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02-18-2019, 11:22 AM | #1 | ||
Relic
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As for the steering wheel controls. The Forward / Back buttons on the left side of the steering wheel will scroll through radio station presets when you are listening to the radio. The right scroll wheel does let you set some options on it -- changing the HVAC fan speed or opening the sunroof, although I never changed it from default. For the audio system, I usually just used a voice search to find something -- worked very well. Something like "Play U2", then the center console would show a list of possible matches, and you could tap to play the one you wanted... Quote:
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02-18-2019, 08:00 AM | #2 |
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There’s a lot of stuff that Tesla hssmtt figures out yet, or is in the process of figuring out.
I actually had a really positive experience with my CPO Model S; the car was in as-new condition and they delivered it with the same attention to detail as either of my new ones. That was a couple of years ago, though, so I don’t know what changes they’ve made to the program since. As you know, Tesla has over the past six years grown from essentially hand-delivering cars by truck (see ZBBs first) to mass producing a mid-range luxury car. There are a lot of growing pains associated with that. Plus, they’ve been kind of playing around with the CPO program, so that part has been especially variable. I haven’t taken my Model 3 in for service yet, so I don’t know how they’re coping with a 10-20X increase in volume. My guess is...it’s a challenge. The good news is that none of my Tesla’s have needed that much in the way of service; the first (from 2013) was the worst, but even that was a better car than the 535 that preceded it, reliability-wise. The other two have been very solid. I can’t tell you whether to do it or not. I will encourage you, if you decide to do it, to go in with a more open mind than you would with other cars. The car itself will require you to do some things differently, and the sales and service will be enthusiastic but will also have lumps and bumps. If that sounds like something you’d rather not deal with, I get it. But I can also tell you that the car is amazing, and there’s nothing at all like it on the road. The idea that the A7 is a competitor is kind of laughable; after driving a Tesla all of those cars feel like clanking throwbacks. Like driving a Stanley Steamer. I’ve thought sort of generally about what I might replace mine with if I needed to, and aside from something much sportier (like a Giulia or a 911) I draw a blank. If you’re going to buy a Stinger, though, I’d get a used one. The drop in value I’ve read is precipitous. |
02-18-2019, 08:26 AM | #3 | |
Carmudgeon
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Fair points. It’s kind of one of those cars that doesn’t really make sense until you’ve owned one I guess. Speaking of resale, what’s your guess as to trade in value of a 2016 pre facelift 90D in 4 years? 25k (50% of current retail price) sounds right to me. The one nice thing about the current used program is that they essentially have a reverse auction on them where prices are reduced by some amount each day. |
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02-18-2019, 10:31 AM | #4 | |
Relic
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For comparison, my 2013 S 60 had an original price of $82k, and I sold it to CarMax for $27k. It had ~93k miles and was 5.25 years old. That's 33% of original price...
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02-18-2019, 11:57 AM | #5 |
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I find Tesla's touch and voice controls superior to buttons and switches in other cars (and have never successfully been able to use other cars voice controls -- since they bury them in an annoying menu so that you have to navigate the menu by voice to do anything).
Volume and forward/back are all I needed from the steering wheel buttons in the S… I ualso sed voice controls all the time. Things like "Drive home", "drive to Starbucks", or "Play U2" -- and it would just work. If stating the name for someplace to go or play, it brings up a search list that you can select from… If using a saved location, exact address, or favorited station/playlist, it just started the nav or audio on that... I've been driving various rental cars for the last few months -- 8 rentals in total; mostly GM products, but also a Ford, Hyundai and an Infiniti. I find the interfaces and controls maddening. The only ones that make any sense to me are the GM cars that had CarPlay (all the GM cars…) -- since I could just use Siri or the touchscreen. But the non-CarPlay interfaces are absolutely horrible (ugly, poorly designed, etc…) The Ford had some sort of app-link for Waze and some audio apps, but I couldn't get it to work (it recognized the apps on my phone, but I couldn't figure out how to control them or make them work in the car even after finding the documentation online…). If I connected my phone to the car, about 20 minutes into a drive, it would error out since apparently my iTunes-in-the-cloud library is too big, and the Ford Sync system couldn't complete cataloguing it! So much for trying to charge the phone while driving. At least Bluetooth worked. The Hyundai didn't even have Bluetooth, but at least I could play my podcasts via the USB connection. But phone calls had to use the phone (I had one call come in on my way home one day…). But the audio unit didn't even had a play/pause button -- just forward/back. The Infiniti has a really weird 2-screen setup (and the screens don't even match -- both have touch controls, but the top one is old-school resistive touch with a plastic-feeling face; the bottom one is modern resistive touch with glass). Apparently the car uses an Android-based OS. When starting the car, 4 default apps show up, but then it says "loading apps" and what seems like 30 seconds later other loaded apps show up for things like "XM Info" and "Performance". No CarPlay. Each app seems to have its own settings screen, in addition to the default settings apps (yes -- more than one since car, audio, and phone all have separate settings!). When I went to pair my phone, all 5 of the bluetooth slots were filled (it is a rental car), and I couldn't figure out how to delete them so I could add my own (tapping on it tried to force a connect, and there was no menu to edit or delete paired phones -- had to find a youtube video where someone showed how to do it). Anyway… I'll be very happy to get back into my Tesla (hopefully by Wednesday!)
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02-18-2019, 12:16 PM | #6 | |
Carmudgeon
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Considering a used Model S as our next car
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Ha - yeah those systems are all garbage. I was referring more to recen bmw and Audi systems. Bmws voice control is excellent now- you can give natural language commands without concern for menu structure and it works accurately and quickly. Still, I only feel the need to use it for navigation. (You can say stuff like navigate to Starbucks and it will just do it like the Tesla). It’s even quicker to use the steering wheel or idrive controller to navigate media stuff. Of course, it doesn’t have the ability to handle voice integration with Pandora either natively or with Siri but... The on demand slacker integration with voice in Teslas always struck me as a nice demo but something I’d rarely use. (You’re mostly going to want to select a particular station, album or playlist and let it play). The equivalent on Pandora is creating a new station by selecting a song - something I rarely do. Also my idrive system never crashes or freezes and it’s super responsive. Really nice system - probably my favorite but I guess it’s spoiled me. Sounds like I’d have to setup some slacker stations that mimic what I have in pandora and carefully setup some radio presets. I guess that would do for ~70% of my usage habits. I’d also have to setup a usb stick and transfer some music to it if I wanted to simulate some of what I’m able to do now by just connecting my phone via bt or usb. Probably wouldn’t bother doing that though. In general, that seems to be the pattern with Tesla - it would be fine 70% of the time and annoying / clunky in certain scenarios (not just media integration but in general). It hits some higher highs but also some lower lows. And of course for what I want to spend, I’m either getting a very outdated Audi system, a Hyundai or a 4 cyl bmw. So I guess I should get over it. |
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02-18-2019, 12:28 PM | #7 |
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My Model 3 doesn’t have satellite radio (I guess none of them do), and I kind of miss it, but also don’t miss the annoying DJs.
I don’t find Slacker to be measurably better or worse than Pandora. Both are irritating at times, and neither lets me discover new music as well as SXM. But they are fine, mostly. I haven’t driven a car with good Bluetooth integration. The Audis I’ve rented recently are ok, but the car seems like it’s always fighting between its native system and CarPlay. CarPlay is...acceptable, when it works, which in my experience is about 30 percent of the time. Honestly, if this is a big deal to you, don’t get a Tesla. I mean this in the most neutral manner possible, but if this is the kind of thing that’s going to stick in your craw, you aren’t going to be happy. |
02-18-2019, 02:02 PM | #8 | |
Carmudgeon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,259
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Considering a used Model S as our next car
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Yeah I’ve had trouble with CarPlay in Audi’s I’ve rented as well. Good advice - id probably get over the media integration issues but it’s kind of an additive thing of small annoyances - death by a thousand cuts. I love the design, one pedal driving and instant torque but in every other respect I find the car / potential ownership experience worse than my current one. That might be too much to swallow. It would be a purely emotional purchase . But if I want everything I like about my current car plus more power and adaptive cruise it’s going to cost a lot more. Last edited by robg; 02-18-2019 at 02:37 PM. |
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02-18-2019, 12:29 PM | #9 |
Relic
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In the Tesla, you just leave the USB stick in the car -- no transferring. The car will catalog it so you can search/browse. I kept one of the super small 64GB sticks full of music in the car, but only used it here and there (and updated music on it every couple years…). Most common use was on road trips when we were out of cell range (uncommon, but the Navajo reservation in AZ and the larger national parks we visited (Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone…) have very limited cell coverage. No cell coverage, no streaming.
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ZBB Last edited by ZBB; 02-18-2019 at 02:14 PM. |
02-18-2019, 05:32 PM | #10 |
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If I were considering a used S, I think my thinking would basically be a three question process:
How much do I want it? Answer: [This much] How bad could the worst possibly be (within realistic reason)? [Could cost me $X over six months if I want out] Is [answer 2] more or less than I'm willing to spend to satisfy [answer 1] desire? It sounds like the buying process for a used S could be pretty terrible, but if I wanted the car, I'd hold my nose and deal with it. I'd try hard to not overthink it or indulge in too much analysis. Given the environment, it doesn't seem like the likely worst case isn't that bad. If I wanted the car, I'm pretty sure I'd take the gamble.
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