Get Amped Tour: Toronto, Ontario, 8/3 - 8/5

mknox · Aug 7, 2012

CapitalistOppressor said:
If I was Canadian I'd want my units to display correctly. It should be beyond easy for Tesla to program a switch to change it back and forth. It's likely done already and waiting on someone to put it out in an update.

Trouble is, I'm old enough to remember when MPH, gallons and Fahrenheit were the correct units!

Seriously though, some Canadian cars (Lexus/Toyota comes to mind) cannot be switched by the user. The fact that they didn't have them in Metric at the Toronto tour stop has me a bit worried.

Mike

Todd Burch · Aug 8, 2012

mknox said:
Seriously though, some Canadian cars (Lexus/Toyota comes to mind) cannot be switched by the user. The fact that they didn't have them in Metric at the Toronto tour stop has me a bit worried.

Why? I think Tesla can handle a unit conversion

. It's available on the Roadster...no reason at all to think it won't be doable on the Model S.

mknox · Aug 8, 2012

Todd Burch said:
Why? I think Tesla can handle a unit conversion . It's available on the Roadster...no reason at all to think it won't be doable on the Model S.

I don't want to put too fine a point on it, but if it was user-switchable, I don't know why they wouldn't have had the cars in Metric units for the Canadian tour stop. The reps had to make a point of telling drivers that the cars were in MPH (100 MPH is a lot faster than 100 km/h). They were certainly flipping through other screens to change re-gen, steering and air suspension options.

My current car (Cadillac) has a straightforward option to toggle between Metric and US units. It switches the speedometer, odometer(s) and temperature readouts and also flips the build-in Nav system to speak and display the selected units. (It also supports about 5 languages for voice and display, but that's another matter).

On the other car (Toyota) I have, it can be switched, but must be done by the dealer using a scan tool and for a fee. Can't be changed by the driver on the fly.

It's not so much whether Tesla can do it, but rather will they make that option available. I'm probably the only guy who cares

Mike

jerry33 · Aug 8, 2012

mknox said:
It's not so much whether Tesla can do it, but rather will they make that option available. I'm probably the only guy who cares

You're not the only person. Actually, I know a couple of people here in Texas that set their display to metric because they like the SI system.

Doug_G · Aug 8, 2012

Oh my gosh, guys, this is a fairly trivial software item. I'm certain it will be available when the car ships.

mknox · Aug 8, 2012

Doug_G said:
Oh my gosh, guys, this is a fairly trivial software item. I'm certain it will be available when the car ships.

I guess it is, but then it depends on what your expectations for the car are, and where your priorities lie. For instance, I might consider the 1.2 second 0-60 bump in the Performance edition "trivial" on a car that's geared more towards the luxury mainstream market, whereas that might be an absolute "essential" on a car like the Roadster that plays to an entirely different audience. Personally, I'm not looking to buy a "sports car" and therefore am more interested in things like cabin creature comforts, options and, well, user-configurable settings.

You're probably right, and it probably will be available. Right now, it's just a discussion.

jerry33 · Aug 8, 2012

Doug_G said:
Oh my gosh, guys, this is a fairly trivial software item. I'm certain it will be available when the car ships.

Me too, except for the odometer which has (I'm pretty sure) some regulations against changing.

Robert.Boston · Aug 8, 2012

trivial == easily updated. The Performance option is not "trivial", nor the pano roof. A programming tweak that downloads on the next update is trivial.

mknox · Aug 8, 2012

jerry33 said:
Me too, except for the odometer which has (I'm pretty sure) some regulations against changing.

Nope, my last 3 or 4 cars that had the option flipped the odometers between US and Metric too. I suspect most North American cars store the values in the PCM as US units and "convert" to Metric. I say this because I've noticed that whenever I've had a battery out for an extended period, the cars always came back to life in US settings regardless of where it was initially. I had to replace the PCM in a Toyota and they had to "guess" at the start odometer reading (because the old PCM was dead), and put a sticker in the door jam to this effect, so there are obviously some regulations about odometers.

mlascano · Aug 8, 2012

During the briefing before my test drive we were explicitly told that the 3 cars present that day did not have the software for flipping back and forth between MPH and km/h, but that this capability will be present on production models.
FWIW, the 3 cars at the Toronto event were able to flip between Farenheit-Celsius, 12H time format-24H time format --> I have no doubt that the MPH-km/h flip will be available by the time Canadian deliveries begin.

mknox · Aug 8, 2012

Robert.Boston said:
trivial == easily updated. The Performance option is not "trivial", nor the pano roof. A programming tweak that downloads on the next update is trivial.

Sorry, I meant trivial to me. When my Toyota dealer told me they could not (or would not) allow me to switch display units, I did not consider that "trivial", in fact, I was quite upset considering I can do this in my other cars. I certainly get it that this is a trivial thing to implement, as long as Tesla doesn't pull a "Toyota", and I fully understand that most people probably don't care.

mknox · Aug 8, 2012

mlascano said:
During the briefing before my test drive we were explicitly told that the 3 cars present that day did not have the software for flipping back and forth between MPH and km/h, but that this capability will be present on production models.
FWIW, the 3 cars at the Toronto event were able to flip between Farenheit-Celsius, 12H time format-24H time format --> I have no doubt that the MPH-km/h flip will be available by the time Canadian deliveries begin.

Perfect! My test drive rep did not have that information.

jerry33 · Aug 8, 2012

mknox said:
Nope, my last 3 or 4 cars that had the option flipped the odometers between US and Metric too. I suspect most North American cars store the values in the PCM as US units and "convert" to Metric. I say this because I've noticed that whenever I've had a battery out for an extended period, the cars always came back to life in US settings regardless of where it was initially. I had to replace the PCM in a Toyota and they had to "guess" at the start odometer reading (because the old PCM was dead), and put a sticker in the door jam to this effect, so there are obviously some regulations about odometers.

Okay, cool. All the cars I've had you could flip the speedometer and the language but not the odometer.

Brian H · Aug 8, 2012

medved said:
...
There are some small drawbacks but otherwise I wouldn't mind to have the car in my garage.
...

Why does that remind me of the phrase, "shoes under my bed"?
Sorry!!:redface:

Brian H · Aug 8, 2012

mlascano said:
During the briefing before my test drive we were explicitly told that the 3 cars present that day did not have the software for flipping back and forth between MPH and km/h, but that this capability will be present on production models.
FWIW, the 3 cars at the Toronto event were able to flip between Farenheit-Celsius, 12H time format-24H time format --> I have no doubt that the MPH-km/h flip will be available by the time Canadian deliveries begin.

IOW, there's no need for a flip-flap!
Which reminds me: tell your wife it's unsafe to drive in flip-flops.
:cursing:

:tongue:

Doug_G · Aug 9, 2012

Discussions about units of measurement went to Metric versus US versus Imperial Units

Discussions about whether you could switch units on the Model S stayed put.

(Thanks to you guys I'm now a moderator in this section, too!)

Jaff · Aug 13, 2012

That's wierd mknox...my Lexus 2010 RX 450h can switch on the fly...it even switches the HUD from kms to miles...I wonder why they didn't include this functionality on the Toyotas?

mknox said:
Sorry, I meant trivial to me. When my Toyota dealer told me they could not (or would not) allow me to switch display units, I did not consider that "trivial", in fact, I was quite upset considering I can do this in my other cars. I certainly get it that this is a trivial thing to implement, as long as Tesla doesn't pull a "Toyota", and I fully understand that most people probably don't care.

jerry33 · Aug 13, 2012

Jaff said:
That's wierd mknox...my Lexus 2010 RX 450h can switch on the fly...it even switches the HUD from kms to miles...I wonder why they didn't include this functionality on the Toyotas?

My guess would be to keep U.S. cars out of Canada and vice versa so as not to upset the price difference between the two countries.

mknox · Aug 13, 2012

Jaff said:
That's wierd mknox...my Lexus 2010 RX 450h can switch on the fly...it even switches the HUD from kms to miles...I wonder why they didn't include this functionality on the Toyotas?

The Toyota in question happens to be an '07 Matrix and it can't be switched between US/Metric units. A buddy of mine has an older Lexus RX 330 and I'm pretty sure his can't be switched either (or else he just doesn't know how).

I guess it varies from make to make and model to model, but it is something that is important to me. I was glad to hear that Tesla says it will be available on the Model S.

Duckjybe · Aug 15, 2012

Some late photos from the Toronto event.

It happened so fast I could only take in so much but here is my review of my drive. I drove the Black performance and it was a much different feel than the Volt I own, which I love. The Volt's steering is very light compared to the SPORT (??) mode steering setting on Model S. I tried the COMFORT setting and it felt similar to the Volt. The regenerative braking was similar to the Volt. The MSP felt bigger than the Volt, which is understandable as it is much bigger. MSP felt powerful and I could feel the traction control kick in a bit when, from stopped, I accelerated hard around a corner. However, I did not get to test the great 0-60 time and higher speed cornering as the traffic was thick - a little disappointed in that (should have known on a Friday before the long weekend!). It was embarrassing that the silver non-perfomance kept passing me, but I'll use the excuse that my daughter was in the car :smile:. Overall the MSP felt similar to my BMW 330xi in cornering and steering feel ie. very solid feeling and capable at speed. I hope to get a longer (and faster!) drive soon, but I was impressed with the overall feel of the car and will be ordering CDN P#232.

Blue