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Whats the one unexpected great thing about your car?

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7 car lengths not time!

It is time.

From manual

"Adjust the Following Distance To adjust the following distance you want to maintain between Model S and a vehicle traveling ahead of you, rotate the cruise control lever to choose a setting from 1 (the closest following distance) to 7 (the longest following distance). Each setting corresponds to a time-based distance that represents how long it takes for Model S, from its current location, to reach the location of the rear bumper of the vehicle ahead of you"

and from a random software update note I found "You can adjust the following distance to the car in front of you by rotating the end of the cruise stalk from 1, the shortest following distance, to 7, the longest following distance. This distance will vary depending on your speed."
 
This is true of other EVs such as the eGolf. The smoothness and linear power delivery of these cars creates a state in which you can enjoy what I refer to as "precision driving" (as opposed to "ballistic driving" with ICEs...). The only point where I would say that the eGolf is superior to the Model 3 is in being able to know more precisely where the extremities of your car are...
Apple Car Play, and the rear camera lens, protected from rain, under the emblem are pretty nice too.
 
:D Yes, Monday. Wife didn't realise we also had radar until we had stopped. She probably had a few uncomfortable moments that short trip. That said, distance set to 7 is still too close. I need to read up on exactly what the numbers mean. It certainly didn't seem 7 car lengths or 7 seconds either.

I was on a motorway in the rain the other day. For my tastes 7 is still far too close in those conditions. But then I'm constantly gobsmacked at how close others drive. My car set at 7 was leaving about the biggest gap of any car around me.

I would think with 7 settings an easy software change could be to make the increments larger. It could even be an option so those who are happy could keep things as they are.

I think, but I don't know for sure, that with it set at 1 auto lane changes are more reliable and odd braking behaviour is reduced so I've taken to messing with mine a bit, keeping it at a low number unless I'm following a car in front, in which case spin the stalk up to 7.
 
I completely agree that despite the available performance it is also a delightful car to drive slowly! Developing a super-smooth one pedal driving style and enjoying the peace and relaxation ... and then to be rewarded by efficiency figures that are even better than the "unrealistic" advertised range! We have some country roads around here that can either be driven at real pace or alternatively offer the opportunity for the ultimate in efficiency ... take your pick!
Avoid surprises in traffic (which happened to me) when the state of charge is 100%. Regenerative braking turns off until the battery drains a little. It was a bit weird having to use the brake pedal. LOL
 
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For my tastes 7 is still far too close in those conditions

Seems like an overabundance of caution. Mine is set to 1 and does just fine. It leaves a solid 1-2 "car lengths when stopped, which is way too much and people sneak in all the time around London. A lot get pissed off and ride my backside if I got AP on in stop-start traffic.

On motowards, round 50-70 speed it leaves more than anyone around me, some times double on it set to 1. Plenty of time for myself to stop, let alone AP, in the rain or otherwise (yes I did have moments with emergency brakes in various cars and conditions at those gaps and speeds).

Maybe 1 and 7 is really not that far apart in actuality. I'll try going home today.
 
Seems like an overabundance of caution. Mine is set to 1 and does just fine. It leaves a solid 1-2 "car lengths when stopped, which is way too much and people sneak in all the time around London. A lot get pissed off and ride my backside if I got AP on in stop-start traffic.

On motowards, round 50-70 speed it leaves more than anyone around me, some times double on it set to 1. Plenty of time for myself to stop, let alone AP, in the rain or otherwise (yes I did have moments with emergency brakes in various cars and conditions at those gaps and speeds).

Maybe 1 and 7 is really not that far apart in actuality. I'll try going home today.

Depends on conditions. In the rain on the motorway I think a driving instructor and the highway code would want to see a far bigger gap than 7 gives. Without AP I'm not so far back that other folk think I'm dawdling but I do also firmly believe that the majority don't leave enough space at motorway speeds. So I may be overcautious in the eyes of some, but not many - I'm not that guy folk (including me sometimes) think is in the wrong lane. Distance when stopped or very slow is enough whatever the setting in my view - I don't think that situation matters so much. Anyway, I only advocate the choice, or a conditions-based response but the tech isn't there for that if they can't get the wipers right.
 
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Seems like an overabundance of caution. Mine is set to 1 and does just fine. It leaves a solid 1-2 "car lengths when stopped, which is way too much and people sneak in all the time around London. A lot get pissed off and ride my backside if I got AP on in stop-start traffic.

On motorways, around 50-70 speed it leaves more than anyone around me, some times double on it set to 1. Plenty of time for myself to stop, let alone AP, in the rain or otherwise (yes I did have moments with emergency brakes in various cars and conditions at those gaps and speeds).

Maybe 1 and 7 is really not that far apart in actuality. I'll try going home today.

This. As someone who commutes on the M25, this is also my experience and I have the distance set to 1 under most circumstances.
 
Seems like an overabundance of caution. Mine is set to 1 and does just fine. It leaves a solid 1-2 "car lengths when stopped, which is way too much and people sneak in all the time around London. A lot get pissed off and ride my backside if I got AP on in stop-start traffic.

Could do with a 0.5 setting, would be useful for slow speeds and stationary traffic. Even at 1 I sometimes find myself using the accelerator to reduce the gap with car in front especially when overtaking in autopilot mode. I just don’t like the way autopilot maintains a big gap, you overtake and lose ground and then the car accelerates crazily to the selected cruise control speed once on the open road. This should be a much smoother operation.

I do find Autopilot and all the fancy collision detection stuff a little inhibiting at times. Autopilot feels like being controlled by an over-zealous driving instructor and behaving like an over-cautious learner driver.

Apologies, that was one disappointment with the car. I was expecting it to work amazingly well. Maybe I’d set the bar too high on this one.
 
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