Thoughts and concerns on our new MX

[AndyW]

We picked up our Model X 90D Friday (VIN 17xx) and needless to say it has been a wonderful experience overall. This is our first Tesla! I would like to share some initial thoughts and concerns here and I welcome the forum to give me feedback and tips.

1. For those of you wondering. Yes the rear spoiler is active on the 90D despite DS said its not. I can tell pretty clearly that it has at least two positions: fully expended at low speed and partially extended at freeway speed.
Also I think we received a 2" full size hitch in the truck (super heavy) when the accessory hitch option was free at the time we placed the MX order.

2. The windshield. Absolutely loving it. It's such a wonderful feature that MX has. All I can say is that after driving the MX, it's hard to sit in another car because your eye vision will feel so much more boxed-in with other cars. The sun glare has not been a problem for us as the top of the car is coated pretty dark and blocks most of the heat from the sunlight.

3. The FWD. Loving the utility. It makes getting in and out of 2nd and 3rd row like a breathe, much like a mini-van when its a SUV. No problem with the FWD and front door function so far. However, I did notice that the sensor seem to pickup person standing next to the front door where it should not be interfering the FWD opening. The door will therefore opens lower and closer when its not necessary. My only concern is that it takes rather strong force to trigger the safety stop on the FWD. This could potentially be safety hazard if someone, especially kids, are in the way of closing. Finger hazard is dangerous too with the mechanical opening and closing.

4. 7-seat option. While we had some concerns after reading so many comments on the forum about the 7-seat option to be too enclosed for the 3rd row and blocks rear view mirror, we have not regretted our choice. Two points to be made here. First, the cargo space for the MX is rather limited when compared to a mini-van and full-size SUV. So if we are going for an extended road trip, we need all the cargo space we can get by folding down the 3rd row. The 5 seats remaining has much better utility than 4 seats if we had chosen the 6-seat option. Secondly, the storage space for the 2nd row is rather limited as well (no seat back pockets). My kids sits in the 2nd row would enjoy having the center seat as convenient space for backpacks, books etc. And with a bench on the 2nd row, its also a good option if anyone wants to take a nap. The rear view mirror is limited mainly due to the aerodynamic body shape and hatch back. With or without the 7th seat don't seem to matter that much. I have since learned to look at the front screen for any blind spot vehicles during lane change.

5. Real world range. We have only driven about 150 miles over the weekend. The real world range appears to be a lot lower than the EPA estimate. This is in contrast to the RAV4 EV we have. We were getting about 120 miles range on the RAV with 95 miles stated EPA range. For the MX, the best energy use we had with mixed local/freeway driving was about 360Wh/mile which translates to 2.78miles/kWh. On the RAV we are getting 3.2miles/kWh consistently. And coming from the RAV, we have learned to be gentle on the accelerator and breaks and watch speed more carefully on the freeway. Considering that MX is much larger and heavier, I'm not entirely surprised. So we have not regretted spending extra to get the 90kWh battery. I would think even with the now increased 75kWh of the base MX, the utility still seems to favor larger battery packs.

6. Booster seat. We had some trouble installing the booster seats on the 2nd row. We have Clek Olli backless booster and it was very hard to install it. The rounded hugging shape of the MX seat-backs while very comfortable seem to interfere with the armrest of the Clek seat. You have to push the seat really hard against the seat-backs in order for the latch to reach the connector. And it was impossible to fit a seat protector underneath. With the seat protector, it was not able to latch properly. So we had to install without seat protector. Also the seat belt buckle on the 2nd row sits flat with the seat and does not extend up like most other cars. With the booster installed, it was very hard for the kids to buckle in. A seat belt buckle extender would solve this. But we have not needed it with other cars.

7. 3rd row access. When I tested the function it was quickly noticeable that the seat position of the 2nd row does not go back to the previous position. I read other comments on this forum that this problem was supposedly fixed in the new software update. My test still showing it is not. The only case I found it will go back to previous position is when both 2nd row and 3rd row are occupied. Even if 2nd row is not occupied and 3rd row is, it will still squash your ankle when moving back to position. The other point is that my kids sit in the 2nd row and like to move their seat forward to be able to reach doom lights (if only they would move the doom lights of the 2nd row closer to the seat than it is right now!). It would be super nice if Tesla would add a software option to always recover to previous position regardless of weather seats are occupied or not.

8. Wifi connection. The wifi connection of the car could be improved. Our garage has poorer Wifi signal. While the iPhone is showing 2 bar connection, the Tesla is showing only one bar. Opening the Testla app, it took much longer to connect to the car (several seconds or longer) with the Wifi on. The main problem is when the car arrives on the driveway. It will pick up house Wifi signal but the connection is not actually being made. So opening the Tesla app and it will take forever to connect to the car and most times simply times out. This makes Summon impossible. To solve this I have to manually disable wifi but the car does not retain the settings on startup. So in the end I had to delete Wifi settings so that it will connect to LTE at all times in order to get swift response from Tesla app. Note that where the car cannot make Wifi connection, my iphone picks up Wifi signal fine.

9. Regenerative breaking. I think Tesla has different regenerative breaking mechanism than all other cars. The regenerative breaking is so strong in Tesla that the slow down is simply huge if you lift the feet off the accelerator. Even with the low Regenerative Break settings, the break is rather strong. So you basically have to keep your feet on the accelerator most of the time while rarely using the break pedal unless you absolutely want to stop. This takes a while to get use to as common sense when you see break lights in the front is to lift the accelerator and put your feet on the break as well. Most other EVs as I have heard, ex. the RAV4 EV, behaves more like conventional car where the regenerative breaking is on the break pedal.

10. I miss AM radio on the MX.

 

[K-MTG]

I would put an access point in the garage, I already have one for my Dropcams

 

[goneskiian]

Thanks for the report! Very detailed and thorough.

Regarding range, keep in mind that it will improve as it takes time to break in the tires. Speaking of tires and wheels, what size did you get? The 20" or the 22"?

Lastly, they are "dome" lights (unless you got the Mt. Doom upgrade package ), and regenerative "brakes" (to break something is to separate or cause to separate that something into pieces, while to brake something is to slow that something down).

Cheers!

 

[Johan]

To Andy: Thanks for the detailed review! Very encouraging to read reviews of what seems to be more or less flawless cars coming off the line!

 

[GottaGetRidOfICE]

@goneskiian, I thought I had missed a memo about break in place of brake. It's all over, almost as much as loose in place of lose. Andy has lots of company; sorry Andy, don't want to single you out.

As far as range and braking, I assume that Tesla factors in regenerative braking when it predicts range, so if you're using it in low setting, that might be part of the issue. I worried about it at first, but I now am very comfortable with regen, and every time I charge my battery and save my brakes, I smile. I do little self-challenges on familiar routes: how seldom can I use the brakes?

 

[AndyW]

Thanks for the report! Very detailed and thorough.

Regarding range, keep in mind that it will improve as it takes time to break in the tires. Speaking of tires and wheels, what size did you get? The 20" or the 22"?

Lastly, they are "dome" lights (unless you got the Mt. Doom upgrade package ), and regenerative "brakes" (to break something is to separate or cause to separate that something into pieces, while to brake something is to slow that something down).

Cheers!

I got the 20" tire.
Yes thanks for pointing them out. Pardon my mistakes

 

[ecarfan]

. I think Tesla has different regenerative breaking mechanism than all other cars. The regenerative breaking is so strong in Tesla that the slow down is simply huge if you lift the feet off the accelerator. Even with the low Regenerative Break settings, the break is rather strong.

Just so you are ware, some people believe that the Tesla regen braking is not strong enough, especially compared to the BMW i3. I think you will get used to it quickly.

Apparently the RAV4 regen braking is rather modest compared to Teslas. That surprises me.

 

[aesculus]

My only concern is that it takes rather strong force to trigger the safety stop on the FWD. This could potentially be safety hazard if someone, especially kids, are in the way of closing. Finger hazard is dangerous too with the mechanical opening and closing.

I agree and the Model X FWD needs down operation sensors too. By the time any obstruction detection takes place, whatever it hits is going to be damaged or hurt IMHO. So for now we are very careful when closing the door and instruct our passengers in their safe operation. We even have them yell out 'clear' before selecting the down switch.

For the MX, the best energy use we had with mixed local/freeway driving was about 360Wh/mile

It will get better. On the flats with no wind and little climate control I am getting sub 330. Sometimes sub 320. Also acceleration makes a difference so you are probably feeling all the love of the power initially and that could be taking a toll.

The wifi connection of the car could be improved. Our garage has poorer Wifi signal. While the iPhone is showing 2 bar connection, the Tesla is showing only one bar.

Wifi signal sucks. BTW I tried adding a range extender in my garage and while the Tesla was happy, it performed poorly. For now I have turned off WiFi and only rely on LTE period. I doubt this will change with our current crop of cars but maybe Tesla will fix this for newer cars in the future. Perhaps a better antenna is needed?

So you basically have to keep your feet on the accelerator most of the time while rarely using the break pedal unless you absolutely want to stop. This takes a while to get use to as common sense when you see break lights in the front is to lift the accelerator and put your feet on the break as well.

I agree. One pedal driving with the Tesla takes a fair amount of getting used to. This is one reason I don't like AP either. It does not have the one pedal finesse down as much as a human can do and so it accelerates and brakes needlessly. Can this also be the reason that you are getting poor range too?

And I am glad your car is enjoyable and is fun to own and drive.

 

[Ryan MF]

Thanks for the first impressions. Glad to hear you are happy about your choice on 7 vs 6 seat. We have been questioning choice our choice on the 7.

 

[David29]

Very nice, thorough review, thank you!
As to the regenerative braking -- I have an S, not an X, but my observation is that a person may adapt to the regen braking much faster if they are accustomed to driving with a manual transmission, because a manual inherently provides engine braking, so a good "stick" driver learns to feather his gas pedal. In my case, i had the further advantage that I drove Diesels for many years, and the early ones had stick shifts. That combination provides very strong engine braking, very much like regen braking. So it was fairly easy to re-learn to feather that "gas" pedal.
But in any case, have faith, it won't take long.

 

[goneskiian]

I got the 20" tire.
Yes thanks for pointing them out. Pardon my mistakes

No worries. I hope I didn't offend in pointing them out. Just trying to be helpful.

Well, we can't chalk up your high energy usage to the "big wheel" hit. As others pointed out, that should improve as you get used to driving the Tesla way and the tires get broken in.

Thanks again for the report, it was really a pleasure to read.

 

[jomo25]

Some comments. No judgment. All meant to be helpful.

On #3: I assume you are talking about the closing action. Yes, no sensors, so you do need to make sure people esp kids are clear of the, as they close. For opening, the sensor strip on the bottom of the doors is very sensitive and I find it stops immediately. But again, not on closing.

On #4: we went with 7 seats also, for same utility reasons. Really no regrets. Though it think it would be even better if the middle/middle head rest was either adjustable or shorter. Would make rear visibility much better. We will roll with the rear seats down 98% of the time. But when they are up also, the rear view visibility is essentially nil.

On #6: my kids are still in car seat age range, and haven't had any issues installing them.

On #9: you could try the 'low' regen setting. It is more similar to other cars like our Leaf. But I think you'll come to prefer the normal regen after you get used to it. 1-foot driving is such a pleasure.

 

[Xminus6]

Just so you are ware, some people believe that the Tesla regen braking is not strong enough, especially compared to the BMW i3. I think you will get used to it quickly.

Apparently the RAV4 regen braking is rather modest compared to Teslas. That surprises me.

The RAV4's regeneration is definitely weaker than Tesla's. I've had my Model S, a Nissan Leaf, and a RAV4 EV. The Model S has the strongest regeneration by far.

 

[ohmman]

It takes a short amount of time to get used to the regen on the Tesla, and as @ecarfan points out, you'll want stronger regen once you do. It's just relearning how to use the accelerator pedal - feather it for coasting, let off for slowing. Once you get on a winding, hilly road, you realize that instead of moving your foot back and forth between the brake and accelerator, you've had it in one place the whole time. And that's that. Letting off the pedal in an ICE feels almost like it's accelerating under you because expectations get flipped.

 

[Mark Z]

...I miss AM radio on the MX.

Here, here! At least the refreshed Model S still has AM radio. Maybe there is hope for the future. Until then, my portable SONY and FM transmitter can help when those roadside signs inform the driver to tune to the low power AM stations for venue or road information.

 

[rallykeeper]

6. Booster seat. We had some trouble installing the booster seats on the 2nd row. We have Clek Olli backless booster and it was very hard to install it. The rounded hugging shape of the MX seat-backs while very comfortable seem to interfere with the armrest of the Clek seat. You have to push the seat really hard against the seat-backs in order for the latch to reach the connector. And it was impossible to fit a seat protector underneath. With the seat protector, it was not able to latch properly. So we had to install without seat protector. Also the seat belt buckle on the 2nd row sits flat with the seat and does not extend up like most other cars. With the booster installed, it was very hard for the kids to buckle in. A seat belt buckle extender would solve this. But we have not needed it with other cars.

I had the same issue with the Clek seat. Actually, I bought the Clek seat because our original Peg Perrego seat didn't fit correctly because of the armests sitting too far back (and interfering with the side boosters).

However, I figured out the trick to installing it and now it installs easily -- even with a seat protector.

As you're pushing it into the LATCH attachments, you need to press down toward the back of the seat. If you do one LATCH at a time, it's pretty simple and doesn't take too much force.

I even managed to use our seat protector (although I did finally decide to customize it by trimming it down to Model X seat size (and made cut-outs for the seat belts)). Our seat protector is the Summer Infant Duo (available on Amazon).

Seat belt extenders are, unfortunately, a necessity with Tesla. For some reason, they don't know how to measure the distance between LATCH and the seat buckle. Exact same problem on Model S.

They did improve slightly though versus Model S. The 3rd row seats work fine with the Clek and don't require a seatbelt extender.

 

[Xminus6]

I had the same issue with the Clek seat. Actually, I bought the Clek seat because our original Peg Perrego seat didn't fit correctly because of the armests sitting too far back (and interfering with the side boosters).

However, I figured out the trick to installing it and now it installs easily -- even with a seat protector.

As you're pushing it into the LATCH attachments, you need to press down toward the back of the seat. If you do one LATCH at a time, it's pretty simple and doesn't take too much force.

I even managed to use our seat protector (although I did finally decide to customize it by trimming it down to Model X seat size (and made cut-outs for the seat belts)). Our seat protector is the Summer Infant Duo (available on Amazon).

Seat belt extenders are, unfortunately, a necessity with Tesla. For some reason, they don't know how to measure the distance between LATCH and the seat buckle. Exact same problem on Model S.

They did improve slightly though versus Model S. The 3rd row seats work fine with the Clek and don't require a seatbelt extender.

I have an issue with our Diono booster seat in that we can barely reach the buckle because the rear seat bolster on our Model S pushes the whole booster seat over and covers the buckle. Also, for the Diono Radian, I'm pretty sure the LATCH connector is too far forward, making it difficult to properly secure the seat. The Radians have a long buckle mechanism and it's nearly as long as the actual space between the seat and the connector. It's pretty poorly designed for car seats.

 

[Blastphemy]

9. Regenerative breaking. I think Tesla has different regenerative breaking mechanism than all other cars. The regenerative breaking is so strong in Tesla that the slow down is simply huge if you lift the feet off the accelerator. Even with the low Regenerative Break settings, the break is rather strong. So you basically have to keep your feet on the accelerator most of the time while rarely using the break pedal unless you absolutely want to stop. This takes a while to get use to as common sense when you see break lights in the front is to lift the accelerator and put your feet on the break as well. Most other EVs as I have heard, ex. the RAV4 EV, behaves more like conventional car where the regenerative breaking is on the break pedal.

What I miss most going from a Rav4 EV to the Model X is the ability to coast. In the Rav4 EV, I could choose when to enable the regen by shifting into "B"; but on the Model X, it's always on. And if I want to change it from strong regen to lighter regen, I have to press at least three buttons on my main screen to do it. Would really like to have on-the-fly regen on/off like in the Rav4 EV. I really despise having to keep my foot on the accelerator all the time.

Actually, the plural of Nazi is Nazis, not Nazi's. How ironic...

 

[Johan]

What I miss most going from a Rav4 EV to the Model X is the ability to coast. In the Rav4 EV, I could choose when to enable the regen by shifting into "B"; but on the Model X, it's always on. And if I want to change it from strong regen to lighter regen, I have to press at least three buttons on my main screen to do it. Would really like to have on-the-fly regen on/off like in the Rav4 EV. I really despise having to keep my foot on the accelerator all the time.


Actually, the plural of Nazi is Nazis, not Nazi's. How ironic...

Excellent catch! However being meta meta I did that on purpose to annoy the grammar Nazi's. (No I didn't, I just found the image online).

 

[Xminus6]

What I miss most going from a Rav4 EV to the Model X is the ability to coast. In the Rav4 EV, I could choose when to enable the regen by shifting into "B"; but on the Model X, it's always on. And if I want to change it from strong regen to lighter regen, I have to press at least three buttons on my main screen to do it. Would really like to have on-the-fly regen on/off like in the Rav4 EV. I really despise having to keep my foot on the accelerator all the time.


Actually, the plural of Nazi is Nazis, not Nazi's. How ironic...

Intersting. I never use the regular drive mode in our RAV4 EV. I think I've literally only driven it a few miles in that mode. In fact, I drove it to work today since my wife took the Model S down to the South Bay. Maybe I just got used to the heavier regen mode on the Model S and didn't get in the habit of coasting in the RAV. I try to drive the RAV with one foot like the Model S. Heavy default regen but modulating the throttle to simulate a neutral coasting resistance.

I think when you get more accustomed to the Tesla way, you won't miss it as much because you can sort of "coast" just by controlling throttle pressure.