The bulletproof truck that can’t withstand a baseball toss

The amphibious vehicle that traps its passengers inside to die

The self driving car with the awareness of wile-e-coyote

This is the dictionary definition of film-flam. All yours for a low $100,000

At the unveiling it was promised to start at $39,900, just under $50k in today's dollars.

Yes, that was for a base model that wasn't produced, but we are a long way from the promised stats on the upper trim. Promised to be under $70k, or about $87k in today's dollars (nope), 500+ mi range (nope, 300), payload 3500lbs (nope, 2500), tow rating 14000 (nope, 11000). By 2021 (nope).

It does come close on two of the promised stats: 0-60 in under 3 seconds and top speed just under the promised 130. I'd much rather have it be good at being a truck than being a massive hunk of pointy steel that can be thrown around with that much torque.

I don’t believe that final towing capacity either after seeing the tear downs where the hitch is attached with aluminum instead of steel to the frame.

I believe it, but only if you don't use it too often. Aluminum doesn't handle creep[1] well so the actual tow rating probably decreases every time you tow something near the limit.

Tesla's vehicles give me "disposable technology" vibes. Criminal for something so expensive that's also meant to be environmentally friendly.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creep_(deformation)

We are the beta testers, and it is exhausting.

Siri, for example, introduced in I think 2011, still doesn't work nearly as well as they exclaim.