Tesla Model 3 goes to the Prom...

[ceekz]

Interesting pro/con situation there.

In my opinion, there is no con to this scenario!

 

[ModelNforNerd]

A little off topic, but the data doesn’t support your claims. Teens today are less likely to drink, smoke, have sex, and get pregnant. I still don’t know if I’d trust one with my 3 though! Today’s teens are better than you, and we can prove it

That's probably why they're so ill-equipped for life on their own...

but that's way off-topic. I'll be good.

 

[daver3]

This past weekend my 17 year old son was planning to attend his senior prom with some friends and asked me if he could PLEASE drive my Model 3. After some consideration and a thorough review of his plans (who will be in the car, where will he be going) I agreed. Before he left I enabled the "Speed Limit" function with my phone and set it to 60mph. His route would take him mostly on country roads with 50mph speed limits. This was the first time I've used this feature.

He was totally fine with this. Until he realized that it also set the acceleration to "Chill" mode. He asked me to remove the limit so that his friends could experience the 'awesome' acceleration of the Tesla. I thought about it for less than a nanosecond and said "No." Senior prom is exactly the wrong time to be giving demonstrations of Tesla's performance capabilities. Even in chill mode, it is no slouch, its just not Tesla fast.

The mobile app that provided updates on the speed and location of the Model 3 were nice. He spent the night at a friend's house (per plan) and returned the next morning. He was grateful for the privilege of being allowed to use the car and in hindsight agreed that having the car in speed limit mode was a reasonable decision.

Thanks to Tesla for making a car that is nice enough that my son is eager to use it, and for providing me the ability to tone down the performance enough to make it a safe car for it to be loaned to him.

I need some education. I thought chill mode only had to do with navigate in AP and how quickly they would recommend a change of lanes and such. When I was in chill (not any more) I saw no loss of acceleration.

 

[ChrisH]

I need some education. I thought chill mode only had to do with navigate in AP and how quickly they would recommend a change of lanes and such. When I was in chill (not any more) I saw no loss of acceleration.

Chill mode definitely lessens the acceleration. Try it again. Do a 0-60 in both modes.

 

[EKC4Solar]

Fantastic post with built-in Chill mode in all its glory!

I drove a VW very similar to yours from Los Angeles to Baja California, Mexico. I can attest to the built-in Chill mode being fully functional on mine.

Super funny post! Thanks for the chuckle.

 

[Wvapoker]

We have one rule with teen drivers we try to enforce. You are not allowed to ride with a teen driver and you are not allowed to drive other teens accept for sibling.

It was easy to enforce with the oldest but the youngest we allowed to ride with teens we knew to XC practice only.

I can point to limitless fatal teen accidents that justifies the rule. The ding dong dash in the news is the latest example.

 

[ModelNforNerd]

We have one rule with teen drivers we try to enforce. You are not allowed to ride with a teen driver and you are not allowed to drive other teens accept for sibling.

It was easy to enforce with the oldest but the youngest we allowed to ride with teens we knew to XC practice only.

I can point to limitless fatal teen accidents that justifies the rule. The ding dong dash in the news is the latest example.

some states have that as law for drivers under 18.

 

[brkaus]

some states have that as law for drivers under 18.

Texas allows one non-family passenger under 18.

 

[john5520]

I like that the car snitches on the driver when they hit the speed limit.

 

[SomeRandomNPC]

fwiw... last spring, when had had my tesla m3 fotr one week... I was the chauffeur for my son's prom.
obviously no worries, and later in the evening, other arrangements were made... but yeah. M3 is popular at proms.

 

[SummerlinChiro]

I started my son learning the basics of shifting and clutch work in the back roads of Montana when he was 10

Whenever he rode with me I was constantly intruding him on driving; traffic situations, what to look out for, closing speeds, pointing out mistakes, talking about light conditions, road conditions, where pedestrians could be hiding, etc

Our time in Puerto Rico taught him to be alert and ready for anything

I told him to train himself how to drive while being a passenger by looking ahead and trying to predict what was going to happen, and thing about what he would do if he was driving in that moment

When he was 16 he learned on a stick shift RWD car in Atlanta traffic, and within a month was so good that I was comfortable looking at my phone while he drove

My point is you can teach them the hard parts of driving like looking ahead, being completely focused, and having 360 degree awareness long before they can actually start to drive

Sent him to the BMW sponsored teen accident avoidance school, he was the only one in his car that automatically counter-steered on the wet skid pad and didn’t spin out

He drives an old 2WD stick-shift F-250 in Montana winters, zero driver aids, no ABS, nothing - perfect for honing skills!

I also bought him some instruction on go karts

Too me, the extra cost of the additional training is a good investment to prevent potential injuries and death

MasterDrive in Colorado does an awesome job - I don’t believe they have ever lost a graduate to a car accident

I would never try to turn down the power of the car for him at all, because I have complete confidence in his judgement and skills

What if that power will help avoid an accident?