Tesla Ups and Downs

[2Btoo]

saaby93 said:

are they easy to work on?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdvqhDSVNmA

Gosh, that girl's utterly gorgeous! Easy on the eye AND practical AND knows how to use a toolkit!

I think I'm in love!

[anonymous-user]

gangzoom said:

REALIST123 said:

Petrol stations weren't an 'inconvenience'

Sunday night a few weeks ago, all comfy on the sofa feeling very lazy:

Wife: 'Oh just remembered petrol light has come on in the car on Friday'
Me: 'Can you not fill it up on the way work tomorrow?'
Wife: 'Everyone does that, there will be a massive que'
Me: Say nothing
Wife: 'Can you go and fill it up tonight?'
Me: -> Waste 20 minutes of my life driving to petrol station, wait in line, fill up, drive home.

Yes I know that's what non EV drivers have to put up with regularly but compared to the 10 seconds it takes to plug in the car when I get home going to petrol stations are a massive inconvenience these days. Luckily her car is reasonably economical and now only used for commuting so I only have to do this particular chore once a month

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 6th July 09:52

You've missed the point of my comment, as usual. There was no inconvenience because I was referring to the particular trip which needed no refueling.

As for you either diatribe, please stop making things up, you're sounding desperate.

[anonymous-user]

Heres Johnny said:

REALIST123 said:

Hopefully Volvo's announcement will spur on other proper car builders to build practical premium level EVs at sensible prices.

Tesla maybe fine if you're happy with second rate build quality and service and don't mind what that costs but it's a no go for me, notwithstanding the range issues.

This week I've been from Norwich to Manchester and back, doing quite a bit of running around whilst in Lancashire. Petrol stations weren't an 'inconvenience', I'm back home with a third of the tank of fuel that I left with. The 530d has similar internal noise levels as the Tesla S at 70/80mph and is a far more comfortable place to sit for several hours. Meaningless 0-60 times don't impress me nor does having a dodgy iPad as a dashboard.

I agree with everyone who says EVs are the future but it does seem quite a way off if the current Tesla is the best there is. Hopefully, the car manufacturers have been focussing on the city commute and will soon be looking at other parts of the market.

I agree with a some of your point, but if you'd ever sat in a Model S for a long journey you wouldn't say a 5 series is more comfortable. I ran a 6 series gran coupe with comfort seats for 80k over 3 years (which will no doubt be no worse than your seats) before I got a tesla with next gen seats which I ran for 30k miles in the first year. seat comfort was not an issue in either. I used to park in next to Manchester Central and my car happily charged while I was there. Charging does take planning but its rarely a significant issue and the number of super chargers is going up rapidly at the moment.

Each to their own. My 5 does indeed have the full comfort pack, adaptive suspension and quite a few other extras. Comforts not just about the seats.

But, as I've said before, I'd likely even have a S, for all its shortcomings, if it could manage a reasonable distance in one go and was sensibly priced.

[ntiz]

I must apologise to everyone I have no idea were I got £15 from might have been when I worked out before I even bought the car ... I looked up my tax code yesterday this year I'm paying £92 per month still very good for the size, performance and expense of the car.

Unfortunately I have to report that once again Tesla let me down today. My car was meant to be collected from my work at 11am so it gets to 1pm I finish work and I give them a call I am told driver left hours ago so should be there any minute ... driver turns up at 3:30. By this point I am obviously pissed off as I was meant to take my wife shopping this afternoon for her Birthday instead I spent it sat at work waiting.

The bit that annoyed me most was no call to let me know the driver was going to be late and when he got there he didn't apologise. He spoke to me like it was so amazing they were collecting my car for me. No acknowledgment he was 4.5 hours late!!!!!

I feel like Tesla the company is 70% the problem not the product.

[saaby93]

2Btoo said:

saaby93 said:

are they easy to work on?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdvqhDSVNmA

Gosh, that girl's utterly gorgeous! Easy on the eye AND practical AND knows how to use a toolkit!

I think I'm in love!

Cant spell solenoid though - mind you given a poll how many would?

Does it show that if you want to sort your Tesla you need to be handy?

[Chris-S]

These days I'm impressed that anyone, male, female or on-binary gender is even willing to look at a problem on the car.

Pedant mode, it's an actuator, not a solenoid. 😜

[Zoon]

2Btoo said:

Gosh, that girl's utterly gorgeous! Easy on the eye AND practical AND knows how to use a toolkit!

I think I'm in love!

I thought she looked a bit rough?

[chillo]

oop north said:

The range thing - it really depends on your journey distance profiles - I do quite a few journeys longer than that - e.g., overnight trip to chesterfield (190 miles round trip with almost nowhere to chargebon the way),

For a one way trip of say 110 miles with charging when I get there, I can easily either charge on the way or use the Rex. But anything else I don't have the time to wait 30-40 minutes to charge up - it increases the journey time by 50% so on a work day I take my discovery

For my next electric car, and 200 miles range. At the moment it will either be a model s or a jaguar ipace. Or back to an ICE car...

Range thing is an issue for me, got to have 220/230+ range in all conditions (wipers/lights/air con or heater/ stereo etc) and be able to do at 80-90+.
When they can do that I'm in.

[Dazed and Confused]

chillo said:

oop north said:

The range thing - it really depends on your journey distance profiles - I do quite a few journeys longer than that - e.g., overnight trip to chesterfield (190 miles round trip with almost nowhere to chargebon the way),

For a one way trip of say 110 miles with charging when I get there, I can easily either charge on the way or use the Rex. But anything else I don't have the time to wait 30-40 minutes to charge up - it increases the journey time by 50% so on a work day I take my discovery

For my next electric car, and 200 miles range. At the moment it will either be a model s or a jaguar ipace. Or back to an ICE car...

Range thing is an issue for me, got to have 220/230+ range in all conditions (wipers/lights/air con or heater/ stereo etc) and be able to do at 80-90+.
When they can do that I'm in.

Why not just buy one that will do everything you need, rather than one for range and one for economy. This is where I fail to see the savings involved in EV ownership.

[caseys]

As this thread seems to be the most recently active with actual owners I'd like to ask what running costs have been like for those with a Model S. Been driving a bmw 330e.

I'm looking at using one as a daily - for roughly a 110-120 mile each way commute when I need to go into the office. Luckily I have both a 32A Type-2 charge point at home and the local car park at work has 10 Superchargers :-)

So I'd be charging up overnight at home, then at work, then again off-peak at home. Probably looking at doing 18-20k a year and looking to keep the car for a good 4 years.

I'm yet to look at insurance costs, having at 36 been using a company motor for the past 6 years. But what other costs are there? I'm not particularly heavy footed even in my current RWD, don't tow anything. So I guess I'm asking about servicing costs (do you go with a Tesla service plan? Just go to any garage that will do standard stuff like brakes, suspension checking etc?).

Most likely looking at buying a 1-2 year old 70 or 85D. Not too fussed by autopilot but it'd be nice.

I'm hoping I can do the man maths on this, with a reasonable car allowance and mileage rate.

Cheers.

[DJP31]

caseys said:

As this thread seems to be the most recently active with actual owners I'd like to ask what running costs have been like for those with a Model S. Been driving a bmw 330e.

I'm looking at using one as a daily - for roughly a 110-120 mile each way commute when I need to go into the office. Luckily I have both a 32A Type-2 charge point at home and the local car park at work has 10 Superchargers :-)

So I'd be charging up overnight at home, then at work, then again off-peak at home. Probably looking at doing 18-20k a year and looking to keep the car for a good 4 years.

I'm yet to look at insurance costs, having at 36 been using a company motor for the past 6 years. But what other costs are there? I'm not particularly heavy footed even in my current RWD, don't tow anything. So I guess I'm asking about servicing costs (do you go with a Tesla service plan? Just go to any garage that will do standard stuff like brakes, suspension checking etc?).

Most likely looking at buying a 1-2 year old 70 or 85D. Not too fussed by autopilot but it'd be nice.

I'm hoping I can do the man maths on this, with a reasonable car allowance and mileage rate.

Cheers.

Servicing costs are considered high given its much less complicated than an ICE, here's a link to Tesla's maintenance page.

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/support/maintenance-pl...

Tesla don't require the car to be serviced to maintain the warranty, but if you buy on finance the t&c's are likely to state the car needs to be maintained in accordance with the manufacturers recommendation. Certainly the Tesla linked PCP finance requires it.

Some owners don't bother, some get the non Tesla specifics done elsewhere and take it to Tesla just for the specifics.

Anecdotally Tesla do seem to have a proactive attitude towards warranty claims, and will often replace stuff at servicing prior to it becoming an issue, and it wouldn't surprise me if the trumpy prices sort of reflect that. Tesla maintain the service centres will never be profit centres, so that extra money must be going somewhere! Personally even if I wasn't on finance I'd still take it to Tesla for the peace of mind factor.

Other than tyres that's about it, brake pads hardly ever get used due to the regen braking (one owner took his in for its first MOT 30k on the clock, tester asked him who'd put the new pads in lol).

Insurance has been problematic, some carriers have withdrawn from writing new business (NFU & H&L) as repair costs and difficulty in getting parts is a problem. Direct Line have a specific Tesla team, LV and Hastings Direct are ok, but it really is a "YMMV"

Worth looking at the inventory stock and the finance is competitive at the mo too. Here's a referral code for £750 off and free supercharging for life. Be delighted if you use it http://ts.la/david7784

You're obviously sorted with the charging aspect so that's about it. I reckon the man math will work quite nicely.

I've had mine (S 75D) since March and absolutely love it. My normal driving pattern is less than 50 miles a day, but earlier this week I did Croydon to Bristol, Bristol to Cheltenham and back to Croydon much of it in dreadful weather and I jumped out of the car when I arrived home fresh as a daisy. And not a penny spent on fuel.

I'm a fan, but not a fanboy. Their communication can be diabolical, build quality is ok but not premium and pray you don't have a accident as it'll be off the road for ages.

Hope this helps!

[gangzoom]

caseys said:

As this thread seems to be the most recently active with actual owners I'd like to ask what running costs have been like for those with a Model S. Been driving a bmw 330e.

Biggest running cost of any car is deprecation, Tesla is no different, no one really knows how prices will hold up longterm, but 50% 'loss' on initial spend over 3 year is as good as anyone guess. Doesn't matter if you pay cash or finance, your still paying for deprecation one way or another.

That aside actual day to day running cost.....apart from insurance and tyres, it's pretty much nothing. You wouldn't notice the change in your electricity bill if your using E7, and there is no obligation to service the thing. Older cars are VED exempt, and long distance trips cost £0 in fuel.

But all of the above savings is really is peanuts compared to cost of deprecation, but than again unless you buy a garage queen or a £500 banger deprecation is something you cannot get away from in any car.

[Heres Johnny]

Somebody worked out tyres cost more than fuel once, I did 30k in a year, needed 6 tyres (rears lasted about 15k, fronts 30k, but I work them hard), probably £1200 cost, but bit really any different to my previous 640D. Electricity bill went up about £10 a month with a lot of Super charging. That's a big saving.

But... calculations can get more complicated if you claim mileage from your employer. The savings only really come out if you personally pay for. Mine was a company car and my employer paid the HMRC approved mileage rate.. which is ZERO! £10 a month is nothing so i didn't lose, but I used to make a profit on diesel.

[mnk303]

I was very close to get to getting a year old S, but the terrible slow if any response from sales was dreadful, they did not seem to even know what car was for sale, I spoke to service a few times and he said and I quote, " Tesla have a long way to go before the service is comparable to other makes". Generally the experience from sales and service has been applauding. I am disappointed, I would be more forgiving if the car was 20k but 60k plus .

In the end I decided to buy a nearly new M3 , the build quality is in a different league, it's sound is amazing, I can find a dealer within 5 miles, sure it's mpg is poor but as I only do 5000 miles a year it matters not.

I will go electric one day but not for another 5 years

[Heres Johnny]

mnk303 said:

I was very close to get to getting a year old S, but the terrible slow if any response from sales was dreadful, they did not seem to even know what car was for sale, I spoke to service a few times and he said and I quote, " Tesla have a long way to go before the service is comparable to other makes". Generally the experience from sales and service has been applauding. I am disappointed, I would be more forgiving if the car was 20k but 60k plus .

In the end I decided to buy a nearly new M3 , the build quality is in a different league, it's sound is amazing, I can find a dealer within 5 miles, sure it's mpg is poor but as I only do 5000 miles a year it matters not.

I will go electric one day but not for another 5 years

Tesla sales staff don't exist which is why you had trouble finding one. Once you get past that, service do eventually sort everything out but its not a trivial process at times. Still, you don't really need to ever go to service as they don;t make it a condition of warranty to get it serviced and after the first year transmission oil change, its only inspection services.

An M3 is built better, but its just soo slow up to any legal speed. I test drove a M4 Cab for the wife and walked away very disappointed. Horses for courses.

[anonymous-user]

Heres Johnny said:

mnk303 said:

I was very close to get to getting a year old S, but the terrible slow if any response from sales was dreadful, they did not seem to even know what car was for sale, I spoke to service a few times and he said and I quote, " Tesla have a long way to go before the service is comparable to other makes". Generally the experience from sales and service has been applauding. I am disappointed, I would be more forgiving if the car was 20k but 60k plus .

In the end I decided to buy a nearly new M3 , the build quality is in a different league, it's sound is amazing, I can find a dealer within 5 miles, sure it's mpg is poor but as I only do 5000 miles a year it matters not.

I will go electric one day but not for another 5 years

Tesla sales staff don't exist which is why you had trouble finding one. Once you get past that, service do eventually sort everything out but its not a trivial process at times. Still, you don't really need to ever go to service as they don;t make it a condition of warranty to get it serviced and after the first year transmission oil change, its only inspection services.

An M3 is built better, but its just soo slow up to any legal speed. I test drove a M4 Cab for the wife and walked away very disappointed. Horses for courses.

Horses for courses? Horsest more like.

The party trick if 'insane' acceleration is just that; a party trick. It's regular use would decimate the car's range and ruin the tyres in short order.

Don't try to fool anyone into thinking a Tesla, by and large is accelerated faster or slower on a regular basis than most other cars.

mnk303's got it about right. In 5 years Tesla and others may be building EVs of premium quality at competitive prices and many wil be sold. They aren't there yet, not by a long chalk.

[Heres Johnny]

REALIST123 said:

Horses for courses? Horsest more like.

The party trick if 'insane' acceleration is just that; a party trick. It's regular use would decimate the car's range and ruin the tyres in short order.

Don't try to fool anyone into thinking a Tesla, by and large is accelerated faster or slower on a regular basis than most other cars.

mnk303's got it about right. In 5 years Tesla and others may be building EVs of premium quality at competitive prices and many wil be sold. They aren't there yet, not by a long chalk.

I think I'll go with my opinion after 30k miles in one (company car that goes back soon so no axe to grind or position to defend) and with 430 bhp Aston's and 380bhp tuned BMWs in the garage than someone who's probably not sat in a tesla

[gangzoom]

Heres Johnny said:

I think I'll go with my opinion after 30k miles in one (company car that goes back soon so no axe to grind or position to defend) and with 430 bhp Aston's and 380bhp tuned BMWs in the garage than someone who's probably not sat in a tesla

I do find it amazing how many people who don't own a Tesla seem to have such strong views about build quality and general ownership experience.

The last BMW I bought was less than 3 years old and less than 30K on the clock. In my first year of ownership it spent most of the summer in the garage. Things didn't get better, ended up been the only car I've ever owned (including a £500 Micra) that left me stranded at the side of the road needing to be towed, shortly after that was sorted it dumped all it's oil on the driveway. Also spoke to someone who owns a brand new Discovery Sport....he loved it till the one of the front wheels came loss whilst on the M-way, his now about to order a Tesla.

It seems to me some people just don't like Tesla, for what ever reason, but that's life, we are all grown ups capable of making our own decisions. Pointless ranting on the internet has never changed anyone's mind on anything.

[BigBen]

gangzoom said:

I do find it amazing how many people who don't own a Tesla seem to have such strong views about build quality and general ownership experience.

Not just Tesla, see any other EV thread on here.

[Dazed and Confused]

BigBen said:

gangzoom said:

I do find it amazing how many people who don't own a Tesla seem to have such strong views about build quality and general ownership experience.

Not just Tesla..

American cars in general.