Here’s my update to taking my first trip in our 100D, an approx. 490 mile drive from east San Diego County to Monterey via the scenic Hwy 1 coastal highway.
Bottom line, the Model X is much better than I’d thought it could be. Heck, it’s amazing! That’s probably all anyone needs to know as my update is too long for most unless they’re considering a similar trip from the SD area. Following are my initial concerns and what I found.
Concern 1 — True Driving Range
I was concerned about what the actual driving range would be having seen many posts on TMC about watt hours/mile being very high, and my trip from here in east San Diego County up to Monterey consists of numerous hills here and along the way, plus this was primarily freeway driving.
What I experienced dissolved those concerns completely. After testing possible consumption with A Better Route Planner and EV Trip Planner, it seemed like I’d be able to arrive at Monterey using just two SC stops, but I considered a third just in case. The last leg of my journey was the most uncertain as none of the trip planners allowed one to use the slower Hwy 1 coastal drive.
My goal was to reach my first SC stop in Thousand Oaks off Hwy 101, hoping to bypass anywhere in the LA region. But traffic was so bad when we left a bit after 7 a.m. Tesla’s Nav redirected us thru the especially hilly back country of Hwy 67 thru Poway, then 15 to Escondido and the 78 to the 5. I watched Tesla’s Trip estimated % going down in dismay, but once I was back on the 5 it kept going up. We arrived at Thousand Oaks with 40% instead of the initial estimate of 26%!
That pattern of Tesla’s Nav being conservative continued throughout the trip, where we arrived at our 2nd SC stop in San Luis Obispo with about 10% more and that also held on arrival in Monterey. So wow, I’m impressed! Side note here: One of the people who responded to my original concerns said to do a full charge before the coastal Hwy 1 leg, as a 75 kw X couldn’t make it. That is untrue as it only req’d 50% - confirmed going and returning via San Luis Obispo SC.
Basically I overcharged more than was necessary due to my inexperience and uncertainty. And while I initially drove only 5mph above posted speeds, as my confidence increased that became closer to 10.
Concern 2 — Supercharging Takes a Long Time
For myself, this wasn’t an issue, but my wife had indicated she wasn’t pleased that it would take much longer than refueling an ICE. But since our first stop coincided with lunch where we actually had to hurry back to avoid the non-charging fee, scratch that. Our 2nd SC stop at San Luis Obispo at the Madonna Inn req’d us to walk about 6 minutes to get to the restroom and we walked thru their garden on the way back, so the actual time twiddling our thumbs so to speak was only about 10-15 minutes.
And of course free supercharging softens the wait, and we saved around $260 or so in fuel costs over our previous vehicle, a V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland that got around 17 mpg.
Concern 3 — Driving Experience
We’ve driven to Monterey several times in the past in various vehicles including a Buick La Crosse, Jeep GC and Chevy Volt. The Buick and the Jeep were most comfortable, the Volt more nimble and enjoyable with its electric motor and regen allowing precise slowing without braking. But seat comfort was an issue, such that we’d bought the Purple Seat Cushions to ease long drives - and they work great.
Well, “fanny fatigue” simply doesn’t exist in the X - a big wow! Our longest non-stop driving leg was 4 hrs 15 min and no fatigue at all.
I have always used the Jeep and Volt’s Adaptive Cruise extensively (Jeep’s is very good, the Volt’s is so-so). I find Tesla’s TACC to be excellent, even used it thru the twisty mountain turns on Hwy 1.
However, I very much dislike and distrust AutoSteer (on highways) as I find it too imprecise and jerky and feel it gets too close to adjacent vehicles (yes I have V9’). But what makes it unusable for me is having to apply torque to the wheel to avoid the nag (or jiggle the wheel). And oddly, applying torque on the right of the wheel positions the car offset to the left of the lane and vice versa, ugh! Until it’s truly touch sensitive or a camera is used to verify your hands are on the wheel, I can’t see ever using it.
The only weak point I’ve found relates to the visors. There’s no way to block sun streaming thru the driver’s window, so hanging a cloth seems the only workaround. Additionally, blocking the sun thru the upper area of the windshield requires disengaging the visor and positioning it at odd angles. It mostly works, but...
So bottom line, loving pretty much everything about the X and it’s surpassing my expectations!
