Drew57
Active ember
Thing is for me (& call me old fashioned if you like).... I actually enjoy driving the car
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"70" reg crew
- Thread starter Neilio
- Start date
I picked up my car from West Drayton on Friday. Apart from giving everyone the same appointment time, and thus having a big queue, it was a pretty smooth experience, especially considering they were super busy. God knows what it must be like at the end of this month when it's the end of the quarter. It would have been nice to have someone walk through the car, as I felt a bit overwhelmed, but obviously that wasn't possible.
As previously notified by Tesla, they would only guarantee the car would be charged to 40% due to the number of cars they had on site. I decided to stop at the nearby Heathrow T5 Supercharger at the Hilton Hotel on my way home. It was like driving into a scene from the Apocalypse. I don't know when the hotel closed but it looked liked it had been abandoned for years, the big car park was covered in weeds with not a soul about. The cable in the first charging stall I tried wouldn't come out from the stall, so I moved to another. This time the cable released OK, but wouldn't charge the car. Finally the 3rd stall I moved to worked ok. There was a sign saying to report to reception for 30 mins free parking, but of course there was no hotel reception present, so ended up having to pay £4 to leave the car park that no one is using
As previously notified by Tesla, they would only guarantee the car would be charged to 40% due to the number of cars they had on site. I decided to stop at the nearby Heathrow T5 Supercharger at the Hilton Hotel on my way home. It was like driving into a scene from the Apocalypse. I don't know when the hotel closed but it looked liked it had been abandoned for years, the big car park was covered in weeds with not a soul about. The cable in the first charging stall I tried wouldn't come out from the stall, so I moved to another. This time the cable released OK, but wouldn't charge the car. Finally the 3rd stall I moved to worked ok. There was a sign saying to report to reception for 30 mins free parking, but of course there was no hotel reception present, so ended up having to pay £4 to leave the car park that no one is using
Bit of Both for me. I love driving, which is why I went for the P over the LR. However on the commute to work, or the long trip up the M1 to my mothers, FSD would be a boon. I know it's only a small thing but not engaging/disengaging AP every time I want to change lanes would be a boon. Plus, slow and ponderous it may be, I'd actually use Autopark. I did on my previous cars, a lot.
Collected from Manchester South on 1/9. Bit of a wait as everyone seemed to have the same collection time. Was expecting the worst having read all about the panel gaps etc (that'll teach me to read internet posts). Found 6 cosmetic issues with the car, 2 I'd probably have lived with if it wasn't having to go in for the other 4. Damage to chrome on driver's side (not adhesive), paint chips (which look like they've been very badly touched up) on right front corner, scratches on glass on lower lights both sides, bubbling of paint inside driver's side rear door, pain looks a bit thin on other front corner where bumper meets the car and tiny blemish on paint on rear bumper. Booked in on 30th for service repair so hopefully will all be sorted without issue (although the 40mile journey and day without car is a bit of a PITA). Other than that, delighted with it
Collected my M3LR from Southampton this afternoon. Place was almost deserted - just a handful of assorted cars in their car park.
Given as much time as I wanted to look round and play with the car before "signing" it over and leaving.
Initial charge was 89%
Fit and finish looked good. Only a short (4m?) type 2 lead supplied otherwise everything there including the mudflap extenders.
Not seen a premium white interior before so the ghostly white dash was a surprise (my test drive with in a dark-seat car with woodgrain).
Frunk is old style with notches for the "chip-bag" hooks to be acquired.
Internally two rear USB-C ports, one front USB-A port free and one USB-C port connected to the wireless charging plate.
I can see why everyone replaces the boot lights - one pitiful LED in them.
Driving around through traffic the camera calibration didn't take long at all - 20 minutes or so.
Plugged into my Tesla Wall Charger at home seems to be happy pulling 32A.
Looking good so far
Given as much time as I wanted to look round and play with the car before "signing" it over and leaving.
Initial charge was 89%
Fit and finish looked good. Only a short (4m?) type 2 lead supplied otherwise everything there including the mudflap extenders.
Not seen a premium white interior before so the ghostly white dash was a surprise (my test drive with in a dark-seat car with woodgrain).
Frunk is old style with notches for the "chip-bag" hooks to be acquired.
Internally two rear USB-C ports, one front USB-A port free and one USB-C port connected to the wireless charging plate.
I can see why everyone replaces the boot lights - one pitiful LED in them.
Driving around through traffic the camera calibration didn't take long at all - 20 minutes or so.
Plugged into my Tesla Wall Charger at home seems to be happy pulling 32A.
Looking good so far
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
They've varied the length a bit previously. When I picked mine up there were a mix of blue and black leads, and at the briefing before we went down to pick up the cars they suggested that we swap between ourselves if we didn't like the supplied colour. IIRC, the blue cable was slightly shorter than the black cable.
One of the most useful things I've got is a long (as in 10m) Type 2 cable. I used it a lot with my last EV, as it was a good way to get around an ICE'd charge point at times, particularly when using hotel destination charge points, where sometimes they aren't placed in the most accessible of places.
One of the most useful things I've got is a long (as in 10m) Type 2 cable. I used it a lot with my last EV, as it was a good way to get around an ICE'd charge point at times, particularly when using hotel destination charge points, where sometimes they aren't placed in the most accessible of places.
LongRanger
Active Member
In case it helps new owners - my experience so far on charging
Decent home setup is a must. It takes all thought of “will it have enough by morning” out of the equation completely. You could get by on 16A but 32A means after a morning, afternoon or evening you have + 50% capability.
Polar/Chargemaster 50kw - tried one yesterday for a couple of KW, faultless experience
Instavolt 50kw - tried one today, same as above completely faultless.
Superchargers - a complete doddle at both Hopwood M42 and Sarn Parc M4, my charge varied between 90 and 130 KW. Make sure you “navigate to supercharger” as it ensures pre-conditioning for the best result when you plug in.
I also encountered a chap with a Nissan E-200 van at another 50kw location yesterday - he was having nightmares with his experience ofGeniepoint. Accepted his card, then the car refused to kick charging off. He was faced with having to drive 20 miles to another location to get enough slow-charge miles to then make it onwards to his destination 80 miles away. He had been apparently hopping from one charge point to another for 18 months and seemed totally accepting of it taking him forever to navigate life. That’s not for me. His exact words were “life with electric cars is still a complete PITA”.
I couldn’t disagree more after 4 days of ownership, have just done exactly what I would have done since Friday, except I’m no longer in a hire car and have to walk 10 metres from the back door to plug a connector into a socket.
Have decide to go with OVO Energy as we don’t have smart meter capability here and the slightly higher KWh tariff rate will be offset by using the 2 years worth of Polar Plus membership included in their EV tariff.
Decent home setup is a must. It takes all thought of “will it have enough by morning” out of the equation completely. You could get by on 16A but 32A means after a morning, afternoon or evening you have + 50% capability.
Polar/Chargemaster 50kw - tried one yesterday for a couple of KW, faultless experience
Instavolt 50kw - tried one today, same as above completely faultless.
Superchargers - a complete doddle at both Hopwood M42 and Sarn Parc M4, my charge varied between 90 and 130 KW. Make sure you “navigate to supercharger” as it ensures pre-conditioning for the best result when you plug in.
I also encountered a chap with a Nissan E-200 van at another 50kw location yesterday - he was having nightmares with his experience ofGeniepoint. Accepted his card, then the car refused to kick charging off. He was faced with having to drive 20 miles to another location to get enough slow-charge miles to then make it onwards to his destination 80 miles away. He had been apparently hopping from one charge point to another for 18 months and seemed totally accepting of it taking him forever to navigate life. That’s not for me. His exact words were “life with electric cars is still a complete PITA”.
I couldn’t disagree more after 4 days of ownership, have just done exactly what I would have done since Friday, except I’m no longer in a hire car and have to walk 10 metres from the back door to plug a connector into a socket.
Have decide to go with OVO Energy as we don’t have smart meter capability here and the slightly higher KWh tariff rate will be offset by using the 2 years worth of Polar Plus membership included in their EV tariff.
i think home chargers are the key - I’m in a flat in busy city centre so charging at work will my option (and with free electricity so I’m fine with that!) keen to get a decent speed unit installed though as the three pin at mum’s was giving me 10miles of charge an hour which was ok but I was glad to be at the super charger at euro central to top it off!
Torokruger
Member
Dont know if you have a Charge place Scotland card yet or use Live Map - ChargePlace Scotland as there is lots of 50kw chargers which could help and Zap Map is pretty good too I find that 30-90 usually is around an hour.
tomorrowman
Member
Good point, it is a fantastic car to drive.
Interestingly my old E-Class autopilot equivalent got used extensively. It however was a wallowy comfortable barge of a car and the autopilot suited its nature - The tesla however is a different beast all together.
I still think the basic autopilot is sufficient to make a x hundred mile from one end of the country motorway journeys a relaxing affair where you get to your destination feeling more relaxed then you where at the start without going FSD (at least in it's current form).
While I hope FSD does reach level 5 autonomy in the near future and I can send my Tesla out to earn it's keep as a robot uber equivalent while I work from home, I'll keep the FSD pennies in the bank for the time being
the RFID card hasn’t arrived yet so my first experience today in glasgow with chargeplace was not excellent.
After extensive research of a safe place with a rapid charger, near the Glasgow office - I Got reversed into the tightest space at the rapid charger.... no one there - quietly delighted... selected correct cable - yippee!
Managed to release the cable from the wall using touch screen - got cable in car... it locked in and screen said ready to charge - yippee - felt pretty good about it all at this stage....
but then nothing - no screen instructions and the app kept crashing... so my plan to charge for 3 hrs while I was in the Glasgow office backfired severely. I had to meekly trundle forward out of the space and call it quits. Tried the helpline for 20 mins but couldn’t get through and gave up.
I didn’t NEED to charge but I could, and I wanted to learn about it at a non-tesla charger so I don’t frazzle the battery only doing supercharges.
Lesson learnt... wait for the card....
Torokruger
Member
Must admit card has worked every time for me (touch wood) so never used the app but have noticed a lot of the times on the CYC live map it doesn't report status of the CCS charger but again luckily all have worked so far, hopefully when your card comes you should find the same.
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LongRanger
Active Member
Something else for owners collecting - make sure the headlights have been calibrated.
I haven’t driven at night yet, but have had the auto-lights come on in lower light conditions, and have been noticing road signs being lit too high up.
Got the car parked level and lights shining onto wall in front, went to service menu and pressed Adjust Headlights, they immediately did a self-test and settled lower than original level. The manual wants not to fiddle around with manual alignment but recommend you do the first bit at least which is just letting the car choose its self-aligned levels.
Not convinced they were right at all until I did this. A by-product of transportation / lack of quality check at the docks maybe ?
I haven’t driven at night yet, but have had the auto-lights come on in lower light conditions, and have been noticing road signs being lit too high up.
Got the car parked level and lights shining onto wall in front, went to service menu and pressed Adjust Headlights, they immediately did a self-test and settled lower than original level. The manual wants not to fiddle around with manual alignment but recommend you do the first bit at least which is just letting the car choose its self-aligned levels.
Not convinced they were right at all until I did this. A by-product of transportation / lack of quality check at the docks maybe ?
Lucanesque
Member
the RFID card hasn’t arrived yet so my first experience today in glasgow with chargeplace was not excellent.
but then nothing - no screen instructions and the app kept crashing... so my plan to charge for 3 hrs while I was in the Glasgow office backfired severely. I had to meekly trundle forward out of the space and call it quits. Tried the helpline for 20 mins but couldn’t get through and gave up.
I didn’t NEED to charge but I could, and I wanted to learn about it at a non-tesla charger so I don’t frazzle the battery only doing supercharges.
Lesson learnt... wait for the card....
I *think* CYC has had a problem with their system as I tried over the weekend and it spectacularly failed, app kept crashing and kept saying I wasn't connected to the internet (I was). Struggled to log in to their website too, tried from my phone, from the car web browser, no joy. Today (now I'm working in Germany - grrrr) the app seems to be working fine, logs straight in, identifies charge points etc.
But, like you, I want my card to arrive so I don't have to worry about the flaky app!
One more sleep!!!
Really hoping for a positive experience.
On the plus side, I had about miles to drive back home and a few places. Recent developments have made it almost 60.
Where are you collecting? Picking mine up in Dartford tomorrow!
Having a mild disaster though, my wife was supposed to be bringing me down but she's managed to kill her car so I am now using the train..instead of a 40 min drive it's now over 2 hours on public transport to get there and a 6.30 start
Zigway
Member
That's interesting, I noticed mine are rather high, and with 4 passengers I get plenty of oncoming cars flashing me. I raised a service request due to the warning in the manual; this is still a few weeks away, perhaps I'll give this a try too. Surely it should set self adjust at the start of each journey though? My Passat with LED headlights always went through a self test and alignment check at switch on, no issues.
Where are you collecting? Picking mine up in Dartford tomorrow!
Having a mild disaster though, my wife was supposed to be bringing me down but she's managed to kill her car so I am now using the train..instead of a 40 min drive it's now over 2 hours on public transport to get there and a 6.30 start
Collecting at Heathrow (West Drayton) tomorrow morning.
That may not be so bad... gets you started on your journey earlier.. I'd certainly be up and waiting to get going. Confirmation text literally just came from Tesla. It's funny I'm much better now that it's so close.
