Tesla owners

[Moorfellduck]

I would never buy a Tesla now - literally over my dead body. I think Musk is dangerous and delusional and don't want to be associated with him in any way. I've got a few friends that have Tesla's and I know that they feel a bit conflicted. I guess they are kind of stuck with them for now.

If you've got one do you feel bad driving it and feel that people might be judging you now or do you dissociate the brand from Musk himself? I not a journo, just interest given how popular they are and a bit 🤔that people think it's okay to buy one now given they can make a choice that isn't contributing to Musks wealth and power.

Quite. And in the UK reform have overtaken the conservatives in the polls with a 5th of the population now wanting to vote for a party whose leader was described as ‘a great guy’ by Trump and who shared a platform with a Nazi saluting Bannon at CPAC. We are not isolated from this and the consequences for Europe if the US capitulates to Putin will be huge.

Judge? Suggest?
Really don't care.
When I decide to buy another car IF the best option was a Tesla I would buy another one. Its unlikely as there are other cars that will probably fit my needs more now but my choice will not be based on the politics or personality of the owner of the company that makes it.
Our reasons for buying a Tesla had nothing to do with the company being owned by Musk and my reasons for not buying another one will be the same

Nope that man will not get a penny of my money, ever. Even before his recent shenanigans I wouldn't give him anything when he showed who he was with his exploits at X and the way he treated people.

Completely up to those who do choose to buy but I think Tesla shareholders and the board are going to be rather upset when the inevitable slump comes.

He's a dreadful man and if he thinks it won't affect his sales and associated brands then he's as mad as he appears to be.

We had Tesla shares too at one point, sold them a couple of years ago though but did make a few hundred £
DH did consider buying more now they have dropped but we don't think that they will come up quickly enough to make any money in the short term

This thread has highlighted the political/geopolitical problems of our modern world. On the one hand you have posters who wouldn't touch Tesla with a barge pole nowadays, even if they might have done in the past.
The other side of that coin are the people who cannot see how their choices can impact the world around them.
It is just another form of populism, and when challenged, people become even more entrenched in their view, in the same way Reform voters/supporters do and Brexiteers did and still do

Whether we like it or not, Musk has a hold over the US now, and between the pair of them they are trying directly to influence other countries, obviously how Ukraine and Russia come to a peace deal, but also in Germany, and now Spain they are openly supporting far right and right wing parities. They are talking down the Uk like it is in some kind of danger because we happen to not have a right wing government.
They do seemingly silly things like change the name of the Gulf of Mexico and but then more worryingly deciding to remove AP from press conferences because they won't print this new name, so distorting the news that comes out by preventing the press they don't like from hearing them.

If people don't buy Teslas, the share price will tank, with the result that Musk loses money and more importantly influence and power. That imo is a good thing to do, especially when the choice of EVs is so much more today than it was 10 years ago, unless of course you happen to agree with what he and Trump are spouting.
Edited to correct a typo

Walt Disney was a nazi. Epcot is all about the 'world of tomorrow' and he wasn't just thinking of monorails. Doesn't stop people watching Disney+

Well it does because no one was watching Disney plus when Walt Disney was about. It be quicker to say I don't care he's a Nazi because others have been in the past. Do you not think if the Disney CEO was a nazi some people would boycott & he might lose his job?
I don't understand the argument of comparing today to the past.

@Catsandcheese I think it explains some of the apathy here politically.

& the whole double down on your opinions even if they are wrong because it's worse to be wrong. Very Trump!

I don't have one, but my friends have and I completely understand why. It's such a good car. The full self driving is incredible. It's insanely better than other cars. It is really driving itself. This is in the US where everyone drives for hours and hours and it's exhausting, but we can do road trips again without getting wiped out - the supercharger network is really well thought out so there's always somewhere good to stop, just when you need to and you can get out and walk about and get a decent coffee or meal too usually.

And with the full self driving subscription and so on, they are expensive cars, so often owned by people who are going to get the tax breaks and so on from that administration. They will be insulated from a lot of the depredations wrought.

For this reason, I really think it's unlikely that people will give them up. I think the product is sufficiently better that the appalling behaviour of the owner of Tesla on the news won't really override the day to day experience of the owner of a Tesla, in their own real life. I'm not saying that's good, I'm just saying that's human.

Agree with this ^

unfortunately it’s true

And for those who don’t think that their small action will matter,
it does - it’s called the “butterfly effect” .

Your point of view is based on the assumption that any old EV can replace a Tesla which skews your judgement.

Tesla’s tech, reliability and safety (at the moment) is the best on the market, there’s no way I would swap it for any other brand.

Many Tesla owners on this thread have already commented how much they love the car but you choose to ignore it because it doesn’t align with your point of views.

Until someone comes with a better car technology, people will carry on buying Teslas regardless.

I do agree that Musk’s behaviour is definitely affecting the brand, but he has been like this for the last 2 years. It’s nothing new. And I do agree with the fact that he needs to stick with working in tech where he is good at and leave politics for the politicians.

Before we bought ours we leased one for 6 months, I was expecting not to like it - I only did it to shut DH up.
When we decided to buy we test drove most other similar EV's but nothing was as good as far as we were concerned. The charging network is so much better than the others as well, plug and go. No downloading multiple apps, putting card details in, hopeing they work etc etc etc.
There is a reason they are so popular, like Amazon, they just work

My view is not skewed by replacing Teslas by any old Ev's, that is complete nonsense. There are plenty of options today that you can buy that are not Teslas https://www.whatcar.com/best/electric-cars/n17000
There is one Tesla in this list but plenty of others, we have been looking you see, so I am aware of the alternatives.

I have friends with a Tesla. They got it for eco reasons. They are vegetarian etc. I wouldn’t think of judging them. They’ve had it about 5 years anyway. It’s like a spaceship inside and they can look at the interior of the car on the phone when it’s been parked somewhere.

That all sounds reasonable, assuming they wouldn't buy another one when it needs replacing.

I wouldn't buy one. Don't use X either.

None of these features will be hard to find in any car produced in the last 5 years. My second hand Citroen has them phev not ev though).

The most important feature to look for in an EV you want to buy not lease is battery warranty/replacement cost.

Your second hand Citroen does not reverse itself out of its parking space and deliver you to the parking barrier while you take your coat off, don't lie.You can make your point without silly lies.

I think the thing you get with Tesla is that they (ours at least, which is an X) give you sort of a luxury car experience in an electric, and the PP who said that the charging infrastructure is superior is right. We need a biggish car - 3 kids, 2 dogs. Since I'm committed to getting rid of it, I've been looking around at the options and none of them are as nice or will be as easy to charge, which I'm willing to suck up, but wish I didn't have to.

One of the problems in owning a Tesla is that there is someone who goes around my area putting stickers on them. They probably feel good about doing so - I wonder if they know that it counts as vandalism.

We too have been looking at EVs to replace an existing one as we enjoyed what we have, however range is a huge factor in where we go next. Currently we can’t go more than 1.5h without charging and that is problematic with two small DC.

Within that list there really isn’t a car that is affordable for us, big enough for our family with the amount of stuff we need to put in the boot and their car seats especially when going to the supermarket and one with big enough range. When weighing up the EVs (albeit a good 6m ago) Tesla was where we landed. EVs in general have gone up in price since we leased our current one years ago so it may be that we go back to petrol anyway, which we didn’t really want to do.

Wouldn't buy a tesla now, since yesterday? Why what's been said new? Anything or just don't like him? Sorry I haven't read the news as its normally full of bs. (I wouldn't buy a tesla whoever owned the company)

I wonder how people driving BMWs and Mercedes felt in 1940 when BMW engines were powering the Luftwaffe bombers that rained down weath and destruction on them ? Must ask some when I remember.

Luckily the world has changed and people have much better understanding now. Driving BMW and Mercedes then was as bad as Tesla now. I'd imagine at that time only a very tiny proportion of population had cars and choice was much more limited. This is still not an excuse. And there is no excuse for Tesla today.

Anecdotally - there were a lot of Tesla in London in the last several years. This weekend we were out for long walks in Central and SW Lon and I saw precisely two of them.

@SerendipityJane there actually was a shunning of German brands in war time UK. Not universally, but yes there was some judgement on some brands.