Three days after picking up our new X in Seattle, my wife and I headed down along Hood Canal on 101, supercharged for the very first time in Centralia (our first Tesla) and managed to arrive in the 90 degree heat of Phoenix via a detour to Santa Barbara in four days.
There we hooked up with four friends and spent the next few days with six people in the X (we have the six seater) tooling around the desert. For the trip home there were four of us and a ton of luggage as we climbed the pass and down into San Diego, and then up the coast where we hit some of the heaviest rain (and winds) I’ve ever driven in. We didn’t see snow, but this trip put the X through about every kind of weather you could imagine—and here’s my verdict: this car is an order of magnitude more capable than any I’ve ever driven.
Where to even start. Watching the Siskous and the lush green hills of southern Oregon go by through that unbelievable windshield. Listening to concert-hall perfect Mozart or punchy bass riffs from an amazing variety of music sources. The stares and thumbs up and conversations (mostly from young people interestingly) about the electrification of automobiles, usually initiated by the simple opening of a FW door. The amazing comfort of EVERY seat in the house (yes, even the back seats which my wife adores.) The climate system which kept all six of us completely comfortable in 90deg heat, without a single stuffy moment. And the range! (We’ve had two Leafs.) 4000 miles, all temperatures, lots of mountain passes, lots of weight in the car, driving 1-6 miles over limit, and we averaged 345 wh/mile for the entire trip. VERY close to rated.
Are there squawks? A few. One FW sometimes doesn’t close all the way and you have to push the button once again, a sensor falsely sensing obstruction. The factory missed two clips in a piece of door trim that we fixed in Fremont. Autopilot still works best on relatively straight freeway. (But adaptive cruise control was on 80% of the time and is a game changer in terms of reducing stress on long drives.) Opening the FW to the halfway position lets water drain in on the rear seat (doesn’t do it when fully opened.) I found that the automatic wipers were inconsistent in heavy rain and tended to switch to manual just to be sure, passing trucks throwing up walls of water. (By the way, the X feels like it's on a rail in heavy rain with puddles and wind.) No squeaks or rattles (the frame is wonderfully stiff on rough roads.) No leaky seals to let in road noise. No misaligned panels. And we’re Sig 169. So those of you getting later version will probably experience even fewer problems.
We wanted the X for its spaciousness, higher line of sight, and coolness factor. Over the past four years of waiting I’ve had some pretty darn high expectations.
I’m happy and somewhat amazed to be able to say that this car exceeded all of them.
My advice to all of you still waiting—plan a trip for when it arrives! You’ll have a ball.
There we hooked up with four friends and spent the next few days with six people in the X (we have the six seater) tooling around the desert. For the trip home there were four of us and a ton of luggage as we climbed the pass and down into San Diego, and then up the coast where we hit some of the heaviest rain (and winds) I’ve ever driven in. We didn’t see snow, but this trip put the X through about every kind of weather you could imagine—and here’s my verdict: this car is an order of magnitude more capable than any I’ve ever driven.
Where to even start. Watching the Siskous and the lush green hills of southern Oregon go by through that unbelievable windshield. Listening to concert-hall perfect Mozart or punchy bass riffs from an amazing variety of music sources. The stares and thumbs up and conversations (mostly from young people interestingly) about the electrification of automobiles, usually initiated by the simple opening of a FW door. The amazing comfort of EVERY seat in the house (yes, even the back seats which my wife adores.) The climate system which kept all six of us completely comfortable in 90deg heat, without a single stuffy moment. And the range! (We’ve had two Leafs.) 4000 miles, all temperatures, lots of mountain passes, lots of weight in the car, driving 1-6 miles over limit, and we averaged 345 wh/mile for the entire trip. VERY close to rated.
Are there squawks? A few. One FW sometimes doesn’t close all the way and you have to push the button once again, a sensor falsely sensing obstruction. The factory missed two clips in a piece of door trim that we fixed in Fremont. Autopilot still works best on relatively straight freeway. (But adaptive cruise control was on 80% of the time and is a game changer in terms of reducing stress on long drives.) Opening the FW to the halfway position lets water drain in on the rear seat (doesn’t do it when fully opened.) I found that the automatic wipers were inconsistent in heavy rain and tended to switch to manual just to be sure, passing trucks throwing up walls of water. (By the way, the X feels like it's on a rail in heavy rain with puddles and wind.) No squeaks or rattles (the frame is wonderfully stiff on rough roads.) No leaky seals to let in road noise. No misaligned panels. And we’re Sig 169. So those of you getting later version will probably experience even fewer problems.
We wanted the X for its spaciousness, higher line of sight, and coolness factor. Over the past four years of waiting I’ve had some pretty darn high expectations.
I’m happy and somewhat amazed to be able to say that this car exceeded all of them.
My advice to all of you still waiting—plan a trip for when it arrives! You’ll have a ball.
