The cost of ownership - Upgrade Anxiety

[malcolm]

Reactions to the 5.8 upgrade seems to have highlighted the fact that Tesla reserves the right to reach through the aether and reconfigure your car.

Some owners have only recently understood the full implication of this and are (understandably) upset when a particular upgrade changes a favourite feature.

The real upset has been the lack of warning/PR stumbles/is the new version as intended or is it a bug/etc, but the condition above still applies. It is something which both company and fans need to emphasise to prospective buyers:

Maybe tee-shirts could be involved.

"Tesla is a company of engineers who will continue to modify your car for the life of the vehicle."
"Tesla - cars can always be improved, so we keep building them - even after you buy them"
"Tesla - What will your car do today?"
"Tesla - The car we build today is better than the one we built yesterday"
"Tesla - where engineers never sleep"
"Tesla - you do the driving, we do the engineering. Deal?"
"Tesla - yes, the customer is always right - but we think that the customer really needs to be a bit more open-minded and try THIS"
"Tesla - where the manufacturing doesn't end just because the finished car left the plant."
"Tesla - real engineers love to tinker - get used to it."

 

[ACDriveMotor]

Forget T-shirts, it needs to be on the ordering website, in the show-rooms and parroted by the product specialists. No part of my pre-ownership experience suggested that significant features would be disabled, that acceleration and regen would be significantly tweaked, etc. The PR mis-step is that owners should have been notified of the changes in advance and provided reasonable explanations for the changes. For example:

1. We are temporarily disabling suspension lowering as an extra safety precaution while we and the NHTSA investigate recent incidents.
2. We have modified the regen mapping to provide a smoother transition. This change decreases overall regeneration slightly (less than 5%). This also helps reduce stress on the inverter and battery components enhancing the life of the drive-train.
3. We have modified the accelerator mapping to provide a smother acceleration profile. The peak acceleration is not reduced and 0 to 60 times are maintained. This also helps reduce stress on the inverter and battery components enhancing the life of the drive-train.

To my knowledge no such justification for the changes in 5.8 were provided. Providing this type of information is critical to maintaining trust.

Though I've been vocal about the suspension, at this point I am less concerned about #1 than I am with reports of #2 and #3. I purchased a P85 for the driving experience. Mess with that and you have invalidated my $10K Performance option purchase price.

 

[phat78boy]

Couldn't agree more. Changing how my vehicle drives should have only been an option, not forced. In addition, clear communication should have been made well in advance of the rollout. I'm more upset about the fact they changed MY vehicle WITHOUT telling me, then the fact it changed.

They really need to get a process around how they update and communicate.

 

[brianman]

"Tesla (Motors Club) - Yet another thread"

I think we need a "5.8 Angst" thread to consolidate the threads that seem to get created hourly.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Well, I like it that the car is always being improved. The regen still works well, it just isn't as abrupt. The UI enhancements are nice too as is vampire loss fix. Next time you can get an update notice, just don't update until you read about it in the forums. Pretty easy. I haven't updated my iPhone and won't until I'm ready. No one forced you to accept the update.

 

[Kraken]

If they have maintained 0-60 time, there is no change to your performance. Guess what, the 0-60 time can change by an order of probably 10% based on other internal factors like battery state.

As for the regen... They basically said that in the end you get the same regen. you just have to let off the accelerator momentarily sooner. In my mind is actually a great adaptation once we get used to the difference. This means your not abruptly stopping for a minimal intended speed adjustment. It also keeps your brake lights from flashing when you are barely adjusting the speed, brake lights are there as a warning of a large speed change. One of the most annoying things on the road is people have their brake lights flash but don't actually adjust their speed. side note, people who ride their brake pedals should be ticketed so they learn at you drive with the accelerator.... Which is one of the best parts of the model s, but it was frustrating that with the regen on I would inadvertently be doing exactly what bothers mewhen others do it (its not as bad as I thought it would be though).

 

[artsci]

"Tesla (Motors Club) - Yet another thread"

I think we need a "5.8 Angst" thread to consolidate the threads that seem to get created hourly.

Yes, these angst threads are like a virus. Maybe they are In my own case, I have much more to worry about in my life that this kind of stuff. I'd rather reserve my angst for more profound issues. But to each his or her own.

 

[malcolm]

"Tesla (Motors Club) - Yet another thread"

I think we need a "5.8 Angst" thread to consolidate the threads that seem to get created hourly.

LOL :biggrin:

Not limited to 5.8. I assume that it will be the same for Model X, Gen 3. There will be threads.

Except in the Roadster Forum. It will be calm and zen-like in there. Read this - sweet. (At least until the next-gen Roadster comes out - then the same angst will ensue)

But as ACDriveMotor points out above "No part of my pre-ownership experience suggested that significant features would be disabled"

In the interest of owner (and moderator) sanity, how do we make that message clearer?

I'm not trying to knock Tesla - it's fantastic that they and the car are getting rave reviews from the petrolheads. But performance car fans are used to being able to tweak and adjust their cars to get them running just so - lolachampcar being a great example of this skilled work.

Living with a Tesla isn't that straightforward.

 

[bonnie]

Except in the Roadster Forum. It will be calm and zen-like in there. (Okay maybe not)

Well, we have the CPO Roadsters showing up. But yeah, we're all pretty calm and zen-like overall. It's a pretty chill group now that we got rid of that Clooney character.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Hey, welcome back, Bonnie!

I love getting updates - good or dicey - to the car. That's just the nature of the beast and I'm glad I'm driving a car that constantly feels fresh and new rather than dated within months of buying it. I can understand the point of view of feeling nannied or even violated but, from a techie perspective, I welcome this; all cars should/would be this way in the future.

 

[rpavlicek]

Well, I like it that the car is always being improved. The regen still works well, it just isn't as abrupt. The UI enhancements are nice too as is vampire loss fix. Next time you can get an update notice, just don't update until you read about it in the forums. Pretty easy. I haven't updated my iPhone and won't until I'm ready. No one forced you to accept the update.

Not true. My Tesla updated to 5.8 without my consent or interaction.

I contacted ownership about this and they don't have an explanation (nor did they offer to research it).

 

[huntjo]

Well, we have the CPO Roadsters showing up. But yeah, we're all pretty calm and zen-like overall. It's a pretty chill group now that we got rid of that Clooney character.

ZING!