couple away for paint. These were the blue. Then a friend did the same on theirs. I think its still a mentality of people will buy it anyway. Especially when they still can’t keep up with demand.

 

[xyskis]

Hello;

I am missing something, actually probably several things, about Tesla. Help me understand please, I am genuinely curious and want to understand.

There appears to be a large and growing base of Tesla fans out there, it may not be even anan exaggeration to call some of them "fanatics." I have never been interested in a Tesla. I don't have anything against the company, actually, I do admire its accomplishments, but never thought of their products as something I would even consider buying. Thus, I never even sat in a Tesla, driven one, or have had any close encounters. My loss, it appears.

What is it, or what are the reasons Tesla vehicles draw so much fanfare? Educate me if you would please.

Why haven’t you tested a Tesla? Seems like a no-brainer if you’re thinking about going electric… don’t entirely understand the point of this thread. Seems like asking a question just for the sake of asking a question.

 

[Pherdnut]

Hello;

I am missing something, actually probably several things, about Tesla. Help me understand please, I am genuinely curious and want to understand.

There appears to be a large and growing base of Tesla fans out there, it may not be even anan exaggeration to call some of them "fanatics." I have never been interested in a Tesla. I don't have anything against the company, actually, I do admire its accomplishments, but never thought of their products as something I would even consider buying. Thus, I never even sat in a Tesla, driven one, or have had any close encounters. My loss, it appears.

What is it, or what are the reasons Tesla vehicles draw so much fanfare? Educate me if you would please.

There are reasonable fans and there are actual cultists, not just super fanboys. They hang in the same general social media circles. But they follow Musk and other high-level "fans" very closely. And they attack without question, anything Musk makes it clear he feels threatened by (throws shade at).

Almost every Rivian social media post in the last 2 years+ has had some creepy little Tesla nerd making noise about how delayed the R1T is. This started like 6 months before it was actually announced there would be a delay for Covid, shortly after the Cybertruck unveil. And Musk absolutely uses them like L Ron Hubbard would use a loyal pack of Scientologists.

He chased this guy out of the country for doing his freaking job in Fremont. The guy is paranoid now:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...d-to-destroy-tesla-whistleblower-martin-tripp

He + minions have also gone after a lot of ex-Tesla folks for daring to criticize the company before and after they quit. At least one of these is mentioned upthread. And his minions are always there to harass people that Musk decides are the enemy. It seems like female engineers are a popular target.

The thing that's really weird about the minions is that they tend to write/talk alike. I swear to god they all think it sounds cool to talk like White Goodman from Dodgeball for some reason. Like no conjunctions and lots of unnecessary but simple adjectives like "very." e.g.

"I do not think you know what you are talking about because Tesla would only sue Rivian if Rivian had stolen very valuable patents from Tesla that Tesla had worked very hard on so you are clearly very confused."

I !@#$ you not, just like that. I made fun of a guy for it and he actually responded with

"Tell me something useful you have said to me.
Oh..."

 

[Biturbowned]

I am still amazed that the paint and panel gaps have not been improved. It’s definitely a process issue. So every time I get frustrated with Rivian and the delays or lack of transparency if they can put out a solid vehicle without those issues. Then the delays will be more than worth it. I mean it’s been almost 3 years since I put in a preorder. What’s another 6 months or so.

My understanding is that they have improved. When we got ours, they were just reopening from Covid, so I’m sure stopping/starting production doesn’t help.
With respect to panel gap, that can be adjusted post delivery for free at the dealer, so it’s not something you’ll have to live with. The paint quality though…paint protection film should be offered from the factory if they can’t improve their painting process IMO.

 

[ajdelange]

When my first Tesla test drive ended (MX) I asked the guy if I should just write the check in the parking lot or if we needed to go inside. I have been a devout fanboy ever since that moment. But I have to say that had the vehicle been an R1T I expect my reaction would have been identical. In fact I consider myself a devout Rivian fan boy as well as a Tesla one. And Lucid and Xpeng and.... IOW it is the technology I am enamoured of - not so much the particular brand.

Now Tesla is a little different from the others because Elon Musk is clearly the Henry Ford of his time while simultaneously being a bit of Howard Roak and Hank Reardon. He is obviously a genius (though a mad one, clearly) who is motivated to do something for humanity and if it means giving the government the finger from time to time to get it done he gives the government the finger. Ya gotta love that!

 

[2020]

Sorry if some of these points have been discussed above. Here is my perspective in why I support the company. (no particular order).

-Everyone, especially the traditional car companies, were laughing at them when they started. Elon stuck with it despite almost going bankrupt.

-Elon is the real deal- extremely smart and knows what he is talking about. Not a typical CEO, who's job is sell as many units as possible and make tons of profit. He is what the "trickle down" economic theory is supposed to represent. This country over the years with economic policies, less taxation, lower regulations, etc has directly put money in these billionaires. The theory was that they then would use the money from the policies the country (not from their genius) was supposed to be used to re-invest in the US. Elon did that. Most of the others lined their pockets and still want more.

-I view RJ as similar to Elon in the sense he knows what he is extremely smart and dedicated to this company.

-Tesla is the most American car company. Most of their parts are made in house, including the seats.

-You are paying for technology. I compare driving a Tesla vs ICE car to a flip phone to an Iphone. I have owned over the years some high end cars including Porsches and Ferraris and I can see their days are number as pure transportation vehicles. In terms of performance, the electric cars have decimated them in almost every category except maybe on the track.

-I have driven the Porsche Taycan and can say that was one of the best cars I have driven. The fit and finish was amazing, light years ahead of my Tesla. However I would still not buy one. Less range, questionable better performance, questionable future resale value, double the price.

-Teslas keep renew themselves by the OTA software updates. My wife's 4 year old Tesla has most features of a new Tesla and free of charge (so far). Good luck with the majority of the other car companies, once the car leaves the lot- your technology and depreciation dips.

-My friend really likes the Lucid. My response was that I have not seen one on the road. GM and VW have been working on electric cars for years and have poured billions into this endeveor. In theory and the prototypes look good, however none of their production cars can complete with Tesla yet.

-Safety- we live in Atlanta and not going to a gas station may have saved our lives or prevented a robbery.(ha ha).

Sponsored