Went on business travel to CA this month and decided to try driving a Tesla to see what it was like. Big mistake… coming home to my civic is painful. Coworkers told me a lot of my gripes like lack of buttons wear off after a month or so. I was already all in on electric for when my car eventually died but god, idk how long I will be able to stay ICE. Anyone else have similar experiences on test drives?
I keep telling people that since I switch to Electric I feel less tired when driving long distances. I never noticed before how much engine noise was so oppressive on my energy levels.
Autopilot also helps with driving fatigue.
I got an inexpensive old Fiat 500e for my daughter to use and although it’s a really cute little short range EV, I really miss Autopilot when driving it.
The Autopilot is huge help. Even the latest Toyota Safety Sense is pretty darn good. I rented a 2021 Prius for a month and it was excellent on long boring stretches of highway. It was about 80% as good as my 2015 Model S with AP1.
It really is a game changer, much like standard active cruise control was when that became widely introduced. Remember the old days of having to adjust the speed with the button or turning it off every time you came up on another car?
Last long trip was 11 hours and I did it myself and got there with no fatigue. The other times in gas cars I would do 5-6 hours and have to swap with my wife because I was so tired. Even just the micro managing constantly of lane corrections really uses a lot of energy.
Yep I sure do remember those days. Don’t miss them at all!
Last winter I drove my Model S from Boston to Tampa. 90% of the drive was on Autopilot. I arrived in 2 days feeling refreshed. I stopped every 3 hours for 30-40 minutes for charge/rest too.
Even without using AP?
The current gen 500e has really good lane centering/adaptive cruise. In most highway driving situations it’s actually better than my Model Y. You don’t need to manually reactivate lane keep after lane changes in the Fiat.
Sadly not available in the USA yet.
That is true, however not all ICE suffer from this. I’ve got a 2015 Model S and before that a 2006 Lexus LS430.
The Lexus powertrain was 2nd to none in the luxury car world. Dead silent and smooth as butter.
The Japanese Mercedes
Most people who complain about engine noise seem to be coming from broken down old beaters or very cheap economy cars. I mean, even a Toyota Camry from a few years ago is pretty quiet (at least the V6). At highway speed, your engine has to be in pretty bad shape if you can hear it over the wind and road noise.
I got rid of my truck for a M3 for this exact reason and driving has become… tolerable.