Rode in a new Tesla last night

[Papa Bear]

A fellow gave me a ride home last night in his new Tesla. Pretty cool. Very quiet .. very powerful. Lots of accessories/toys. Like a PS3 on steroids with a motor. My BITOG dream came true to ride in a Tesla. I think I'll have more opportunities in the future

 

[leeharvey418]

Huh... so the police up there drive Teslas?

 

[Papa Bear]

Since I joined AA in 1989 the police have left me alone. Where are you in SE MI ?? I'm about 30 miles out of Windsor.

 

[Smcatub]

How'd the in interior fit and finish look in real life? I remember seeing exterior pictures of them and thinking they looked awesome. But the first time I saw one IRL on the street I was really disappointed. At first I thought it was a mid-2000's Buick that somebody had put a poorly done Maserati body kit on (a la the Fierro based Ferrari's of the 80's and 90's). I got sad when I realized that it was a Tesla

 

[Papa Bear]

Hopefully I see the car again tonight (or in a few days) and I'll give it a better look. The glitz of the dash display has my attention last night .. like a pin-ball game. It was cool as we walked up to the car that the door handles came out to be grabbed.

 

[d00df00d]

The interior is the car's Achilles' heel. It's nice enough to use, but you can just tell it's not at the level of its competitors. Fortunately, the rest of the car makes such a crushing amount of sense that it's still worth buying...

 

[440Magnum]

I love Teslas and the idea of EVs... but at least around my areas I'm pretty sick of some of the self-righteous owners and their "NOGAS" or "ZEROIL" ego license plates (the latter is at my office!), or "zero emission" window stickers. Great cars... too big a percentage of non-thinking owners. Sorry, the emission is just somewhere ELSE, and may be relatively small, but its not zero. In fact, given that 30+ percent of the local utility's power comes from coal generating plants, Teslas and Leafs are the only coal-fired cars on the road.

 

[d00df00d]

Indeed.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I have seat time in my Chiropractor's new Tesla. Smooth, quiet, powerful... it's everything I expected. But IMO the unbelievable weight and the combo of limited range and LONG charging times in normal homes is still a deal breaker. To me the most exciting thing is the relative simplicity and lack of servicing. We're on the right track, just a bit further to go yet...

 

[k24a4]

Dream bigger. A new Tesla could be within your grasp... 35k Tesla

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

I have seat time in my Chiropractor's new Tesla. Smooth, quiet, powerful... it's everything I expected. But IMO the unbelievable weight and the combo of limited range and LONG charging times in normal homes is still a deal breaker. To me the most exciting thing is the relative simplicity and lack of servicing. We're on the right track, just a bit further to go yet...

Musk's idea of standardizing a quick-change battery pack is actually pretty neat. Pull into a pack-swap station, old pack out and off to the charging bay, new one with a full charge installed in under 5 minutes, just like swapping the pack in your cordless drill. The deal-breaker for me is that while I can see him getting enough of those stations set up along the interstates so you can probably get a pack in Flagstaff on I-40, I like driving the back roads and it'll be quite a while before you find an EV pack-swap station in Kayenta, AZ... :-/

 

[quint]

My friend just picked up his new Tesla two weeks ago and let me drive it about 10 miles. He is bringing his Jag over this afternoon for some brake work, I'm going to try to worm another Tesla "test drive" out of him as payment.... Overall fit and finish appeared pretty decent. To go 0-60 that quickly in almost complete silence was strange to say the least, but in a very good way. The regenerative braking takes some getting used to (its adjustable). The car definitely has some mass to it, but doesnt necessarily feel that way, I've driven smaller cars that felt bulkier. The smooth silence of the instant torque makes up for it. Slap the pedal down and it just gets up and GOES, like right now. Overall, I found it to be a very impressive car. He had the charging jack installed in his garage, and his charge times arent bad at all. But if you get stuck out on the road somewhere after not paying attention and need to plug it into a regular household plug to get home, you wont need a clock, you'll need a calender....

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

But IMO the unbelievable weight and the combo of limited range and LONG charging times in normal homes is still a deal breaker.

I can see your argument on charging times. My only counterpoint is that 99% of people will never need to do more than plug their cars in when they get home and they'll be fine. Moreover, with the money you save annually on fuel, you could rent a car for your occasional road trip and still come out ahead... On your point about mass, normally I am EXTREMELY sympathetic to this kind of argument as I think even my 3060 lb car is too heavy. I think the Model S clearly deserves to be an exception. It goes, turns, and stops better than anything short of a Panamera GTS, even tire-for-tire.

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

To me the most exciting thing is the relative simplicity and lack of servicing. We're on the right track, just a bit further to go yet...

Good call. The Model S could be perfect in a second generation...

 

[Mykl]

Here's looking forward to Tesla successfully creating "down" market products. I'll happily take an inexpensive EV for my daily vehicle duties if it comes with a range of 150+ miles on a single charge with reasonable battery service rates.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

I have seat time in my Chiropractor's new Tesla. Smooth, quiet, powerful... it's everything I expected. But IMO the unbelievable weight and the combo of limited range and LONG charging times in normal homes is still a deal breaker. To me the most exciting thing is the relative simplicity and lack of servicing. We're on the right track, just a bit further to go yet...

Musk's idea of standardizing a quick-change battery pack is actually pretty neat. Pull into a pack-swap station, old pack out and off to the charging bay, new one with a full charge installed in under 5 minutes, just like swapping the pack in your cordless drill. The deal-breaker for me is that while I can see him getting enough of those stations set up along the interstates so you can probably get a pack in Flagstaff on I-40, I like driving the back roads and it'll be quite a while before you find an EV pack-swap station in Kayenta, AZ... :-/

Just remember, the article I read said specifically that you must somehow get the ORIGINAL pack back in your car or you pay dearly. Not at all sure how that works yet!

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

But IMO the unbelievable weight and the combo of limited range and LONG charging times in normal homes is still a deal breaker.

I can see your argument on charging times. My only counterpoint is that 99% of people will never need to do more than plug their cars in when they get home and they'll be fine. Moreover, with the money you save annually on fuel, you could rent a car for your occasional road trip and still come out ahead... On your point about mass, normally I am EXTREMELY sympathetic to this kind of argument as I think even my 3060 lb car is too heavy. I think the Model S clearly deserves to be an exception. It goes, turns, and stops better than anything short of a Panamera GTS, even tire-for-tire.

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

To me the most exciting thing is the relative simplicity and lack of servicing. We're on the right track, just a bit further to go yet...

Good call. The Model S could be perfect in a second generation...

Despite the superb dynamics you simply cannot cheat physics. 4800 pounds empty is staggeringly heavy IMO, and my car weighs too much as well. You pay every day for all that weight. It eats tires, brakes (not so bad with regen), suspension parts, etc. And it especially harms you in transient responses (where that RX-8 of yours excels). Still, I really do think it's one great first effort. Can't wait to see something else...

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

Despite the superb dynamics you simply cannot cheat physics. 4800 pounds empty is staggeringly heavy IMO, and my car weighs too much as well. You pay every day for all that weight. It eats tires, brakes (not so bad with regen), suspension parts, etc. And it especially harms you in transient responses (where that RX-8 of yours excels). Still, I really do think it's one great first effort. Can't wait to see something else...

The overall weight matters for all the reasons you've mentioned, but isn't all that weight really low on this car? A low center of gravity doesn't change the fact that all that weight is there, but it certainly helps with handling.

 

[Merkava_4]

Papa Bear, did you ride in the Roadster, or the Model S ?

 

[Papa Bear]

model S, a 4 door

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

Still, I really do think it's one great first effort. Can't wait to see something else...

Agreed. I think it's actually an AMAZING first effort. No one to copy from, in house design, engineering, tiny infrastructure, tiny budget, competent product. I can really appreciate what Musk and his company have done. If this is their first effort, this company has some outstanding potential. Let's hope they don't get corrupted too fast.