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Model S First Drive Reviews

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It is funny they hated the door handles. I think the door handles are great! I absolutely love them. I know they are going to be a maintenance problem in the (hopefully distant) future. But I'll still take them.

Between his description of the door handle wait, and his comment that there's no memory function for the seats, I conclude that he was testing a P85 before the 4.0 update which introduced auto-presenting handles, and even the 1.13.16 update which introduced driver profiles. Can that be right for a review being published in Feb 2013?
 
It is funny they hated the door handles. I think the door handles are great! I absolutely love them. I know they are going to be a maintenance problem in the (hopefully distant) future. But I'll still take them.

Me too. I can understand someone saying they hate them because they feel they will break down sooner than regular handles but for normal use, they are fine. It's all subjective though but if that is the only thing he decided to focus on as a negative, it's pretty amazing especially coming from an auto magazine like that.
 
Between his description of the door handle wait, and his comment that there's no memory function for the seats, I conclude that he was testing a P85 before the 4.0 update which introduced auto-presenting handles, and even the 1.13.16 update which introduced driver profiles. Can that be right for a review being published in Feb 2013?

Absolutely, because it's in this month's print edition (presumably), which means they probably did the test drive a couple of months ago. There is one picture of the interior with the old "Range v. Ideal" on the Energy page, which means that it was definitely pre-4.0 software. I assume that their problems with the intermittent wipers were also due to the old software. The great thing is that most of their complaints about the car (including the door handles) have been or are able to be fixed with software upgrades. And as they recognized in the piece, they are mere quibbles anyway given the overall awesomeness of the car.
 
Absolutely, because it's in this month's print edition (presumably), which means they probably did the test drive a couple of months ago. There is one picture of the interior with the old "Range v. Ideal" on the Energy page, which means that it was definitely pre-4.0 software. I assume that their problems with the intermittent wipers were also due to the old software. The great thing is that most of their complaints about the car (including the door handles) have been or are able to be fixed with software upgrades. And as they recognized in the piece, they are mere quibbles anyway given the overall awesomeness of the car.
While I don't expect it, it would be very impressive of them to offer an "update" that "corrects what is now erroneous in our original article, due to another outstanding feature of the vehicle: OTA updates."
 
I'm cross-posting my Get Amped Hamburg post, as it is more relevant in this thread, and the other thread seems dead.

Hi all,

I just got back from grey and cold Hamburg. On the way down there we saw nice snowy scenery, but that was not what I was hoping for on a test drive of the P85.

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The event was well organized and the location was nice. The Wine-red display car was very good-looking. The first impression was good. It was more solid-feeling then anticipated, and I liked the door opening and closing mechanism (I don't mean the handle but the locking/unlocking). My girlfriend liked the color a lot and the interior build.
While we were waiting for our turn, we overheard some feedback from the previous testdrives. Someone found it not on par in terms of build quality with a Porsche Panamera which sits in the same price bracket as the P85.
Whilst I understand where he is coming from, this is argument is missing the point. Part of the price of a Tesla is covering the research that was done and is still being done on the technology. That is the reason why they come out with a premium sedan in the first place, so the that cost is relatively lower then on a small car. The Tesla people shied away from mentioning this, as I guess the Model S is just not the car yet for mainstream car buyers. On the other side, the fact that someone compares the S to a Panamera does indicated Tesla is on the right track!

View attachment 16642View attachment 16643

Before the test-drive we were given the short presentation. Nothing news for forum-members. The presentation was well executed.

Onto the Test-drive. We had a co-pilot from Tesla Switzerland (sorry, forgot his name in all the excitement). We drove the pearl-white car.

View attachment 16644

My Reference

To bring my first impressions of the drive into perspective: I currently drive a BMW 535d, with adaptive drive, 4-wheel steering and sport suspension (AC Schnitzer).

Test-drive

The first feeling was eerie. I was not used to a car where you have no sensory indication that the car is on or not. The car feels big and heavy but glides effortlessly.

The suspension does a good job of filtering out uneven roads, but my first impression was that it is not as refined as my 5. The test-drive was much too short however to asses this. I hope I can make a longer test-drive in the future on roads that I know well to see if this actually true or not.

The steering is good, the wheel has a nice grip to it, similar to my Msport wheel. The car seems less sharp to turn then my 5. I will need more time to test this in detail.

The acceleration was nice. It did not blow me away. Maybe that's because I am used to a lot of torque, or maybe I was too worried about getting a ticket to properly floor it. Part of the problem was the test-course. We had a short straight stretch where we could floor it, but the speed limit of 70km/h made it a difficult proposition. I will need to test the car again with 21" wheels, dry weather, and a proper road. My girlfriend did like the acceleration, and the whizzing sound when you push the pedal.

The regen, I liked. It's perfect in standard mode. It's similar to the regenerative breaking in my 5, just more aggressive.

The test-drive was over much too fast.

Post Drive

When I got back I asked one of the Tesla people a few questions on insurance, old car buybacks, and parksensor. The answers I got were short, dismissive, and really left a bad impression. I was a bit annoyed in the way the answers were (not) given. My girlfriend saved the day though as she spotted the guy who gave the original presentation and suggested I ask him instead. What a change! The guy was friendly, informative and very helpful. Car buybacks are not organised but they might be able to link you up with interested parties. fine. Parksensors: the cabling is already in place. This i did not know yet. So once they get the software hookups for it sorted, they will be easily able to retrofit the parksensors as the cables are already there. I was very happy to hear that.

Conclusion
The ride was very short, but better then nothing.
I will need a longer Testdrive to know for sure whether I will order the car.
The events was very well organised. I do hope they vet their pre-sales people a bit more because they cannot afford to put people off from buying the car in such a crucial time for Tesla.
All in all it was a great experience :biggrin:

Note on the acceleration: It probably was due to my worry about tickets. VolkerB was able to get the tail out, so i must not have been flooring it :cool:
 
Trust me a Model S performance will blow the doors off your 535d. (I replaced a 335d with the Model S). This is both in terms of feel and hard #'s.... There really is no comparison!

I'm surprised that you thought it was not as refined as your 5... The S is so quiet and so smooth. Now that I've had my S 2.5 weeks I really could not imagine not buying it.



I'm cross-posting my Get Amped Hamburg post, as it is more relevant in this thread, and the other thread seems dead.



Note on the acceleration: It probably was due to my worry about tickets. VolkerB was able to get the tail out, so i must not have been flooring it :cool:
 
While I don't expect it, it would be very impressive of them to offer an "update" that "corrects what is now erroneous in our original article, due to another outstanding feature of the vehicle: OTA updates."

Brian - they actually did in the print edition. It says in a box "Shortly before we went to press, Tesla announced that a software update will soon fix the Model S's slow moving door handles. This is the world we live in: vehicles evolving moment to moment" Really an amazingly glowing review.
 
Trust me a Model S performance will blow the doors off your 535d. (I replaced a 335d with the Model S). This is both in terms of feel and hard #'s.... There really is no comparison!

I'm surprised that you thought it was not as refined as your 5... The S is so quiet and so smooth. Now that I've had my S 2.5 weeks I really could not imagine not buying it.

Performance: Ah, good to hear that mnx. Now i'm really looking forward to a longer test drive.

Refinement: maybe i will think differently after a longer test drive. We only had 10 mins. My current 5 series is very refined, albeit due to the optional adaptive drive. I hope Tesla starts offering testdrives at the dealers in europe soon. To be continued.
Btw, i already mentionned this, but your black wheels rock. Perfect match for the MS.
 
How often does a Ferrari 458 tested by taking it SF to San Diego?

Enough of the range testing already. 99% of people don't use their car that way.

If you spend $100k on this car you probably have two or three other car and most likely fly for distances exceeding 300 miles.

I live in the NorCal Bay Area. I fly to LA, San Diego and Vegas.

Why don't they test the car for handling, braking, sound, luggage space, practicality, sound system, comfort, convenience, performance.

To limit the utility of the Model S to range is just silly.
 
How often does a Ferrari 458 tested by taking it SF to San Diego?

Enough of the range testing already. 99% of people don't use their car that way.

If you spend $100k on this car you probably have two or three other car and most likely fly for distances exceeding 300 miles.

I live in the NorCal Bay Area. I fly to LA, San Diego and Vegas.

Why don't they test the car for handling, braking, sound, luggage space, practicality, sound system, comfort, convenience, performance.

To limit the utility of the Model S to range is just silly.

I understand your point, but in the current nascent state of the charging infrastructure, range is still THE issue that stop people from purchasing BEVs.

I appreciate pieces like this where this issue is not only addressed, but not considered a problem (not to mention free...).

Obviously this will not apply to everyone, even when superchargers are fully deployed, but for all the other aspects of the car you noted, we have the two COTY awards and the fantastic article by Road & Track.