James May is a man of logic, reason, and practicality. So, it makes perfect sense that the former Top Gear and Grand Tour presenter uses a Tesla Model 3 Highland Long Range as his everyday commuter. In a recent video uploaded to his Planet Gin YouTube channel, May admitted that the EV is quiet, polite, discreet, and incredibly quick without any of the unnecessary drama of a traditional supercar.
But when tasked by his producer with listing the things he absolutely hates about his beloved electric daily driver, Captain Slow didn’t mine his words. While he had plenty of grievances regarding Tesla’s hyper-minimalist design choices and touchscreens, his biggest complaint took direct aim at the social stigma and political baggage of owning a car built by Elon Musk.
The Elon Musk Baggage
In the modern day, Tesla has become inextricably linked to the personal brand and controversial politics of its CEO. For May, that association is the absolute worst part of driving the car.
“I suppose in some ways I don’t like the fact that people associate the Tesla with Elon Musk and some people have a problem with Elon Musk,” May explained. “I sort of don’t care about him really, but they say, ‘Oh, you’re buying a Tesla. You’re supporting Elon Musk. He’s a fascist.'”
May quickly shut that narrative down, making it clear that his purchase had absolutely nothing to do with the polarizing billionaire. Instead, he views his Model 3 as a tribute to the people who actually built it. “I don’t buy it to support Elon Musk. If anything, I buy it to support the engineers who designed it and made it happen,” May stated, praising the incredible achievement of the startup automaker’s engineering team to completely disrupt the industry.
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The Touchscreen Annoyance
Beyond the social stigma, May’s other major gripes centered around Tesla’s obsession with forcing every single physical function onto the center touchscreen. Want to adjust the mirrors or the steering column? You have to dig into the digital menus.
But the most egregious offense, according to May, is the glovebox. He pointed out the sheer absurdity of having to dive into the car’s control menu just to hand his passenger a tissue.
“‘Could you just open the glove box? I’ve got my tissues in there.’ Yeah, hang on a minute, darling. I’ll just go to car, I’ll go to controls, and I’ll open the glove box. I’m sorry I drove into the back of the tractor whilst I was doing that,” he joked.
Finally, May took aim at EV proponents who claim charging on a road trip is as quick as grabbing a burger and using the restroom. To prove his point, he recently timed himself filling up his Porsche 911 with petrol. It took exactly three and a half minutes from start to finish, including paying.
“You cannot put anything on a Tesla in three and a half minutes. Even on a supercharger, it’s nothing,” May stated bluntly. “Charging electric cars takes a long time… It’s just more life admin. And I’m 63 years old and I can’t be bothered.”
