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Consumer Reports: Tesla's Model X Is 'Fast and Flawed' (marketwatch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MarketWatch: Tesla Motors Inc. was dealt a blow earlier this week as Consumer Reports magazine called the Model X, its much-awaited and much-feted SUV, a "flawed" vehicle. Beyond a "brag-worthy magic, the all-wheel drive Model X 90D largely disappoints," the magazine said, citing rear doors prone to pausing and stopping, second-row seats that can't be folded, and limiting cargo capacity. Even its panoramic, helicopter-like windshield won cranky-sounding disapproval from Consumer Reports: It's not tinted enough to offset the brightness of a sunny day, it said. Overall "the ride is too firm and choppy for a $110,000 car," Consumer Reports said. Earlier this year, Consumer Reports released its 2016 Car Reliability Survey and found that, while the Tesla Model S has become more reliable, the Tesla Model X has proved to be unreliable overall.
I know nerds obsess over them, but Tesla builds shitty cars. Trim falling off, panel gap issues... as someone who purchases cars around $100k, these are just unacceptable. The Model S is fast but handles like a pig. It's not fun to drive unless you like stop light racing teens. Nor are they luxurious compared to a similarly priced Merc or Audi...
I'm not surprised, building cars is very, very difficult, a new entrant is bound to make really crappy cars for a long time while they figure their manufacturing line out.
That's actually fine for their original luxury market, there's a lot of wealthy people who are quite happy to pay for a fully electric car from an upstart manufacturer, even if it is unreliable.
The problem is they're trying to move into the general consumer market where it's not enough to be fully electric and cool, you also need to be extremely reliable. That's a much more difficult task.
I stole this Sig
Then they poached too many EEs and Computer Engineers and from Silicon Valley and not enough Mechanical engineers from Toyota, Audi, BMW, et al.
You can nitpick his language, but he has a point - Consumer Reports "reliability" ratings blow. They count every problem equally - a power window going on the fritz has the same weight as the transmission falling out the bottom. Add to this that they do not consider the cost of the repair - a Chevy might have an alternator that is less reliable than a Honda, but also costs half as much to replace. Nowhere is that reflected in the rankings. When I'm buying a car I want to know what the total cost of ownership is, how likely it is to leave me stranded, and how much it will cost me to fix in the event that it breaks down - it does not answer any of those questions.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
You think that's bad, take a look at the even more exclusive sports and super cars. Ferraris with plastics that melt and become sticky after a few years, spontanious combustion, McLarens with door sensors that only work half the time, Lotuses with giant panel gaps. For a lot of these cars price is not proportional to build quality or reliability. You're paying for an experience or an image. Being able to hear the engine note of a flat plane crank V8 is well worth the cost of entry for many people, for others it's entry in to the club of ownership. Having to take the car to the garage every third drive is just part of the supercar ownership experience. Many of these cars are so mechanically high strung that they require absolutely insane maintenance schedules anyway. It's not such a huge deal to replace a few interior parts or electronic doodads when you have to take it in for a whole goddamn engine out regular major service.
Many of these problems have lessened in recent years, the build quality of these cars in the 70's through the 90's was absolutely laughable. I'm not saying its acceptable, just that is how it is. Even the Viper's domestic competitor, the Corvette has had similar issues, even in recent years, see C7 Z06 heat soak issues.
Regular doors work just as well, or even sliding ones. They're cheaper, simpler and more reliable. It should be a no brainer. Of course that assumes the gull wing doors were added to solve a practical problem. The reality is they were probably added to solve a marketing problem - a justification to jack the price up and free press.