Electric Vehicles - Models Discussion

Thank goodness for Discount Tire! Our Tesla suddenly developed a vibration. At first we thought maybe a tire went out of balance but at very low speeds the steering yoke would also jerk to one side slightly. We just couldn’t see anything wrong with the tires but were really hoping it wasn’t something else. The car is less than 2.5 years old.

Finally DH happened to park at home with the front tires turned slightly. He then noticed that the inside part of the tread on the right front tire had a slight bulge on part of it. Bingo!*

Anyway Discount Tire is set up to handle Teslas including the tire requirements and they had our preferred tire available. There was one not far away and we were able to get the two front tires replaced in short order. Nice operation! Yep, fixed the problem which had started to drive me crazy. What a relief! Back to a nice smooth ride.

*The steering yoke jerking at low speeds meant it had to be one of the front steering tires with a deformation. Took us a while to puzzle that out. Also we had some rumble sound at high speeds which was slightly louder on the right.
 
I picked up my Vinfast VF8 Plus this week. Loving it so far. I like the styling, especially the interior even more than I thought I would. I think I have finally figured out all the features but more will likely be coming in the next software update.

It's the most luxurious car I have owned. First car with auto folding mirrors and seats and steering wheel that automatically move to make getting in and out of the car easier. It's a lot of car for the money. I won't say its as good as a Tesla Model Y because I have never driven the latter but it's less than half the cost.

It does have a few nice features over the Model Y that I'm aware of, a panoramic moon roof that actually opens plus a retractable shade, heads up display, wireless Apple Car Play, heated and ventilated front and rear seats, etc.

Charging is nowhere near as good as Tesla. It's slow and the range is only about 240 miles so maybe not ideal if its your only car. I doubt I'll take this on long road trips where I would need to stop and charge more than once. Mostly I plan to charge it work and sometimes at home with a level 2 charger and use it for around town and trips shorter than 200 miles round trip.

My least favorite thing about is the turn signal stalk. It's from BMW and does not click into position. Rather you if move it up or down slightly, it will blink 3 times then stop if you move it up or down harder it will continue to blink until the steering wheel goes exactly straight after the turn. I find it a bit annoying but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Other weak points is the slow frame rate of the camera and slight lag in initial acceleration. All things I can live with since I don't expect to use sport mode or drive with a lead foot to avoid excessive tire wear.

So long as the thing doesn't brick on me, I'm pretty happy with it.
 
To my surprise, when I got in my Model Y this morning, it offered me my third FSD free trial today - so I enabled it and let it drive me to the golf course and home again. Evidently it's a gift to some Tesla owners (model- hardware-location specific?), another free 30 day trial. I enjoyed using it last Dec thru Feb, then again in April, and now I have 30 days with 12.3.6. It just gets better and more natural with each update. Saw a thread on TMC and a different link below.

 
Wow, maybe I should stop my subscription, ha ha!

I guess we might still get it. We are on FSD 12.5.4.1 which some people are getting according to the article. We just got billed for the next 30 days 2 days ago. Last time, subscribers didn’t get charged for a month.
 
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Only 12.3.6? Is that the last version you had before?

I would bet you will be getting updated to 12.5.4.1 soon.

I don't see them trying to entice you with an old version.
 
I picked up my Vinfast VF8 Plus this week. Loving it so far. I like the styling, especially the interior even more than I thought I would. I think I have finally figured out all the features but more will likely be coming in the next software update.

It's the most luxurious car I have owned. First car with auto folding mirrors and seats and steering wheel that automatically move to make getting in and out of the car easier. It's a lot of car for the money. I won't say its as good as a Tesla Model Y because I have never driven the latter but it's less than half the cost.

It does have a few nice features over the Model Y that I'm aware of, a panoramic moon roof that actually opens plus a retractable shade, heads up display, wireless Apple Car Play, heated and ventilated front and rear seats, etc.

Charging is nowhere near as good as Tesla. It's slow and the range is only about 240 miles so maybe not ideal if its your only car. I doubt I'll take this on long road trips where I would need to stop and charge more than once. Mostly I plan to charge it work and sometimes at home with a level 2 charger and use it for around town and trips shorter than 200 miles round trip.

My least favorite thing about is the turn signal stalk. It's from BMW and does not click into position. Rather you if move it up or down slightly, it will blink 3 times then stop if you move it up or down harder it will continue to blink until the steering wheel goes exactly straight after the turn. I find it a bit annoying but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Other weak points is the slow frame rate of the camera and slight lag in initial acceleration. All things I can live with since I don't expect to use sport mode or drive with a lead foot to avoid excessive tire wear.

So long as the thing doesn't brick on me, I'm pretty happy with it.
Check you options... in my car it blinks 3 times... but I saw the other day that I can change it to 5 or even 7... in the settings, but I have a Genesis...

Mine is also a real turn signal and turn off with partial turn of the wheel... you do not have to go straight for it to turn off...
 
Only 12.3.6? Is that the last version you had before?

I would bet you will be getting updated to 12.5.4.1 soon.

I don't see them trying to entice you with an old version.
The link explained who got what version…
 
DHTSA opens an investigation on crashes of cars under FSD due to low visibility.

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has identified four Standing General Order (SGO) reports in which a Tesla vehicle experienced a crash after entering an area of reduced roadway visibility conditions with FSD -Beta or FSD -Supervised (collectively, FSD) engaged. In these crashes, the reduced roadway visibility arose from conditions such as sun glare, fog, or airborne dust. In one of the crashes, the Tesla vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian. One additional crash in these conditions involved a reported injury.

Read in Electrek: Fatal Tesla crash with Full-Self-Driving (Supervised) triggers NHTSA investigation — Electrek
 
Rivian R1T runs like nothing ever happened after being ravaged by Hurricane Helene.

He Thought His $70,000 Electric Truck Was Totaled After Hurricane Helene — But Then It Turned On and Went Viral: 'Like Nothing Had Happened'


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Hope the water did not damage the engine or battery longer term...

And I would think he would need to get all the bearings etc. regreased... they are not designed to be in standing water AFAIK...
 
Hope the water did not damage the engine or battery longer term...

And I would think he would need to get all the bearings etc. regreased... they are not designed to be in standing water AFAIK...
I am sure there was some damage. But it’s pretty amazing that it even ran after and event like that - no ICE would..
 
I am sure there was some damage. But it’s pretty amazing that it even ran after and event like that - no ICE would..
Probably not off the bat... but my sister drowned their car (heck, two of my sisters did) and after they checked the oil and did a few things the cars were running... my one sister's car was 100% covered with water.. you could not see it...

Now, it screws up the car big time where all the wiring etc. start to rust or short out... but it did run.. true, not like this one that just worked without anything...
 
Only 12.3.6? Is that the last version you had before?

I would bet you will be getting updated to 12.5.4.1 soon.

I don't see them trying to entice you with an old version.
I got FSD 12.3.6 for free a few days ago. It's a little smoother than the earlier V12 I tried in April, more cautious in some cases and more assertive in others. It still hesitates more than a human at intersections, and especially stop signs (thanks to NHTSA). It also changes lanes sub optimally IMO on the interstate before exits - sometimes it waits longer than I'd like, and other times it moves over earlier than I'd like. I assume that's because I see more cars and relative speeds than FSD does. It is smart enough to speed up to make a lane change sometimes, that's interesting. OTOH it surprised me by making a right turn on yellow the other day that I suspect it would have stopped with earlier versions.

UPDATE: This morning there was a software update to 2024.32.10, and to my surprise it includes FSD 12.5.4.1 - presumably for about 27 days free. It will be fun to see how it's improved, and trying Smart Summon will be fun (in a totally open lot the first time at least). I do love auto park, though I'd like it more if it fronted in. Backing in isn't a good choice when using the hatch - e.g. shopping, golf. I assume it backs in because there's a rear camera but no front bumper camera, and they don't trust the upper windshield cameras for parking.
 
I think I actually liked 12.3.6 better than 12.5.4.1.

One thing that seems to have changed or I could not figure out is controlling the speed with the mouse wheel on the steering wheel. I used to easily dial the speed up and down to match my preference but 12.4 has the setting to let FSD decide (supposedly going away soon) that I did not like. I turn it off but the car stills seems to not instantly react to the mouse wheel like it used to.

I use auto park but never right next to a car. I have used summon as a party trick in the empty church parking lot but not at the grocery.

One thing that confused me with summon was there are two modes "go to target" and "come to me". It defaulted to target and I messed up setting the target and it took off in the wrong direction.

In the app upper right there is an icon that looks like a person to toggle the modes.
 
I got the update last night and tried out 12.5.4.1 today. Ann Arbor has a "dynamic shoulder" but the software didn't heed the indication to move to a regular lane. When I saw a red x indicator and orange barrels I took over and changed lanes. I also thought I was going to miss an exit when the car decided to move to the left to go around a car slowing for the right exit. I guess I may not be cut out for FSD supervised.

I am also wondering how it deals with school zones with those signs about reduced speed during certain hours.
 
If you run into those situations and disengage you should press the right mouse wheel button on the steering wheel and make a voice report so they can prioritize your cars data for future training.
 
If you run into those situations and disengage you should press the right mouse wheel button on the steering wheel and make a voice report so they can prioritize your cars data for future training.
I believe it now just records when FSD is disengaged. No need to press the steering wheel button.
 
I’m finding 12.5.4.1 better than 12.6.3 overall. Certainly handles stop signs and right turns on red more efficiently. It introduced a couple of minor quirks - mainly what I call a “tesla double take” - it is getting ready to make a move, starts, then hesitates a split second and jiggles the steering, then goes on to complete successfully. Our gated entrance now seems to momentarily confuse it but it straightens itself out quickly. Odd but livable.
 
You can toggle back and forth between FSD versions?

I'm surprised that they make more than one version even available.

Maybe have one production version and one beta version testing new features.
 
There is only one version at a time and you can't go backwards.

If you were referring to my toggling comment that was switching between go to target and come to me mode in the summon function.
 
Saw Motor Week who had a review of the Cyber truck... it was not that good..


Was looking at another video (lost it though) that showed someone walking on their truck to show how great it was... cracked the huge windshield... you could hear it...

Then another video popped up where some guy shot it and found out it was not 'bullet proof'...

I was kinda surprised how spartan it looks inside...
 
Saw Motor Week who had a review of the Cyber truck... it was not that good..

Was looking at another video (lost it though) that showed someone walking on their truck to show how great it was... cracked the huge windshield... you could hear it...

Then another video popped up where some guy shot it and found out it was not 'bullet proof'...

I was kinda surprised how spartan it looks inside...
I guess you hear what you want to hear. I watched and while they pointed out some issues (visibility, some interior materials, fit/finish), they also highlighted many great features.

And in the internet age, you can find a positive or negative video/review on anything. And people complaining about products or services they’ve never even tried is common now.

No one ever said you could walk on the windshield. They demonstrated walking on the tonneau cover. You’d have to be pretty stupid to walk on or near your windshield and expect that to go well.

Teslas have always gone for minimalist interiors. Some people don’t like that (if you like cars with a touchscreen plus 20-30 buttons and dials all over the dash, wheel and console, have at it), while others appreciate it. A software based car can be improved via software updates after you buy the car. Few if any ICE cars improve after purchase. And it’s false that Tesla owners have to use the touchscreen to drive the car. There’s usually no need, and it’s not like ICE drivers never take their eyes off the road to use their touchscreens or find a button while driving. In a Tesla, scroll wheels and voice commands handle the most of the used controls.

And while Tesla was originally aiming for bulletproof, those claims were reduced to bullet resistant up to .45/9mm for some panels (not glass) long before they were sold to customers. There are lots of videos showing the limits of bullet resistance.
 
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