My Tesla thoughts after driving one... - Page 14

onewhippedpuppy · 01-19-2015, 03:52 AM

I drove a model 85 yesterday, very interesting experience. My shop neighbors are renting the space for toy storage, the dad and his son have a very eclectic collection of vehicles 1992 Bronco with 30k, Viper, old fire truck, Buick GS, etc. Today one of the son's friends stopped by with a Tesla demo model 85, and since we were talking cars they offered me a drive. It's really eerie how there's so little noise. The instant torque is awesome, though the car felt a bit soggy otherwise. The instrument cluster and center console were really cool tech, but would take a bit of practice to safely operate without taking your eyes off of the road to hunt and peck. Overall I was pretty impressed, it's a very different sort of car.

Side note, after hot rodding around town for a little while, they had to plug it in to get home.

jyl · jyl's Garage

I think I would dislike a car that requires hour long stops at charging stations during trips. But I suppose one could rent a different car for road trips.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyl

I think I would dislike a car that requires hour long stops at charging stations during trips. But I suppose one could rent a different car for road trips.

Musk says they're going to have a firmware fix for 'range anxiety,' which some interpret as a 10-15% increase in range per charge.

Personally, I'm quite happy with the plug-in hybrid tech in my Volt. I've done 18,000 miles to date averaging 123 MPG.

1990C4S · 03-20-2015, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by techweenie

Personally, I'm quite happy with the plug-in hybrid tech in my Volt. I've done 18,000 miles to date averaging 123 MPG.

Do you charge nightly? Any idea of the 'real' operating cost of this car ('fuel' only) versus, say a 4-cylinder car?

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Do you charge nightly? Any idea of the 'real' operating cost of this car ('fuel' only) versus, say a 4-cylinder car?

I pretty much have it plugged in all the time its home. My electric bill didn't change, so the charging cost is negligible (if I run the ceiling fan all day, it seems to cost more). so I figure it's somewhere aroung $0.04/mile.

We're lucky in LA to have very low electricity costs.