A Tesla Owner's Goodbye

[doctoxics]

Keep in mind that there are developments on ICE cars that may achieve better emissions than EV cars (as long as coal powered stations exist). So the future is not as clear as you think. Ex-Porsche CEO tries to save combustion engine from scrap heap

Our house, including the Tesla charger for our Model X, runs on 100 % renewable energy. Time to get out of the 20th century.

 

[acoste]

Our house, including the Tesla charger for our Model X, runs on 100 % renewable energy. Time to get out of the 20th century.

Once your situation applies to everyone, you are right. Happy to hear about your setup.

 

[Oldschool496]

I still like Tesla, admire how much Musk has done in such a short period of time, and am not opposed to considering another EV in the future. For today, though, it just wasn't the right mix for us.

Every point you make is spot on. My life with this car has changed me completely. I love it, love it, love it. Its not easy though, its a new way of thinking. Adaptation takes patience and perseverance. Goodness knows my family has been patient.

Personally I hate BMWs. Never liked them at all. I have seen the hybrids 535e plugged in and I'm curious only. The 740iL does though still have a corner of heart. What a great looking car. Spacious interior. HUGE trunk.

I understand all your points. There is a lot to be desired here. There is a lot of space for future enhancements.
We all lived through the "who killed the electric car" experience whether you knew it or not. I was hopeful and it was dashed before it got started.

Thats the cult following Tesla is enjoying. Its not the final chapter, its the reigning in of a new chapter in innovation. Its long overdue, its the beginning of the end of the wagon era we really are still really in. Hell, I'm still hoping for no tires and suspension soon. Laugh, if you must, as I did when a kid, 45 years ago said to me "Hovercraft will be mainstream". And they are in the military and in a huge way.

I totally get your point and thank you for being a part of this new era. Enjoy your new car.

Report back please your experiences with BMW and mostly the car. All the best.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

The reason for getting rid of the P85D was actually pretty basic...it turns out that my wife is going to have to commute in the Bay Area for longer than she expected (at least another year) and with the HOV stickers expiring next month she wanted to find a way to get the new HOV sticker on a car. Plus, the warranty on the P85D expires at the end of this month (or thereabout), and while we were lucky to have a trouble free car to this point, we just didn't want to push our luck.
.

I learned in some other threads this morning that if you are losing your HOV access in California, you can buy a car that hasn't been registered in California and that was built before 2017 which would still be eligible for HOV access for several more years. Others who are in a similar situation could trade-up slightly to a S 90D from out of state and still be able to get HOV stickers for use in California.

I currently have a non-California S 90D with 20600 miles and two years of warranty left that is up for sale . Maybe a Californian would be interested in it?

 

[SO16]

Keep in mind that there are developments on ICE cars that may achieve better emissions than EV cars (as long as coal powered stations exist). So the future is not as clear as you think. Ex-Porsche CEO tries to save combustion engine from scrap heap

The future should be clear on this. But I do agree it isn’t....because of greed.

Once your situation applies to everyone, you are right. Happy to hear about your setup.

And you are assuming that everyone will have these new engines with lower emissions?

Since people need to switch eventually anyway, I would hope most people would go for the better solution rather than the stop gap. Switching out coal plants is happening regardless.

 

[doctoxics]

Once your situation applies to everyone, you are right. Happy to hear about your setup.

For an extra 2 cents a kwh, we buy 100 % renewable electricity from our local utility and save a lot more than that by driving electric. Most of us no longer have an excuse.

 

[CarlK]

Very sound reason (HOV sticker) but sound only if you can't buy another new Model S or Model 3. I remember BMW was trying to dangle the 530e in front of people before the Model 3 was available but most took it as just an effort to delay producing a real competitive EV. I'd buy a Tesla for the EAP on long freeway stop and go traffic alone.

 

[SO16]

For an extra 2 cents a kwh, we buy 100 % renewable electricity from our local utility and save a lot more than that by driving electric. Most of us no longer have an excuse.

Even in Michigan we can buy electricity from renewables. Granted, my electricity is still coming from coal but they are supposedly offsetting it in other areas of the state.

 

[Eclectic]

I look forward to another update from the OP in 5 years.

Well, it's a bit short of 5 years, but we put a ton of miles on the new car in the past 10 or so days. Just about 3,000 miles going from the Bay Area to Bozeman and back for the holidays. Weather was a bit sporty...lots of snow in the past few days and cold temps overall.

It's obviously too early to make any definitive statements about pluses and minuses, but here's a sneak peak:

What I miss-

1. The acceleration at lower speeds. The 530e is fine, but the P85D was special. No two ways about that one.
2. The BMW app is horrific. I took one programming class in my life, Fortran77, and it was the only F I have ever received. Still, I bet I could do a better job building an app than BMW did. It's beyond useless...I say this because it rarely connects, so I wasted a lot of time learning that it is better to not even bother trying.
3. Tesla's seat heaters are a bit better than the BMW's.
4. Our P85D had AP1 and it always worked fine for us. There's a learning curve with the BMW Driving Assistance package and it isn't quite as intuitive to me as the Tesla system was. By the end of the trip, though, this was no longer an issue.
5. The hatchback utility. I wish all cars were hatchbacks.

What I don't miss-
1. Noise. The BMW is SOOOO quiet. The noise of our P85D was more of a problem than I realized. I actually felt less fatigued after a long day of driving in the BMW even though I was more in control of driving vs. the P85D on AP on the interstate. The constant noise of the Tesla was a surprising stressor in retrospect.
2. Spartan interior and Tesla seats. We had the Next Gen seats, which were MUCH better than the seats in our original P85, but the BMW seats are luxurious, comfortable, supportive and perfect for long distance trips. We never had soreassitis. It also seemed like the interior of the 530e was better designed than the Tesla, with more space and room to stretch.
3. Absence of control knobs. The BMW has some pretty good user interface items, including a well designed scroll wheel that allows you to do things without taking your eyes off the road and the radio controls are as the good lord intended, on the center dash with a knob.
4. Having to travel based on Supercharger availability. The BMW has a small battery that is good for MAYBE 20 miles on its own, but the car is so efficient. We were getting close to 50 mpg on the long stretches of road while traveling well above the speed limit. Between the electric range (including regen additions while driving) and the fuel tank, we were looking at 500 miles of driving without having to stop for fuelling. This was really nice when we wanted to take some excursions off the main path.
5. Supercharging. We never had to wait at gas stations and we never had to stop driving earlier than we wanted just to refuel. Supercharging works ok when you are not trying to get somewhere without delay, but when you're trying to drive 1,200 miles in two days and you have no interest in stopping every 2 or so hours, it is a non-starter. It was also nice to be able to refuel in 5 minutes.

So I'll stop there, since there are 5 items on each side of the ledger. We've had ICEs, we've had EVs, but never before have we had a hybrid. We were pleasantly surprised to find that a hybrid works for use better than either ICE or EV.

[Revision after I hit enter...a HUGE issue for us was how temperature didn't affect our driving range. It was very cold, at times below zero, during our trip and not having to worry about the effect on range using the heat would have was priceless. Also, when I went up to my off grid cabin, where it was also below freezing for the two days I was there, I didn't lose a single mile of range when the car was sitting next to the cabin as I went snowshoeing. Since I couldn't even drive the Tesla round trip from the house in Bozeman to the cabin in good weather without a charge, this is a significant deal for me.]

 

[AMPd]

You know, even if I had some of the same motivations as the OP, I could never go back to ICE.

I would never buy a BMW, even if it DID end up being almost nothing out of pocket because of all the OTHER stuff.

It's not just ICE vs. EV to me anymore. It's sleazy dealer versus fixed-price. It's lying mechanic vs. thousands fewer parts. It's never having another $1000 catalytic converter go south. It's never having to replace a blown head gasket, fuel pump, gas tank, fuel filter, valves, camshaft, distributor cap, clutch plate, pressure pad, fuel injector, motor mount, gearshift cable, MAP sensor, muffler and more. It's never having a wiring harness put too close to the exhaust manifold and melting the wires and having the dealership tell you that your brand new (1989) $30,000 car can't be fixed despite the fact that it's under a 100K-mile ZERO DEDUCTIBLE warranty that you paid extra for.

It's never having "rust proofing" or "dealer demand adjustment" or "scotchguarding" or any number of other bogus charges being added to my car.

It's about never having to hear "I have to check with my manager" again - as if they haven't ever sold a car before and don't know what they can and can't do.

It's about free updates versus a couple of hundred dollars to update the maps in the car.

And that's all before I get to it being between poisoning the planet even more versus putting my money where my mouth is and trying to leave something better to my kids.

Oh boy! I love tesla but this post is clearly written up by someone who’s had too much of the Tesla kool aid

You talk about sleazy dealers as if tesla has been 100% upstanding. Have you seen the many threads of people complaining about customer service and promises that weren’t delivered?
But also what makes a dealer sleazy? I’ve purchased quite a few cars from different dealerships and none have been “sleazy” in fact many of them have been extremely pleasant to deal with. On a few occasions I’ve had sales staff go beyond what some might consider great customer service, when I bought my M5 at a bmw dealership they drove my car back to my house (30 miles away) after I wasn’t happy with the trade in quote.

It’s also been pretty clear that teslas aren’t exactly cheap to repair, so your point is moot.
Once you’re out of warranty things like the MCU, door handles and various other electronics are quite expensive to repair and unlike with a BMW, you can’t just simply walk into a Tesla store and buy the part and replace it yourself.

 

[NeverFollow]

Well, it's a bit short of 5 years, but we put a ton of miles on the new car in the past 10 or so days.
Just about 3,000 miles going from the Bay Area to Bozeman and back for the holidays.
Weather was a bit sporty...lots of snow in the past few days and cold temps overall.

It's obviously too early to make any definitive statements about pluses and minuses, but here's a sneak peak:

4. Having to travel based on Supercharger availability.

The BMW has a small battery that is good for MAYBE 20 miles on its own, but the car is so efficient.
We were getting close to 50 mpg on the long stretches of road while traveling well above the speed limit.
Between the electric range (including regen additions while driving) and the fuel tank,
we were looking at 500 miles of driving without having to stop for fueling.
This was really nice when we wanted to take some excursions off the main path.

5. Supercharging.

We never had to wait at gas stations and we never had to stop driving earlier than we wanted just to refuel.
Supercharging works ok when you are not trying to get somewhere without delay,
but when you're trying to drive 1,200 miles in two days and you have no interest in stopping every 2 or so hours, it is a non-starter.
It was also nice to be able to refuel in 5 minutes.

[Revision after I hit enter...a HUGE issue for us was how temperature didn't affect our driving range.

It was very cold, at times below zero,
during our trip and not having to worry about the effect on range using the heat would have was priceless.
Also, when I went up to my off grid cabin, where it was also below freezing for the two days I was there,
I didn't lose a single mile of range when the car was sitting next to the cabin as I went snowshoeing.
Since I couldn't even drive the Tesla round trip from the house in Bozeman to the cabin in good weather without a charge,
this is a significant deal for me.]

eclectic.29923, Thank you for this interesting review and Happy New Year! And welcome back.

The driving range is certainly your major noticeable issue.

It would be interesting to see how the next generation of Tesla will evolve in this regard, to face to the coming EV competition.

- In particular for the Model S and X who didn't received any major update since the introduction of the 100 kWh battery.

- Looking forward, the 2020 Roadster is supposed to have a 600+ mile range and 0 to 60 in under 2 secs.

- There is also the new generation of V3 super charger to provide faster charging

- Also the coming MP3 Enhanced Auto Pilot would be even useful during long trips.

- The increased sales of the Model 3 will certainly translate into an accelerated expansion of the supercharger network.

- Improving winter heating is certainly needed especially to markets like Canada and northern Europeans countries.


Incidentally, I really agree a bout the hatchback usability, evolution which this is already the most common in Europe.

Thank your for your interesting posting. I experience a similar situation about twice a year when going to Midwest.

I like BMW but I choose to rent a car (an Audi Q5) with unlimited mileage, and this car has an excellent navigation system (Audi virtual cockpit).

This coming year seems to be very exiting when looking at current and coming car technology.

 

[CarlK]

To the op why are you blocking people from reading your posting history? Would be really helpful to learn your expirences with the car, good or bad.

 

[SO16]

Well, it's a bit short of 5 years, but we put a ton of miles on the new car in the past 10 or so days. Just about 3,000 miles going from the Bay Area to Bozeman and back for the holidays. Weather was a bit sporty...lots of snow in the past few days and cold temps overall.

It's obviously too early to make any definitive statements about pluses and minuses, but here's a sneak peak:

What I miss-

1. The acceleration at lower speeds. The 530e is fine, but the P85D was special. No two ways about that one.
2. The BMW app is horrific. I took one programming class in my life, Fortran77, and it was the only F I have ever received. Still, I bet I could do a better job building an app than BMW did. It's beyond useless...I say this because it rarely connects, so I wasted a lot of time learning that it is better to not even bother trying.
3. Tesla's seat heaters are a bit better than the BMW's.
4. Our P85D had AP1 and it always worked fine for us. There's a learning curve with the BMW Driving Assistance package and it isn't quite as intuitive to me as the Tesla system was. By the end of the trip, though, this was no longer an issue.
5. The hatchback utility. I wish all cars were hatchbacks.

What I don't miss-
1. Noise. The BMW is SOOOO quiet. The noise of our P85D was more of a problem than I realized. I actually felt less fatigued after a long day of driving in the BMW even though I was more in control of driving vs. the P85D on AP on the interstate. The constant noise of the Tesla was a surprising stressor in retrospect.
2. Spartan interior and Tesla seats. We had the Next Gen seats, which were MUCH better than the seats in our original P85, but the BMW seats are luxurious, comfortable, supportive and perfect for long distance trips. We never had soreassitis. It also seemed like the interior of the 530e was better designed than the Tesla, with more space and room to stretch.
3. Absence of control knobs. The BMW has some pretty good user interface items, including a well designed scroll wheel that allows you to do things without taking your eyes off the road and the radio controls are as the good lord intended, on the center dash with a knob.
4. Having to travel based on Supercharger availability. The BMW has a small battery that is good for MAYBE 20 miles on its own, but the car is so efficient. We were getting close to 50 mpg on the long stretches of road while traveling well above the speed limit. Between the electric range (including regen additions while driving) and the fuel tank, we were looking at 500 miles of driving without having to stop for fuelling. This was really nice when we wanted to take some excursions off the main path.
5. Supercharging. We never had to wait at gas stations and we never had to stop driving earlier than we wanted just to refuel. Supercharging works ok when you are not trying to get somewhere without delay, but when you're trying to drive 1,200 miles in two days and you have no interest in stopping every 2 or so hours, it is a non-starter. It was also nice to be able to refuel in 5 minutes.

So I'll stop there, since there are 5 items on each side of the ledger. We've had ICEs, we've had EVs, but never before have we had a hybrid. We were pleasantly surprised to find that a hybrid works for use better than either ICE or EV.

[Revision after I hit enter...a HUGE issue for us was how temperature didn't affect our driving range. It was very cold, at times below zero, during our trip and not having to worry about the effect on range using the heat would have was priceless. Also, when I went up to my off grid cabin, where it was also below freezing for the two days I was there, I didn't lose a single mile of range when the car was sitting next to the cabin as I went snowshoeing. Since I couldn't even drive the Tesla round trip from the house in Bozeman to the cabin in good weather without a charge, this is a significant deal for me.]

Thanks for the info. I can see where a Tesla may not work as well for you.