Cars We Drive!

[Beckwith]

To me that is the best part of competition, Tesla has the battery tech so if they need to compete with the performance of Porsche it will be a simple over the air upgrade to improve range/speed. So if that upgrade costs me $1,000, fine I will pay for it. To me that is the fascinating part of the company and I believe where most money is made. Economies of scale for enhanced autopilot that I paid for, that tech was created a long time ago and now each incremental unit is profit.

 

[Thrift Vader]

My wife drives the XC90, and I thought that screen and tech were amazing. Well, it lags like crazy, slow to respond after it starts up, and gets hung up quite a bit. I get in the car and it just works, phone hooks up right when you step in, screen is on and music plays from where you last left off. Small things, but as a daily driver things you didn't realize were a nuisance, are just gone.

a very good argument.

But as i type this reply, and enjoy a coffee while watching the news. i push a button and my car is warming up. -on the inside too.
and when i go out to the car, The cabin is warm. the windows defogged. relaxing music plays.
i sit in my comfortable chair. of cloth,leather,and suede. shift into Drive with a click. and grasp the Momo Steering wheel.

there are no distractions. no advertisements,no "apps" . the screen remains hidden until summoned.
i know where i'm going. phone calls go straight to voicemail. what i can see is a view of the road in front,and all around.
from the moment i leave the curb. all there is to do. is drive.

 

[clee1982]

yea, but the future idea is NOT to drive...

Tesla force everyone to upgrade, though I suppose some are catching up, not in seamless integration, my BMW is decent, but sometimes it requires BMW genius over the air as suppose to just "work or auto update", and Audi is the only one with L3 (but not in US). In terms of overall e-vehicle though, no one is quite tesla yet. I'm interested in what BMW will do with i4 (just because I'm a BMW fanboy), finally something not as ugly as i3 and hopefully decently priced as suppose i8 price with only M3 performance (though i8 still looks amazing even after all these years since concept)

 

[culverwood]

The reason why I would not buy another manufacturer's EV at the moment in Europe is that Tesla have already established a good network of Superchargers (free to older S and X owners) exclusive to Tesla cars which makes long distance travel a doddle.

In years to come when 3s are more numerous(so there are not always empty charge points) and a reliable network of open user chargers is established I might change my mind but along with the other benefits Beckwith has outlined this makes Tesla the only viable EV decision in Europe at the moment. Something I think owners of Jaguar, Audi and other similar high end EVs will discover quickly.

I suspect owners of Zoe, Leaf and similar city EV cars have a ICE car in the garage for longer distance travel.

 

[Beckwith]

To beat the dead horse, I found another interesting side affect similar to my experience as a kid, when I would hang out with my dad as he did car related tasks. My pre-teen daughter who had no interest in cars, knows every detail of the tech, and could operate the car if she could reach the pedal. I have a dedicated 240V 60W charger at my house, but with the free six month super charging, my daughter and I have a routine where we go 10 minutes away, grab Starbucks and do a quick food shopping while the car charges. We discuss the tech, she has watched videos and it has become fun for us.

Now that the sappy part is over, ******** with a 911 turbo on the highway, kept up for a while until he went through the process of thinking about downshifting, then get the right rev match, then stepping on the gas, at that point I was ahead and he blew past when I realized I was going way to fast, and regen braking kicked in. Instant torque!

 

[Texasmade]

Now that the sappy part is over, ******** with a 911 turbo on the highway, kept up for a while until he went through the process of thinking about downshifting, then get the right rev match, then stepping on the gas, at that point I was ahead and he blew past when I realized I was going way to fast, and regen braking kicked in. Instant torque!

Is it even possible to rev match on an automatic transmission? Unless this was an older model 911 turbo, I thought they were all automatic transmissions.

 

[Dino944]

Is it even possible to rev match on an automatic transmission? Unless this was an older model 911 turbo, I thought they were all automatic transmissions.

I believe the 997/911 Turbo was the last "911 Turbo" to offer a manual transmission. All 991/911 Turbos have been PDK.

 

[jet]

To beat the dead horse, I found another interesting side affect similar to my experience as a kid, when I would hang out with my dad as he did car related tasks. My pre-teen daughter who had no interest in cars, knows every detail of the tech, and could operate the car if she could reach the pedal. I have a dedicated 240V 60W charger at my house, but with the free six month super charging, my daughter and I have a routine where we go 10 minutes away, grab Starbucks and do a quick food shopping while the car charges. We discuss the tech, she has watched videos and it has become fun for us.

Now that the sappy part is over, ******** with a 911 turbo on the highway, kept up for a while until he went through the process of thinking about downshifting, then get the right rev match, then stepping on the gas, at that point I was ahead and he blew past when I realized I was going way to fast, and regen braking kicked in. Instant torque!

jc

 

[TheFoo]

To me that is the best part of competition, Tesla has the battery tech so if they need to compete with the performance of Porsche it will be a simple over the air upgrade to improve range/speed. So if that upgrade costs me $1,000, fine I will pay for it. To me that is the fascinating part of the company and I believe where most money is made. Economies of scale for enhanced autopilot that I paid for, that tech was created a long time ago and now each incremental unit is profit.

Software upgrades cannot improve fundamental vehicle dynamics and construction quality.

Yes, Tesla has the lead in implementing battery and autonomous driving tech, but what about going toe-to-toe with a competitor like Porsche in chassis and suspension engineering? And what about the fact that Tesla lacks experience and know-how equal to any of the major manufacturers when it comes to designing cars for mass production and then actually producing them?

I’m not counting Tesla out by any means, but they do have certain significant disadvantages versus legacy competitors. It’s too early to say how things play out.

However, it does seem plain to me that Tesla proponents tend to be technology enthusiasts, not so much automotive enthusiasts. The latter are not going to care so much about simple acceleration and top speed metrics, whereas the former often assume those are the only measures of performance.

 

[clee1982]

I give huge credit to Tesla though, without Tesla no one would have push the boundary on autonomous driving as hard as they do (or the tech part in car in general). I'm pretty sure Tesla can make a performance car, it's just different priority.

Even disregard Tesla, I would think there is a reason most "consumer vehicle" tends to prefer lower end torque, deafening steering (so you don't feel the road surface), high insulation (so you don't hear the engine), and if anything at boundary to under steer (over steer when you loose it is probably scarier?)

 

[Piobaire]

Mrs. Piob's lease is up in May. We are heading away from MB just for a change. We've driven the new Land Rover Sport (meh) and the Volvo XC60 (not bad.) Went and drove the newly redesigned Q5 yesterday. That's the car. What a nice job on the redesign.

I also drove the Q8 even though I'm not up until November 2020. I could see that being the new Douchemobile.

 

[TheFoo]

I give huge credit to Tesla though, without Tesla no one would have push the boundary on autonomous driving as hard as they do (or the tech part in car in general). I'm pretty sure Tesla can make a performance car, it's just different priority.

Even disregard Tesla, I would think there is a reason most "consumer vehicle" tends to prefer lower end torque, deafening steering (so you don't feel the road surface), high insulation (so you don't hear the engine), and if anything at boundary to under steer (over steer when you loose it is probably scarier?)

True about general consumer taste. Unfortunate and frustrating.

On Tesla making a performance car, I don't doubt they can make something credible. But class-leading? That's hard enough for manufacturers who've been trying for decades. Anyway, despite all the Roadster hype, I just don't see enthusiast-oriented performance cars as a focus for them. For 99% of Tesla buyers, Ludicrous Mode already proves that they win at "performance."

Mrs. Piob's lease is up in May. We are heading away from MB just for a change. We've driven the new Land Rover Sport (meh) and the Volvo XC60 (not bad.) Went and drove the newly redesigned Q5 yesterday. That's the car. What a nice job on the redesign.

I also drove the Q8 even though I'm not up until November 2020. I could see that being the new Douchemobile.

Is this like how some people sample tailors?

 

[clee1982]

Mrs. Piob's lease is up in May. We are heading away from MB just for a change. We've driven the new Land Rover Sport (meh) and the Volvo XC60 (not bad.) Went and drove the newly redesigned Q5 yesterday. That's the car. What a nice job on the redesign.

I also drove the Q8 even though I'm not up until November 2020. I could see that being the new Douchemobile.

Why XC60, thought XC90 would be more of your type, how about BMW X7?

 

[Piobaire]

Why XC60, thought XC90 would be more of your type, how about BMW X7?

These are cars for her. Where she works the parking structure is apparently pretty tight so she wanted to downsize a bit from her current GLE. Pretty sure the Q5 is no bigger, if not a little smaller, than the GLE. IMO, it's also a far superior ride and should cost less too. Win/win.

 

[clee1982]

well why does she need a SUV? If you already have a SUV have her get a Sedan, size problem easily solved.