Posted on 12/15/2015 10:12:43 AM PST by all the best
Tesla has no more business being in business than Yugo.
Which isn’t anymore.
So why is Tesla?
Because political correctness, crony capitalism – and a hallucinatory desire to believe in a mirage; to refuse to admit that what you think you see in the distance isn’t actually there; that your mind isn’t playing tricks on you.
But then, the Yugo was just a bad car.
The Tesla is a bad electric car – and the electric part effaces the bad part. Electric cars can do no wrong – to an extent that is quite literally unbelievable. Unless you’ve seen it – and then you will believe.Weibull graph
I’m exaggerating?
Ok, how’s this:
An extremely embarrassing story broke the other day that two-thirds of Tesla drivetrains – their electric motors, specifically – are destined to require replacement before the cars reach 60,000 miles. This according to an independently commissioned Weibull Reliability Engineering Resources analysis of actual Tesla failure rates and customer reported problems to date (see here).
Two-thirds.
Before 60,000 miles roll by.
Let it roll around in your mouth for a little bit.
How’s it taste?
Lemony, perhaps?Tesla lemons pic
It is inconceivable that any normal car company could survive such a revelation. The likely – the near-inevitable – failure of the car’s very heart, the thing that makes it go? If a third of new Chevrolets needed a new engine before 60,000 miles elapsed, Chevrolet would not be selling cars at all.
But two-thirds of them?
People would be rioting.
And the government would be ululating the regulatory equivalent of allah akbar. Yet the government is silent. No outraged congress cretins are holding press conferences, demanding hearings.
Solely and only because these Teslas are a protected class of car, the affirmative action hires of the automotive world.
I would love to be able to lease one with a full Warranty on it.
Pretty sweet cars when working right.
My brother worked at a Chrysler Plymouth dealer that briefly sold Yugos. He told me that most of the time they had to be pushed off the car carrier when they were delivered and that the engine ran so rough that the bolt that held the distributor would loosen up changing the timing as you drove eventually causing the engine to die and leave you on the side of the road. The mechanics got to where they had to tack weld the bolt so it wouldn’t loosen up. What junk!
I wonder what all of this high tech will eventually do to the used car market.
When these gadgets that are required to make the auto run break on a car that’s eight, nine, ten years old it will cost a fortune to fix and hard to even find the parts let alone figuring out what is wrong.
Cars are becoming disposable junk like everything from China is.
The electric door entry system on my 2010 Mazda 6 stopped working recently, to trouble shoot it i might as well be troubleshooting the Space Shuttle and there is NO WAY i’m paying Mazda 500 bucks to fix it.
Oh yeah, and of course the Caddy V8-6-4
What the heck, if it runs.....
The Consumer Report Survey also stated that 97% of the owners would purchase again - that’s amazingly high.
They also have extended the drivetrain warranty to 8 years / unlimited miles.
As they continue to develop their battery technology and new factory, the costs will go down and range will go up.
My bet is that they will continue to grow and gain market share!
Here is a good article link in Fortune with more details on customer viewpoint... http://for.tn/1QTpmsf
While the 8-6-4 was a real disaster, it was pioneering, and GM did (eventually) get it right. Several of their vehicles have cylinder deactivation now, and it pretty much works.
2.9 secs?
You should be able to get enough ‘match races’ or pinkslips, to easily cover the cost of a new powertrain.
Thanks, Mr. Tom, for doing the job that ‘all the best’ wouldn’t do. Because it takes a few minutes to preview and edit.
Same here. blew the valves on it twice. The second time, I was coasting downhill. Crappy car. Fun to drive, but a crappy car.
Was that the aluminum block engine? Guy had one in college, and it would barely haul 5 guys the 3 miles or so to McDs.
Ding! Ding! We have a winner! The Tesla is at least a third vehicle, and usually some higher number in the stable of cars owned by the wealthy who can afford them. After showing them off for a while, owners avoid them when it's too hot, too cold, or when the journey is too long. By the time 60,000 miles comes around, owners have the next updated model or move on to the resurrected Fisker or whatever is the new trend.
I am surprised it does not snap a drive train or spin the tires off the rims at that torque.
I would love to see what a powerful engine could do if the acceleration was made ‘non-slip’ the way brakes are.
Is that implemented in any drives?
The Oldsmobile Diesel and the Cadillac 8/6/4 also spring to mind...
My sister would pay me 50 cents a day to add 2 quarts of oil to her Vega so she could drive the 8 mile round trip to school, work and home. It used almost as much moto oil as gas.
It was worse than an aluminum engine block, it had aluminum cylinders that wore out after about 40k miles.
Actually, the reason nobody is upset is because everybody who owns a Tesla has enough money to spend over $100K on a car that they never drive. When the thing breaks down, they just drive another of their very nice cars. No big deal.
A woman who works in my building drives hers to work every day. She usually parks on the same level I do and I either see the car or hear the high-pitched, annoying whining motor coming from far away.
There’s a couple of Tesla “fan boys” here at FR. Wish I could remember their name, but would almost pay money to here their response to this debacle.
The stock price sure is doing well considering this revelation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.