Get Amped Tour: Los Angeles, 6/29 - 7/1

[AnOutsider]

(ran into AnOutsider, W. Petefish, and Marcus walking around Santa Monica--great talking to you guys!).

Hey! AnOutsider == Marcus The other guy was Raphy, he's not here on the boards. As for deferring, if you do, that brown is calling....

Hey AnOutsider, any idea what the service messages were about from the vehicle? I'd guess they had to do with the speed-limiting, but I don't see how the the suspension one would be related?

I bet at least one of those cops on Tesla duty places a deposit within the week

I'm willing to assume it's because we were sitting in a beta without a full pack on board. We got the impression the car was running off of a power cord we saw taped down to the ground and running under the car. The active suspension seemed to also be disabled and the entire section of the screen was disabled. There didn't seem to be any software indication that the cars were limited, and indeed I got mine up to 87 (and have a pic at 84). I believe at least a couple of the cars had the software disabled, but even in the one that had it enabled, there was visible no indication that it was in place. Should make for a great valet mode.

As for the cops, they seemed pretty excited overall. During W.Petefish's drive, they even stopped us to have one of the officers on duty check out the inside before we "launched"

I noticed the severe distortion in the rear window, it's not the mirror as my rear passengers looked normal. There's definitely a severe horizontal bend in the glass that creates a severe horizontal pinch distortion. Luckily we have the rear view camera.

I didn't notice that, but then again, I can't really recall just how the rearview looked, so I may have just been too excited. The rearview camera is great, though on the first car we were in the Tesla badge seemed to get in the way of the view a bit. Not sure if the camera was angled too far up, or the badge slipped down, but the second car we took out didn't have this issue.

[jimbakker666]

I'm willing to assume it's because we were sitting in a beta without a full pack on board. We got the impression the car was running off of a power cord we saw taped down to the ground and running under the car. The active suspension seemed to also be disabled and the entire section of the screen was disabled.
As for the cops, they seemed pretty excited overall. During W.Petefish's drive, they even stopped us to have one of the officers on duty check out the inside before we "launched"

I see, didn't realize it was a beta. Lol @ an officer stopping to check out the inside. You shoulda offered to pop the hood for him to check for illegal engine mods

[agileone]

As for the cops, they seemed pretty excited overall. During W.Petefish's drive, they even stopped us to have one of the officers on duty check out the inside before we "launched"

Model S would make a great police car : the "electric interceptor " ...

The screen would be much better than their rugged laptop, plus it's already connected, and you could dedicate one Tegra for rear license plate lookup and the second for front (with the additional front camera, called the famera) lookups.

Heck, it would pay for itself (and the supercharger at the station) in a month with tickets alone.

[AnOutsider]

Model S would make a great police car : the "electric interceptor " ...

The screen would be much better than their rugged laptop, plus it's already connected, and you could dedicate one Tegra for rear license plate lookup and the second for front (with the additional front camera, called the famera) lookups.

Heck, it would pay for itself (and the supercharger at the station) in a month with tickets alone.

Whose side are you on, exactly?

[agileone]

Whose side are you on, exactly?

The Tesla Interceptor would only come with the standard PEM .
One more reason to get a performance edition....

[ibcs]

All Tesla owners would be automatically except from the Tesla Interceptor. Only ICE cars would be allowed to be ticketed.

[bbmertz]

Thanks for the great review, Silenus. Here are a few of my observations from the LA event today:

1) As others have said, the acceleration from 0-75 mph was amazing! It was unlike the feeling of any other car because the acceleration is so smooth, with no shifting gears. Kinda felt like the magnetic takeoff on the roller coaster at Disney's California Adventure. (I was in a non-performance car and now have no regrets about not ordering a performnce version next year since it was still very fast.)

2) Brake regen felt good and was easy to get used to. Copilot switched to low regen midway through, but didn't like it as much since it felt like an ICE car with no deceleration when you take your foot off the pedal.

3) Unlike your experience, the Telsa rep opened and closed the panoramic roof for me before my test drive. He also let me sit in the back seat of cars with and without the panoramic roof to test the headroom. (See my observations in the Panoramic Roof thread.)

Overall, I had a great time driving the S! Now the long wait resumes...

[capt601]

Hey Capt601, enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing! Just a note... in your video, your wife says "... clueless, like the people at work!". Don't know if she meant her work or yours but since you might be showing this video around to people at one or the other (and it's on the web for all to see)... just wanted to give you a heads up! Hopefully the co-workers don't read this forum too .

Funny you said that. I said be same thing when we were watching it last night. Sad thing it is both of our coworkers. None of them really understand the concept of the tesla. So far my coworkers who have seen it haven't said anything yet. We'll see tomorrow with hers!!

[capt601]

As far as going in to neutral. When I sat in the backseat to ride wi someone, the driver asked about that. Copilot said just a half push on the stalk gets you neutral. He did that a few times and it worked perfect each time. So a full pull to get drive and half pull for neutral.

[spatterso911]

Just returned from my test drive today in LA, and I have to say it was a very positive experience. I echo Silenus136 in that it was a surreal experience accelerating in such a smooth manner, and regenerative braking is definitely something to get used to, but you do fairly quickly in this car. Now for the drive information.

I will save my comparisons to the M5 for the proper thread (Model S vs M5), but suffice it to say that I have little to no qualms about my decision to replace the M5 for the performance. I did drive the performance (silver with tan interior!??) and the staff were very accommodating in letting me select which variant to drive, especially when told what you were looking at purchasing.

The route has been discussed ad nauseum, so I won’t hit the details, but the initial feeling is a smooth take off, easily modulated by the right foot. The car is extremely quiet and my wife had no idea we were ready to go until we were actually moving. Our co-pilot was as laid back as they get, and he would demo the screen periodically, dousing the volume when he wanted to talk or to demo how quiet the car/ride was. He didn’t seem to have much more information available than was is discussed/theorized here, so I didn’t try to pump him much for information, instead, I focused on the drive.

The turn signal stalk is fat and was easy to capture if you are at the 9-3 hand position, so I never hit the wrong lever. Mirrors provide a wide view from the rear, and my concerns about rear visibility were minimal compared to what I had feared, given the small, highly slanted view out the back window. The gauge display is marvelous and really you could get lost in wonderland just playing with the different variations, but I was most impressed with how well integrated and thoughtful the displays were and how easy it was to see what you were doing at a glance. The nav display within the gauge cluster is brilliant. All transitions were smooth and without glitches between displays.

The acceleration is brisk and powerful, seamless with a gush of power that pushes you into your seat, then continues rapidly to the limited 79 mph we were allowed.

Road noise is held to a minimum, and only tire noises and a very, very faint whine were heard. I was impressed with the levels of wind noise in the cabin, tell tale of some serious aerodynamics and sound insulation going on. My tester had the lacewood interior with the lacewood lined console (rubber lines to grip items from sliding about) as well as the cubby under the display. It definitely enhanced the quality of the interior look, IMHO. I was pleased with the lacewood, but would take Obeche over it, matte finish.

During the ride, the co-pilot did receive a phone call, which was routed to the car, and it has a repeated monotone beep alert. The caller-ID displayed the number in a pop up window on the screen.

The suspension and ride harshness was very well controlled, firm but supple and road vibrations, while they could be felt in the steering, were somewhat muted, leading to a slightly numb feeling for the steering. Despite this, the car felt significantly smaller than it’s girth and length would suggest, and it was mildly tossable. Going onto the 105, I accelerated into a moderate turn which was easily controlled, there was plenty more to give in that turn, but given my wife videoing in the back seat, kept the car tame enough that she didn’t notice all that much.

Acceleration and merging were brisk and dynamic, with quick steering response at speed. This car will give only minimal lateral motion and no dive/squat kinematics. Being a gear head for so long, you actually have to get used to their absence.

The car does not ask you to actively drive it to get it to do something, so actions are quick, responses are fairly immediate. I am a little ambivalent about that, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.

The mad dash at the end was only somewhat satisfying, only because I knew that I was limited in speed and just had to mash and go, holding onto the wheel, and with no sweepers to navigate, the ride was over before I knew it. The police were actually rented security cops on motorcycle detail, but curiously, all were armed. My wife recorded the speedometer during the dash so that we can unleash the mathematicians to analyze the play by play down to the millisecond.

Upon returning, I had a long, pleasant conversation with one of the engineers, who was quite open about discussing upcoming changes. I will discuss these in the Unknowns thread, and I must say, there were some tantalizing revelations.

I am convinced on the car, and I know that it will be a joy to drive day in and day out.