Originally Posted by Liberty

Yeah, after a test drive, I went from indifferent to a Tesla fan boy pretty quick. I love the idea of the cyber truck but it’s too outrageous for me. My family all wanted to get it but I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t even going to drive it but my son really wanted to so we did. As much as I don’t like the attention seeking appearance, that thing was an incredible fun vehicle to drive! No doubt about it, it was super cool! If they ever tone it down a bit, I’m definitely getting one.
Note: for those that don’t know, visiting a Tesla dealer is nothing like visiting a car dealer. It’s much more like an Apple Store experience. They aren’t salesman but facilitators to answer your questions and assist you in test drives. They don’t go with you, you leave with the car and go enjoy. They aren’t trying to sell you, check your credit, ask about monthly payments, etc… they just wish you a good day and you leave. If you want to buy one, you do it in on your phone. Set price, no haggling, seasonal deals, super easy! So, if you have a dealer nearby, grab the wife and kids and go spend a couple hours of free fun. Be careful though, the vehicle sells itself! 😂

Originally Posted by flyguy81

Nice. For the price of the X, I figured you don’t get that much
more bang for your buck your buck. She’s got a minivan now and that does terrible in the snow so gonna get her something with AWD/4WD. She never goes more than 30 mi from home or I’m driving so a EV works for the range.

Originally Posted by flensr

Chrysler pacifica plug-in hybrid seems to be the bleeding edge for minivans. I rented one while my honda odyssey was in the shop, and we put it into limp mode by driving it 1-2 blocks at a time going house to house during open-house weekend. Apparently if you don't let it go through it's full 5 minute charge calibration routine for more than 3 drives, it goes into limp mode (oops). I fixed it with a long drive and a full charge at a free city plug-in, but still... If I was going for a more efficient minivan I'd totally be looking at the pacifica. Honda has a long way to go to catch up. Toyota Sienna has a hybrid offering with either FWD or AWD, probably worth considering. I like the way the Honda drives much more than either the toyota or chrysler, but the hybrid and AWD options are compelling alternatives.

Originally Posted by flyguy81

She’s got a Pacifica now. Not a hybrid though. She’s killed the car batteries 3x in 5 years for not driving enough. Literally only goes to the grocery store or the kids’ schools 3 mi away. We’re planning a move to the mtns (hopefully next year if rates come down some more) so a FWD van won’t cut it on snow covered curvy mtn roads. So she’ll need something with AWD or 4wd and if we’re changing anyway…might as well go EV if all she’s doing is driving to the school/store.

Originally Posted by Smooth at FL450

Same battery issues in my wife’s Subaru. She doesn’t drive enough to fully recharge the battery after each start.

Originally Posted by Liberty

Yeah, after a test drive, I went from indifferent to a Tesla fan boy pretty quick. I love the idea of the cyber truck but it’s too outrageous for me. My family all wanted to get it but I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t even going to drive it but my son really wanted to so we did. As much as I don’t like the attention seeking appearance, that thing was an incredible fun vehicle to drive! No doubt about it, it was super cool! If they ever tone it down a bit, I’m definitely getting one.
Note: for those that don’t know, visiting a Tesla dealer is nothing like visiting a car dealer. It’s much more like an Apple Store experience. They aren’t salesman but facilitators to answer your questions and assist you in test drives. They don’t go with you, you leave with the car and go enjoy. They aren’t trying to sell you, check your credit, ask about monthly payments, etc… they just wish you a good day and you leave. If you want to buy one, you do it in on your phone. Set price, no haggling, seasonal deals, super easy! So, if you have a dealer nearby, grab the wife and kids and go spend a couple hours of free fun. Be careful though, the vehicle sells itself! 😂

Originally Posted by flyguy81

All this talk and I went to test drive one today since I had nothing better to do. Pretty much as you described it. Drove a new Y AWD model. Didn't seem cheap, but there's a bit of a learning curve with everything on the screen. They had it speed limited to 85 so that was a buzzkill but the wife told me I was nuts for mashing the "gas" on the onramp. Wasn't a fan of the hard braking when you let off the accelerator but saw a setting in there to make it "normal" and that made it drive better I thought. Suspension didn't seem too stiff, but I drive a 1/2 ton truck and a Jeep so I'm not real picky. I'm used to the camera display on the rear view mirror on my truck and the back window was pretty tiny so I missed that and I like the HUD on the truck as well. The FSD is a trip....

Originally Posted by hoover

the screen is customizable with short cuts on the tool bar at the bottom you can move around when you figure what you want and youll figure other shortcuts to get to stuff on the screen without touching the screen. Plus you can always push the voice command button and tell the car to do whatever you want, directions, search the web or climate controls extra. You can get away without having to touch the screen but youll get used to that real quick especially since we already can manage an autopilot while flying/ driving.
I prefer the more aggressive regenerate braking and youll get used to that as well to the point youll notice you haven't touched the breaks in months the if you time your stops right.
Another tip id mention is the leather is vegan leather whatsoever that means but it's susceptible to "meltimg" from chemicals. So youll need a leather cleaner made for it, mother's makes one, and I have a cover over the head rests because sweat/oils from your head can also cause it to melt.
That's probably my biggest grups but they did replace my headrest for free. Hence the cocers now.

Originally Posted by RJSAviator76

THIS. You're not even kidding!

We do have 1 ICE vehicle - a 2024 Ford Expedition MAX Platinum for the missus chauffeuring the grandkids, and having been a Tesla guy for years having some dude with way too much cheap cologne trying to ask me about what kind of payment I wanted really rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I bring that on myself by showing up to a dealership in shorts, T-shirt and sandals.

Tesla did completely change the whole car buying experience. Their facilitators aren't paid a commission and the cars do sell themselves. They'll walk you to the car you're test driving and brief you on the screen and controls, and when it's all said and done, "see you in a couple hours... be sure to try the FSD."

And zero haggling.... zero gimmicks... zero pressure. The only pressure you'll get is gonna be self-inflicted.

Originally Posted by flyguy81

I told her to drive more. She said no. Told her she was getting a EV then. She said, “so your solution to me killing my batteries is to get me a car that runs on batteries?”

Funny…but true. 😂