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Old 09-13-2018, 08:30 PM   #642
ZBB
Relic
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: A very fast golf cart
Location: The Valley of the Sun
Posts: 12,821
Now that I've had it a few days, here's some additional thoughts.
  • I'm still trying to find the right seating position. It usually takes me a few weeks to find the right setting in a new car, so this is not unusual (if the seat isn't set right, I get some lower back pain while driving). The low cowl and extremely small radius steering wheel are playing tricks with me -- making it harder to find the right setting compared to other cars. The seat also sits closer to the floor than in the S, so I've raised it up a bit (so along to the low cowl, my mind is telling me I should be sitting lower, but then my legs feel cramped when I pull them away from the pedals) . I'm getting close, but will likely tinker with it for at least a few more days
  • Speaking of the steering wheel, did I mention that it has an unusually small radius (at least compared to German cars and the S, which has a Mercedes parts bin wheel)? It really feels tiny. I think that's why I'm preferring the "Standard" setting and "Sport" feels too hard. Comfort is too light, but is firmer than the same setting on the S (which I never used beyond a couple minute test early on -- it was eerily similar to the "Buick" revision on the E46…).
  • The no instrument cluster does take some getting used to. I was on my way to work this morning early (it was still dark) and had 2 occasions where I thought something was wrong since there was no light from the dash in front of me. But also really nice not having any light below the windshield when looking straight. Musk Tweeted a "working on it" response to someone asking for a "stealth mode" display setting -- that would be really nice at night (just a speed display and perhaps turn notifications only).
  • The low cowl really gives great visibility of the road. And the relatively high seating position compared to the cowl lets me see the front fender ridges, so you know exactly where the car is positioned in a corner
  • The acceleration is fantastic. I got on the freeway by work on Wednesday and made a grinning giggle sound as I got up to speed on the on ramp… But I will need to be careful -- I got a little too fast just before that ramp today (its quite possible I hit 77 in a 35 zone )
  • I found another small defect with the car. There is a trim piece on the dash that goes from door to door up near the windshield. On the driver's side it sits flush against the A-pillar, but on the passenger side, there is a ~1/2 inch gap. Opening the passenger door, a clip is also visible in the gap. I stopped by Tesla this afternoon to have service look at it -- and the advisor thinks that the trim piece is supposed to go over the clip and be held against the A-pillar. So he scheduled me in for a service visit next Thurs. They'll also fix the paint drip on the frunk lid. I'll try to get pics of both before I take it in.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rumatt View Post
I actually briefly toyed with the idea of getting autopilot to deal with the occasional NYC traffic jam. But I have a hard time relaxing when I'm a passenger in a car while someone else is driving, so I figured I won't relax with EAP driving either.
Here's a couple more observations of EAP now that I've used it commuting (I have a ~22 mile commute in, and usually a ~27 mile commute home -- the longer route has much less traffic, so takes less time).
  • There are 2 basic settings: One tap of the Drive stalk down enables Traffic Assisted Cruise Control (TACC), and 2 taps down TACC + Autosteer. Tapping it up cancels. You can also cancel TACC by tapping the brake pedal, which also cancels Autosteer if it is enabled. You can also cancel Autosteer by turning the wheel (there is slight resistance before it cancels, but TACC remains active).
  • I've long used cruise control for a large part of my driving -- even before the Tesla. I do that to control my speed, and I'll even use it on mostly straight city streets, but rarely on curvy 2-lane roads. But that might change. TACC uses the AP sensors and GPS map to anticipate curves and will slow down -- for example the road near my house has a 40mph limit (and I typically drive ~45 on it), but has a tight 90 degree curve just outside my neighborhood. TACC slows the car before the curve down to ~28 and accelerates out of the curve. My only complaint is it seems to slow down just a bit earlier than I'd prefer.
  • TACC has a setting to automatically set the speed at a fixed variance from the posted limit -- and you can set up to +/- 10 MPH. So if the posted limit is 55 and I have it set to +5, it will engage at 60 automatically, even if you are going slower.
  • TACC will bring the car to a stop if you are in stop-and-go traffic. It also resumes following the car ahead once it starts moving. This makes stop-and-go traffic much less stressful.
  • Autosteer is nice on the freeway and does a good job of keeping the car centered in its lane, and follows curves nicely. The only odd behavior is that it moves to the "new" center fairly aggressively when 2 lanes merge into 1 and you suddenly have a wider than normal lane for a few hundred feet -- would be nice if that was done slower. I'm a bit concerned that it could cut someone off that may be coming up fast in that now-ending lane
  • Auto lane changes are really cool. When Autosteer is enabled, just use the turn signal -- if the lanes are clear and you have a hashed line, it will change lanes for you. But it won't cross a solid line…
  • Autosteer on non-freeways works, but will limit speed to no more than 5 over the posted limit on narrow roads. As long as the roads are fairly straight with gradual curves, it follows the road or car ahead just fine. But it completely fails and warns the driver to take over on that same 90 degree curve near my house that TACC slows down for… I'm already starting to use just TACC on these roads

I would consider adding it prior to delivery -- if you spend any time in traffic, even the TACC setting alone is a huge improvement over regular cruise control. I haven't felt my "post commute home daze" this week -- that normally takes a good 20-30 min to recover from when I first get home.

The Full Auto Pilot option is another story -- since its vaporware, there was no way I was going to pay $3k for something I may or may not ever be able to use. If Tesla successfully brings it to market, I'll consider it on my next car...
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Last edited by ZBB; 09-15-2018 at 12:13 PM.
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