A Tesla owner has shockingly revealed five reasons why you shouldn’t buy one of the US electric cars.
The anonymous EV enthusiast said that, despite having bought two different Tesla models, he would definitely be looking towards other battery-powered cars if he were buying today.
Tesla still remains one of the most popular EV brands, but rivals are now more competitiveGetty Images
Tesla’s Supercharger network gets drivers on their way pretty quickly, but the charging stations can become crowdedGetty Images
Writing on specialist website, Electric Driver, the owner said that he purchased his Teslas a number of years ago when the company was offering lifetime supercharging and internet connectivity.
He also mentions that today’s customers seem biased toward Tesla and are not giving other electric vehicles much consideration.
“We are still paying off our electric vehicles,” he commented, “but if we were in the market today, we would be giving some electric cars not made by Tesla serious consideration.”
Here are the five reasons why this particular Tesla owner wouldn’t buy a car from Elon again.
Tesla build quality
“While Tesla has improved build quality, there are issues you do not see with other vehicle manufacturers.
“My wife and I both experienced fit and finish issues on our vehicles. For example, our Model X Tesla had a misaligned bonnet.
“For a £100k luxury vehicle, you expect the attention to detail you see with other luxury brands.”
Questionable technology decisions
“A good example to point out these differences is in the area of self-driving.
“The industry uses cameras, sensors, and lidar (a remote sensing method used to measure range) in self-driving cars.
“However, Tesla has gone in a different direction and uses only cameras – but using all the technologies together provides a more robust and safer experience.
“Tesla’s camera-only approach to self-driving can cause some customers to be less confident in using self-driving capabilities.
Increasing and erratic pricing
“Our Teslas were the most expensive vehicles we ever purchased.
“Since our purchase in 2018, we saw Tesla prices drop and the battery range increase.
“Tesla was signalling to consumers that they were working towards an affordable mass-market of £30k Tesla Model 3.
“As electric vehicles started gaining popularity, the company increased pricing and paused the £30k Tesla.”
As of April 2023, the cheapest Model 3 Tesla is available for £43k
The company has reduced prices for the Model 3 and Model Y, but this has, in turn, led to uncertainty over future used values – leaving customers confused over where to place their money.
Tesla’s pace of delivered innovation is slowing down
“Give credit to Tesla for pushing the automotive industry toward building electric vehicles… Tesla’s story is similar to the Apple iPhone, changing the cell phone market.
“While the iPhone shifted cellphones towards smartphones, Apple’s pace of innovation slowed down, and other manufacturers like Samsung and Google were able to step in and innovate at a faster pace.
“Tesla still is technologically one of the leaders in the electric vehicle space.
“However, models by Mercedes, Lucid, and other electric vehicle makers are putting out products that can match Tesla.”
Tesla has a tendency to oversell
“Some examples of overselling behaviour include Tesla’s handling of their fully self-driving capability and the release of new vehicles like the Tesla Cybertruck.
“When I bought my Tesla and purchased the full self-driving upgrade, Tesla was presenting a vision of a solution where the vehicle could drive itself safely – Tesla signalled to consumers that full self-driving would be available later in the year.
“However, in 2022 Tesla released a limited beta of the full self-driving capability that has fallen short and received criticism from those within the automotive industry”
Similar claims can be made with new vehicle releases like CyberTruck.
“Tesla started collecting reservation deposits back in 2019 from consumers – it (CyberTruck) was supposed to be released in 2021, but production has been delayed.”