As the owner of a Model 3 I thought I should give my impressions of this rental. Clearly I'll be a bit biased, but this is a Tesla owner's board after all. This is my first drive of any other EV.
1. I found all of the lights, buttons, screens, really to be too much. As much as people are shocked by the spare look of the M3, the Niro overwhelms you with lights and knobs. It is just as confusing to have all of this as it is to go through the menus on the M3, with a lot more clutter. And there was no digital display of speed with all of these screens.
2. The maps sucked. I just wanted a view of the surrounding area and I couldn't get just that. It is a smaller screen and yet it zooms in so much that all you see are the few blocks you are on. And there are two sides. I couldn't figure out how to make it work. Ultimately my wife used Google maps on her phone to guide us.
3. The safety features were distracting. Every time I got even close to the line it started beeping at me. And when switching lanes it almost always detected a car. I was in Los Angeles and there is ALWAYS another car nearby. Also while parking the chimes would go off before I was even close. I live in NYC and that would just drive me crazy.
4. The acceleration sucked too. It felt like I was driving a gas powered car. My SR+ would beat this from a stop easily.
5. One pedal driving, or lack thereof. It would creep forward like a gas car.
6. Why do I have to turn the car on? I unlocked it and opened the door. It is superfluous that I have to push another button. Also, the knob you turn to put it into drive and reverse just seemed cheesy.
Now I'm sure a lot of this is in the options to correct it, but overall I wasn't impressed. I'm also sure that all of this is to replicate the driving experience of an ICE car. If I wanted that though I'd buy an ICE car. And lest you think I'm a T fanboi, I'm not. I've already decided I won't buy another, although mostly because I won't give Elmo another dime of my money. My M3 is decent enough but there are a lot of improvements that could be made.
1. I found all of the lights, buttons, screens, really to be too much. As much as people are shocked by the spare look of the M3, the Niro overwhelms you with lights and knobs. It is just as confusing to have all of this as it is to go through the menus on the M3, with a lot more clutter. And there was no digital display of speed with all of these screens.
2. The maps sucked. I just wanted a view of the surrounding area and I couldn't get just that. It is a smaller screen and yet it zooms in so much that all you see are the few blocks you are on. And there are two sides. I couldn't figure out how to make it work. Ultimately my wife used Google maps on her phone to guide us.
3. The safety features were distracting. Every time I got even close to the line it started beeping at me. And when switching lanes it almost always detected a car. I was in Los Angeles and there is ALWAYS another car nearby. Also while parking the chimes would go off before I was even close. I live in NYC and that would just drive me crazy.
4. The acceleration sucked too. It felt like I was driving a gas powered car. My SR+ would beat this from a stop easily.
5. One pedal driving, or lack thereof. It would creep forward like a gas car.
6. Why do I have to turn the car on? I unlocked it and opened the door. It is superfluous that I have to push another button. Also, the knob you turn to put it into drive and reverse just seemed cheesy.
Now I'm sure a lot of this is in the options to correct it, but overall I wasn't impressed. I'm also sure that all of this is to replicate the driving experience of an ICE car. If I wanted that though I'd buy an ICE car. And lest you think I'm a T fanboi, I'm not. I've already decided I won't buy another, although mostly because I won't give Elmo another dime of my money. My M3 is decent enough but there are a lot of improvements that could be made.
