Tesla drivers were the new BMW douchebags on the road well before he bought Twitter. I got buzzed by in a parking lot the other day by someone doing at least 30, so close it felt like a huge gust of wind. Turned to see a teslas within a foot of me. Jackass drivers in near silent cars in parking lots are a great combo. If the sensors and self driving worked for shit it would of never let them get that close to me.
Same, and also, when I was a teenager, I begrudgingly admit that I thought Elon Musk was cool.
Now if I am to get conspiratorial, Rupert Murdoch is trying to groom Musk into being the replacement for the Koch Brothers. Boomers love the Koch Brothers to the point of living vicariously through them, and Musk will be the same for millennials and zoomers to have their "le funny billionaire epic troll."
Data point of one, but I bought the cheapest Model 3 model back in 2020, added FSD (was $6k at the time I think) and have had no issue with mine. FSD is not ‘full self driving’, but I’ve been using it continuously since the update a few months ago.
I despise car culture, and it is the least car like car that I could buy. It does most of the driving, it is safer than most, it has no ongoing emissions, and per mile is cheaper than a gas car.
Efficiency, battery price for the cost, power, and charge time/long distance speed are measurably objectively in the top tier (although not uniquely so or not the singular best).
Not worth it for the shoddy construction, abusive customer-exploitative remote control that means you never own it, false advertising, and cultural association (also not uniquely so).
I got upgraded to one when I rented a car a few years ago, it was actually really nice. Although I'm someone who is used to driving clunkers (the local AAA tow truck drivers all knew my family, lol) and the engine shutting off at the light always freaked me out.
I saw a nice looking sedan roll past me one evening and when I saw it was a new Prius I knew I was officially getting old.