General vehicle thread

[ray1970]

Hopefully Tesla is sourcing a lot of their electronics from Japan. I?d hate to think they?re using crappy American electronics.

Also, I see they?re building a new dealership in Superior.

[Jer]

Hopefully Tesla is sourcing a lot of their electronics from Japan. I?d hate to think they?re using crappy American electronics.

Also, I see they?re building a new dealership in Superior.

Not 100% of their parts/materials are sourced in the US which isn't a bad thing necessarily as you've eluded to.

The new location is another service center that's supposed to be done at the start of the year.

[ray1970]

So you can get your engine oil changed? Maybe a set of spark plugs?














(I know... there has to be some sort of transmission or differential fluid in there somewhere. Or some bearings that need greased or whatever.)

[Jer]

So you can get your engine oil changed? Maybe a set of spark plugs?














(I know... there has to be some sort of transmission or differential fluid in there somewhere. Or some bearings that need greased or whatever.)

For most users, the service center isn't something you need to visit frequently. For most smaller repair items Tesla uses what's called "Ranger Technicians" that come to you instead. You open your Tesla app, say your door handle isn't presenting or whatever problem you're having and it asks for the address (home, work, etc.) at which point it gives you a list of the soonest dates/times. You select which works best for you and bam! Done. A nice Ranger Tech (Nick up here) arrives at your appointment time and fixes your problem. This covers most issues that can come up with a Tesla and only the larger repair items require a shop. Lots of alignment and suspension component type work would need to be done at the service center. In fact, probably the largest responsibilities of the Tesla Service Centers is just preparing new cars for delivery.

By the way, no transmission either. Single-speed direct drive. This is why the Model S maxes out at "only" 155mph because it's basic gearing limitations. Sure they could make them capable of 200mph but then 0-60 wouldn't be less than 3-seconds. I much prefer the acceleration from zero that these cars produce. They occasionally need wheel bearings but other than that, not much in terms of fluids.

The list of fluids in a Tesla is:

windshield washer fluid
coolant/glycol mixture for cabin/battery/motor heating/cooling
brake fluid

End of list. Pretty bad ass actually.

You've kind of touched on one of the major push-backs from "traditional" car dealerships & manufacturers because they make a TON of their profits on service given how much stuff on ICE cars needs service. Tesla used to have a "1-year service interval" which consisted of them replacing the wiper blades, topping off the windshield washer fluid and then inspecting tire tread and break calipers for proper operation. They quickly realized this was kind of silly and have since removed all manufacturer requirement for maintenance intervals making them the first car manufacturer to do this.

[earplug]

Is there a vehicle manufacturer that makes interior panels that aren't held together with plastic push pins and sheet metal screws? Something that won't self destruct every time the door is opened and closed or have to replace six plastic push rivets.

[Irving]

Porsche doesn't seem to have a problem doing 0-60 in under 3 seconds and having acceleration work a crap after 100mph. Then again, it has two gears.

[Jer]

Porsche doesn't seem to have a problem doing 0-60 in under 3 seconds and having acceleration work a crap after 100mph. Then again, it has two gears.

Yes, two gears means more moving parts means more stuff to fail and/or need maintenance. Personally, I prefer direct drive and a car capable of running 10's in the quarter mile since it clearly has no problems accelerating after 100mph if that's one of your biggest concerns in a new car. Rumor has it that the new "Plaid" version of the Model S might even crack into the 9's in the quarter mile... still direct drive too BTW. As of right now, the Model S is faster 0-60 and has WAY more range with about the same top speed (155mph vs 162mph) so there's seemingly no benefit from that 2-speed gear box. If that extra 7mph on the top end is the most critical aspect of a new six-figure-car then the Porsche is the clear winner.

Porsche has plenty of bigger problems though. Their EPA rating just came in on that car and their claimed "nearly 300-mile range" turned into only 201 miles. Ouch. For comparison, the 2012 Model S that had only a 60kwh battery had an EPA rating of 208 miles. Once again a "Tesla killer" that we've heard so much about forever and hoped it would give us something amazing and help push things forward can't even pace the performance specs of a car made 7 years ago. We've seen this play out numerous times now and all it proves is how far ahead of the pack Tesla is on battery tech.

[Irving]

The Tesla is great for just a regular driver like yourself where the car doesn't really need to perform. But considering that the Tesla can't even complete a single lap of Nurburgring and doesn't deliver full power launches below, what 80% battery charge, it's clearly a different car. Tesla is great in that they built something that just scratches the surface of what this new tech can do enough to get everyone's attention long enough to get others involved in the game.

[ray1970]

Ford produced and sold over 3,000,000 Pintos.

Once Tesla sales have surpassed the Ford Pinto they?ll be more credible.

[Jer]

The Tesla is great for just a regular driver like yourself where the car doesn't really need to perform. But considering that the Tesla can't even complete a single lap of Nurburgring and doesn't deliver full power launches below, what 80% battery charge, it's clearly a different car. Tesla is great in that they built something that just scratches the surface of what this new tech can do enough to get everyone's attention long enough to get others involved in the game.

Now you're assuming you know what kind of driver I am and what I look for in a car? This sort of assumptive declarative statement is exactly why I avoid posting in most of these threads. You don't know the first thing about me or my buying motivation and this post proves that. You seem to picture me as some octogenarian who's last car was a Prius which proves you know NOTHING about me. Most who know me well readily assign "gear head" status to me based on my previous collection and my hobby of always wrenching, modifying and repairing them myself. They're even more puzzled by my choice based largely off of some BS they heard or made up in their own head about Tesla that doesn't fit the narrative of someone like me owning one.

Could it be that whatever metric you've measured me against in an effort to judge me w/o knowing anything about me may be wrong or can your delicate ego not handle that sort of thing allowing you to assume you know everything about me w/o actually taking the time to learn anything about me?

You base ALL of your information off of some outdated YouTube video you watched or just some info you heard someone say once that wasn't ever even true. Yeah, you've formed a solid well-informed opinion of Tesla alright. Talking Tesla with you is like talking guns to some anti-gun person who refuses to learn the first thing about them and then produces BS they learned from Hollywood as their reasons and facts. Surely you have some idea how annoying that is and yet here you are... doing the exact same thing but insert "Tesla" instead of "gun".

Nobody I've taken for a ride in my P85D even at 50% or less SoC has questioned the power output. Most squeal like a school girl and the difference between 90% SoC and 50% SoC is like tenths of a second measured. On a car that already does 0-60 in under 3-seconds... don't you think you're over dramatizing that in order to doubt something that you have zero first-hand knowledge of?

Tesla hasn't just scratched the surface, they've taken a buzz saw to the entire industry. Here we are years later and if all they did was scratch the surface why is it that nobody can produce anything that even close to competing in every category in a single car the way Tesla has?