Tesla Model ≡ Thread

[Alan]

Originally Posted by John V

orthogonal

Something tells me you did a lot better on your SAT's then I did ... it's a good thing I have google

[clyde]

Originally Posted by JST

I’m just saying the Tesla is better.

In the early 1990s, I preferred the first gen Q45. The market said the LS400 was better. I still think what I thought in the early 1990s.

[JST]

Cool.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by clyde

In the early 1990s, I preferred the first gen Q45. The market said the LS400 was better. I still think what I thought in the early 1990s.

Not quite sure they said the LS400 was better, my impression back then was the Q45 was more of the drivers car.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Alan

Not quite sure they said the LS400 was better

No, the market was quite clear:

year	q45 sales	ls400 sales
1990	13,938		42,806
1991	14,623		36,955
1992	12,216		32,561
1993	12,294		23,783
1994	11,419		22,433
1995	7,803		23,657
1996	5,896		22,237

[JST]

I really don’t understand any of the points you’re making, Clyde, or how they have anything to do with what I thought was a fairly harmless story about having fun driving on a back road, which you spent several days trying to pick apart.

Yes, the Lexus sold better than the Infiniti. Yes, Alan is correct that many people thought the Infiniti was the better driver’s car. Your view on that was well inside the mainstream, but Lexus obviously built a better mousetrap in terms of what the market wanted.

As far as I can tell, that has nothing to do with the Tesla v Taycan comparison, except maybe the argument is that the Taycan is like the Lexus? Or maybe you’re saying it’s like the Infiniti? I mean, people love driving it and maybe you will too? But the comparison tells us nothing because the Taycan and Model 3 aren’t even really in the same market.

I guess I don’t have much to add on any of this. I think Clyde will look for any excuse to shit on anything having to do with Teslas. That’s fine. Like I said, if you don’t like the company (and there’s plenty to not like), you don’t need to buy the car. You don’t even need to drive the car to give it a chance.

For anyone else who might have a slightly more open mind, I return to my point above: the Model 3 is a fun car to drive. In many ways, it’s more fun than the Taycan 4S. The things that make it fun are different than the things that make a random list of other cars fun.

It is far from perfect. It has some super annoying quirks having to do with controls. It’s still a 4K pound sedan, so it’s not exactly “tossable.” It doesn’t make noise (something the C/D review seems weirdly hung up on), though as I’ve tried to point out, absence of noise brings its own offsetting pleasures. Even apart from the dumb bullshit the company does, it can be polarizing.

But it’s still a lot of fun. And I have a very hard time identifying a car in this segment that is better for the money, regardless of powertrain.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by clyde

No, the market was quite clear:

year	q45 sales	ls400 sales
1990	13,938		42,806
1991	14,623		36,955
1992	12,216		32,561
1993	12,294		23,783
1994	11,419		22,433
1995	7,803		23,657
1996	5,896		22,237

I wasn't referring to the number of sales, Lexus clearly blew away Infiniti in that respect but was referring to when 'we' as a group of car enthusiast discuss a car I would think we all would consider the drivers car the better car.

Meanwhile unless I missed it how come nobody in this thread brought up the Tesla S Plaid, holy crap that thing is insanely fast, 0-60 in 2 seconds

If I knew how to post a youtube video I would post one, there is a video of the car accelerating and it's focused on the speedometer, you would think it was set to kilometers

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by JST

I really don’t understand any of the points you’re making, Clyde, or how they have anything to do with what I thought was a fairly harmless story about having fun driving on a back road, which you spent several days trying to pick apart.

Yes, the Lexus sold better than the Infiniti. Yes, Alan is correct that many people thought the Infiniti was the better driver’s car. Your view on that was well inside the mainstream, but Lexus obviously built a better mousetrap in terms of what the market wanted.

As far as I can tell, that has nothing to do with the Tesla v Taycan comparison, except maybe the argument is that the Taycan is like the Lexus? Or maybe you’re saying it’s like the Infiniti? I mean, people love driving it and maybe you will too? But the comparison tells us nothing because the Taycan and Model 3 aren’t even really in the same market.

I guess I don’t have much to add on any of this. I think Clyde will look for any excuse to shit on anything having to do with Teslas. That’s fine. Like I said, if you don’t like the company (and there’s plenty to not like), you don’t need to buy the car. You don’t even need to drive the car to give it a chance.

For anyone else who might have a slightly more open mind, I return to my point above: the Model 3 is a fun car to drive. In many ways, it’s more fun than the Taycan 4S. The things that make it fun are different than the things that make a random list of other cars fun.

It is far from perfect. It has some super annoying quirks having to do with controls. It’s still a 4K pound sedan, so it’s not exactly “tossable.” It doesn’t make noise (something the C/D review seems weirdly hung up on), though as I’ve tried to point out, absence of noise brings its own offsetting pleasures. Even apart from the dumb bullshit the company does, it can be polarizing.

But it’s still a lot of fun. And I have a very hard time identifying a car in this segment that is better for the money, regardless of powertrain.

Have you driven a Model Y? Wondering how it compares in fun factor to the 3. ZBB could probably say...

[JST]

I haven’t driven a Y but the universal reaction seems to be that it’s less fun than the 3, which makes sense.

If I were looking at a Y, I’d think carefully about a Mach E instead; but I’d want to drive both.

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by JST

I haven’t driven a Y but the universal reaction seems to be that it’s less fun than the 3, which makes sense.

If I were looking at a Y, I’d think carefully about a Mach E instead; but I’d want to drive both.

Ex has the Y and complains about its high center of gravity making it less fun to drive. That's likely the critical difference versus the 3...