bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

not that i have any interest in owning a cybertruck even if it were built like a rolls royce, but i certainly would wait a year or three before ordering one if i were.

jrmckinley

Would you wait a year or three on something like the Kia EV5 (since you posted about that one earlier)?

I would have 0 concerns about CyberTruck. Software platform is known and trusted. Tesla knows how to make cars. I'd argue it's more proven to buy a new model like this from Tesla than buy something like a Rivian, Lucid, Kia EV5 etc.

It's weird how I didn't hear people say they would wait to buy a Mach-E Mustang a few years ago, despite Ford literally never building an EV prior. But when Tesla, a company that sells exponentially more EV's than anyone else and has done so for a decade, launches a new model people don't trust it. Just goes to show that Tesla remains a polarizing brand despite years of proof of knowing what they're doing. They just sold more cars in California last quarter than Toyota sold in California. That's wild.

AMIRZA786

Man, I totally agree with this. I would buy a Tesla with ZERO hesitation. The Model Y is the first car I ever bought in my life without seeing one in person and test driving it. I just made the decision, placed the order with no regrets. If I could go back in time, I probably would have just bought a Model 3P instead of the Polestar, even though at the time is was $10K more expensive

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

no because kia/hyundai has a track record of great build quality. sure they have recalls which the media and haters like to talk about, but nothing like the QC tesla problems.

last sentence is hilarious. they know how to make software. their cars are cheaply made and thrown together. they obviously do almost no quality control after a car is 'built'.

ford has a century of experience building vehicles. fwiw i wouldn't buy a mach-e either.

tesla has MANY positives. charging infrastructure, great performance, good (if varying) efficiency, low price relatively (after a year of huge price cuts to keep sales going), software updates, great interior space, comfortable seats, huge third party add on market, etc.

some can overlook the MANY negatives though, hugely varying build quality (great if you're 'lucky' and get a 'good' one), lack of physical controls (doesn't bother everyone of course), lack of industry standard features as at least an option on 3/y like ventilated seats, hud, apple carplay / android auto and many many other things.

but i get it, MOST people, once they buy a tesla, are smitten. that's great!

not really... tesla's biggest charging network is there. they started there. with massive price cuts and massive incentives they're as cheap or cheaper than ice or ev alternatives. they're the 'in' thing there.

but california isn't 'everywhere'.

i still may end up with a tesla at some point, so i certainly haven't ruled it out. i will be renting one in a couple of weeks so will hve that experience for almost a week.

jrmckinley

Aren't the Hyundai and Kia recalls over a risk of fire? And you're saying that's nothing compared to the "QC Tesla problems" (which I assume means things like panel gaps)? Not sure I can agree there. FWIW, I like a lot of Hyundai/Kia/Genesis products and would not be deterred from buying one due to this. Just pointing out that I don't understand your comment.

Re: California.. When you think of the breadth of products Toyota offers and the size and power of their brand, I can't imagine it not being impressive to think an EV company with 4 models sold more cars than them in the most populated state in the US. Cali IMO actually represents "everywhere" pretty well. You have several huge cities, you have a lot of diversity, you have every level of wealth imaginable (high and low), and it has the greatest mix of demographics and socio economics. I think it's an incorrect assumption to think that having the large charging network is why you'd see a lot of Teslas there. I've put 10k miles on mine in 8 months and I've only used a super charger 3 times. I also don't share the same view point that the home state of where a company gets started from leads to anything with adoption. Rivian was founded near Melbourne, so that would mean FL should end up leading the nation in Rivian sales. And Lucid is also founded in California. Edit: you've also mentioned that Musk has become polarizing - partially politically - due to Twitter and some public comments he's made about political candidates over the last 12ish months. You'd think Tesla sales would absolutely tank in CA due to some of this, but they haven't.

I will be interested to hear your experience with the Tesla in a few weeks. They aren't perfect and they aren't for everyone. But I've been beyond happy with my experience and have been a Lexus owner for 20 years and a Toyota owner for 4 years prior to owning my first Lexus.

In other news, I'll be with my buddy who just got his R1S tomorrow night and excited to spend some time driving it and comparing it to our Tesla in a few ways.

patgilm

Generally the build quality is actually pretty good on the Model 3’s but they need to do better. Problem is they sell so many and most people don’t complain or do anything about it so why would they change, they don’t need to and it would just cost them more.

Here is an example, look at this panel fitment on my Model 3, that is unacceptable to me but I’m sure to many they don’t care, it’s an appliance and the positives outweigh the negatives.

AMIRZA786

I have to totally disagree with that sentence. IMO, and yes, this is just my opinion, they build the best vehicles that have very balanced driving dynamics, they are not cheaply thrown together, nor do they use cheap materials. I agree they are not as premium built as say a Lexus, and are very minimalistic, but that's a philosophy they adopted and one that works extremely well as shown by their customer satisfaction ratings, conquest sales, and overall sales numbers. Infrastructure is only one piece of the puzzle...if they built a horrible car but had amazing infrastructure, they wouldn't be selling the amount of vehicles they do

AMIRZA786

LoL that looks like it was in an accident! I don't see any of these panel gap issues on recent Model 3's and Y's being delivered. I certainly would not take delivery of a car with a panel gap like that. That's insane to say the least

AMIRZA786

Again, well said!

jrmckinley

I thought you had an S, didn't know you had a 3 (maybe you have both). I agree, that's not acceptable. Oddly, it looks just like what JDR just posted about his rental 3. I've looked at a lot of Teslas over the years and I"ve never personally seen anything like these 2 pics.

AMIRZA786

He has a Model S Plaid. It was in an accident, and this a loaner he's driving. Like you, I've never seen panel gaps like that. I literally see 30 or 40 Tesla's a day driving to and from work, as well as Tesla's belonging to co-workers and have yet to see these types of imperfections

patgilm

My wheels came in this week and they are wrapping up my car and then it is off to the PPF place next week so by Wednesday I will finally have my car back. I heard from the body shop and now my car is making a squeaking noise when putting it in drive so they are trying to figure that out and hope it is the new suspension they had to put in.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

ok, will 'splain. the number of hyundais allegedly affect by fires afaik is tiny. the number of teslas with build quality issues is enormous. many customers don't see them when taking delivery and have them fixed later with a service appointment, and hey, good for tesla make this philosophy work. it's a bit like spacex... get it out there, see what breaks, work to fix it, rinse, repeat. obviously don't launch rockets with people until unmanned works well. of course that approach wasn't taken with fsd where they put it in people's hands as guineapigs to get the data to make it better. while there have been many accidents, mostly attributable to using fsd in ways it wasn't designed to handle, it was still pure market manipulation and marketing b.s. it is not 'full self driving' and it obviously has a lot of flaws, but it is getting better. very risky play and i'm amazed government hasn't brought legal action against tesla.

it is indeed impressive!

i gave many reasons tesla is successful in california. another reason is the price of gas there which is close the highest in the nation consistently. california also gave incentives to get an ev (in additional to federal incentives) that most other states don't or didn't. california also has huge momentum in solar energy which of course makes an ev even more appealing. florida, where you and i are, is, to put it mildly, different than california. one specific area where i'm not happy about florida is the power companies bought and paid for the politicians to NOT provide incentives to home owners to do solar. and we live in the 'sunshine state'.

?? their headquarters are in california and their manufacturing is in illinois. yes the founder's from florida though.

lucid is only making 6 figure cars so can't go mainstream and they aren't making many of those either.

whether true or not, i don't know, but there's media reports (and yes, even tweets) about people choosing to not get a tesla because of musk's comments and behavior in the last year or so, and some getting rid of their teslas in protest. however, that's no doubt a tiny sensationalized number. tesla continues to grow because of momentum, dropping prices 20% in the last year, still enjoying fed tax credits where others were no longer eligible, the ability to make them in large numbers, and again, the charging network (with the ENDLESS reports that EA, etc all suck, it only helps tesla grow). in short, tesla is pretty much the only game in town unless you use an ev primarily for commuting and can charge at home.

elon musk did a masterful job of 'spinning' tesla to the public, while also actually delivering affordable ev's to the masses. that is no small accomplishment.

his personality now seems to have become a liability, but tesla is now so large it doesn't matter much and he's rather busy with other things.

yup, like i said, most tesla buyers become smitten. i have already driven a model 3 by the way, and a couple of other ev's (mercedes and a new ioniq 5). the one i enjoyed least by far was the tesla. but that was just a short drive, so i'm looking forward to having it for nearly a week.

lol... obviously an r1s costs twice what a model y does and will be FAR more luxurious. if it's the quad motor model is also is over 7000lbs and has over 800hp, so it's NOTHING like a model y - more like a model x performance. i think the r1s is awesome and kudos to those like allen k here who got the launch pricing... a real bargain if one wanted to take the chance they could actually deliver a quality product and by all accounts, they have.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i realize this thread is about cybertruck specifically though, and wasn't that promised by musk for under $40k? or maybe $50k? and not it looks like it will be $70k+.
wonder how many of those deposits won't turn into sales when they find out how much it's going to be.
still as i've said, even if half go away, the cybertruck will be a huge success.

swajames

You have to remember that many of the customers who buy Teslas in California quality for neither the federal nor any state rebates or incentives. The cars still sell very well here, and it's clearly not just because of incentives because so many customers exceed the income thresholds applicable to all the federal/state incentives. Teslas also sold very well here when there were no federal rebates for any Tesla, and again many buyers did not qualify for the state incentives.