Tesla, the absolute best car!

I guess I've gotta get out and drive an S, I drove the sports car and it's a freaking hoot, balanced better than a Lamborgini and way more comfortable.
 
PilotGreene said:
I might as well step into this mess for my first post too.

Pilots are heavily represented as Tesla Model S owners and for good reason.
1. You get to do some flight planning figuring out range (although at 265 miles of range, daily commuting does not take much planning. Just plug in when you get home).
2. The acceleration is not unlike giving it full throttle on your takeoff roll. Except they acceleration is NOW rather than a few seconds after you advance the throttle. 4.x to 5.x second 0-60 times depending on model.
3. The 17" screen (which can be split in two) has a feel of a glass cockpit. It has Slacker for music, road map/GPS with traffic, and web access as long as you are in cell coverage area. all for FREE. I have weather maps and TAF Data Access as two of my web favorites. Pretty nice to have at a glance when you are thinking about flying.
4. The whole car is well thought out and well engineered and darn good looking. The car handles like a dream. Software updates pushed right to your car.
5. Driving the car reminds me of the fun of flying. I enjoy my commute, just like I enjoy flying to a destination.
6. The cost is familiar - similar to buying a used 172 or 182 :wink2: In the 60's for a stripped down base model to over 100k for the fastest version if you add all options.

Pilots are generally pretty bright. Do some research and come to your own conclusions. Test drive one as part of your research. You can thank me later.

Full disclosure: Not a TSLA shareholder, just a happy Tesla customer.
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:needpics:



I still wouldn't trade ya this .. :fingerwag:


1971 383 h.p. Dodge Challenger R/T .. Holley 670 Street Avenger carb, headers, mild cam ..

... the tesla may beat me running, but not loud and stinky. it thumps and smells on 100LL :rockon:
 
txflyer said:
:needpics:



I still wouldn't trade ya this .. :fingerwag:


1971 383 h.p. Dodge Challenger R/T .. Holley 670 Street Avenger carb, headers, mild cam ..

... the tesla may beat me running, but not loud and stinky. it thumps and smells on 100LL :rockon:
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Ahhh. Reminds me of my first new car I bought,1971 Plymouth Barracuda, sassygrass green , black vinyl top. Only had a 318 w/auto. $3,064 out the door.
Very nice Challenger you have there:yes:
 
txflyer said:
I still wouldn't trade ya this .. :fingerwag:


1971 383 h.p. Dodge Challenger R/T .. Holley 670 Street Avenger carb, headers, mild cam ..

... the tesla may beat me running, but not loud and stinky. it thumps and smells on 100LL :rockon:
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See that's what people seem to be missing. It's not an either, or situation. You can have both cars. Just because you drive a Tesla to work, doesn't mean you can't drive vintage muscle on the weekend. It's kind of sad that the electric car has been labeled the green weenie, savior of the planet car. I can understand why, but Tesla is here to demonstrate a different vision of the electric car. It's an electric car that is just a better car. I hope other manufacturers step up to compete and give us more options.

I wish I could afford one just so I could put NRA, EAA, AOPA stickers on the window.
 
Yep, my buddy with the MiEV for his daily commute has 1970 440 R/T Challenger that was a factory 440 car.
 
Dav8or said:
See that's what people seem to be missing. It's not an either, or situation. You can have both cars. Just because you drive a Tesla to work, doesn't mean you can't drive vintage muscle on the weekend...
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Or it doesn't mean you can't fly a plane that uses petroleum fuel on the weekend. I don't know if people fear change or if they have other reasons for putting down electric cars, but after you think about them for a while they make a ton of sense.

Nice car BTW Off Field!
 
SCCutler said:
Huh? You mean, "The State of Texas requires that Tesla comply with the same automobile dealer law with which every other manufacturer selling cars in the state complies?"

There is no "Anti-Tesla Law," just dealer licensing laws designed to provide some basic consumer-protection. It is not as if the law has ever been a big secret...
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Um, basic consumer-protection or basic dealer-lifestyle-"don't rock the boat we built"-protection?

www.autonews.com/article/20130909/RETAIL07/130909878/how-texas-dealers-slammed-the-door-on-tesla

jalopnik.com/how-petty-money-politics-crushed-tesla-in-texas-1286201748


How Tesla sells in Texas:
http://www.teslamotors.com/advocacy_texas
 
about the whole NADA dealer thing....
Laws were put into place to protect franchised dealers that dump tons of money into developing a market for a brand from being displaced by a factory owned store once the market was established.

Tesla knows dealers can not sell Model S next to any other piston engine car without explaining why the (bread and butter) piston engine car is a PoS. They rightly identified that their only chance was to sell direct thus Tesla has never engaged a single franchised dealer. Again, the laws in question were to protect the franchised dealer from the manufacturer. No franchisee, no protection needed.

Do you want franchised BMW (or any other brand) dealers using these laws to prevent you from buying an American made car in your state? It is a perversion of the original intent and a chicken dump way to try to slow Tesla down. I guess if it is all you got, you do what you have to do but this will sort itself out quick enough.

Moving on to the real meat and potatoes here.
Everyone here can answer this question in short order by climbing behind the wheel and going for a spin. I sold one to a guy at my local airport (F45) and am always willing to give rides. No, I'm not a Tesla salesman, just an enthusiastic owner. He had no idea who Tesla was before the ride so there must be something to this Model S thing.

Oh, and if you know how to use pedals, we can even go fly up side down afterwards :)
 
I'm pretty sure Texas is the only state where consumers can't buy a car online from carsdirect.com and similar sites.

Here in Texas you pretty much have to haggle. Because the car dealers own our legislature.
 
Interesting. Seems like a lot of effort to trash talk Tesla. Reckon he was hired by the oil guys?
 
Just test drove a black Tesla Model S +P85 two weeks ago. This was the top of the line model with the biggest motor. Man - is all I can say! I have never felt acceleration like that. It was like a giant invisible hand just thrusted me forward only accompanied by wind noise! And whenever I thought I really pressed the accelerator down and was driving actively, the sales rep kept saying I wasn't even close to max. Car handled really well on the curvy road and the adjustable regenerative braking I got used to instantly. Almost never had to use the brakes.

I was already partial to it, but the test drive set off a serious desire. It's a little more money than I'd like to spend, but I'm still thinking about it. Be about $1000/month over 60 months. That's a lot of money for a car. But then again I have to deduct the fuel savings and the maintenance savings from that, which is no small sum. Me and my fiancee probably spend around $200/week on gas. Not to mention the ability to access car pool lanes here in congested California.

This week they announced the smaller Model 3 to be released in a few years. Guide price would be $35K for that model. It's seriously pretty as well, but I'm not sure I can wait 3 more years…

Here's the announced Model 3:

model-e_2.jpg


Here's the one I test drove:
 

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So when are you going to drive it home? My buddy went the cheapie electric car route and got the Mitsubishi MiEV, he says it costs him $12 a week to commute 60 miles a day plus general family driving. IIRC he paid like $12,700 for it after all was said and done with programs and rebates.
 
Make sure you price insurance on it first and factor that in. The repair costs for simple body damage can be breathtaking, like 3x what it would be on most other cars.
 
This guy didn't even make it off the lot

700_o16128.jpg
 
stratobee said:
Just test drove a black Tesla Model S +P85 two weeks ago. This was the top of the line model with the biggest motor. Man - is all I can say! I have never felt acceleration like that. It was like a giant invisible hand just thrusted me forward only accompanied by wind noise! And whenever I thought I really pressed the accelerator down and was driving actively, the sales rep kept saying I wasn't even close to max. Car handled really well on the curvy road and the adjustable regenerative braking I got used to instantly. Almost never had to use the brakes.

I was already partial to it, but the test drive set off a serious desire. It's a little more money than I'd like to spend, but I'm still thinking about it. Be about $1000/month over 60 months. That's a lot of money for a car. But then again I have to deduct the fuel savings and the maintenance savings from that, which is no small sum. Me and my fiancee probably spend around $200/week on gas. Not to mention the ability to access car pool lanes here in congested California.

This week they announced the smaller Model 3 to be released in a few years. Guide price would be $35K for that model. It's seriously pretty as well, but I'm not sure I can wait 3 more years…
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I have a buddy that is a die hard gear head. He was in CA went to the factory, took a test drive, and bought one. He was really impressed and he drives a GT500 or a Corvette most of the time. Anyway, they are great cars, most of the detractors have never driven one.

If you have solar, I would do it in a minute. Even without that if the range won't be an issue, why not?
 
They're fine cars. The market is still completely saturated with plenty of solid used cars that one can pay 1/10 of that for them and own two or three as spares, drive for at least another five to ten years easily with minimal maintenance, and fully insure them for less than $1000/year. Even with adding in fuel, they're not hitting the price point necessary yet. It's just economics.
 
I like the Tesla car... But, I'm also interested in the new Fuel Cell tech that Toyota just announced. FC has significantly more range to it.
 
jmp470 said:
I like the Tesla car... But, I'm also interested in the new Fuel Cell tech that Toyota just announced. FC has significantly more range to it.
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I've been interested in this as well, and put my name in the hat back when Honda was running that test program for their Clarity. Unfortunately I wasn't chosen. :(

That said, a Tesla S would be pretty incredible to own. They're all over the place in Socal these days.
 
Everyone I know who has driven them, love them. Too much money...
 
Skylane81E said:
Even at 50% efficiency still beast an internal combustion engine...
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Not if the power came from fossil fuel-fired powerplants. They aren't anywhere near efficient, either. Add up all the losses, from the powerplant's fuel to the electric car's wheels, and I bet we'd see at least the same sort of 75% loss as the IC engine. Maybe worse.

Dan
 
Dan Thomas said:
Not if the power came from fossil fuel-fired powerplants. They aren't anywhere near efficient, either. Add up all the losses, from the powerplant's fuel to the electric car's wheels, and I bet we'd see at least the same sort of 75% loss as the IC engine. Maybe worse.

Dan
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Well, first off, a modern combined cycle gas plant is a lot cleaner and more efficient than an automotive engine. The NG is cleaner to begin with and then the new combined cycle plants are running 50% thermal efficiency rather than 27%, and there are no refining costs nearly comparable to oil, with NG.

With Panasonic and Elon Musk building the battery "gigaplant' or whatever he is calling it, combined with putting all is patents in public domain, we will see a large quants of battery cars on the street. Amsterdam has really adopted it well and there are reserved parking spots with chargers all over the city. The taxi's are still Diesel though, the city is rife for a hydrogen project and there is a perfect canal boat for sale to set it up on. Run it on off peak wind energy. Any investors? Need $2MM-$3MM
 
Just to make sure Tesla fans are aware of the environmental impact of electric cars. Electric cars make twice the amount of green house gas as mogas cars.

Remember, the electricity comes from a coal fired plant. If you want electric cars to be truly green, ya gotta push for nuke power plants. oh wait. Is that okay?
 
CTLSi said:
Just to make sure Tesla fans are aware of the environmental impact of electric cars. Electric cars make twice the amount of green house gas as mogas cars.

Remember, the electricity comes from a coal fired plant. If you want electric cars to be truly green, ya gotta push for nuke power plants. oh wait. Is that okay?
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If the electricity comes from a coal fired plant. It is at 42% and declining. Many places you can also specify green energy. You won't find me arguing against nuclear energy, but you can't get it passed the Mommy Lobby especially after Fukashima. The nuclear we have to develop is Thorium based. IIRC the NB-36 project used a Thorium reactor and I'm pretty sure it's India with one up and running. The only reason our nuclear energy industry is uranium based is that we use the utilities' reactors to make the plutonium for our weapons. If we had developed nuclear energy for peaceful intent, it would have been Thorium. So, we wasted a lot of money in uranium infrastructure to assure against a war that never materialized, but the research crosses over and much of the power plant infrastructure of a uranium fueled power plant can be reused with a different thermal source.
 
I have driven one- the fit and finish along with the performance are outstanding, as would be expected of a luxury car. It's not just the electric technology, where in my opinion the endurance and charge times could be better. It's the difference between the latest Cirrus, Eclipse, Citation versus a clapped out old 152. They're all airplanes, but...

Still, it could be a game changer in terms of future technology. As has been said, most detractors have never driven one.
 
CTLSi said:
Just to make sure Tesla fans are aware of the environmental impact of electric cars. Electric cars make twice the amount of green house gas as mogas cars.

Remember, the electricity comes from a coal fired plant. If you want electric cars to be truly green, ya gotta push for nuke power plants. oh wait. Is that okay?
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All my electricity comes from here:

IMG_0466_zps82ec8031.jpg


If they'd make a Tesla that could climb this five months out of the year:

12-22tractor_zps28d51ab1.jpg


I'd buy one.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Not if the power came from fossil fuel-fired powerplants. They aren't anywhere near efficient, either. Add up all the losses, from the powerplant's fuel to the electric car's wheels, and I bet we'd see at least the same sort of 75% loss as the IC engine. Maybe worse.

Dan
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Really? I suppose you think the gasoline you put in your car naturally bubbles out of the ground right at the gas station. Stop and think about the enormous amount of energy it takes to suck crappy crude out of the ground, transport it half the way around the world, refine it into something your car can use, then truck it to where ever you are. Combined with the usual terrible 25-30% efficiency of the ICE and you get what? Maybe 5% efficiency?

Electric powered vehicles are a good thing. They are the future. The ICE needs to get it's tired ass to the museum.
 
DeeG said:
All my electricity comes from here:

IMG_0466_zps82ec8031.jpg


If they'd make a Tesla that could climb this five months out of the year:

12-22tractor_zps28d51ab1.jpg


I'd buy one.
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Your electricity comes from the 'grid' not one specific plant. The bulk of US power comes from coal plants, about 18% from nukes, about 2% from all other sources including wind, solar.

For instance, the waste water nuke plant near Phoenix supplies Los Angeles with 10% of its power.
 
DeeG said:
If they'd make a Tesla that could climb this five months out of the year:

12-22tractor_zps28d51ab1.jpg


I'd buy one.
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Well, the soon to be available Model X is going to be all wheel drive. Front and rear motors. Loads of instant, near unstoppable torque on tap. However if you need a tractor to get to your house, the Tesla farm and construction models may be a ways off yet...
 
CTLSi said:
For instance, the waste water nuke plant near Phoenix supplies Los Angeles with 10% of its power.
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Well since you mentioned California and that is where I would be using my electric car, I'll post this from the California Energy Commission-

Electricity supplies from existing coal and petroleum coke plants represented about 8 percent of the total energy requirements to serve loads in California load during 2012. A little over 93 percent of this coal-based energy came from power plants located outside California. From 2007 to 2012, coal energy imports declined by 18 percent, a trend that will continue through 2019 as existing contracts expire and as ownership interests are divested or retired.

From 2007 to 2012, energy from in-state coal and petroleum (pet) coke plants declined by 62 percent. Eight in-state coal and pet coke plants retired or stopped operating in 2011 and 2012. Of the 16 in-state coal and pet coke plants that once operated in California, only two coal plants and one pet coke plant continued to operate in 2013, and the capacity of in-state coal-fired generation dropped almost 200 megawatts from 2012 to 2013.
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Where I will use and operate an electric car, or any other electric vehicle that comes along, I will be utilizing very little coal.
 
DeeG said:
All my electricity comes from here:

IMG_0466_zps82ec8031.jpg



I'd buy one.
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Please don't ever consider the dams on the Columbia / Upper Snake to be environmentally friendly.

I got thousands of miles of good salmon fishing rivers and creeks that don't have fish in them.




(But, to stay on topic, I would love a Tesla. A buddy bought one in Calif, and they are more and more impressed with it each month. They have owned big Mercedes, BMW's, Audis, etc... and the Tesla is impressing them each time they drive it.)
 
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