I give them a pass since the design has an aero friction reduction aspect for one,
and flush handles just look cool.
So driving at 75 mph on the highway these handles might save one or two kWh per hundred miles of driving? Not worth it. And this is just me, but I much prefer utility over style. I don't care what the car looks like. The Roadster is beautiful. The Zap Xebra was ugly, and I loved it. You could engrave gargoyles on the door handles and I wouldn't care, as long as they were easy to use.
Perhaps the length of your hiking trip makes renting a vehicle prohibitively expensive, but I should think that keeping the Prius around for a single activity, once a year, not a particularly good use of your limited parking.
If I had any other way of getting to my hiking locations, I'd get rid of the Prius. But those six weeks of summer are the highlight of my year and my favorite activity in my favorite places. And it's not just getting there and back. I typically visit three different locations, so I have to drive between them. And though I will sorely miss the Roadster, I really have no reason to have two BEVs. If I really still want to be driving the Roadster, I shouldn't get the Model 3. But I want the safety. So, if I get the 3, which I probably will, the Roadster will have to go. I know my reasoning is a bit inconsistent, but that's how it is. The bigger question for me is: Do I get the 3 as soon as I can (present Tesla estimate is Feb - April) or do I wait for Performance AWD?
Either you misspoke or you have it backwards. You push on the back (not front) of the handle with thumb and the front (not back) of the handle pivots out. As it pivots out, wrap your fingers around that part and pull out. Seems intuitive enough to me and should be seamless motion. Watch (if you haven't) the M3OC video and the video from Doug Demuro as pretty sure they both demonstrate.
I was referring to the front and back of the car. With my right hand on the driver's door I'd press with my thumb and grab with my fingers. I actually found it a bit awkward. I'll get used to it. But a passenger who has not been in the car before likely would find it awkward as well.
ETA: Oh, you're right! I did have it backwards. I misremembered. My basic point is the same: It's awkward! It actually would have been a bit easier with the press-buldge in the front, since I'm right handed..
Ever try removing the ice that accumulates between the handle and the door in a regular car ?
Back in rural North Dakota I had no garage. I parked my Honda Civic, and before that the P.O.S. Jeep, out of doors next to my house. Scraping the ice off the windshield I cussed a blue streak. I never had ice accumulate behind a door handle during those nearly 20 years. Admittedly, I never parked on a city street with snowplows going by.
That's a huge spectrum of comparison there. Not as fast as Roadster but much better than Prius? I think all of us know and expect that it's faster than a Prius. Just curious, when you say not as fast as the Roadster, how close would you say it is to the Roadster though? I have a MS 70 (RWD model) and from the specs stated, I assume the same, that it will be fairly close to my MS but just slightly slower.
I did say that my friend is familiar with the Model S and said the acceleration is very similar to the basic Model S. The best I can do in my own words is say that it was pretty zippy but nowhere near the Roadster. I'm just giving my subjective impression. I believe the published figure is 0 to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds.
My Prius is no slouch, however. Compared to the Honda Civic I had before that, the Prius is quick.
And the Model 3 is much quicker.
