Tesla disappointment. Need luxury EV/efficient suggestions.

A

avacado11

Joined
Aug 12, 2015
Messages
794
Location
Central NY
I wanted to trade in Maserati in because I'm bored of it, and I want to get into a EV. I submitted for appraisal on Tesla's website and got nearly 23k offer for the car. Great. I go ahead and reserve a new Model 3 Performance. Lots of back n forth, one rep to another. They assign you a new person for every step of the process. I had a sales rep, delivery rep, trade in rep, I don't even know who's who. Worst part is the reps never pick up when you call them. I have to leave a message and don't get a call back until late evening because their 2 time zones away. Call the main Tesla line and they're no use because they don't have access to your file.

I get to the final steps before applying for a loan and the trade in appraisal drops to 19k. No clue why - clean title no accident, no blemishes, same mileage.

So now I'm out $100 which is no big deal but mainly time wasted for no reason.

I'm looking at CPO Audi e-trons but the local Audi dealers don't carry them. I rather go and see the actual car then deal with any of this online phone stuff. My dad has a BMW i3 and I hate the idea of having 2 of the same cars. I don't think I can own a non-luxury car any more after my Maserati. Normal cars feel cheap, slow, and noisy to me.

I can spend anywhere from $25k-50k, willing to stretch $55k if it's a trim/option worth getting. Of course the cheaper the better. Doesn't have to be a full EV, can be PHEV or ICE as long as its efficient and still nice enough(Porsche 718, Audi TT, Lexus hybrid) preferably used so I don't take the deprecation hit.
 
What do you mean you don't know why the trade in drops to $19k? What did your trade in rep say?

What will CarMax offer you for the car? Maybe sell to CarMax and buy the Tesla.
 
Or sell your car outright instead of trading it in? It sounds like its in good shape and you could take the time to sell it. I think the Audi sounds awesome but I have no personal experience with this.
 
I dealt with this when applying for a job with Tesla. I was on the phone with someone in freemont CA who finally got ahold of someone in Littleton at a dealership that was closed then re-opened but didn't publish their phone number.
 
Nick1994 said:
What do you mean you don't know why the trade in drops to $19k? What did your trade in rep say?

What will CarMax offer you for the car? Maybe sell to CarMax and buy the Tesla.
Click to expand...
+1 on the Carmax idea, then see if Carmax will match or beat them. If not, sell it to Carmax.
 
Nick1994 said:
What do you mean you don't know why the trade in drops to $19k? What did your trade in rep say?

What will CarMax offer you for the car? Maybe sell to CarMax and buy the Tesla.
Click to expand...

No CarMax near me. Tesla originally offered 23k, then dropped to 19k with no reason that was given to me other than "all our trade in offers are final".
 
I owned an e-tron for about a month. I did NOT sufficiently test drive it beforehand with my wife and that was a big mistake. A few criticisms:
- The black interior really wasn't black, it was clearly grey
- The seat materials were not up to snuff for the price. They felt like cheap vinyl with poor bolstering, which I expect was avoidable if I had opted for the extended leather option? I think the one I briefly test drove months prior had that.
- Interior has a funny smell, not sure why, this vehicle was brand new
- Door trim doesn't line up well with the dash and materials where it meets look cheap
- I was not a fan of the scroll wheels on the steering wheel and the black plastic felt cheap
- Interface for managing settings and phones is a bit cumbersome. You have to do a lot of swiping and clicking to do things that are quicker on other systems
- Automatic braking and collision avoidance is a bit intrusive. I had it stop me from pulling into my butcher because it thought I was going to hit a vehicle that was turning into the next driveway up, which then had me stopped partially in the oncoming lane.
- Charging system/app needs some work. You cannot easily set it up to charge off-peak for example and the app often gets out of synch with what is actually taking place with the car, like charging. The one morning I thought it didn't charge because the app said it was at 76%, got in the vehicle and it was fully charged. App didn't update its state of charge until much later in the day. On another day it said it was charging and the next day, it clearly hadn't.

On the other hand:
- The ride is excellent, though you can tell the vehicle is heavy
- Sound deadening is amazing, the unit is coffin quiet inside
- Doors feel solid
- Stereo is very good
- Dash layout is good and gauges easy to read
- Brakes are excellent
- 360 camera is very nice and image quality on all the cameras is extremely good
- HUD works well and displays the current speed limit which is a nice feature
- Navigation is great, and shows in the cluster, this is well executed
- Headlights are amazing

If I were inclined for a do-over (I'm not now) I'd probably have also test driven the Q5 hybrid, which might have been a better fit. If they offered it trimmed out like an SQ5, that would have been even closer to the mark I think.

I may take a tour down this road again once there is a hybrid or electric Grand Cherokee. My 2016 and my 2020 both have markedly nicer interiors than the e-tron, so if you are used to your Maserati, you may find the e-tron to be a let-down in that department.
 
OVERKILL said:
If I were inclined for a do-over (I'm not now) I'd probably have also test driven the Q5 hybrid, which might have been a better fit. If they offered it trimmed out like an SQ5, that would have been even closer to the mark I think.
Click to expand...

I'm considering a Q5 hybrid, X3e, and GLC350e too but they're at the end of my list. Although 20-30 ish miles electric and then hybrid is gonna be a big difference compared to my Ghibli's 13 mpg, I don't think it can match the power my Ghibli has. The Porsche Cayenne e-hybrid puts out about the same power but they're hard to come by
 
If your not as worried about power the
I8 is fun albeit completely unpractical but moderately priced.

The I3 comes in a performance package and is its own form of fun as well And much more reasonably priced if you use your negotiating skills.
 
While not in your price range as new, the Jaguar I-Pace is a ”drivers vehicle” and you might enjoy driving one.

As a general rule, I like Jaguar’s higher end products, as they are engaging to drive.
 
My possibly unpopular opinion: Skip the EVs for now. Wait at least 3 years and every single one of them will be a lot better. Tesla will still dominate but increased competition from stuff like this:
www.caranddriver.com

2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Review, Pricing, and Specs

The all-electric GMC Hummer EV SUV will have a smaller impact on carbon emissions than its infamous gas-powered predecessors, and a big impact on EVs.
www.caranddriver.com www.caranddriver.com
Might force them to improve the little things people gripe about while still loving their Tesla.
 
dareo said:
My possibly unpopular opinion: Skip the EVs for now. Wait at least 3 years and every single one of them will be a lot better. Tesla will still dominate but increased competition from stuff like this:
www.caranddriver.com

2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Review, Pricing, and Specs

The all-electric GMC Hummer EV SUV will have a smaller impact on carbon emissions than its infamous gas-powered predecessors, and a big impact on EVs.
www.caranddriver.com www.caranddriver.com
Might force them to improve the little things people gripe about while still loving their Tesla.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I plan to go PEV, but right now they are still unrefined in some ways that kill it for me.
 
avacado11 said:
I'm considering a Q5 hybrid, X3e, and GLC350e too but they're at the end of my list. Although 20-30 ish miles electric and then hybrid is gonna be a big difference compared to my Ghibli's 13 mpg, I don't think it can match the power my Ghibli has. The Porsche Cayenne e-hybrid puts out about the same power but they're hard to come by
Click to expand...
I drove a Ghibli. It wasn't a very well made car, but it sure was fun! I think you'll miss it, but like the better quality of the vehicles you're looking at. Really though, I think an SQ5 would be the simple move for you in your price range. The hybrid thing? Dude. You're buying a 50K vehicle, lol. Don't compromise on the car just to save a few gallons a week on the fuel.
 
Once they started the leasing Maseratis are all over LA.

The prerelease press on new EV's has all read and ended up the same.

" Going to have" turns out to be undelivered promises in terms of range and charging speed.

The Etron, Jaguar, Taycan, missed their range and charging speed targets substantially we'll see about the polestar and GM offerings.
 
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