cab
Active Member
Per some of my prior posts, I have a Model S and have experienced the boominess and buffeting with that car so I know exactly what folks are describing with the Y. As my (bad) luck would have it, two of the roads I routinely drive on near my house have a slight washboard surface which allows me to perfectly replicate this issue whenever I want for long stretches - hooray! I drove this loop of roads dozens of times while triaging it on the S, but I digress.
I also happen to live <5 miles from the local Tesla Gallery and today, I test drove a Tesla Model Y Performance. As part of that test drive, I purposely test drove it to my neighborhood to hit these washboard roads. Truth be told though, I heard the booms and felt the first buffet when I pulled out of the parking lot of the Tesla Gallery shopping center and hitting a bump here or there. When I got to my "test streets" I knew it would be there and MAN, WAS IT EVER! It was so bad it was, frankly, almost comical (unless you just spent 50 or 60k!). It was almost constant on that slight washboard road - practically a never-ending buffeting/vibration. I uttered to my wife (who was with me) that I didn't think the S was ever this bad before I replaced the hatch adjusters with stiffer rubber ones and later on when we talked about it, she indicated "Before you said that, I was thinking the same thing...the S was never this awful". To put that comment into perspective, I am very sensitive to this and when I got my S, my wife acknowledged the buffeting was there but was never bothered by it nearly to the extent I was. Conversely, she declared this was a "deal-breaker" on the Y...yikes. As another point of comparison, we drove my wife's 2012 XC-60 R-Design (20" rims, Koni FSD struts/shocks) to and from the test drive. The suspension on that car is not great. Overall, I would say the XC60 actually "rode" worse than the Y, BUT it had none of the boomy/buffeting cabin over the same roads...the XC60 also had less free-way road and wind noise than the Y (the latter is really hard to address via DIY too).
It's sad really as even though the test drive was only about 35 or 40 minutes, I got a reasonable feel for the car and actually liked it pretty well and enjoyed driving it. Heck, I even got to try out navigate on autopilot for a few minutes (changing lanes, taking the exit, etc.) on the return. Unfortunately, I cannot see pulling the trigger on one until either Tesla addresses this (unlikely, IMO...or if they do, it won't be an acknowledged retrofit) or until someone comes up with a solid DIY. Adaptive shocks would likely "help", but are, in many ways, a band-aid and not a cure...still, every little bit helps.
It is stuff like this that will have me at least test driving a Mach E despite Tesla's obvious advantages in electric drivetrains/efficiency/supercharging/etc.
I look forward to seeing how this thread progresses...I'm rooting for you guys!
I also happen to live <5 miles from the local Tesla Gallery and today, I test drove a Tesla Model Y Performance. As part of that test drive, I purposely test drove it to my neighborhood to hit these washboard roads. Truth be told though, I heard the booms and felt the first buffet when I pulled out of the parking lot of the Tesla Gallery shopping center and hitting a bump here or there. When I got to my "test streets" I knew it would be there and MAN, WAS IT EVER! It was so bad it was, frankly, almost comical (unless you just spent 50 or 60k!). It was almost constant on that slight washboard road - practically a never-ending buffeting/vibration. I uttered to my wife (who was with me) that I didn't think the S was ever this bad before I replaced the hatch adjusters with stiffer rubber ones and later on when we talked about it, she indicated "Before you said that, I was thinking the same thing...the S was never this awful". To put that comment into perspective, I am very sensitive to this and when I got my S, my wife acknowledged the buffeting was there but was never bothered by it nearly to the extent I was. Conversely, she declared this was a "deal-breaker" on the Y...yikes. As another point of comparison, we drove my wife's 2012 XC-60 R-Design (20" rims, Koni FSD struts/shocks) to and from the test drive. The suspension on that car is not great. Overall, I would say the XC60 actually "rode" worse than the Y, BUT it had none of the boomy/buffeting cabin over the same roads...the XC60 also had less free-way road and wind noise than the Y (the latter is really hard to address via DIY too).
It's sad really as even though the test drive was only about 35 or 40 minutes, I got a reasonable feel for the car and actually liked it pretty well and enjoyed driving it. Heck, I even got to try out navigate on autopilot for a few minutes (changing lanes, taking the exit, etc.) on the return. Unfortunately, I cannot see pulling the trigger on one until either Tesla addresses this (unlikely, IMO...or if they do, it won't be an acknowledged retrofit) or until someone comes up with a solid DIY. Adaptive shocks would likely "help", but are, in many ways, a band-aid and not a cure...still, every little bit helps.
It is stuff like this that will have me at least test driving a Mach E despite Tesla's obvious advantages in electric drivetrains/efficiency/supercharging/etc.
I look forward to seeing how this thread progresses...I'm rooting for you guys!
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