Parking in HK

EBill · Mar 11, 2014

I had some concerns about the width of the MS and parking here in HK. In many HK garages a Saab and an Alfa can be almost too wide.

I read about the issues in Japan where the MS just barely fits in the lift racks with the standard suspension and not the wider Performance suspension. Ultimately I decided I would just be smarter and probably have to walk further to make sure I can find garages with sufficient parking space width here in HK. Along with finding a location that has a charger.

Fortunately some clever other owners have figured out a solution on this thread:
Front-rear camera touchscreen parking protection switch kit reservations
I've requested one of these control boxes and remote and hope I get it in time for when my car is delivered in HK. It has a few idiosyncrasies like the left to right viewpoints being displayed opposite but others indicate that it is easy to adapt.

If others are interested in might be useful to share installation tips here once they arrive.

markwj · Mar 12, 2014

The car is about the same width and length as my wife's 8 seater Nissan that it will be replacing. It also has beep-beep-beep parking sensors (which the Nissan doesn't) and folding mirrors. I think it will be tight in some places, but ok for most.

P.S. I remember years ago parking my Land Rover discovery in a car park in central with a vehicle lift to the upper floors. The car fit with about 4" to spare on each of the four sides, and the lift attendant had to climb on the bonnet to avoid being crushed. I think I'll avoid that car park with the Model S.

lx3h · Mar 12, 2014

markwj said:
The car is about the same width and length as my wife's 8 seater Nissan that it will be replacing. It also has beep-beep-beep parking sensors (which the Nissan doesn't) and folding mirrors. I think it will be tight in some places, but ok for most.

P.S. I remember years ago parking my Land Rover discovery in a car park in central with a vehicle lift to the upper floors. The car fit with about 4" to spare on each of the four sides, and the lift attendant had to climb on the bonnet to avoid being crushed. I think I'll avoid that car park with the Model S.

I mostly drive my sister's BMW 520iA to carparks and the most frequent carparks I visit are the Hang Lung ones (ie. Kornhill, Winsor House) and Park Lane Hotel carpark, which is opposite Winsor House. They are just tiny gaps for the width (2102 mm / 82.8" mirror to mirror) at the entrances. It is terrible!!! It has sensors but camera doesn't work in forward gear, making it purely a guessing game every time when entering. One time driving up (steep incline) the entrance, I freaked and had to reverse the car to adjust the angle of entrance.

Model S has a mirror extended width of 2189mm / 86.2", that is almost 2 inch wider on each side, making it even trickier to enter. Maybe fold up the mirror when entering (doable)? Because that will shrink it down to 1964mm / 77.3", but then we can't see how much space we actually have left on both sides.

Tesla's rear camera will help, but not sure how much, same goes to adding a front-facing camera. (Up to this point, I think I can start another thread on how else might Tesla improve its software.)

http://www.bmwhk.com/com/en/newvehicles/5series/sedan/2013/showroom/technical_data/index.html

http://www.teslamotors.com/en_HK/models/specs

Vmax · Mar 12, 2014

Never thought of that. After checking, found out the MS is really wide. 9cm wider than my existing car (mirrors folded), which is quite large already. Definitely some carparks will be off limits e.g. Empire Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui East or Middle Road Carpark, Tsim Sha Tsui.
Anyhow, willing to accept this inconvenience.

ekwng · Mar 13, 2014

lx3h said:
I mostly drive my sister's BMW 520iA to carparks and the most frequent carparks I visit are the Hang Lung ones (ie. Kornhill, Winsor House) and Park Lane Hotel carpark, which is opposite Winsor House. They are just tiny gaps for the width (2102 mm / 82.8" mirror to mirror) at the entrances. It is terrible!!! It has sensors but camera doesn't work in forward gear, making it purely a guessing game every time when entering. One time driving up (steep incline) the entrance, I freaked and had to reverse the car to adjust the angle of entrance.

Model S has a mirror extended width of 2189mm / 86.2", that is almost 2 inch wider on each side, making it even trickier to enter. Maybe fold up the mirror when entering (doable)? Because that will shrink it down to 1964mm / 77.3", but then we can't see how much space we actually have left on both sides.

Tesla's rear camera will help, but not sure how much, same goes to adding a front-facing camera. (Up to this point, I think I can start another thread on how else might Tesla improve its software.)

http://www.bmwhk.com/com/en/newvehicles/5series/sedan/2013/showroom/technical_data/index.html

http://www.teslamotors.com/en_HK/models/specs

From experience you don't need to worry.

MS is almost the same width as my X6, I've been to many car parks and found no real problem.

Sometimes you may need to pull back and turn again for very tight car park (e.g. Elizabeth House, TST ChinaChem) or you can't squeeze in a spot, but I don't think it's too bad. You'll get used to it.

Street parking may be an issue coz MS is very loooooonnnngggg.

DITB · Mar 13, 2014

I am happy I got the pano roof now. At least, if it's tight, I can exit that way, then close the roof again from the phone.

Who needs model X doors

?

lx3h · Mar 13, 2014

DITB said:
I am happy I got the pano roof now. At least, if it's tight, I can exit that way, then close the roof again from the phone.

Who needs model X doors ?

Great tip! My FIL and MIL can't though.

Lerxt · Mar 13, 2014

My wife is trying to get me to include a pano roof at the moment...perhaps there is something that she knows that i don't ....

DITB · Mar 14, 2014

Lerxt said:
My wife is trying to get me to include a pano roof at the moment...perhaps there is something that she knows that i don't ....

Hahaha, Lerxt, you know, after I talked to a Tesla rep, I got so convinced I said I want that sunroof, can you change it? All my concerns were addressed - and then some. This is not about extras, but about parking, I know, but since we were talking about narrow parking spaces, I thought that one problem is sliding your car in and out of the spot, the next problem is to get in and out of the car itself!

This morning, I got an email that confirmed my change in config, and I went online and checked, it's all okey-dokey now. You can still make it, Lerxt, as you are non-Signature like me.

Why did I get the pano sunroof?

- More headroom, especially in the back seat
- All windows down, sunroof open - and it's almost like a convertible
- Sunroof doesn't make the car a lot hotter inside in the summer - and if it does, the remotely controlled air condition is very efficient, uses only a fraction of the battery power AND can be used whether or not you are plugged in
- There is no extra noise from the roof (that was early models, and it has been fixed)
- It really looks nice with that pano sunroof
- If you don't get it now, it will be hard or impossible to get later (needs to be built at factory)
- Resale value? Not sure if it's a plus of minus here
- Wow effect, when showing a petrol-head how nice the car is: 1) Show the touch screen, and while they play with it, 2) floor the car to throw them back in the seat and that is what make them 3) look up through the open pano roof and see the sky. If that can make just one more person sell his Porsche and get a Tesla, it's totally worth it

On the other hand, also with the help of a Tesla rep, I took away fog lights, parcel shelf and some other items, so in the end I have exactly the same price (well, within a few hundred HKD)

- - - Updated - - -

lx3h said:
Great tip! My FIL and MIL can't though.

NOW I just guessed what FIL and MIL is. Maybe they are not as agile as to climbing in and out that way. Fortunately, you can let them out before you enter the spot, as only the driver, really, need come out the roof in this case! For those without sunroof, I guess you could lay the seats down and crawl out the back - though a little more inconvenient.

Anyone else who wondered about MIL and FIL, or am I the last to get it? At first I was thinking MILF, but who in their right mind call their wife that?

You see what you want to see ...

lx3h · Mar 14, 2014

DITB said:
Hahaha, Lerxt, you know, after I talked to a Tesla rep, I got so convinced I said I want that sunroof, can you change it? All my concerns were addressed - and then some. This is not about extras, but about parking, I know, but since we were talking about narrow parking spaces, I thought that one problem is sliding your car in and out of the spot, the next problem is to get in and out of the car itself!

This morning, I got an email that confirmed my change in config, and I went online and checked, it's all okey-dokey now. You can still make it, Lerxt, as you are non-Signature like me.

Why did I get the pano sunroof?

- More headroom, especially in the back seat
- All windows down, sunroof open - and it's almost like a convertible
- Sunroof doesn't make the car a lot hotter inside in the summer - and if it does, the remotely controlled air condition is very efficient, uses only a fraction of the battery power AND can be used whether or not you are plugged in
- There is no extra noise from the roof (that was early models, and it has been fixed)
- It really looks nice with that pano sunroof
- If you don't get it now, it will be hard or impossible to get later (needs to be built at factory)
- Resale value? Not sure if it's a plus of minus here
- Wow effect, when showing a petrol-head how nice the car is: 1) Show the touch screen, and while they play with it, 2) floor the car to throw them back in the seat and that is what make them 3) look up through the open pano roof and see the sky. If that can make just one more person sell his Porsche and get a Tesla, it's totally worth it

On the other hand, also with the help of a Tesla rep, I took away fog lights, parcel shelf and some other items, so in the end I have exactly the same price (well, within a few hundred HKD)

- - - Updated - - -

NOW I just guessed what FIL and MIL is. Maybe they are not as agile as to climbing in and out that way. Fortunately, you can let them out before you enter the spot, as only the driver, really, need come out the roof in this case! For those without sunroof, I guess you could lay the seats down and crawl out the back - though a little more inconvenient.

Anyone else who wondered about MIL and FIL, or am I the last to get it? At first I was thinking MILF, but who in their right mind call their wife that?

You see what you want to see ...

Parking space is not usually that tight in Hong Kong, it's just the entrance I am worried about. Since I am not willing to risk a scratch on my car just to test out if my "angle of attack" is right, I will probably not even try going to carparks listed by Vmax, ekwng and myself above.

Lerxt · Mar 14, 2014

I read MILF initially as well....

as a for the sunroof, I hear you but I've had a bad time with them on multiple cars. However my wife is interested... Happy wife, happy life....

Hkpkfan · May 19, 2014

I usually park in malls with big parking spots, I have a BMW X5 and I'm OK at the usual spots: Pacific Place Mall in Admiralty, Cyberport in Pokfulam, Elements Mall in TST, Ocean Terminal/Harbour City in TST, IFC in central, City Plaza in TaiKoo Shing.

I've parked at all those spots and parking is a breeze and I'm guessing if the X5 is easy to park there, the Model S should be OK.

Granted there are some car parks in HK that are just not doable. I tend to avoid those. I did end up scratching my X5 years ago when I couldn't pull out of some dinky underground carpark in East TST long time ago. Now I'm a bit paranoid about that, so sometimes I won't even drive if I'm not sure I can find a good parking spot. Usually though all the big malls I visit are fine.

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Parking in HK

EBill

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markwj

Asia Pacific

lx3h

Charged.hk's Director of Education

Vmax

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ekwng

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DITB

Charged.hk co-founder

lx3h

Charged.hk's Director of Education

Lerxt

Active Member

DITB

Charged.hk co-founder

lx3h

Charged.hk's Director of Education

Lerxt

Active Member

Hkpkfan

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