What steering mode do you use?

Definitely Sport Mode for me. Even with that, the steer seems a little squishier than I'm used to on my Saab.

The steering should be speed sensitive!! Faster = Stiffer

Sport Mode!

Lloyd said:

The steering should be speed sensitive!! Faster = Stiffer

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Right on. Comfort in city traffic, sport on the highway.

I use Standard around town and Sport on the Highway. I find the car to be a bit squirrely on the freeway and Sport helps a bunch. The front wheels have essentially zero toe in which contributes to the wander at speed.

Lloyd said:

The steering should be speed sensitive!! Faster = Stiffer

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I thought that's what "standard" was, not just a mid point, but a speed sensitive setting.

Definitely sport mode. Love the feeling and I drive home on winding roads. My wife tried the sport mode and even she loves it. Comfort mode is too soft/squishy!

gtimbers said:

I use Standard around town and Sport on the Highway. I find the car to be a bit squirrely on the freeway and Sport helps a bunch. The front wheels have essentially zero toe in which contributes to the wander at speed.

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Sport helps with the squirrely feel?

I've done a fair amount of driving in all 3 modes. I feel like the car is just about as squirrely in any of its modes. Eventually, I decided that I wanted the car to be as easy as possible for me to control. After driving in comfort mode, I don't feel like the car is any less fun in the corners. You still need strength to prevent yourself from falling over, you just don't need it to turn the steering wheel, too.

Comfort = wimpy Japanese car feel (endured that for years in an Acura TL and am never going back)

Standard = somewhere in between; haven't tried it for any length of time

Sport = tighter and closer to the BMW/Mini feel that I came to love; still not good enough for a car this size

I don't have the Model S yet, but during my test drives it was definitely sport mode!

Comfort and standard are way to soft and don't give you feedback, feels like you are floating. Sport it is.

I like the sense of precise control with sport mode & used it exclusively for about 3 months, but I thought I'd try normal a few weeks ago and found it to be less fatiguing, especially on longer drives and that the control & feedback is still good.


Evan, Via Tapatalk

Sport for both of us. We both like firm handling and I'm used to driving the Roadster with no power steering in any case.

I have to say I've been a bit disappointed with how the car handles on the freeway. I have a long commute (hour each way) that is mostly freeway and often with Cruise on. The car seems to squirm and wobble and I can actually feel my head bob from side to side as I drive. It's as if there are ruts in the road and the car just can't find the right groove. I constantly have to input small steering corrections. My old car was rock solid and tracked absolutely straight and true, so I know it is not something specific to the road I drive on. I have found that "Sport" mode helps a little bit, but wish the steering was speed-sensitive and would go back to "Normal" at slower speeds.

mknox said:

I have to say I've been a bit disappointed with how the car handles on the freeway. I have a long commute (hour each way) that is mostly freeway and often with Cruise on. The car seems to squirm and wobble and I can actually feel my head bob from side to side as I drive. It's as if there are ruts in the road and the car just can't find the right groove. I constantly have to input small steering corrections. My old car was rock solid and tracked absolutely straight and true, so I know it is not something specific to the road I drive on. I have found that "Sport" mode helps a little bit, but wish the steering was speed-sensitive and would go back to "Normal" at slower speeds.

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You should have the alignment checked... Could take my hands off the wheel for a mile on a straight road and it tracks beautifully.

Could this weaving be side winds? The Model S picks them up very well. I switched from Sport to Standard and empirically that has helped me drive truer in sidewinds (though I'm unsure why that would be so).

mknox said:

I have to say I've been a bit disappointed with how the car handles on the freeway. I have a long commute (hour each way) that is mostly freeway and often with Cruise on. The car seems to squirm and wobble and I can actually feel my head bob from side to side as I drive. It's as if there are ruts in the road and the car just can't find the right groove. I constantly have to input small steering corrections. My old car was rock solid and tracked absolutely straight and true, so I know it is not something specific to the road I drive on. I have found that "Sport" mode helps a little bit, but wish the steering was speed-sensitive and would go back to "Normal" at slower speeds.

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I agree with efusco, you should check the alignment and find a good shop to do it. I had Tesla Service align our car initially because of a fairly bad steering wheel offset when the car was delivered and that helped the car seem solid, but it still didn't feel rock solid like I remember the test drive cars felt like. I took the car in to get some minor stuff worked on and when it came back, the steering felt even more off, so I asked the service manager whom he would recommend for an alignment and he recommended a place that works on really high end cars (Ferrari's, Lambo's, etc.). I was willing to pay to get the car aligned by the best and that really made a world of difference in how the car now tracks and how it feels on the freeway and under heavy acceleration. It's rock solid, no feeling of having to constantly make small inputs to keep it tracking straight. Also I had a slight pull in the car under heavy acceleration and that completely disappeared. So look around for a top notch alignment shop and pay the extra to get them to align it. The car we have now after getting it aligned right is just so much more enjoyable to drive and inspires confidence in the way it tracks and handles.

I think the best way to describe the change comes from my wife, who drives the car as her primary car, she said that before we had the car properly aligned she had to move the wheel a lot when driving on the freeway. Now it doesn't require nearly as much steering as before and she doesn't have to have two hands on the wheel all the time when driving. Hope the alignment fixes your issue!

Blurry_Eyed said:

I think the best way to describe the change comes from my wife, who drives the car as her primary car, she said that before we had the car properly aligned she had to move the wheel a lot when driving on the freeway. Now it doesn't require nearly as much steering as before and she doesn't have to have two hands on the wheel all the time when driving. Hope the alignment fixes your issue!

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I hadn't though of an alignment issue because the car doesn't "pull" (even a little bit) left or right. It just feels the way your wife describes it: more two handed driving and more "steering" than I'm used to on the highway. Thanks.

gg_got_a_tesla said:

Comfort = wimpy Japanese car feel (endured that for years in an Acura TL and am never going back)

Standard = somewhere in between; haven't tried it for any length of time

Sport = tighter and closer to the BMW/Mini feel that I came to love; still not good enough for a car this size

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Agreed.

I like sports best coming from a BMW 650i.

mknox said:

I hadn't though of an alignment issue because the car doesn't "pull" (even a little bit) left or right. It just feels the way your wife describes it: more two handed driving and more "steering" than I'm used to on the highway. Thanks.

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Alignment isn't only for "pull", although I had a Toyota dealer who seemed to think so. Stability in crosswinds and uneven pavement is also related to alignment.