Can someone explain the panel gap issue mentioned in the linked article, and often referred to somewhere. Are the panel gaps defective (noisy, leaky or unsafe etc.) or just don't look very nice?
All cars have them. If you want to stare, you can find them in a brand new BMW or other well regarded brand. Just a little more common in Tesla I guess. (I have one that bothers me. I got Tesla to 75% fix it. Doesn’t really bother me now)
1) it’s on my trunk which is a moving part. I suspect the perfectly aligned setup doesn’t close or scrapes. I would rather have a trunk that closes perfect and looks a tad off, vs a trunk that doesn’t close right and looks perfect. I am a form over function guy
2) the car is far and away the best car I have ever owned or driven. If someone sitting behind me at a stoplight sees my trunk is 1mm off perfectly centered? Sorry not going to take my car back for that. At this point I don’t see myself buying a non-tesla again.
3) what car do you drive? Have you measured panel gaps with a caliper? If so, why haven’t you gotten them all adjusted to perfect?
1) Trunks with even panel gaps that are well aligned are very much a thing.
Your use of perfect seems to be a slight deflection, even "ok" would have been a fine goal.
But that photo is worse than anything I've ever seen on a car, period. I've seen overblown complaints about panel gaps on Teslas, but most manufacturers would not let that out into a dealership.
2) That's great for you, but it's hardly a defense against general complaints about a car. After all the Model 3 is not the best car others have driven. My most driven car these days is my new S4, a car with less interior noise despite an ICE, comparable performance (I'll trade the .7 second difference in the quarter mile for driving a car not put together with scraps)
3) None of my gaps are so horribly misaligned I ever had the inclination to!
There are two common complaints about panel gaps in general: too big, or misaligned.
I can forgive too big, I really don't care. But seriously misaligned like that picture? It looks like a bad body repair job, and it's right out if the realm of what can be ignored. Not for the sake of others, but for the sake of knowing I paid for a precision instrument and am getting a bodge job.
Thanks for the good explanation. It befuddles me that someone can willingly pay $55k for a car and just do a Tesla Shrug about the fact that it looks like it was built in a high school shop class. I wish I could come up with a business plan who had fans that loyal.
No on #3, but nothing on my car is obviously misaligned. If it's to that point for yours too then of course don't worry about it. But you are far from the only person to have these issues in a Tesla, and panel alignment issues simple don't exist in large numbers for other car makers.