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I've had a model 3 for almost 2 years, I consider the autopilot a toy. Superchargers are a huge advantage today, Tesla may partner with others to open their ne

by sliken 5y ago

I've had a model 3 for almost 2 years, I consider the autopilot a toy. Superchargers are a huge advantage today, Tesla may partner with others to open their network, but they are going to charge, so it's far from apparent which cars will have access. Status symbol, could care less. My previous cars were an Acura GSR (somewhat legendary when it came out for how ugly it was), Subaru WRX (quick, but ugly), forester (even uglier). I was shopping for something quick, fun, and RWD or AWD. Considered Golf R, Ford Focus RS, Subaru WRX/STI, various BMWs (1 series, 2 series, x1, m235i, etc), and Teslas. Luxury ride. I've a Model 3P, 0-60 in 3 seconds, decent lap times at various tracks, and pretty competitive with today's semi-exotic rear engine corvette (0-60 in 2.9 seconds), and will beat quite a few of the corvette's on the road today in a 0-60. Not going to hang on a track with a new rear engine corvette. But way more practical, even pretty large costco trips can fit in a model 3 easily. Driving cross country with a kid, dog, and partner works well. I cross shopped BMWs and model 3's. Ended up with the Telsa because of it delivering performance similar to some of the fastest BMWs (M3, m235i, etc), and the practicalities of a their larger/slower cars like the 335/x3. Without all the maze of expensive upgrades that BMW plays. Things like intentionally degrading the standard headlights to be significantly worse than a prius unless you pay a few $k for the good headlights. You know it's bad when the NHTSA has to embarass BMW and deny them the safety ratings until fixed. Seats that you have to pay for to fold down or have a ski passthru. Not to mention the new "wonder" 4 cyclinders (2 liter ish, turbo, 16v, etc) are getting pretty famous for exploding and leaving behind $30k engine repairs and BMW significantly shortening their engine warranties on their CPO cars. I admit the giant touch screen was a turnoff at first, but now that I'm used to a giant map with working pinch/zoom and as responsive as a decent phone. I recently sat in a late modem 3 series and was pretty disappointed with the map/nav/entertainment system. It's really nice to have a giant responsive map (or sat mode if you prefer) built in. I'd much rather have that then a standard cockpit with a tiny map screen, often with the old/slow/gross capacitive touch screens that don't even allow pinch/zoom.

throwaway4220 5y ago
i think you’re conflating luxury with performance and practicality. Parent probably means things like smoothness of ride, seat quality and feel, sturdiness of dashboard etc.
HWR_14 5y ago
> Luxury ride. I've a Model 3P, 0-60 in 3 seconds, decent lap times at various tracks, and pretty competitive with today's semi-exotic rear engine corvette (0-60 in 2.9 seconds), and will beat quite a few of the corvette's on the road today in a 0-60. Performance isn't luxury. I've seen plenty of powerful cheap cars. I mean the look/feel of being in there. The Tesla is fine, but a nice car feels good, not fine, to be in. But yeah, I expect good performance from any EV. > Driving cross country with a kid, dog, and partner works well. Except for the need to stop at superchargers along the way and wait. How did you manage to choose the one use case that Teslas (and all EVs) manage to be worst at? As for opening their supercharger network, Musk announced it would be to any car that could plug in (with an adapter they plan to sell), if the drivers downloaded the Tesla app. Meanwhile, I'm surprised people use any built in map/nav/entertainment system. I have a phone and a tablet. Why would I want a second rate experience baked into a large purchase? Like "look at the quality of the tablet permanently mounted into this wall" isn't a selling point to me for a house.
- sliken 5y ago
  Long term travel is no big deal. I plugin at home, so I always have a full battery when leaving, instead of the normal refuel at the beginning of long trips. My car charges at 550 mph when low. So we drive for 3.5 hours or so, everyone gets out to stretch their legs, grab a snack, potty the dog, and meet back in the car. Sure sometimes we end up waiting an extra 10-15 minutes waiting for a charge, just not a big deal. Especially when over a normal year I skip 50-100 trips to a gas station. It's really nice to wake up in the morning and know that unless I'm driving for 5 hours or more I just don't have to worry about it. I'm a fan of the latest/greatest phones, I have a Pixel 6 Pro on order. But when driving I find it MUCH nicer to have a 15" display always showing the current map than to have some tiny phone clipped to my dashboard or windshield. I wouldn't call it second rate at all. Phone calls, voice recognition, etc works great in my Tesla. Having moved to a new city recently, I've really appreciated the nav. One big difference is many other cars have a nav system that feels over a decade out of date from day 1. So they age really poorly.

by sliken 5y ago

throwaway4220 5y ago

i think you’re conflating luxury with performance and practicality. Parent probably means things like smoothness of ride, seat quality and feel, sturdiness of dashboard etc.

HWR_14 5y ago

> Luxury ride. I've a Model 3P, 0-60 in 3 seconds, decent lap times at various tracks, and pretty competitive with today's semi-exotic rear engine corvette (0-60 in 2.9 seconds), and will beat quite a few of the corvette's on the road today in a 0-60. Performance isn't luxury. I've seen plenty of powerful cheap cars. I mean the look/feel of being in there. The Tesla is fine, but a nice car feels good, not fine, to be in. But yeah, I expect good performance from any EV. > Driving cross country with a kid, dog, and partner works well. Except for the need to stop at superchargers along the way and wait. How did you manage to choose the one use case that Teslas (and all EVs) manage to be worst at? As for opening their supercharger network, Musk announced it would be to any car that could plug in (with an adapter they plan to sell), if the drivers downloaded the Tesla app. Meanwhile, I'm surprised people use any built in map/nav/entertainment system. I have a phone and a tablet. Why would I want a second rate experience baked into a large purchase? Like "look at the quality of the tablet permanently mounted into this wall" isn't a selling point to me for a house.

sliken 5y ago
Long term travel is no big deal. I plugin at home, so I always have a full battery when leaving, instead of the normal refuel at the beginning of long trips. My car charges at 550 mph when low. So we drive for 3.5 hours or so, everyone gets out to stretch their legs, grab a snack, potty the dog, and meet back in the car. Sure sometimes we end up waiting an extra 10-15 minutes waiting for a charge, just not a big deal. Especially when over a normal year I skip 50-100 trips to a gas station. It's really nice to wake up in the morning and know that unless I'm driving for 5 hours or more I just don't have to worry about it. I'm a fan of the latest/greatest phones, I have a Pixel 6 Pro on order. But when driving I find it MUCH nicer to have a 15" display always showing the current map than to have some tiny phone clipped to my dashboard or windshield. I wouldn't call it second rate at all. Phone calls, voice recognition, etc works great in my Tesla. Having moved to a new city recently, I've really appreciated the nav. One big difference is many other cars have a nav system that feels over a decade out of date from day 1. So they age really poorly.