Should I buy FSD for $5k? (March 2019)

[nicksy]

I’ve placed an order for the Model 3.

I know I’ll use Auto Pilot (for dumb cruise following the car in front in highways), but I’m not sure about FSD.

I don’t know if Tesla will be able to deliver on FSD. And even if they do, I don’t think I’d be comfortable without hovering over the wheel and brakes. (Honestly, I wish rather than FSD, Tesla would just continue to build really smart driver assist features to prevent accidents.)

I don’t really care for the auto lane change, summon, navigate, or other features that Tesla promised with EAP. (I’d be too scared to trust them)

However, without the FSD purchase, I don’t know if I’ll be left behind after the HW 3.0 NN chip swap. Even if I don’t use the self-driving features, I don’t know if the chip upgrade would improve AutoPilot in general.

 

[woodisgood]

It's a gamble. We can only speculate that HW3 will improve AP and/or other current or plausible features of the car (Sentry, Dashcam, etc.). I agree if buying now TACC/autosteer (basic AP) is a no-brainer.

FSD...it's really hard to know how useful it will be and when. I can tell you as an EAP purchaser who also got Autopark, Summon, and Nav on AP, I've never used Autopark or Nav on AP (other than to try them). Summon I use fairly frequently and will even more frequently once they improve a few aspects (hopefully with Advanced Summon coming shortly). It comes in handy from time to time...nice to have but not something I would have paid for separately.

The nice part of ordering it all when buying the car is you can roll it into a loan, which might be easier to swallow for some people.

 

[nicksy]

Is there any reason you don't use AutoPark and Nav on AP?

I thought I'd be too stressed to let it change lanes by itself, though parking wouldn't be so bad if it were good at it. Then again parallel parking in a compact car with sensors and a backup camera is more than enough for me.

 

[Knightshade]

Is there any reason you don't use AutoPark and Nav on AP?

I thought I'd be too stressed to let it change lanes by itself, though parking wouldn't be so bad if it were good at it. Then again parallel parking in a compact car with sensors and a backup camera is more than enough for me.

FWIW I don't use autopark for 3 reasons-

1) Vast majority of parking here is perpendicular, not parallel anyway

2) For perp parking it only works if there's a car on both sides of the open spot and I'd rather park with nothing on at least 1 side if possible

3) To make it work in any case usually takes 3-5x longer than doing it manually...having to VERY slowly creep past the open space, insuring it's the right "kind" of open space, then moving to reverse and starting the self-park, then waiting as it slowly-as-hell parks.

I mean, it works fairly well when you go through the time/trouble to use it- and it impresses the tourists- but it's not usually worth said trouble/time.



nav on ap works... great for some things (it's handled exits/off-ramps, and interchanges between freeways, pretty flawlessly) and not so great for others... (it's been pretty crap for on-ramps, understanding a merge lane you are in is ending, and not realizing a lane it wants you to change into to pass is a lane that's about to end)

So I do use it, but it requires some help/management in some situations

 

[woodisgood]

Is there any reason you don't use AutoPark and Nav on AP?

I thought I'd be too stressed to let it change lanes by itself, though parking wouldn't be so bad if it were good at it. Then again parallel parking in a compact car with sensors and a backup camera is more than enough for me.

Autopark - when it comes to normal perpendicular spaces in lots, it's just easier to pull in rather than wait for the car to do it in reverse and take 10 times as long. When it comes to parallel parking, I've found that the Model 3 is quite easy to parallel park and having lived in SF for 15 years now, my wife and I are decent parallel parkers and can do so significantly faster than Autopark. My main reason however is that I don't trust Autopark to not curb the wheels, and as you may know, the rims protrude slightly beyond the tire wall.

Nav on AP - my wife is the big user of AP on her commute. She's rather content to just let the car ride in one lane - if she really feels the need to pass a slow vehicle, she'll just pop out of AP and do it herself. We might use Nav on AP for some upcoming road trips, but in our day-to-day use of the car, haven't really felt it's adding much. The times that I tried it out, I found it more stressful than regular AP. It's another level of decision-making that I felt I needed to monitor (at this stage of development). If I have to put this much work in I can handle the lane changes myself, thankyouverymuch.

Summon - We have a tight single garage and pulling the car in and out would be ideal. Unfortunately the 13% slope of the driveway causes Summon to abort halfway. If they fix this, we'll use it literally everyday. Otherwise, it has come in useful when adjacent cars are parked too closely in a parking lot, or in various situations when you need to move the car a few inches front/back and can avoid getting back in (e.g. adjusting parallel parking between driveways in the city). I also use it when I'm applying tire gel...

 

[Tam]

...I know I’ll use Auto Pilot (for dumb cruise following the car in front in highways)...

Standard Tesla comes with a dumb cruise.

But once you pay for Autopilot, it's no longer dumb: It's smart cruise called TACC Traffic Aware Cruise Control: It can automatically brake for you in both highways and city streets to keep your car from colliding a car in front.

 

[BasementDoc]

Just picked up my 2020 Model S Long Range Raven.
FSD tried to side-swipe two times over 3 days - once on on-ramp, the other when two cars changing lanes. I need to be MORE vigilant using FSD. Turning off now and deciding to return car to get different one without crazy FSD.
Do NOT recommend buying any FSD or other Tesla 'option' unless its proven working before purchase - save the $7K and use it wisely elsewhere.

PS Autopilot on our Model X and this S work fine - good feature, and present on other ICE cars, so not really distinguishing. I just like electric.

 

[SlimJim]

I voted buy because I didn't buy.
Someone needs to support Tesla so they can keep operating so my warranty will not end before it times out so that I can sell my car when the time comes.

 

[Tam]

...FSD tried to side-swipe two times over 3 days - once on on-ramp, the other when two cars changing lanes. I need to be MORE vigilant using FSD. Turning off now and deciding to return car to get different one without crazy FSD...

I've been using Autopilot/FSD since 2017 and it's been great for me because I can override seamlessly whenever it wants to go rogue.

I have learned what works and what doesn't and what to expect so I can override as needed.

Merging and being cut off are a few scenarios that I know that I should be ready to intervene.

As long as my hand is exerting slight torque on the steering wheel, I am good because I get the feedback on whether it should react as I normally should and override it as needed.

If you don't have any torque feedback to your hand, you might have a hard time to predict whether the system would about to react.

If you don't know how to work with the system, then sure, it's not for you.