I have owned my P85D for 3 years now but have only done a few road trips. I'm just used to flying places. But as I do more of them in the Tesla, I think I learn that they are much better than in a "normal" car.
My last trip was 12 hours (including charging) each way. It was great. I think Autopilot is a big part of it, taking a lot of strain off of the driver. The other part of it is effectively being forced to take breaks. Some people may do that naturally, but I don't.
For example, I probably could have done the drive in a bit under 10 hours in a gas car. I would have taken very few breaks, just enough to get fuel, hit the restroom, and get drive-through food. I'm the kind of person who will sacrifice comforts like leisurely stops in order to get there quicker. And drive as fast as I can get away with. But in the Tesla, driving 90mph doesn't work all that well at getting you there quicker on a road trip. And I can plan my stops to make a long one (~1 hour) instead of two short ones, to allow for a nice sit-down meal.
In the end, after a 12 hour drive, I arrive feeling fresh and relaxed. It's quite nice. Except for the new nagging. At one point, even though I was holding the steering wheel and heard NO audible alerts (nor did I see the visible alerts because I was looking at the road... what a concept!), the car disabled AutoPilot for that leg of the trip. Another time I accidentally disabled AutoPilot by putting too much torque on the wheel to get the nag to go away, almost putting me into another lane. As a note, going forward, I ended up taking my eyes off of the road in order to look down to see when the nag goes away so I don't put too much pressure on the wheel.
My last trip was 12 hours (including charging) each way. It was great. I think Autopilot is a big part of it, taking a lot of strain off of the driver. The other part of it is effectively being forced to take breaks. Some people may do that naturally, but I don't.
For example, I probably could have done the drive in a bit under 10 hours in a gas car. I would have taken very few breaks, just enough to get fuel, hit the restroom, and get drive-through food. I'm the kind of person who will sacrifice comforts like leisurely stops in order to get there quicker. And drive as fast as I can get away with. But in the Tesla, driving 90mph doesn't work all that well at getting you there quicker on a road trip. And I can plan my stops to make a long one (~1 hour) instead of two short ones, to allow for a nice sit-down meal.
In the end, after a 12 hour drive, I arrive feeling fresh and relaxed. It's quite nice. Except for the new nagging. At one point, even though I was holding the steering wheel and heard NO audible alerts (nor did I see the visible alerts because I was looking at the road... what a concept!), the car disabled AutoPilot for that leg of the trip. Another time I accidentally disabled AutoPilot by putting too much torque on the wheel to get the nag to go away, almost putting me into another lane. As a note, going forward, I ended up taking my eyes off of the road in order to look down to see when the nag goes away so I don't put too much pressure on the wheel.
