I’ve driven more than 1,000 miles in Teslas — and I’ll never buy one

[OrigamiKami]

I've had a Model 3 since 2018 and I've not had any problems with it. In fact, Tesla replaced lots of stuff for free like the updated multimedia system board and rear camera harness as part of a recall with its mobile service. You wouldn't get that unless you're an actual owner. Updates over the air and not having to go into a dealer for repairs. They come to you. You can't beat the mobile service.

What a luddite. I love the proximity lock. I never have to think about it. I just walk up to the car and get in. If you really want to bother locking and unlocking your car, I can through the app but why? The only one that I'd really change is the frunk. There should be a way to open it without opening the app but I get it, safety.

And yeah, no binnacle is a cost cutting measure. Buy the Model S if you want a binnacle. Oh right, probably can't afford it anyway.

Why is Tom's guide reviewing cars? This person is clearly not a car reviewer. They seem to have a very limited experience with cars. Mostly low-end models. Tesla's are not unique in having rimless windows. Most luxury and convertible vehicles have them like Audi Q8, Audi TT, Mercedes-Benz CLA, Porsche 996 and more. Even some more pedestrian cars like the Volkswagen CC, Mini Cooper, Subaru WRX. Nothing new or overengineered. It's just an aesthetic choice. It's supposed to be luxurious.

Clearly, convenience and "luxury" features are not something this nerd is ever going to be interested in. Sounds like someone is bitter that they're poor and is waiting for the low-end 2024 Tesla model. Well, more likely 2025 given Elon's track record. Or 2026 because Twitter is tanking Elon's game. Give it time, young one. The cost will come down. Nevermind, you'll just have to be very, very patient. Elon is in a death spiral.

No need to be this rude. Are you upset he offended your Model 3? I have one too and this article didn't bother me like it seemed to bother you. Can you afford an S? Well if you could you probably wouldn't have a 3.

 

[Paul Connell]

Clearly you never drove a Model 3 Performance and felt what 0-60 in 3 seconds feels like.

OMG, clearly you don't understand that not everyone fails to mature past that of a 16 year old.

 

[NickyStixx]

I've had a Model 3 since 2018 and I've not had any problems with it. In fact, Tesla replaced lots of stuff for free like the updated multimedia system board and rear camera harness as part of a recall with its mobile service. You wouldn't get that unless you're an actual owner. Updates over the air and not having to go into a dealer for repairs. They come to you. You can't beat the mobile service.

What a luddite. I love the proximity lock. I never have to think about it. I just walk up to the car and get in. If you really want to bother locking and unlocking your car, I can through the app but why? The only one that I'd really change is the frunk. There should be a way to open it without opening the app but I get it, safety.

And yeah, no binnacle is a cost cutting measure. Buy the Model S if you want a binnacle. Oh right, probably can't afford it anyway.

Why is Tom's guide reviewing cars? This person is clearly not a car reviewer. They seem to have a very limited experience with cars. Mostly low-end models. Tesla's are not unique in having rimless windows. Most luxury and convertible vehicles have them like Audi Q8, Audi TT, Mercedes-Benz CLA, Porsche 996 and more. Even some more pedestrian cars like the Volkswagen CC, Mini Cooper, Subaru WRX. Nothing new or overengineered. It's just an aesthetic choice. It's supposed to be luxurious.

Clearly, convenience and "luxury" features are not something this nerd is ever going to be interested in. Sounds like someone is bitter that they're poor and is waiting for the low-end 2024 Tesla model. Well, more likely 2025 given Elon's track record. Or 2026 because Twitter is tanking Elon's game. Give it time, young one. The cost will come down. Nevermind, you'll just have to be very, very patient. Elon is in a death spiral.

"This person is clearly not a car reviewer".. as a none car reviewer reviews and complains about said review. All of the authors points are valid. Why are you so salty? Lol, anyway who brags about having money or says someone is bitter for being poor never actually has any money themselves. And all you Muskies keep saying the price will come down, but they keep going up, sometimes multiple times a year. With inflation, and everything else, do you really expect the price to come down?

 

[liuping]

I'm always surprise when people freak out about the speedometer not being centered. I've heard several people say that is an absolute deal breaker.

The thing is you get used to it incredible quickly, and I find it is actually better than cars that have it "front and center". Mostly because it's not really front and center, it's usually "down and behind the steering wheel". Depending on your steering wheel/seat position and your height, there might not even be a clear view of the speedometer at all. In addition, many cars use gauges (or simulated gauges), so you have to look at the position of the needle and see what numbers it's pointing to, etc.

On a Tesla, you glance briefly to the right and there is a large, easy to read digital number with your exact current speed. My eyes are "away from the road" for far less time to check the speed in my Model Y than any other car I've owned.

 

[muckz]

The knives are out for Musk, as if all the journo-activists suddenly cried out in unison with the same talking points... bash twitter, bash tesla, drive the stock price down.

none of the issues described in the propaganda piece are new to this year - they've been around for a long time, but like a faithful minion that he is, the author joins the courageous voices of the latest "let's hate this thing now".

this is supposed to be veiled as a legitimate opinion?

 

[JHawk88]

I drove my friend's Tesla and I had these exact same thoughts. The car is fun to drive, but the doors, the key card, the touchscreen... Hated all of it. Change for the sake of change... No thanks. Change for the better. Not just so you can be pretentious about your product cuz it's... "Different "

 

[mykohsu]

You can definitely manually unlock and lock your car in the app without bluetooth, and still auto lock when you are some feet away from the car (far before loss of line of sight).

The app also shows the current lock state.

I drove my friend's Tesla and I had these exact same thoughts. The car is fun to drive, but the doors, the key card, the touchscreen... Hated all of it. Change for the sake of change... No thanks. Change for the better. Not just so you can be pretentious about your product cuz it's... "Different "

The key card is more for emergency use and the valet. But unfortunately when you don't own the car that's what you end up using.

 

[Rossoh1]

What a jerk article to write. Tesla are changing the world why would you try chime in with some crap arguments, that frankly are stupid.
I guess sometimes you just need to print something…

 

[geemymd]

You mention noise pollution. That low speed Tesla siren warble is annoying in the neighborhood. Sounds like a bombing warning siren at first thought and you can hear it blocks away. Normal cars are much quieter in this residential area. Much. Quieter.

don't forget Tesla and other ev manufacturers were forced to add those sounds by regulation because they were "too" silent..my ev has no sound and it does surprise people in the residential areas but I still prefer it that way. but if your really being honest the really annoying car sounds are the straight piped cars or motorcycles that you can hear from miles away,
I think EV fake sounds should be less loud and more progressive instead of on/off. it should crossfade seemlessly with the natural tire noise instead if making the car NOISIER at LOWER speeds

 

[geemymd]

Have you driven an X or an S? Not to purchase but just a test drive? You'll see why they cost what they cost and why the 3 and Y cost what they do. The model Y has been notoriously disparaged for it's cheapness. It seems as Tesla just threw something together for an affordable consumer SUV. But yeah drive a S or X and let us know if you feel the same.

yet 65k starting price is not affordable

 

[Truthhurts]

This is so obviously a hit piece I find it hilarious. Npc's who are butt hurt about Elon and the political bs are all out the woodwork right now, and the amount of articles like these that just happened to pop up right now is very obvious and dubious in their intent. These same publications were wanking the man and the brand off just last year. He's exposing the corruption and you people can't handle it. Boo hoo. The amount of actual hardcore automotive enthusiasts and naysayers that drove a Tesla, especially the Model 3 and were blown away by its driving dynamics and capabilities... I mean I've literally lost count of. I've owned 2, both the 3 and the Y among many other cars - they've literally ruined the majority of cars for me as daily drivers, there's no comparison to the performance, space, security (sentry mode is amazing), and conveniences of them. The only other electric car I'd consider right now is the Taycan (and that's strictly from a performance standpoint) otherwise they're all missing so much compared to what Tesla's are brining to the table, especially once you've lived with the features.

 

[fhqwhgus]

I hope Tesla succeeds.. but they are going to have to either crack FSD soon and turn these cars into robotaxis or they are going to have to reverse some of these decisions and especially work on sound isolation and driver comfort.

They'll never be Level 4, much less, level 5 autonomous vehicles. They would need to include much better hardware in the cars to "see" the distance between objects in the environment and the cars themselves. But Tesla uses cameras, and maybe a little bit of radar (but they're taking those out to save manufacturing costs,) which is not enough gear to appropriately create an autonomous vehicle. You need LiDAR, which uses lasers to measure objects in the environment. Teslas are Level 2 autonomous vehicles. They're NOT self-driving, they're marketed badly. The "autopilot" is vehicle-assisted enhanced safety while driving.

If you're curious about a Level 4 autonomous vehicle, there's a whole fleet of them that drive themselves around Colorado's School of Mines. They're able to drive themselves, safely, on preprogrammed routes around the campus without human interaction.

Here's what those look like (imagine a toaster on wheels,) https://www.mines.edu/rover/

 

[ManDaddio]

No disrespect but is the author of this article living under a rock or in a cave?
Digital is the future and it's now. There are tons of cars that have touch screens in them.
When you have an all electric vehicle you have to build the vehicle around that premise.
The whole point of futuristic vehicles is to get away from mechanical moving parts as much as possible.
And a thousand miles? I probably drive a thousand miles in less than a month with normal driving. That's not a real benchmark to see if you enjoy something.
Furthermore, instead of writing an article basically saying ,I'm never buying a Tesla again, give feedback to Tesla about your experience so that they can make changes to the cars.
In a social media society that we have today that's a no-brainer.
And Tesla's are expensive for a reason.
What are you going to buy? A Chevy EV? Uck!!!
Heavily government subsidized. They were bailed out with billions of dollars. No thanks.

Maybe this article isn't biased but it sure does seemed like it is. And all this hate now towards Elon Musk and anyone who decides they want to think for themselves and be an individual is all going to come under judgment one day.

Because that's what this attack on Elon Musk is. Simple hate. Hate is evil.
When I get the chance I'm going to buy Tesla.
The left helped me decide to make the right decision.....

 

[SAIEver]

Okay you have either never actually been in one or your complaining about things that literally every other car has but 44x worse

First
My biggest problem with the Tesla design is the extreme minimalism that’s employed throughout the cabin. In the Model 3 and Model Y, this means virtually everything is condensed into a single central touchscreen
Its been shown back and forward that screens are what we are moving to and has been easier this has shown since we gave up the button phones for smartphones...???? and having too much stuff on the dashboard is the polar opposite its annoying and its in the way and it can be a distraction so this doesn't add up

Second
The thing that always baffles me most is that Tesla’s two cheapest cars don’t have a dedicated driver display
There's not actually any need for one ever since you are not actually always looking forward and having a screen directly in front of you have proven to be a distraction for some drivers...

Third
The overreliance on the touchscreen is my biggest issue. Not only because of the lack of tactile feedback, ensuring you can’t use the smooth and glossy device without looking, but also because any fault in the screen will render your car completely useless.
Lack of tactile feedback is actually really not something that anyone cares for and even in doing so it would be worse having the entire screen vibrate then not I am certain every time you open an application on your phone it does not vibrate and you shouldn't be using the screen for anything that requires more then a glance while driving anyways.. again what are you doing on your screen while driving?? also a fault in the screen doesn't render the car useless but you clearly haven't been there so that's all good

Fourth
without having to pay an additional $175 for the privilege of using a function most cars offer by default.
You Don't actually need to its called use the app as intended and as far as has been proven its much easier to "hack" a normal car remote then it is a tesla one and when your phone has it enabled its even harder so what your talking about is completely wrong and you refusing to use the app is the same as the people refusing to use wireless remotes its just on a much less intelligent scale? also the most cars offer.. no security functions on their radio based buttons which makes this entire comment irrelevant

Fifth
But instead of a traditional door handle, Tesla opted for an electronic button-centric door mechanism, alongside a physical handle that has to be there in case of an emergency
First its been shown that the button is much easier then the traditional handle which isn't even that bad.. (which requires the windows to lower slightly when the door opens) its not actually required what it is; Is recommended and this is to stop blowing the seals off the car which is a pretty annoying issue in literally every frameless door other then the ones that shatter on closing so this is again not a point against teslas but all frameless doors and something that your complaining about for literally no reason what so ever

Sixth
The same goes for the turn signals, which are softer and lack the mechanical clickiness of rival cars. Making things quieter is no bad thing, but that soft mechanism isn’t nearly as precise.
No this is correct its no where near on the same level its nearly 4 times more precise and knowing how to use indicators is something you should have learnt in your driving test!

Seventh
Other issues I have relate to lack of support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
First the car has basically all these features built in.. yes im not the biggest fan of Tesla's Premium Connectivity package but it is FAR FAR superior to the other 2 and that's not even a question the other issue I have is they are major security flaws and since you are not happy to unlock your car via phone why the hell would we let it track you??

Eighth
The Tesla system is filled with stuff that you don’t need.
One its called fun and 2 its called your android auto and carplay features but lets forget that

Ninth
the soundproofing is just awful
And rated the quietest cars for the price range that they are in on 4 different metrics...?

Tenth
One of Tesla’s major selling points is Autopilot
Full self driving (beta) is the selling point not autopilot.... HELP ME and there's a reason at the moment fsd is not as great as you'd like it to be one you're just whiney and two its in beta this is why it is called FULL SELF DRIVING BETA???????

Eleventh
If your car still can’t drive you from point to point by itself, and needs a human driver, I’d argue that you don’t necessarily need the most cutting edge ADAS technology and features.
And id argue that you don't need a car.. but here you are claiming to do 1000 miles

Twelfth
Tesla has some positive traits — just not enough
So here's the thing you missed them all and gave half of them up via pure ignorance.... literally ignorance there's not a lot more that can be said but here's a few.
-Fastest screen in any vehicle under 150k
-Highest efficiency of the vehicle class mass produced under 150k
-Quietest range of cars under 150k
-Fastest charging in the price range
-Most space per m^2 for the vehicle size
-Voice activation
-Cross car profiles
and the list goes on

Everything you have said here makes us believe you haven't done any driving and your credibility seems to have gone down significantly amongst vehicle owners that actually have on here

 

[SAIEver]

They'll never be Level 4, much less, level 5 autonomous vehicles. They would need to include much better hardware in the cars to "see" the distance between objects in the environment and the cars themselves. But Tesla uses cameras, and maybe a little bit of radar (but they're taking those out to save manufacturing costs,) which is not enough gear to appropriately create an autonomous vehicle. You need LiDAR, which uses lasers to measure objects in the environment. Teslas are Level 2 autonomous vehicles. They're NOT self-driving, they're marketed badly. The "autopilot" is vehicle-assisted enhanced safety while driving.

If you're curious about a Level 4 autonomous vehicle, there's a whole fleet of them that drive themselves around Colorado's School of Mines. They're able to drive themselves, safely, on preprogrammed routes around the campus without human interaction.

Here's what those look like (imagine a toaster on wheels,) https://www.mines.edu/rover/

Just like you would need LiDAR sensors right?... No you don't have built in lidar sensors but you still drive that must mean you dont measure objects in the environment correctly this means you cant drive or anyone else without lidar cant drive right?

 

[anscarlett]

1000 miles? Is that it? Nowhere near enough to base a decision on that excludes the brand completely.

 

[TBoned78]

I think Tesla did something that needed to be done.
It's forced all the big players to step up.

I would be interested in a similar opinion on the Audi, BMW, VW, Volvo, Kia, Nissan, Toyata approach.. are they all making smart mistakes or are they building on what works and just making it electric which really is what we all want right ? Because they all have innovative ideas on some of the non engine things over the years..

 

[Pete Mitchell]

I've had a Model 3 since 2018 and I've not had any problems with it. In fact, Tesla replaced lots of stuff for free like the updated multimedia system board and rear camera harness as part of a recall with its mobile service. You wouldn't get that unless you're an actual owner. Updates over the air and not having to go into a dealer for repairs. They come to you. You can't beat the mobile service.

What a luddite. I love the proximity lock. I never have to think about it. I just walk up to the car and get in. If you really want to bother locking and unlocking your car, I can through the app but why? The only one that I'd really change is the frunk. There should be a way to open it without opening the app but I get it, safety.

And yeah, no binnacle is a cost cutting measure. Buy the Model S if you want a binnacle. Oh right, probably can't afford it anyway.

Why is Tom's guide reviewing cars? This person is clearly not a car reviewer. They seem to have a very limited experience with cars. Mostly low-end models. Tesla's are not unique in having rimless windows. Most luxury and convertible vehicles have them like Audi Q8, Audi TT, Mercedes-Benz CLA, Porsche 996 and more. Even some more pedestrian cars like the Volkswagen CC, Mini Cooper, Subaru WRX. Nothing new or overengineered. It's just an aesthetic choice. It's supposed to be luxurious.

Clearly, convenience and "luxury" features are not something this nerd is ever going to be interested in. Sounds like someone is bitter that they're poor and is waiting for the low-end 2024 Tesla model. Well, more likely 2025 given Elon's track record. Or 2026 because Twitter is tanking Elon's game. Give it time, young one. The cost will come down. Nevermind, you'll just have to be very, very patient. Elon is in a death spiral.

Found the stan...

 

[Pete Mitchell]

Clearly you never drove a Model 3 Performance and felt what 0-60 in 3 seconds feels like. Especially considering there isn’t another car on the road that can do the same that is cheaper than TWO Model 3 performances. Once you test that, you’ll revisit this article and probably delete it. But then again you drive a Leaf so that explains everything.

Yep, 'cause quality, comfort, etc., don't matter as long as you can get to 60 in 3 seconds. Moron.

 

[Pete Mitchell]

Just like you would need LiDAR sensors right?... No you don't have built in lidar sensors but you still drive that must mean you dont measure objects in the environment correctly this means you cant drive or anyone else without lidar cant drive right?

Not LiDAR, but Tesla is "quietly" moving back to using radar after claiming they could do it all with cameras.