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First drive for spouse...any tips, guys?

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Is there an Idiot's guide somewhere? I could have done with it on first outing ...

... I have some thoughts / suggestions based on my new-user experience:

I'm used to manual stick-shift and steering wheel stalks with wipers on one side and turn indicators on the other (often other-way-round on Japanese cars, which leads to humour when we see someone in a brand new car at a junction turning on the wipers on a perfect summer's day!)

I selected Neutral (push up) on the right stalk whilst overtaking on the highway (I was either after wipers or turn signal, can't remember which now!), speed fell off dramatically and it took me a moment reading the notification message to figure out what I had done wrong, and then reselecting Drive.

Wiper is a stalk-twist, so worth rehearsing that if not same as current car and rain is forecast.

Cruise control is constant-speed, I had assumed it would be adaptive (only get Adaptive when Autopilot too is engage)

I felt very uncomfortable with AP initially because it seemed to me that it drove much further to the passenger-side of the lane than I would do. I told myself that if the vehicle in the slow lane was too close the car would move over ... but I found myself tugging the steering wheel to move it further over

I recommend a full setup of the Driver Settings before setting off (perhaps choose a bunch of sensible defaults before your wife even steps in the car - mine has a very short attention span, so appreciated that ;)). Driver Names come up in as-added order, not alphabetical (I specially asked the delivery guy that ...) so I put her name in first (yeah, I know, "Creep" applies ...)

I liked regen on FULL from the get-go. I've fiddled with the steering-wheel response setting and still not decided which I like the most ...

Initially I set Insane ON (would do the same for Ludicrous). If I pull out to overtake something, assuming it will be quick and/or an unexpected vehicle appears ahead, I'd prefer, in a new / unfamiliar car, to have the leeway of maximum warp-factor! Energy-saving can come later ... I don't suppose you are ever in the situation where you are in the fast lane, following a slower vehicle at a respectful / safe distance, and someone comes up behind you right on your bumper indicating that they think that they are more entitled to the space in front of you, than you are? Very-heavy-right-foot is very satisfying - when the slower car moves over :D

I have an additional "driver" for "seat all the way back, steering wheel fully up" for when sat in the car at recharge /whatever. (I have read tall people saying they find that easier for getting out)

Turned off Creep, as we are both manual stick-shift drivers.

I put the navigation map at the bottom of the screen - anything else I select (I tend to flip between Radio, Charge, Phone) opens (by default) at the top, so I don't lose the map at the bottom.

The Model-S is big. We are not used to that as we took the decision 5+ years ago to change to small eco VW <spit. Never, NOT EVER, again for any brand in that stable; I don't take well to liars and cheats; we have 3x VW :mad:> ) and I found visibility of cars behind & to one side was much more restricted than i was used to; I carefully set the wing mirrors accordingly - previously my wife would set hers "normal for a human" whereas I have mine "correct for blindspot" i.e. where you move your head to the side of the headrest nearest the mirror and THEN set them to be able to just see the side of the car, and I got my wife to do that for Model S. Size of the car and rear visibility definitely takes some getting used to - unless you already drive a wide vehicle of course.

I can't remember which button on the fob does what. I still initiate / stop charge from console or APP rather than remembering how to do that with fob (I'm dyslexic, I have the obvious difficulty choosing correct letter-sequence in a word, but also remembering / differentiating between A-B, B-A or A-A type sequences in things like a Tesla fob :confused: so I doubt this is a problem for others)

I'm probably being a dork, but I haven't been able to find an online manual (which I can read on centre-console). SUPPORT on the Tesla site only seems to get me to Q&A on issues, rather than "DOCs", and the online things that Google found were all PDFs which wouldn't display on the console (I assume that is an issue with PDF, and not just "chance"), if I have got that right knowing the URL for an online HTML manual would be helpful, or take a tablet with you that can easily display an online / downloaded manual. There were a couple of things the delivery guy told me that I had forgotten and wanted to look up on my first drive ... but couldn't.
 
Is there an Idiot's guide somewhere? I could have done with it on first outing ...

... I have some thoughts / suggestions based on my new-user experience:

I'm used to manual stick-shift and steering wheel stalks with wipers on one side and turn indicators on the other (often other-way-round on Japanese cars, which leads to humour when we see someone in a brand new car at a junction turning on the wipers on a perfect summer's day!)

I selected Neutral (push up) on the right stalk whilst overtaking on the highway (I was either after wipers or turn signal, can't remember which now!), speed fell off dramatically and it took me a moment reading the notification message to figure out what I had done wrong, and then reselecting Drive.

Wiper is a stalk-twist, so worth rehearsing that if not same as current car and rain is forecast.

Cruise control is constant-speed, I had assumed it would be adaptive (only get Adaptive when Autopilot too is engage)

I felt very uncomfortable with AP initially because it seemed to me that it drove much further to the passenger-side of the lane than I would do. I told myself that if the vehicle in the slow lane was too close the car would move over ... but I found myself tugging the steering wheel to move it further over

I recommend a full setup of the Driver Settings before setting off (perhaps choose a bunch of sensible defaults before your wife even steps in the car - mine has a very short attention span, so appreciated that ;)). Driver Names come up in as-added order, not alphabetical (I specially asked the delivery guy that ...) so I put her name in first (yeah, I know, "Creep" applies ...)

I liked regen on FULL from the get-go. I've fiddled with the steering-wheel response setting and still not decided which I like the most ...

Initially I set Insane ON (would do the same for Ludicrous). If I pull out to overtake something, assuming it will be quick and/or an unexpected vehicle appears ahead, I'd prefer, in a new / unfamiliar car, to have the leeway of maximum warp-factor! Energy-saving can come later ... I don't suppose you are ever in the situation where you are in the fast lane, following a slower vehicle at a respectful / safe distance, and someone comes up behind you right on your bumper indicating that they think that they are more entitled to the space in front of you, than you are? Very-heavy-right-foot is very satisfying - when the slower car moves over :D

I have an additional "driver" for "seat all the way back, steering wheel fully up" for when sat in the car at recharge /whatever. (I have read tall people saying they find that easier for getting out)

Turned off Creep, as we are both manual stick-shift drivers.

I put the navigation map at the bottom of the screen - anything else I select (I tend to flip between Radio, Charge, Phone) opens (by default) at the top, so I don't lose the map at the bottom.

The Model-S is big. We are not used to that as we took the decision 5+ years ago to change to small eco VW <spit. Never, NOT EVER, again for any brand in that stable; I don't take well to liars and cheats; we have 3x VW :mad:> ) and I found visibility of cars behind & to one side was much more restricted than i was used to; I carefully set the wing mirrors accordingly - previously my wife would set hers "normal for a human" whereas I have mine "correct for blindspot" i.e. where you move your head to the side of the headrest nearest the mirror and THEN set them to be able to just see the side of the car, and I got my wife to do that for Model S. Size of the car and rear visibility definitely takes some getting used to - unless you already drive a wide vehicle of course.

I can't remember which button on the fob does what. I still initiate / stop charge from console or APP rather than remembering how to do that with fob (I'm dyslexic, I have the obvious difficulty choosing correct letter-sequence in a word, but also remembering / differentiating between A-B, B-A or A-A type sequences in things like a Tesla fob :confused: so I doubt this is a problem for others)

I'm probably being a dork, but I haven't been able to find an online manual (which I can read on centre-console). SUPPORT on the Tesla site only seems to get me to Q&A on issues, rather than "DOCs", and the online things that Google found were all PDFs which wouldn't display on the console (I assume that is an issue with PDF, and not just "chance"), if I have got that right knowing the URL for an online HTML manual would be helpful, or take a tablet with you that can easily display an online / downloaded manual. There were a couple of things the delivery guy told me that I had forgotten and wanted to look up on my first drive ... but couldn't.
You can download a PDF of the manual from the teslamotors.com website or read it on the 17" Controls (lower bottom left corner)/Settings tab/Manual button is on the bottom left side.
 
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Is there an Idiot's guide somewhere? I could have done with it on first outing ...

... I have some thoughts / suggestions based on my new-user experience:

I'm used to manual stick-shift and steering wheel stalks with wipers on one side and turn indicators on the other (often other-way-round on Japanese cars, which leads to humour when we see someone in a brand new car at a junction turning on the wipers on a perfect summer's day!)

It's weird my old Buick I was driving before getting my Model S had a steering column shifter in the same spot as the Model S, but I guess I'm in the habit of reaching for the center console on unfamiliar cars because every car I've driven in the last 20 years except my Buick has the shifter in the middle. For the first week I kept reaching towards the console in the Model S when I needed to change from reverse to drive.

I selected Neutral (push up) on the right stalk whilst overtaking on the highway (I was either after wipers or turn signal, can't remember which now!), speed fell off dramatically and it took me a moment reading the notification message to figure out what I had done wrong, and then reselecting Drive.

Wiper is a stalk-twist, so worth rehearsing that if not same as current car and rain is forecast.

Cruise control is constant-speed, I had assumed it would be adaptive (only get Adaptive when Autopilot too is engage)

I felt very uncomfortable with AP initially because it seemed to me that it drove much further to the passenger-side of the lane than I would do. I told myself that if the vehicle in the slow lane was too close the car would move over ... but I found myself tugging the steering wheel to move it further over

I recommend a full setup of the Driver Settings before setting off (perhaps choose a bunch of sensible defaults before your wife even steps in the car - mine has a very short attention span, so appreciated that ;)). Driver Names come up in as-added order, not alphabetical (I specially asked the delivery guy that ...) so I put her name in first (yeah, I know, "Creep" applies ...)

I liked regen on FULL from the get-go. I've fiddled with the steering-wheel response setting and still not decided which I like the most ...

Initially I set Insane ON (would do the same for Ludicrous). If I pull out to overtake something, assuming it will be quick and/or an unexpected vehicle appears ahead, I'd prefer, in a new / unfamiliar car, to have the leeway of maximum warp-factor! Energy-saving can come later ... I don't suppose you are ever in the situation where you are in the fast lane, following a slower vehicle at a respectful / safe distance, and someone comes up behind you right on your bumper indicating that they think that they are more entitled to the space in front of you, than you are? Very-heavy-right-foot is very satisfying - when the slower car moves over :D

I have an additional "driver" for "seat all the way back, steering wheel fully up" for when sat in the car at recharge /whatever. (I have read tall people saying they find that easier for getting out)

Turned off Creep, as we are both manual stick-shift drivers.

This is a difference between Europe and the US. The vast majority of US cars are automatic. The only manuals I've seen in years are sports cars and entry level vehicles. It's pretty much impossible to rent a manual gearbox car because so few Americans know how to drive them.

My sister had an Isuzu (Chevy branded) pick up with a manual and I learned on that. It was very unforgiving and I stalled it a lot at first. I got pretty good after a while. It's been years since I've had to drive a manual though.

I put the navigation map at the bottom of the screen - anything else I select (I tend to flip between Radio, Charge, Phone) opens (by default) at the top, so I don't lose the map at the bottom.

The Model-S is big. We are not used to that as we took the decision 5+ years ago to change to small eco VW <spit. Never, NOT EVER, again for any brand in that stable; I don't take well to liars and cheats; we have 3x VW :mad:> ) and I found visibility of cars behind & to one side was much more restricted than i was used to; I carefully set the wing mirrors accordingly - previously my wife would set hers "normal for a human" whereas I have mine "correct for blindspot" i.e. where you move your head to the side of the headrest nearest the mirror and THEN set them to be able to just see the side of the car, and I got my wife to do that for Model S. Size of the car and rear visibility definitely takes some getting used to - unless you already drive a wide vehicle of course.

Even among American cars which tend to be bigger, the Model S is big, though smaller than a lot of SUVs. It is the same wheelbase and width of my Buick though. I find I use the outside mirrors more than I used to with my Buick, the vision out the back in the Model S is not great, but the mirrors are much bigger and have great coverage.

I can't remember which button on the fob does what. I still initiate / stop charge from console or APP rather than remembering how to do that with fob (I'm dyslexic, I have the obvious difficulty choosing correct letter-sequence in a word, but also remembering / differentiating between A-B, B-A or A-A type sequences in things like a Tesla fob :confused: so I doubt this is a problem for others)

I'm probably being a dork, but I haven't been able to find an online manual (which I can read on centre-console). SUPPORT on the Tesla site only seems to get me to Q&A on issues, rather than "DOCs", and the online things that Google found were all PDFs which wouldn't display on the console (I assume that is an issue with PDF, and not just "chance"), if I have got that right knowing the URL for an online HTML manual would be helpful, or take a tablet with you that can easily display an online / downloaded manual. There were a couple of things the delivery guy told me that I had forgotten and wanted to look up on my first drive ... but couldn't.

At least for me, in MyTesla there are a bunch of PDF manuals at the bottom of the page including the Owners Manual. I'd post the link, but what I have is the US specific manual.
 
One tip I keep in mind for any first time driver, not just a spouse: They can ignore the center console. Some people are afraid it will distract them and others may be intimidated by the menus and so on. So I emphasize that once the seats and mirrors are set, and the audio is chosen (or not), the screen can be ignored AND the car drives "pretty much like any other car" -- accelerator, brake, signals, etc. And I leave the fancy stuff for later and only if they ask (TACC etc.). Keep it simple so they can enjoy the car's essence without being distracted by the gimmicks and toys.
 
Not too sure why people are saying to turn on creep, and turn off regen to make the car into a pseudo-ICE for the test drive. Isn't that being kind of condescending? "Only a man can handle what an EV really feels like. Women can't handle cars that stay still until the accelerator is pressed, and a car slowing down when the accelerator is released."
My suggestion had nothing to do with gender. When I have someone drive my car for the first time (man or woman), I lower the regen because I had a few say they hated the regen. We all know it's easy to get used to and we end up loving it, but it can be a turn off for first timers.
 
One tip I keep in mind for any first time driver, not just a spouse: They can ignore the center console. Some people are afraid it will distract them and others may be intimidated by the menus and so on. So I emphasize that once the seats and mirrors are set, and the audio is chosen (or not), the screen can be ignored AND the car drives "pretty much like any other car" -- accelerator, brake, signals, etc. And I leave the fancy stuff for later and only if they ask (TACC etc.). Keep it simple so they can enjoy the car's essence without being distracted by the gimmicks and toys.
I was looking at a video of the new E class yesterday and at first felt like "this looks much better than the MS".. Which probably it did. Then I saw the user demoing the user controls.. "You can do this and that etc..". It looked so complicated to use. That really reminded me the iPhone vs blackberry..
 
there are a bunch of PDF manuals at the bottom of the page including the Owners Manual

Thanks. On my longer drive yesterday I did find the manual. Its in Controls : [Settings] tab (which is not the default) and then a button bottom-left. Didn't manage to find a Search feature though, and couldn't find "touchscreen reset" (which was what I was after), so had to Google that on my phone. (I had no network connection, thus no maps; reset cured that, and curiously when I got home the link to my WiFi was working, which it had studiously failed to connect to when I (first) tried it the day before, so maybe all that was just something goofy ...)

Also, tried Cruise Control yesterday and its definitely adaptive (and way WAY better than the rubbish one on my VWs which hares up behind a vehicle, then stomps on the brakes so hard that a huge gap opens up - alarming for passengers and far, far, from being Eco compared to lifting-off on approach - the VW is also very very late reacting to someone cutting in (i.e. only when the vehicle is pretty much fully into my lane), whereas the Tesla ACC starts to react the moment a vehicle crosses the line. I'm pretty sure I didn't mishear the delivery guy, but anything is possible - there was a lot to take in!

The vast majority of US cars are automatic

I always assumed that was down to "Americans think that 200 years is a long time, English think that 200 miles is a long way" ?! Interesting that rental cars being automatic is due to majority of drivers not being used to manuals; I visited USA often on business, always got an automatic rental, no problem with that, but I didn't put 2-and-2 together as to why.

There's just so many funny answers here. Just go enjoy the car with her and she'll get it.

Each to their own of course, and it might well be that there is "more" that is different to normal, over here in UK (Automatic is rare, and as such we have never owned one before), but I think there is risk from being caught out by the unexpected when first trying a new vehicle.

Pedestrian stepped out in front of me in a car park yesterday, looking the other way (from which there was the noise of an ICE approaching some way off), and none of the pedestrians walking in the roadway were aware I was behind them - which my daughter exclaimed was "Really cool" :)

It looked so complicated to use

That was my biggest fear when I went for a test drive of Model S. I'm a programmer, and usually horrified at the complexity that modern tech manages to inflict on their users, and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the layout of the huge range of features, controls and settings on the Model S was really elegantly laid out. Most of our projects have moved from Computer Department to Marketing Department and as a consequence have been seriously Glossed-Up, but also as a consequence there is no longer any thought / testing on whether the application actually works well or is easy to use!

Every vehicle I see on the road has a different arrangement for Eyebrows or Smiley Face side-lights and tail / brake lights, and it makes me wonder if, in an emergency, I will react in the most efficient manner - by the time I have digested the information.
 
Pretty lukewarm response. She didn't think the finishes were commensurate with the price point, didn't like putting the kid in the car seat through a smallish opening, didn't like the rear/side visibility, and found the display distracting.





Is she bluffing? First I needed the male perspective, now I need some help from the ladies. I love the car, FWIW
 
This display only seems distracting at first, but you quickly get used to the layout.
If all you think you're getting for the price is the same stuff you'd get in an ICE car then you're likely to be unsatisfied.
The visibility is not great; add a passenger of any height and the driver's visibility to the right gets pretty poor.
Even the front passenger door is hardly "generous". She may have a point about car seats and such. For young families
maybe the X is a better choice? I don't know much about them, other than that they're different and vaguely more SUV-like.

I gave my sister-in-law a test drive today and she was unimpressed. Some people... ;)
 
Pretty lukewarm response. She didn't think the finishes were commensurate with the price point, didn't like putting the kid in the car seat through a smallish opening, didn't like the rear/side visibility, and found the display distracting.





Is she bluffing? First I needed the male perspective, now I need some help from the ladies. I love the car, FWIW

Can't fight on the fit and finishes - no door pockets, zero storage pre center console, etc.

I load 3 toddlers in my S every day (3 and 1yr old twins) with no issues. Unless your comparing it to a minivan or X the child seat loading for my wife and I is not bad.
 
Pretty lukewarm response. She didn't think the finishes were commensurate with the price point, didn't like putting the kid in the car seat through a smallish opening, didn't like the rear/side visibility, and found the display distracting.

Is she bluffing? First I needed the male perspective, now I need some help from the ladies. I love the car, FWIW

Did she drive?

One of my fears was also that the touchscreen would be a distraction.
It turned out it was not, we quickly got used to it.
If you test drove a top-of-the-line performance model, take a look at the place going to the 60D.
Did she like the safety stats?

Her best point is probably the difficulty of getting car seats in. The X dramatically improves that, as well as material and storage.
 
zero storage pre center console

My (facelift) Model-S has some useful centre console space, and phone-charger, not sure if that was in your consideration?. Some photos here (but I think it works better than the photos look - the cup holders in the front are optional, as there are cup holders in the armrest too of course):

Tesla introduces new Model X-like center console in the Model S by default [Gallery]

To my mind its much better than the "nothing" space that there used to be in the middle.

We've always had door-pockets in all other / previous cars, and on the one hand I miss them, but they have always been stuffed with an ugly collection of sponges, keys, dirty sweet wrappers etc. and have always been a mess, and I'm happy that the Tesla doesn't have any of that ... some "change management" required though :)

I don't find the touch screen distracting - map-at-bottom is better for me (whatever else I choose then defaults to launching in the top half), but my wife (shorter than me) finds map-at-top is better for her eye-line.

I'm surprised that the car-icon, in the dashboard, with radiating radar graphics showing adjacent objects / vehicle is not distracted. I am very susceptible to that (I have to turn off Avatars and Signatures on Forums if they allow anything "moving") but it has surprised me that the moving "stuff" on the dash has not been distracting. Can't speak for others, but hopefully that is because of thoughtful design by Tesla.
 
If she wasn't blown away with the way it drives and looks you may be out of luck. All of her points were valid except for the 17" screen being distracting...it's not and its one of the coolest features. Sounds like she's looking for specific practical features that just aren't there.
As for the Model X, you should spend some time in the X forum before you even consider it. I think they need 6-12 months to work out the kinks particularly for such a high priced SUV.
 
Each to their own of course, and it might well be that there is "more" that is different to normal, over here in UK (Automatic is rare, and as such we have never owned one before), but I think there is risk from being caught out by the unexpected when first trying a new vehicle.

Actually, I think having experience with a manual transmission is an advantage in adapting to the regen braking. I tell people with "stick" experience that driving with regen is just like taking your foot off the gas in a stick car without engaging the clutch -- engine braking in both cases. And in my opinion, it is particularly similar to driving a Diesel with a stick because of the high compression ratio. So for UK drivers who often have experience with both Diesels and stick transmissions, you should be able to adapt to the regen easily. it's effectively a one-speed "stick" that you never have to shift! Clutchless, so to speak.

In my case, I had Diesel stick experience, as did my adult children from driving my old Benzes. Unfortunately my spouse has no stick experience, so the regen was harder for her top adapt to.