> Setting aside the design aesthetic of the tesla, which is minimal and modern, the actual quality and finish of the tesla is stupefying. It's unbelievably bad.

i agree completely. i have mentioned this to people, but i get weird looks from people awed by tesla. i have sat in one and even rode along a friend's test ride. the door handle jiggles. when the door closes, it doesn't have that firm "i'm a car door, and i just closed" feel and sound. the leather isn't that great and the seat backs and trim is sort of tacky. there's a lot of plastic pieces that jiggle around.

my kia optima sxl is finished much, much better than any tesla i have sat in.

i have asked the question: can tesla really beat in just a few years some of these other car manufacturers who have been making cars and iterating on designs for decades in quality and robustness? i think the answer is that, no they haven't, but people are continually wooed by thinking tesla is the greatest car because it's electric and has a gigantic screen. (i for one feel like the screen is poorly designed with respect to how it's mounted. it looks like someone just tacked on a giant monitor to a dash.)