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I don't purchase things or make investments based on CEOs. The history of automaker CEOs is quite ugly. I also use Amazon, and Bezos is also a tremendously evil "tool." Just because a CEO is dumb enough to be loud-stupid in ways that are accessible to the public doesn't make them worse/better in my eyes.
Tesla as a company has great engineers, they've basically built a tremendous drivetrain on an incredible car frame, and they don't care at all about the interior fit and finish. Emphasizing Elon over the engineers that put those cars together is a disservice to the hard work of the people actually doing the work.
Teslas are some of the safest cars on the road. They're an engineers car: all the work is in the parts you can't see. You can hate Elon all you want, but if their safety record continues to be as stellar as it has been, I'll probably buy a Model Y in the next couple of years. Not because I love or hate Elon--he doesn't enter into the equation when I'm thinking about the safety of my family--but because the engineers at Tesla have designed a very safe electric car.
If all you look at are the loudest articles, the most repugnant tweets, have at. I'm looking for a car that, per mile, provides safe transportation. When it comes to electric cars (or any car, really), Tesla has consistently been at the top.
Engineer here. I wouldn't buy a Tesla. They're safe cars (outside of the self driving tech) but their reliability is awful. I'm not in the market for a new car right now but I expect by the time I am, Tesla will likely no longer be the dominant player in the EV market. I appreciate the engineering that went into making them so safe and performant, but every aspect of them that Elon touches is awful, and they've arguably already squandered their headstart in the electric car space.
Makes a lot of sense. I don't think I would put my life in the hands of a company whose culture was built heavily on a mantra of "move fast & break things." That motto gets us really sweet tech, sure, but as soon as it matures to the point that lives depend on it, it's better to have it built by someone who takes making it safe & enduring seriously. And Elon, by many accounts, is a manchild in his fifties who still thinks 420 and fart jokes are funny, and shoves that onto his customers.
I myself am not in the market for any car right now, my bicycle is likely to last me a few more decades and the trains & busses, although a little pricey in my area, are still reliable enough that I can depend on them for my regular needs. Though someone in my family is looking to get an EV in the somewhat nearby future (and solar cells on their roof), so that's something to consider...
Why do you consider them to be unreliable? I ask because I've heard that complaint before, but I can't find any data that backs up their unreliability.
My wife has had a Model 3 for almost four years now, she drives for work (and pleasure) and is at 112K miles, and she hasn't even needed to change the brakes. She's had the air filters replaced once a couple years ago, and that's it. Other than tire rotation/change, it's just been... a car. We don't even think about it, but I know that's just one case, so I'm always interested to read more.
I know they're not going to be the predominant EV going forward, so if there's data on reliability, I would be interested. I'm just less inclined to buy an EV from a company that hasn't been making them as long, but I'm open to changing my opinion for sure.
https://www.topspeed.com/tesla-reliability-and-repair-costs-the-true-story/
First result searching for "Tesla reliability". They're ranked 27th out of 28 automakers by Consumer Reports with an average of 171 mechanical issues per 100 vehicles, many of these issues being impossible to repair without going through Tesla themselves (though this is becoming more common amongst automakers, it's still bad lol).
I'm glad your wife's Tesla has been reliable though. Electric cars by design have the opportunity to be far more reliable due to fewer moving parts and regenerative braking, but unfortunately Tesla are not really living up to that potential.
Hey, thanks. You know how it is: the experience you see drives the the thoughts you have about it. I had looked up reliability with Teslas before, and read they were basically as reliable as most domestic brands, and they were given lower points for things I didn't care about--I don't consider interior fit and finish to be an important quality for a reliable car, for instance.
It's true that she's always had to take it to Tesla, though for her last tire change the local shop was willing to do it. That hyper-privatized car maintenance things cuts both ways. I'll say until about two years ago, she could literally request a tire change (or flat repair) on her car and they would literally drive out and do mobile service on her car, but they stopped doing that like a year ago--still technically "offered" in the app, but now it just says "come until the shop." Which is generally fine.
I like to drive my cars until they're just basically dust. I treat cars like underwear.😁 So I'm still just riding down my corolla, but when I'm sitting there thinking about the brake pad replacements, oil changes, engine problems, catalytic converter, and the price of gas, I do get a little thirsty for my wife's little 3. When I can take a pleasure cruise and she's watching the kids, I almost always take her car.
There's a lot to be said for full EVs, and I understand that she might just have gotten lucky with a good one or whatever, but it's fun as hell to drive. I geek out on the instant acceleration even after all these years. It helps that I have such a slug to compare it to. It's been a really great car for us, but I will say the interior is shoddy. The housing by the door panels falls off, things like that, but the actual car itself has just been really steady for us.
Did I mention she gets to park at the front of the grocery store and get free charging? And that she goes to "the gas station" which is our garage? It's pretty cool, but those aren't Tesla exclusive features. EVs are just really cool.
I'll look more into the reliability issues with Tesla before I make a purchase. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Your experiences are valid and I'm not trying to invalidate them, but I do think a lot of the positives you're talking about come from it just being an electric car, rather than it being a Tesla specifically.
If you are on the market in a few years or so I'd definitely recommend checking out what other brands have to offer, as they've finally caught up to Tesla and even surpassed them in some ways.
I'm sure you would have researched all the options anyway though, as you seem like a smart guy.
Yeahhhhhhhh if everyone bought vehicles based on CEOs/owners of companies, Volkswagen would uh, be rather dead at this point. Or have a very dedicated niche.
And Ford, as well. Henry Ford was not exactly a paragon of virtue.
Sure, but at the same time they aren't shouting from the rooftops that they're idiots and making clowns out of themselves at the same level as Elon has been...
So it's not shitty people you dislike, it's shitty people that don't hide it from you. Suboptimal view.
I didn't say I liked them. What I meant is that they don't have the media presence and influence that someone like Elon has. At the end of the day, like others said, you wouldn't be buying anything if you looked at the track record of every CEO. I can still pick the lesser evil.
Reliability and safety are not the same thing.