Tesla Launch

[kal_ay]

https://youtu.be/jwtATsAlx2A

[tintin]

The driver was 5 ( FIVE! ) times over the limit (reg plate starts with ST16, read into that what you will...).

Astonishing that it vaulted the 8 ft+ embankment and then cleared the Merc, before landing where it did. Not on Autopilot - though lots of very, very funny AP related puns on the Tesla forum - no-one seriously hurt, apparently...

[M-A8]

Please don't eat me alive, but this is my perfect scenario for a good laugh:
electric car writing off a diesel, I don't like diesels unless they power up a farming equipment and electric, well, my beard trimmer is electric

FYI, what people drive is not my business and I would not criticise any one for owning either of the cars, unless they are my good friends where banter will always flow always around the type of the engine each time we talk about cars or want to wind up each other

Tesla do looks better than a diesel Merc tho and acceleration is very impressive, shame you can't hear it

Will I regret this post? Time will tell

[tintin]

Originally Posted by M-A8

Will I regret this post? Time will tell

Yup...

Also, fyi, here's a US road test of not one, but two, EVs - the Tesla (discontinued) S60 and the new Chevrolet Bolt - which won't be coming to the UK

[M-A8]

Originally Posted by tintin

Yup...

Also, fyi, here's a US road test of not one, but two, EVs - the Tesla (discontinued) S60 and the new Chevrolet Bolt - which won't be coming to the UK

Let me try to score some points back based on my honesty.
I do like the colour of your ''beard trimmer''

[HPsauce]

I will finally get a good drive of a Tesla in about 3 weeks time, having needed to get away from the Wales meet (last year) too early.

They're bringing some cars to a venue near Hatfield and I've got a 1-hour slot booked for a road test. I've gone for a fairly early one on the basis it will still be reasonably charged.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by M-A8

shame you can't hear it

Interesting that my mate travelling with us today observed on the way back that my D2 S8 was as quiet inside, if not quieter, than the Tesla, unless I was gratuitously using the loud pedal for pleasure!

[Goran]

what a coincidence me too! I had my test drive on Monday in Bluewater. They let me drive a 90D with black leather interior. I got a decent drive of it at least 20mins.
I was very impressed by the driving dynamics. The car is very quick, acceleration, whilst not the same as the P90D the rep took us in at the A8 meet, was impressive. It feels so much more punchy than I remember the RS6 being, even though ultimately the RS6 has greater acceleration above 30mph.
The steering in sports mode feels very smooth, not too light and responsive. This car was on normal springs (apparently air suspension is an option for all models except 'P')
Frankly I like the standard coil suspension a lot, its soft enough over bumps and holds corners well.
The model S is very smooth at slow speeds and in traffic, and I really like how with pedal modulation you almost dont need to use the brakes.
Inside it is comfortable, the seats are a lot more comfortable than I expected and I found I wouldnt miss the legendary D2 recaros.
The huge screen does annoy me, but when you are on the road concentrating on driving you do forget its there. The interior finish looks very good to me, perhaps not up to Audi standards but good enough for me.
I dislike the gimmicky door handles and sure enough they were glitchy and didnt work well, the rep mentioned he was aware this car had some door handle issues. For future models they desperately need to go back to normal door handles.

I tried the autopilot with cruise control, and the lane changes, it is very un-nerving and I personally would not use it because I love driving. It worked fine even when another car jumped into our gap forcing the autopilot to brake to preserve its programmed gap.

I mentioned to the rep that I like to driving holidays in Europe, to which he showed me the charging network map and route planning, which estimated 12 hours to get to the south of France, which is not much longer than in a petrol car. He may have been calculating from Calais as that does seem too short. Free travel on holiday sure is appealing. As long as the French toll roads are carefully avoided


All in all an amazing car, as soon as I can afford one I am getting one. I was all but set to get a C63 coupe, but the 90D is so thrilling to drive without all the maintenance hassle I am ditching the thought of getting the Merc.

[tintin]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

Done and dusted; interesting.

Driveability, roadholding etc. excellent. It felt very natural and I liked it with maximum regenerative braking.

Interior trim, fittings and other ergonomic issues - not so sure. And I've decided I really don't like the massive screen as the route to almost every control.

And a couple of specifics that Stephen (tintin) can maybe answer:
1. Seat memory. This didn't seem to be linkable to the key, you had to get in and select a user on the display. Given that SWMBO would leave the car with the seat such that I can't actually enter at all this is a BIG problem for us.
(Both our cars have seat memory that adjusts as you open the drivers door, corresponding to the key used to unlock)

2. Adaptive cruise on "give and take" roads. This seemed to be all or nothing with Autopilot, so on anything other than a motorway (or similar) with lane markings you don't get the benefit of setting a speed and slowing automatically if you catch up another vehicle.

And two additional annoyances:
A. Minor thing on cruise control. It seemed to "set" to the speed limit, whatever it is, rather than your current speed. Bit odd, but maybe you get used to it? Or can it be customised in settings?

B. Real PITA - no grab handles! With 4 up (SWMBO and a friend of mine plus Tesla man) passengers were thrown around a lot on the country roads we tested on.

And yes, I did take a turn in the back, where I found headroom quite limited and the higher than normal floor resulted in an uncomfortable seating position and nowhere to stretch your feet, though there's lots of kneeroom. I'm six foot but the SWMBO and my friend are both a lot shorter so didn't notice.
Also no centre armrest which the others noticed, probably highlighted by the lack of grab handles.
As we got back in the D2 my friend said "They could take some lessons on interior finishes by looking at this!".

Here's my comments Andrew
General - the more you drive it, the more natural and impressive it gets (including the screen) - and they're currently offering extended test drives for a week here - https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/drive-to...ve?redirect=no . I know very few people who don't fall for this car, if they seriously try one ,it's the only way to really get used to how different it is , though it'll never have as high quality an interior as an FE D2 S8 - will anything?

Specifics
1. Seat memory - you get two remotes, and i'm pretty sure you can link each to separate profiles (there's no logical reason why you couldn't...)
2. Autopilot/adaptive cruise - works the same way on any road, so the car will "adjust" relative to other cars as set by you, not just on motorways
A. Cruise speed - will be a factor of what you set it at, and what the Tesla "Borg" thinks is safe for that particular road.
Typical examples include:
(1) - Motorway - will allow you to set cruise/AP up to 90 mph, will abort AP above that speed,
(2) A road, NSL - will allow you to set, but slow you automatically if regarded as "unsafe" at set speed: typically this is c. 5% above the speed limit, but can be a % below that - e.g. on sharp bends or motorway slip roads: this is based on data built up by Tesla.
B. Grab handles - see A (2) - shouldn't be needed
C. Rear seat room. Did your demo car have dual (front and rear) sunroofs? These are much better for rear headroom. Centre armrest only on 4 seat "executive" model, which I think is discontinued now...

Originally Posted by Adrian E

I was out in the S5 a few weekends ago and someone in a Tesla came tanking up behind me off a roundabout - I'm guessing he works at the local dealership as he seemed to be in a mighty hurry!

That's sort of the point. I was in front of an (aggressively driven) RS6 a few months ago on a fairly winding, moderately busy, A road. Within 5 minutes he was 8 cars behind me

I don't have a driveway and there's limited charging infrastructure locally so we can't make that leap at the moment, but maybe in the next house we will.

99% of my charging is at Tesla Superchargers - in the worst area in the whole of England for Supercharger cover. Have a look on ZapMap (free phone app) - you may be surprised at amount and quality of charging infrastructure near you.

On the subject of range I go to an annual toy car race meeting in North Wales at Easter and there was a Swiss registered Tesla in attendance - so with planning it's definitely possible to do full on trips abroad.

North Wales is the pits for this, but even that is manageable - see ZapMap again

I saw an amazing number of Teslas in Dorset when I was last down there

Weekend holiday home Tesla owners

Originally Posted by Goran

what a coincidence me too! I had my test drive on Monday in Bluewater. They let me drive a 90D with black leather interior. I got a decent drive of it at least 20mins.
I was very impressed by the driving dynamics. The car is very quick, acceleration, whilst not the same as the P90D the rep took us in at the A8 meet, was impressive. It feels so much more punchy than I remember the RS6 being, even though ultimately the RS6 has greater acceleration above 30mph.
The steering in sports mode feels very smooth, not too light and responsive. This car was on normal springs (apparently air suspension is an option for all models except 'P')
Frankly I like the standard coil suspension a lot, its soft enough over bumps and holds corners well.
The model S is very smooth at slow speeds and in traffic, and I really like how with pedal modulation you almost dont need to use the brakes.
Inside it is comfortable, the seats are a lot more comfortable than I expected and I found I wouldnt miss the legendary D2 recaros.
The huge screen does annoy me, but when you are on the road concentrating on driving you do forget its there. The interior finish looks very good to me, perhaps not up to Audi standards but good enough for me.
I dislike the gimmicky door handles and sure enough they were glitchy and didnt work well, the rep mentioned he was aware this car had some door handle issues. For future models they desperately need to go back to normal door handles.

I tried the autopilot with cruise control, and the lane changes, it is very un-nerving and I personally would not use it because I love driving. It worked fine even when another car jumped into our gap forcing the autopilot to brake to preserve its programmed gap.

I mentioned to the rep that I like to driving holidays in Europe, to which he showed me the charging network map and route planning, which estimated 12 hours to get to the south of France, which is not much longer than in a petrol car. He may have been calculating from Calais as that does seem too short. Free travel on holiday sure is appealing. As long as the French toll roads are carefully avoided

All in all an amazing car, as soon as I can afford one I am getting one. I was all but set to get a C63 coupe, but the 90D is so thrilling to drive without all the maintenance hassle I am ditching the thought of getting the Merc.

90D is the best in the range in terms of value/performance - the updated version of mine . I've had both springs (loaner) and air - believe me, the latter is much, much better - exquisite ride/handling combination (Ian may comment here, he's driven mine...). Screen and fit/finish comments as above. Handles are functional (airflow) and practical too, once you get used to them - I've not had any problems with mine.

- and you don't have to use AP (in the same way that you don't have to use manual or sport on a S8...) It's a driver aid, and it's enabled me at least half a dozen time to make/complete long (350 mile +) trips in one day that I would have otherwise have had to stop over/wait till morning to do.
- and once you've bought it, all you need to pay for is tyres (if ordered before next year ...). Mine cost me £28 to run in the first year - saved me about £5k in cash on fuel alone

Hope this helps, and I'm glad you both got a chance to experience this - especially Andrew, who missed even getting in one at our 2015 meet...