[Canada] undecided between Tesla M3 SR+ and Kona Electric Preferred

Discussion in 'Model 3' started by jedi2b, May 8, 2019.

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  1. jedi2b

    jedi2b New Member

    Other than the product related questions and considerations, I have two other considerations, that are, unfortunately, more difficult to measure, but still critical, when it comes to make a 50k$ decision, they pertain to service and support and company health.
    I'm planing to keep this car for 10 years, so in the meantime I will need:
    -good warranty and good service availability
    -that the company selling the cars stays alive


    -On the Hyundai side, other than the fact that EV's are a newish thing for them, I have little doubt that their superb warranty coverage will be fine. I mean, some people buy Hyundai and KIA just because of the warranty and service. There are dealerships everywhere and warranty lasts 8 years for the battery.
    One exception is the following: I asked the dealership what is the battery warranty limitations related to battery degradation. As a response, after 2 weeks of asking, I got that there's no real policy regarding how to determine if a battery is too degraded. No 70% threshold like other vendors, like Tesla. Right now is based on "common sense" whatever that means. Not very reassuring.

    -On the Tesla side,
    --there are many horror stories related to service waiting times, as long as 6 months. I can't find many Canadian sources, so I don't know if that applies to us north of the border or not.
    --Apparently Tesla won't allow any corner garage to buy Tesla parts. which makes the previous point more relevant.
    --If news outlets in Wall Street have to be believed, Tesla seems to be always a couple of months away from bankruptcy.

    If you have any extra info regarding the previous points, please share!
     
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  3. brulaz

    brulaz Active Member

    Where Tesla shines is OTA software updates to add new features or fix issues.
    No other manufacturer comes close. Hyundai has problems just updating their navigation maps according to the folks here.

    It's a whole new way of doing business, so I imagine there will be glitches as they work things out.

    As for bankruptcy, they recently raised a bunch of cash without any problems.
    So I think they're good for a few more years anyway.
     
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  4. Jimmy Truong

    Jimmy Truong Member

    Ask yourself this: do I want a BMW or Toyota Camry?



    JT
     
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  5. jedi2b

    jedi2b New Member

    thanks for the thinking points..

    Doing some extra research, I discovered which appears to be a main pain point in the USA: repair times

    there seems to be 4 facets to the problem, at least in the USA:
    1-there are very few body repair shops accredited by Tesla, because of the aluminium body and the battery safety issues
    2-if a body repair shop is available, body repair shops do not have readily access to parts, which causes many months delays
    3-for any other issue than body repairs, the only possibility are the Tesla Service Centres, getting an appointment with them seem to be VERY difficult as they are overflowing with cars to fix
    4-if you do get an appointment with a Tesla Service Centre, apparently they are subject to the same many-months waiting period for the lack of parts

    I can't find many testimonials of these 4 situations happening in Canada, not sure if it is because it doesn't happen here or because we Canadians do not complain as much as our neighbours to the south...

    any insights?
     
  6. brulaz

    brulaz Active Member

    No idea if the Tesla body repair issue is a problem here in Canada. But aluminum body panels are different. Not all body shops can deal with them.
    The battery safety issue applies to all BEVs, so they all may have issues with that.

    Not surprised that there are growing pains with the service centres.
    Rapidly expanding sales with the Model 3, etc. May take a while to get things organized.
    Hopefully you would NOT be one of the unlucky owners to have an accident/problem right off the bat, and in a year or two things might be better?

    Have you visited your local Tesla sales/service centre? I would do so to get a feel for how busy it is, and to ask your questions there.

    I've been told that for Kia (and prolly Hyundai), the dealer has to have 1 or 2 BEV certified technicians before they can service (and sell?) you a BEV.
    And around here the Kia and Hyundai dealers are small and farm out all their body work. Not sure how that will work with their BEVs. Or whether their "trained" technicians are really that good. Would Tesla Techs be any better? No idea ...
     
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  8. jedi2b

    jedi2b New Member

    I actually went to the Tesla Montreal sales centre this Saturday. Very popular.
    Very nice cars, not so nice personnel. People I spoke with had this snarky condescending attitude, as if they were doing me a favour.
    When I asked for test drive availability he chuckled and said that MAYBE I could schedule a test drive for May 28th (in 2 weeks time).
    Catch me totally off guard.

    I'm not so worried about quality or malfunction of the car, but moreover to have the bad luck of being rear ended and having to wait 6 months to repair a fender bender.
     
  9. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web Well-Known Member Subscriber

    I didn't buy the car to be repaired. After all, it isn't a GM/Ford/FCA/BMW product which of course are only bought to be service center queens.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  10. Evcurious

    Evcurious New Member

    Hi. I’m debating between model 3 RWD and Kia Niro ev. Curious which car did you end up getting?


    Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
     
  11. brulaz

    brulaz Active Member

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  13. Teslakev1

    Teslakev1 New Member

    ModelY will have heat pump and probably eventually the model3 will


    Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
     
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  14. brulaz

    brulaz Active Member

    And apparently now the latest Model 3s are coming out with a heat pump and heated steering wheel, as well as increased range. Looking forward to winter range reports on these.
     
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