satiger

iTrader: (1)

During X-mas break visited friend of mine who recently purchased 2014 Tesla S (base model). Been hearing and reading about Tesla, I was excited to go for a test drive.

Here are my take based on limited driving;
Pros:

• Quick acceleration
• Near silent (see below)
• Rear camera view while cruising

Cons;

• Interior material quality and workmanship - I was bit surprised with interior leather and other materials used in 2014 S. It looks very cheap and plastic kind of feeling
• Steering - not impressed with steering response. I didn't feel the responsiveness. If I were to rate that steering responsiveness compare to LS460, I would say 14 LS > 12LS > 14 S
• Humming sound- when ever accelerator is pressed (acc or cruising), I heard a constant high pitch humming sound. My friend told me its due to battery discharge (?).Its annoying to have that in a near silent car.
• While cruising or accelerating, passengers in the car felt bit of dizziness and uneasiness in tummy. First my friend's wife complained about this and I didn't believe until I sat there as a passenger. Another friend of us also experienced the same. Not exactly sure whether its just this car or a characteristics of S.
• Back seat - back row seating is not as comfortable as in LS.

Again, this S is not fully loaded one. Overall, as a passenger I prefer LS ride over S. As a driver, fast acceleration gives an edge over LS. I am bit surprised as to why Elon Musk didn't pay attention to driving characteristics of S as well interior quality. Both can easily be addressed as they have upper hand in battery technology as will autonomous readiness.

On the other hand LS and Benz S have matured in interior as well driver/passenger comfort, have to catchup on battery technology (if they choose to go in that route) as well get ready for autonomous cars - which will be inevitable.

tofuprod

I pretty much agree with your summary above.
On my friend's P100D and his wife's Model X, the craftsmanship particularly when it came to the body lines not matching up right, really threw me off.

For the battery discharge noise, I've heard that myself but found it expected.
For the price of a Tesla, even now with having a few 3's in our areas, I believe you pay more for the pioneering aspect of things. I do like Tesla, but do not 'love' it as I once felt I did. Granted I do believe I understand their 'minimalistic' approach to the interior and a few other areas, and having ample cargo space is quite nice, but for the overall comfort and refinement, I don't believe it would be in the same class as a LS, even for a similar price point.

mikebrinda

I can't yet get pass "battery charge anxiety" especially on cross-country trips. Maybe someday, just not today.

texaslocal

satiger

iTrader: (1)

From outside I could hear electric motor running, bit lower dbs than LS (after direct injection sound settles). Bit of a surprise for me here as its harder for engineers to suppress IC engine sound. Lexus and others have done a remarkable job in containing IC/drive train sound. Tesla could do better job in muting electric motor sound, easier to do in electric motors than IC engine sound.

Inside is very quite except for that high pitch humming and bit of road noise. I didn't hear any wind noise, the day we did test drive wind was calm so I can't for sure say there could be wind noise or not.

Since you asked about wind noise, I remember something else related - door weather strips/seals. They looked very pale and hard - not supple. Hard to believe a garage kept car in South CA weather would deteriorate that fast. They need to focus on materials and workmanship if they want to compete against other luxury brands in long term reliability.

Another observation I missed in the original posting was front headlight assembly. This S and 2012 Benz ML350 parked in the garage next to each other. Looking at both headlights side by side its very clear ML headlight housing is very clear/transparent and glass like where as S headlight housing looked like a plastic piece not very transparent as ML.

Nospinzone

We test drove a Model S last winter because my wife considered it as a replacement for her car. On the Mass Turnpike the interior noise was very noticeable, it was louder than my LS. I thought maybe the car had snow tires on it, but it did not. I don't know what caused the noise, but it was unacceptable for an electric car.

This holiday we drove to Quebec City. At the service area on Rte. 93 in New Hampshire there were two Teslas parked at the charging station when we pulled in. We used the restrooms, bought some snacks, went into the market to buy lottery tickets, went into the liquor store to shop around awhile, all told spent about 15-18 minutes. When we left, the Teslas were stilled hooked up. Not for me.

texaslocal

Craiger

I just bought a Volvo XC60 from a guy who just took delivery of a Tesla SUV, whatever it's called. He turned it back in within a week because the seats were too uncomfortable.

On the other hand we just drove our '08 LS460L on a 3,500 mile road trip. We got out and stretched every couple of hours but the whole time I felt comfortable. And man, at speed the big Lexus feels like it's on rails. What a great car.

The Volvo has uncomfortable seats too. They are R-Design seats with side support on the seat portion. They push up into your legs and get quite painful. A lot of companies are making their seats too narrow these days.

DavidinCT

Yea, the charging thing would drive me nuts but, dam those cars can get really fast. I forget the video, I think it was top gear (was a while ago) where they did a race with the Tesla SUV in it's fastest mode, go head to head against a Ferrari F430 in a race. The Tesla was nose to nose with the Ferrari.

Impressive performance but, the battery life was like under 30 min or something like that....still cool. Nice concepts but, when a car can do 600+ miles before needing a charge and could charge from 10% to 100% in under a hour, I would be impressed.

satiger

iTrader: (1)

I personally believe Elon Musk's focus is to improve battery life aka providing long range and shorter re-charge time. Knowing other stuff such as material quality, workmanship, refinement, comfort etc could be achieved relatively easier, he is banking on early adopters to fund his battery technology.

Unless others catch-up with battery technology or alternate technology within next couple of years, Elon Musk will have upper hand in luxury car market. Think about an electric car, LS or Benz S like in luxury and refinement, gives say 1000 miles per charge and provides re-charge within 15 min or so........ he will win the market share. Since Tesla cars run by software, bugs and new features can be push over the air. Remember our dear LS still uses hard drive or optical drive for maps!.

DavidinCT

I agree with you but, the battery tech is just not there yet. Billions are spent a year looking into it (by many companies) That is the whole problem with electric cars. It's just like modern cell phones, you can fit all this tech into a phone but, your still using battery tech from 10 years ago, although stream lined, STILL 10+ years ago. We still have to wait a few hours for a phone to be charged (even with Qualcomm quick charge) and 98% of the phones don't last more than a day to 2. Never mind smart watches (still sporting a Pebble Time steel)

I look forward to a better tech for batteries for cars but I just don't see anything NEW coming any time soon. I do a lot of research on this and have been watching this subject.

and for Lexus upgrade tech... So 1990's... way behind the times but, a lot of car dealers are like that. and in this day, not too many people PAY extra for a internet connection IN THE CAR. If it was more mainstream, I would think this would change quite a bit.

roadfrog

I agree with your observations regarding material quality. It was startling to me how cheap the materials looked, and how flimsy everything seemed. I assume that this is in an effort to offset the weight of the vehicle due to batteries.

R Z

My next door neighbor's son has a Tesla (don't know the year or model). He had to make 2 charging stops between somewhere in NC to Memphis last year at Christmas. So this year he drove his F150 and trailored his Ferrari. Makes much more sense.

texaslocal