neroden
Model S Owner and Frustrated Tesla Fan
Typical Tesla disorganization, unfortunately.[*]We walked down to the Garage where all the Model S's were parked. Unfortunately he had brought a key to a car that was parked behind other model S vehicles. He ran back up and got another set of keys for a car parked in the front. As soon as we got through this minor hiccup we were off to the races.
[*]The model S I had was brand new (new car smell and odometer at 50 miles). As we pulled out of the garage the brakes constantly had a high pitched squealing noise. It was a clear noise and unmistakeable on braking. I was concerned. Sales rep said the brakes had to "broken in" and sometimes made that noise on new cars. I did not believe him. Not sure if my car was faulty or if the sales rep was right but that concerned me. As I drove around more the squealing noise on braking seemed to go away. Still - first impressions matter. That was a little concerning.
It does go away. On *any car*, if you don't use your brakes for a while, or use them only very lightly, they will get squeaky. I'm a very conservative driver and managed to end up with squeaky brakes on every car I've ever driven for long periods. Some hard braking will clear that up. Because of regen, the Model S is likely to have its brakes used particularly lightly... and this car was sitting in a damp garage. Don't worry about it.
That's worrisome, but probably the tires. Most people haven't been having problems with this. There's the "new tires are often slick" problem already mentioned. But also, the 21" "performance" tires kind of suck in bad weather, and aren't really recommended for it. Were you driving a car with the 21" wheels? If so, try a car with the 19" wheels.[*]It was raining (as it often does here in Seattle ). The lack of AWD was really noticeable. The car tended to fishtail slightly and it had a hard time self correcting.
Probably a beta-test software version -- it isn't in my car.[*]Suspension controls were options available on the control panel but we were told "it doesn't really do anything right now but will in the future". If it doesn't do anything it shouldn't be displayed to the driver.
That's been annoying, yeah. I've had lensing due to a big fat water drop on the rear-view camera, making it unusable. The poor visibility out the back window makes it worse. If it's any consolation, as soon as the rain gets much, much heavier it cleans off the rear-view camera and it starts being useful again. :wink:[*]This is a nit-pick - the rear view camera didn't have wipers. It got wet in the rain and the reverse camera mode wasn't very helpful.