This is more of a general comment really, not specific to the UK forum, so feel free to move if needs be.
I've got a Peugeot e-2008 GT on a subscription (Onto) at the moment, as a stop gap while another (non-Tesla) car is being repaired. It's a nice car, seems put together well, has some nice visual flair that I wish were on the Tesla like ambient lighting strips, etc. The auto headlights and auto wipers work flawlessly, as you'd expect from a car that uses tried-and-tested technology (sensors) to do it. The auto headlights in particular are better than I expected them to be - they turn off quickly upon seeing an oncoming car, or distant rear lights, or sufficient ambient light - something my Model 3 seems incapable of doing.
So far so good, right? Tesla had bettter watch out!
Unfortunately, from here things go downhill. I had the pleasure of trying to update the car over the weekend. The Peugeot app - which is pretty terrible - told me that there was a "touchscreen" and nav update available. I figured I would download this in the car, since the car can connect to wifi. Makes sense right? Nope, in the year 2021 I have to use a USB stick and download the updates to it. Peugeot supply an app so it's not entirely manual, but given both updates were 5 and 17GB respectively - it meant I had to leave it to download and remind myself to come back to get it. Oh yeah, I needed a USB stick with 22GB of space on it, which could only be used if it was formatted for that one purpose.
Armed with the USB key I traipsed out to the car in the cold, got in and plugged it in. I checked the instructions online (PDF) on how to update, which told me that I had to be in the car while it was updating, with the "ignition" on and doors closed. Don't want to wait while it updates? Tough. I figured it shouldn't take too long, I've got a fast USB stick, etc. 40 minutes later watching a progress bar move about 3 pixels every minute or so, it still hasn't finished. The car has spontaneously turned the ignition off itself during this time, for whatever reason, and is also now showing a red 12v battery icon. Should I be concerned about that? The update says that the ignition has to be in "ready" mode, but the car has taken it out of ready mode itself.. what do I do? Against my better judgement I pressed the ignition button again, knowing that it could mess up the firmware update, but fortunately the car just says "Ready" again and the 12v battery icon switches off. At this point I'm scared that the car is discharging the 12v because the auto lights are in dipped mode, the A/C is on, etc.. so I switch all of that off, while it's still updating.
All in all it must have taken a good 50 minutes to update the firmware on the car. That was the 5GB update. I haven't even dared do the 17GB map one, because the process for updating that is the same - i.e. sit in the car like a lemon while the car says "don't turn the ignition off!" but turns it off itself anyway.
The last Tesla update I had - as you all know - the car told me it had an update, I told it to update itself, it did and I went back to sleep.
I'm not even going to get into how useless the Peugeot app is. You can turn the climate off and on, and see the car charging, but that's it. It looks and feels like a first generation app from someone who has only just learnt how to create them. Oh, and did I mention that you have to follow a process of completing 20 trips in order to pair the car to the app?
How is it possible that companies still get these basics so wrong in 2021?
I've got a Peugeot e-2008 GT on a subscription (Onto) at the moment, as a stop gap while another (non-Tesla) car is being repaired. It's a nice car, seems put together well, has some nice visual flair that I wish were on the Tesla like ambient lighting strips, etc. The auto headlights and auto wipers work flawlessly, as you'd expect from a car that uses tried-and-tested technology (sensors) to do it. The auto headlights in particular are better than I expected them to be - they turn off quickly upon seeing an oncoming car, or distant rear lights, or sufficient ambient light - something my Model 3 seems incapable of doing.
So far so good, right? Tesla had bettter watch out!
Unfortunately, from here things go downhill. I had the pleasure of trying to update the car over the weekend. The Peugeot app - which is pretty terrible - told me that there was a "touchscreen" and nav update available. I figured I would download this in the car, since the car can connect to wifi. Makes sense right? Nope, in the year 2021 I have to use a USB stick and download the updates to it. Peugeot supply an app so it's not entirely manual, but given both updates were 5 and 17GB respectively - it meant I had to leave it to download and remind myself to come back to get it. Oh yeah, I needed a USB stick with 22GB of space on it, which could only be used if it was formatted for that one purpose.
Armed with the USB key I traipsed out to the car in the cold, got in and plugged it in. I checked the instructions online (PDF) on how to update, which told me that I had to be in the car while it was updating, with the "ignition" on and doors closed. Don't want to wait while it updates? Tough. I figured it shouldn't take too long, I've got a fast USB stick, etc. 40 minutes later watching a progress bar move about 3 pixels every minute or so, it still hasn't finished. The car has spontaneously turned the ignition off itself during this time, for whatever reason, and is also now showing a red 12v battery icon. Should I be concerned about that? The update says that the ignition has to be in "ready" mode, but the car has taken it out of ready mode itself.. what do I do? Against my better judgement I pressed the ignition button again, knowing that it could mess up the firmware update, but fortunately the car just says "Ready" again and the 12v battery icon switches off. At this point I'm scared that the car is discharging the 12v because the auto lights are in dipped mode, the A/C is on, etc.. so I switch all of that off, while it's still updating.
All in all it must have taken a good 50 minutes to update the firmware on the car. That was the 5GB update. I haven't even dared do the 17GB map one, because the process for updating that is the same - i.e. sit in the car like a lemon while the car says "don't turn the ignition off!" but turns it off itself anyway.
The last Tesla update I had - as you all know - the car told me it had an update, I told it to update itself, it did and I went back to sleep.
I'm not even going to get into how useless the Peugeot app is. You can turn the climate off and on, and see the car charging, but that's it. It looks and feels like a first generation app from someone who has only just learnt how to create them. Oh, and did I mention that you have to follow a process of completing 20 trips in order to pair the car to the app?
How is it possible that companies still get these basics so wrong in 2021?
