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Cancelled Model S order, bought a Plug-In Prius

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William3

William3

Member
Aug 7, 2008
174
6
#1
There's a long trip that I make once or twice per month. It involves the 405 freeway (in California) so a carpool sticker is a must. My Nissan Leaf doesn't have even close to enough range to make the trip. My Tesla Roadster doesn't quite have enough range to make it either, so I've been using my Honda Civic Hybrid. The yellow carpool stickers on the Civic Hybrid expired recently, so I've been looking for a new solution. The Model S seemed like the perfect answer. I've been really looking forward to the Model S because I think the 300-mile version will have just enough real world range to make the trip. I was devastated when I learned that adaptive cruise control wouldn't be available on the Model S. I just recently found out that the new Plug-In Prius gets the carpool sticker and has adaptive cruise control (and has a range of over 500 miles on a full tank of gas). Done deal. I cancelled the Model S order, sold the Civic, and bought the Plug-In Prius and took delivery today. As far as I know it is the only car that gets the carpool sticker and has adaptive cruise control.

The Prius also has head-up display and LED headlights, both of which the Model S is lacking.
Those two things aren't dealbreakers for me like the adaptive cruise control is though.

If Tesla ever offers a car with adaptive cruise control then I'll probably buy one, but I'm completely done with the brand until that happens.
Even cheap brands like Toyota, Ford, Dodge, Hyundai offer adaptive cruise.

I'm sure everyone here thinks I'm an idiot and made a huge mistake.
I'm sure everyone on the Prius forum thinks I made the correct choice.

Anyway, I welcome your comments (even if they are negative).
 
Last edited:
#2
Everybody in front of you in the waiting list will think you're an idiot and everybody behind you will think you're a genius. I can't blame you for pulling the trigger on the Prius, but I can't put my head around something like adaptive cruise control being the reason. I really like cruise control and I'd rather not miss it on Model S, but canceling??? I'm going nuts thinking I have to wait for almost another year, but canceling? It will take another damn good EV to get me off the Model S waiting list.
I hope the Prius will prove to be the right choice for you and I hope you will share your experience here.
 
#3
I have never used adaptive cruise control but now I'm afraid to try it. If it's so addictive that you would trade a Model S for a Prius, then a cocaine habit must be relatively easy to kick.

There is nothing wrong with the Prius, I test drove it a couple of times, but felt my life force being sucked out a little bit every time (plus it doesn't have the cargo space). I could see taking a Prius from it being less expensive, but for adaptive cruise control... But hey, happy if you're happy...

(What was your number? Curious if I moved up a notch... :smile:)
 
#5
ACC is important to me so I asked Franz about it at the Freemont EVent. He told me that the Model S would not exclude ACC leaving the window open for the next year's model to have it and possibly a 1.0 retrofit. Take that for what it's worth.
 
#8
Were you ahead on S114 in line? Sorry to see you canceled your order but sounds like ACC was an important feature so glad you got it. I've never used it before but can see how people would like it.
 
#9
vfx said:
ACC is important to me so I asked Franz about it at the Freemont EVent. He told me that the Model S would not exclude ACC leaving the window open for the next year's model to have it and possibly a 1.0 retrofit. Take that for what it's worth.
Click to expand...

I heard similar. Adaptive cruise is cool, but I rarely need it, and it's only useful to me when there's very little traffic otherwise it stays so far back from the next car that others go around and slip in, forcing the car to slow down even more.

I'd love to have the option... Though not enough to cancel my order.
 
#10
I support Tesla's decision to bring the Model S to market without ACC (and without several other high-tech add-ons that are commonplace on high-end cars). ACC has to be absolutely reliable, as drivers are literally betting their lives that it works correctly. Tesla cannot afford a six-month delay to integrate and test ACC in the Model S 1.0. Even if that decision causes the loss of a few orders, the delay would be far more devastating.

Although personally I have little interest in ACC, I hope that Tesla includes it in the next rev to satisfy customers like William and Eric. Also on that list should be Parking Distance Monitoring and Blind Spot Detection.
 
#11
Yeah, my lacking feature is blind spot notification but not worth waiting to get it. If the features RB mentions would be able to be added to the 1.0 model s, that would be great. I would have rather seen you sell the leaf, keep the model s and still get the prius. If they added ACC to the 1.0 model s and it met your mileage requirement, then you would have been able to dump the prius also. An expensive way to go but would still have accomplished your goals.
 
#12
I hope that by waiting Tesla can implement the more comprehensive "full stop" ACC. I know this is more complex and requires brake assist, but is great in stop and go traffic. I think this also add front impact warning and automatic breaking to minimize front end damage / avoid minor accidents that would likely be expensive to fix on the aluminum body.

I also heard about it being "retrofittable" to 1.0 models. I hope that they make that a priority. I don't need ACC now - but would rather not have feature envy for 7-8 years.
 
#13
Robert.Boston said:
ACC has to be absolutely reliable, as drivers are literally betting their lives that it works correctly.
Click to expand...

My current ICE has adaptive cruise, and while it is nice to have, it absolutely is not reliable. It works most of the time, but sometimes it fails to see the car in front of me.

The system appears to operate optically, probably detecting the retroreflectors in a car's taillights. It switches off if it starts raining. If the car gets dirty reliability goes downhill significantly, so it's particularly unreliable in winter.
 
#15
Agree completely Robert...I have little use for ACC, but that's due to my driving environment / needs...those here who use ACC a lot seem to love it, so TMC should look at adding this (and other features) missing from the Model S (but common to ICE vehicle in the same market niche) down the road a bit...I think the "gottawalk before you can run" approach by TMC is driven by the need to get the S to market in a timely manner...

Robert.Boston said:
I support Tesla's decision to bring the Model S to market without ACC (and without several other high-tech add-ons that are commonplace on high-end cars). ACC has to be absolutely reliable, as drivers are literally betting their lives that it works correctly. Tesla cannot afford a six-month delay to integrate and test ACC in the Model S 1.0. Even if that decision causes the loss of a few orders, the delay would be far more devastating.

Although personally I have little interest in ACC, I hope that Tesla includes it in the next rev to satisfy customers like William and Eric. Also on that list should be Parking Distance Monitoring and Blind Spot Detection.
Click to expand...
 
#16
Adaptive Cruise Control? Really? That was the deal breaker? Hmm...I guess to each his own ;) Personally I rarely use regular cruise control, and that's only for trips where I know I'll be driving for a very long distance, in which case I probably won't be driving the Model S anyways. And given that it seems to be not entirely reliable (it's not as if I can avoid being alert and ready to brake at any moment) you'd only be entirely comfortable using ACC when there are few cars on the freeway. In which case regular cruise control will do just fine.
 
#17
I replaced a totalled BMW 540i with a Prius during a momentary lapse of being a responsible adult. I bought the Roadster when I realized I couldn't live without performance. And I only use the ACC in the Prius when showing passengers a cool technology toy. Otherwise, I rely on regular cruise control for all of the above reasons.
 
#19
+1 for voting with your wallet
-10 for spending most of your time in the carpool lane burning gasoline
+5 for the fact that the Prius offers one of the most efficient gasoline engines
 
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