No recent vehicle is more polarizing at Jalopnik, in the industry or in automotive culture than the Tesla Model X right now. Why? Because it’s a fundamentally promising vehicle that looks like a blanched egg, and from a company that’s going through growing pains. You’ve heard a lot of good and bad, but is the Model X really awful?
Remember Doug DeMuro? Me either. But when he’s not driving a car he recently bought that barely gets more than 200 miles of range, he’s driving the Tesla Model X and addressing some of the criticism that surrounds it.
Does it have quality issues? Sure, just as many as a car from any other 10-year-old automaker would have. Do the silly vertical-opening doors not make any sense? Of course not—but they’re an awesome trick at Cars & Coffee. In fact, I’ve personally seen the Model X draw a larger crowd at a car meet than a LaFerrari.
The Model X is impractical for a crossover, hard on the eyes and expensive to the wallet, but it’s not nearly as plagued as the internet makes it out to be and extremely exciting to drive. It’s the best promise of a future we could hope for. It’s awful until it’s not.