Self Serve Test Drive

[CSR Performance]

Anyone done one? Do you have to follow a preplanned route? And my main concern, how does the insurance work? Credit card deposit for £1k or something as the excess?

[Zcd1]

I’ve read reports from other PH’ers that they had no trouble setting up such a drive and enjoyed being able to experience the car on their own time/terms.

Don’t recall anyone mentioning anything about insurance but I’d bet that proof of insurance would be required in order to even complete the test drive request….

[DeeDouble]

I did one a few weeks ago from Blackbushe Airport.
You have to upload a copy of your driving license in the app, there are lots of T&C’s that I didn’t read overly thoroughly but no payment details required for any of it.
Rock up a few minutes before your booking, wait for the greyed out button in the app to go blue and you can then unlock the car. It goes through an introduction, helping you to adjust the seat etc. then you are free to head out wherever you like for the remainder of the hour.

[brownspeed]

Handy - could do this for my next tip run

[CSR Performance]

brownspeed said:

Handy - could do this for my next tip run

[croyde]

Handy, there's one a nice walk from mine.

Give me something to do tomorrow

[annodomini2]

CSR Performance said:

Anyone done one? Do you have to follow a preplanned route? And my main concern, how does the insurance work? Credit card deposit for £1k or something as the excess?

Yes

Depends on the setup where you are going. I did a pre-planned route.

Excess was £2.5k when I did mine 5 years ago, may have changed.

[croyde]

Just booked one for tomorrow. It does say up to £2500 if any damage occurs in the Ts and Cs.

[croyde]

Was just about to leave to get the car when Tesla called to say that the car has been damaged in the carpark.

So the drive has been postponed.

[croyde]

So I went today. Had to get a fella in the hotel it was parked outside of, to be ready to move another Tesla that was blocking the Model 3 in.

He waited patiently whilst I waited for my App to allow me to get into the car. Noon was the time for the drive but the greyed out bit didn't turn blue until 1204.

A minute before I was about to walk away and mutter about bloody tech

Have to say that the car really surprised me. Steering had a nice heft like my old 90s 3 series BMW, suspension dealt with the badly surfaced roads and the car felt pretty quick and nicely put together.

I gelled with it almost pretty instantly.

I didn't like the fact that everything is accessed via the admittedly most responsive touchscreen I've used in a car. Had to pull over to sort the AC and mirror positions.

The part of the screen that shows all the other traffic in a 'ghost mode' is clever but sometimes if I glanced at the speed reading, seeing oncoming cars below made me almost flinch.

I presume that can all be personalised but I just wanted to get on and drive the car.

The automatic cameras that come on and show a good view when you indicate to change lanes were a nice touch as well as the view of the kerb when you pull in to park.

All in amazing HD unlike the cheap cameras in my current car.

The regen and the ability to just use the one pedal was much better than my own car. I barely used the brakes.

Nice to have tried one and they are not as pricey as I thought (shows how quickly we become accustomed to the new normal of car costs).

But I live in a flat and on street charging is unreliable and expensive.

But if I ever get a house......

Edited by croyde on Sunday 3rd May 17:09

[Whataguy]

croyde said:

But I live in a flat and on street charging is unreliable and expensive.

But if I ever get a house......

Before I got my home charger fitted I relied solely on public charging for several weeks, it’s doable particularly if you can find a nearby supercharger.

Even at peak rates the superchargers aren’t too expensive 40/45p and at many there are off peak rates 22p before 8am or after 10pm.

I used the zapmap app to find the best superchargers and non Tesla chargers nearby, you can also see live how many are in use at different times of day.

[Quattr04.]

Whataguy said:

croyde said:

But I live in a flat and on street charging is unreliable and expensive.

But if I ever get a house......

Before I got my home charger fitted I relied solely on public charging for several weeks, it s doable particularly if you can find a nearby supercharger.

Even at peak rates the superchargers aren t too expensive 40/45p and at many there are off peak rates 22p before 8am or after 10pm.

I used the zapmap app to find the best superchargers and non Tesla chargers nearby, you can also see live how many are in use at different times of day.

Yes, you can easily use Tesla chargers exclusively, it costs more than charging at home but still cheaper than fueling a petrol or diesel, I would do it if I did less than 300 miles a week, charging for half hour is fine but would get boring doing it daily

[Zcd1]

croyde said:

…Have to say that the car really surprised me. Steering had a nice heft like my old 90s 3 series BMW, suspension dealt with the badly surfaced roads and the car felt pretty quick and nicely put together…
]

Glad to hear that you liked it.

If all the h8ters would actually just test-drive an EV, there’d be many fewer h8ters out there.

[croyde]

Zcd1 said:

Glad to hear that you liked it.

If all the h8ters would actually just test-drive an EV, there d be many fewer h8ters out there.

It did really get under my skin. Very impressed.

I even had a gander at new models available on the Tesla website.

Made me chuckle to see that an indicator stalk is now included

Luckily the test car had one too

[CharlieAlphaMike]

croyde said:

I didn't like the fact that everything is accessed via the admittedly most responsive touchscreen I've used in a car. Had to pull over to sort the AC and mirror positions.

I presume that can all be personalised but I just wanted to get on and drive the car.

Edited by croyde on Sunday 3rd May 17:09

It's a common misconception about accessing everything via the screen. For most everyday needs, voice control works really well.

Yes, you can personalise a lot of functions. The scroll buttons on the steering wheel can be set to operate quite a lot of functions.

Good to hear you enjoyed the drive

[Zcd1]

croyde said:

It did really get under my skin. Very impressed.

I even had a gander at new models available on the Tesla website.

Made me chuckle to see that an indicator stalk is now included

Luckily the test car had one too

My Plaid didn’t originally include any stalks, and after giving it a year, I never really became accustomed to using the buttons for turn signals, so I added aftermarket (but OEM parts) stalks. I find that shifting gears/drive direction on the screen works well, so I never use the shifter stalk that was installed but the indicator stalk is great to have back…

Before your drive I ALMOST wrote “Careful, because Tesla test drives often turn into Tesla purchases, even if that wasn’t the original intention”. ;-)