1 YO Model Y, dual motor, extended range. Went to a retirement party BBQ for my former boss, was talking with a former coworker who retired some time ago and he said guess what he has a Tesla. Told him I've never even sat in one, he said come on then. He had me get in driver side, then explained the screens and about the regenerative braking then said put on your seat belt lets go for a ride. Had to do a 3 point turn to get going in the right direction, he said don't worry it won't let you hit anything. Really? Got going up the street and played with the pedal to get a feel for the 1 pedal driving deal. Interesting. Got onto the highway and he said get on it, I gave it some pedal and it took off and he said no, floor it, so I did. Now I know what everyone talks about. Let off around 60 and it was still pulling HARD. Took 7 miles off the range in a couple of seconds. Best automotive parlor trick ever. Can't imagine what Ludicrous mode feels like. There probably aren't many $49k (-$7500) cars much less SUVs that can launch like that if that's your thing.
So drove it a couple of miles down the road then back. He said hit it again but there was no need. I asked him about the car, did he like it, did he have range anxiety, has it had any problems...he likes it pretty well overall but after a year still some things he doesn't like. The glass roof is just too hot here in Arizona so he got a sunshade and still too hot so got some of that silver insulating sheet that's used on water heaters put between the glass roof and sunshade and that fixed that. Some things in the operating sequences in the different screens he doesn't like. He just had it to Tesla in Phx and had a faulty computer replaced and now the screens are different so he has to get used to how to operate some things again. He took a trip to California and the range dropped so fast in the heat while running the AC and seat coolers he almost ran out of battery and had to detour through a sketch part of a town to get to the closest charger with 2% remaining charge. You start a trip and it shows you your stops at chargers but recalculates as it goes. So he does worry about range. That was learning curve mistake. Also on return from a California trip he pulled off to charge and it wouldn't take a charge at all. It was hot but other Teslas were charging so he had to call Tesla and it was rollbacked to a service center where they couldn't duplicate the problem, it charged up. This required an overnight stay in a motel for 4 people. Something about the battery cooler wasn't set correctly or something so it was too hot to charge. He really likes the safety features (nanny stuff), says as he gets older he needs all the help he can get. He had to ask another Tesla owner at a charger once how to adjust the mirrors, he couldn't find the right screen. Still had to hunt for it to show me. Maybe you just say Hey Tesla adjust mirrors?
I looked it over and didn't see any fit/finish problems that people talk about. The interior is kinda plain. After a less than 10 minute drive I can't say I love it or hate it. I think we could get along with one fine but an EV doesn't fit our needs right now. There's probably a point where you'd just age out of being able to understand how to use it unless you're a computer geek. Glad I drove it but didn't move the needle for me either way.
