I’m looking at buying a Model Y. What annoys you about your Tesla?

Numerous Tesla owners have chipped in to respond to a potential new customer of the Californian brand to answer the question: What annoyed you about your Tesla?

It’s an interesting question to ask, particularly since there is a certain amount of “Tesla fandom” that some see as a blindness to the famed brand’s flaws.

But flaws there are, as the 150 or so comments made in response to the question tell.

“I’m looking at buying a Model Y and I’m booked I’m for a test drive in a few weeks,” said the potential customer in the Tesla Owners Australia Facebook group.

“I’m sure I’ll love it. I’m not worried about range anxiety or the normal crap people carry on about, I’m just wanting the upgrade from my PHEV.

What I really want to know is what really annoyed you about Tesla cars afterwards that you didn’t realise before you bought it. Just trying to make sure there isn’t a con I can’t live with,” he said.

The answers were varied, ranging from software updates and Autopilot to window wipers and blind spots.

Blind spots, automatic window wipers, no heads-up

“The only thing I’m annoyed about is the rear view mirror and blind spots. And the random windscreen wipers,” said another Tesla owner. “Worst windscreen wipers of any car I have ever owned,” another agreed.

“100% the auto wipers. 2 drops of rain. MAX SPEED MUST CLEAN WINDSHIELD! I personally turned off the auto function on my wipers and manually change things as needed,” said another.

“The auto wipers, 2 drops of water and the wipers are on full, pissing down rain and they’re like nah mate you don’t need wipers,” laughed another.

(Note: I often override this by pressing the button at the end of the left hand stalk to activate the window wipers. After that, they seem to change speed automatically as appropriate.)

Tesla has also recently added a “blind spot camera” option to its cars, but the placement for both the left and right blind spot display is in the same place on the dash screen. Compared to say, the digital mirrors of the Audi e-Tron S, which are on the left and right of the car, Tesla’s choice of blind spot camera placement can be confusing until you’re used to it.

“Oh and when it’s raining, the reverse camera becomes difficult to see, making reversing/parking hard and sometimes the side cameras become obstructed. But that’s very rare and 9/10 not an issue,” she added.

“No heads up display,” said another owner.

“Yes, no instrument cluster is something I think I’d find the hardest to get used to. I really thought a projected heads up on windscreen would be something Tesla would do,” said the original poster.

(There are several third-party heads up displays. If anyone considers this add-on, there are many Youtube videos explaining how this can be done.)

Tesla Autopilot

There were also discussions about Tesla’s Autopilot, which includes adaptive cruise control and automatic lane-steering, as well as emergency braking.

“We are pretty happy but don’t trust the autopilot – something about it deciding to brake fairly rapidly in the right lane of a highway going at 110 in the pouring rain put us off a bit,” said another owner. “So, we will not be using it in less than perfect conditions for the foreseeable future.”

“In my experience, if it’s not confident about what it can see in heavy rain then I probably can’t see anything with my eyes either. And I’m probably going to be doing 50 k’s an hour on the highway,” responded another Tesla owner.

Other were not keen on Autopilot’s behaviour on corners.

“Autopilot is awesome, it holds the middle of the lane rock solid. What are you talking about?” said another.

“That’s the issue, it doesn’t straighten out corners, and constantly adjusts the wheel to stay right in centre of lane. That adds extra wear to tyres,” came a reply.

“Actually one thing that annoys me is on autopilot it takes too long and goes too slow once car in front takes off and everyone takes that opportunity to jump into my lane in front of me. Wish it was quicker from take off,” said a fourth.

This Tesla owner also finds the car’s tendency to ride near the centre of the road on corners very disconcerting – as if the car thinks it is still in a left-hand drive country and is erring on the side of caution, but in error.

Over-the-air updates, and no 360 degrees camera

For some, not having a birds-eye view camera display – such as on the Hyundai Ioniq 5 – on a car with eight cameras is a disappointment.

“For me… it’s not having a 360 degree birds eye view of the car for obstructions when parking. I’ve got the Model Y, its a big car, so parking it is taking some getting used to. My old 6 year old Nissan had this feature, it’s about the only thing I miss… but boy do I miss it.”

“Constant software updates. It’ll break something that was working perfectly and then fixes another. People like the software update like “new car feeling” but whatever. My boot was working and now it’s temperamental while I wait for the next software update to fix it,” said another.

(Note: owners can set the car to receive updates as soon as they become available (“Advanced”), or to “Standard”, which ensures updates only occur after it has been manually accepted by the car’s owner.)

Mostly, the responses included how much they love the vehicle, however. You can read the rest of the thread here.

“Not getting full PPF was my only annoyance. The car is awesome,” said another, referring to the wrap that some owners pay for to protect the car’s paint (and in some cases, change the car to another colour!)

Bridie Schmidt

Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.