For what it's worth, it seems like that's a non-issue in real world driving. I drove it in about ~80 degree weather through lots of hills and drove it pretty hard for the majority of the time in Ludicrous+ mode. The A/C was also blasting and did a great job of keeping the car ice cold inside. No warning messages and no loss of power at any point. It was fast as **** the entire time I think I saw on the readout that I was averaging 670 Wh/Mi, which even then equates to ~54mpg, which is damn impressive if you ask me.

I'm not sure how many Model S drivers take their car to the track and need to run repeated laps in it. I wouldn't do so in an LS/S-Class and certainly wouldn't in a Model S either.

I think for real world normal use, not extreme use case scenarios, Model S is fantastic and would do just fine. I'm sure it would perform flawlessly in the conditions SoCal can throw at it at the very least. Quality seemed far superior on Model S than all the others, as it should since they've been building them for so long now. There were no glaring quality issues like I found on the Model Y.

 

signdetres - any fit/finish issues on the S you tested?

 

Not at all. Even the body panels seemed to lineup really well and had consistent and normal sized gaps. It felt like a real car, which sounds silly but I wouldn't say that about all the others. No creaks or rattles in the interior. No tech/screen glitches (Model X had multiple during my drive with it). Perceived quality was great during my short time with it.

I know that doesn't speak much for long-term durability, but compared to my experiences with Model X/Y, it was in a different world.

 

Great post. Thanks for the info.

 

Poor Quality controls are brand specific or model specific for Tesla

 

It's Model specific for Tesla. The S and 3 seem to have way less issues than X or Y. But I think the Y will get to 3 levels next year but they are definitely having growing pains right now. The 3 is recommended in Consumer Reports as the new ones have much less issues than the first year batch.

In China, the Model 3 quality seems to be even better.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/oilpric...China.amp.html

 

Something similar happen to Honda after they moved factories from Japan over to the USA side...15-20 years ago.

However Honda hasn't gotten better over time only worst...

Its a shame Tesla can't nail the quality controls out of the gate.

That kind of quality won't get you to the Moon & back safely..

Joe Z

 

Color me absolutely unsurprised that the China Model 3 has better quality. Their experience in perfecting production over here was transferred over there in totality. I bet Chinese Tesla workers are also very good at their jobs too.

 

Honda's Acura facility in the US made superb vehicles in the early 2000s, just as good as their early 90s cars. (just one personal experience point speaking, comparing '91 Integra to '02 TL-S).
Although back in 2018 I test drove a new Honda and didn't like the way it felt, ended up buying a used Lexus instead.