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So HN Tesla owners, how happy are you with the car itself, not considering the ideas behind electric cars and what not, just with the car and driving experience

So HN Tesla owners, how happy are you with the car itself, not considering the ideas behind electric cars and what not, just with the car and driving experience and charging, worrying about running out of juice ...?

tlb 13y ago
It's fantastic. Best thing I've ever driven, regardless of environmental impact. It's silent and odorless, responds instantly and precisely, and it seats 5 adults + 2 kids comfortably. A niche benefit: I live in the mountains and it handles going down much better than gas cars, where you have to downshift and use engine braking to avoid burning the brakes. It uses 12 miles of range going up, and gains 4 back going down so the average is close to a flat road of the same distance.
- TallGuyShort 13y ago
  I'm curious about how it handles downhills. I would've thought that without engine braking you would have to rely exclusively on the brakes and would thus burn them up even more. Does the Tesla have another mechanism? Or just insanely efficient brakes?
  - furyg3 13y ago
    It has regenerative breaking, which is effectively 'engine breaking'. Engine breaking on an electric car puts electricity back into the batteries. The brakes you see in the photos are for breaking, hard (full stop, quick stop, racing).
    - Dylan16807 13y ago
      braking.
- laacz 13y ago
  5 adults + 2 kids comfortably? In a car with max 5 seatbelts?
  - nathanm412 13y ago
    It has connection points to fit rear facing child seats in the rear storage compartment. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7839&stc=1&d=1342467308 http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7...
    - BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
      1. Attach seats 2. Don't get rear-ended
      - chiph 13y ago
        It's almost certainly safer than the late 1960's station wagon we had when I was a child, with the backwards-facing seats in the cargo area. The rear crumple zone on it was everything behind the axle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siT-SIfOnQw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siT-SIfOnQw
  - curiousDog 13y ago
    I think you can attach two child seats to the back seat. Like so: http://oi55.tinypic.com/2qsxish.jpg http://oi55.tinypic.com/2qsxish.jpg
- Domenic_S 13y ago
  > it seats 5 adults + 2 kids comfortably Wait, it seats 7?
  - btilly 13y ago
    Elon Musk has 5 children. He therefore designed it so that his whole family can be in one.
    - Domenic_S 13y ago
      Holy cow, didn't realize there was a jump seat option: http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2013/03/our-tesla-model-s-gets-a-third-row-seat-and-now-seats-seven.html http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2013/03/our-tesla-model...
- mschaef 13y ago
  > it seats 5 adults + 2 kids comfortably. It can seat 7 at once???
- secabeen 13y ago
  Have you put kids in the back much? Based on their comfort and the space they take up, do you feel that the S is enough for a family car, or will the X better fill that niche?
  - DEinspanjer 13y ago
    My kids absolutely adore "the cave". They wave to people sometimes at red lights. ;) They won't be able to sit back there forever. My daughter probably has 2 years and my son maybe 4 or 5. When they are both done with the seats, we can have them removed and get even more trunk space. One thing that I ding Tesla a bit about... They don't tint the hatchback window the way they do the panoramic roof glass. This was a mistake as the back seats get hot in the direct sunlight and there isn't currently air conditioning vents back there. Enough owners have raised these concerns that I believe they will likely correct one or both of them in future revisions of the car, and we'll see if they make it one of the proposed hardware retrofits. In the interim, we had the back windows after-market tinted and the kids have no complaints.
    - nijk 13y ago
      What about the psychological health of a child growing up in first-class accommodations?
DEinspanjer 13y ago
Yeah, it is the most expensive car I've ever owned, and it is also the first car that I have ever truly loved. I enjoy every minute I am in it, and I can drive it around town doing errands and such without wasting gas which you can't do in some other very expensive luxury sedan or sports car.

tlb 13y ago

It's fantastic. Best thing I've ever driven, regardless of environmental impact. It's silent and odorless, responds instantly and precisely, and it seats 5 adults + 2 kids comfortably. A niche benefit: I live in the mountains and it handles going down much better than gas cars, where you have to downshift and use engine braking to avoid burning the brakes. It uses 12 miles of range going up, and gains 4 back going down so the average is close to a flat road of the same distance.

TallGuyShort 13y ago
I'm curious about how it handles downhills. I would've thought that without engine braking you would have to rely exclusively on the brakes and would thus burn them up even more. Does the Tesla have another mechanism? Or just insanely efficient brakes?
- furyg3 13y ago
  It has regenerative breaking, which is effectively 'engine breaking'. Engine breaking on an electric car puts electricity back into the batteries. The brakes you see in the photos are for breaking, hard (full stop, quick stop, racing).
  - Dylan16807 13y ago
    braking.
laacz 13y ago
5 adults + 2 kids comfortably? In a car with max 5 seatbelts?
- nathanm412 13y ago
  It has connection points to fit rear facing child seats in the rear storage compartment. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7839&stc=1&d=1342467308 http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7...
  - BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
    1. Attach seats 2. Don't get rear-ended
    - chiph 13y ago
      It's almost certainly safer than the late 1960's station wagon we had when I was a child, with the backwards-facing seats in the cargo area. The rear crumple zone on it was everything behind the axle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siT-SIfOnQw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siT-SIfOnQw
- curiousDog 13y ago
  I think you can attach two child seats to the back seat. Like so: http://oi55.tinypic.com/2qsxish.jpg http://oi55.tinypic.com/2qsxish.jpg
Domenic_S 13y ago
> it seats 5 adults + 2 kids comfortably Wait, it seats 7?
- btilly 13y ago
  Elon Musk has 5 children. He therefore designed it so that his whole family can be in one.
  - Domenic_S 13y ago
    Holy cow, didn't realize there was a jump seat option: http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2013/03/our-tesla-model-s-gets-a-third-row-seat-and-now-seats-seven.html http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2013/03/our-tesla-model...
mschaef 13y ago
> it seats 5 adults + 2 kids comfortably. It can seat 7 at once???
secabeen 13y ago
Have you put kids in the back much? Based on their comfort and the space they take up, do you feel that the S is enough for a family car, or will the X better fill that niche?
- DEinspanjer 13y ago
  My kids absolutely adore "the cave". They wave to people sometimes at red lights. ;) They won't be able to sit back there forever. My daughter probably has 2 years and my son maybe 4 or 5. When they are both done with the seats, we can have them removed and get even more trunk space. One thing that I ding Tesla a bit about... They don't tint the hatchback window the way they do the panoramic roof glass. This was a mistake as the back seats get hot in the direct sunlight and there isn't currently air conditioning vents back there. Enough owners have raised these concerns that I believe they will likely correct one or both of them in future revisions of the car, and we'll see if they make it one of the proposed hardware retrofits. In the interim, we had the back windows after-market tinted and the kids have no complaints.
  - nijk 13y ago
    What about the psychological health of a child growing up in first-class accommodations?

DEinspanjer 13y ago

Yeah, it is the most expensive car I've ever owned, and it is also the first car that I have ever truly loved. I enjoy every minute I am in it, and I can drive it around town doing errands and such without wasting gas which you can't do in some other very expensive luxury sedan or sports car.