Tesla Model S Plaid build quality is trash

Tesla told me take it or leave it… and wait another few months

[Ettoize]

This is straight up unacceptable. Especially for a car that costs 100k+

[jakeorion]

It's great from 10 feet away.

Same thing I said to myself about all the girls I ever dated.

[antonyhamilton]

For people who are adament in defending Tesla for this very common issue, across all of their models: you cannot use the excuse of them being a 'young' company. Also, considering (in the UK), this car is over £100, 000, this is just not acceptable.

[traviethecoyote]

Keep in mind, if you’re dropping around $130k grand for a car, you’d expect the best quality for that price. I love Tesla, but they need to step up their quality control game.

[brianmoore]

Tesla knows they can get away with this, because there are so many people enamored with the brand that they'll just let it go. The Tesla devotion is somewhat cult-like.

[omardecasas]

Me being a Tesla supporter/investor makes me disappointed in Tesla quality. Pretty upsetting since this is a 130k+ car with 2000s quality. Hopefully with the new factories coming online soon the quality and focus can get better. I believe Tesla poor quality comes from the fact that they’re rushing production in their main California factory and losing track of quality control. Shame

[LearningFast]

I would never accept a “new car” like that. That is just deplorable. I would never buy a Tesla based on what I saw in this video.

[roberto-tech]

Wow, I recently picked up my plaid, and I would have refused delivery and sued for my money back if my car had all of those issues. It had none of the issues you highlighted and was darn near perfect. The only issue on mine was the frunk was slightly more panel gap on passenger side than on the driver side. I adjusted that one myself, as I had BMW fix a similar issue on a new E92 M3 and they made it worse in the other direction, so I went and aligned it myself.

Good luck in getting these things resolved.

[LionheartLivin]

Build quality is important, squeaky wheel gets the grease, keep squeakin!!!;)

[fortitudevalance]

I’ve bought a 2015 Skoda Fabia at the end of 2015 I swear on my mother’s life that this Czechia-built VW Polo-based car that has to travel through 4 countries on a train and ending up in the UK was totally and absolutely perfect in every way possible. No panel gaps, no paint blisters, no chips, scratches of scrapes. Totally perfect.

[gtsam]

its unacceptable for you to spend all that money, custom order the exact car you want, and have it arrive in such poor shape. not sure why this video has so many dislikes, as its showcasing an issue that tesla has had since day one thats still not fixed.

[jonathanquinn]

I’m sorry dude! I can tell how angry you are, and you have every right to be. After spending your hard earned money on their product, this should not be the end result.

[srinitaaigaura]

According to Doug, the paint quality is the worst of any new car he has ever reviewed. It was already peeling off the mirror handles. I guess a ceramic coating and PPF is a mandatory thing immediately after purchase.

[GERntleMAN]

I've detailed some Teslas. Gruesome. No reason for cars these days to have a quality "standard" as low as Teslas. And they aren't even that much cheaper anymore. A Plaid vs an etron GT? Hm. Whole different world in quality.

[shark]

Overall we love our new Model S (non Plaid), but in our experience anyone who somehow says the build quality has improved is in total denial. Our car was much worse than this. We found 5 places where there was no paint at all! Tesla needs to hire some laid off engineers from GM and Ford who can show Tesla how to run a body shop. Tesla now has enough $ to hire them instead of continuing to use amateurs. And we found lots of fit and finish issues in the interior too, and then there was the water leak around the windshield that they thankfully fixed correctly on the 3rd try.

Very troubled by the excuses presented here by the Tesla Fanboys and stockholders. We should all be pressing Elon to resolve this and make the company even better, not trying to sweep these issues under the rug.

But what's most troubling is the Tesla employees at the dealers trying to fix these things. They seem to be trained as well as the factory workers in Fremont.

[MrUltraworld]

I'm amazed at the shit Telsa customers tolerate. Take a price comparable model from its competition and the fit and finish is exceptional inside and out. Last year we bought a Mercedes that sold for about $150k and it was spotless. It was washed, waxed and ceramic coated. If I saw these defects on our car, I would have walked out and the sales rep would have lost their job. And lord help you if the car has issues that require a mechanic to fix. A friend of mine with Tesla's has had to get a lawyer involved to get a repair made. Telsa just prints money and no one says a word.

[XennialGuy]

I picked up my Plaid 3 days ago, got lucky as there wasn't too many imperfections but it definitely could have been built better. These issues are very real. The paint booth they use must be in a parking lot or something, the dust in the paint is unacceptable. But I was expecting worse based on what others have experienced. I would say the build quality is one step below McLaren.

[joaorodrigues-dyrm]

Its obviously never going to be a porsche, or any german car for that matter.

Thats what hits the hardest, the quality control must be better. Cars need to roll a little slower of the production line

[jameswillard]

There was a video of an expert in build quality telling Elon that he thinks their build quality is on par with a 90’s Kia. After owning both a 2019 Model 3 Performance and a 2021 Model S Plaid I can comfortably say that statement was being generous quality is that bad

[kennethawesome]

Congrats on your $131K+ EV purchase. Even Elon said overseas Gigafactory got much better build quality than Tesla Fremont Factory