Would You Drive An EV Tesla?

[decodeddiesel]

I drove that friends Tesla a couple of times. What a story about that car. It was a 2018 Model S Performance.

(Long story about his Tesla follows, but I learned a lot from the whole thing looking from the outside in)

My friend waited forever to take delivery of his Model S. Then when he finally got it nearly a year later there were some issues with the car. I don't remember specifics, but it took several weeks to resolve. He finally got it all sorted out and started driving it. He loved the car and wanted all of his friends to check it out.

My other buddy who got me into AutoX convinced him to take it to an AutoX. It did very well. Well long story short, my friend got hooked and took the car to a few more events. Unfortunately all of this ended up damaging the battery which was replaced under warranty.

After having the battery replaced and being without the car for several months he decided to take his family on a road trip from Denver to Disneyland. He spent days planning the route and charging points. They were on their second day of driving when I shit you not, a wheel came loose from a tractor trailer and slammed into his windshield with his wife in the passenger seat and his kids in the back!!!! It totaled the car, but everyone was okay. That was the end of his first Tesla. After all of the drama with the car and an errant wheel takes it out.

Driving Impressions:

The "one pedal" operation really threw me off at first, especially because my fun car at the time was a 987.1 Cayman with a 5 speed. Having the pedal pressed just to have the car keep moving forward was very weird.

The acceleration is obviously very different than any ICE. I've been in some very fast cars (legit 8-second at Bandimere Speedway) and they still don't feel like a Tesla. That's because even though the acceleration numbers are close, the rate of acceleration is different. There is no ramp up on an EV like there is on an ICE.

Handling is where the weight really becomes apparent. The car does it's best to hide the weight, but driving it while also regularly driving a Cayman made it seem like driving an overloaded dump truck. Even the V60 Polestar I was daily driving seemed light compared to the Tesla (I'm sure the Ohlins in the Volvo helped a lot).

One big concern about Telsa is I've now seen 3X different Teslas (including my friend) damage their batteries doing motorsports things. That's very concerning.

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[XtremeMaC]

I got BMW i4 e40 as a daily driver three weeks ago while still eligible for tax credit, the car is amazing, really great quality compared to Tesla 3 (except doors, my brother’s 15 year old xterra has softer closing doors), ride comfort is the best I ever experienced. Was looking at EV6 as wellbut dealer was asking for 3k markup and I could not justify paying 60k for Kia, it is a nice car but still Kia, outside and inside it feels a little bit flimsy compared to BMW.

Drove the i4 e40 a few weeks ago. It's really not at all different than a normal 4 series which is the idea i guess. Vehicle didn't have all packages but again it's the same shit. Dash was nice. Ample status stuff. Didn't really go into nav to see if it shows chargers or something.
I'll be fair. Didn't go to test drive with dragy but it felt extremely slow. Slower than my X6. Some vehicles are so well built even if you're making 200mph you don't feel it, but this wasn't the case.
I've signed up for i50 test drive with XM etc in August. Hopefully I'll get to try them and report.

 

[lucky phil]

I got BMW i4 e40 as a daily driver three weeks ago while still eligible for tax credit, the car is amazing, really great quality compared to Tesla 3 (except doors, my brother’s 15 year old xterra has softer closing doors), ride comfort is the best I ever experienced. Was looking at EV6 as wellbut dealer was asking for 3k markup and I could not justify paying 60k for Kia, it is a nice car but still Kia, outside and inside it feels a little bit flimsy compared to BMW.

I'm not surprised the thing weighs 2125KG! that's 622KG more than a manual Supra or 1371 pounds. That's like having a car with the driver and 7 passengers along for the ride wherever you go. Great for the sprung to unsprung weight ratio and hence the ride quality. There's a reason they don't shoot for light weight when designing limo's.
I'd drive an electric car myself...........if someone gave me one.
Phil

 

[zrk]

He spent days planning the route and charging points.

That was.. probably unnecessary. My Tesla just.. did that. You type in the address, and it maps to stops where needed.

 

[decodeddiesel]

That was.. probably unnecessary. My Tesla just.. did that. You type in the address, and it maps to stops where needed.

That's cool.

I think he was just being overly cautious because he was taking his kids across the desert and didn't want to take any chances.

 

[FLtrackdays]

I drove that friends Tesla a couple of times. What a story about that car. It was a 2018 Model S Performance.

(Long story about his Tesla follows, but I learned a lot from the whole thing looking from the outside in)

My friend waited forever to take delivery of his Model S. Then when he finally got it nearly a year later there were some issues with the car. I don't remember specifics, but it took several weeks to resolve. He finally got it all sorted out and started driving it. He loved the car and wanted all of his friends to check it out.

My other buddy who got me into AutoX convinced him to take it to an AutoX. It did very well. Well long story short, my friend got hooked and took the car to a few more events. Unfortunately all of this ended up damaging the battery which was replaced under warranty.

After having the battery replaced and being without the car for several months he decided to take his family on a road trip from Denver to Disneyland. He spent days planning the route and charging points. They were on their second day of driving when I shit you not, a wheel came loose from a tractor trailer and slammed into his windshield with his wife in the passenger seat and his kids in the back!!!! It totaled the car, but everyone was okay. That was the end of his first Tesla. After all of the drama with the car and an errant wheel takes it out.

Driving Impressions:

The "one pedal" operation really threw me off at first, especially because my fun car at the time was a 987.1 Cayman with a 5 speed. Having the pedal pressed just to have the car keep moving forward was very weird.

The acceleration is obviously very different than any ICE. I've been in some very fast cars (legit 8-second at Bandimere Speedway) and they still don't feel like a Tesla. That's because even though the acceleration numbers are close, the rate of acceleration is different. There is no ramp up on an EV like there is on an ICE.

Handling is where the weight really becomes apparent. The car does it's best to hide the weight, but driving it while also regularly driving a Cayman made it seem like driving an overloaded dump truck. Even the V60 Polestar I was daily driving seemed light compared to the Tesla (I'm sure the Ohlins in the Volvo helped a lot).

One big concern about Telsa is I've now seen 3X different Teslas (including my friend) damage their batteries doing motorsports things. That's very concerning.

Great take! I too have a friend that took me in his plaid. He absolutely loved it! It’s cool but not really my thing. Sounds crazy but like @lucky phil lead up to, all I can think about is weight. I’d be more awestruck with a GT4.

The batteries by themselves would be quite a feat in engineering to get them to work on a track. Let alone a track full of those thing’s trying to charge.

But a hybrid, would be the best of both worlds. At least watching F1 right now seems to incorporate them very well. And fun to watch!

 

[decodeddiesel]

Great take! I too have a friend that took me in his plaid. He absolutely loved it! It’s cool but not really my thing. Sounds crazy but like @lucky phil lead up to, all I can think about is weight. I’d be more awestruck with a GT4.

The batteries by themselves would be quite a feat in engineering to get them to work on a track. Let alone a track full of those thing’s trying to charge.

But a hybrid, would be the best of both worlds. At least watching F1 right now seems to incorporate them very well. And fun to watch!

Watching Jeremy Clarkson review the McLaren P1 sold me on a "performance hybrid".

It's pretty cool how they integrated that tech into F1. I was watching the qualifying at Monaco last night at a friend's house.

 

[GoldenEye]

I would if there was a dealer close to me. I took 3 in on trade in one week so I did some research, turns out they were the least reliable car on the road at that time and you have to have the dealership do any work, they won’t even sell you parts for anything? But despite all that, the feeling of those cars was amazing!

 

[KahnBB6]

Of the current 100% EVs on sale below hypercars such as a Rimac just the Porsche Taycan interests me. They seem to have a better handle on battery pack management than Tesla does.

Besides that I haven't been able to stand Musk for years and even more so now. Tesla cars aren't driver oriented at all or exciting in any way that makes me desire to own one (super fast 0-60 party tricks do not a universally fun car make). And the issues they have with quality, parts availability for barely 10-12 year old models and wear and tear with any motorsport use are also not appealing.

Aside from the Taycan everything else that is beginning to sound good is still just a few years away and around the corner. I have much more interest in what's coming down the pipeline in the EV space from the older established OEMs over the next few years.

Previously in this thread I had a more neutral but not enthusiastic view on Teslas but at this point my interest in them has greatly waned.

No EV will ever feel exactly like an ICE vehicle but there are ways to make far more sportscar oriented and driver-enthusiast centric EVs.

In particular solid state batteries should present the first wave of far better and more resilient packs. Then super-capacitors should also do some interesting things in combination. Not stuff available in 2023 but both technologies and others will be coming.

I liken all of this to how Malaise Era domestic cars kind of sucked in one way or another between 1974 and the mid 1980's. But by 1986 on the more affordable end the most interesting enthusiast oriented vehicles began to get better again as manufacturers began to get a handle on better implementations of catalytic convertors, fuel injection and computer control.

And that got refined greatly in some cases through the 1990's and early 2000's and even more into the 2010's and now in our current decade the things that can be done with modern performance engines horsepower per pound of weight are phenomenal.

The same sort of thing will happen with EVs. Right now we're in the equivalent of what 1974 technology was to previously cat-less carbureted iron block internal combustion engines. Year by year the tech improves.

 

[Apex]

Hello, new to the forum, and found this thread interesting.

I bought a new 2021 Tesla Model Y Performance which was delivered in June of '21. In those almost two years, the only issue I've had is I had to have the rear carbon fiber spoiler replaced once because it was loose on the right side. It's a know issues and other owners have had theirs replaced more than once. Other than that the car has be awesome, no other issues with my Fremont built Y. Over 33,000 miles, and one set of tires later, later and the Y performs exactly the same it did as it did on day one. I bought the Y because I wanted an electric car, for road tripping to visit family in SoCal, and for the supercharging network. Road tripping in CA is not an problem with a Tesla. If driving somewhere is going to take more than seven or eight hours to get there, I'd rather fly.

Once I test drove the Y, it won me over. The acceleration is very addicting! It's a lot of fun to drive, it's very fast, and handles well for a heavy car. I had concerns about build quality and the complaints about Tesla service, but they are no longer concerns. For some services, Tesla techs can come to you and do the work. They came to my house to replace the rear spoiler. The supercharging network is fantastic and to this day, have never come across a supercharger that didn't work and Tesla is adding new superchargers all the time. I appreciate the over-the-air software updates and the features and improvements that are added. I understand the pros and cons with EVs, and for some, an EV isn't the answer.

I now have a 2023 GR Supra 3.0 Premium on order. My first car was a 1981 Toyota Celica and I've always loved the Supra too. The current Supra is gorgeous car and I can't wait to have one. The Y fulfills the need for a family car that hauls people and stuff. The Supra is for pure driving enjoyment.

Whether it be an EV or ICE car, enjoy the ride!

 

[FLtrackdays]

Hello, new to the forum, and found this thread interesting.

I bought a new 2021 Tesla Model Y Performance which was delivered in June of '21. In those almost two years, the only issue I've had is I had to have the rear carbon fiber spoiler replaced once because it was loose on the right side. It's a know issues and other owners have had theirs replaced more than once. Other than that the car has be awesome, no other issues with my Fremont built Y. Over 33,000 miles, and one set of tires later, later and the Y performs exactly the same it did as it did on day one. I bought the Y because I wanted an electric car, for road tripping to visit family in SoCal, and for the supercharging network. Road tripping in CA is not an problem with a Tesla. If driving somewhere is going to take more than seven or eight hours to get there, I'd rather fly.

Once I test drove the Y, it won me over. The acceleration is very addicting! It's a lot of fun to drive, it's very fast, and handles well for a heavy car. I had concerns about build quality and the complaints about Tesla service, but they are no longer concerns. For some services, Tesla techs can come to you and do the work. They came to my house to replace the rear spoiler. The supercharging network is fantastic and to this day, have never come across a supercharger that didn't work and Tesla is adding new superchargers all the time. I appreciate the over-the-air software updates and the features and improvements that are added. I understand the pros and cons with EVs, and for some, an EV isn't the answer.

I now have a 2023 GR Supra 3.0 Premium on order. My first car was a 1981 Toyota Celica and I've always loved the Supra too. The current Supra is gorgeous car and I can't wait to have one. The Y fulfills the need for a family car that hauls people and stuff. The Supra is for pure driving enjoyment.

Whether it be an EV or ICE car, enjoy the ride!

What a fantastic review! This is exactly what I’ve heard too. Makes you wonder if a lot of the gripe is media hit pieces on Elon. There is such narrative control.

Everyone I’ve talked to (over here) feels the same way. They love their Teslas. The service and quality. Great hearing from actual owners

 

[Apex]

What a fantastic review! This is exactly what I’ve heard too. Makes you wonder if a lot of the gripe is media hit pieces on Elon. There is such narrative control.

Everyone I’ve talked to (over here) feels the same way. They love their Teslas. The service and quality. Great hearing from actual owners

Thanks FLtrackdays! The Y Performance is a fantastic car. To have a performance vehicle that can hold its own against very fast cars and room for five is a major plus. I plan on keeping my Y for a long time and excited to see what cars Tesla produces in the future. At the same time, I still love the visceral feeling you can only get in a true sports car like the Supra.

 

[FLtrackdays]

Thanks FLtrackdays! The Y Performance is a fantastic car. To have a performance vehicle that can hold its own against very fast cars and room for five is a major plus. I plan on keeping my Y for a long time and excited to see what cars Tesla produces in the future. At the same time, I still love the visceral feeling you can only get in a true sports car like the Supra.

This is exactly why we’re seriously looking at one, such as the Model 3 performance. I love having my MX5 manual to drive around in town. The Supra for track & pure raw visceral fun. And would love to add an EV to the mix for that side of the coin/flavor.

I think the market will sort itself out if you let the buyers decide. Elon found a ripe market without mandates and exploited the hell out of it. Hopefully we don’t get mandated one way or the other. Like @KahnBB6 said, this sort of thing takes time and is still at its infancy.

Great hearing opinions of other car lovers!

Edit: not too long ago it was hard to get honest information on EVs. Glad more media folks are talking about true range if using the cars in hot climates with AC, freezing, extra people (weight), or say tracking under constant acceleration. Makes me feel less skeptical

 

[DarkZupra]

This is exactly why we’re seriously looking at one, such as the Model 3 performance.

If youre near Orlando youre welcome to test drive my M3P. Its obviously not stock but will still give you an idea of how it drives.

 

[B58_ hwAyaq]

Drove it few weeks ago. It's really not at all different than a normal 4 series which is the idea i guess.

…

Didn't go to test drive with dragy but it felt extremely slow. Slower than my X6. Some vehicles are so well built even if you're making 200mph you don't feel it, but this wasn't the case.
I've signed up for i50 test drive with XM etc in August. Hopefully I'll get to try them and report.

I did the M Tour at the beginning of may. I4 M50, XM, and M3 Comp.

The i4 M50 is faster than the M3 Comp (0-60), and it certainly feels like it. Not slow (0-60) at all. Otherwise, I agree that it feels like a base 4 with an EV powertrain, and yes, I think that’s the point. I prefer it over the “let’s try and make everything super futuristic and restrict CarPlay while we’re at it” approach.

I actually really enjoyed the XM rumble, as well.

You’ll enjoy your time. Report back with your thoughts.

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