A few questions from a potential owner

[donv]

It's funny-- everyone has their own preferences. I've always hated when car companies force you to use their interface to operate the iPhone. Invariably, it's a worse experience than just using the iPhone's interface itself-- and I'm already comfortable and familiar with the iPhone interface.

So I love that about the Tesla system.

iPhone Support

Regarding this, I think I did a poor job explaining what I meant. Currently the car does not integrate with the phone via USB. On my BMW, Audi and just about every other modern car I've owned, you plug the phone into the car, it picks it up and you can control the phone through the vehicle. So in the case of the BMW I could hold down the talk button on the steering wheel for Siri eyes free, there were apps in iDrive that allowed you to stow the phone and never look at it. You'd control your music, playlists, etc though iDrive. The Tesla seems to interact with the phone solely through bluetooth and the interaction stops at being able to reverse/ forward tracks. To me that's not integration.

 

[davidc18]

The car is really fun. Not perfect but REALLY fun. Autopilot is just the latest incredible addition. We would really love to get a second MS and go all electric.

 

[trils0n]

Interior Noise - The car is LOUD on the expressway. At first I couldn't pinpoint the noise but I realized I couldn't make out words on my podcasts unless I really turned up the volume. Then I realized I kept asking my wife to repeat herself. It's not wind noise. It's just a lot of cabin noise. My last car was a top spec 535D which was silent and before that I had an A8 with the dual pane glass which was also dead silent. I wasn't expecting the Tesla to be like that but it's louder than my wife's Infiniti FX35 on the expressway. Is this a known issue? Has this improved in newer cars or is it just something I'm going to have to deal with?

2013s are considerably noisier than newer cars. I think around the introduction of the Dual Motor models they started adding significantly more sound deadening. The newest loaner I drove (a 2015) was pleasantly much quieter than my 2013 with the same wheels and tires. Tires make a big difference. The 19in Michelin are quieter than the 21in Continentals.

Overall Reliability - I've had the rental for 48 hours now. In that time one key has failed to start the car, the tire pressure monitoring system said it was malfunctioning, bluetooth doesn't connect to my iPhone 50% of the time and the touch screen became unresponsive and tossed a code on the instrument display, forcing me to learn how to reset it. The car is a 2013 with 18,000 miles on it. Is this kind of stuff par for the course? I can deal with the occasional touch screen error if I'm not going to have to replace the touch screen on the car. I know the powertrain is covered by Tesla for awhile but what about the other electronics? Are there a lot of problem with them?

Never had any problems with the key failing to start the car. It is however, sensitive, to being in close proximity to cell phones and coins and keys. All of those objects in contact with the key will sometimes cause it to fail to be seen by the car. Never had any Bluetooth problems -- connects every time without fail. (Last car it would work 1/4 of the time, so nice to have it just work). TPMS is a fairly common early car problem, that is easily fixed at the service center. Most of the time they upgrade the antenna so it doesn't lose contact with the sensors to fix that issue.

Durability - Some parts of the car look like they're not going to hold up well with time. The leather covered door panels are of particular concern. I also noticed that the rental I have with 18,000 miles is showing wear on the driver's seat bottom cushion. I believe it has the Nappa leather. How are these seats after some miles have been stacked up? What about the rest of the interior?

Anything else that you think I should know?

My interior (nappa leather) looks pretty much new at 38k miles. I have seen loaners with less miles that look beat up though. Guess it depends on how much abuse they've had. I take care to avoid dragging my behind across the B pillar when I enter the car, as early 2012 demo cars had leather wear in that location from the hundreds of people checking them out.

My nappa seats look pretty much new after over 38k miles. I've seen loaners with some beat up interiors though. Guess it depends how much it is abused. I take care to not rub my behind or legs on the B pillar when I enter the car, because the early demo cars had wear on the B pillar from that issue. Happy with how the interior is holding up.

 

[Zybane]

Oh sweet, thanks to this thread I found about the ContiSilent tires with the foam inside. Only tires I will now purchase.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Interior noise - By itself on smooth payment the 70D I have is extremely quiet (19inch factory default tires). The wind noise isn't an issue, and all in all it's pleasant. But, if there are cars around me I can easily hear them especially if they're loud. So much so I want to shout at them for being so loud. The Tesla doesn't seem to have much in terms of sound dampening. Maybe it's safer that way since you can hear a car next to you. It's not too big of a deal. What is a big deal is just how horrendous the noise is on bad pavement. It's pretty much atrocious. It's not just tire noise (the predominant noise), but rattles/squeaks/etc. My car is a 2015, and it still doesn't have enough refinement. Sure some of the rattles/squeaks might get taken care of when I take the car in. It's just hard to reproduce those issues because as soon as you get on good pavement it's silent.

Reliability - I've had my car a little over 4 months and in that time I put 10,500 miles on it. I did have some initial minor things (obvious rattle, parking sensor) that they quickly fixed, but I haven't had anything major since then. There are only two things on my list of things I'd like them to fix the next time I take car in. The center console iphone charger doesn't work (the connector is loose and needs to be tightened and locktighted), and the brake pedal makes too much noise when I remove my foot (an issue a few people have had). I should add that this car does have occasional software glitches that will make it seem like something isn't working. Like sometimes the 3G connection won't reconnect and I have to reboot the 17inch LCD section. On average I have to reboot either of the two computer sections in the car a couple times a month.

Stereo - The standard system is a complete joke. There is this sound that comes from it that some say is music. I'm not entirely convinced. I didn't get the updated system because I felt like I'd have to upgrade anyways. I'll upgrade it fairly soon. I just haven't decided which system to go with.

iPhone - I haven't had any significant issues in terms of connectivity. I connected it the first time and it's been solid since. It worked fine with my iPhone 5S, and now with my iPhone 6S.

Durability - I had to get xpel ultimate over the bumper. That was something that was obviously going to get hurt. I haven't noticed anything obvious from that point, but my car is so new that it's not really a good indicator.

All in all I've loved the car for the first 4 months. It's exactly the kind of adventure I was hoping for and I did buy it for the adventure. Putting 10K miles on a car within 4 months is absolutely ridiculous for me.

 

[BertL]

iPhone Support

Regarding this, I think I did a poor job explaining what I meant. Currently the car does not integrate with the phone via USB. On my BMW, Audi and just about every other modern car I've owned, you plug the phone into the car, it picks it up and you can control the phone through the vehicle. So in the case of the BMW I could hold down the talk button on the steering wheel for Siri eyes free, there were apps in iDrive that allowed you to stow the phone and never look at it. You'd control your music, playlists, etc though iDrive. The Tesla seems to interact with the phone solely through bluetooth and the interaction stops at being able to reverse/ forward tracks. To me that's not integration.

Correct. I had this in my Lexus, MBZ, and BMW and used it the majority of the time. You don't have most of that with a Tesla ...and I don't see it as something you should hold your breath for coming as an upgrade some day (we of course could be wondrously surprised), as it would require Tesla licensing the iPod/iPhone interface from Apple (like Lexus, MBZ, BMW and others do), building the software interface to Tesla's Media Player, and creating the physical hardware connection within our MS that may well be a little more than just plugging into USB (it is in MBZ and BMW, for sure). You have only Bluetooth connectivity to your iPhone for whatever you want to accomplish as I attempted to explain back a few posts. It is a tradeoff you will have to make, like I did. I wanted better Apple integration as is available in nearly every other luxury brand these days, and as I've had in every one of my cars for many years, but decided to forego that for the many other positives MS had on my comparison list.