Tesla test drive. Thoughts

[LHRFlightman]

Just back from a 40 minutes drive in a model 3 long range at Guildford Tesla.

No selling at all. Literally gave them my name, them grabbed the key, spent 3 mins showing me the basics and hopped out saying "See you in 40 minutes, enjoy".

So, along with my wife and 19 year old, off we went.

Initial thoughts are it feels more car like than I expected, in a good way. The iPad is intuitive and the car handled nicely, is very smooth, quiet and goes like a train when asked. I'm talking head smacked against the head rest acceleration.

Upon returning I was asked if I enjoyed it, and was informed I'd get a feedback form via email. A very simple process from start to finish.

I'm getting it again Monday for an overnight test drive. Looking forward to my spending some quality time with it.

[LHRFlightman]

V1nce Fox said:

What’s your normal car, how does it compare to that?

2017 Honda.Civic. So similar in size etc. The Tesla made it feel ancient.

I've got an S2000, not exactly a rocket ship but quick enough. It wouldn't see which way the Tesla went .

[LHRFlightman]

Canon_Fodder said:

FeelingLucky said:

, what's not to like?

£50,000 price tag?

£34,500?

[LHRFlightman]

Very nice indeed.

[LHRFlightman]

gangzoom said:

LHRFlightman said:

Initial thoughts are it feels more car like than I expected, in a good way.

Because it is a car

Before Elon Musk went totally mad the story goes he did waste his first fortune on a McLaren F1 that he crashed whilst uninsured, so a PHer at heart.

We have had ours now 6 years come March, 70k miles covered. Last two weekends included doing Leicester to London Heathrow run and day trip to central. Gave the interior a clean after about 6 months when we got home, have to say it's standing up to the abuse of family life pretty well.

Zero interest in changing ours for anything else on the market. I'll almost certainly get new traction battery put in it at somepoint but degredation is currently 5% so little reason to change yet.

Road trip to Norway with 6 on board (plus luggage) was amazing last year. This summer Swiss Alps and Lake Como - Cannot wait, nor can the extended family so 6 again in the car, cannot think of a better pan Europe family road trip car.

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52661263174_47d01b1f2f_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52661423975_86ff9329fb_k_d.jpg[/thumb]

Edited by gangzoom on Sunday 5th February 06:32

Those seats are remarkably clean for 6 years old! Do they take much upkeep?.

[LHRFlightman]

Sheepshanks said:

Minsky said:

Sheepshanks said:

Not sure how that's relevant to "stopping for a coffee"?

Next Next Saturday is a 260 mile journey. I will be using Peterborough services. Plug in, coffee and loo = 20-25 mins. Will come back to a car with 85% fill.

It really is very quick and not an issue.

Appreciate it's always possible to create corner cases, and I do think EVs would be perfect for my wife, and both my kids (although one of them would mean to put her car on charge later but would be too busy then forget so would constantly be stuck) none of whom generally go more than 30 miles from home. We've just had our house refurbed and I had the wiring put in for a charger.

In my use case, I'm regularly driving NW to SE. Leave early morning and don't stop on the way. Stay overnight and drive home next day. Around 360 miles round trip, takes about 3hrs each way.

I've taken to asking if the hotels I'm staying at have charging. Of the last three, only one had a charger, it was out of order and I got the impression it had been that way for a while.

So for to go EV I'd have to stop and charge. I wouldn't mind that if there was the same certainty about it as when stopping for diesel.

You're regularly driving 300 miles in 3 hours. You're averaging 100 miles an hour on public roads in the UK?

[LHRFlightman]

ajap1979 said:

Read the post again…

Ah yes, roundtrip. Pre coffee posts are never wise.

[LHRFlightman]

Picking up my 2021 SR+ tomorrow. Can't wait, not going to sleep much tonight.

[LHRFlightman]

Car collected from R SYMONS this morning. RSEV in YouTube.

Exemplary service. Unlike the post above, Richard sat in the car with me and went through the entire UI, asking me for my preference, sharing what he uses.

After an entertaining and informative hour, I left.

75 miles of mixed driving later including towns, A roads and motorway, I was home having used 29.2% of the battery. That was with temps of 7C and no battery preconditioning. More than acceptable I think and any minor anxiety about range anxiety has gone already.

The car is a comfy cruiser with all the mod cons you could wish for. It has the enhanced autopilot, excellent, and immersive audio which is just great.

And it picks up its heels and flies when asked. This is the SR+ and it's plenty quick enough for real world driving.

So far, 5 hours in, I'm a very happy Tesla owner.

[LHRFlightman]

LordFlathead said:

LHRFlightman said:

Picking up my 2021 SR+ tomorrow. Can't wait, not going to sleep much tonight.

I remember picking up my car on a late December night at Thorpe Park in pitch darkness.. the guy handing out the Tesla access cards said, "It's over there.. somewhere.. let me know if you can't find it.

There were over 1000 cars in the car park for collection that night and it was pouring with rain

Good luck and do report back. fk what everyone else says I think they are a great car and I've had a few

So I've had the car for almost 3 weeks now and have some thoughts.

The UI is very intuitive and now its been setup, I rarely touch it, bar the usual climate settings etc. It's a very relaxing drive, whether that is the lack of engine noise, or one pedal driving, its just relaxing. With the heated seats on, and the heated steering wheel, the temperature is set at 19C and everyone is comfortable. The headlights are brilliant, a class above anything else I've driven. Despite being the least powerful Model 3, it's absolutely fine for everyday driving. I've found out that Tesla actually dampen down the performance off the line, to try to move people to the LR and Performance models. Maybe that'll change in time, but its quick enough already tbh.

Range has been fine. On a spirted drive in 6C, I saw 308 wh per mile. Yesterday on an economy run at 14C I got it down to 179 wh per mile which was pretty nuts to see.

I've been charging the car overnight at home, via the Tesla 3 pin plug charger and have had no issues. So far I've not seen less than 60% left on the battery when I've returned home so this has been fine for now. A Tesla charger gets installed on 28th.

Family all love it. No complaints from the two kids, 23 and 19, in the back, and the boot is large enough for most things you'd want to travel with.

Overall, having completed about 600 miles in it, very satisfied.

[LHRFlightman]

PurpleFox said:

I had a test drive over the weekend - enjoyed the car and I would get one but my wife isn't keen and it would be a replacement for her car.

Anyway, couldn't find a way to set a speed limiter, most modern cars have cruise / limit. Surely the Tesla has one but I couldn't see where to set it, can anyone confirm?

I find this more useful day to day than cruise control.

Thanks.

Set cruise control, down once using right hand stalk. Set desired speed using the right hand wheel on the steering wheel.

[LHRFlightman]

Keith R said:

Heres Johnny said:

Piginapoke said:

Or
Touch Controls > Safety > Speed Limit Mode on the touchscreen. Select the maximum driving speed. Drag the slider to the On position.

Crazy suggestion and not whats been asked for. You’re suggesting a global, single max speed, on all roads, requires a pin to remove, when somebody wants to be able to press a button while driving to say 50 when in an average speed area and cancel it again when they’ve ended.

Using adaptive cruise isn’t the same, that sets the target speed and not a limit with the driver doing what they want below that.

The answer is No, Tesla don’t do one.

Piginapoke is correct. The original question was can you set a speed limiter, as in the maximum speed the vehicle will go. When I test drove a Model 3, the speed limiter was set at 87mph. So no matter how hard I mashed the accelerator pedal to the carpet, it would not exceed 87mph. This is different to setting the cruising speed when autopilot is engaged.

So Telsa correctly identified you as a wannabe test pilot and blocked you. As they do for all vehicles that are available for a test drive. Sounds ok to me.

Do you regularly drive around at speeds greater than 87mph?

[LHRFlightman]

AN UPDATE.

I've had my Tesla M3 SR+ for about 8 months now. It's a 2021 model. It's covered 12,995 miles, 8,348 of which have been mine. I'm averaging 32 miles a day and the average efficiency is 205 wh/mile.

Charging has been 96% % at home, overnight on Octopus Intelligent. Cost for electrons so far has been £176.

Most mileage on a day of driving has been 243 miles, with 14% remaining when I got home.

Maintenance has been washer fluid and a weekly wash and vac on the drive.

Niggles? A motor failed in the passenger rear right window, causing the glass to shatter. Repaired under warranty on the drive within 48 hours.

The glass roof developed a crack in August A trip to the showroom determined a manufacturing defect in how the glass was bonded to the body shell. Repaired in an afternoon in the workshop, under warranty.

Overall, very, very happy with the car and the service.

[LHRFlightman]

Hans_Gruber said:

greenarrow said:

On my trip from south coast to Manchester over the weekend I was stopped at Warwick Services and noticed there appear to be just 3 chargers for the general EV population and a second larger bank on one side for the Teslas, which weren't being fully used. All the chargers in front of the service area were in use. For me, this fact is still a major pull to Tesla if and when I make the jump to EV, which I have put off for now. The Tesla charging infrastructure is just so superior.

I still quite like the idea of the basic RWD model, as the Dual Motor car is a fair chunk heavier and has more performance than I would trust myself with, but here's a question. How far, realistically, can you go on one charge during autumn, with outside temp of 7-10C and rain, so heater, lights, wipers on constantly, at a steady 70 MPH motorway cruise, mixed in with the usual motorway issues of accidents causing hold ups......?? Just trying to work out if Bournemouth to Manchester is possible without a top up (its 251 miles)

There is another way of looking at this. It takes about 20 mins to charge from 10% to 70% and 70% gives you over 200 miles range. (Mine is a LR) A Tesla will navigate from one charger to another, telling you how many stalls are available and what facilities are close by. In 14 months and 25k miles ive never come across a stall that doesn’t work and never had to wait.

After that long in the car, in that 20 mins, someone in the car tends to need the toilet / a coffee or happy to watch YouTube/Netflix on the screen. Would be the same in an ICE car.

I sometimes forget to charge overnight - and don’t care. I’d happily travel any distance, it’s not a problem.

It’s interesting that many companies are buying the tesla supercharger for their own network, I suspect because not only is it reliable but it’s also able to communicate its status to a central network

Edited by Hans_Gruber on Tuesday 14th November 09:35

Hans is spot on here. My SR+ is telling me I'd need a 15m stop to get to Manchester Airport with 16% battery remaining. That's leaving right now.

Personally, I'd not do a 4hr drive without a coffee stop anyway so it's no inconvenience.