Collected Wattson from Brent Cross yesterday! Got there a bit early, just before 10am with all of our suitcases and bags in hand. Once we arrived there was a sea of Tesla Model 3’s with a load of washers going around all of the cars. Luckily the rain staved off and we had a cold, but very sunny autumnal morning. Good for checking the car over! I also remembered to bring a microfibre cloth that really helped me separate the dirt from the scratches.
As we arrived, there was only around one person arriving every 5 mins, but that soon ramped up by the time we left. Given there were sooooo many cars onsite (100-200 easy), I asked how many they were getting through in a day - around 110+ per day at the moment. Mental!
In all of 2 seconds the car was handed over, just signed on an iPad and as soon as I did, the car appeared in my app along with my 1000 SuC miles.
Another rep then escorted us to my car and then we saw it, in all of its deep blue beauty. My god it looks good. I was coming from a Lapiz blue 2018 Golf R, which really sets the benchmark for a good blue colour, and this looks as nice, but a much darker blue. The rep then asked if we would just like to be left too it, congratulated us sincerely and to drive away when we’re done or come and see them if there are any issues.
I got my full geek on, got out my iPad and pencil and worked through a checklist. Happy to report, no major issues! The paint quality was actually spot on. Zero panel gaps, interior was perfect. Where it fell down a bit was some bits of the windscreen weren’t perfectly clean, but nothing the aforementioned microfibre cloth wouldn’t clean. I then had 3 paint dings; one on the front next to the Tesla logo that looked like a contaminant (pollen) had got onto the pain whilst drying, one on the rear again next to the Tesla logo that was a small paint chip and then on the passenger side C pillar/rear haunch there was surface level scratching (some of which came off after a re-clean). The Tesla advisor helped me book a service appointment there and then and get good pictures through my app, agreeing that they were all issues. One thing that is an annoyance is the blue car in the app and on the display doesn’t match the car IRL at all, hope they can fix that.
Car had 8 miles on the odo on collection.
So, after those thorough checks and me going through and setting up the car how I like it, we set off to much giddiness on a 180mi trip up north for a wedding and to see the family. Stopping to charge for a brief moment at Northampton (remember to check in at the hotel!) before instead moving onto the new installation at Rugby as they had a services and we were starving. Charged to 90% (est. 322mi) in about 30 mins, which is incredible. By the time we’d had lunch and ‘serviced’ ourselves, the car was ready and waiting for us. So many Tesla’s rolling through, so nice to see! In fact, so many EV’s in general, all stalls were full. Over the whole trip we beat the range estimate by around 15-20%, which is awesome. What is also awesome is that there are free chargers at the hotel we are staying at, so a free ‘tank’ of fuel - that’s new!
Acceleration is also intoxicating, the instant feel is something massively new. The Golf R was fast, but it required the DSG (also one of the fastest gear boxes behind Porsche’s PDK) to kick down and then pile you forwards at an intoxicating speed. The Tesla, well, it just f***s off, as Jeremy would say. It’s a whole new feeling of speed. I really, really want to try out acceleration boost, but I know I won’t want refund it…
I also cannot get over how quiet it is, we could have whisper conversations in the cabin. The ride is gorgeous, but still trying to get the driving position into the sweet spot (Easy Entry mode makes me feel like Bond hahah). Compared to the Golf on its 19” Pretoria’s, it’s luxury. Both sound and ride are like being on a cloud. The sound system is also incredible, like genuinely another level. I’m an audio head, so fiddled with it relentlessly and put on some key tracks, has to be said the drum drop in ‘In the air tonight’ sounded unbelievable with the full immersion turned on.
Autopilot took some ‘learning’ as to how it likes to be driven. In the same way I needed to learn how the Golf R’s Adaptive Cruise Control system used to work (radar) and what would trigger it to phantom break, slow down and it’s limitations - I also need to learn this for autopilot (AP). For example, for whatever reason AP would just not register that my hands were on the wheel, no matter how I held it. Took some working out that it’s actually looking for mild resistance to its input. So, I finally relaxed into my normal driving position, hands on the bottom of the wheel applying a constant resistance against the cars input and then didn’t have a problem again. I like that it gives lorry’s a wide birth, but did have to take over 3 times on our 180mi motorway only trip (M1/M6) due to it getting too close to comfort. We also had possibly the worst drivers on the road that day, about 4 times weaving into our lanes, at one point literally pulling into me and I had to sharply get into lane 3 or pulling out of junctions, seriously like what was it - like they all teamed up to go out that day?
I did have 2 phantom breaking events that were not fun. One I was pulling back into the middle land infront of a van (3 car lengths) and the car decided to phantom brake - not fun - I have a feeling it was because there was a lorry in lane 1 it didn’t like. The second wasn’t pleasant at all, I think it thought a car was going to pull out of a junction when it wasn’t and slammed on the brakes. It also flung up a collision warning on the car in front of us (again about 3 car lengths, no where near or was ever going to be a collision) turning off the road at a junction.
I used to have the same issue with the ACC system on the Golf R too, but I grew to learn what would trigger it or what it wouldn’t like, so I’d know when to rest my foot on the accelerator to override it. The Golf’s forward collision warning would also go off for similar reasons, so again grew to learn how it works and it’s shortcomings.
Overall though autopilot really does take that extra leap over ACC/DAP systems, it was so nice just to keep consciously aware of the driving environment around the car (as normal) but not actually have to input into the car, just make sure it’s functioning correctly. It really does take a lot of strain out of driving.
The car shipped on 2021.3.106.5 but had the 2021.32.21 update downloaded and ready to install when I got in it for the first time at BC on collection, so they must have been connected to Wi-Fi at some point. I did the update once we reached out hotel, which was really nice as it enabled the ‘tap to change from %’age and mileage’ option. Once it was done another update is waiting to download when connected to Wi-Fi, but not sure which one it is.
Although not yet sure how to enable pin to drive, a quick Google and look through the owners manual turned up a blank, was hoping it was in a software update that I hadn’t received.
I have played with some funny things in the car in the toy box. My partner loved the whoopie cushion, but was mortified when I was playing with the boombox
I’m not sure what else to add now, I just love everything about the car and it’s miles above the R in all aspects, which I love. It’s a soft and serene vehicle when you want it to be, but a wild animal in a tap of your foot. The ultimate daily (and dare I say GT? Not quite, maybe that’s the Model S) and fun machine to clock up the miles with!
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