I have been driving the new plaid for about 2 months now and for the first time, I took it on a road trip. Austin to Dallas and back.
The car is comfortable and super quiet. Its range compared to our old P90D and P100D model X is nice. Its turbine-like acceleration is addictive.
I stopped in Waco on the way back, and the car charged up from around 60 miles left to 300 in about 30 min. It was actually ready to continue to my destination in about 15.
However....
Having put many miles on the old model s and x, there are a few things that I have come to realize that makes the car, IMHO, less safe.
1. The display and UI. On the old model attempting to change something on the screen was more straightforward due to the fixed and predictable position of the controls. The new UI has moving and swipeable things, which is fine on a tablet but takes your eyes off of the road in order to focus on what you are touching. Items on the screen that you would generally need to interact with are not strategically positioned to facilitate good ergonomics and minimum eye contact while the car is in motion. If you are in heavy traffic and you want to change something you need to be very careful. Sure, you can put the car in autopilot mode, but you should not have to. It's like the UI was created to be more of an entertainment system, but it's #1 priority should be for the driver to manage the car as easily as possible.
The old car had items that you would frequently use available to you in the main display. For example, a text message was displayed and could be responded to using the scroll wheel or a call answered. Nothing gets displayed in the instrument cluster display on the new UI, and response requires interaction with the touch screen in a position that has not been driver optimized.
2. The yoke. Much has been written about the yoke. Something that has not been discussed is the offset of the center of the yoke from the steering column. Couple this with a rectangular shape and you have a situation where depending on where you grab the yoke you get a different response, sort of an amplification effect. It's not confidence-inspiring at all. The best analogy I can come up with is taking the handlebars on a 10-speed bike and flipping them up and back.
It has been said that one of the purposes of the yoke was to allow a better view of the instrument cluster. I never had a problem seeing the old one, but the yoke now blocks the view of the touch screen lower-left corner. So now I not only need to take my eyes off of the road but I need to move my head to see part of the screen.
The biggest issue, however, is the touch controls on the yoke. Tesla, if you are listening, please change this. I will happily pay for a better setup.
If you insist on having capacitive touch buttons, then take it all the way and make them into tiny screens that I can configure to my liking. If not then please, put the turn signals on the corresponding side of the yoke. Left side to turn left and right side to turn right. Keep them away from the scroll wheels. Put the horn in the center below the airbag. Would you please bring back the ability to answer the phone or text to the scroll wheels? Make the scroll wheel so you can push it to the left or right with ease, maybe a bit of rubber in the center instead of a slick knurled ball.
