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FSD Mini Review/Rant - Promising, But Not Worth Your Money - Yet

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Hi Gang,
I thought I'd let my inner muse free and comment on why I am thrilled I was talked out of the $10k I originally ordered for FSD for my S refresh LR, and glad I tried a $199 subscription which I just cancelled.
Mind you, my opinion only, your mileage may vary.
Full disclosure - I'm a Tesla fanboy.
Here we go - very briefly, my neighbor/friend talked me out of the FSD purchase with my refresh, and my FOMO went into overdrive when I heard about the $2k price increase.
Fast forward some 6 months, and with a few long trips (for me) expected, I opted into FSD July 9 or so, and I cancelled it a few days ago. It will run until August 9.
I think the concept is promising, and the most advanced system out there, but far from ready for prime time.
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Lane Changes - FSD is superb at lane changes on a highway or roadway. You can opt to make it automatic (I didn't) or require a confirmation. I felt it was flawless in execution, but suboptimal in deciding whether to change lanes - for example, it may prompt you to change out of the passing lane, but not consider how quickly you'll have to get back into the lane as the cars are slow in the right lane. FSD lane changing won't work on single lane roads where you signal for a left turn.

Summons - I tried it a couple of times. Most useful if 2 idiots park so closely to you you can't open your doors - then summon the beast forward or backwards, and if it works, the car will do so, very slowly. I found numerous times after 30 seconds the app still didn't sync well with the car to activate summons. I also tried it once at my office parking lot. If I walked to the car, and drove to where i was standing, it would have taken maybe 15 seconds or less. Instead, using summons, it took about 2.5 minutes. It did work, though I helped it along by selecting to first back the car straight out.

Subtopic - gear selection - my gear selection is appropriate maybe 80% of the time. Elon called any user input error - fine, but what about when I'm parked by a wall, or with a car in front of me, and the car autoselects to crash? Um, no. Nyet. Nada. For similar reasons, I didn't trust FSD to choose the appropriate gear (D or R) when pulling out of a spot to me.
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Driving score & Grandma mode - I was generally scoring lower than I expected - city driving has starts and starts the scoring doesn't like. Switch out of insane into sport, and then use autopilot all over, and your scores will climb. And be prepared for autopilot to try to kill you about once every 5 drives, and prepare to disengage at any curves that have a yellow reduced speed sign, like 35 or 40 when the speed limit is generally a few mph over that.

Driving intelligence - just this a.m. on streets (where FSD won't really work) I was in autopilot, and the car knew based on the navigation that I was going straight, yet it was pulling me into a left turn lane. Not cool.

Persistence - I don't think the system can keep track of cars around you on the road, and it certainly can't keep track of bad drivers that you or I might afford a much wider berth to, or follow a further distance from.

Parking - I got it to work about 2 times. The rest of the time I look for the parking notice, but sure don't see it.

Potholes/obstacle avoidance - I sure didn't see it.

Braking and acceleration - Ironically, the FSD system/AP would drive far more harshly than I would, but I would get a demerit on my scores - i.e. if the cars a slow or stopped ahead, the car may accelerate nearly full speed until it then starts to regen and then hit the brakes --- hard - whereas the typical driver would likely accelerate just a tad, and then maybe coast the rest of the way.

Stopping distance - no intelligence here. If you're going 30, you need less stopping distance than going 60. How about some variability here?
Speeding - I've had AP on in the past, and yeah, gone fast and gently get back down to my set speed. With FSD I didn't mean to, but I stomped, passed a guy, and broke 95, which broke FSD and my rebuke was no AP/FSD for the rest of my 3 hour drive. Um, no again, and nyet again. I pulled off the next exit, my wife wanted to kill me and just get home, and I had to find a place, park, get out, get back in, and voila - AP restored. And I made sure not to break 95 again (I came very close by accident though).

I think the PROMISE of FSD is exciting. I also realized if I got into the beta (I requested my first day, never got it even with averaging 97 for a week) that the beta would be useful in town/on streets, but no improvement on the highway, I guess until the single stack. So, I was auditioning for something that wouldn't have improved my longer drives more than I already had. Don't get me wrong - having the car keep the lane through lane changes is great - though with free AP, I can keep the lane, jostle the wheel as I have to with FSD, and the only thing is after a lane change, I'd have to press the AP button again.

I can see where updates will help, and maybe some of this stuff is easy to implement, but even then how should it handle say potholes - if within the lane, and you can move a few inches either way to avoid - yeah, it should. What if you have to move to the edge of the lane, and your mirror would hit another vehicle, or one that was creeping over? what about passing over a dotted line to avoid?

I had to emergency disengage the FSD somewhat often - cars merging, near misses or other stupid things, and the near full brake stomping the system would do was horrible.

TLDR; FSD is promising but not there yet. Maybe the beta is better than sliced bread, but I sure didn't see it. If I paid $10k or $12k for what I had, I'd be furious. The thing is helpful at best and dangerous at worst.

Would I subscribe again? You bet. When 11 or even 10.X is available without the need to audition, I'd plunk down another $200 or possibly higher to try it out. In its current incarnation, and without the beta, I think it is an overpriced gimmick and not worth it.
 
I absolutely hate Tesla as a company and their practices, I think autopilot is terrible but this review is completely false just because the OP is using the wrong terminology. Purchasing Fsd was for the future ability.... Which right now is in "beta".
Just because you purchased Fsd doesn't mean you were using it, you were using enhanced autopilot, which is meant for highways only anyway.
 
I am so glad I didn't plunk down the 10k for FSD or the promise of what it is. I really like the old commodity trader's adage of Sell the rumor, buy the fact. I bought the subscription and I feel ripped off even for $200 for a month.

Currently there is absolutely nothing of value to offer me. I've seen too many horror stories with summon. Following the route on AP is pretty much worthless. If I trusted gear selection, I'd have hit about 20 things by now. How the eff can you screw up the direction when the car is parked with the nose 6" from a wall and then choose to go forward? This is even with the park sensors saying to stop. C'mon Tesla, this is BS!

At the current rate of progress, I'll check back in 5 years and see if it is worth having. My bet is some other company will offer something better sooner, for the average driver. While AP isn't great, and one car I had massive phantom braking issues with, at least you get some value out of it when it is trying to brake so hard it isn't trying to avoid a brick wall. The FSD subscription offers so little of value over basic AP, Tesla should be paying us to be beta testers!
 
I absolutely hate Tesla as a company and their practices, I think autopilot is terrible but this review is completely false just because the OP is using the wrong terminology. Purchasing Fsd was for the future ability.... Which right now is in "beta".
Just because you purchased Fsd doesn't mean you were using it, you were using enhanced autopilot, which is meant for highways only anyway.
No. He bought a subscription for FSD. That’s what Tesla calls it.

They do not have a subscription to EAP, even though that is what the feature set provides.

Once again, more false advertising by Tesla. Not OP.
 
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He was evaluating FSD as Tesla sells it to 99% of their customer base.

If you consider FSD Beta to be the only “true” FSD, well…then Tesla is REALLY ripping people off.
Buyer beware. There is no place in the car, the website, or the app that indicates that FSD is currently active outside of the beta. Outside the beta, it’s just Autopilot.
 
My main issues with FSD is if you got it then you are on an older code branch from Tesla for all the other stuff.

Yeah 200 is a lot and it is NOT worth it if you expect it to work, but if you like to live on the edge then I do not mind Beta. what bothers me as I said is that it is behind the main stream branch.
 
Buyer beware. There is no place in the car, the website, or the app that indicates that FSD is currently active outside of the beta. Outside the beta, it’s just Autopilot.
Buyer beware? The situation you describe is bait and switch. It’s literally fraud.

And your description is not correct. FSD, as it exists today, consists of Autopilot+EAP+Traffic and Stoplight control.

The only thing available in “beta” is autosteer on city streets.
 
View attachment 836610
Hi Gang,
I thought I'd let my inner muse free and comment on why I am thrilled I was talked out of the $10k I originally ordered for FSD for my S refresh LR, and glad I tried a $199 subscription which I just cancelled.
Mind you, my opinion only, your mileage may vary.
Full disclosure - I'm a Tesla fanboy.
Here we go - very briefly, my neighbor/friend talked me out of the FSD purchase with my refresh, and my FOMO went into overdrive when I heard about the $2k price increase.
Fast forward some 6 months, and with a few long trips (for me) expected, I opted into FSD July 9 or so, and I cancelled it a few days ago. It will run until August 9.
I think the concept is promising, and the most advanced system out there, but far from ready for prime time.
View attachment 836612
Lane Changes - FSD is superb at lane changes on a highway or roadway. You can opt to make it automatic (I didn't) or require a confirmation. I felt it was flawless in execution, but suboptimal in deciding whether to change lanes - for example, it may prompt you to change out of the passing lane, but not consider how quickly you'll have to get back into the lane as the cars are slow in the right lane. FSD lane changing won't work on single lane roads where you signal for a left turn.

Summons - I tried it a couple of times. Most useful if 2 idiots park so closely to you you can't open your doors - then summon the beast forward or backwards, and if it works, the car will do so, very slowly. I found numerous times after 30 seconds the app still didn't sync well with the car to activate summons. I also tried it once at my office parking lot. If I walked to the car, and drove to where i was standing, it would have taken maybe 15 seconds or less. Instead, using summons, it took about 2.5 minutes. It did work, though I helped it along by selecting to first back the car straight out.

Subtopic - gear selection - my gear selection is appropriate maybe 80% of the time. Elon called any user input error - fine, but what about when I'm parked by a wall, or with a car in front of me, and the car autoselects to crash? Um, no. Nyet. Nada. For similar reasons, I didn't trust FSD to choose the appropriate gear (D or R) when pulling out of a spot to me.
View attachment 836615
Driving score & Grandma mode - I was generally scoring lower than I expected - city driving has starts and starts the scoring doesn't like. Switch out of insane into sport, and then use autopilot all over, and your scores will climb. And be prepared for autopilot to try to kill you about once every 5 drives, and prepare to disengage at any curves that have a yellow reduced speed sign, like 35 or 40 when the speed limit is generally a few mph over that.

Driving intelligence - just this a.m. on streets (where FSD won't really work) I was in autopilot, and the car knew based on the navigation that I was going straight, yet it was pulling me into a left turn lane. Not cool.

Persistence - I don't think the system can keep track of cars around you on the road, and it certainly can't keep track of bad drivers that you or I might afford a much wider berth to, or follow a further distance from.

Parking - I got it to work about 2 times. The rest of the time I look for the parking notice, but sure don't see it.

Potholes/obstacle avoidance - I sure didn't see it.

Braking and acceleration - Ironically, the FSD system/AP would drive far more harshly than I would, but I would get a demerit on my scores - i.e. if the cars a slow or stopped ahead, the car may accelerate nearly full speed until it then starts to regen and then hit the brakes --- hard - whereas the typical driver would likely accelerate just a tad, and then maybe coast the rest of the way.

Stopping distance - no intelligence here. If you're going 30, you need less stopping distance than going 60. How about some variability here?
Speeding - I've had AP on in the past, and yeah, gone fast and gently get back down to my set speed. With FSD I didn't mean to, but I stomped, passed a guy, and broke 95, which broke FSD and my rebuke was no AP/FSD for the rest of my 3 hour drive. Um, no again, and nyet again. I pulled off the next exit, my wife wanted to kill me and just get home, and I had to find a place, park, get out, get back in, and voila - AP restored. And I made sure not to break 95 again (I came very close by accident though).

I think the PROMISE of FSD is exciting. I also realized if I got into the beta (I requested my first day, never got it even with averaging 97 for a week) that the beta would be useful in town/on streets, but no improvement on the highway, I guess until the single stack. So, I was auditioning for something that wouldn't have improved my longer drives more than I already had. Don't get me wrong - having the car keep the lane through lane changes is great - though with free AP, I can keep the lane, jostle the wheel as I have to with FSD, and the only thing is after a lane change, I'd have to press the AP button again.

I can see where updates will help, and maybe some of this stuff is easy to implement, but even then how should it handle say potholes - if within the lane, and you can move a few inches either way to avoid - yeah, it should. What if you have to move to the edge of the lane, and your mirror would hit another vehicle, or one that was creeping over? what about passing over a dotted line to avoid?

I had to emergency disengage the FSD somewhat often - cars merging, near misses or other stupid things, and the near full brake stomping the system would do was horrible.

TLDR; FSD is promising but not there yet. Maybe the beta is better than sliced bread, but I sure didn't see it. If I paid $10k or $12k for what I had, I'd be furious. The thing is helpful at best and dangerous at worst.

Would I subscribe again? You bet. When 11 or even 10.X is available without the need to audition, I'd plunk down another $200 or possibly higher to try it out. In its current incarnation, and without the beta, I think it is an overpriced gimmick and not worth it.
Very well written and descriptive. It is the exact impression that I have during my 1 month subscription as well.
 
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Very well written. I too have been subscribing to monthly FSD. It is definitely not worth the $200 a month, but I keep it, as I travel a lot and use the auto lane change. I will probably cancel this month, as feel I am just throwing my money away. Wish I could somehow just add auto lane change. Oh well, just being lazy!
 
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The really sad thing is that you can’t even subscribe to FSD for a month. You won’t get it. You’ll get EAP, as mentioned earlier. How on earth can Tesla legally advertise a subscription to something you currently simply cannot get in the time period noted as the initial subscription period?
 
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Very well written. I too have been subscribing to monthly FSD. It is definitely not worth the $200 a month, but I keep it, as I travel a lot and use the auto lane change. I will probably cancel this month, as feel I am just throwing my money away. Wish I could somehow just add auto lane change. Oh well, just being lazy!
I don’t even need auto lane change, I just want to be able to change lanes in regular autopilot without canceling it and having to reset it again. Is that too much to ask? Even regular cruise control allows you to change lanes without canceling it and having to reset it all over again.
 
I don’t even need auto lane change, I just want to be able to change lanes in regular autopilot without canceling it and having to reset it again. Is that too much to ask? Even regular cruise control allows you to change lanes without canceling it and having to reset it all over again.
Reason I didn’t get the EAP or FSD… hated the constant resets and auto speed changes and acceleration. I’m looking for day where FSD functions exactly as promised with full confidence it works 100% of time… not there yet.
 
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