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Old 02-18-2019, 10:40 AM   #11
John V
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Originally Posted by ZBB View Post
That's probably mostly internet noise. For each horror story that gets posted, that are most likely 10-100x satisfied owners that never post. This isn't unique to Tesla -- how many times do good stories get posted on forums?
Given the Tesla following, you'd think pretty often. Their fans are, um, enthusiastic and vocal.
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Old 02-18-2019, 11:03 AM   #12
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Yes -- back/forward/play/pause. But that's all I needed. It would automatically connect and start playing when I got back in the car. I really only used my podcast app (I use Overcast…). For other streaming, I would just use Slacker or occasionally Tune-In in the car. I had a handful of "favorited" Slacker searches, and the mix of music was decent...

Musk "promised" some sort of mirroring capability years ago, but he also promised more apps for the car. Vaporware...


I actually have grown to enjoy being able to have that level of control without having to pickup and mess with my phone. It’s a small thing but it’s one of those real head scratchers given how tesla prides themselves on being a software company and always delivering new features over the air. Sometimes I think they put the interests of the media and Wall Street ahead of regular customers. (A fart app generates clicks - decent Bluetooth integration does not)

Do they atleast let you scroll through radio stations / tracks using one of the scroll wheels on the steering wheel? Last time I checked, you couldn’t (but yet you could control your sunroof).
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Old 02-18-2019, 11:07 AM   #13
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Given the Tesla following, you'd think pretty often. Their fans are, um, enthusiastic and vocal.


Ha- yeah. Tesla forums are an unholy mix of people with long/short stock positions, environmentalists, fanboys, musk disciples and regular people just looking for help. I don’t think I’d ever join one. Plus many Tesla owners seem to have upgraded from 2004 priuses or the like so everything is automatically amazing (they don’t realize how good similarly priced competitors are).

But with any forum, there’s random noise and then there’s patterns with certain issues. The recent issues with Tesla cpo seem to be a definite pattern. And just looking at their policies/procedures , it’s kind of a miracle when things go smoothly. Given that I’m now well versed in the ins/outs I think I could navigate it, but it’s still a cluster.

If they return to a halfway customer friendly way of dealing with used cars, I think it would help me get over my hesitancy. Makes me not trust them.
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Old 02-18-2019, 11:22 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by robg View Post
I actually have grown to enjoy being able to have that level of control without having to pickup and mess with my phone. It’s a small thing but it’s one of those real head scratchers given how tesla prides themselves on being a software company and always delivering new features over the air. Sometimes I think they put the interests of the media and Wall Street ahead of regular customers. (A fart app generates clicks - decent Bluetooth integration does not)

Do they atleast let you scroll through radio stations / tracks using one of the scroll wheels on the steering wheel? Last time I checked, you couldn’t (but yet you could control your sunroof).
Considering that my car is still in the shop, I haven't experienced the fart app yet

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:
Originally Posted by Tesla Model S Owner's Manual
Next
If you are listening to local or satellite radio and you have defined more than one radio preset, press to play the next preset in the radio band that is currently playing. If you have not defined more than one preset, press to go to the next available frequency.
If you are listening to Internet radio, or to an audio file on a connected Bluetooth or USB device, press to skip to the next song or station.
If you have more than one favorite defined, press and hold to cycle through favorites.

Previous
Same as described above for Next, except it skips to the previous song or station. If you have more than one favorite defined, press and hold to cycle through favorites.
Linky: https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/...rica_en_us.pdf
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Old 02-18-2019, 11:33 AM   #15
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Considering that my car is still in the shop, I haven't experienced the fart app yet



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...







Linky: https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/...rica_en_us.pdf


Thanks - I knew about those options but still think the ability to use a scroll wheel is superior. Once you experience it in another car you won’t want one without. Would be so easy for them to add that via software.
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Old 02-18-2019, 11:57 AM   #16
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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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Old 02-18-2019, 12:16 PM   #17
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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!)


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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Old 02-18-2019, 12:28 PM   #18
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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.
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Old 02-18-2019, 12:29 PM   #19
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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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Old 02-18-2019, 02:02 PM   #20
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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.

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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