icrashbikes Fifth gear | Join Date: Jul 2019 Location: NJ Posts: 3,341 |
icrashbikes
Fifth gear
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: NJ
Posts: 3,341
Well this is a first, I used the car for a full week without plugging in. I forgot to reduce the charge limit last Thursday and Friday morning there were 75 percents in the tank and I had nowhere to go. Between not having a lot of work appointments and having the Miata and the bikes available, I drove the Tesla every day but not all that much. It's less than a percent to get the kid to and from school. It's four percent to get to wrestling practice. Two percent to do a round of grocery shopping. It adds up, but not that fast just puttering around locally. I finished up today at 15% so I finally plugged it in. In fact that reminds me, I have to set the charge limit back to the minimum.. Done.
Some driving thoughts I've neglected to put down:
One thing I like a lot about having the Miata back is the brakes. There's no shame in mashing the brakes when there's no regen to be had. I get so used to using the regen and timing the deceleration to get everything I can out of it that I hardly ever touch the brake pedal, and I pretty much never stomp on the pedal. Braking hard is one of life's joys though and I'm having fun with it in the summer vehicles.
The Miata needs gas. It'll be the first fill since October. Since this chore is imminent, I checked the gas prices at the local stations. One wants - are you ready for this? - $5.50/GALLON for premium. That's INSANE. What has been happening since I stopped paying attention?? Fortunately, they aren't the only game in town. The guy on the other side of the highway wants $4.69 and the one closest to me that I usually use is a little less. Still! I paid in the $3.90 range last year. In 2022 at peak gas prices (when I bought the Tesla), premium was in the low $5s. Good grief. That's like $50 a tank. I spend $50/month to hoon the Tesla like an ignorant teenager. I can't say I miss buying gas. Between the stops and the volatility in the price it kinda sucks. I've paid the same rate for electric since I bought the Tesla (since I bought my house probably) and I don't expect it to change. Maybe this is normal and I've just been away from it but yikes.
I'm going to hold off (I think) on the M3P update. It's just not enough of a step up for my use to justify the purchase. The tax credit is a big plus and I may end up kicking myself in a year or two if it goes away, but I'm really happy with my car and I just don't feel motivated to trade up. I love this car. Love it.
I've had the FSD trial for a few weeks now. I don't use it. I'm just not interested in having the car drive for me. Autopilot is nice in place of cruise control but even that I rarely use anymore. I prefer to drive. If FSD were sorted out and 100% foolproof, I still don't think I'd use it. Even the self-parking, it just takes too long, there are too many steps, it's just easier to park the car than go through the rigmarole. I read that Tesla is considering LIDAR on future models and I thought that was something I might wait a few model years for, but in the end it's not going to do anything for me because I don't use the driver assist features. It was fun exploring the Autopilot function early on, but it's old news now and it's about as exciting as cruise control is on any other car.
The traction control in this car is really top notch. We had a lot of rain recently and I put it to the test and it does a stunning job of keeping the car in line and accomplishing a high percentage of what the driver requests through steering and throttle inputs without feeling intrusive. Really, it does it without feeling much of anything. It's an order of magnitude better than any other traction control system I've felt, and consistently so in every condition since I've owned the car. It's remarkable. There must be something fundamentally different in TC implementation in an EV that allows for borderline supernatural performance.
On the other hand, the automatic windshield wipers SUCK. They continue to suck through every update. The latest update actually improved the manual wiper controls significantly, but the auto setting is just passable enough to keep me from using the manual settings. I press the mist wipe button a lot though. And I get a lot of random dry-weather wipes. It's almost enough to keep me from using it. Almost. Am I getting lazy?
Anyway, these are the things I think about while I'm driving. I enjoy sharing them with you fine folks.
I did take a few pics of the FSD visualization. I think it's really neat.
It sees a really impressive range of stuff
The self-park option comes up automatically. Just tap a space and it'll back you in. I back in faster though..
It even sees brake lights and turn signals. Really cool
