Tell me what you like and dislike about driving a Tesla automobile

In My Humble Opinion
41

I resemble that remark.

Tesla really, really, needs an engineering office in Minnesota. The Bay area is just not a good place for winter testing. The wipers are the biggest problem. There is no engine heat to melt the ice off the wipers, so I’ve had situations where the wipers are just dragging blocks of ice across the window. I’ve had to stop and clean them off. That’s always only been on short drives in snow storms, where the outside of the windshield doesn’t have time to warm up.

There are defrost wires in the windshield in front of the cameras, so that part up at the top stays clear. Tesla needs to add defrost wires under the wipers, like on some Subarus.

Yes, when Tesla the corporation is working well, the interactions are fantastic. Other times it can be horrible.

Getting service through the app can be great.

I’m getting an error message that says “the frotz is broken, contact service”.
Tap the “Service” button in the app. It might even say “is this about the frotz?” if not, go through the menu to the problem area.
Schedule an appointment for mobile service or at a service center (the app will decide what you can do).
A few days before the service a text message from the service advisor will show up in the app, “we will repair the frotz under warranty, the part has already been ordered.”
Answer back, “will a loaner car be available?”
Then make arrangements as necessary to drop off the car.
When service is done, there will be a message “your car is charging in space 15, the key card is locked inside so be sure to bring your phone or other key card. Pick it up anytime your ready.”

How many other places will return your car from service with a full tank?

I’ve not had any really bad interactions, but have definitely read about them. There is nobody to call. You can find a phone number, but it’s just going to be a phone tree with no path to a human. The best solution is usually to go to a service center and get in someone’s face, but the nearest one might be far away, and they’re likely very busy and won’t have time to deal with you.

42

Just after we put our deposit on a Tesla, we went to the movies. I hung out at the exit door while she used the bathroom. I counted 7 people try to use a door that had a big sign on it: “Do not use this door” right at eye level. They seemed shocked THEN read the sign.

So yeah, I don’t trust that using Pet Mode warning will stop the window from being smashed.

43

44

In college, my roommate (who was also the RA) came back drunk to the room holding a piece of paper.

“What’s that, Shaun?”

“I found it on the door.” He then carefully read it out loud - “Please Use Other Door”

45

We have a Chevy Bolt and a Tesla Model 3.

The single best thing is one-pedal driving, which means one don’t need to use the mechanical (thermal) brakes at all. The speed is directly controlled by the accelerator pedal, pushing more is faster, pushing less is slower, releasing entirely will bring the car to a stop. Slightly different between the two cars. The Bolt will reach a stop quicker than the Model 3, with the use of a paddle on the steering wheel that vastly increases the regen brakes. But the Bolt cannot hold a stop with regen brakes alone; the mechanically brakes have to be engaged when at a complete stop. The Tesla can maintain a stop without pressing the brake pedal.

Energy costs are the second best thing. Eliding over all the details, the Bolt and Model 3 have a marginal cost of less than $0.02 per mile. About the same as the marginal cost for the tires. Our Lexus hybrid costs about $0.20 per mile.

Lack of engine noise is great. One forgets how loud engined cars are. Listening to other people or something playing on the sound system is so much better. Still have to deal with tire noise, though.

The lack of shifting gears is great. The electric cars smoothly accelerate under all conditions. Even from a stop. This is also a part of the lower noise.

Not having to worry about going to the gas station. Simply plug in every night. Maybe not everyone has the luxury of their own personal car recharger, but we do and it is good.

Range anxiety. If we stay within L.A. county, we don’t even think about it. L.A. county is big and has everything except Disneyland, so not a problem. We only charge up to 80% battery capacity, to extend their lifetime. For going farther, we’ll do the full charge, and figure out if we need to destination charge or not. Depends on the details–going up into the mountains complicates things; you’ll get the elevation energy back when coming home, but the battery can’t go below 0%.

Biggest drawback is cargo space. The Bolt’s cargo area is smaller volume than a Costco cart (ask me how I know :wink: ). The Model 3 has more space, but not enough for a family on a week-long trip.

Problems specific to the Model 3: the cruise control is barely useable. The Bolt cruise control maintains the speed, no questions asked; I can trust it. The Model 3 has trouble with shadows on the road, cars in adjacent lanes (including parked cars), pedestrians milling at the corner. So I can’t trust it to maintain speed, I have to think about how the car is going to react. Although my Bolt did react poorly to a motorcycle once, when it somehow triggered the Bolt’s pedestrian sensor. But that’s once ever vs daily problems with the Tesla’s cruise control. (Okay, not really daily anymore, because I seldom use it.)

46

Oh, one more complaint specific to Tesla: does not support Apple CarPlay. First reason this matters is the Tesla navigation isn’t as good as the Waze app. Tesla nav doesn’t show crashes and other closures as timely as Waze does. Tesla nav doesn’t handle multi-complex intersections as well. Things like several closely-spaced intersections, where you need to take the second of four left turns, it won’t clearly state which left you need to take.

I also notice it is not updated well. Several locations near me have the wrong name. Several roads have the wrong speed limit. Waze, which uses the Google backend, is always up to date.

Second reason is the Tesla voice recognition is poor, especially for names. Any name that’s not a common American name seems to confound it. My mom has a compound name; not understood. Any of my Korean family or friends are impossible for it. But Apple Siri does not have trouble with any of these.

Third reason is there’s no easy access to Siri while driving the Tesla. With CarPlay, I can ask Siri to play whatever song or album or podcast I like. I can ask Tesla, but it only tries it’s own Tesla service (which I don’t subscribe to), refusing to use Apple’s (which I do).

47

I’m going to guess it doesn’t support Android Auto, either. Another mark against Tesla as I vaguely begin to shop for my next vehicle.

48

Now that I’ve read the thread, I see @Heracles mentioned that.

Oh, a very minor issue, but still one that irks me: there’s no easy way to blink the headlights. Flashing them (quickly switching between low and high) is easy enough. But blinking them (quickly switching between on and off) is impossible. I know it’s not common in some parts of the country, but where I grew up that’s the standard way to indicate that you’re yielding or otherwise letting someone in front or around you. Most often to let a large truck know there’s plenty of space in front of you for him to go into. This probably adds to the general perception than Tesla drivers are jerks.

And one more irksome issue: the hazard light toggle is way up high above the rearview mirror. It really needs to be someplace easier to reach, like the center console or on the wheel. Takes too much hand and eye time to toggle it.

And that reminds me of yet another issue: pressing the center of the wheel does not sound the horn. What are they thinking? You have to press specific spots away from the center to sound the horn.

These three minor safety issues are only minor, but it points to a cultural problem among the Tesla designers. They seem to be focusing on giving the car the smarts to be safe, but not giving the driver the standard tools used to stay safe. I feel safer driving the Bolt.

Note that I like Tesla cars and certainly endorse buying one. I’m never buying a non-electric car again, but I don’t have any particular loyalty to Tesla as a brand.

49

You have probably already figured this out but this is solved by adding something recognizable to the name in the address book. Just list her as Mother or something. I had to do this years ago back when the regular cell phone voice rec wasn’t as good.

50

Another thing I thought about this weekend that I really like about Tesla:

You can set it to automatically retract the side mirrors at a certain location (in my case, right before I enter my garage). It also opens and closes the garage door upon approach and departure. I think you can also use GPS location to adjust suspension height, so if you have a need to be a little higher as you enter your office parking lot, you can set that to happen automatically.
(none of these things require an EV, but our Tesla is the only car I’ve ever had that does them)

51

I haven’t thoroughly tested it, but it seems like the Tesla will also retract the mirrors if it feels it’s too close to another parked car.

52

Depends on what you need out of it, though. The integration of Superchargers into the navigation is a pretty key element. The built-in nav tells you where the Superchargers are, how occupied they are, and the charging speed. If you plan out a route, it’ll tell you where to stop and what your charge level will be when you get there.

I did have a recent issue where the Tesla nav simply couldn’t find a route to a given spot. I had to use my phone as a backup, though it was only marginally better and kept sending me on weird roads. Eventually I gave up and used the old Mark I brain.

53

I thought cruise control was for highways, not city streets. I’m not surprised you have issues under those conditions.

54

How do you do this normally just to turn them on or off? Is it on the screen only?

55

Yeah, screen only, though honestly I couldn’t tell you where. The lights were set to auto mode when I bought it and haven’t touched it since.

Brights work normally; just pull back on the left stalk.

56

Autopilot and Full Self-Driving both work on city streets, except of course occasions where the computer gets confused. The car will slow down until it determines the dangerous situation has been avoided, something that deeply irritates the drivers behind you.

57

Thanks. I got hung up on the term “cruise control” which I thought must be a different feature than Autopilot or Full Self-Driving.

58

I drove my mom’s Tesla for a few hours once on a road trip, and maybe one or two other times. The way the car would “brake” just by taking my foot off the gas was something I got used to, but knowing the brake lights weren’t on made me nervous. I liked not using gas, but found the multiple lengthy stops to recharge en route to be problematic. One thing I really, unambiguously liked was the lumbar support in the driver’s seat. There’s been a trend toward making car seats less comfortable by pitching the headrest forward for some stupid reason like it reduces the number of crash test dummies that get their heads snapped off or something, and it’s sucking a lot of the pleasure out of long recreational drives. But that Tesla seat, man. I want a recliner that’s basically one of those on a post with a foot rest.

59

That’s not true. It does turn on the brake lights at a certain level of deceleration. If you very gently let off the accelerator (like coasting in an ICE), they won’t be turned on, but they will for any reasonable level of deceleration.

60

… and you know it’s happening because the little rendering of the car on the display turns its virtual brake lights on too.