I'm picking up my MSLR 2023 this Friday, and I'm absolutely having second thoughts now.

[Moe s3xy]

I'm feeling very hesitant about my decision to purchase a Tesla after quite some time of being solid about it.

Unfortunately, it seems that the car I'm getting doesn't come with USS, and after some research, I'm concerned about the Tesla Vision experience.

Additionally, I've found out that there are two versions of Tesla, one with HW4 and one with HW3 and I have no clue which version I have. I don't want to pay a premium only to be shafted with old, potentially not upgradable hardware.

This left me wondering if there is a way to know for sure if my MSLR has HW4 or HW3 via the VIN or another measure?

 

[mtbwalt]

I find it funny that people buy a car or not based on park assist or some gimmicky TOP-down simulated camera view.

You spend much less than 1% of time in your car actively parking, and it’s the most pedestrian of skills unless you have special handicaps.

Quibbling over minutia! It’s like choosing a laptop over whether the internal fan spins at 1500 or 1700 rpm. Who cares!

 

[DayTrippin]

I'd say it is about preventing damage to the car and making it easier to park. Your environment may dictate to you how important it is to you. I have to do a lot of parallel parking. Sensors are a huge help here. When spending 50k or 100k on a car, that is isn't unreasonable to expect parking sensors or some sort of parking aid to make it easier to park and reduce the risk of damaging the car.

Count me as one of the people who won't buy another Tesla until they replace USS or have a replacement that works as well. I am currently looking for an X and won't buy one without USS so I am looking for used rather than new. Repainting a bumper when you ding it isn't cheap, assuming you don't do more than just a minor touch-up. Then you have paintwork which can devalue the car.

For those asking if the YT vid is accurate, it is. At least based on the current version of SW as of this time based on an S and 3 that I was in. Bad info is worse than no info at all.

The removal of USS is another cluster truck that will catch up to Tesla unless they truly have a viable replacement option. Currently, they don't. Just like the ultimately gave an option for the steering wheel for the S/X, I think there will be a lot of market pressure to have a good replacement option. At the moment TeslaVision doesn't cut it and I doubt it will even in the medium term. Too many limitations based on the camera position and things aren't always static after you park.

 

[sorka]

I find it funny that people buy a car or not based on park assist or some gimmicky TOP-down simulated camera view.

You spend much less than 1% of time in your car actively parking, and it’s the most pedestrian of skills unless you have special handicaps.

Quibbling over minutia! It’s like choosing a laptop over whether the internal fan spins at 1500 or 1700 rpm. Who cares!

I agree 100%. They should just remove the doors and require you to climb in through the windows. You spend less than 1% of your time getting in and out of the car. Having doors is stupid.

 

[SO16]

I usually quickly glance around my car before I get in to drive it. Especially if at night as there could be debris under the vehicle. Even with USS, there are times where it doesn’t see posts. Tesla is my 5th vehicle and first with USS that I’ve had now going on 7 years. I honestly don’t see the huge deal of having it vs not having it. Guess I’m just old school even though I’m under 50.

And in tight garages, I have other methods to prevent hitting anything like hanging a tennis ball or drive on a pad.

Same thing with blind spot monitoring. I always check over my shoulder before changing lanes. I have however seen people almost get into accidents relying on BSM.

That being said, I do want Tesla vision to work better and it is absolutely necessary for FSD. Not sure when that will happen. I just wouldn’t hold up on a purchase because of it. If my MS Tesla was wrecked today, I’d absolutely go for a new plaid MS.

 

[SO16]

I agree 100%. They should just remove the doors and require you to climb in through the windows. You spend less than 1% of your time getting in and out of the car. Having doors is stupid.

Not equivalent but you know that.

Funny though.

 

[vcor]

My original 2013 Model S didn't have parking sensors (they were offered several months later). I never had an issue parking. Is USS useful, yes and I like it in my 2022 S, but not the end of all worlds not to have it. I like the far cleaner look without the USS warts all over the car and if it was an option, I'd go with Tesla vision, even if not perfect, over USS today. Elimination of USS makes the bumper easier to clean. USS sensors can be damaged by a minor bump costing quite a bit to fix too.

 

[sorka]

Not equivalent but you know that.

Funny though.

Right. It was just a jab at the ludicrous statement that something isn't important because it's used less than 1% of the time. Really not equivalent but still demonstrating the point is that the airbags are used less than 0.000001% of the time. Perhaps they should remove those too.

 

[NeuroRad]

I find it funny that people buy a car or not based on park assist or some gimmicky TOP-down simulated camera view.

You spend much less than 1% of time in your car actively parking, and it’s the most pedestrian of skills unless you have special handicaps.

Quibbling over minutia! It’s like choosing a laptop over whether the internal fan spins at 1500 or 1700 rpm. Who cares!

Unless you’re extremely careful you’ll damage the front splitter on MS. Its very difficult to accurately judge distance to the parking curb hence now I’m often backing in using the backup camera I’ll guess you’d call a gimmick too.

 

[sorka]

Unless you’re extremely careful you’ll damage the front splitter on MS. Its very difficult to accurately judge distance to the parking curb hence now I’m often backing in using the backup camera I’ll guess you’d call a gimmick too.

I always back into spots with cars that have rear cameras.

 

[italian bread]

You should go buy an Audi E-Tron GT. I'm tired of seeing Model S on the road, I want to see less of it and more of other cars.

Watching a Lucid fly by is awesome.

 

[drunkenbuda]

Watching a Lucid fly by is awesome.

I still don't like the look of Lucid. The front is okay but the rear......

 

[vapor trail]

I still don't like the look of Lucid. The front is okay but the rear......

Really wish Lucid had done a hatch like Model S. Aside from limited storage access with a trunk, I have no complaints about the Lucid.

 

[Jayskywalker21]

I still don't like the look of Lucid. The front is okay but the rear......

Seen a white lucid with its chrome all blacked out and it was one of the prettiest cars I've ever seen. Outside of that particular build the car looks MEH but much better in person

 

[DayTrippin]

Really wish Lucid had done a hatch like Model S. Aside from limited storage access with a trunk, I have no complaints about the Lucid.

I have to say one of the things I really liked about the MS is the hatchback. I wish the 3 was a hatchback as well. On the plus side, the interior is quieter on my 3 than the Y since the trunk is enclosed. They did a better job insulating the S so it is quieter than my 3.

On the Lucid, I like the interior. For the exterior, some angles I love it and others it looks like an electric Buick to me. If something happened to my S, I'd probably go for a Lucid Air GT. I am tired of Tesla de-contenting the S to try and save a few $ on an expensive car.

 

[Yelobird]

I'll give you another common use case where the TV (TeslaVision) replacement for USS is vastly inferior. You parallel park your car. TV maybe worked well enough to do that. Now the car in front of you pulls away and a new one replaces it. How is TV going to accurately determine the distance when you go to pull out when it was sleeping while you were gone? Highly unlikely the cameras were feeding input into the system while you were away as that is a fair amount of drain. The USS has a better field of view immediately in front of the car. That is clearly better than what the cameras had. If Tesla hadn't half-assed some of these things just to save a few pennies, it would be different. The current camera position most likely was determined to use in conjunction with radar/USS/etc., not to just stand alone on its own. To save more $$$, Tesla just used the camera location they had whether it was sub-optimal or not.

FYI - I don't give a rat's butt about how new technology is. I care about how well it works. Just like when TV replaced the 3/Y cars with radar to use the new fancy TV with only use cameras. I can't tell you what a clustertruck that was. It was bad enough I sold my Y as phantom braking was such an issue. My 3 (without radar) is better than my Y ever was but still nowhere near as good as my S (with radar enabled).

I'd take a car with HW4 and USS over a car with just HW4 and no USS. Tesla so often overpromises and underdelivers. Or they rip out something without having its replacement even remotely ready to go. The radar removal without a replacement was a total debacle. Just like how they eff'd people by removing USS without even having its replacement ready. From my experience the first iteration of TV to replace the USS is better than nothing but still has a long ways to go.

Sorry that makes absolutely no sense. You pull in with vision, all good. The car in front leaves and a new car pulls in. SO What? Why would you get in and decide to pull forward again???? You back out and bobs your uncle. Love when people hunt for a failure example only to fail.

 

[sorka]

Sorry that makes absolutely no sense. You pull in with vision, all good. The car in front leaves and a new car pulls in. SO What? Why would you get in and decide to pull forward again???? You back out and bobs your uncle. Love when people hunt for a failure example only to fail.

Did you really just ask that? Have you ever heard of a multi point turn? That's how you get out of a parallel spot when you have cars close to you on both ends.

With vision, you park with a car behind you but nothing in front. While you're gone, a car parks right in front of you. When you come back, vision has no idea how close the car in front of you is because it's out of site without a camera on the front bumper.

 

[mswlogo]

Sorry that makes absolutely no sense. You pull in with vision, all good. The car in front leaves and a new car pulls in. SO What? Why would you get in and decide to pull forward again???? You back out and bobs your uncle. Love when people hunt for a failure example only to fail.

What if someone pulled in, in front and another behind you?

You take notes on what cars are in front or behind every time you park so you know the safest direction to move? Sure you do.

You move typically where there is more room regardless if it was there before or after you parked. And you’ll have no idea if either in front or behind has a valid prior range.

 

[whitex]

Is Mercedes level 3 available outside the state of Nevada or at speeds over 40 mph yet?

Last I checked they got NHTSA nationwide approval, but not sure when that goes into effect (might be, stopped tracking the EQS once I picked up my first choice, the Taycan). Regardless though, Tesla is not approved for L3 in any state, so saying that no other manufacturers even caught up to Tesla is just spreading fake news. They not only caught up, they surpassed it. The impression people sometimes get about Tesla being ahead is because of the fact that Tesla lets customers Beta test software, which may appear more advanced, but it nowhere near ready for prime time. The other guys have it too, even better stuff, but don't let customers play with it.

 

[whitex]

I find it funny that people buy a car or not based on park assist or some gimmicky TOP-down simulated camera view.

You spend much less than 1% of time in your car actively parking, and it’s the most pedestrian of skills unless you have special handicaps.

Quibbling over minutia! It’s like choosing a laptop over whether the internal fan spins at 1500 or 1700 rpm. Who cares!

Different people have different priorities for their cars. Some buy it to drive spiritedly, others to commute to work, others to show off to their friends, coworkers and neighbors, etc, etc. Parking assist can be important for some of those. For example, my retired parents care about parking assist and driving safety features a whole lot, while they couldn't care less about 0-60 times, FAD, or PPF wrap, or sporty looking wheels.

 

[DayTrippin]

What if someone pulled in, in front and another behind you?

You take notes on what cars are in front or behind every time you park so you know the safest direction to move? Sure you do.

You move typically where there is more room regardless if it was there before or after you parked. And you’ll have no idea if either in front or behind has a valid prior range.

Last night someone in a BMW literally parked an inch away from my rear bumper in a parallel parking situation. I maybe had 6-7" in front of me. I can't tell you how many times I went back and forth to finally get out. If I didn't have USS it would have been more miserable than it was.

If I was relying on TeslaVision, I'd have to get out after almost every movement to make sure I didn't hit the bumper on the front. Even with the camera in the rear it doesn't see the bumper corners very well but the USS are well positioned to pick that area up.

I still love how stupid the system is for auto-selecting which way I should go on my S. I still have issues where it auto-selects forward as the way it thinks I should go even when parked in front of a sign that precludes me from driving forward and the only option is to reverse.