Tesla Model X P100D

peterattheboro

peterattheboro

peterattheboro

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Joined
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Middlesbrough
So I was fortunate enough to be given this for a weekend. Massive thanks to Tesla Leeds.

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Thoughts:

  • It's absolutely rapid. 0-60 in 2.9 seconds. Sat at any speed, you tap the throttle and pretty much immediately you're at licence losing speeds.
  • The quality is to a high standard (for me anyway). Seats we're comfortable, decent sound system and full of the latest tech.
  • Fairly quiet in the cabin. All you can hear is a turbine type noise when accelerating, a bit of wind and tyre noise and then the cooling fans for the batteries after pressing on which are quite loud :(
  • It's completely soulless. Reminds me of the latest Apple products and just couldn't really connect with it.
  • Battery apparently lasts 300 miles but I was lucky to get about 200 from an 80% charge. I charged it up 5 times over 3 days to 80ish%

If I had the money to buy one of these £100,000-£140,000 I was told, I'd get something else. If I lived in Central London then yes I can see the appeal but I do a lot of motorway miles so I just couldn't cope. Superchargers were just too far apart from each other and the nearest one to my house was 30 minutes away (Scotch Corner).

Hopefully battery tech will improve and the range improves :)
 
With the release of the i-Pace and upcoming Mercedes models etc the weakness of Tesla cars is showing, nice technological showpiece but as a car, no thanks.

Tesla need to learn how to build and finish a car correctly quick or face being pushed into a technology provider for other vehicle makers forever.
 
For the money they charge they never seem to put any effort into the looks of their cars. Apart from the doors it just looks like a regular family MPV to me.
 
I get the outrageous speed of EV’s but in their current (no pun intended) form unless you live in London as said, I don’t see the attraction.

If nigh on 0-60 in ~3 seconds for £100-£140k was on my list (I wish!) then it would be an M5 / Bonkers AMG with all the soul and event you’d expect and a few £k in my bank instead.

I think Tesla ultimately is going to fall by the wayside (especially with an increasing unstable Musk at the helm) and just provide the tech for the establishment manufacturers to step in and snap up when the inevitable happens.

They (EV’s) are alas the future for sure but I still see that future quite a way off yet.
 
Scania said:
I think Tesla ultimately is going to fall by the wayside (especially with an increasing unstable Musk at the helm) and just provide the tech for the establishment manufacturers to step in and snap up when the inevitable happens.

They (EV’s) are alas the future for sure but I still see that future quite a way off yet.
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I hope not. The car is there it's just the battery tech and charge network letting them down.

Also my next car must have lane assist and adaptive cruise. This is the first car I've driven with it and it's amazing :D
 
Had a good look in/around one a while ago. It's basically a giant ipad with seats and wheels. No thanks.

When the only interesting thing is the oversized tablet glued to the dash, you know it's a forgettable car.
 
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Nasher said:
Had a good look in/around one a while ago. It's basically a giant ipad with seats and wheels. No thanks.

When the only interesting thing is the oversized tablet glued to the dash, you know it's a forgettable car.
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Surely the interior being spartan is a positive point? Means it’s more driver focused with less clutter and distraction.

Compared to the horrendously dated interiors that BMW are putting out its a revelation!
 
pioneer2000 said:
Surely the interior being spartan is a positive point? Means it’s more driver focused with less clutter and distraction.

Compared to the horrendously dated interiors that BMW are putting out its a revelation!
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But everything is controlled from the ipad, which is super annoying (and is obviously going to die at some point and brick the car). Physical buttons are much better when you actually want functionality and not a toy.
 
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You can't really use the screen while driving. It really is a giant iPad so would be classed the same as using your mobile phone.

You'd have to use the onboard voice commands with the button on the steering wheel.

Also every car comes with Spotify Premium which is a nice touch.
 
Although the technology is pretty amazing I think Hydrogen will eventually be the next generation fuel to power our motor vehicles.

Hydrogen as an important energy carrier in the future has a number of advantages. For example, a large volume of hydrogen can be easily stored in a number of different ways. Hydrogen is also considered as a high efficiency, low polluting fuel that can be used for transportation, heating, and power generation in places where it is difficult to use electricity. In some instances, it is cheaper to ship hydrogen by pipeline than sending electricity over long distances by wire.
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In the future, hydrogen will join electricity as an important energy carrier, since it can be made safely from renewable energy sources and is virtually non-polluting. It will also be used as a fuel for ‘zero-emissions’ vehicles, to heat homes and offices, to produce electricity, and to fuel aircraft.

Hydrogen has great potential as a way to reduce reliance on imported energy sources such as oil. Before hydrogen can play a bigger energy role and become a widely used alternative to gasoline, many new facilities and systems must be built.
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The problem with electric tech is all the resources needed to build the car and battery system. The impact on the environment will be huge especially with the fact that lithium is a finite resource.
 
Nasher said:
But everything is controlled from the ipad, which is super annoying (and is obviously going to die at some point and brick the car). Physical buttons are much better when you actually want functionality and not a toy.
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LOL! Do you think normal cars with buttons have some sort of mechanical linkage to the function they control?! If in the highly improbable situation that a button stops responding you’re in the same position irrespective of whether it’s on a touchscreen or it’s a physical button. Duh.
 
peterattheboro said:
If I lived in Central London then yes I can see the appeal but I do a lot of motorway miles so I just couldn't cope. Superchargers were just too far apart from each other and the nearest one to my house was 30 minutes away (Scotch Corner).

Hopefully battery tech will improve and the range improves :)
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You'll never get 300 miles in a Model X without driving like a granddad everywhere, especially a performance model. They are rated at 289 (295 non-performance) in the US which is just about achievable when you are taking it easy. Given you had it for the weekend and no doubt were 'launching it' regularly its not surprising you got about 200 with an 80% charge (250 miles for a full charge).

You need to think of the super chargers as enabling long journeys and not for daily charging, the majority of the charging should be done when the car is parked and not being used. Having the nearest being 30 mins away is almost irrelevant as the car is good for about 3 hours driving before it will run out on UK roads so that's where you need the charger. That said there are a few gaps in the network currently, particularly if you travel up the east of England, Wales, NI and Scotland. In reality though you can get from pretty much anywhere in the UK to southern Italy, Spain or Slovakia on Tesla's network without having to at another charger.

There are also other chargers you can use but they are slower of course.

Scania said:
I think Tesla ultimately is going to fall by the wayside (especially with an increasing unstable Musk at the helm) and just provide the tech for the establishment manufacturers to step in and snap up when the inevitable happens.
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Unlikely, what is portrayed in the media is largely over exaggerated (both positive and negative) for the clicks, everyone seems to love a bit of Musk drama. The reality is that they are now shipping more cars than brands like Jaguar (who are loss making...), are profitable, making huge margins and have a massive head start on infrastructure for making EV's (battery factory and charging network). Pretty much every other car brand is shrinking and consolidating while Tesla are expanding rapidly, as evidenced by recent announcements by Ford, GM, Honda and Nissan. Those that are releasing EV's into the markets can't hit the same price points Tesla can and still make money (Audi, GM etc.) because their drive train costs are far too high.

There not going anywhere anytime soon.

peterattheboro said:
You can't really use the screen while driving. It really is a giant iPad so would be classed the same as using your mobile phone.
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Its absolutely not the same thing, its against the law to use a hand held device or not paying due care and attention. Neither precludes you from using the touch screen as long as you are paying due care and attention. Is it more detracting than a physical button? Probably but so are most other modern infotainment systems. It's really no different from using something like BMW iDrive or Apple Car Play when driving, both are not really recommended. But in reality how many times are you missing around with stuff like climate control after you start driving, hardly ever. Its set and forget, same goes with the 'radio', sat nav etc.

The rest of the interior could do with some work though, particularly on the Model S, it really needs a refresh. Most of it seems to be fixed on the Model 3 and its getting really positive feedback from pretty much everyone.
 
As a Tesla owner, a lot of these comments don’t seem to consider the science.

Ok sure , it doesn’t look as good as some other vehicles, but it’s function over form. It has one of the highest drag coefficiencys of any car, which is why it peer kWh battery can achieve 30% more range than iPace, while being significantly bigger and heavier.
 
These are incredibly popular where I live, bizarrely so as there's no charging network whatsoever and very little dealer support. Purely a status symbol I guess: I like them, but at the money they go for I can think of an endless list of cars I'd rather have.
 
pioneer2000 said:
LOL! Do you think normal cars with buttons have some sort of mechanical linkage to the function they control?! If in the highly improbable situation that a button stops responding you’re in the same position irrespective of whether it’s on a touchscreen or it’s a physical button. Duh.
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Buttons are far easier to locate whilst driving, though.
 
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