[mttch]

I wouldn’t buy Tesla again but I’ve never experienced software issues in mine. Although some of the menus could be re-arranged for clarity, it’s otherwise clear and responsive. The app is great and the third party apps are even better. I’ve not heard positive things from VW or MG owners in terms of software either. Is there any good alternative to Tesla in this domain?

[matthewfcarlson]

I was recently shopping for a new car and looked at Volvo. We've had a Model Y for a few years now and when the Volvo salesperson proudly showed us how the truck height could be set by holding the button, I asked "is that a global setting or does it remember where it is when you set the height?"

The salesperson looked at me like I was crazy and confirmed it was global (the Y remembers what the proper height is at various locations using the GPS). It's frustrating to me that Teslas have fit and finish issues (though they get better) and there are some parts of it that I think are made cheaply (paint for example), but the software on the Tesla is miles ahead of anything else.

[dzhiurgis]

You probably meant trunk (aka tailgate) height?

Model Y doesn't have adjustable suspension lol.

[qwerpy]

I'll never buy anything other than Tesla (mainly for FSD) but some of the software can use some work. Apple Music sometimes can't connect, it saturates your internet uploading telemetry if you let it, and probably the worst thing is that the maps don't cache. Kind of awkward to have a robust off-roading vehicle with unusable maps when you actually go off-roading.

[steveBK123]

Tesla software in theory was generally pretty class leading. Certainly some downsides with their homegrown infotainment vs a car with Carplay/Android Auto though.

What I did not enjoy when I was one was the number of functions that are buttonless and require touchscreen UI. Additionally every 1-2 years they'd do a major version upgrade that moved said functions somewhere around the screen, sometimes into a sub-menu.

So I couldn't do stuff by touch without looking, and they'd periodically break my quick glance muscle memory with releases. Stuff like - adjust air vents, adjust wiper settings, front/rear defrost.

VW software is a monstrosity from everything I've heard.

BMW has struck a decent balance of features, reliability, and having BUTTONS. I also have a HUD in mine and it's nice having instrument cluster display plus HUD to avoid really having to look away from the road at all. The number of cars that require glancing at the central touchscreen for lots of stuff is nuts, and a fad I hope fades away.

[aryehof]

I believe that BMW group uses Flutter/Dart. Interesting that there seems little complaint about their software here.

[steveBK123]

Less bells & whistles than Tesla tries to accomplish, but it just works. Which is.. what I want in my car. Infotainment has native XM radio & Spotify, plus CarPlay & Android Auto.

Less updates, and sometimes they don't quite work OTA, but I don't really care.

When I had a Tesla, everything was on the touchscreen including the speedometer and various critical controls, and I had 2-3 full reboot black screen while driving incidents of the system.

Was it neat that Tesla shipped new features regularly, sure. Were most of them half baked (summon) or stupid (farts, Netflix).. yes. The incremental "oh neat" for me was outweighed by various driver critical touchscreen-only controls moving around the screen release to release.

On my BMW I think the infotainment may have rebooted on me maybe once, but it has an independent dashboard instrument cluster screen & HUD which were not impacted.

And the BMW has way way more buttons so I do not have to care about the screen, including on the steering wheel and controls on the drivers right side arm rest. So again I can drive without distractions.

The other thing worth mentioning is the driver assist system that Tesla is supposed to lead on but.. eh, not really. After 4 years of Tesla Autopilot releases constantly changing behavior, frequently not for the better, it was nice to have a predictable ADAS system from BMW.

While Tesla pumps will pile on about how FSD is not AP and 2022 is not 2025, I just do not buy anything they or the company says after 4 years of daily experience with the product. A product that mostly works most of the time but then has unpredictable behavior and erratic regressions is not helpful.

[dreamcompiler]

I'd guess Rivian SW is good, because Volkswagen's SW got so bad they hired Rivian to rewrite it for them. (That contract is the only thing keeping Rivian afloat right now.)

[igor47]

Rivian software is pretty meh. I've never had a safety critical failure while driving, but have had multiple other issues including being trapped in the car unable to exit until after a reboot. Worse -- rivian has no mechanism for reporting software issues. If you don't want a service appointment (which is available in 3 months!) then don't bother reporting it.

[dreamcompiler]

Wow. They don't have mechanical exit overrides? Teslas do (although they're hard to find for the back seat passengers).

[robswc]

I don't know if I can ever buy a non-Tesla car again (unless its a truck).

I'll check out Rivian next time though, as those look pretty damn good. Like you, I don't know of any other brands that are competitive enough for me. I want to like other car UX's but once you have a smooth UX its hard to go back to sluggish ones.

[nunez]

Software-wise, there is not. Their software is years ahead of the industry in pretty-much all dimensions.

Rivian is the closest next-best option, but loads of people have complained about bugs in their software.

[kccqzy]

The Rivian is nice in terms of software. Although it also doesn't support CarPlay just like the Tesla.