Any lengthy (24h+) test drives / hires available?

tfboy · Jan 12, 2016

One thing I did wonder is as the sales model isn't through a "dealership", the experience or willingness from different showrooms shouldn't really differ. With that in mind, has anyone managed to obtain a long test drive / hire?

I can understand if the general answer is "no". But as the whole EV thing requires quite a different lifestyle, I'd like the possibility to try one over a few days to see whether I really get along with it. I'd be happy to pay for any hire costs, possibly refunded when placing an order, but I don't know whether that's possible or not.

I know you can have a 24 hour or weekend test drive / hire on a LEAF, but the Tesla is obviously more expensive and less common at the moment...

xborg · Jan 13, 2016

Hello,

It is up to sales advisor, you may wanna try to ask to Tesla for an extended test drive (maybe after your short test drive).
I was able to get extended test drive after I've confirmed my order, to see the real range.

tonyj01 · Jan 17, 2016

Hi TF,

I was able to do this with a simple phone call to the Knutsford shop.

I had been making enquiries, I had a short test drive, then asked if I could try the car for a weekend. No problem at all. I expected to have to supply my own insurance, but that was sorted too. Good sales practice, and charging the car was interesting with only a three pin plug to use at home!

Regards,

Tony

tfboy · Jan 24, 2016

Thanks Tony.

The experience of charging at home is something I would like to have, and get the chance to learn a bit more about a car.

Despite the luxury status of the car, it's still a significant investment for me so I want to make sure I / my lifestyle works with the car.

I'll have to enquire about it, most possibly at the heathrow branch. It sounds like I've just landed a big work contract meaning I would have to commute to West London every day. If where I work, a charging station / power is available, the Tesla will be more justifiable (at least with my man maths!).

ianBlackburn · Feb 3, 2016

tfboy said:
One thing I did wonder is as the sales model isn't through a "dealership", the experience or willingness from different showrooms shouldn't really differ. With that in mind, has anyone managed to obtain a long test drive / hire?

I can understand if the general answer is "no". But as the whole EV thing requires quite a different lifestyle, I'd like the possibility to try one over a few days to see whether I really get along with it. I'd be happy to pay for any hire costs, possibly refunded when placing an order, but I don't know whether that's possible or not.

I know you can have a 24 hour or weekend test drive / hire on a LEAF, but the Tesla is obviously more expensive and less common at the moment...

Tesla Gatwick gave me a weekend test drive of a 70D (picked up on Friday night and returned Monday am) - even included a ChaDeMo cable and network card because we were going to Norfolk (no superchargers there yet). This was following a shorter test drive, and after they had sent me finance quotes which I said I was happy with (but not agreed anything). Definitely worth it to get a feel for the car for the family and for longer trips. It didn't cost anything, and both my wife and I were insured to drive.

arg · Feb 3, 2016

tfboy said:
The experience of charging at home is something I would like to have,

Of course, you won't get the real experience of charging at home on a test-drive basis, because you won't have invested the couple of hundred pounds needed to get yourself a proper home charging setup - where you just plug in every night with minimal effort and wake up with a full car in the morning.

You'll have an experience more like going on holiday to an unfamiliar place - having to improvise some charging off a 13A socket and/or search for local public charging - which might well be informative as to what that is like, but won't show the normal daily experience.

I think most of us find that daily charging is in fact easier than fuelling an ICE (never get into the car in a hurry to find your wife has left it low on fuel so you have to make a stop...), which counterbalances the fact that charging away from home is a bit less convenient (though still quite workable).

It sounds like I've just landed a big work contract meaning I would have to commute to West London every day. If where I work, a charging station / power is available, the Tesla will be more justifiable (at least with my man maths!).

Well, if that's an 80-mile round trip that will be saving you about £1.60/day as against charging overnight at home - not really a big deal (though presumably much cheaper than what you are driving now, whether you pay for the electricity or not).

While there's nothing wrong with picking up free money if someone's offering, people often seem to go out of their way to get free charging, well beyond what that effort is worth.

That £1.60 based on 80 miles = approx 27kWh (divide miles by 3 as a rule of thumb). Overnight electricity on Economy 7 tariff about 6p/unit = 27*.06 = £1.60. Worst case if you don't go for Economy 7 and charge during the day at say 15p = £4.05.

tfboy · Feb 4, 2016

arg said:
Of course, you won't get the real experience of charging at home on a test-drive basis, because you won't have invested the couple of hundred pounds needed to get yourself a proper home charging setup - where you just plug in every night with minimal effort and wake up with a full car in the morning.

You'll have an experience more like going on holiday to an unfamiliar place - having to improvise some charging off a 13A socket and/or search for local public charging - which might well be informative as to what that is like, but won't show the normal daily experience.

I think most of us find that daily charging is in fact easier than fuelling an ICE (never get into the car in a hurry to find your wife has left it low on fuel so you have to make a stop...), which counterbalances the fact that charging away from home is a bit less convenient (though still quite workable).

Well, if that's an 80-mile round trip that will be saving you about £1.60/day as against charging overnight at home - not really a big deal (though presumably much cheaper than what you are driving now, whether you pay for the electricity or not).

While there's nothing wrong with picking up free money if someone's offering, people often seem to go out of their way to get free charging, well beyond what that effort is worth.

That £1.60 based on 80 miles = approx 27kWh (divide miles by 3 as a rule of thumb). Overnight electricity on Economy 7 tariff about 6p/unit = 27*.06 = £1.60. Worst case if you don't go for Economy 7 and charge during the day at say 15p = £4.05.

Thanks. When I said charging at home, it was more having to think about doing it. Doing a "trial run" for a few days, as well as getting the chance to really play around with the touch screen, do some driving other than 3 miles to the next motorway junction and straight back, etc.

The "charging at work" as it turns out where I am, is actually riddled with office politics. Despite the company being carbon neutral for the last 10 years, promoting green travel / car sharing / EVs (and they have a few EV charging stations), it sounds like I'll be excluded from that as I'm a long term contractor. I wasn't looking forward to the money side, just the convenience of having the juice topped up whilst working.

With my current car, it's £50/week in diesel with the commute, if I pay for leccy, it's around £8/week, let's say £10. So that's a £40/week, or approx £500/year worst case cost just for the commute (zero cost best case) compared to £2,400 for diesel.

Tony27nine · Feb 7, 2016

Well it seems that the experience is a bit patchy. I ordered my MS last November and a pal of mine, a real car-nut, arranged a test drive out of Birmingham. He re-arranged his diary and waited in at his office until after the appointed delivery time only to get a call saying that the P85d he wanted to test drive wasn't available. Shocking service and frankly, just rude. On a different note, I should have collected my car on Friday but between Lombard and Tesla they managed to conspire to bungle that so hopefully tomorrow. The thing that irritated me most was each of the two blaming the other! It seems all paperwork for UK sales is generated in the US so you need to think about time zones when dealing with them.
I'm now desperately hoping that ownership and after-sales is a positive experience or there may be serious buyers remorse....
i have made a few specific requests for when I collect - full charge, console fitted, car speakers checked ( given the issues reported with non-functioning drivers door speakers), mats, 4G upgrade if available, etc. Let's see how they fare.......

tfboy · Mar 1, 2016

I popped back into the Heathrow store today to follow up and enquire about this, and to cut a long story short, it's no longer possible. Apparently, following the recent reduction in government grants, they sold most of their test drive cars so availability is massively reduced. Organising a longer 1 - 1.5 hour test drive is easier to manage, but needs planning a good few days in advance.

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Any lengthy (24h+) test drives / hires available?

tfboy

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xborg

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tonyj01

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tfboy

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ianBlackburn

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arg

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tfboy

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Tony27nine

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tfboy

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