Model X Performance - brief thoughts

[Rdt123]

Hi all

Had my MX Performance for almost two weeks. I thought i'd give a brief list of what i love, what i tolerate and what i hate!

I will warn here that some of the negatives sound ridiculous. Just things ie gotten used to after owning other 'luxury' cars

Love -

1. Performance obviously - more outrageous than i thought it would be - feels every bit 2.6 seconds to 60
2. Instant torque and smooth drivetrain - enough to have decided to never go back to and ICE - and i'm a petrol head
3. The infotainment - got used to the system in 2 days - would never want to go back - superior even to idrive in my opinion
4. Fun factor - netflix, youtube, toy box - fantastic. Sat at the supercharger today (free for life) with my 7 year old watching a film whilst charging - feels like something from the future
5. Battery low down makes it handle better than a 2 tonne SUV should, pretty good in fact, not engaging but can be fun when you accelerate through a corner
6. Space- Very practical family car - more space than needed really
7. Rear doors - love being able to just stand under them to put the little one in the car seat - they do get a lot of attention though
8. Auto present doors are brilliant
9. Spotify and tunein are great
10. front windscreen - amazing view - had zero problems with the sun thus far

Tolerate and hate

1. Build quality

- Better inside than expected but paint is soft and absolutely dreadful (almost bumpy in the light)

- Alignment of panels not great, particularly the boot lid

- condensation in the passenger side rear light (not normal as much as they like to claim it is). Ive heard all the venting nonsense, only one light does it. I'e had cars with LED lights a few times and they've never done this

- Charging port issue not alligning with cable so already needs to go in for service

2. some things just aren't very good

This includes the auto-wipers - no wonder it says beta. Useless! Just one journey in light rain and already switched off. A 110k car that doesn't have working autowipers? really?

Auto beam seems to switch off for on-coming cars but not cyclists or pedestrians, or in lit streets (i could be wrong just tried it)

3. Range is way off. I dont really care because it's far enough , supercharging is free and i can charge overnight but im getting an ave of 450wh/m. So only around 2 miles per kwh. If 92 kwh is usable 184 miles!. Even at 60mph and no hard acceleration (which is hard to do!) 350wh/m so about 250 mile range. I expected a bit more but as i say don't care

Here's a petty one! The completely flat floor means when i dropped my phone tonight it slid all the way back to the back of the rear seats.

4. Profiles - in my XC90 the memory buttons were on the door so me or the wife pressed it and everything moved to our position. When she puts the seat forward i cant get in to choose my profile so have to slide the seat back first. Short of assigning it to a different key (which i wont) i dont see a way around this.

Overall

A remarkable , space age supercar. Great to drive, practical and full of tech. it is Slightly let down by some duff features and not the quality i'd expect from a £110k car. I wouldn't change it for any other car i've ever owned, which at age 47 is quite a long list

 

[Rdt123]

[

 

[jmaddr]

Profiles - in my XC90 the memory buttons were on the door so me or the wife pressed it and everything moved to our position. When she puts the seat forward i cant get in to choose my profile so have to slide the seat back first. Short of assigning it to a different key (which i wont) i dont see a way around this.

Tie each key to a driver profile. Then whatever key unlocks the car, the profile is chosen even before you get in the car! Also look at easy entry where the wheel will go up and seat back to make entrance and departure easier.

 

[Durzel]

As above, Easy Entry solves the problem of ingress and egress nicely. Not sure why you wouldn’t just give your wife the second key though?

Don’t have a MX but certainly agree on the paint front. I had my 3 detailed as soon as I got it and the guy I have used for all my cars cautioned me to temper my expectations, and he’s never done that before. My car’s paint wasn’t too bad relatively speaking, but in sunlight you can see it is too thick in places, leading to the bumpy phenomenon you highlighted.

Unfortunately this is consistent across all models, it doesn’t matter how much you spend. Tesla will really need to get build quality nailed down if they want to keep distracting Porsche et al customers.

 

[alloverx]

Tesla is not going to improve their paint quality. Why should they spend money on that?

However for any new factory there is a chance it might be better.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Most every car ever made has has a weak spot. For Tesla is is fit & finish.

Other cars may have weak transmissions, oil burning engines, valve failures, poor brakes with fade, lousy sound systems, poor headlights, bad styling, bad sounding engines, poor fuel economy, bad warranties etc.

The pure number of ICE cars that are returned via Lemon Laws would make "soft paint" a non issue.

 

[MXLRplus]

The fob-based driver profile software is buggy. And that's being lenient. Absolutely dead last out of all cars produced today. It's really intended to be a one-fob car.

Yes, yes, yes, I constantly hear how perfect it is. But I'm spoiled. I've driven cars that operate driver profiles flawlessly. The Tesla lineup has not figured it out yet.

It would not be so bad if the instruction manual was correct.

There are many cool things about Teslas, but the driver's profiles aren't in that list.

 

[gangzoom]

it is Slightly let down by some duff features and not the quality i'd expect from a £110k car. I wouldn't change it for any other car i've ever owned, which at age 47 is quite a long list

Our X is the most unreliable car I have ever touched let alone owned, Tesla's lack of automotive heritage shows up literally everywhere. If this was any other car I would have rejected at delivery (boot didn't close, had a loud rattle from drivers side A pillar, and steering wheel scratched all at handover).

Last weekend though we went on a family 'picnic' to the park try out my daughters new bike.

The rain was pretty constant but who cares when you can all chill in the car, get a great view, and even control the music from the 3rd row via your phone!!

Thats despite having a massive child seat in the car and a kids bike in the boot.

There are so many things Tesla do badly, so many, for any other brand I would have not tolerated, especially for the amount of £££ involved. But what other car can offer so much utility in such style?

A bit like a good relationship, the sensible side of you knows plain Jane is the most logical choice - ditch the X for a Lexus RX. But the reality is without the spice of life things gets very dull very quickly, and after 3.5 years/45k miles with our X there is nothing dull about it. Infact I would bet my mortgage had we bought a RX all those years ago it would have been traded in by now despite impeccable build quality and rock solid reliability.

 

[AshD]

Agree with the comments on the paint and fit / finish.

Have the car detailed and ceramic coated will help how it looks and its longevity.

Had exactly the same issue with the passenger tail light. Mobile service actually changed it yesterday. Came a week early which was nice, texted in advanced and said they could fit me in. Took all of 10 mins to swap for a new one. So it’s not great that it happens, but the fact they changed without any hassle was pleasing.

I do wish they’d do a better job on the paint though. Mrs D just had her e-Niro ceramic coated and it looks better than the Tesla

 

[Wol747]

Hi all
3. Range is way off. I dont really care because it's far enough , supercharging is free and i can charge overnight but im getting an ave of 450wh/m. So only around 2 miles per kwh. If 92 kwh is usable 184 miles!. Even at 60mph and no hard acceleration (which is hard to do!) 350wh/m so about 250 mile range. I expected a bit more but as i say don't care

That seems way off. My (3 month old) S shows a 50Km average of 143w/h/Km, which is around 228w/h/Mile. I know it's a different car, but not THAT different and that's not in the same ballpark!

 

[Rdt123]

Hi all

key - I’ve always left the spare key somewhere safe in case I can’t find my keys. Just habit I suppose, seems strange having them both in circulation - still have the phone I suppose

I’ve had it ceramic coated in gtechniq crystal serum light which was money well spent

 

[Rdt123]

Looking at other threads overnight my wh/m isn’t too far off others

 

[Durzel]

A bit like a good relationship, the sensible side of you knows plain Jane is the most logical choice - ditch the X for a Lexus RX. But the reality is without the spice of life things gets very dull very quickly, and after 3.5 years/45k miles with our X there is nothing dull about it. Infact I would bet my mortgage had we bought a RX all those years ago it would have been traded in by now despite impeccable build quality and rock solid reliability.

A good metaphor for Tesla ownership if ever I heard one

 

[MrBadger]

I don't know much about the X range wise (don't base things on the official wltp figure), but from 3 ownership, lots of things can affect range. Temp is one of them, but your ownership is quite mild/hot although 10-12C can have its effect. Basically cabin heater kills range, battery doesn't seem to like it under 15C or so, A/C doesn't seem to be too much of a range killer but still will have an effect. The other big impact is short trips. There seems to be 'departure tax' energy wise that makes the initial part of a journey disproportionately high energy wise, so if you just make relatively short trips (maybe up to 10-15 miles), your wh/mile will be higher for that part of the journey - especially noticeable in colder temperatures.

Of course, driving style and lots of other things that you never notice much in a ICE vehicle. The wh/mile screen is a good indicator but sounds like you have found that, but also the energy graph, especially when plotting against a trip - that will give a good indicator whether things that you can influence are having a bearing on expected range.

tbh, your 250 miles probably sounds a tad low for a longer journey, but ok if 70 and cool/wet, 184 sounds awful, but probably right if its based on a short journey. Check out abrp for expected consumption over longer journeys, making sure you adjust for climatic conditions etc.

 

[gangzoom]

That seems way off. My (3 month old) S shows a 50Km average of 143w/h/Km, which is around 228w/h/Mile. I know it's a different car, but not THAT different and that's not in the same ballpark!

The X maybe based on the S but the interior volume is on a different level. Until you really spend time in one you don't appreciated how massive it is inside. We cancelled our S order after sitting in a X, the difference passenger in space is huge.

For a start the massive windscreen means you need more cooling in summer and heating in winter. The HAVC system also powers the rear 3rd row, when running at full wack it'll pull 5KW+ of power, so close to max power a type 2 cable will deliver.

The real life weight of the X is also OVER 3 tonnes, so though its slippery in the aim every time you start/stop you spend ALOT of energy shifting that bulk.

The OP is also on 22inch wheels, which in city will reduce range by 10% and 5% on Mways, add on the 'P' motor and figures or 2 miles per kWh is quite reasonable.

My long term average in our 75D X running mixture or 20/22 depending on season is 2.5 miles per kWh.

At steady 70mph I see around 3 miles per kWh, equating to a range of about 180 miles when HAVC is in use.

If you want max efficiency and range don't buy a X. But if you want the best/most exicitng family wagonon sale today it's hard to beat .

 

[Rdt123]

Perfect summary of how I feel - thank you

 

[JupiterMan]

The OP is also on 22inch wheels, which in city will reduce range by 10% and 5% on Mways, add on the 'P' motor and figures or 2 miles per kWh is quite reasonable.

the 22" wheels do eat into range - some useful Tesla range/wheel data is here :

Teslike.com

 

[davidmc]

Looking at other threads overnight my wh/m isn’t too far off others

I have exactly the same car on a loan from Tesla (17 reg) and for the life of me I cannot get the wh/m below 360! My M3 SR+ I can get 175 if I drive carefully. The MX P100D is one mean beast tho and agree on your points about the car. The wipers are horrendous in comparison to the M3. All the doors creek and squeak. Some form of rattle from the drivers side pillar. I love and hate the auto doors. FSD/Autopilot is twitchy compared to the M3 but that's probably because it has an older computer. But overall a great car and huge.

 

[Durzel]

The X maybe based on the S but the interior volume is on a different level. Until you really spend time in one you don't appreciated how massive it is inside. We cancelled our S order after sitting in a X, the difference passenger in space is huge.

For a start the massive windscreen means you need more cooling in summer and heating in winter. The HAVC system also powers the rear 3rd row, when running at full wack it'll pull 5KW+ of power, so close to max power a type 2 cable will deliver.

The real life weight of the X is also OVER 3 tonnes, so though its slippery in the aim every time you start/stop you spend ALOT of energy shifting that bulk.

The OP is also on 22inch wheels, which in city will reduce range by 10% and 5% on Mways, add on the 'P' motor and figures or 2 miles per kWh is quite reasonable.

My long term average in our 75D X running mixture or 20/22 depending on season is 2.5 miles per kWh.

At steady 70mph I see around 3 miles per kWh, equating to a range of about 180 miles when HAVC is in use.

If you want max efficiency and range don't buy a X. But if you want the best/most exicitng family wagonon sale today it's hard to beat .

"Don't reset"

Also install that damn software update

 

[spon88]

I like my M3P, other people like it too. In fact positive comments from passers by still come regularly. However I still grimmace a little when things clonk and squeak a bit and I wonder how it will be in 3 years time. The paint was poor so I went for full PPF to keep it decent - the missus's VW run-about is a *lot* better. Approaching one year in I sure wouldn't change it and hopefully I'll still feel the same in a few year's time. But for sure they still need to do quite a lot of work on build quality