Consumer Reports Is All Out of Love for the Tesla Model 3

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Less than a year after bestowing a coveted “Recommended” label on Tesla’s Model 3, Consumer Reports is taking is back. You can just imagine the outrage in the online Teslaverse.

Consumer Reports’ secret ownership by shadowy oil execs and General Motors notwithstanding (this is clearly false, don’t sue us), the retraction of what amounts to a “buy this, you probably won’t be sorry” label is a blow to the automaker, and CR claims it’s all Tesla’s fault.

At least Tesla can say it isn’t alone in the recommendation withdrawal camp.

The revoking is a direct result of reported quality issues that came to its attention over the past year, CR claims. While the Model 3 excelled in crash tests, predicted reliability can sink any rating. Apparently, owners made good use of the reviewer’s Annual Auto Reliability Survey.

“Tesla Model 3 owners told CR that problem areas included loose body trim and glass defects,” the nonprofit organization claims.

Anyone who spends any amount of time on Twitter or immersed in one of the many Tesla forums will notice owner complaints, usually related to fit and finish. Not surprising, many claim, given the rush to ramp up production of the compact electric sedan — not to mention the facility’s improvised assembly line, which came together under a tent in mere days.

Unlike in past years, Tesla CEO made no mention of the slight on social media, spending Thursday tweeting about SpaceX rockets instead. The company’s shares closed down 4 percent following the CR report.

Musk can find solace in the fact that five other models also had their recommendations stripped. Based on consumer feedback, CR is no longer giving its nod of approval to the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Acura RDX, BMW 5 Series, and Volkswagen Tiguan.

Good news awaited BMW, Genesis, and Lincoln in the report, as CR returned the recommended label to the X3, G90, and Nautilus (formerly MKX).

[Image: Tesla]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • EBFlex EBFlex on Feb 23, 2019

    "I love our ’17 Jeep GC" Lets see if that "I'm a car guy" really is true: HEMI or V6?

    • Oreguy Oreguy on Feb 23, 2019

      Yeah, you got me. Pentastar. Deduct points. Turns out I was wrong about myself all these years. Not to blame my wife, but the Jeep IS hers. She picked it out and wrote the check. Had I told her we need a HEMI, she would have followed my advice, but we don't tow anything that the Pentastar won't readily handle. Not totally applicable to the story, but a good friend of mine has an new-ish GC SRT. I've driven it, and rode in it a lot. It's a ton of fun for short bursts, but even he admits it's a bit tedious for daily driving.

  • HotPotato HotPotato on Feb 23, 2019

    Can someone enlighten me how the Recommended thing works? The same make and model will go from recommended to not recommended and back again from year to year. Is there really that much variation in vehicle quality from year to year, or is it a statistical quirk, or what?

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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