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Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

electrek.co

71–80 of 135 posts

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#71

I literally cancelled my Plaid S order and switched to a Model Y over the stupidity of the yoke. I simply could not square that circle, so to speak. They emailed me telling me it was going to be ready for delivery and I said, "you know what, I can tell I'm going to hate it." I'm really glad I did that. I simply cannot understand how the yoke ever made sense, aside from being a 13-year-old's idea of what a cool car wo…

The yoke is very comfortable to rest your hand on while FSD is enabled, doesn't obscure the instrument cluster display, and you get used to it immediately. Like the old saying goes, don't knock it till you've tried it.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#72

I have 20k miles driving a Model S with a Yoke. While I'm not a huge fan, the yoke itself is only part of the problem. The bigger problems are: 1. The capacitive buttons for turn signals. They are dangerous. They require taking eyes from the road, offer no feedback, and are honestly dangerous. 2. The horn. It's not in the middle. It's off to the side as a no-feedback capacitive button. Every time I've needed to use t…

The horn is in the middle now.

Besides, if you cover multiple buttons on the right with your palm, the horn will sound.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#73
post #64

I have 20k miles driving a Model S with a Yoke. While I'm not a huge fan, the yoke itself is only part of the problem. The bigger problems are: 1. The capacitive buttons for turn signals. They are dangerous. They require taking eyes from the road, offer no feedback, and are honestly dangerous. 2. The horn. It's not in the middle. It's off to the side as a no-feedback capacitive button. Every time I've needed to use t…

Do you feel like you’re happy with your model s given the issues/compromises of the yoke you mentioned above? The industry wide reduction of real buttons/switches and gauges is something that gives me pause on my next car purchase. I was initially thinking of getting a golf r but the infotainment and steering wheel capacitive buttons are almost universally criticized as really bad and there not being any real way to…

The VW CEO recently said that physical buttons would be coming back sometime this year, so you may be able to get that Golf after all. :-)

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/tech/vw-infotainment-...

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#75
I've driven the Model S for 13 months. Initially I was very apprehensive. But here is how my thinking has progressed: 1. 30 days prior to acquiring the car, I solely drove with hands on 3-and-9 in my conventional car; 2. First 30 days of driving, I practiced the turn signals and and horn at random parts of my drive to develop muscle memory; 3. First 6 months, I fully adapted to the 3-and-9 handling. I had 'button mishaps' maybe 2-5% of the time; 4. Final 7 months, button-errors diminished to sub-1%. Some maneuvers are actually easier in the yoke than with a regular wheel. A U-turn is reminiscent of using the old rotary-dial telephones. You just dial the wheel counter-clockwise by hooking your left pointer-finger in the small valley on the upper left of the yoke.

I drive with some quirks that remove certain issues others have with the yoke. I never park next to a car -- and benefit from longer walks to stores, etc. Consequently, I rarely have any surprises as I pull in and out, and don't need to make sudden maneuvers. Moreover, even in the telephone-dial turn technique, my turning hand knows exactly where the 3 O'clock or 9 O'clock position is, and can adjust from 'dialing' to grasping.

Now I've had experience piloting various aircraft -- so, its remotely possible I have slightly more brain plasticity than your average bear. So your mileage may vary. I also benefit from the advantage of driving through icy conditions once every 3 years or so.

TL;DR: By six months of driving, my early apprehensions were allayed, and all phases of driving are no worse while driving the yoke.

Oh, and in case you think I have any weird biases: Elon Musk sucks in managing Tesla for the last 12 months, at least.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#76
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still got a way to go until it reaches a sane valuation, and the stock is still falling.

I'd love for it to drop to a 'sane' valuation so I could get in. Already itching to pull the trigger, but I think it could shave off another $20-30.

You could sell secured put options and end up making a decent return even if it doesn't drop

http://opcalc.com/PJM

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#77

I literally cancelled my Plaid S order and switched to a Model Y over the stupidity of the yoke. I simply could not square that circle, so to speak. They emailed me telling me it was going to be ready for delivery and I said, "you know what, I can tell I'm going to hate it." I'm really glad I did that. I simply cannot understand how the yoke ever made sense, aside from being a 13-year-old's idea of what a cool car wo…

The yoke is very comfortable to rest your hand on while FSD is enabled, doesn't obscure the instrument cluster display, and you get used to it immediately. Like the old saying goes, don't knock it till you've tried it.

But the Y has no instrument cluster. Which is one of my favorite features! Because in any other car, I always find part of the instrument cluster occluded by the wheel.

I do agree that the yoke partially solves this problem, but it introduces many others (so I've heard; I admit I haven't tried it). Regardless, I'd just rather have no cluster.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#78
post #42
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are significant and effective federal regulations around this. If you are telling the truth, your steering wheel is way too high, and you need to lower it

Not who you are responding to, but I have a tall sitting height and I suspect that the steering wheel is too low . Consider this diagram of a properly adjusted steering wheel (instrumentation is where the "II" is): /----\ / II \ |------| \ / \----/ If you are tall what can happen is: /-II-\ / \ |------| \ / \----/ A telescoping steering wheel helps quite a bit because you can adjust your seat back/forth more to get a…

Exactly. This happens to me because I'm tall. If I adjust the wheel to not obscure the cluster, then it's no longer comfortable for my back/shoulders.

My single favorite feature of the 3/Y is that there is no instrument cluster.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#79
post #63

I have 20k miles driving a Model S with a Yoke. While I'm not a huge fan, the yoke itself is only part of the problem. The bigger problems are: 1. The capacitive buttons for turn signals. They are dangerous. They require taking eyes from the road, offer no feedback, and are honestly dangerous. 2. The horn. It's not in the middle. It's off to the side as a no-feedback capacitive button. Every time I've needed to use t…

Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) mentioned that his right capacitive turn signal button is occasionally unresponsive with his Model S Plaid and he's had to resort to lane changes without a turn signal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34VZzBWBDN0&t=648s Granted, this is one anecdotal case. But when spending over 100K on a car, features like this should be bullet-proof. Actually ... scratch that. Features like this should be bu…

Features like these should be bulletproof because they pose a serious safety hazard.

Safety features should be priority number one for any car manufacturer. You can ship with a crappy infotainment system but please don’t screw around with basic safety.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#80
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was probably a cost-saving measure, just like the touchpad in lieu of a physical console.

On Model 3 it's needed to have cost saving measures, on Model S it isn't.

Which is what makes it doubly tragic when they are not needed, but shipped anyways.
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