CEO of Tesla and acting President-elect Musk is going on a neo-Nazi binge endorsing far right candidates instead of properly running the companies he’s involved in such as Tesla.
In addition Tesla is considered one of the most unreliable car brands according to: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-placed-bottom-consumer-reports-reliability-rankings/
Moreover Tesla has the highest fatal accident rates of all car brands according to: https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a62919131/tesla-has-highest-fatal-accident-rate-of-all-auto-brands-study/
Also there are privacy implications with using a car that could in theory spy on you: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/massive-trove-of-tesla-files-contains-thousands-of-safety-complaints/
Now that more competent and establish brands are making EVs there’s no reason to buy a Tesla if you want an EV. I’m not here to recommend another brand, I’m just here to tell you that your next EV should be anything other than a Tesla.
I want some recommendations. Something with tactile controls and no subscriptions.
I drive the EV equivalent of this, a 2016 Nissan leaf.
It only cost 6k, 4kish with tax rebates, but it has a max mileage of like 70 miles. Perfect for our needs as a commuter car within the city.
There is a touchscreen, but that’s just for audio since the gps and Pandora features stopped working after 3g cell service was phased out. There are tactile controls for audio as well.
If you’re in the US, wait about a year and you’ll have a bunch of better options from the traditional automakers.
The thing that makes Tesla compelling to me is their charger network, and Ford, GM, etc are adopting the Tesla standard in upcoming models. I think Ford is doing the switch in 2025.
I’m a truck guy, and the F150 lightning looks way, way more compelling than the Cybertruck, because they’re making what I want. A truck that happens to be electric. Ford has been making F-series trucks for over 75 years and has made a pretty refined package in that time. They took that design, put in an electric motor and used the space savings for a frunk.
That’s what I want. The revolution should be in how it’s powered, not in how it operates.
The F150’s design is nothing what it used to be, and it’s a horrible car for road safety. But their branding is undoubtedly very successful, for the US-American market at least. And it’s not like the competition hasn’t been moving in the same direction.
The size isn’t a branding thing. It’s a US legal thing.
Since 2012, the CAFE (fuel economy) standards have been based on vehicle footprint, not classification. It’s why 2011 was the last year model of the S10, Dakota, and Ranger.
As the CAFE standards get stricter and stricter, the auto companies have to make cargo vehicle footprints larger and larger. It’s why when the Ranger was relaunched, it was bigger than the 2010 F150.
It’s also why the small cargo van class of vehicle stopped existing in the last few years. The Transit Connect, Ram ProMaster City, and Nissan NV200 were all just discontinued because they can’t make a cargo van with that footprint that meets the new CAFE regulations.
It’s also why the Maverick has the hard-to-buy hybrid listed as the “standard” model with the traditional engine as the “upgrade.”
Making the vehicles electric will allow them to start making them reasonably-sized again. Right now, the frame of the F150 is really large, and after the Mustang Mach E fiasco, Ford is scared to use a different chassis for the electric truck.
Give it a few generations, and it’ll be perfect. In the meantime, the Lightning is still way better than the Cybertruck at almost everything, better than the Rivian for hauling things, and way cheaper than both.
I’m about to go look at a used Kona tomorrow. So if you please, what is crazy about the bluetooth?
For future I’m looking at Telo and Scout. Obviously can’t yet comment on reliability and privacy concerns but iirc both will have tactile feel.
Considering how badly VAG is doing on EV front I’d worry about the reliability and pricing on any Scout products. I hadn’t heard about Telo though, that looks incredibly interesting of course it’ll fly about as well as a station wagon here in the US but what’s basically an electric kei car is a wicked concept.
BMW i3. Been driving a 2017 one for a few months and am very happy. Winter hits like a brick, though.
I had an i3. The inverter went and BMW wanted 11k (around 75% of resale value) to fix. Even an independent garage couldn’t fix it because BMw need to code the replacement part.
I’ll never buy BMW again.
BMWs always stay near the top of the list of most expensive cars to maintain
Yeah not a single dime he will receive from me. I’m not going to support a Nazi.
Tesla is trash, no QC.
So which manufacturers should we look at? I’m in the market for a second EV right now. And this is my chain of thought.
My considerations are:
- Used cars only, I’m not paying 25% for the privilege of driving the car over the curb for the first time.
- No Chinese cars. They may be a good deal right now, but China is about to go do something stupid, like fight for the South China Sea or un-secede Taiwan. And then who knows what’s going to happen with parts or if your car suddenly won’t drive because it’s a strategic advantage for China to kill as much infrastructure as possible. Besides some of the military installations (especially airbases) I visit already have areas, where Chinese cars aren’t allowed in, if that becomes the entire installations I will have to walk around.
- No Teslas. I don’t trust Musk to not revoke licenses or brick the car, and the QC is nonexistent. Besides I’d have to get one of those “I bought my Tesla before we knew he was an asshat” stickers.
- No Fords, that’s just a rule of thumb for me.
- Range, I’ve had it with those stupid <50kWh battery packs. I’m not asking for much, just being able to go 300km at highway speeds. Going 90km/h and still have to charge every 150km sucks.
- Charging system must be CCS2 capable of 3 phases. Fuck Nissan and their stupid single phase type1/chademo solutions , there’s no chademo chargers anywhere. And charging single phase at 3.3kW, when you’re not at home, gets old fast.
I was looking at Renault Zoe, but after speaking with my local Renault dealer, who has a warranty order in for a simple spare reverse camera, and Renault for 6 months straight now, can’t even tell when they’ll be able to ship it. So Renault is out of the running.
So what else is there? Must be <5 years old, <20k€, and if it could have some warranty left it would be great. Hyundai Kona is starting to look pretty good right now.
Hyundai IONIQ (or the Kia EV# rebadges)?
Alternatively Volvo/Polestar, perhaps? Technically they’re partially Chinese owned - but at least a respectable International marque.
I’m a sucker for the neon-green Abarth 500e, but I’m going to wait a few years to pick one up second hand - as it’s hard to justify buying a Stellaris car new, given how quickly they depreciate here (Australia).
Yeah we know Tesla sucks
Are you actually asking for honest feedback or just upvotes?
If so, buying any used car is better. If you can get by with a 2008 accord, buy that. Better for the environment than any new electric. If you don’t care about the environment and just want an electric for funsies, buy a used (whatever is well rated).
I don’t have any data, but I’m surprised if a new electric is worse than a second hand ICE? What’s your thinking behind that?
Reduce, reuse, recycle. Better to use a car that’s already made then to make a new one.
