One of YouTube’s most popular motoring personalities has got behind the wheel of an all-electric Tesla, stating that he has mixed feelings for it.
Scotty Kilmer has worked on cars for over 55 years, and now runs a YouTube channel, with six million subscribers regularly watching to see his thoughts on the best new models and advice on how to avoid expensive mechanical issues.
In a recent video, Scotty, who is usually very sceptical about electric cars, borrows a Tesla Model 3 that is owned by a friend, stating that it has better build quality compared to cars previously made by the company.
He said: “Let’s look at the fit and finish, OK. You can see it’s [the panel gaps are] a little wider at the bottom than at the top, but it’s not outrageous like some of the early ones were.
“It’s thinner here, and it’s a little wider here. But the back one, it’s pretty even compared to the older ones. They seem to be doing a better-quality job putting them together, I’ll say that.”
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As a relatively new car company, manufacturing many of their vehicles in China, Tesla has previously received complaints from some motorists stating that some panels were not fitted flush, leaving large or inconsistent panel gaps.
Other owners of early models have stated other issues such as poor-quality stitching on the upholstery and steering wheel.
However, Scotty noted that, now that a few years have passed, the vehicle being tested had much better build quality.
Nevertheless, the mechanic did criticise how it is more difficult for him to find faults on the model, using his diagnostic tool.
He explained: “Now, one thing that I don’t like as a mechanic is this, if you go behind this panel between the back seats, you pull it off, then there’s a connector there. You unplug the connector and then, even I have to have an adaptor for my fancy scan tool.
“I have them but then again, I’m a mechanic with a $5,000 scan tool and all the stinking adaptors that come with it. But it kind of aggravates me that I work on these things, I have to take that apart, then I got to turn the car off, then I got to let it sleep for 15 minutes, then I unplug it, then I got to plug my scan tool in, and then activate it that way. Why on earth do they make them like that?”
However, getting into the driver’s seat, Scotty was very complimentary of the Tesla’s performance figures, stating that it should be driven responsibly.
He continued: “We’re going to take off at full speed, so ready? We’re coming to the drag strip, and we’ll see how fast this thing can go. Woah, it threw me back in the seat, it really does go.
“Man, this thing is like a rocket ship, there’s no arguing that. It’s a good thing they didn’t exist when I was young because, if they did, I would be no longer be here making videos for you, I would be six feet under from flying in the air somewhere and landing upside down.”
