I don't know who this is or why I should care about their opinion, but seems like a pretty evenhanded review. It does reinforce my apprehension due to bad UX because everything has to be on the touchscreen even when it doesn't make sense.
I've had one for almost 2 years and I find the UX very good. The features that are relevant for driving are physical stalks or buttons on the wheel. Rest are on a very good UX tablet like interface, iPad level responsiveness as well.
That said, I kinda think that I would hate the new design that has done away with the stalks.
Been driving a M3 since 2019: at this point I feel most of the people complaining about Tesla UX have never really driven one for more than a rental day.
Yes, everything is in the tablet, but it's super-responsive (even on the Atom CPUs from pre-2021 models), essential buttons are well placed, and the car does a good job of adjusting AC (air temp/flow/outlets) and lights automatically. Once you get to know the car, it really does a good job of staying out of your way most of the time.
Compared to my father's ID.4 or my mother's Peugeot e-208, Tesla's software already had a 10y advantage in 2019, and it still has at least that much after 5y. Their car is laggy, menus are too deep to navigate during drive, lots of useless options placed alongside common ones.
I do agree with jnsaff2 that I probably wouldn't like the Highland refresh with no stalks and no USS, I also feel these two things were better kept as they were.
If you ever drive longer distances with multiple stops, how far do you travel between two charging stops, and what speed do you try to stay on?
E.g.: I drive an Opel Corsa-e, and I usually have cruise control at around 100 km/h in the winter, 110km/h in the summer, and I stop every 150-200km to charge up to ~90%. I fully expect a Tesla to be faster, but I'm curious by how much.
I have a Model Y and depending on the speed limit, I cruise at 120-130 and stop every 200kms or so for a charge. I charge till about 80% or slightly lower when I stop.
I liked the points you've made. I've had the Model Y for about two years and the reason I still with it is actually the supercharger network and the ease of roadtripping. I hate having to depend on the third party charging network and having multiple accounts with multiple providers and then figuring.
Long range, we usually stop every 250km. So say I travel to Istanbul, I stop at the Bolu Supercharger station after around ~220km. It's just peace of mind and I drive a tad faster, around 120km/h.
The most efficient way is to travel until ~10% and fast charge to 60-70%, it takes way less time to charge in those range and it's plenty enough to cover large distances and pass multiple chargers.
I don't bother slowing down, I drive as fast as I can get away with (and safety). Except once I wanted to one-shot a long distance and put the car on autopilot behind big trucks. This way my range about doubled. In fact it's often better for range to follow the fastest biggest car, than to drive slower but with no one in front of you. Think "150kmh behind a pickup truck gives more range than 110kmh pushing air alone".
On a 800km trip that I do twice every year, I usually just follow Tesla's onboard navigation. I have ABRP [0] open as well as a backup, but typically Tesla's superchager routing is pretty good (in mainland Europe with lot's of superchagers)
It usually charges from 5~20% to 40~70%. If you're optimizing to minimize total charge time, you should aim to charge from 10% to 60%.
Do you make those 800km with 2 or 3 stops? What's your approximate travel time, how many hours do you plan for the trip, assuming there's no serious traffic jam or anything like that?
It's actually a 915km trip ending up in the French Alps during winter time, so it's more taxing on the battery. We need some juice left on arrival (30%) You can test it out yourself on ABRP [0]. My trip goes from Lier, Belgium to Les Saisies, France.
With "quickest arrival" setting, ABRP does 4 stops with a total charging time of 1h25min (and 8h29 driving). The stops are 28, 18, 18 and 22 minutes respectively.
You can do it with 3 stops, and perhaps even in 2 stops during the summer and limiting speed, but then you spend more total time charging.
I like the 20 minute stops every ~2 hours. We travel with kids so the bio-break and leg stretching is appreciated. We leave in the wee morning hours so we arrive at the destination in the afternoon and avoid some of the traffic.
That depends so much on conditions. But on family trips I usually drive 3 hours in the German Autobahn (MY) before the first stop (with a max speed of 150km/h) then ~2:15h until the next stop (as i would often only charge to 80%). Unless family wants to eat after the first stop, then we can drive another 3 hours.
You can of course also empty the battery from 93% to 8% (drove that yesterday) after 212 km when driving at max speed of 188 km/h (3C avg. temp)
There are very different ways of marketing. Just thing about how often Tesla is discussed on HN. Mercedes is for its self-driving, only to have a 50% discussion about Tesla each time, while VW is discussed at a distant third place for its objevtively bad UI / software.
How do you know those "people" aren't Tesla employees? How do you know Tesla isn't engaging in guerilla marketing? Also, what if it's being done by shareholders to prop-up share prices?
The model Y is getting a revamp over the next few months. It will be interesting to see how many of the things in this article Tesla decides to change.
I think most owners of either model disagrees with that. Sure - it would be handy, but it's not a feature that I'm desperately missing. I would go so far to say that I'm not missing it at all.
> I think most owners of either model disagrees with that
Yes, but that's by selection:
If you believe that an information display directly in front of the driver is vital (and I do believe that), then you're not in the market for a Tesla model 3, or the new Volvo EX30. If you chose one of these cars, then you most likely don't believe that.
Like with all cars I think you should try it before you buy it. That's the only way to get an idea of how things work is reality. In both models you can actually see the speed while you're looking at the road, it's just in a different place than you're used to.
That said, I agree with you from a pure marketing perspective. The idea that you need the heads-up display is a recurring one. In online forums new owners are often looking for solutions, only to come back after a couple of weeks to say that they didn't feel the need anymore. It would be interesting to know how many people just write it off without even trying it out.
My anecdotal experience: My parents went from a Volvo XC60 to a Tesla Model Y. Both were a little skeptical about the lack of heads-up display. They stopped looking for aftermarket solutions after a week.
Its an amazing security feature, having all required info projected by laser straight to windshield. It also saves quite a bit of money on speeding fines in cities (ie where I live going 10 over the limit is already in hundreds of dollars).
For me by far the best development in cars in past few decades, technology as it is just consistently helps with informational overload for the driver, works 100% in all possible conditions.
This is true on (eg) my Ioniq 5 that actually knows the real speed limit and shows it on the HUD but my Model Y is hopelessly bad at reading posted speed limits and would net me a bunch of tickets AND also drive 90kmh in a 120kmh zone.
This is not exclusively a Tesla problem so. As long as the speed limit is only displayed, I am fine with it. What I am not ok with, is the car enforcing it.
Edit: If Tesla isn't reading signs, well, that's a problem. Either because map data is outdated, or because speed limits are variable like on German highways (as in one minute no speed limit, 120 kmh the next, reduced to 80 10 mintes later only to be unrestricted 5 hours later again).
Either way so, it still is the drivers responsibility to drive the car in a safe and legal manner.
I don't think Tesla reads signs at all. As far as I understand they're using map data, which is often out of date. It's one of those features that is so bad that they really should give you an option to just disable it. But I guess that would be an admission of poor implementation.
It's one of those things that the entire industry seems to have solved 10-15 years ago that Tesla just can't get right. That and automatic or even functioning windscreen wipers.
Afaict in the US it uses camera to read posted signs, and it doesn't understand it so well. Again and again I had my car interpret a speed sign wrongly and change it's behaviour in consequence.
Whereas my Ioniq 5 in Korea has perfect knowledge of the speed limits, all speed camera locations, all exceptions, etc, and presents it in the windshield under the wheels of the car in front of me. Night and day.
In general Tesla relies too much on AI and not enough on boring factual/external data sources/information.
I'm 99% sure it doesn't use map data (or they bought horrible data in Belgium), but I'm not sure it uses real time detecting software. Maybe it crowd sources data from other Teslas?
I'm sure because it makes mistakes only sign detection software would make. It doesn't know speed limits end at an intersection and makes this mistake all the time. Also sometimes it detects max 10 ton as max 10kmph. I don't think it's real time because it doesn't detect road works speed limits reliably. (But I think there was an update recently saying it's real time now, so maybe it changed)
It definitely reads the signs. That has been proven many times over (with temporary signs etc, or handheld signs) visualized correctly in the 3d view, but it decides to ignore them often. The assumption is an override from the Maps, but that alone does not explain everything.
I might be wrong, but I think this is where a lot of the misconception stems from. In Norway it also shows the (usually) correct visualization, but it never use it. People have done a lot of testing and it seemingly always use map data. But this might be different in different regions. From my understanding this is where a lot of the "phantom breaking" on highways comes from. The map data shows a temporary slower speed sign due to previous construction.
In Australia, a lot of buses have a 40kmph sign on the back to show you should pass the bus at 40 when stopped - but it's laid out and coloured the same as road signs.
Every time I'm behind a bus in my Tesla, it reads the sign on the bus, displays it on the scren as the current limit, and sometimes (arbitrarily it seems) if I have autopilot on it reduces the maximum allowed speed to 40.
I can't speak for the logic run elsewhere, but AU Teslas for sure use it.
That is a strange feature that is absent at least in uk. Here the speed limit change so frequently that without hud you have to draw v slow. I wonder why no offer if an alert of close to speed limit and slow down. Or even auto slow down depend upon car behind you.
Great post. Although Fatih says he’s happy with Model Y, everything he’s happy about seems to be related to EVs in general while everything he dislikes is about Model Y. So, his review just confirmed my bias on not buying a Tesla ever.
Thank you Sedat! I also had a Mercedes EQC 400 (EV). The problem with that car was that the software + phone integration was really bad. Of course living in Turkey also contributes to it, because somehow any brands except the Tesla, don't have the remote capabilities that all the brand provides.
But the Mercedes was more comfortable during a drive. The range was worst than the Tesla. I'll probably going to update my card in a few years once other brands have cars with better ranges.
Definitely agree. The only thing that comes to my mind, I thought CarPlay is all I need, but as I wrote in my blog post, the ability to watch Netflix, Youtube comes really handy. Of course you could use an iPad for that.
Despite their exaggerated figures, my real world experience with a Model Y Performance, a Kona EV and an Ioniq 5, the Tesla still has better range, and much better performance.
Although the suspension is indeed very stiff, the Ioniq 5 is so smooth in comparison.
I own a 2021 Mercedes, and completely agree about the software+phone integration. It's 2024, why do I have to plug my phone in? And why is the user interface such an absolute cluster**?
In fact one of Jeremy Clarkson's (Top Gear, BBC era) running jokes was to ask MB's voice control to do things for him and it never, ever got it right (subject to editing of course). It's still true today.
The #1 thing you should be doing in a car is looking at the road. Yet the MB computer and screen demand your attention. And mine doesn't have a touch screen so you're forced to use their controls.
In a Mercedes there's at least 3 ways of controlling the central screen, a big dial in centre console, a touch pad in the centre console, and a touch-joystick on the steering wheel.
If you're using your phone to navigate and switch to the car radio (there's a physical button for that) or something native to the car, to go back you have to then press the home button (physical), fiddle with the dial or joystick and go 'up' to select Apple Car Play, then spin the wheel or fiddle with the touch pad to re-select the app or display layout, and you absolutely have to look at the screen whilst doing it to get back to Waze or Google Maps.
Going from MB 'native' back to 'Your Music App' on your phone is even worse.
It's a complete UI disaster. My wife's Ford is half the price, and twice as good as far as the computer and UI are concerned.
Frankly I'm astonished that there aren't more car accidents now by people being distracted by their in-car computers and complete lack of good old fashioned manual push-buttons on the dashboard.
I recognize the things you mention.
Volume button is on the steering wheel.
Stiffness of the ride is more horrible in the back, I would not recommend it for use as a taxi.
The car alerts many times unnecessary; it beeps when you touch a line (it should only beep if you cross it). It beeps when you make room for someone on the road, with the plan to steer back when they've passed - it shouldnt beep for that.
It is often wrong with maximum speeds it enforces, it doesnt detect all traffic signs.
The alerts stuff is not only Tesla so. What really is annoying, is cars reading speed limits and traffic signs, and then forcing that on drivers. I am fine with alerting me to it, e.g. displaying a speed limit. If I ignore that or not is up to me. Especially when the car misses a sign, misreads signs or looks at the stickers on the back of a truck and thinks the highway is now limited to 90 km/h.
I had a model Y as an airport taxi in UAE sitting at the back seat. I did not notice the stiffness but perhaps the highway road pavement over there is par excellence thus the ride was rather comfortable.
> Our gas costs are 7/8x less than what we pay for electricity. It makes so much to use an EV car. This is not Model Y related, but something we loved over the 6 months.
Is this badly worded, or is he saying electricity is 8x more expensive than gas?
I agree. I fixed the line :) It was 8x cheaper compared to using gas. EV costs are currently around $25-30 monthly, whereas gas costs were around $200 and more. (Turkey, Ankara)
Couple things to defend the Y. You can adjust the volume from the steering wheel, I do that all the time. And when it comes to the glovebox, it has very little storage, most storage is in the center console, so the glovebox is good to use to store important stuff that you rarely need so the extra security to now have an easy entry to it is fine.
And coming from a Toyota Avensis, the suspension in the Y is way way better.
1) Updates are very frequent. The recent 360 modelling is quite good.
2) The experience of purchasing and after-sales service is very good. Although the delivery check is very careless but they offer free service all the time.
3) Battery life and charging are great, whether at home or on the road.
The app preheating and the comfort of opening the rear cover are nice. Sentry mode is also good.
4) Autopilot works well on roads with decent visibility. However, it's very unsafe in some areas like snowy and foggy, and I've identified a pattern. I think Tesla should refuse to engage it in those situations.
5) The alert sounds are disastrous. Every alert is popping and clicking. This is due to a lack of envelope fade-in or fade-out during startup and shutdown. This is something that any sound engineer should understand in college Audio 101 course. Even a $1 plastic toy wouldn't have this issue. This can be fixed by firmware I think but this is a very amateur mistake.
It's not perfect, but at this price range it's hard to find a better alternative.
Interestingly, the EV6 was the first car I drove after getting my driver's license. I've seen reviews and they're indeed good. Plus, I think it looks better than the Ioniq 5 used by my driving school. However, I don't like its limited view in reverse; 360-degree seems to be available only in the GT version, but that's much more expensive. Also, both Kia and Hyundai have unimpressive battery range.
The trims in the EV6 are frustrating. In the UK, at least, I couldn't get the all round cameras without also getting 20" wheels, which would have cut range and made the ride worse. In everything apart from the base model you're forced to have privacy glass, which I don't want because it makes the car even darker in the back, but only the top model has the option of acoustic glass on the side windows.
Edmunds only has a few dozen reviews on a 2021 Model Y. I'm not sure that is a good source. Over half of those are 5 star. EV6 numbers are about the same.
Yeah, the model Y offers more space and a third row.
But the point is whether there is a comparable or even better product than the Model Y in that price range, not whether it is better in every single field.
I've read in reviews about Teslas that they're actually really poorly built, versus historic car companies and you get the kind of creaking and rattling in 2024, you used to get in cars from the 80s.
>> Does it hold its speed indefinitely at 100mph like an ICE car?
> Why not?
Does it? My ICE car is probably going to get replaced, and on the occasion that I'm driving through Germany, I'm doing 100+mph on the autobahns, and I can't recall seeing many EVs keeping pace with me. I wondered whether electric motors have some sort of limiter to preserve battery life or something.
Most (all?) electric cars can easily and comfortably do 100+ mph no problem. It's just that range really drops off after ~60-70 mph so most people don't bother if they want to avoid stopping to charge several times on a longer trip.
If you want to drive really far, really fast, then EVs are not for you. At 100+ mph you're stopping to recharge at least every 1.5-2 hours.
On number 5, the audio layer, it's indeed terrible. So many glitches and errors. I would love to spend a week hacking the audio code and fixing some issues (by implementing proper mixing):
1) Clicking and popping of alerts and navigation speech (sounds should just overlap, i.e. like a sample based synthesizer)
2) Ensure proper ducking of music from this 'alert channel', music will now double duck when alerts are played in quick succession
3) Mix bluetooth audio (i.e. iPhone notifications) as an additional channel, right now these sounds are silently lost, unless you manually switch to Bluetooth playback. Very confusing.
Oh, and add a subtle alert sound for upcoming traffic camera's ;)
In the end it's a quite simple audio tree with a few parameters, that could be implemented with some very straightforward C++ code.
But I have no idea what the media layer looks like, I can imagine there are a few quite smart optimizations to make for example all the streaming cameras work quickly (e.g. virtual mirrors). So perhaps it's a bit less trivial than I think.
> After certain software updates, the car's setting would be somehow reverted back to their original. This doesn't happen often times, but it happens and some of them are really scary... I have to manually unlock my iPhone, the Model Y can detect my iPhone...
There's several camps around tech in cars: those that just want a 1950's style simple cars and then there's those that love the integrated/connected systems and people in between that just want a latch for the glove box.
But surely no one wants a car that's as unreliable/flaky as modern apps and operating systems (I mean in general not just a model Y or a Tesla)?
As a software developer if I see bugs and errors in the ancillary systems, I'm going to start worrying about the break management system.
I've done a lot of reading on this matter, and it's generally accepted to be battery saving limitations from phone/mobile OS makers rather than poor engineering on the car systems.
That said, Teslas come with keycards designed to slot into a wallet, there's no smartphone requirement at all. It's actually less smartphone dependent than other car manufacturers, who lean on Carplay/Android Auto for rich features.
All the reviews and impressions of the Model Y, for me, fail to mention the fact that the seats are so uncomfortable. Is it just me ? In 2 years of owning the car, I've not been able to have a decently comfortable sitting position. Maybe its my body type but just jacking up the seat from the Model 3 just doesn't work.
> As an example, we turn off the children's door, and after an update, it gets reverted back to the original. We discovered it when our son suddenly opened the rear door on his side.
Well that swiftly killed any whimsies I had about getting one.
94 comments
[ 208 ms ] story [ 2409 ms ] threadThat said, I kinda think that I would hate the new design that has done away with the stalks.
Yes, everything is in the tablet, but it's super-responsive (even on the Atom CPUs from pre-2021 models), essential buttons are well placed, and the car does a good job of adjusting AC (air temp/flow/outlets) and lights automatically. Once you get to know the car, it really does a good job of staying out of your way most of the time.
Compared to my father's ID.4 or my mother's Peugeot e-208, Tesla's software already had a 10y advantage in 2019, and it still has at least that much after 5y. Their car is laggy, menus are too deep to navigate during drive, lots of useless options placed alongside common ones.
I do agree with jnsaff2 that I probably wouldn't like the Highland refresh with no stalks and no USS, I also feel these two things were better kept as they were.
E.g.: I drive an Opel Corsa-e, and I usually have cruise control at around 100 km/h in the winter, 110km/h in the summer, and I stop every 150-200km to charge up to ~90%. I fully expect a Tesla to be faster, but I'm curious by how much.
I don't bother slowing down, I drive as fast as I can get away with (and safety). Except once I wanted to one-shot a long distance and put the car on autopilot behind big trucks. This way my range about doubled. In fact it's often better for range to follow the fastest biggest car, than to drive slower but with no one in front of you. Think "150kmh behind a pickup truck gives more range than 110kmh pushing air alone".
It usually charges from 5~20% to 40~70%. If you're optimizing to minimize total charge time, you should aim to charge from 10% to 60%.
With "quickest arrival" setting, ABRP does 4 stops with a total charging time of 1h25min (and 8h29 driving). The stops are 28, 18, 18 and 22 minutes respectively.
You can do it with 3 stops, and perhaps even in 2 stops during the summer and limiting speed, but then you spend more total time charging.
I like the 20 minute stops every ~2 hours. We travel with kids so the bio-break and leg stretching is appreciated. We leave in the wee morning hours so we arrive at the destination in the afternoon and avoid some of the traffic.
[0] https://abetterrouteplanner.com
You can of course also empty the battery from 93% to 8% (drove that yesterday) after 212 km when driving at max speed of 188 km/h (3C avg. temp)
That’s news to me. When did you last see an advert for Tesla (paid for by Tesla) on TV, movies, print media or a website?
The most reasonable default view is that they're not doing this.
Yes, but that's by selection:
If you believe that an information display directly in front of the driver is vital (and I do believe that), then you're not in the market for a Tesla model 3, or the new Volvo EX30. If you chose one of these cars, then you most likely don't believe that.
That said, I agree with you from a pure marketing perspective. The idea that you need the heads-up display is a recurring one. In online forums new owners are often looking for solutions, only to come back after a couple of weeks to say that they didn't feel the need anymore. It would be interesting to know how many people just write it off without even trying it out.
My anecdotal experience: My parents went from a Volvo XC60 to a Tesla Model Y. Both were a little skeptical about the lack of heads-up display. They stopped looking for aftermarket solutions after a week.
For me by far the best development in cars in past few decades, technology as it is just consistently helps with informational overload for the driver, works 100% in all possible conditions.
This is not exclusively a Tesla problem so. As long as the speed limit is only displayed, I am fine with it. What I am not ok with, is the car enforcing it.
Edit: If Tesla isn't reading signs, well, that's a problem. Either because map data is outdated, or because speed limits are variable like on German highways (as in one minute no speed limit, 120 kmh the next, reduced to 80 10 mintes later only to be unrestricted 5 hours later again).
Either way so, it still is the drivers responsibility to drive the car in a safe and legal manner.
It's one of those things that the entire industry seems to have solved 10-15 years ago that Tesla just can't get right. That and automatic or even functioning windscreen wipers.
Whereas my Ioniq 5 in Korea has perfect knowledge of the speed limits, all speed camera locations, all exceptions, etc, and presents it in the windshield under the wheels of the car in front of me. Night and day.
In general Tesla relies too much on AI and not enough on boring factual/external data sources/information.
I'm sure because it makes mistakes only sign detection software would make. It doesn't know speed limits end at an intersection and makes this mistake all the time. Also sometimes it detects max 10 ton as max 10kmph. I don't think it's real time because it doesn't detect road works speed limits reliably. (But I think there was an update recently saying it's real time now, so maybe it changed)
Every time I'm behind a bus in my Tesla, it reads the sign on the bus, displays it on the scren as the current limit, and sometimes (arbitrarily it seems) if I have autopilot on it reduces the maximum allowed speed to 40.
I can't speak for the logic run elsewhere, but AU Teslas for sure use it.
(Not sure about major road repair but that is understandable.)
But the Mercedes was more comfortable during a drive. The range was worst than the Tesla. I'll probably going to update my card in a few years once other brands have cars with better ranges.
Range is one of the most important factors on the other hand, I agree. There are now competitors on that front such as Lucid Air.
No, you could use a home for that. Unless you live in your car you shouldn't have the ability to play movies in a vehicle.
Many of the brands have cars with comparable range when it's honestly measured.
DOJ threatened Tesla because of how badly they were over-estimating which is why their website has finally been updated:
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/5/24026367/tesla-lowers-rang...
Although the suspension is indeed very stiff, the Ioniq 5 is so smooth in comparison.
At the same price point the difference in range isn't nearly as large as once assumed.
In fact one of Jeremy Clarkson's (Top Gear, BBC era) running jokes was to ask MB's voice control to do things for him and it never, ever got it right (subject to editing of course). It's still true today.
The #1 thing you should be doing in a car is looking at the road. Yet the MB computer and screen demand your attention. And mine doesn't have a touch screen so you're forced to use their controls.
In a Mercedes there's at least 3 ways of controlling the central screen, a big dial in centre console, a touch pad in the centre console, and a touch-joystick on the steering wheel.
If you're using your phone to navigate and switch to the car radio (there's a physical button for that) or something native to the car, to go back you have to then press the home button (physical), fiddle with the dial or joystick and go 'up' to select Apple Car Play, then spin the wheel or fiddle with the touch pad to re-select the app or display layout, and you absolutely have to look at the screen whilst doing it to get back to Waze or Google Maps.
Going from MB 'native' back to 'Your Music App' on your phone is even worse.
It's a complete UI disaster. My wife's Ford is half the price, and twice as good as far as the computer and UI are concerned.
Frankly I'm astonished that there aren't more car accidents now by people being distracted by their in-car computers and complete lack of good old fashioned manual push-buttons on the dashboard.
Is this badly worded, or is he saying electricity is 8x more expensive than gas?
From subtext I read into the article that they might have another car that uses gas so that might explain "gas cost are 7/8x less."
As gas and electricity costs are very location dependent for me it doesn't matter much what exactly his meaning is.
I would much prefer "electricity cost 1/8 the price" or "gas was 8x more expensive".
And coming from a Toyota Avensis, the suspension in the Y is way way better.
1) Updates are very frequent. The recent 360 modelling is quite good.
2) The experience of purchasing and after-sales service is very good. Although the delivery check is very careless but they offer free service all the time.
3) Battery life and charging are great, whether at home or on the road. The app preheating and the comfort of opening the rear cover are nice. Sentry mode is also good.
4) Autopilot works well on roads with decent visibility. However, it's very unsafe in some areas like snowy and foggy, and I've identified a pattern. I think Tesla should refuse to engage it in those situations.
5) The alert sounds are disastrous. Every alert is popping and clicking. This is due to a lack of envelope fade-in or fade-out during startup and shutdown. This is something that any sound engineer should understand in college Audio 101 course. Even a $1 plastic toy wouldn't have this issue. This can be fixed by firmware I think but this is a very amateur mistake.
It's not perfect, but at this price range it's hard to find a better alternative.
Kia offers the EV6 which is arguably a better vehicle according to most industry experts (also starts 2k $ cheaper).
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-ba...
That said, it is a great car.
It has overall better scores from owners than Model Y.
E.g. Edmunds has a 4.3 rating for the EV6 users review and a 3.8 for the 2023 Model Y.
Thanks for pointing this out.
https://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-y/2021/review/
The EV6 looks horrible and "dumpy" from the rear compared to any Tesla
EV6 is slower than the Model Y.
EV6 has only 490L of storage vs. the Model Y's 854L. https://www.whichcar.com.au/reviews/comparisons/2022-tesla-m...
But the point is whether there is a comparable or even better product than the Model Y in that price range, not whether it is better in every single field.
I think it's more "performance" oriented than comfort
> Does it rattle and creak when you go over bumps?
I can feel all the subtle feedback, and the modern filter filters it better. But I didn’t feel like the car was going to fall apart.
> Does it hold its speed indefinitely at 100mph like an ICE car?
Why not?
>> Does it hold its speed indefinitely at 100mph like an ICE car? > Why not?
Does it? My ICE car is probably going to get replaced, and on the occasion that I'm driving through Germany, I'm doing 100+mph on the autobahns, and I can't recall seeing many EVs keeping pace with me. I wondered whether electric motors have some sort of limiter to preserve battery life or something.
If you want to drive really far, really fast, then EVs are not for you. At 100+ mph you're stopping to recharge at least every 1.5-2 hours.
1) Clicking and popping of alerts and navigation speech (sounds should just overlap, i.e. like a sample based synthesizer)
2) Ensure proper ducking of music from this 'alert channel', music will now double duck when alerts are played in quick succession
3) Mix bluetooth audio (i.e. iPhone notifications) as an additional channel, right now these sounds are silently lost, unless you manually switch to Bluetooth playback. Very confusing.
Oh, and add a subtle alert sound for upcoming traffic camera's ;)
In the end it's a quite simple audio tree with a few parameters, that could be implemented with some very straightforward C++ code.
But I have no idea what the media layer looks like, I can imagine there are a few quite smart optimizations to make for example all the streaming cameras work quickly (e.g. virtual mirrors). So perhaps it's a bit less trivial than I think.
did you enable "Joe mode"? That should tone down the sounds by quite a bit...
There's several camps around tech in cars: those that just want a 1950's style simple cars and then there's those that love the integrated/connected systems and people in between that just want a latch for the glove box.
But surely no one wants a car that's as unreliable/flaky as modern apps and operating systems (I mean in general not just a model Y or a Tesla)?
As a software developer if I see bugs and errors in the ancillary systems, I'm going to start worrying about the break management system.
That said, Teslas come with keycards designed to slot into a wallet, there's no smartphone requirement at all. It's actually less smartphone dependent than other car manufacturers, who lean on Carplay/Android Auto for rich features.
You know what's better? Simply projecting your phone to the car screens, able to choose your own navi software.
Really odd decision; hard to imagine it saves more than cents off the build cost.
Well that swiftly killed any whimsies I had about getting one.