Went to Toronto for a little getaway with my wife so I booked an i3 and a Model S test drive before we headed back home. I had test drove a P85 (not sure if it was + or not) last January, but my wife had never even seen one up close. Neither of us had any experience with the i3.
Was not impressed overall with the i3 or BMW Toronto in general. Guy I talked to on the phone was not the guy I test drove with, and I had to double up with some other guy for the test drive. The car itself wasn't too bad, headroom was lacking in the rear seats and I don't think I liked that you have to have the front door open to open the rear door (have 2 year old). Maybe if we were older and the backseat was pretty much never used. The car drove nice, I REALLY liked their regen setup, you could be going 60km/hour and just letoff the accelerator maybe 100-120 feet from a stop sign and you would come to a nice smooth complete stop, without ever touching the brake. I'm not sure why Tesla hasn't done this, I always seem to be still rolling quite a bit in the Model S and still have to go to the brake pedal to stop. I am not a big fan of all the eco materials and lighter toned woods in the i3, just looked weird to me. Also, there are screens and knobs everywhere, plus the weird joystick thing in the centre console. The guy demo'd the auto-parallel park feature at the end, but even him doing it, it was about an 8 step process to do it, and the car moves quite slow while it happens. I haven't driven a Soul EV yet, but I'm guessing I will like it better, plus it's much cheaper.
Then we headed over to Tesla on Lawrence. We test drove with an awesome guy (can't remember name, white, maybe 30, tall, thin), he said he had been with Tesla for 2.5 years, back when it was just an office, he really knew his stuff. After we showed ID and chatted a bit, we headed out to the car. I wasn't even thinking we would be driving the P85D, then I said sarcastically, "you guys don't let people test drive in insane I guess eh?" He says "oh yeah, sure!". And off we went. My wife drove first and was completely blown away, although she didn't ever completely floor it. Then it was my turn. I got the chance to completely floor it 3-4 times on dry pavement. I used to think the "Tesla grin" was a bit exaggerated, but I was wrong. I was grinning like a kid in a candy store, it was unbelievable. Then, he took me down to a dead end road that was snow covered and got me to turn around and stop. I floored it again and I could not believe how fast we went under complete control, with no slippage whatsoever.
I also found this test drive much more comfortable than last time, maybe it's the next gen seats? I found visibility a bit better, headroom better in the front, much better in the rear. I also found the car a bit easier for me to get in and out of (but still a bit tight getting in). Maybe my knees were just having a good day, or maybe it was because my last test drive I drove right after 2.5 hours on the 401, I'm not sure.
Display screens looked amazingly crisp, audio was good, next gen seats really comfy. I have a reservation on the X so I still want to wait and at least see the reveal and pricing for it before I decide what I am doing. I keep flipping back and forth with getting something like the Soul EV to get me through to Model 3, or splurging on a Tesla. We are a 2 car family so this next car is mainly for me, and if I go cheaper we can go to 2 EVs for our daily drivers when the model 3 comes out (with minivan as a 3rd vehicle). But, the Model S is so amazing I am tempted to get one anyway. We don't go out of town that often, maybe 4-6 times a year, so I could even get away with a 60 I think, but even a bare bones 60 would be double the cost of the Soul EV. Decisions, decisions.
Anyways, just wanted to share my great test drive story. Is there anyone I can call to compliment my test drive guy? (and figure out who it was, lol). This guy was so awesome I really want to give the feedback.
Was not impressed overall with the i3 or BMW Toronto in general. Guy I talked to on the phone was not the guy I test drove with, and I had to double up with some other guy for the test drive. The car itself wasn't too bad, headroom was lacking in the rear seats and I don't think I liked that you have to have the front door open to open the rear door (have 2 year old). Maybe if we were older and the backseat was pretty much never used. The car drove nice, I REALLY liked their regen setup, you could be going 60km/hour and just letoff the accelerator maybe 100-120 feet from a stop sign and you would come to a nice smooth complete stop, without ever touching the brake. I'm not sure why Tesla hasn't done this, I always seem to be still rolling quite a bit in the Model S and still have to go to the brake pedal to stop. I am not a big fan of all the eco materials and lighter toned woods in the i3, just looked weird to me. Also, there are screens and knobs everywhere, plus the weird joystick thing in the centre console. The guy demo'd the auto-parallel park feature at the end, but even him doing it, it was about an 8 step process to do it, and the car moves quite slow while it happens. I haven't driven a Soul EV yet, but I'm guessing I will like it better, plus it's much cheaper.
Then we headed over to Tesla on Lawrence. We test drove with an awesome guy (can't remember name, white, maybe 30, tall, thin), he said he had been with Tesla for 2.5 years, back when it was just an office, he really knew his stuff. After we showed ID and chatted a bit, we headed out to the car. I wasn't even thinking we would be driving the P85D, then I said sarcastically, "you guys don't let people test drive in insane I guess eh?" He says "oh yeah, sure!". And off we went. My wife drove first and was completely blown away, although she didn't ever completely floor it. Then it was my turn. I got the chance to completely floor it 3-4 times on dry pavement. I used to think the "Tesla grin" was a bit exaggerated, but I was wrong. I was grinning like a kid in a candy store, it was unbelievable. Then, he took me down to a dead end road that was snow covered and got me to turn around and stop. I floored it again and I could not believe how fast we went under complete control, with no slippage whatsoever.
I also found this test drive much more comfortable than last time, maybe it's the next gen seats? I found visibility a bit better, headroom better in the front, much better in the rear. I also found the car a bit easier for me to get in and out of (but still a bit tight getting in). Maybe my knees were just having a good day, or maybe it was because my last test drive I drove right after 2.5 hours on the 401, I'm not sure.
Display screens looked amazingly crisp, audio was good, next gen seats really comfy. I have a reservation on the X so I still want to wait and at least see the reveal and pricing for it before I decide what I am doing. I keep flipping back and forth with getting something like the Soul EV to get me through to Model 3, or splurging on a Tesla. We are a 2 car family so this next car is mainly for me, and if I go cheaper we can go to 2 EVs for our daily drivers when the model 3 comes out (with minivan as a 3rd vehicle). But, the Model S is so amazing I am tempted to get one anyway. We don't go out of town that often, maybe 4-6 times a year, so I could even get away with a 60 I think, but even a bare bones 60 would be double the cost of the Soul EV. Decisions, decisions.
Anyways, just wanted to share my great test drive story. Is there anyone I can call to compliment my test drive guy? (and figure out who it was, lol). This guy was so awesome I really want to give the feedback.
