Car is exactly a year old now.
1 year, 12,600 miles. Tesla Model S 90D
Have been posting bits and pieces here and there based on queries from friends. So thought about putting it all together in one place.
We got one of the first cars after Tesla moved to Hardware 2. So when we took delivery, there was hardly any automation as the software was not mature enough on the new hardware platform. No cruise, no emergency brakes, etc. They were all added slowly with over the air software updates and have been getting better with each update. Most of the Autosteer opinions posted below are based on today's status.
Drive: Nothing like it. Even without the ludicrous mode, it is more that fast. Instant torque of the electric motor is hard to beat. Stops on a dime too. There is much more acceleration and braking than you will ever need on a normal day. Turns are easy, turning radius is very good. Switching lanes is a breeze. Autosteer works great on both highways and jammed city roads. Exactly where you need a break. Whisper quite when the road is nice. Not that great on bumpy roads.
Maintenance: one wiper blade replaced. wiper fluid topped off couple times. Tire air pressure topped off couple times. That's about it. Annual checkup is due now. Costs about $500.
Road Trips: Full charge range is about 300 miles. Trips do need some upfront planning with respect to charging stops. Once you plan meal stops and night halt along the supercharger network, there is almost no difference from a gas car. Charges up by the time you finish a meal / around half an hour. Definitely cannot do a fast food drive through and gas station dash! Our standard protocol has been to decide where we are eating the next meal, drop one parent and kids off at the restaurant, other parent plugs the car in, walks back to restaurant. Reverse the whole process at the end of the meal :) Works very well! Car would have enough charge to drive 3-4 hours till next meal unless one of the kids (or both) drank too much soda and have to take a potty break!
Have seen supercharging rates close to 400 miles per hour. Requires some tame driving unlike daily city driving. Quick accelerations drain the battery. But then, usually the car is driving on the highways and behaves very well. Above 80 mph also seems to significantly reduce range. Car does warn and suggest the correct speed to reach your next supercharger if you are using too much charge. Once autosteer is engaged, it pretty much stays in lane on the highways. Supercharging is extremely fast till about 200 miles range. Then it slows down. With around 250 miles charge, you can easily drive 3+ hours / 200 miles and take the next break. Very little fatigue at the end of the day. You are only driving the little bits when getting off and on highways.
Home Charging: NEMA wall plug installed. Charges at about 30 miles per hour. If you commute a 100 miles a day, that is just about 3 hours of overnight charging. Charge has never been an issue at all in day to day use. Even if we forget to plug in for a couple days, still has enough charge to run another day. I tried to compare 2016 and 2017 electric bills, but due to a huge drop in prices with our 2017 energy provider (wind energy by the way - Texas is now 15% wind powered!), bills were actually 60% lower in 2017 even with the car charging! Have no idea on meter readings for 2016 and cannot compare.
Fit & Finish: This is the only place you can poke holes at Tesla. The interior furnishings compare for a car about half the price. So those waiting for Model 3 should also expect kind of the same. It's spartan anyway. All controls are on the touchscreen (which is kinda cool coz you actually get new controls in some software updates). Body panels do not align perfectly. Car looks great from 3 feet away. But get closer with a discerning eye and you can find the gaps. Door beading also seem to be wearing real quick with just 2 kids stepping on them for a year.
Auto Pilot: Most cars today are catching up to where Tesla has been for some time. Which is staying in a lane (autosteer) with adaptive cruise control. The car does have 8 cameras around it and Tesla has been getting real driving data from all their cars for quite a long time now. So they do have a huge lead going to higher levels of autonomous driving. As of now, we engage it most in daily commute traffic and pretty much always on highways. Construction zones on highways are iffy.
With the few flaws, we still LOVE the car. It's been exactly what we expected when we signed up for it...and without engine vibrations and moving parts, don't see why the 12,600 miles can easily become 200,000 ....:)
1 year, 12,600 miles. Tesla Model S 90D
Have been posting bits and pieces here and there based on queries from friends. So thought about putting it all together in one place.
We got one of the first cars after Tesla moved to Hardware 2. So when we took delivery, there was hardly any automation as the software was not mature enough on the new hardware platform. No cruise, no emergency brakes, etc. They were all added slowly with over the air software updates and have been getting better with each update. Most of the Autosteer opinions posted below are based on today's status.
Drive: Nothing like it. Even without the ludicrous mode, it is more that fast. Instant torque of the electric motor is hard to beat. Stops on a dime too. There is much more acceleration and braking than you will ever need on a normal day. Turns are easy, turning radius is very good. Switching lanes is a breeze. Autosteer works great on both highways and jammed city roads. Exactly where you need a break. Whisper quite when the road is nice. Not that great on bumpy roads.
Maintenance: one wiper blade replaced. wiper fluid topped off couple times. Tire air pressure topped off couple times. That's about it. Annual checkup is due now. Costs about $500.
Road Trips: Full charge range is about 300 miles. Trips do need some upfront planning with respect to charging stops. Once you plan meal stops and night halt along the supercharger network, there is almost no difference from a gas car. Charges up by the time you finish a meal / around half an hour. Definitely cannot do a fast food drive through and gas station dash! Our standard protocol has been to decide where we are eating the next meal, drop one parent and kids off at the restaurant, other parent plugs the car in, walks back to restaurant. Reverse the whole process at the end of the meal :) Works very well! Car would have enough charge to drive 3-4 hours till next meal unless one of the kids (or both) drank too much soda and have to take a potty break!
Have seen supercharging rates close to 400 miles per hour. Requires some tame driving unlike daily city driving. Quick accelerations drain the battery. But then, usually the car is driving on the highways and behaves very well. Above 80 mph also seems to significantly reduce range. Car does warn and suggest the correct speed to reach your next supercharger if you are using too much charge. Once autosteer is engaged, it pretty much stays in lane on the highways. Supercharging is extremely fast till about 200 miles range. Then it slows down. With around 250 miles charge, you can easily drive 3+ hours / 200 miles and take the next break. Very little fatigue at the end of the day. You are only driving the little bits when getting off and on highways.
Home Charging: NEMA wall plug installed. Charges at about 30 miles per hour. If you commute a 100 miles a day, that is just about 3 hours of overnight charging. Charge has never been an issue at all in day to day use. Even if we forget to plug in for a couple days, still has enough charge to run another day. I tried to compare 2016 and 2017 electric bills, but due to a huge drop in prices with our 2017 energy provider (wind energy by the way - Texas is now 15% wind powered!), bills were actually 60% lower in 2017 even with the car charging! Have no idea on meter readings for 2016 and cannot compare.
Fit & Finish: This is the only place you can poke holes at Tesla. The interior furnishings compare for a car about half the price. So those waiting for Model 3 should also expect kind of the same. It's spartan anyway. All controls are on the touchscreen (which is kinda cool coz you actually get new controls in some software updates). Body panels do not align perfectly. Car looks great from 3 feet away. But get closer with a discerning eye and you can find the gaps. Door beading also seem to be wearing real quick with just 2 kids stepping on them for a year.
Auto Pilot: Most cars today are catching up to where Tesla has been for some time. Which is staying in a lane (autosteer) with adaptive cruise control. The car does have 8 cameras around it and Tesla has been getting real driving data from all their cars for quite a long time now. So they do have a huge lead going to higher levels of autonomous driving. As of now, we engage it most in daily commute traffic and pretty much always on highways. Construction zones on highways are iffy.
With the few flaws, we still LOVE the car. It's been exactly what we expected when we signed up for it...and without engine vibrations and moving parts, don't see why the 12,600 miles can easily become 200,000 ....:)
