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Comment by mdbug | Hacker News Reader

Sandy Munro, by now, is a Tesla shill who can't be taken seriously. Andrej works at Tesla and understandably says nothing bad about his boss.

If I thought my boss was technically clueless and needed to say something nice about him, I would probably phrase it the same way: "He's obviously a pretty incredible person in many ways. I'm still trying to really map out his superpowers. He has incredibly well developed intuition in many aspects where he makes the right judgement calls in what I perceive to be a lack of information. Because he's not in detail about all the things but his judgement is extremely good. I still haven't fully understood how that happens."

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Sandy Munro, by now, is a Tesla shill who can't be taken seriously.

I've seen him say quite negative things about Tesla, and quite positive things about Tesla's competitors. Examples: He stated that the Ford Mach-E battery case is a structural component. He's also touted injection molding as a means of achieving some of the same things that Tesla is doing with aluminum casting. He praised some aspects of the ID4 motor housing design as superior to Tesla.

Can you give me an example of something Sandy Munro has said which IS NOT something good about a Tesla product, where he has clearly sacrificed engineering concerns? As to his statements about Tesla products, everything he's said makes sense to me, and it's my sense that almost all people who call him a Tesla shill simply don't like what he has to say.

> I've seen him say quite negative things about Tesla, and quite positive things about Tesla's competitors.

What I've seen from him, he always shows a clear bias towards Tesla.

> Can you give me an example of something Sandy Munro has said which IS NOT something good about a Tesla product, where he has clearly sacrificed engineering concerns?

When I say he's a Tesla shill, it's specifically because of the positive things he says about Tesla.

For example, here [1] he claims that the FSD Beta is currently at level 4 and "full self-driving" is just around the corner. Do you agree with that?

[1] https://twitter.com/alex_avoigt/status/1388838246705152001

So saying positive things about a good product makes him a shill? That’s a pretty low bar you set. Does this apply to all things in your life?

Saying only positive things about a mediocre product makes him a shill.

Whether or not Model 3 is mediocre is in the eye of the beholder. The continuous numerical and quantitative comparisons Sandy Munroe makes are not. Examples:

    - Numbers of fasteners in subsystems
    - Total length of cooling hoses
    - Total weight of coolant
    - Weight of the body in white
    - Efficiency vs. total energy of pack
    - Part counts

And this is just what I can remember off the top of my head. So whether or not you think Model 3 is mediocre, there are TONS of quantitative measures by which Model 3 is a long, long way ahead of their competition. Also, note that in some places, Ford and Volkswagen are by Sandy Munroe shown to be ahead of Tesla both quantitatively and qualitatively.

It looks like Sandy Munroe is doing a fair comparison based on sound engineering principles. On the other hand, I think you just don't like what he has to say with regards to Tesla.

When I say he's a Tesla shill, it's specifically because of the positive things he says about Tesla.

Right. Checks out. There's certainly solid engineering logic and reasoning there!

So, if that's your best example, are you tacitly admitting you can't think of any mechanical engineering examples?

It is actually my best example, as it shows very clearly how much he is willing to say untrue things in favor of Tesla. Why should only mechanical engineering examples be valid?

1) It's Sandy's actual area of expertise. With AI and self driving, he's just a layperson.

2) His mechanical engineering content comprises about 99% of what he says about Tesla.

Given these two factors, your (seemingly only) supportable observation seems awfully weak.

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