{"id":29464,"date":"2021-09-08T11:17:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T18:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=29464"},"modified":"2021-09-09T11:57:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T18:57:37","slug":"oh-great-now-im-writing-commercials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=29464","title":{"rendered":"Oh Great, Now I’m Writing Commercials"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw this thread on Twitter<\/a><\/strong> yesterday and read it with interest. In it, a new Tesla Y owner describes quality issues with his just-delivered car: crooked doors and panels, a rear bumper that droops on one side, a filthy interior, paint underspray on the doors.<\/p>\n

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His rationalization for accepting a brand new car with such gross defects?<\/p>\n

QC issues aside, most of them are fixable and\/or ultimately not a big deal. I\u2019ve seen a lot of Model Y that are A LOT worse. Rejecting meant another several weeks before a car replacement arrived and rolling the dice with the likelihood the second car was even worse.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen a lot of quality\/fit & finish\/post-purchase factory support complaints about Tesla products on Twitter and Facebook. The only Teslas I’ve had an opportunity to examine closely (I’ve never ridden in one but a friend offered to let me drive her Model S and I regret not taking her up on it) seemed pretty nice to me, but next time I get a chance to look one over I’ll pay more attention to the alignment of doors and hatches.<\/p>\n

Used to be, crooked doors, hoods, trunk lids, and chrome strips were standard equipment on American cars. Standard and expected — crap quality was a given. New car buyers felt themselves lucky if they managed to buy one that wasn’t built on a Monday or Friday, because shit wasn’t quite<\/em> as crooked. But that was 40 to 50 years ago. After Toyota and Datsun shook things up, the quality of American cars improved. And by improved, I mean vastly.<\/p>\n

Donna and I drove VWs and Toyotas (and a beloved Datsun 280Z) from the 1960s into the 1990s, at which point we started buying and driving American: Chevys, Fords, Lincolns, GMCs, all of which have been very good. We plan to buy one more, probably our last \u2014 and for that reason it has to be really good.<\/p>\n