Stickboy46
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2020
- Threads
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- Messages
- 209
- Reaction score
- 229
- Location
- Kansas
- Vehicles
- 2020 Tesla Model 3 AWD LR
I mean... If you want the exact same car you've always owned.. then sure it isn't it. But you literally just listed a bunch of stuff that once you do it once to either rarely have to do it again (adjust mirrors and such) or it becomes second nature.I think the mechanical/tactile interfaces in a Ford are superior than what Tesla provides. 2 seconds to change wiper speed is unacceptable to me. It doesn't rain that often here but when it does, I have to adjust the wiper speed quite often because the severity of the precipitation varies. I admire Tesla for what they are doing and hope they continue to bring ground breaking EVs to market. The world needs this.
However, I am not ready to buy any of their vehicles because I have different expectations from my vehicles. Our test drive was probably the worst experience I have ever had test driving a vehicle. Before we even left the garage, we had to change vehicles because the first car was performing an update and it wasn't ready to drive. A second vehicle became available moments later so we headed off in that one only to be unable to adjust the radio, work the navigation or adjust the climate control. We could see the controls on the screen across the bottom but there was some other dialog box open in the foreground that rendered those touch buttons inoperative. We could not find any way to 'close' that window so we were forced to drive the car without the ability to use those other controls. At the end of our ordeal, the Tesla employee showed us how to deal with that issue.....you have to touch and swipe it down out of the way. Probably something our kids could have figured out but we weren't that smart apparently......
My wife drove first and got about 2 blocks away and pulled over because she didn't feel safe. Her visibility from the driver's seat was poor and the blind spots made her uncomfortable. We sat parked for several minutes trying to locate the controls to adjust the side view mirrors. Never did figure it out. Looked for an owner's manual in the glove box but the glove box doesn't exist or there isn't an obvious way to open it. She decided she wanted me to drive back and it took us a while to figure out how to open the doors. Eventually we found the door latches. Turns out the door latches are for emergency us only and when used, can tear the sealing rubber around the window.....something that was pointed out to us after we walked back to the Tesla Store. Yes, we had to walk back. Apparently the vehicle shuts off when you get out of the driver's seat and then it wouldn't restart because we didn't have the phone key or card key. They don't give that out to people when they test drive these things so we couldn't get the vehicle restarted. If there is a start button....we couldn't find it. There are interior buttons to open the doors.....those didn't work.
I suppose if I were to purchase the vehicle I could learn how to operate all the various controls and be on my happy way. But I would never feel comfortable loaning it to a friend or family because they could have the same experience as our test drive. No thank you. I expect to be able to operate and adjust certain things without having to take my eyes off the road or use the voice activated feature. Things like electric mirrors, intermittent wipers, temp controls, fan speed, radio volume etc. At a minimum....those need to be mechanical tactile controls for me or I won't purchase the car. I like tech as much as the next guy.....but some things are still old school for me.
Also everything you listed here (Things like electric mirrors, intermittent wipers, temp controls, fan speed, radio volume etc. At a minimum....those need to be mechanical tactile controls for me or I won't purchase the car.) Can be done by voice or physical control (volume) with the exception of the mirrors. You probably shouldn't be adjusting your mirrors while driving though anyways. That would take way longer than the 2 seconds you said was unacceptable for wipers.
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