Model X 75 D road trips

[bogienut]

My wife and I have a first day model 3 reservation but are considering purchasing a new Model X 75D before the referral discount ends instead. We would like to know how this smaller battery model works for road trips. Other comments beyond the range difference of how the 75D compares to the 100D would also be appreciated. Currently a 100D is out of the question so it's either a Model X 75D, Model 3, or continue saving for a model X 100D.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

my take on it when I bought my model S a year ago and had a 75 for a few weeks as a loaner were as follows, for your day to day use, you'll never notice the difference in batteries, however on long road trips which I do quite frequently driving about 450 miles each way twice a month having the bigger battery/longer range allowed me to not get grey hairs over range anxiety and allowed me to drive as I do in a traditional car, when it was time to stop at a supercharger, I was ready to stop anyway opposed to with the smaller battery, stopping slightly more frequently or closer to "empty."

if you never had an EV before, my recommendation is to stick with whatever gives you the longest range for your first entrance into this market, if not, by all means, the 75 is a wonderful car either way and you'll be happy with it!

 

[pkodali]

We bought a Model x in august and love it. Realistic range is around 200 miles of mixed driving, but it honestly won't save you that much time except for long road trips. The question is if its worth the 20k difference based on how often u take road trips

P.S. let me know if you have any more question or would like a referral code

 

[pkodali]

Also, where do you live? In California, we have an insane number of superchargers so supercharging isnt a very big issue at all but if you live in the mid west thats different

 

[beths11]

Depends on your travel style. We have a Model X 75 and find no issues at all with long trips. We are not in a hurry and enjoy stopping for breaks the SuperCharging provides us. If you take long trips and want to get some place as fast as possible it may cramp your style.

 

[MarkoC]

I did a 4,000+ mile road trip this summer in my 75D X and it was fine. You have to be able to accept the fact that you will be stopping more often than an ICE car and it will take longer to get where you want to go. I have a 7 year old kid and one thing I noticed is that stopping every couple of hours was good for him. He got to get out and run around which I’m convinced made him do better in the car. If you are the type of person who just wants to get where you are going as fast as you can it might be hard for you but if you can enjoy the journey it should be no problem.

 

[cantdecide]

We did SF to Yosemite to death valley to Las Vegas to Flagstaff to Grand canyon to monument valley to Moab to Boulder in our X75D and with a large stowaway box on the back and a full car.

It worked well.
With a larger battery we might have saved 3 sets of 10 minutes of charging each day... But typically we would be in a nearby restaurant for 2 of those so it only really would have saved 10 minutes per day on shorter charging stops.
However there were a couple of places where a larger battery may have permitted a shorter route that would have saved 30 minutes each. This only happened due to sightseeing... If we were going direct on the main freeways this would not have happened.

Outside of road trips the only noticable differences are more efficiency in the 75D but slower acceleration.

 

[travwill]

If you can spring for the 100D it would be better in the long run (if you'll want freedom to do trips often) and for future resale. Range is king, you'll notice that once you own an EV. The acceleration also makes it feel like a truly fast car versus a bit sluggish feel (not that its as bad as some other gas SUVs still).

Do realize you only charge to 90% of stated max range. That last 10% is painfully slow (or last 7ish or so). Then you'll lose some in time when algo learns your driving, you'll lose some due to true degradation over fist year then each year, and in Winter/cold times you'll lose some due to efficiency lost (cold air, heater, any wet/snow roads, etc.). For example, that 237 100% mentioned on 75, at 90% is 213, minus 5% over some years leaves around 200 at 90%, then say you lose 20% due to cold leaves about 160 miles range if you didn't range charge. Not a ton, and 20% is being generous if your in a very cold climate.

 

[number12]

Never make a $100k decision early for $1000

Also tesla always makes better cars weekly. Waiting has never been a bad thing.

1.49 financing turned into .99, etc

 

[EV bud]

We did SF to Yosemite to death valley to Las Vegas to Flagstaff to Grand canyon to monument valley to Moab to Boulder in our X75D and with a large stowaway box on the back and a full car.

It worked well.
With a larger battery we might have saved 3 sets of 10 minutes of charging each day... But typically we would be in a nearby restaurant for 2 of those so it only really would have saved 10 minutes per day on shorter charging stops.
However there were a couple of places where a larger battery may have permitted a shorter route that would have saved 30 minutes each. This only happened due to sightseeing... If we were going direct on the main freeways this would not have happened.

Outside of road trips the only noticable differences are more efficiency in the 75D but slower acceleration.

With the new uncorking, it's only slower by 0.2 secs!

 

[arcus]

How frequently do you plan to go for road trips? If you think of doing so occasionally (couple of times a year for example), 75D will do just fine as your daily commuter. From your original post it looks like you want to make a responsible purchase without over-committing yourself. I think that is smart move. While larger battery comes handy in areas where superchargers are scarce now, proper planning and preparation will come to the rescue. You can always plan for an overnight stay in a place offering Level 2 charging (since you won't care how long it takes while staying in the hotel). Carrying that extra weight (and price tag) if you don't use it frequently is unnecessary. Just my $0.02.

 

[SixMaxwells]

We just bought a 75D two weeks ago and recently took a trip from FL to NC. Not an extremely long road trip but it was a good test to see how taking it on a longer trip would be. I did have range anxiety once just due to the length between a set of superchargers but other than that we will be able to manage just fine. Obviously, the 100D is a better option but it is really hard for me to justify the extra range for something that we would only use on road trips. I am very happy with the 75D. Traveling with a Tesla on road trips is such a different experience. Yes, it does take longer to get to your destination but for us it was a more enjoyable ride due to the fact that we have 4 children under the age of 6. They had a great time hangout and running around during charging times.

 

[upinatem]

We have a 60D (still waiting on them to lower the 75 upgrade to $2k or less) and over spring break we went from Idaho to the Grand Canyon, down to Phoenix, over to Vegas and then back home. No gray hairs and the ONLY stretch without a supercharger we couldn't easily make it to was through the Grand Canyon, where we stayed at a hotel with a HPWC overnight. I know there are still plenty of stretches of road out west without SC's but where there are I don't think it even made a difference between the 200 range in our 60 and. The extra 37 mi in a 75. We invested in the 72 amp dual charger upgrade instead, it's been much more useful.

 

[tessla]

My wife and I have a first day model 3 reservation but are considering purchasing a new Model X 75D before the referral discount ends instead. We would like to know how this smaller battery model works for road trips. Other comments beyond the range difference of how the 75D compares to the 100D would also be appreciated. Currently a 100D is out of the question so it's either a Model X 75D, Model 3, or continue saving for a model X 100D.

When choosing our MX, we were torn b/w the 75D and 100D, but more so because of the power difference than anything else. The 75D range seemed adequate for our once a month MA to NYC drive.

As a daily for my wife, we have never found the need for a mid-day boost/recharge. In fact, we have the battery max charge set at about 88% (it doesn't charge past that), and yet can go for about 2-3 days without re-charging. As mentioned above, realistically on a full charge, the car can go about 200-220 miles, despite the dash saying 235-237 upon a full charge on trip mode.

We just got back from our first drive to NYC from MA, and found zero issues with range anxiety, or the need to gentle-drive the car. We started off with a full charge from MA, and following the navigation, stopped about 3/4 off the journey in CT to supercharge. The car told us we only needed a 20min charge to arrive in NYC with about 18% batt, but we used that opportunity to grab lunch, and let the dogs stretch their legs, that netted us with a full charge some 50 mins later.

Having had the car on Auto Pilot 90% of the time, we found that we did not notice that extra 50 mins we spent supercharging the car. It felt like time had flown by really quickly. With our old range rover sport, we ALWAYS had to stop for gas too, and that would have cost us around $50-$60, and also found us stopping for a quick bite/restroom break (usually around 10-15mins), but we always found ourselves rushing.

Supercharging IMO really helps forces us to slow down our hectic lives, as it mandates the need to take that 15-50min break, resulting in what i feel was an overall more relaxing drive.

If i were to do this again, i would prob go with a Performance model (just to add the extra thrill that all our friends get, when riding in our MX) hence would end up with a higher range battery. But at this time, i see zero need for it. The 75D is perfectly sufficient for us.

Hope this helps!

 

[Peteski]

When choosing our MX, we were torn b/w the 75D and 100D, but more so because of the power difference than anything else. The 75D range seemed adequate for our once a month MA to NYC drive.

That was the only reason I was considering the X100D too, but then the X75D got the power increase while I was still thinking about it. So then the X75D became a no-brainer for me. I don't need the extra range and the real world performance is now very similar (although a lower max speed). Another little bonus of the X75D is that it's 140 kg or more lighter than the X100D, so handling on our twisty country lanes should be a little sharper and it should be more efficient on power usage too.

So unless you really are going to benefit from the extra 50-60 mile range on a regular basis, I don't see much point in the bigger battery. Of course a P model would be fun at huge additional expense, but really for a family wagon sub 5 sec 0-60 is more than enough in the real world. My only reservation would be if I lived in Germany and was blasting down the Autobahns every day north of 100 mph. Then the range and top end performance of the X100D would probably win me over.

 

[Bridor]

We took a trip from Arizona through California and up the I-5 to Washington. We went camping near Snoqualmie Pass. The Model X 60D performed flawlessly and I never ran into range anxiety. It was a blast using the auto pilot and exploring the small towns around the superchargers. I would suggest that the 75D will be more than adequate for your needs. In fact, they just opened a supercharger in Tucson within the past 30 days. Before the end of the year, they will be adding two more superchargers for easier access to Texas from Arizona. This vehicle is amazing, no matter how large the battery pack is...

 

[bogienut]

We took a trip from Arizona through California and up the I-5 to Washington. We went camping near Snoqualmie Pass. The Model X 60D performed flawlessly and I never ran into range anxiety. It was a blast using the auto pilot and exploring the small towns around the superchargers. I would suggest that the 75D will be more than adequate for your needs. In fact, they just opened a supercharger in Tucson within the past 30 days. Before the end of the year, they will be adding two more superchargers for easier access to Texas from Arizona. This vehicle is amazing, no matter how large the battery pack is...

THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT COMMENTS TO HELP US IN OUR DECISION. ON SUNDAY WE OFFICIALLY ORDERED AND PUT DOWN A DEPOSIT ON A MODEL X. ULTIMATELY IT CAME DOWN TO THAT FACT THAT IT'S THE CAR WE HAVE ALWAYS WANTED AND CAN NOW AFFORD. ALSO WE DID WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE $1000 DISCOUNT THAT WAS ENDING BUT IN NO WAY WAS THIS A RUSHED DECISION. WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING TESLA FOR MANY YEARS. THE GOOD NEWS FOR MANY MODEL 3 RESERVATION HOLDERS IS THAT THEY MOVED UP ON THE QUEUE ONE POSITION. SO AGAIN I SAY A BIG THANKS FOR ALL THE THOUGHTFUL COMMENTS.

 

[Shock-On-T]

THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT COMMENTS TO HELP US IN OUR DECISION. ON SUNDAY WE OFFICIALLY ORDERED AND PUT DOWN A DEPOSIT ON A MODEL X. ULTIMATELY IT CAME DOWN TO THAT FACT THAT IT'S THE CAR WE HAVE ALWAYS WANTED AND CAN NOW AFFORD. ALSO WE DID WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE $1000 DISCOUNT THAT WAS ENDING BUT IN NO WAY WAS THIS A RUSHED DECISION. WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING TESLA FOR MANY YEARS. THE GOOD NEWS FOR MANY MODEL 3 RESERVATION HOLDERS IS THAT THEY MOVED UP ON THE QUEUE ONE POSITION. SO AGAIN I SAY A BIG THANKS FOR ALL THE THOUGHTFUL COMMENTS.

Congrats and welcome to the family!
The only negative to the smaller battery is a bit of extra charging on long trips.
But the tens of thousands of dollars you saved is much better than a few extra minutes every often

 

[K-MTG]

THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT COMMENTS TO HELP US IN OUR DECISION. ON SUNDAY WE OFFICIALLY ORDERED AND PUT DOWN A DEPOSIT ON A MODEL X. ULTIMATELY IT CAME DOWN TO THAT FACT THAT IT'S THE CAR WE HAVE ALWAYS WANTED AND CAN NOW AFFORD. ALSO WE DID WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE $1000 DISCOUNT THAT WAS ENDING BUT IN NO WAY WAS THIS A RUSHED DECISION. WE HAVE BEEN WATCHING TESLA FOR MANY YEARS. THE GOOD NEWS FOR MANY MODEL 3 RESERVATION HOLDERS IS THAT THEY MOVED UP ON THE QUEUE ONE POSITION. SO AGAIN I SAY A BIG THANKS FOR ALL THE THOUGHTFUL COMMENTS.

Congrats!!!

 

[Yinn]

My wife and I have a first day model 3 reservation but are considering purchasing a new Model X 75D before the referral discount ends instead. We would like to know how this smaller battery model works for road trips. Other comments beyond the range difference of how the 75D compares to the 100D would also be appreciated. Currently a 100D is out of the question so it's either a Model X 75D, Model 3, or continue saving for a model X 100D.

It will depend on where you go, I went from an AP1 MX 75D to a AP2 MX 60D. I decided to buy an AP2 MX60D after lusting after the MX100D, but really didn't want to spend the money for it. I have since upgraded to a MX 75D so I could get the speed increases, and to me it's better than the MX100D. Sure, the 100 has more range, but the 75 is lighter. If you're going routes with supercharging, it's still plenty.