earl pottinger

That is the way of the young, whatever you liked is always going to turn into the old boring stuff.

unclewill

earl pottinger

I used to watch a show called "Blind Date", in one show the man said he wanted to marry a woman who was so comfortable in his present that she could fart around him instead of hiding secrets from him. His date promptly lifted one cheek of her bum from her chair and let one rip. She then looked at him and smiled, he smiled right back.

Who says fart and romance can not get along?

Earl Colby Pottinger (Tesla, Bollinger and Rivian fan)

whiz944

True, dat. The "emissions testing" reflects Elons attitude towards 'shorts'... It also looks like you can select individual seating locations and make the noise come from the speaker in that door. However they missed the obvious extension to 'pre-set' the seat so that when someone sits in it, it does the 'whoopie cushion' thing.

Romance mode shows a burning fireplace and runs the heater at full blast.

Requires level 48 of the software, however not "rolled out" to my car yet. I finally got level 46 a few days ago.

whiz944

Version 48.12.1 achieved! Obviously this "Emissions Testing Mode" is a dig at VW...

Not clear to me if the "Short Shorts Ripper" refers to stock shorters, or gals wearing Daisy Dukes.

The new Atari Pole Position (on Mars, of course) game uses the cars steering wheel and brake pedal for its controls.

manitou202

Yesterday I finally had the chance to really try out Autopilot. Wow! It's way better then I expected.

The only systems I have to compare against, is the Pro Pilot in my wife's Volvo XC90 and the system in my Panamera. The Panamera and the Volvo are very similar, but the Tesla is in another league.

The Panamera and Volvo systems are good for longer straight highway sections. They turn off on sharper curves, missing lane lines, and construction. They also are not very responsive in stop and go traffic leaving a large gap between you and the car in front.

Tesla's handles sharp curves, lane changing, it makes suggestions of when to change lanes, it actively shows all of the vehicles it detects around you, it works brilliantly in stop and go traffic hugging the car in front of you yet operating very smoothly. It can drive through large intersections and stay in its lane. It recognizes the difference between dashed and solid lines on the highway and tells you not to pass on solid lines. It also will tell you which exit to take and when to start moving over to prepare for the exit. Overall it is much smoother and confident.

We didn't buy Autopilot with our Model X. We are just using the 30 day free trial. Originally I felt it wasn't worth the $5k price when I assumed it was similar to the Panamera and Volvo. But now after experiencing the difference it's tempting to pay for the upgrade.

Needsdecaf

Tesla's Autopilot is one of the main reasons I bought a Model 3. It's my commuter, and I see heavy traffic. So between that and the general commuter-friendly nature of EV's in general, and Tesla's in particular, it gave me a big push to pull the trigger.

Autopilot isn't infallible. I've already seen several instances in heavier traffic, moving at full freeway speed, where it will be going below the set speed while following a car. When the car moves, and it can accelerate, sometimes it won't. Also, at times, it hauls on the brakes for no apparent reason.

But overall, on day two of commuting with it, I'm loving it.

whiz944

Looks like Teslas existance is assured for at least a little while longer: https://insideevs.com/tesla-model-3-...ivery-q4-2108/

They upped their game this year with "Mad Max" (weighs "Navigate on Autopilot" mode towards urging you to change lanes like an ex-BMW driver), "Romance", and the ever-popular "Emission Testing" modes. Not to mention adding to the suite of Atari games.

manitou202

So we ended up buying the Autopilot upgrade at the end of the 30 day trial. It's $5,000 if purchased with the vehicle, $5,500 if purchased at the end of the 30 day trial, or $7,500 anytime after. I would highly recommend anyone who hasn't driven with autopilot taking advantage of the 30 day trial. It's a really great way to see if you are comfortable with using it, and if it's worth the price for your needs.

Being able to upgrade after purchasing the vehicle is a pretty smart business move. It took about 30 seconds through my Tesla account and they just used my credit card on file.

daveo4porsche

unclewill

Needsdecaf

I wish Porsche would make PSE and Sport Chrono standard on all their vehicles too. And full leather interior. And 18 way seats. And PASM. And....

daveo4porsche

acoste

Tesla Model 3 battery energy density: 246 Wh/kg
Chevy Bolt: 237 Wh/kg

4% difference is hardly an industrial breakthrough.

Tesla's NCA battery has lower thermal runaway temperature. This is why everyone else picked NMC battery that has lower density but is somewhat safer.

Build quality is questionable as well: Service Bulletin - Replace High Voltage (HV) Battery

The Model 3 battery consist of 4 modules, all other models have more. If one goes bad, it's expensive. And the battery case itself is lightweight, has no structural strength. The chassis is strengthened around the battery to compensate for it. Side crumple zone is minimal. This is problematic at side pole crashes.

As for the Germans: they were impressed with the minimalism. Elon sold it as the future, but it's just cost reduction. That interior is a lot cheaper to build than anything else since it has nothing in it. Not even an oh **** handle. If one likes minimalism and tablets, it's a win win. The German author was amazed by the air drag coeff. He probably forgot that Mercedes has better numbers with some ICE cars. And air drag coeff is often a trade off. Jag I-pace for example wanted to be a beauty instead of having a low coeff. Electronics are nice and compact, but nothing new there. Audi has better motor cooling and stronger regen. Audi is heavier than the X. But it has a lot more content as well.

As long as you only read Insideev and Electrec, you won't hear anything bad about Tesla.

So far the only advantage for Tesla I see is the battery factory. At this moment they are still buying Panasonic cells but later on producing their own stuff could be beneficial.

daveo4porsche