Tesla owners tend to really love their cars but, as with any product, not everything is perfect. Tesla owner Andy Blau has listed the seven things he hates most about his Model S over at TheDrive and they’re all things that any prospective Tesla driver should consider before shelling out big bucks one of these cars.
RELATED: Former car industry legend explains why Tesla is in deep trouble
Admittedly, some of Blau’s gripes seem positively petty — his complaint that the Model S has only two cup holders sounds like the rejected plot of a Seinfeld episode. However, some of his complaints seem pretty fair, such as the fact that the Model S doesn’t seem as reliable in cold weather.
“Tesla’s range meter seems really accurate during the summer months,” he writes. “As soon as the mercury drops below 50, the reading becomes almost meaningless. And, the colder it gets the worse the problem. On particularly cold days, my 23 mile commute to the ferry ticks 50 miles off the range meter.”
Things can get even dicier in this regard when you add snow into the mix since “the Model S, with its 443 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels, makes me nervous, traction control and all.”
The most interesting complaint from my perspective is the final one — namely, that it seems the hardware on his Model S isn’t keeping up with its software.
“Over the past 18 months, Tesla has added a slew of new software features that I can’t get because they require new hardware—dual motor, which gives you 4-wheel drive, Auto-Pilot, blind spot monitoring, etc,” he says. “My advice? Don’t buy a Tesla! Lease it.”
It’s one thing to have software updates that aren’t matched by hardware capabilities on smartphones where people tend to buy new ones every two to three years anyway. But a car is a major investment that people are holding onto for 10 years at a time, so having outdated hardware on them is much more of a problem than it is on your iPhone. While Tesla’s ability to upgrade its cars through software updates is incredible, it needs to find ways to provide hardware upgrades as well if owners want them.
Blau’s whole list of Tesla Model S gripes is definitely worth your time — check it out by clicking here.
