We have a 2014 Model S that was built a month or two before AP1 was introduced. I've tried to avoid the temptation of upgrading immediately since AP was released. I figured I'd wait until AP2 or at least a significant improvement to the current hardware suite was introduced before I bought a new car. Honestly, the reports of bad build quality in this forum has also contributed to me holding off on placing an order for a Model X, even though it fits our family's needs a bit better than the Model S.
With the expiration of the referral credit happening and the mystery announcement happening on Monday, I thought I'd take the advice given to me on this forum to arrange a long-term test drive of the Model X. I thought my findings might be useful for anyone in a similar situation.
Picked up an X90D this morning. Dark Blue Metallic, six seat configuration in Ultra White. PUP, AP, SAS, 20" wheels. I THINK it might have UHF sound but I can't really tell. This, coincidentally, is nearly exactly the same car that I placed an order for last night to beat the referral credit deadline. I added tow package and cold weather package and left off UHF sound. I figured I could cancel if there was anything that was a deal-breaker.
I've test driven the X a few times but those were P90DLs and I have no need to spend the money on the P version. So I'm glad to have gotten a regular version believe it or not. In any case, these are the differences I've found over the course of the day.
Pro:
• Higher seating position. Some people might not find this beneficial. I like it.
• FWDs and accessibility for kids in car seats. Big, big benefit here. This is a significant part of what I expected to like about the X.
• Dual Motors. It rained today here in Norcal, so it was nice to have that extra peace of mind.
• Windshield. I'm fairly tall. I always have to bend/duck down to see stoplights. The windshield really makes things easier for folks like me.
• Higher ride height: Helps on our steep driveway. Our non-SAS S scrapes on our driveway unless you approach at a pretty oblique angle.
• AutoPilot: This is my first time using it for an extended period of time. It's really quite good. I can sense where it could be better obviously but compared to nothing it's pretty amazing.
• Six Seats: This is fairly obvious, but this is a pretty significant benefit since we have a lot of relatives nearby. We didn't use all the seats today but I can foresee many times where six seats would have allowed me to take our Tesla rather than our ICE SUV to make medium-length trips.
• Build quality: Generally speaking, better than our S. There are some things on this loaner that would need to be fixed before an owner took possession of it but it's no worse than our S was an perhaps marginally better.
• Vented seats: Not a huge benefit, but i had them shut off by accident for a while. When I turned them on, I definitely noticed the difference. When I first got the car I turned them on immediately and didn't think they did much. But building up some body heat and then turning them off showed the difference more clearly.
Con:
• Rear visibility: Even with the six seat configuration, the fix spoiler splits the back window in the rear view mirror. Also, the whole rear window is pretty small. While the Model S doesn't have awesome rear visibility, the combination of distance and the spoiler make the rear window of the X seems almost useless.
• FWD: This seems to be both a pro and a con. It doesn't open fully in our garage because we park offset to one side in the two-car garage section of our garage. So the opener motor is over the passenger FWD. Neither door really opens fully in the garage. I've considered getting a jackshaft opener regardless, so that would be solved, but it's still a bit of a pain to deal with umbrella mode. Also, they're quite slow for situations where you just need to grab something out of the car.
• Windshield Ghosting: I've read a lot about it on here and wanted to experience it myself to see how big of a deal it is. Having just driven it at night I can definitely see it. It doesn't bother me as much as some folks on here but it's definitely a "thing." It happens in all sharp light sources that pass by the car at night.
• Efficiency: I'm pretty sure the X is around 10-15% less efficient per KwH than the S. Not a huge deal, but it's significant.
• Less effective Regen: Might be due to the weight but the X slows much less under regen than my Model S. It would just take a bit of adjustment but I rely on strong regen a lot.
• PUP cost: Other than the cooled seats, the PUP is way too expensive. Biodefense is interesting but I would almost never use it. Auto-presenting doors are kind of annoying especially since auto-closing doors are standard on non-PUP equipped cars. The ambient lighting is "okay". Not really that strong or noticeable really. I'll probably still keep it just for the seats, but I definitely feel like I'm getting ripped off a bit.
• Third row seat actuation. What's the point of having it "kinda" automated with an electric button but not having it actually do anything other than fold down the headrest? This could have been accomplished more simply and cheaper with a physical lever or pull.
Different:
For people who have pre-AP cars, there are a few things that struck me as odd.
• Being used to the lower-left turn signal stalk location of the earlier cars, the Cruise/AP paddle is exactly where I'm used to using the turn signal. This caused a couple problems.
- I would consistently re-engage cruise control when I was attempting to signal for a turn. This would cause the car to accelerate when i wasn't expecting it. Not dangerous, per se, but it could cause issues for people used to the lousy turn signal stalk location like I am.
- Cruise control does not disengage the way you would think. It seems like you have to disengage AP and then also disengage CC. This is really weird for people who are used to only disengaging one. Again, it causes unexpected acceleration in certain circumstances.
- Not sure what to do with my hands and feet with AP is engaged. I'm sure this is just figuring out the habit of what to do. I have a couple fingers on my left hand on the steering wheel, but my foot is just sort of hovering around. I can see how people might lose mental indexing on where their foot is and which pedal it is over because your feet interact with the pedals much less than in a normal car.
• Size: The X is noticeably longer than the S. I have to park tighter to the wall to clear my garage door interference sensor.
• AC Noise: Much louder than our S. Not sure why this is but it seems much louder for not as much air flow on my body.
Anyway, sorry for the novel, but I wanted to get these thoughts down for anyone in a similar situation. Hope somebody finds it useful. We'll probably keep the reservation active and buy the Model X. If the announcement Monday isn't very significant, I might approach the Sales team about buying this specific vehicle.
With the expiration of the referral credit happening and the mystery announcement happening on Monday, I thought I'd take the advice given to me on this forum to arrange a long-term test drive of the Model X. I thought my findings might be useful for anyone in a similar situation.
Picked up an X90D this morning. Dark Blue Metallic, six seat configuration in Ultra White. PUP, AP, SAS, 20" wheels. I THINK it might have UHF sound but I can't really tell. This, coincidentally, is nearly exactly the same car that I placed an order for last night to beat the referral credit deadline. I added tow package and cold weather package and left off UHF sound. I figured I could cancel if there was anything that was a deal-breaker.
I've test driven the X a few times but those were P90DLs and I have no need to spend the money on the P version. So I'm glad to have gotten a regular version believe it or not. In any case, these are the differences I've found over the course of the day.
Pro:
• Higher seating position. Some people might not find this beneficial. I like it.
• FWDs and accessibility for kids in car seats. Big, big benefit here. This is a significant part of what I expected to like about the X.
• Dual Motors. It rained today here in Norcal, so it was nice to have that extra peace of mind.
• Windshield. I'm fairly tall. I always have to bend/duck down to see stoplights. The windshield really makes things easier for folks like me.
• Higher ride height: Helps on our steep driveway. Our non-SAS S scrapes on our driveway unless you approach at a pretty oblique angle.
• AutoPilot: This is my first time using it for an extended period of time. It's really quite good. I can sense where it could be better obviously but compared to nothing it's pretty amazing.
• Six Seats: This is fairly obvious, but this is a pretty significant benefit since we have a lot of relatives nearby. We didn't use all the seats today but I can foresee many times where six seats would have allowed me to take our Tesla rather than our ICE SUV to make medium-length trips.
• Build quality: Generally speaking, better than our S. There are some things on this loaner that would need to be fixed before an owner took possession of it but it's no worse than our S was an perhaps marginally better.
• Vented seats: Not a huge benefit, but i had them shut off by accident for a while. When I turned them on, I definitely noticed the difference. When I first got the car I turned them on immediately and didn't think they did much. But building up some body heat and then turning them off showed the difference more clearly.
Con:
• Rear visibility: Even with the six seat configuration, the fix spoiler splits the back window in the rear view mirror. Also, the whole rear window is pretty small. While the Model S doesn't have awesome rear visibility, the combination of distance and the spoiler make the rear window of the X seems almost useless.
• FWD: This seems to be both a pro and a con. It doesn't open fully in our garage because we park offset to one side in the two-car garage section of our garage. So the opener motor is over the passenger FWD. Neither door really opens fully in the garage. I've considered getting a jackshaft opener regardless, so that would be solved, but it's still a bit of a pain to deal with umbrella mode. Also, they're quite slow for situations where you just need to grab something out of the car.
• Windshield Ghosting: I've read a lot about it on here and wanted to experience it myself to see how big of a deal it is. Having just driven it at night I can definitely see it. It doesn't bother me as much as some folks on here but it's definitely a "thing." It happens in all sharp light sources that pass by the car at night.
• Efficiency: I'm pretty sure the X is around 10-15% less efficient per KwH than the S. Not a huge deal, but it's significant.
• Less effective Regen: Might be due to the weight but the X slows much less under regen than my Model S. It would just take a bit of adjustment but I rely on strong regen a lot.
• PUP cost: Other than the cooled seats, the PUP is way too expensive. Biodefense is interesting but I would almost never use it. Auto-presenting doors are kind of annoying especially since auto-closing doors are standard on non-PUP equipped cars. The ambient lighting is "okay". Not really that strong or noticeable really. I'll probably still keep it just for the seats, but I definitely feel like I'm getting ripped off a bit.
• Third row seat actuation. What's the point of having it "kinda" automated with an electric button but not having it actually do anything other than fold down the headrest? This could have been accomplished more simply and cheaper with a physical lever or pull.
Different:
For people who have pre-AP cars, there are a few things that struck me as odd.
• Being used to the lower-left turn signal stalk location of the earlier cars, the Cruise/AP paddle is exactly where I'm used to using the turn signal. This caused a couple problems.
- I would consistently re-engage cruise control when I was attempting to signal for a turn. This would cause the car to accelerate when i wasn't expecting it. Not dangerous, per se, but it could cause issues for people used to the lousy turn signal stalk location like I am.
- Cruise control does not disengage the way you would think. It seems like you have to disengage AP and then also disengage CC. This is really weird for people who are used to only disengaging one. Again, it causes unexpected acceleration in certain circumstances.
- Not sure what to do with my hands and feet with AP is engaged. I'm sure this is just figuring out the habit of what to do. I have a couple fingers on my left hand on the steering wheel, but my foot is just sort of hovering around. I can see how people might lose mental indexing on where their foot is and which pedal it is over because your feet interact with the pedals much less than in a normal car.
• Size: The X is noticeably longer than the S. I have to park tighter to the wall to clear my garage door interference sensor.
• AC Noise: Much louder than our S. Not sure why this is but it seems much louder for not as much air flow on my body.
Anyway, sorry for the novel, but I wanted to get these thoughts down for anyone in a similar situation. Hope somebody finds it useful. We'll probably keep the reservation active and buy the Model X. If the announcement Monday isn't very significant, I might approach the Sales team about buying this specific vehicle.
