Thoughts on a Pre-X road trip

[pvogel]

Took a road trip with some buddies from SF Bay Area to Phoenix and back. Did a marathon drive back last night. The X was very much on my mind as I held in hard left rudder due to 28mph winds from the left hitting the very tall sprinter van broad-side and then later dealing with high winds whipping around making the corrections much harder to manage.

Has anyone tried Auto pilot in high wind conditions where the wind is not straight down the road? How does it do?

It dawned on me, and I checked the specs on the sprinter van to be sure, the X is WIDER than a sprinter! Yowza!

 

[scottf200]

Took a road trip with some buddies from SF Bay Area to Phoenix and back. Did a marathon drive back last night. The X was very much on my mind as I held in hard left rudder due to 28mph winds from the left hitting the very tall sprinter van broad-side and then later dealing with high winds whipping around making the corrections much harder to manage.

Has anyone tried Auto pilot in high wind conditions where the wind is not straight down the road? How does it do?

It dawned on me, and I checked the specs on the sprinter van to be sure, the X is WIDER than a sprinter! Yowza!

Good question. I'm driving on two different trips and directions this Fri and Sat/Sun. I plan on using Auto-Pilot for as much as I can.

 

[ohmman]

In the Model S forum, I've read good things about AP and wind. I realize the MX is a broader target, so it might be more difficult.

The bigger concern, relative to wind, is range. I drove my MS on a road trip from the Bay Area up to Portland and back. Coming home yesterday, I was averaging over 450Wh/mi heading into gusty wind and rain. It really slowed me down, both in travel speed and in additional charging time. I couldn't skip a single Supercharger. I think if I were in a MX it would have been much worse.

 

[Vitold]

Took a road trip with some buddies from SF Bay Area to Phoenix and back. Did a marathon drive back last night. The X was very much on my mind as I held in hard left rudder due to 28mph winds from the left hitting the very tall sprinter van broad-side and then later dealing with high winds whipping around making the corrections much harder to manage.

Has anyone tried Auto pilot in high wind conditions where the wind is not straight down the road? How does it do?

It dawned on me, and I checked the specs on the sprinter van to be sure, the X is WIDER than a sprinter! Yowza!

If wind was pushing you from left side why do you compare width of the vehicles? X is only wider than other cars because of wheel wells, rest of the car is of average width. Besides, thanks to protruding wheel wells X has wider stance which should help with side winds. Suspension and center of gravity on X do help prevent 'drifting' as well.

Overall, I would expect that driving Model X is nothing like driving sprinter van and is probably closer to driving Model S.

 

[pvogel]

The width note had nothing to do with the wind, just interesting to note that our little CUV is wider than the behemoth of the road.

Side area was obviously what mattered on that drive, but even the X will experience that force (not to the same extent as the sprinter obviously) and I am curious how well AP will handle it, especially the swirly stuff!

 

[eloder]

I'd be very surprised if the MX had issues. Even smart cars have autonomous cross-wind technology now, and those things are probably the most susceptible consumer car on the road thanks to it's tiny, light, and broad profile.

 

[scottf200]

I'd be very surprised if the MX had issues. Even smart cars have autonomous cross-wind technology now, and those things are probably the most susceptible consumer car on the road thanks to it's tiny, light, and broad profile.

I can vouch for that as that is the loaner I brought home Monday as my Model X went in for XPEL and Opti-coat. That thing made me nervous driving down the highway. Fine on 40 mile an hour roads.