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It starts with a Reddit post. Just a guy on vacation in Costa Rica, riding in Chinese electric Ubers, and coming to grips with a hard truth: his Tesla might not be all it was cracked up to be.
The kind of realization that doesn’t come from marketing videos but from miles of broken pavement and first-hand experience. u/Rude-Future-7967 went to Reddit to talk about it:
“I’m in Costa Rica for a month and have been using Uber to get around. A lot of cars here are Chinese, and I’ve ridden in several EVs.
I own 2 Teslas and realize now Tesla’s quality issues aren’t just due to cost-cutting and cutting corners: they have everything to do with how terrible Tesla is at manufacturing and how good China is at it. Their quality is on par with Toyota and higher-end GM vehicles.
The EVs I rode in all had between 40-60k miles, drove on terrible, unmaintained roads all day, and had no rattles, no misaligned interior panels, and had pleasing designs: all things Tesla just can’t do right. My 2022 Model 3, with 20k miles driven on far smoother roads, rattles everywhere.
The Chinese cars all have better suspensions and have real buttons for climate control, gear shifts, etc.
Now I understand how scared US manufacturers are of China and why they keep warning us that Chinese cars will end our auto industry: their products are built better and are inexpensive. Once they sell $25k Model Y competitors on US soil, it’s game over.”
A man used to driving Silicon Valley’s finest, such as the Tesla Model 3, takes a few rides in BYDs and XPENGs and realizes something’s amiss. This isn’t just about panel gaps or the occasional rattle; it’s about a shift in the automotive axis, and if you listen closely, you can hear it creaking beneath us.
Tesla Model 3 Performance Build Quality Issues
- Tesla’s earlier Model 3 builds, especially 2017–2019, commonly showed misaligned panels, paint inconsistencies, and door‑handle issues, even in Performance versions
- With the Mid‑Cycle “Highland” refresh rolled out in 2024, both interior and exterior materials saw marked upgrades. Reviewers noted more solid seams, smoother trim transitions, and quieter glass throughout
- In TÜV’s 2023 inspection report, nearly 15 % of new Model 3 (including Performance) failed on first inspection, mostly due to lighting, brake wear, or suspension issues that point back to insufficient factory inspection rigor
- Buyers of Performance trims often request track‑style tires, stiffer adaptive dampers, and stronger brakes. While this setup boosts agility, owners still report rattles from the center console latch, seat attachments, or rear cupholders, especially when driven hard or above highway speeds
And it’s not just Costa Rica. Another Redditor, Yellow-Stone-9907, echoed the experience in the UAE:
“Every single EV was a BYD whenever we took an Uber. Did not see any Teslas. They were very nice and all had over 70–80k miles on them with no issues.”
And then comes the twist of the knife, Allahakbau chimes in that BYD is “bottom of the barrel” in China. Which begs the question: If their budget-tier models can outlast our premium EVs, what exactly are we so proud of?
To anyone with a long memory in the car world, this moment is hauntingly familiar.
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The 1980s saw the Big Three stumble as Japanese automakers delivered vehicles that were cheaper, better, and built to last. “It’s 1980s all over again,” wrote SK10504,
“US manufacturers never learned their lesson and continue instead to spend $ on lobbying efforts and just modifying legacy engine blocks.”
And here we are, forty years later, staring down the same lesson, with even more on the line.
The Build Quality Issues With Tesla
The build quality gap is real. From Reddit to firsthand accounts, the story repeats: Chinese EVs don’t squeak, groan, or rattle. They don’t need excuses. They just work.
As LopsidedPosition489 noted from his UAE stint,
“One was a daily work car had it for 8 years, no repair bills, just regular tires and oil… Paid $25K, wanted to bring it back to the U.S., could not import.”
These are well-built, well-equipped cars that deliver. And yet, they remain locked out of our market by tariffs and regulatory shields, not because they’re unfit, but because they’re too good.
And that’s the true undercurrent: fear. Not of China per se, but of a product that could force Tesla and European automakers to compete on merit rather than marketing. “When the whole world uses you as their manufacturer, you get good at building things,” Sir-Kyle-of-Reddit said. The Chinese didn’t just catch up, they lapped the field in silence. While we built launch events, they built factories.
While we tweaked UI menus, they perfected suspension tolerances. And while we fought over the right shade of ambient lighting, they focused on durability and functionality.
Tesla Model 3 Performance Facts To Know
- Tesla rates the Model 3 Performance with a 0–60 mph time of 2.9 seconds using a 1‑foot rollout, meaning if measured from a complete standstill (as many testing outlets do), it still clocks in just above 3.0 s
- This performance model uses dual electric motors, one on each axle, to produce around 510 horsepower and 554 lb-ft of torque, offering instant throttle response and strong midrange pull, even under track‑mode launches
- Official EPA range for the 2025 Model 3 Performance is 298 mi, with prior versions certified at 303 mi, which often exceed this under mild usage
- Highway cruising at sustained speeds (e.g., 75 mph) may drop usable range to the mid‑200s, but aggressive driving can cut that even faster.
This isn’t to say Tesla hasn’t achieved extraordinary things; it has. Credit where due: they pushed the EV into the mainstream, proved that performance and electric propulsion weren’t mutually exclusive, and made legacy OEMs take battery tech seriously. But innovation without consistent build quality is a short runway.
And when Model 3s with 20,000 miles rattle more than 60,000-mile BYDs over jungle roads, the clock starts ticking louder.
As D-Alembert observed with grim clarity, “The whole world forgets a lot of how to build things and loses most of the infrastructure required to build things.” And it’s true, when you export not just the labor, but the knowledge, the discipline, and the pride in craftsmanship, you don’t just lose jobs.
You lose the ability to compete. We stand at a moment of reckoning, not just for Tesla, but for the entire U.S. auto industry. The cars we fear entering our ports may be the very ones we should have learned from a decade ago.
Image Sources: Tesla Media Center
Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.
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Source: torquenews.com
