ℬête Noire’s AWD preliminary mini-review

[ℬête Noire]

Fff...
Yeah.

——
Extended version. Took delivery in the dark. Had correct number of wheels. *thumbs up*

Youngest rode w/me. Pulled out of the lot & immediately the first light obliged us w/a launch opportunity. Road was wet & yet my vision momentarily swam when I stomped on it.

Dropped of kid at home. Sensors sure complained a lot parking in the single car side. It thinks I’ve got more cleaning to do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Left on my own for a late night trip I needed to do. The left turn out of our neighbourhood is onto a busy 5 lane highway (2 each way, shared center turn lane). This thing is vexing about 18 hours a day. But I’ve got a good sized gap so let’s see what much slack I’ll normally need by pressing a hustle out of here. In light rain.

Welp, a bit too much ‘go’ but made it most of the way across to inside far lane before the rear broke loose. It fell back in line quick by I wasn’t expecting so it was clumsy recovery. Going to need some adjustment to get used to the immediacy of steering response.

Anyway, need to take care of buying a microwave ...oh, and the college kid is struggling w/the door handle. LOL

 

[nvx1977]

congrats on your model 3!

 

[SoCalGuy]

Nice. Congrats! What was your manufacture date?

Btw how would you compare it to the Performance and RWD?

 

[insaneoctane]

Congratulations! I look forward to hearing more as you get more seat time.

 

[Jedi2155]

Congratulations as well!! Let me know how you like it compared to your Bolt!

 

[seattlite2004]

Curious.....how does model 3 regen compare with all regen modes on the Bolt?

 

[ℬête Noire]

Nice. Congrats! What was your manufacture date?

Didn't ask. Pick-up so late in the day to schedule around wife (named on the vehicle, too) I didn't bother with that stuff. It was really pretty much pair & go, I'll get that all sorted later after I've had time to go over the vehicle as a sort of "at home extended delivery".

However given the timing of my first ISA email, and that it is Obsidian, confident it was 2nd or 3rd week in Aug.

Btw how would you compare it to the Performance and RWD?

I never did get around to test driving the P. I'm not sure they have one here yet but once my order became locked in last month I didn't bother checking anymore. I will say I'm still confident that the AWD is enough for me. It's so easy to slip up to 70mph without noticing, on good roads.

On RWD most concise way to put the difference is: With the AWD I feel the need to first firmly place my head into the headrest before stomping off the line or from a low speed roll. I'm pretty sure that was the source of the vision sensation. I wasn't braced properly and it was tossing my pencil neck around like a rag doll. This was not an effect I noticed with the RWD.

This creates a little tension when you're driving on very uneven pavement because the suspension is stiff enough I felt a little tapping from the headrest if I had my head back there. Just a little thing to sort out and learn.

I test drove the RWD on a dry day in relatively urban situation so didn't really push the car around to the extent I did dipping my toes in yesterday, so this isn't really a comparison, but some of the AWD feel I was expecting at the fringes of friction certainly emerged. Though it's really so far out there that I'm not sure how often I'll visit it, it's there for when the situation is visited upon me. So feeling good about that.

 

[ℬête Noire]

Curious.....how does model 3 regen compare with all regen modes on the Bolt?

Yes, this was a huge question I had. Should have mentioned this in regards to RWD above. I'm not sure I've fully answered it yet, haven't done any back-to-back-to-back yet, but good signs are emerging.

I never drive the Bolt in "D" (except by accident via mis-tapping the shifter...grrrrrr).

I'll say it the Model 3 is noticeably less binary. I'd be surprised if the AWD regen isn't the same strength but the 3 subtly rounds the edge of the onset so you get noticeably less "jerk" if you fully let off or cancel CC without your foot on speed control to catch it. I've gotten decently good at catching the Bolt and simulating it myself but I appreciate the difference in feel here and my passengers probably more-so (haven't asked yet).

Of course there's the regen fade out at the very bottom end of speed (sub-10mph, whatever it is). I was concerned about this, and I expect I'll always really like the Bolt's right-to-a-stop regen, but using the brake pedal to finish on the Model 3 feels decently natural and I'm already getting pretty good at timing to avoid the "surge" sensation (which of course isn't what it is) when regen fades out coming up to a stop.

In traffic TACC makes that moot, as it does a seamless job as far as I can tell so far of transitioning from regen to friction brakes as needed. However that's not my situation most of the time, bringing us to the question around what replaces the hole of no wheel paddle. Sorting out how I'm going to handle CC, because so much of my "stop and go" driving involves there being no car in front of me, is still an ongoing project, as I expected it to be.

As a tangental note, I will say I haven't yet accidentally triggered the voice command on <yet unnamed>, like I did 3 times (!) during the test drive. LOL So that's good news.

 

[seattlite2004]

...
Of course there's the regen fade out at the very bottom end of speed (sub-10mph, whatever it is). I was concerned about this, and I expect I'll always really like the Bolt's right-to-a-stop regen, but using the brake pedal to finish on the Model 3 feels decently natural and I'm already getting pretty good at timing to avoid the "surge" sensation (which of course isn't what it is) when regen fades out coming up to a stop.
...

This is a good point and a feature I freakin enjoy about the Bolt. Appreciate your comparisons!

 

[ℬête Noire]

This is a good point and a feature I freakin enjoy about the Bolt. Appreciate your comparisons!

I very purposefully chose the word "like" rather than "prefer" because I have doubt on the later. We'll see in a month or two how things are looking. I know I've already evolved over time with the Bolt that I now put my foot on the brake at stop signs anyway, even though I don't normally use it for coming to a stop. With the Model 3 it's just few feet earlier, it might not actually matter in the end because it already feels really natural.

In my current mind's eye the spot of perfection for me lies "the rest of the Model 3 regen but a little less regen fade at the bottom", not even the Bolt's full-to-the-end. I'd really like to better understand the reason for Tesla's choice here, because it's so good elsewhere and maybe I'm just not seeing deep enough on the consequences? Or it could be a vestigial thing, chosen for a reason way back that's not applicable anymore but remains because it's Tesla's style (and legacy code base). I've seen speculation that it's to encourage a bit of burnishing to keep the rotor/pads fresh and ready but I'm not confident in that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

P.S. I expect my wife to actually prefer the Model 3, it seems to be more in line with the way she drives the Bolt anyway. I'll ask her tonight (she's driving it today, as I'm picking up some paving bricks to finish the Camry's new temp parking spot).

 

[seattlite2004]

I very purposefully chose the word "like" rather than "prefer" because I have doubt on the later. We'll see in a month or two how things are looking. I know I've already evolved over time with the Bolt that I now put my foot on the brake at stop signs anyway, even though I don't normally use it for coming to a stop. With the Model 3 it's just few feet earlier, it might not actually matter in the end because it already feels really natural.

In my current mind's eye the spot of perfection for me lies "the rest of the Model 3 regen but a little less regen fade at the bottom", not even the Bolt's full-to-the-end. I'd really like to better understand the reason for Tesla's choice here, because it's so good elsewhere and maybe I'm just not seeing deep enough on the consequences? Or it could be a vestigial thing, chosen for a reason way back that's not applicable anymore but remains because it's Tesla's style (and legacy code base). I've seen speculation that it's a bit of burnishing to keep the rotor/pads fresh and ready but I'm not confident in that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

P.S. I expect my wife to actually prefer the Model 3, it seems to be more in line with the way she drives the Bolt anyway. I'll ask her tonight (she's driving it today, as I'm picking up some paving bricks to finish the Camry's new temp parking spot).

Yeah...I got your comments....thanks for the additional info. Each vehicle has their own feel...and since you own both...appreciate your comments on the differences. Lots of data out there showing the differences...its nice to have you qualitative comments on the regen of both.