New Model S - Thoughts

[pony1982]

Hi All,

I've had a Model S 70 for about 2 months and with 2k miles on the clock, here're my thoughts

• The car is pretty amazing - absolutely love driving it.
• In general, battery consumption is pretty awesome. However, I seem to be struggling when I have the windscreen demister on. The consumption more than doubles from about 30Wh to 70Wh. Is this normal? It's kind of freaking me out with the winter approaching
• I know this isn't pertinent to the battery/charging, but at low speeds, the steering wheel creaks when steering. Is this something I just need to live with?
• Living in a reasonably slopey part of London, the car tends to slide down hills, even though the gear is engaged in the other direction. E.g. if facing downhill and in reverse, the car will continue to slide down the hill. I've had a couple of very near misses when getting out of a parking space after being parked on a hill.
• I'm undecided on the 75kwh range. What're peoples thoughts on upgrading the range?

Thanks

 

[mblakele]

Where are you seeing 30 Wh and 70 Wh? Myself I usually track kWh/mi over my whole commute, and using a little heat at the beginning doesn't seem to move that number much.

I haven't noticed any creaking from my steering wheel.

For hilly situations... do you know about hill hold and creep? If not, have a look in the manual under "Driving > Vehicle Hold". Then look for "Creep" under "Using the Touchscreen > Controls > Driving". Using one or both of these features may improve your experience.

As far as range goes, I went with a 90D to maximize it. But if you have enough range for your needs, why not leave it alone?