[salant76]

Tesla (no surprise) just updated the Model S. To me the Model S is why I got really interested in BEVSs and Tesla. I personally like many of the updates but that steering wheel is ugly.

Tesla Model S Updated With Wild New Interior And Epic Plaid + Model

After years on the market, the Tesla Model S is getting a refresh, complete with a brand new, tech-heavy interior and 500+ miles of range.

www.motor1.com

 

[egsell]

Tesla (no surprise) just updated the Model S. To me the Model S is why I got really interested in BEVSs and Tesla. I personally like many of the updates but that steering wheel is ugly.


View attachment 1366

Tesla Model S Updated With Wild New Interior And Epic Plaid + Model

After years on the market, the Tesla Model S is getting a refresh, complete with a brand new, tech-heavy interior and 500+ miles of range.

www.motor1.com

No thank you

 

[D3adk]

Honestly I want a Tesla but I refuse to have a car with frameless windows. Went through one winter with a car with them and said never again. And it seems many people who live up north with Teslas complain about the frameless windows too, so nothing has changed. Frameless windows are meant for southern California weather only.

 

[Geo]

Smaller screen, lack of physical controls, half a steering wheel.

Nope. Not for me.

 

[TT97]

I like how they changed the screen to horizontal while still keeping the screen behind the steering wheel but WTF with that wheel. How do you hold the steering wheel at 10 & 2?

Curious if they will have the same UI as the 3/Y - if so, they will be wasting a ton of screen space showing the lanes. I am not a fan of the new UI on the 3 - they expanded the "car status" portion (on the left side) so basically the navigation is now smaller than many new cars. The 15" center screen they like to boast is really now just a 9½" screen when you eliminate the info that should be behind the steering wheel.

 

[ErickF]

Honestly I want a Tesla but I refuse to have a car with frameless windows. Went through one winter with a car with them and said never again. And it seems many people who live up north with Teslas complain about the frameless windows too, so nothing has changed. Frameless windows are meant for southern California weather only.

I have frameless on my VW CC. No problem in Seattle.

Hard pass on a Tesla though.

 

[emtonsti]

It looks like that design did go into production, the refreshed S are for sale on the Tesla website now. I might try one if I could afford $80,000 or $120,000 for a car. I guess by those prices, there are some other serious choices too.

Compared to the ID.4 FE $44,000 - $9,500 fed and state incentives ... for an ID.4 FE purchase price of about $34,500, ID.4 still looks more attractive to me ($34,500 does not include state tax and fees; the tax is calculated here after any trade in credit)

On the yoke, Tesla's New Model S/X Steering Yoke Must Be A Joke

 

[ChristophW]

To me the Model S is why I got really interested in BEVSs and Tesla. I personally like many of the updates but that steering wheel is ugly.

I'm in the same boat. Model S made electric cars cool and truly desirable. I have followed the scene since then.
And for the record, I sorta like the yoke.

 

[ixlr08]

My friend has the new Vette, the steering wheel is flat on top and bottom. He thought it looked cool. Now that he has put some miles on the car, he hates it. As he turns the wheel and reaches for the wheel as he is turning it, he suddenly finds there is nothing there to grab as he has hit 'a flat spot'. I would think the yoke would be worse.

 

[emtonsti]

My friend has the new Vette, the steering wheel is flat on top and bottom. He thought it looked cool. Now that he has put some miles on the car, he hates it. As he turns the wheel and reaches for the wheel as he is turning it, he suddenly finds there is nothing there to grab as he has hit 'a flat spot'. I would think the yoke would be worse.

I think that is most significant problem, 90 degree turns of the car (not the wheel), especially in local driving, or any other maneuver (maybe some parking) that causes more than a 90 degree turn of the wheel. I think it would be fine otherwise (and fun) for things like highway driving, or entering or exiting the highway with less than 90 degree steering wheel motion.

In aircraft, the yoke is turned in either rotational direction to enter the desired angle of bank, but then mostly returned to the level position once in the bank. There are exceptions. Most people have probably seen pilots wrestling a yoke in severe crosswind or gust conditions. In some jets, instead of crabbing (angling away from the center line of the runway), it is okay to slip to maintain runway centerline, letting the slip out on touchdown, and there too the yoke might be at some angle for a while, but never near 90 degrees. So in aircraft, where the yoke is at home, there is no use at 90 degrees or beyond.

It is the more than 90 degree motion of the steering wheel, and even more than one turn in many cases, that makes a yoke mostly unsuitable for regular driving, especially driving local roads and parking.

 

[ErickF]

Jeff Dunham

Batmobile:

 

[egsell]

While I loved Knight Rider, that steering wheel just doesn’t work for me. Because turns happen.

 

[bluedanube]

The delivery video from last night.

 

[Mostprae]

Stunned for 13 years, such a huge corporation like Tesla, which in all the news has increased the efficiency of its batteries by only 23%. Madness! They have billions and they do nothing and do not develop ...

"I never thought about it, here is the full article www.cararac.com/blog/tesla-evs-statistics.html with calculations."

 

[Doctor Zaius]

Stunned for 13 years, such a huge corporation like Tesla, which in all the news has increased the efficiency of its batteries by only 23%. Madness! They have billions and they do nothing and do not develop ...

At the risk of sounding like a Tesla apologist I don’t understand this comment or criticism. Tesla’s technology has improved significantly over 13 years. I don’t like all their choices, such as the yoke wheel and some of the minimalism, but they barely existed as a company 13 years ago. They didn’t have billions until recently.

Their range keeps improving without adding more batteries, implying they are improving other tech such as drive-train, battery chemistry, battery management software, heating & cooling of batteries, etc. And the graphs you linked to are historical and don’t take into account the R&D they’ve been doing around the 4680 cells (“tabless”, structural, etc.). They are still working out the kinks, so to speak, but I suspect those batteries will eventually deliver some significant real world improvements even if they don’t live up to all the claims of Battery Day.

I don’t see any other EV manufacturers doing more for battery tech. than Tesla, so the criticism seems misplaced. I keep hearing about solid state and any number of breakthroughs from other companies but nothing has materialized in the real world. Meanwhile Hyundai and Chevy Bolts have been plagued by battery fires and recalls. Tesla had some issues too, but fewer.

anyway, the criticism seems misplaced in my opinion for a company that was still struggling just to survive financially a few years ago and literally had to buy off the shelf laptop batteries when it first started.

 

[Fahrer]

Musk has an extensive record of making false claims. I would not believe much about his claims for performance or improvements.

 

[Tinman]

I would not believe much about his claims for performance or improvements.

I didn't want one for a number of reasons. But, watt-hours per mile across the model lineup are hard to dispute.

 

[salant76]

A video of the refreshed Model S with yoke steering wheel and no physical shifter. Honestly they did a very poor job with both changes.

With regards to Tesla’s efficiency my parents have a 2020 pre-refreshed Model 3 LR Dual motor and looking at their watts per mile (?) live graph it isn’t any better than my 2018 eGolf. It maybe even worse. Charging rates don’t seem to be any better than other modern BEVs either.