Took delivery today....even after horrendous customer service....it's the first time i've had to sit at the dealership for 30 mins to acquaint myself with how to actually work the thing, even tho i'd already watched all the videos....finally left and drove it around a bit...just trying to get used to it...
the acceleration is .......indescribable...
sound system is tight, dawg...
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"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
Sound system is tight, dawg, except it doesn't come with AM radio. Sucks if you like listening to live sports on the radio. But other than that - yes the sound system is great! ((but dont get me started on the, for example, "Beatles Radio" it turns into when you tell it you want to listen to The Beatles! "Beatles Radio" (same for other artists too) means music their system thinks is similar to The Beatles, but that sucks when you just want to listen to The actual Beatles!))
And self-quoting again to give a one-month update:
Range is up to 35mpc, plus or minus, depending on who drove the car last. The software calculates range partly based on historical driving habits, and I'm about 20% more efficient than my lovely wife. We have driven right around 1100 miles this past month and still have not refilled the gas tank. It is sitting at just about 1/3rd full right now. I don't have the actual calculation handy, but based on tank size and miles driven, we are probably a bit under 200 miles driven per gallon of gas consumed (conservatively, I can say with 100% confidence that the true number is north of 150). We don't have a separately monitored circuit, and I haven't seen the overall electric bill for this month, so I can't even hazard a guess on how many kWh we have used for driving.
As for the operation of the car, I'm not a fan of how much stuff is on the central display in electronic form. There are many, many options, and they aren't organized in a way that is entirely straightforward. The central display panel is so complicated, it has its own owner's manual, so that should tell you something. Accordingly, if you are driving and aren't on the home screen, changing some fairly routine things like climate control is not a task taken lightly. If you have a co-pilot, they should be doing it, but there is at least a home screen button that can get you re-oriented. You may need to pull over or wait for a stoplight if you need something more unusual, though. This might be a case where I actually do RTFM. I imagine it gets easier as you learn the system, but I miss ordinary buttons and knobs where I can easily reach them for basic stuff. Of course, things like lights and wipers are all still where you expect them, so basic driving isn't an issue.
Despite the complicated electronics, I'm still loving the car. It's not quite Tesla-level, but I do feel like I'm doing my bit, and I find driving it to be fun, even though I don't get the visceral excitement of instant acceleration, like the Tesla is known for. You won't go 0-60 in well under 4 seconds with my car. But frankly, that doesn't really matter to me.
YMMV. Literally.
day 3 of ownership....
this is the most amazing car i've ever owned.. (past - mercedes, acura, ford, nissan) Elon took a que from steve jobs and looked at the normal "car" and asked, "why can't this be so much more?"
again, the acceleration is otherworldly...
went from the "free" charger adding about 6 miles/hr of charging to the 3rd generation home charger topping off 50 miles/hr of charging...
now entering the rabbit hole of "battery charging" technology...
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
Thanks again for the update. I find your first hand experience helpful.
Here's a question based on a review I read about the RAV4 Prime. The review said that the extra weight of the Prime's battery and resulting heavier duty suspension compared to the regular hybrid gave the Prime a more comfortable and quieter ride (less engine noise because of more time using EV mode exclusively). Do you have any experience with the regular hybrid Prius or even the fully gas powered Prius to make this comparison? Even if not, do you have a subjective sense of how quiet and comfortable the ride is compared to other cars you've driven?
Thanks. I hope this question makes sense, I'm not sure how to word it better.
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Yes, we owned a "regular" Prius immediately before this (we effectively gave the old one to my son). I do think the new model drives significantly better. I suspect that on the Prius that the suspension is exactly the same (the curb weight for the Prime is only about 200# more than the regular model), but it does seem to corner a little better and the acceleration is MUCH better because the electric motor is so much more powerful. It's generally quieter, but older Prii were known for developing noises as they age, which we definitely found to be true for ours.
I also do find it a bit more comfortable. They seem to have slightly redesigned the seats, or maybe it's just different materials, but either way, it "fits" me better than the old one.
<Pet Peeve>
Also, there are two things about the car that I really do not like, both involving noise:
1. There is a continuous backup beep when the car is in reverse. Keep in mind, this is a sound only in the INTERIOR of the car. It is not a warning to passersby. Sorry, but this is just stupid. I'm the driver. Once I'm in motion, I can certainly tell whether I'm in forward or reverse, and I have a longish driveway to navigate every time I use the car. In the old car, we found a way that we could turn that into a single beep, which I'm OK with. In the newer models, the cheat I looked up on the web didn't work, and I'm told the dealer has to do it.
2. The Prius also has an external artificial noise generator activated at low speeds (in the case of the Prius, at or below 23mph). It sounds vaguely like a space ship, but in the newer models, the noise is much louder than it was on older models, and it is definitely audible inside the vehicle. However, the sound generator is federally mandated for all EVs and hybrids. Because it is legislatively required, the only way to disable it is a longish DIY process, and doing so also happens to be a minor federal crime, so this one I have to live with.
</Pet Peeve>
Other electric vehicles - seems like this could include electric bikes. Anyone want to chime in on them? My dad is considering one.
I used to ride small-displacement motorcycles for many years, but frankly I never found their fuel efficiency and utility to come close to covering their TCO. [I justified it as therapy, which indeed it was, but is no longer needed. And yes they are fun and not everything has to be practical ... ]
I feel electric bikes would have all the disadvantages of motorcycle economics, plus a few of their own: easier to steal; harder to keep in the flow of traffic (few bike lanes here); faster obsolescence (I bet it'll be hard to find a new battery after a few years). Again, not that they wouldn't be fun.
From a practical standpoint, reducing one's carbon footprint or energy expenditures is probably more surely accomplished by combining trips and driving less often.
Apparently, I just haven't been thinking big enough. Here's what I really need to save the planet:
Ferrari unveils $320,000 hybrid sports car in its race to electric
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https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...er-2021-06-24/
and so affordable!
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"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
Just found this thread.
I have had a M3 since the end of 2019. I am retired and do not drive all that much and must less during the pandemic. I charge using the 110. It works for me.
Love the car. Acceleration is great. Size fits my needs for local driving. Wonderful to not even care about gasoline prices, except for hearing complaints from my wife and others.
Much of the technology is great as is the update features. Mirrors now fold up as I approach the garage and car now stays unlocked in the garage. I regularly use Summon to back out of the garage. I found my 3 most popular AM stations on FM so that is not an issue.
Car makes me a better driver.
My wife's Lexus has a better blind spot warning system. I have not really tested the one in the Tesla as it seems to only show you an issue if you try to turn into another vehicle.
Have not really used the Autopilot but plan to. Wife and I are planning a trip from LA to Jackson Hole to Denver then back to LA. Have mapped it out,
SoCal