"they do pretty crappy job of being a car as good as one that costs half as much"
I would disagree emphatically with this assertion.
The UX in particular seems to have been very thoughtfully considered whereby the few controls that are used frequently get some dedicated buttons and the remainder in the touch screen and/or voice control. The degree of thoughtfulness between Tesla and nearly all other manufacturers is very starkly different.
Well, Tesla lovers do seem to believe that recalling a saved seat position from several layers deep in the center screen menu is more convenient that pressing a button on the door, but I will just respectfully disagree here. I suppose there must be some car, somewhere, that is thought out worse (for UX, obviously) than a Tesla, but I haven't seen one.
Uh, isn't that one click at the top of the screen? I have a Tesla, fwiw, and to say the UX is the worst just makes me dismiss everything you say. There are a couple things that I don't like (eg turning odd the headlights takes a couple clicks), but after owning one for a few years while also owning a Toyota and Audi, I'll take the Tesla.
Well, I'll take the Audi. And according to someone who was bragging about how great Tesla does it (with all their software updates I will not insist that my experience several years ago is indicative of today's UX) claimed that you need to switch to the right screen, select correct user profile, and press a button from there. And even if it is, in today's software revision, a top-level UI element that's always present, it's still located on the bloody center screen that you can reach only after you've squeezed yourself into the seat.
Seriously, I am not really going to take seriously any claims from anyone who says that a touchscreen in a moving vehicle is a good idea. This is an idea that is absolutely ridiculous on its face.
I would disagree emphatically with this assertion.
The UX in particular seems to have been very thoughtfully considered whereby the few controls that are used frequently get some dedicated buttons and the remainder in the touch screen and/or voice control. The degree of thoughtfulness between Tesla and nearly all other manufacturers is very starkly different.