Well I am now an experienced Tesla driver. Had a test drive today in a Model S Performance Pack (the Top Dog). Very impressed with how it works. The drive started off in the underground parking lot of the mall where the showroom is . It is situated beside an Apple store across from a giant Microsoft store . Never knew Microsoft was going Apple too. Anyway, I think they could not have a better place to show the car.
A very cheery and ( I must say Pretty) Sales Rep accompanied me on the drive. She was a displaced Californian wearing Tesla sports clothes.
The electronic interface on the Tesla really reinvents car operation. It is basically a Giant iPad that does everything. She asked what my favourite music was and goes on the internet to load it in. I think I would get seriously distracted with this much computer power at my fingertips. You want the sunroof open, you just swipe your finger across the screen to open it whatever proportion you want to. We set the driving parameters while parked, but they can be done on the fly. We chose regenerative braking on and Creep on. Creep makes it pull out slowly just like when driving a car with an automatic. We left the steering in normal mode .
Driving off, the car is dead silent. No noise at all. Out on the street with Creep mode on, it drives exactly like a luxury car in slow traffic. Out on the road she encouraged me to let er rip. The torque is exactly like a Jet plane. Pure linear acceleration. Instant, smooth and extremely powerful. It is very useable power. I have driven a V-8 M3 and it is sluggish till in the higher rev ranges. This is just point and shoot. You would get so used to toasting all cars around you in traffic if you were in an aggressive driving mood. The handling seemed to be very good. We were on Winter tires, but on ramps could be taken very quickly.
Overall you get used to this car very quickly.
I did not like backing the car up because you can't see anything. I don't like those rear view cameras as a substitute. As for the build quality, it seems about like a GM (Not it's strongest suit) I think trim pieces for example have not received the durability testing that a BMW would have. (Ok , an older BMW)
WHen asked about the big question....how much does a battery cost? I did not get an answer. The answer I got was that it is warrantied for 8 years and projected to last about 12. It is not a part Tesla will just sell you. For $10,000 you can prepurchase a battery for 12 years down the road (OR something like that) Was this transferable?? I have heard that the smaller battery on the Tesla roadster cost upwards of $40,000 dollars to replace if you toast it and warranty won't cover it. The whole value equation of this car rests on what the battery truly costs, and so far no one has told me. WOuld you buy a six year old one that needed a $50K battery? I was also told that it will be like flat screen TVs.....cheap a few years from now. That is salesman talk and when it comes from a Pretty and Cheerful California car enthusiast, easy to let pass.
I am very impressed with the car. I could live with this, more so if it was put into a simple , practical package like my E46 Wagon. Anyone have any observations on the newest thing in cars?
A couple of things I am wondering?
What happens if it catches fire? Is it a toxic waste site after?
How toxic is Lithium mining and production and is it possible on a huge scale?