Under-appreciated aspect of Tesla vs other cars

[Carnook]

The whole concept must be a European regional thing?

BMW has had cabin pre-conditioning via remote app and/or timer for a long time in the US (ie many years). Its not limited to Europe.

 

[ℬête Noire]

BMW has had cabin pre-conditioning via remote app and/or timer for a long time in the US (ie many years). Its not limited to Europe.

Gas/diesel powered heaters like he was talking about, not using the ICE?

 

[Uncle Paul]

ICE pre conditioners are usually paired with a remote start button on the fob. You need to start the car first, then use the heat/air conditioner/defrosters to warm/cool the car.

In the 60's I had an air cooled VW Beatle with an optional gas heater. SInce the air cooled engine provided so little heat it was a popular option in Michigan. It connected directly to the fuel tank in the frunk. Remember that while it provided lots of heat, it also smelled terrible and cut my fuel economy in half.

I love the way the Tesla has immediate heat available when I get in on a cold day. No need to wait for the gas motor to warm up so I can get some heat into the cabin.

 

[LCR1]

The separate fueled motor is usually a European thing. And just like the speed limiter thread, I love how people claim nothing exists or can't happen because it's not in the US market. Pre heat can be used in a petrol car and works just the same. why do you need to preheat in a garage anyway?

Also pre cooling is a complete waste. I can get in the car turn the AC on and roll down the window, in 10 seconds all the hot air is gone and all I feel is the AC

And the whole tesla preconditioning thing is retarded to begin with. My Leaf could be programmed to finish charging at what ever time I left the house. The battery was already conditioned because the charging just ended. With tesla they want you to start charging right away invade you lose power. Then before you leave use up even more power to condition everything again. Just put an 'end time' timer on the car and be done with it solve the battery precondition and cold regen issues without wasting even more power.

Either way none of the preconditioning functions on a tesla are unique to tesla

 

[daniel]

I love the way the Tesla has immediate heat available when I get in on a cold day. No need to wait for the gas motor to warm up so I can get some heat into the cabin.

I've always driven fuel-efficient cars with small engines that are slow to heat up and slow to heat the cabin. The Xebra was nice, as there was no waiting, but its heater was just so-so. The Roadster, OTOH, I turn on the heater and in ten seconds it's blowing hot air, and in about 60 seconds, two minutes at most, the car is warm. I was already spring with I got the 3, but I expect it to do very well in winter, assuming I ever spend another winter in this cold climate.

 

[morrisdl]

Fyi My last ICE : 2007 Cayenne had a factory wabasto cabin heater. Never used it because it was far to complicated to use. That car desperately needed an updates.

 

[ℬête Noire]

In the 60's I had an air cooled VW Beatle with an optional gas heater. SInce the air cooled engine provided so little heat it was a popular option in Michigan. It connected directly to the fuel tank in the frunk. Remember that while it provided lots of heat, it also smelled terrible and cut my fuel economy in half.

I knew about those old Bugs having them. An eccentric tinkering fellow in my home town kept a Beetle running for years until he passed in the 90's, and it had one of those. They were terrifying, when you fired it up it got hot very fast.

I just hadn't realized gas burner cabin heaters had been installed in anything shipped in the last 50 years [in NA], thanks for the info morrisdl.

 

[nvx1977]

getting back onto the original topic of OTAs being under-appreciated... I just got 2018.14.2 on my Model S. The release notes were quite sparse which made it seem like a stability release. But wow, my center screen UI is now amazingly smooth with high frame rate. The browser is working quite well. And I got an opt-in prompt for using my location to crowdsource real-time traffic.

None of these things were released "half baked" and are now being "fixed" via OTA updates. The UI smoothness was acceptable for 2012 standards. Not so much for 2018. Tesla improved it because they can. And where this is relevant for Model 3 is that I've heard people express concerns that the UI will get laggy in a few years, like a phone.

That's actually not true. The 2012 Model S never got laggy. It still performed as well as it did in 2012. And with this OTA, it now performs better than it did in 2012. Model 3 UI is pretty smooth, but sure it can be better. In 2024, we might think the current framerate is awful. And who knows, Tesla might release an OTA that optimizes things again, and it will feel like new again.

I can also now open trunk and frunk from the app now, like the Model 3.

Car keeps getting better and better with age.

 

[LCR1]

getting back onto the original topic of OTAs being under-appreciated... I just got 2018.14.2 on my Model S. The release notes were quite sparse which made it seem like a stability release. But wow, my center screen UI is now amazingly smooth with high frame rate. The browser is working quite well. And I got an opt-in prompt for using my location to crowdsource real-time traffic.

None of these things were released "half baked" and are now being "fixed" via OTA updates. The UI smoothness was acceptable for 2012 standards. Not so much for 2018. Tesla improved it because they can. And where this is relevant for Model 3 is that I've heard people express concerns that the UI will get laggy in a few years, like a phone.

That's actually not true. The 2012 Model S never got laggy. It still performed as well as it did in 2012. And with this OTA, it now performs better than it did in 2012. Model 3 UI is pretty smooth, but sure it can be better. In 2024, we might think the current framerate is awful. And who knows, Tesla might release an OTA that optimizes things again, and it will feel like new again.

I can also now open trunk and frunk from the app now, like the Model 3.

Car keeps getting better and better with age.

My MCU keeps resetting on it's own. I was told the last few updates have been having issues with that, seems they released something half baked to me.