Our last couple of Buy/Drive/Burn posts covered two different flavors of compact JapaneseSUVs from the 1990s. Today we branch out and review larger, luxury-oriented SUVs hailing from places other than Japan.
28-Cars-Later Used Teslas are getting very cheap, but buying one can be risky - Ars Technica Teslas are very connected cars, and many of their convenience features are accessed via smartphone apps. But that requires that Tesla's database shows you as the car's owner, and there are plenty of reports online that transferring ownership from Hertz can take time.Unfortunately, this also leaves the car stuck in Chill driving mode (which restricts power, acceleration, and top speed) and places some car settings outside of the new owner's level of access. You also won't be able to use Tesla Superchargers while the car still shows up as belonging to Hertz. Based on forum reports, contacting Tesla directly is the way to resolve this, but it can take several days to process; longer if there's a paperwork mismatch.Once you've transferred ownership to Tesla's satisfaction, it's time to do a software reset on the car to remove the fleet version.So apparently the state maintains title but so does Tesla in a way, and they cripple some features until they feel satisfied in unlocking them to you. How long till they brick it by satellite because, reasons? But yes, rah! rah! BEV! - its not a tool of tyranny at all, honest. Edit: Comment from the Ars forum: Happy MediumArs Tribunus Militum 19y When I got to the section that stated that THE CAR WILL BE FUNCTIONALLY CRIPPLED unless you get Tesla's acceptance of you buying the car, I got incredibly infuriated. How in the hell is this going to work going forwards? Is Tesla literally going to be approving every single resale of its cars from now until the car is totaled? Jeezus, connected is one thing, but having final ownership authority in the hands of the manufacturer and not the seller/purchaser seems horrible. 28's thoughts to Happy Medium.
Tane94Subie has a cult-like devotion to its products, so it can do no wrong by being a late adopter in offering EVs. Mazda has rebranded itself from zoom zoom to affordable near luxury, with success. Toyota is most vulnerable to losing sales from not having EVs. The hybrid early adopters who made Prius their high-visibility flag bearer now have to look to another brand for a distinctive EV to righteously show themselves off.
JrhurrenThe EV haters would keep complaining until prices hit $0, at which point they would proceed to complain some more.
MaccaJudging by the atrocious reliability record and general lemony snicket nature of the ICE Wagoneer and GC, this makes about as much sense as the electrically-challenged Brit marques going EV. Upper trim interiors on the GW & GC are a case of 'nice at 10 paces' (or glammed up press photos). In person there are low-rent plastics throughout at critical touch points (center tunnel, seat & mirror controls on the door panel, for instance) where there is unnerving flex akin to a toy. Adding more screens when the main Uconnect screen is already flaky doesn't bode well.
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