| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
The Model Y Dual Motor is an absolutely outstanding vehicle, at least for warmer climes. There just is no denying it. | ||
| Blake |
My dear wife purchased a new 2024 model in February. I never even test drove it. It was all her doing, though with the 7,500 dollar federal tax credit and another 2,500 dollars of dealer incentives, 10,000 dollars total, it seemed to be a great deal, so I urged her to grab it. It also saves around 1,500 dollars in fuel and maintenance costs per year. She reliably puts 15,000 miles per year on her vehicles mostly drives 30 miles round trip to work and back, with trips to the Dallas area to visit family, and occasional journeys to San Antonio or abroad. | ||
| Blake |
We took it from TX to NY and back in July, 2,700 miles all tolled. Full self driving, FSD, is awesome, like you have a chauffeur. Only drawback? People will forget how to drive. We cruised at 75 to 85 mph. Her bladder was the limiting factor in mileage between stops, but at 80 mph, you will be stopping after 240 miles to recharge up to 90 percent. We put 2,700 miles on it that trip all tolled, requiring 238 dollars in supercharging, and maybe 40 bucks worth of home charging. | ||
| Blake |
I appreciate the low cost of fueling it, virtually zero maintenance, and that my wife need never again pump gasoline, favorite hangout of muggers. I do not like the touch screen user interface. It will likely evolve to be more user friendly. Learning all the voice commands is key. It is a very high quality vehicle. It handles like it is on rails, and accelerates like a beast. It will drive the 120 miles to Dallas and back (240 miles total) with plenty of battery charge in reserve. (Message edited by Blake on September 28, 2024) | ||
| Blake |
This might seem nothing much, but it is so nice to not have to constantly clean the wheels or wheel cover, no brake dust. You almost never need touch the brake pedal. The accelerator pedal and regenerative braking serve 99.9 percent of braking use. | ||
| Blake |
I truly am blown away by its quality and performance, very surprised at how impressed I am by it. It is a hot rod too. On a trip returning from San Antonio, we got behind a car on a two lane road cruising at 70 mph. When a passing opportunity opened up, I floored it. Michele was not expecting it, and let out a What the Hell!? LOL! Too much fun. The thing went from 70 to 100 mph before I knew it. More later. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Thanks for posting your impressions of the car. It's good to see all the positive info from a confirmed gearhead. | ||
| Blake |
The entire roof is 90% tinted glass. Passengers in the back seat especially have a really cool view of the sky. The negative is the heating when parked without something to shade the roof. The car will vent and even run AC to prevent the cabin from overheating too much. Seven cameras, one in cabin, two on each side, one front, and one rear, monitor for threats of many types. Videos are automatically recorded on a memory stick for review. Many a vandal and hit and run perp have been identified thanks to the Tesla sentry system. Even without FSD or auto drive (now a stock feature that maintains speed and course, slows for traffic in your lane, but provides no navigation), the car will prevent you from inadvertently running off the road, crossing lane markers, or colliding with stuff. It will be interesting to see how accident rates and insurance premiums may decline with such technology in play. | ||
| Aesquire |
I've been watching the evolution of "auto pilot" in aviation for decades and the earliest versions just kept altitude and heading, from before WW2. Fast forward to today, and the FAA seems to have postponed the centralized airplane control dream since the tech nerds developed an anti collision system where the plane's computers talk to each other. That's becoming mandatory with very limited exception. And that exception is based on the legacy flying things that don't have an electrical system. Balloons to Cubs. The "old, manual, things" have to avoid the controlled airspace, leaving a shrinking volume for recreational activities. The road going systems in the Tesla are FAR more advanced. That 757 doesn't have cameras or lidar, it's computing spatial and vector relationships between equipped airplanes, not onboard sensors. My fear/prediction is that the bureaucrats will ban manual control based on the demands from big donors who haven't, can't, or don't want to develop auto - drive that can handle unpredictable things like pedestrians and bicyclists and motorcyclists, etc. The FAA would really prefer nothing fly except the high rollers in Commercial flight on predictable sky roads, it's where the Money is. But that eliminates the ability to train, commute, and fly for fun. So... Not yet. The DOT is in a highly accelerated world where the technology is advancing faster than the bureaucracy can understand and control it. ( the FAA has had a century of history to work with ) And I'll blame/credit Tesla's founder.  The danger to us manual riders is the bureaucracy freezing technology & regulations before it can accommodate us. | ||
| Blake |
Musk is a wonder, no doubt. I'll be very curious to see if he'll decide to go toe-to-toe with the budget Chinese EVs. That would be great. As it is they are cooperating partners with little market overlap. The Chinese have the best batteries, and Tesla uses a lot of them. | ||
| Blake |
Oh yeah, the Model Y Dual Motor is the most made in America vehicle on the planet; the batteries are made in Nevada; the car is made in Texas, so yee hah! | ||
| Blake |
But the U.S.A. made batteries degrade faster if regularly charged above 90%, or depleted below 10%, so for daily commuting it's recommended to set charging limit at no greater than 80%, about 250 miles of total range, or roughly 220 miles considering recharging at 10%, so you'd only be using 70% of the total battery capacity. | ||
| Blake |
The Chinese batteries can reportedly handle routinely being charged to 100%, and discharged to near 0% with no added degradation over time. That is probably my biggest complaint. But we/she rarely need more than 70% or 220 miles, so it's not really an issue for us. Small bladder governs.  |
