Would you own a Tesla without the tech?

[HX_Guy]

Interesting thing happened to my car over the past week...it turned into a normal car, more or less.

My Autopilot and Cruise have both stopped working and found myself driving a car that's pretty normal. Yes its still electric, which I much prefer over gasoline, but on the other end it also lacks a lot of features that other cars have which Ive realized I put up with because I absolutely love the tech, and by that I mean Autopilot.

I actually dont think that I would be driving this car without the Autopilot feature, its that much of the car's "personality". Especially with other brands now offering electric drivetrains, for me the Tesla needs to have that feature to set it apart.

 

[Twiglett]

That’s like asking if you’d live on earth if there was no air

 

[Holo]

Totally agree with the O.P. Electric drivetrain is great, but it's the tech that makes my MS really unique and special.

 

[Ofarlig]

No I wouldn’t because I like tech, but there are more things than Autopilot that is tech. The entire infotainment system is for me a big selling point, as well as the app and so on.

 

[bishoppeak]

I think the tech is overrated, I own mine for the electric driving experience.

 

[maximizese]

I intentionally bought our Model S without AP because I'm a control-freak. I've exclusively driven manual transmissions throughout my life before buying this car.

 

[BigTonyTones]

Probably wouldn't be my first choice. Car isnt very well built and interior isnt as nice as other cars in the same price range. My old Mercedes CLS was amazing and felt well built. Model s.... Not so much.

 

[jmaddr]

Absolutely I would still own it. I think the tech is lacking in many important areas, notably the smartphone integration. The benefit for me to the Tesla is the electric driving experience is better packaged than any of the competition, by a very LONG shot. The tech, eh... You’ll find many of us here which didnt order FSD or even AP (though I did on the AP). There are many ICE cars out there that have comparable AP though FSD is still mostly unique.

 

[HX_Guy]

Absolutely I would still own it. I think the tech is lacking in many important areas, notably the smartphone integration. The benefit for me to the Tesla is the electric driving experience is better packaged than any of the competition, by a very LONG shot. The tech, eh... You’ll find many of us here which didnt order FSD or even AP (though I did on the AP). There are many ICE cars out there that have comparable AP though FSD is still mostly unique.

Haven't ran across anything nearly as good as Tesla's AP. Haven't tested everything either, but Mercedes's system for example is not even close.

 

[darxsys]

I’ve been driving without cruise/AP since late January because something with the radar happened and I’ve been waiting this whole time for Tesla to get the parts and fix it.

In all honesty, I don’t miss it much, except on the highways. The electric drive train is all the rage for me. Simply nothing else comes close to it.

To me, build quality is much more important and I am not satisfied with the Model S in that department. Should be MUCH better, and if something pushes me away from it, that will be it. Not tech.

 

[HX_Guy]

You can get the electric drivetrain in other option now though, specially something like the Audi e-tron. Yes it has less range, but at least for me, that wouldnt be a deterrent. I have a 75D now so its not super long range anyway, and Ive supercharged about 4 times total in 2.5 years.

 

[darxsys]

You can get the electric drivetrain in other option now though, specially something like the Audi e-tron. Yes it has less range, but at least for me, that wouldnt be a deterrent. I have a 75D now so its not super long range anyway, and Ive supercharged about 4 times total in 2.5 years.

The current E-tron is absolutely not what I am looking for. In addition to range being terrible, the car also doesn’t come even close to Model S appearance imo, and the interior is typical Audi interior with millions of things and buttons. That’s another thing that Tesla does right, clean design!

I do way too many road trips to not care about range. Plus it’s an SUV, which I also don’t want.

 

[HX_Guy]

Agree on the design part, looks pretty terrible.

Buttons part I dont mind, I've had a few Audi's in the past and have always like them. I feel the Tesla interior is actually too sparse, makes it feel cheap in my opinion.

 

[David29]

Silly question. That choice is not available. And it depends a lot on what you call "tech."
Is the radio "tech?" I would not buy a car without the radio.
Is the automatic high beam feature "tech?" Cars have had that for 50 years or more! And i could do without that.
And so on....

 

[timvracer]

AFter getting my most recent update with "Sentry Mode", supercharger speed, and auto warmup when navigating to a supercharger, I went in and giddily told my wife... "best decision I ever made to buy this car". Seriously, if I had gone with the Audi S7, it be the exact same car I purchased 2 years ago. Bummer. the tech platform that enables both autopilot, and upgrades is unmatched.

 

[Dan Baldwin]

I have EAP 2.5 , although I use the cruise whenever I can, I have never used auto-steer. I would absolutely still own the Tesla without the cruise or AP. I wish the other "tech" things would work better in my car. Things like the voice recognition and the moisture sensitive wipers, both of which have functioned flawlessly in my last three ICEs.

 

[HX_Guy]

How could you never use AP? It makes this car! It absolutely sucks not having it now after being so used to it.

 

[BPeter]

Definitely. The electric drivetrain and high performance is why I bought my S. The tech is cool, but having to supervise it makes me not bother activating AP often.

 

[Wodensthrall]

It sort of depends what you mean by "tech". I love a lot of what my Tesla does (that my prius didn't) -- backup camera that's actually USEFUL, a nav system I can operate without pulling over, five, FIVE seat heaters, the ability to pre-heat or cool my car before I get into it, Sentry mode and Dog mode; a "built-in" dashcam feature -- these things I love. Autopilot? It's okay. I actually find I "take over" a lot when the car is on autosteer, and I get waaaaay better "mileage" when I'm driving than when Nav on Auto is engaged. I actually find nav on auto more frustrating than helpful. So no Nav -- no problem! The other "tech"? That's what makes it the best car I've personally ever driven.

 

[Rogue Synapse]

I will concede that the tech is a major bonus and part of what makes Tesla so cool. But I’ve been driving electric for 5 years now prior getting my model S, and for me it’s electric or nothing. Tesla is simply the best electric driving experience. If they made a truly budget electric car - basically an electric CUV with Tesla driving characteristics and basic modern car amenities/tech but no GPS-sensitive automatic everything or autopilot - it would sell like crazy and maybe Tesla would lose some of their high-tech halo, but it would still be one of the best cars.