Returning my i3 for a refund

[mindmachine]

Update: On July 8, Edmunds reports having a fourth drive unit installed. (Technically fifth since the fourth arrived at the service center broken.)

Hi Stumble,
thanks for the link, I somehow missed Edmunds' reporting on the Tesla to date, great read.
I am indeed worried that R-BMR isn't going to be a happy customer @ Tesla (as well)...

EDMUNDS: "Driving around the past few days with this car has reminded me of how good it is. People often ask me what I think of it, and I tell them this is an awesome car, with a huge caveat: Be prepared for things to go wrong."

PS (and, sorry, off topic): about Tesla: I have a huge amount of 'admiration' (in lack of a better word) for Musk et al. for making E-drive an acceptable alternative to the buyers/lessees in the higher priceregions. Although it is not the car for me due to price, size and economy considerations, they are a great catalyst in the E-drive industry.

Regards, Steven

After reading about the Tesla I would suspect R-BMR will be even more pissed at Tesla than he was at BMW. Three drive unit failures along with numerous other issues, tire wear problems ect... and the list goes on.

Real eye opener read for anyone interested in buying an EV.

 

[jadnashuanh]

While Tesla had some deep pockets for development costs, I think it pales in comparison to the BMW organization...as a result, a few more glitches would seem to be expected. But, being smaller, and focused on essentially one product, they may respond to those glitches quicker. As with anything in life, each choice has its consequences.

 

[mindmachine]

While Tesla had some deep pockets for development costs, I think it pales in comparison to the BMW organization...as a result, a few more glitches would seem to be expected. But, being smaller, and focused on essentially one product, they may respond to those glitches quicker. As with anything in life, each choice has its consequences.

No matter how you put it our return your i3 guy is not patient for any glitches, so his Tesla experience won't be satisfactory if he returned his BMW for the reasons he stated. Buyers remorse on the other hand well have to wait and see if the Tesla satisfies him.

 

[Bunter]

PS (and, sorry, off topic): about Tesla: I have a huge amount of 'admiration' (in lack of a better word) for Musk et al. for making E-drive an acceptable alternative to the buyers/lessees in the higher priceregions. Although it is not the car for me due to price, size and economy considerations, they are a great catalyst in the E-drive industry.

Regards, Steven

True enough but I think that the Tesla solution for America is not necessarily the way forward in general for EVs in other parts of the world. The high capacity, high range solution Tesla (and others) promote fits with the distances between conurbations in the US. For the cramped UK and, to a lesser extent mainland Europe, the high range requirement is much less important.

What I wonder is whether the influence Musk has in the UK is suited to our requirements if he does not appreciate that our range requirements are much lower. I have recently spotted a rapid DC charger installation underway in a Salisbury city centre car park which strikes me as odd. Rapid chargers should be used in places where people do not want to spend time i.e. in motorway service stations. City centre chargers should be level 2 because the city should want to attract people to spend time (and therefore money) in town. The last thing Salisbury wants is to attract a vehicle into the city centre adding to the congestion, just to get a rapid charge. Salisbury could have fitted 5? or so double headed level 2 chargers for the cost of one rapid DC charger. I've no evidence but this example could be a result of the Musk vision of high range EVs and the rapid charge network those vehicles need. But they need to be put in the right places please.

Bill

 

[VintageMark]

Hi Bill,

I agree and disagree with some of your points... I think Musk more than anyone has a good understanding of the 'EV' market... in particular Tesla have made it clear they are placing Superchargers in 'en route' locations... they are also clear that for 90% of owners most charging will be 'destination' charging (i.e. home most of the time)...

Making the link between some less than clever thinking about placement of a rapid charger in Salisbury and Tesla/Musk is a bit of stretch...

Also whilst you are completely correct about most driving being short distances, not all driving is, so we should be given options and pick the car that suits you.

We have both the i3 and Model S, the i3 is perfect for my wife's daily commute, the Model S more than covers most of my driving, but also allows us to make much longer trips to visit family and travel without the need to stop and charge, that's a choice, and Musk is not wrong to allow us that choice.

Mark.

 

[Bunter]

Hi Bill,

Making the link between some less than clever thinking about placement of a rapid charger in Salisbury and Tesla/Musk is a bit of stretch...

Mark.

Aye you're right.

http://www.connectingwiltshire.co.uk/news-events/electric-vehicle-charge-points-wiltshire/

"They will be positioned close to major routes for mid-journey top ups".

Lets's hope the others aren't positioned like the one going in at Salisbury.

Bill

 

[buickanddeere]

It would be interesting to have a shrink read the entire post and profile the person unhappy with his BMWi3. The early remark about "those kind of people with grease under the fingernails" raises a few flags on it's own.
A practical hands on, educated tech person often solves problems that eludes engineers.

 

[tiburonh]

A few responses have been surprising. The people out there who have a "it's not a big deal" attitude really shocked me. Either they have a really laid back personality where nothing bothers them no matter how much something disrupts their life, money to burn or it's secretly people from BMW trying to do damage control to this post. For those of you think BMW wouldn't secretly contribute to this post posing as an i3 owner, please don't be naive. Companies do this all the time to put out fires.
I don't have money to burn or an unlimited amount of time to keep taking the car back to the dealer for service. If people out there like that exist, I'll trade lives with you.
For the people who think these issues are "no big deal", we'll have to agree to disagree.

I am raising three teenagers, been married to the same woman for 25years, have livestock, grow crops,work in the nuclear industry, have other stuff besides grease under my nails and let the government take more than half my wages in taxes. A vehicle flashing some dash lamps isn't going to raise my blood pressure.

Well said!

 

[cwerdna]

Read the Edmunds long-term report on their Model S. Three drive units and a battery pack in a year.

http://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/2013/long-term-road-test/

Update: On July 8, Edmunds reports having a fourth drive unit installed. (Technically fifth since the fourth arrived at the service center broken.)

They unfortunately sold it. http://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/2013/long-term-road-test/wrap-up.html under Maintenance & Repairs is a compilation of what they had done within 17 months and about 30K miles they their car.

http://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/2013/long-term-road-test/2013-tesla-model-s-it-sells-itself.html is about the sale.

I really wanted them to keep it for longer to see how it holds up (and added that comment there when they were contemplating selling).

 

[Jetfuel]

First month with my i3 and I love it! No problems that with a bit of thought couldn't be over come. Some driver training necessary. It's not like you can treat a regular car like a horse and get the same results. Same with the i3. Some people still ride horses some people will alway drive a gas car, some people will learn new things and move forward. BTW I drove 600km last weekend no major issues. Awesome Rex version.