I've been a Tesla owner for 5 years - currently have a P85+ (mine), M3 (wife) and Mercedes GL (family car). Prior to this owned 2 Fords, and 2 Hondas before that. For me personally, I'll take the Tesla any day over any other brand, and my non-techy wife is the same. Hard to explain, but I think it's the overall ownership and driving experience including:
- Buying experience is so much more pleasant - set price and no pressure
- Service experience has been great - much better than Ford or Mercedes. Mercedes is good, but every time we take it in they want a small fortune for this or that - you really get the sense that it's a profit center, whereas Tesla is not like this
- No more gas stations - full charge every day, and superchargers make trips and range anxiety a non-issue (owned a Ford EV previously and it sucked in this regard), and overall electricity costs are much lower than gas
- We both love the user interface - as easy and intuitive as an iPad. I don't miss the buttons, and it's so much easier to use than the Mercedes or Ford infotainment systems - and integrated connectivity and OTA updates are superior to those systems as well.
- Fast and fun to drive - handles well
- Lots of room for trips - frunk, trunk, rear facing seats - the P85+ is a great family car - we've done road trips with 4 kids, dog and luggage no problem
- I like the styling - P85+ with chrome delete and 21s looks really great
- Less environmental impact - I support Tesla's mission and enjoy doing a small part to combat global warming and advance EV adoption
- I enjoy the gimmicky stuff - games, whoopee cushion
- Much less maintenance (except for the darn 21" tires), no oil changes, and over the lifespan of the car I believe maintenance costs will be much lower
I will say that build quality is subpar - the Mercedes is notably better in this regard - very nice. Additionally, I don't trust autopilot for anything but long road trips (it's excellent for that), it's tried to kill me too many times - I think the marketing hype is way ahead of actual capabilities.