I test drove a Tesla Model S 100 D

[speeder]

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by mikehinton

If you're thinking about an EV, get a Bolt. Far less $. Pretty good range (we average about 260 per charge). Built by a real car company.

Mike, what do you like about your Bolt? What don't you like?

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by speeder

Well, I don’t know what you are talking about since I’ve never knocked EVs on this board and you were responding to me. If this guy drives enough to burn $17k worth of fuel and he can replace that brodozer or Bentley w a Tesla, he may save $$, yes. But the Model S 100d can easily cost $150k+ and depreciates like a tuna sandwich according to eBay bids, where they are very plentiful w super low miles. The design is getting long in the tooth w no changes and their customers are people who want the latest status symbol. It has nothing to do w saving $$ or being green at those prices.

Don’t you have a Chevy Volt? Those pencil out great for a lot of people, including friends of mine. I’d consider one if I could charge it here. Prius’s can also make financial sense but I don’t want to drive one. I have a Jetta TDI w manual trans that is thrifty and actually fun to drive.

+1 spot on. I considered the Volt when I took a new job. They had free chargers in the parking lot and my commute is 50 miles RT. Perfect. When I factored in insurance, registration, the savings were not all that great. Hopefully the prices for this 'technology' will drop dramatically in the coming years. Until then...I'll burn dinosaurs.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by island911

LOL ^

Hey, let's do some math

17k$ in fuel. That's a lot of fuel.

Say $2.50/gal average last year. Oh wait, it's Canada, eh? so $4/gal, eh ? (it was less last year)

So 17k/4= 4,250 gallons of fuel.

Let's say he drives a tank that gets only 12mpg. -> 51,000 miles driven last year. Minimum.

How is the Tesla going to rack up that kind of mileage? Do you have a 140 mile per day commute? and then do the same on weekends, just for fun?

If you do, I can't imagine you did it with a car that got only 12mpg.

Your math is sound.

My daily is a Tundra with a slight lift. I have a farm and can write off some of this. That $17k didn’t include my Porsches.

My commute is 60-100 Miles per day depending which office I am going to.

[cairns]

Hey, let's do some math

17k$ in fuel. That's a lot of fuel.

Say $2.50/gal average last year. Oh wait, it's Canada, eh? so $4/gal, eh ? (it was less last year)

So 17k/4= 4,250 gallons of fuel.

Let's say he drives a tank that gets only 12mpg. -> 51,000 miles driven last year. Minimum.

How is the Tesla going to rack up that kind of mileage? Do you have a 140 mile per day commute? and then do the same on weekends, just for fun?

If you do, I can't imagine you did it with a car that got only 12mpg.

You nailed it. That's either an incredible amount of short trips with charges in between (lots of time) or long trips a Tesla wouldn't have the range for.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I drove the same thing several years ago, the acceleration is breathtaking and they are quite nice inside. They also have very spotty reliability (at least per the surveys) and depreciate like a rock.

Let's be real here though, you don't buy a Tesla because you are trying to save money. If you drive a lot and want to save money, you get an economical commuter. One of many hybrids, Bolt, Leaf, one one of many econoboxes with a 4-cylinder that gets better than 40 MPG on the highway. Hell, a new Miata gets close to 40 MPG. That math pencils out. Spending well over $100k on a Tesla does not pencil out in any way, shape, or form.

[slow&rusty]

Driving for me is an experience that includes an engine that communicates to me, the use of a clutch pedal and a lever in the center console where I get to chose the power band and ratio and I love me some engine braking too.
Based on this I will probably never own a Tesla or any electric \ hybrid vehicle.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Driving for me is an experience that includes an engine that communicates to me, the use of a clutch pedal and a lever in the center console where I get to chose the power band and ratio and I love me some engine braking too.
Based on this I will probably never own a Tesla or any electric \ hybrid vehicle.

I own 2 930s and a hot rod 911. This Tesla was amazing and driving it was as much of an experience.

I had your attitude 5 days ago.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Driving for me is an experience that includes an engine that communicates to me, the use of a clutch pedal and a lever in the center console where I get to chose the power band and ratio and I love me some engine braking too.
Based on this I will probably never own a Tesla or any electric \ hybrid vehicle.

Famous last words.

In 10 to 15 years you may not have a choice for a "daily". Old sports or collectible cars will alway be around but even they are changing.

Meanwhile even the Royals have jumped on the band wagon. Electric E Type Jag... $500,000!

Harry and Meghan's blue Jaguar is a $500,000 green machine | Fox News

[astrochex]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Famous last words.

In 10 to 15 years you may not have a choice for a "daily". Old sports or collectible cars will alway be around but even they are changing.

Meanwhile even the Royals have jumped on the band wagon. Electric E Type Jag... $500,000!

Harry and Meghan's blue Jaguar is a $500,000 green machine | Fox News

I was commenting to my wife what a classic car the E-Type is. I had no idea the Royals car is electric.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I drove the same thing several years ago, the acceleration is breathtaking and they are quite nice inside. They also have very spotty reliability (at least per the surveys) and depreciate like a rock.

Let's be real here though, you don't buy a Tesla because you are trying to save money. If you drive a lot and want to save money, you get an economical commuter. One of many hybrids, Bolt, Leaf, one one of many econoboxes with a 4-cylinder that gets better than 40 MPG on the highway. Hell, a new Miata gets close to 40 MPG. That math pencils out. Spending well over $100k on a Tesla does not pencil out in any way, shape, or form.

That was what stopped me from going Tesla, even the Tesla Model 3, which you cannot even get, is too much money IMHO.

The i3 was over 50K new, that makes no sense to me at all. I was happy to pay 18K out the door for the 2014 i3 I have and that made total sense to me. I even have a unlimited mile 3 year CPO warranty on it.

We need a commuter car, I was supposed to get a R52 Mini, then decided to get a R53 because it would be more fun, then found a R53 JCW because why not?

25 MPG is why not. 2 tanks of premium gas a week is why not.

So we sold the JCW for 9K and bought that i3 cash. Now we do not need to fill the tank 2X a week only once and when we do it takes 2 gallons of premium. I laugh every time I fill it up.

That car is saving us $200 a month, insurance did not change at all and we would have been buying another car anyway. So this made total sense to us from a financial standpoint.

I also look at it this way the less crude we use the better it will make it cheaper in the long run.

You need to tell the buyer of you FD that I need to have it and just sell it to me.

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Driving for me is an experience that includes an engine that communicates to me, the use of a clutch pedal and a lever in the center console where I get to chose the power band and ratio and I love me some engine braking too.
Based on this I will probably never own a Tesla or any electric \ hybrid vehicle.

I used to say the same thing. Every car has its place, I love driving this i3, the acceleration is mind blowing, 0-40 in this thing is startling. I play a game at red lights, I will nail it off the line and laugh as the cars next to me struggle to catch back up, they never expect me to jump 5 cars ahead of them in the blink of a eye... silently.

This i3 is for in town commuting, I would never take it on a road trip and I would prefer for it to never see interstate conditions. That is not what it is for. I have it so we keep the miles off our pristine E30. Up until 2 years ago my wife daily drove the E30, when my son changed private schools to one 25 miles away, no way I was going to put those miles on the E30, it can do it no problem, I just want to keep the E30 for a long long time.

So we grabbed the JCW Mini and sold it for this i3. We use it as intended and love it we are putting over 500 miles a week on it and for the 5 months we have owned it, not one problem.

[slow&rusty]

Well then...

stubbornly:

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Well then...

stubbornly:

LMAO


Speaking of engine braking.

The i3 has regenerative braking and it is very intrusive. One would say it is right foot driving at its ultimate. When stopping for a stop sign or red light, it is pretty common for me to see the battery charge up 0.5% by the time it stops.

The cool part is you can totally drive this car with your right foot and never step on the brake pedal, once you get the timing right and used to it, I can lift for a stop sign or red light and come to a complete stop harnessing all the stopping energy.

I drive to get my son from school every Friday afternoon and take the i3, in the 50 mile round trip I may hit my brake pedal 1-3 times and I am pissed when I have to hit it.

I can see this car using its factory brake pads for 100K miles easy.

I feel like this car is engaging to drive as my E30, just in a different manner, how engaging is a manual car in stop and go traffic in town? Pretty useless if you ask me. This car lives for that and it perfect for it.

I would rather use my fun cars for just that fun, no more wear and tear in traffic just out on empty roads having a good time.

Like I said, every car has its purpose, I would never Autocross this i3 (although the thought crossed my mind just for yucks) and would never dream of taking it on a Tail of the Dragon trip. That is what the E30 is for.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by astrochex

I was commenting to my wife what a classic car the E-Type is. I had no idea the Royals car is electric.

It's not the Royals' car... it was loaned to Harry for the day.

Left-hand drive, too...

[speeder]

The electric E-type is cool but I have no idea why it would cost $500K??

Hasn't electricity been around since the horse and buggy days? WTF am I missing here? And the range hasn't improved much since then. Things that make you go, hmmm....

[island911]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Famous last words.

In 10 to 15 years you may not have a choice for a "daily". Old sports or collectible cars will alway be around but even they are changing.

Meanwhile even the Royals have jumped on the band wagon. Electric E Type Jag... $500,000!

Harry and Meghan's blue Jaguar is a $500,000 green machine | Fox News

Wow.

I suppose that a high-styled golf-cart makes sense for keeping the stink down, and the reliability up.

[cairns]

Oh a British electric car. What could go wrong?

[island911]

Yeah, it wouldn't be too green if it started to leak all of it's smoke.

[sc_rufctr]

[sammyg2]

My old tundra got 17 mpg.
at $4/gal that would be 72,240 miles driven per year.