[Jo-Sta07]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

My top of the wishlist. Not only an amazing piece of engineering, also quite good looking, in my opinion. It has those "fast" optics without all the plasticky evo-car-style wing, lip, and duct madness. If only I could afford it.

I agree. I've been fortunate to see one in person and it's the best looking car I've ever seen (never seen a P1 or LAF in person). The details are amazing and the interior is beautiful. Seats are very upright though and they don't recline. It's a bit of a weird driving position for me. But I'm splitting super fine hairs over that. It's like an i8 x5.

[Jo-Sta07]

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/tesla...t-test-review/

This is, frankly, incredible to me. Limited use or not.

[fishpond]

Originally Posted by JasH

I've written reviews of my test drives of various Teslas on here previously. Various models of Tesla Model S, up to the P100D Ludicrous and the Roadster.

I did know having driven quite a few Teslas, including in Ludicrous mode, that they overheat very quickly and throttle back the power. That happened to me on the road. To be fair, I was pushing the car hard though.

What I did not know however was that Ludicrous mode is software crippled - as you can only use it 50 times before the car has to go back to Tesla and have parts replaced - at the same cost as the upgrade in the first place

What a joke

Apparently the ideal temperature range of the batteries is something like 15-30c, so they heat them when it's cold and cool them when it's hot (just like i8). To get the Ludicrous power though they actually heat the batteries to 50c as they drain faster, but they also age a lot faster!

I can see why it's called Ludicrous mode

And here's another article highlighting the shortcomings of Tesla's Ludicrous mode:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...de-performance

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by Jo-Sta07

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/tesla...t-test-review/

This is, frankly, incredible to me. Limited use or not.

Frankly, I've always found this 0-60 obsession a bit of a joke. Sure, acceleration matters, and who doesn't want to be quick off the line? But on the open highway, it's irrelevant because you're already moving at 60+. For traffic-light starts, 2-3 secs to 60 is more dangerous than useful (imagine a pedestrian trying to quickly cross the road before the cars take off after a red light). And even if you wanted to race someone down Main St, they'd dust you after the second light as your Tesla's wires try to come back from red-hot (literally).

It's bragging rights on paper. And I get it: they want to show to the petrol-head world that electric can be fun. But if you ask me, time and money would be better invested in making the whole car better.

[fishpond]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

But if you ask me, time and money would be better invested in making the whole car better.

Absolutely agree with this... for starters Tesla need to start spending some money on their inferior grade interior.

[Jo-Sta07]

Originally Posted by fishpond

Absolutely agree with this... for starters Tesla need to start spending some money on their inferior grade interior.

I'll agree with this entirely. But 10 years ago, if you would have told someone that an all Electric sedan could travel 300 miles on a charge and do 0-100 mph in 6 seconds dead you NEVER would have believed it. It's pretty incredible.

[Jo-Sta07]

Originally Posted by fishpond

Absolutely agree with this... for starters Tesla need to start spending some money on their inferior grade interior.

I'll agree with this entirely. But 10 years ago, if you would have told someone that an all Electric sedan could travel 300 miles on a charge and do 0-100 mph in 6 seconds dead you NEVER would have believed it. It's pretty incredible.

[MalibuBimmer]

Whatever happened to the reports of Tesla motors failing at 50-60K miles?

[fishpond]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

Whatever happened to the reports of Tesla motors failing at 50-60K miles?

Missed that report, but I did see one about their "autopilot" killing drivers...

[MalibuBimmer]

Originally Posted by fishpond

Missed that report, but I did see one about their "autopilot" killing drivers...

Only 1. So far.

[Mightymousemighty]

What's with all the Tesla bashing!! I've got a X on order so you will upset me

[fishpond]

Originally Posted by Mightymousemighty

What's with all the Tesla bashing!! I've got a X on order so you will upset me

Actually if I was in the market for a 4x4/SUV, the X is something that I might consider. The Model S does absolutely nothing for me though...

You might find this report amusing:
http://jalopnik.com/confused-cops-ho...-mi-1792049319

[Mightymousemighty]

Lol

Had range rovers of various types for years fancy a change.

Agreed on the S but the facelift looks much better

[Aye-eight]

The i8 has gullwing doors, so I need to be careful. But I just don't get them on the X. The car is much taller, so the risk that you can't open the doors under a low ceiling is much higher. Who hasn't parked under a low-hanging air duct in a parking structure, for instance? For utility purposes, I find sliding doors much smarter.

[Mightymousemighty]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

The i8 has gullwing doors, so I need to be careful. But I just don't get them on the X. The car is much taller, so the risk that you can't open the doors under a low ceiling is much higher. Who hasn't parked under a low-hanging air duct in a parking structure, for instance? For utility purposes, I find sliding doors much smarter.

Agree to disagree the sensors stop it hitting overhead structures or to be more change the geometry of how it opens. Tesla seems to have ironed out the initial problems with the falcon doors.

If you listen to Musk the falcon doors were developed to help parents get kids into their car seats without hurting your back in a normal parking space. That apparently was his directive.

I was totally blown away with the fast Tesla's. But that's why I lease so I can rag it and not give a shit.

I often have discussions with people about the range in edrive for the i8. I have commented in the past that you need to buy in to the brand of the i8 to get it. Commutable range without hauling loads of dead battery weight. The tesla approachs electric driving from a different direction, but you need to buy into their brand none the less.

[JasH]

Originally Posted by Mightymousemighty

Tesla seems to have ironed out the initial problems with the falcon doors.

All they did is a software update that disabled some of the door sensors. Not a great fix.

IMHO the Model X doors are cool, but over-engineered. A sliding door would be as practical, infinitely more reliable, and probably knock £10k off the price of the car.