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Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

dmitryzavyalov.livejournal.com

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Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#201

Post by mcguire »

keehun wrote: post #50
throwaway91111 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you opt for a rebuild (with lots of risk) when you have a refund offer?

The offer implied was that he'd get a brand-new Tesla with the exact same specifications as the one he had. Only, later, he found out he'd have to pay the full retail-price, which did not include the 16k "Showroom Discount." tldr: The author was excited about getting a brand-new Tesla, but a lot cheaper than a brand-new Tesla, which turned out to be false.

The offer implied he'd be getting the same car back. Tesla had already refused an exchange.

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#202

Post by mikestew »

Steeeve wrote: post #148
pmarreck wrote: post #11

I had the "12V battery problem" as well, which did require service. (I have a P85+.) I also had a more involved problem with the main battery which actually required them to swap the whole thing out for a temporary one, ship the original back to Fremont, and 1-2 months later I got my original battery swapped back in. (I got Tesla loaners both times it was in the shop for the swap.) I wasn't buzzkilled at all; I did k…

> I did kind of sign up for some growing pains with an all-new technology. I don't really subscribe to this line of thinking with a piece of equipment that is so expensive. That being said, I'm a car nut. I've gone through more than my share of vehicles over the years and the percentage that have been problem free straight out of the dealership is pretty low. I had a 5-series that my wife got to drive for a day befor…

I've gone through more than my share of vehicles over the years and the percentage that have been problem free straight out of the dealership is pretty low.

That's disappointing, only because as I go through my mental list of cars purchased new, I can't think of any major problems out of any of them. '82 Honda Accord: it never saw a dealer again after I drove it off the lot. 90-sumtin' Geo Prizm: problem-free. 2005 Scion xB: took it back for some rattles. 2010 Nissan Leaf: haven't done a damned thing to it other than change the crappy OEM tires.

Though comparing my list to yours: maybe you should buy less expensive cars. :-) The only new vehicle I've owned that had actual broken stuff to fix under warranty: 2014 BMW motorcycle, which has been back to the dealer more times than all of my other new vehicles combined (granted, that's only three times, and it has never left me stranded). Honda motorcycles: not a one ever saw a dealer's lot post-sale.

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#203

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

mschuster91 wrote: post #195
ars wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you manage to get any moisture or air into your brake systems, say goodbye to your brakes. That isn't true at all. You just bleed the air out, it's really easy, I've done it multiple times using just a small $5 brake bleeding bottle. The only way you'd get enough water in your brake system for it to cause a problem is if you poured it in there, or left it open for several days. > Back when I had a car, I did eve…

> The brakes are the easiest [major] thing of all to to fix on a car. Your caution was completely unnecessary. Yeah but when the brakes fail (or the steering, or the engine seizes) you usually end up injured or dead. If you have had a licensed mechanic dealing with the life-critical stuff and it turns out that it was the fault of the mechanic then you can at least sue his insurance for damages after the fact (or, if…

I've had complete brake failure due to a rusted brake line. There's no need to panic: I applied the emergency brake and pulled over to the side of the road, then drove to the nearest auto shop that was conveniently a block away.

Unfortunately, their insurance didn't cover dropping the gas tank that was in the way of replacing the brake lines, so then I had the fun of driving to the next nearest place two miles away with only a handbrake and engine compression to slow me down. Fun times!

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#204

Post by chemmail »

gkop wrote: post #64
cloudwalking wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a new BMW in 2012. I've had a lot of problems with it (including an entire new engine, covered under warranty), and I've always had to wait for BMW to service it. The wait is anywhere from a few days (car towed in and nobody looked for a few days) to two weeks (30k and 60k mile maintenance). I feel like everybody is being hyper-critical of Tesla because most people dislike the auto industry and see Tesla as…

At least with BMW, if you can afford to pay for service, despite being in-warranty, you have the option of going to an independent shop.

Anyone who can afford and BMW can afford to lease one to avoid all this crap.

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#205

Post by edude03 »

trome wrote: post #200
illumin8 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally love my i3... I get about 120 miles on pure battery, but once the range extender kicks in I get about 40 mpg on a small 3 gallon gasoline tank. It actually works out pretty well, because 99% of my driving is well within the 120 mile all electric range, it's super quiet, and accelerates at any speed! For the 1% of the time I need to go on a longer trip (longest so far is about 250 miles), I simply treat i…

Huh, I'd just get two 5gal gas cans and call that good, as I'd rather not stop off every hour to get gas at varying prices and levels of quality. Plus, in good chunks of Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas its easy to go nearly that far without seeing another building, let alone a gas station. There are wind turbines on the ridgelines tho, which are pretty.

Isn't that supposed to be dangerous?

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#206

Post by edude03 »

chc wrote: post #89
edude03 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about the BMW i3? The 2017 gets 120 miles to a charge and for a bit more money you can get an onboard generator to bring that up to 300 miles IIRC. The driver assist capabilities aren't as great but otherwise can't think of much to complain about.

I wouldn't consider it to be in the same class. 120 miles is much closer to the Leaf (which is widely dinged for its paltry range) than the Bolt or any of Tesla's cars. And the range when burning gas seems kind of beside the point to me since we're talking about battery electric vehicles here, not cars that run on gas. (Like, my 2010 Prius gets 450 miles, but that's because it isn't relying on its battery and instead…

I..... don't think that's a fair argument to make though. The leaf can't go anywhere when it's out of battery power AND the battery range is short. The Prius PHEV has a very short electric range so you'll mostly drive it on gas (and as far as I've heard, there are speed limitations on battery power). The i3 goes pretty far on battery power, farther than the leaf on battery, but as well you can add gas to get to the next charger and get back to battery power.

Arguably, I'd say the i3 is closer to the bolt than any other EV.

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#207

Post by ocdtrekkie »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #185
j_koreth wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're also free to write your own software for the vehicle to bypass Tesla. I thought the problem was that this part was illegal also

Its not. Write your own software, flash the vehicle. Its a herculean task, but possible, and not illegal.

It also, at the very least, voids the warranty on your potentially $160,000 car.

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#208

Post by vsl »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #166
lucaspiller wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do tesla's honestly not have any form of rear tow hitch/chassis/axle? I suspect the issue is more to do with the electric drive. There is no neutral unlike a traditional ICE vehicle, so any kind of towing could potentially damage the electric motors. I have a Prius and it's the same issue - if I need to get it taken to a garage, it's recommended to get a flatbed with a crane.

Electric motors default to being in neutral. If they produce voltage, and nothing consumes it, they spin freely.

Right. It’s that Teslas’ default mode is to be parked on brakes. You can tow it onto a flatbed, but you have to put it into a dedicated mode for it.

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#209

Post by vsl »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #7
automathematics wrote: post #2

Thanks for sharing this. I hope Tesla respond in time, as this seems very unacceptable to me.

Honest question: why root for Tesla? Great EVs are starting to appear from other manufacturers, so why cheer for one company in particular?

> Great EVs are starting to appear from other manufacturers

Where? Leaf is ugly and has crappy driver UI and limited range. i3 is ass-ugly, has terrible UI (as is to be expected given the manufacturer), Bolt is so-so, the best of the bunch and even it doesn’t have OTA updates.

As far as I’m concerned, nothing comes even close to Tesla with its huge charging network, actually good software and UI and regular car-improving OTA updates.

(I have nothing but good experience with their service, personally, in multiple locations. It’s not perfect, waiting times are long-ish, it’s a 4h drive each way to get there, but they are proactive and treat me better than any other service before. The sale process, that was another story closer to this article, and I’m scared shitless of crashing the car and not totalling it, but still, I love having owning a Tesla and wouldn’t go back.)

Re: Tesla Model S: the story of a very short happiness and excitement

#210

Post by mempko »

GreenPlastic wrote: post #120
mempko wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you need car towed for a flat tire???

We called Tesla roadside because other tire shops were closed and I didn't want to put the spare on myself. They offered to just tow it to the SC and have it fixed on them.

Putting on a spare takes 10 minutes. Unless you are physically challenged, I recommend you try it if you can. Though if you own a tesla, and they are as heavy as they say, hmmm
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