A new Tesla for £25k? Sounds good.

I would hope in 15 years time, no one is driving around in battery powered cars as personally I can see how they will be any better for the environment.

Someone near me has one of these, which looks stunning on the outside.

….however on the inside 😯

What would you rather they were powered by then FunkyDunc? Battery tech isn’t all that clean, but it’s a hell of a lot cleaner than the alternatives until something magic comes along. Hydrogen is much less efficient and uses a lot more power to produce and transport it. Give me a high capacity battery recharged with renewable energy any day.

Put my order in last night when the website opened. (3.30 am). Said I’d reserved one online but as yet no email confirmation and money still in my account ….

As an aside a couple of friends have the model s. Just an amazing car.

Well I want one. Test drove a model S and it was thrilling.

Also the new Nissan Leaf is meant to have a range of ~200miles.

£25k for a car? Ouch! That falls into the crazily expensive category for me.

It’s not a whole lot different to this though is it FD?

….however on the inside

They don’t look good in photos but it felt a solid, luxurious place to be in the showroom. I’m very dubious about the increasing use of touch controls in cars (even if it’s just the radio). I can operate pretty much everything in our current VW without taking my eyes off the road – lights, aircon, heated screen. The (aftermarket) radio has physical buttons to switch inputs and select radio presets, pause/select next track etc. Doing any of that on a touchscreen requires a lot of time without looking where you’re going.

Have to say I’ve liked my experience of Tesla so far- which is only of the original roadster, when I was lucky enough to visit the Lotus factory, see them being built and get out on the test track with a (bonkers) test driver.

Discussion on long charging times is a bit of a red-herring; in the real world, how often would you use the whole 200+miles and have to charge the full cycle..? Most journeys will only require a short top-up charge at home or near work.
Here in Dundee, there are loads of charging points and there are several Tesla S around.

It’s not a whole lot different to this though is it FD?

No, and that looks bloody awful too ! Does that Volvo come with these as standard ??

I’m confused what’s wrong with the inside. Can you post a picture of an acceptable dash so we can see what we’re missing, FunkyDunc?

Rachel

I was in a Tesla in Amsterdam, there are loads of them being used as taxis over there.

Fast, smooth, comfortable and the dashboard does look a bit strange. Not ugly just “different”. The largest sat nav display ever!

Very poor headroom in the back for such a large, luxury car.

allthegear – Member

I’m confused what’s wrong with the inside. Can you post a picture of an acceptable dash so we can see what we’re missing, FunkyDunc?

Rachel

Needs moar buttons. Moar leather and fake walnut inserts.

Tesla Model 3 interior 😯

So dull even the tester has been distracted by an interesting shade of beige on the rear seat belts.

Very poor headroom in the back for such a large, luxury car.

I guess the batteries need to live somewhere (i.e. under the floor/seats).

Needs moar buttons. Moar leather and fake walnut inserts.

But, bear in mind a £25k electric car is probably competing against £12k petrol cars once you’ve accounted for subsidies and offset the higher monthly finance against near zero running costs. I’m viewing it as a Focus with a £12k pre paid fuel card thrown in.

Got to agree with the trend away from physical switches though. My old MG has a switch to turn off all the interior lights, but you can still hit all the controls without fumbling because it’s well laid out.

]

I’m very dubious about the increasing use of touch controls in cars (even if it’s just the radio).

This is why companies like Apple (and others) are pushing what they call “eyes free” controls where you have voice activation/feedback. Although limited currently it works really well and will only improve.

back on topic, new Tesla sounds great especially with 8yr warranty. Would definitely consider one if there were some decent lease deals.

If the driver finds a car dashboard boring he could try looking out of the windscreen. Saabs were good for practicality, a lot of modern dashes with their distracting chromed plastic are the spiritual heirs to the Ausin Allegro Vanden Plas.

I’m viewing it as a Focus with a £12k pre paid fuel card thrown in.

So you’ll break even after 80k miles or so (assuming £6 per gallon and 40mpg). Not counting what that 12k could have earned invested or in the bank. How long do those batteries last?

P-Jay

@bol Golf GTE?

Electric 5mpkw @ 6p per KW is 1.2p per mile

Petrol is 128mpg so 3.54p per mile

Totaling 4.74p per mile

With Petrol at £1 a litre, or £4.54 for an imperial gallon that’s equivilent to a normal petrol car doing 95ish MPG?

That’s very impressive!

My GTE arrived last week – the petrol part of it is nowhere near that – just over 40mpg, and that’s with some A road/motorway driving at 60-70, so 45mpg combined with the regenerative benefit. Just getting the charger sorted and then I can benefit from the lower costs of an electric commute.

the wanderer – Member

Easiest analogy is the change in mobile phones. Tesla = Apple and we’re all driving Nokias at the moment.

There are a few people sticking to their dumb-phones, in ten years time will be the same with ICE cars.

I certainly wouldn’t bet against it, but that would come with problems of it’s own.

At the moment EVs, especially ones that are ‘normal family car money’ and have ranges over 200 miles seem very appealing, but and it’s a big but – the aspects of them that are cheap (fuel, BIK, VED and tax exemptions on purchase) are all artificially so – it seems cheap because demand is currently low and the Government is prepared to subsidise EVs to help develop them, but if everyone does change, say over a 10 year period tax rules would have to change with them motoring taxation is worth £40bn a year to HMRC and we can’t just write that off so it would have to shift that onto EVs.

So we might all be driving EVs by 2026, but a but like your iPhone v Nokia comparison, we might all be loudly wondering why our shiny new ones run out of juice in a few hours, break often and cost a fortune to repair / replace when our old ones lasted a week and hardly ever broke.

TBF you can’t knock Tesla’s green credentials they’ve managed to make cars undesirable items.

Touch screens in cars are abysmal items. I don’t doubt they are cheap, but trying to do anything on them while driving is a nightmare. I guess when cars are driver-less then maybe that won’t be an issue.

irc – Member

I’m viewing it as a Focus with a £12k pre paid fuel card thrown in.

So you’ll break even after 80k miles or so (assuming £6 per gallon and 40mpg). Not counting what that 12k could have earned invested or in the bank. How long do those batteries last?

£6 a gallon was peak prices a few years ago, although I admit I had in my head it cost that much too – at £1 a litre (everywhere local to me is still at 99.9p a litre) it’s £4.54 a gallon.

e might all be loudly wondering why our shiny new ones run out of juice in a few hours, break often

BBC must have read your mind:

BBC: 3rd Electric car recall in a month

Err…..

I actually quite like the look of those driving gloves

😳

My GTE arrived last week – the petrol part of it is nowhere near that – just over 40mpg, and that’s with some A road/motorway driving at 60-70, so 45mpg combined with the regenerative benefit. Just getting the charger sorted and then I can benefit from the lower costs of an electric commute.

Mine would be the same if I didn’t plug it in. Without charging it’s just a heavy car with a petrol engine really.

without a garage at home to park it while it charges, it’s as much use as ***s on a fish.

game changer my bum.

(i don’t know anyone who could put their car in their* garage)

(*i don’t know many people with a garage tbf)

cool car though…

I don’t get the hate for the interior. A car is a tool to get you from A to B, it may also be a bit of a toy for driving enjoyment and to me an interior adds nothing to those as long as it is comfortable and conveys a feeling of safety and is practical.

All the needless crap you get in cars these days just adds weight, adds complexity, materials, coat and makes them harder to recycle.

And why do you needbabgarage to charge a car in?

ahwiles

without a garage at home to park it while it charges, it’s as much use as ***s on a fish.

game changer my bum.

Do you only have electricity in your garage?

andyl – Member

I don’t get the hate for the interior.

me neither, but touch-screens? – yup, they’re a crap idea for a car.

jimjam – Member

Do you only have electricity in your garage?

well, no. but i wouldn’t want to charge my car in my house…?[/quote]

andyl – Member

why do you needbabgarage to charge a car in?

i imagine it’ll need plugging in … at a charging point?

So you’ll break even after 80k miles or so (assuming £6 per gallon and 40mpg). Not counting what that 12k could have earned invested or in the bank. How long do those batteries last?

40mpg, £4.54/gallon at the moment, it’s actually 105k! But What are we betting fuel prices will be next year, or in 8 years? £7, £8, £10+?

Well the warranty is 8 years, I picked that number. You could say it’s a Mondeo size/quality car (which it probably is), in which case it’s a £20k car in poverty spec with a £5k fuel card and pays back in ~3 years.

Dunno what the servicing’s like, but seeing as normal gearboxes are now sealed for life I can’t imagine there’s much more than a check, so that’s another ~£200/year saved, and no tax, another ~£150.

With so many cars bought on finance these days if the monthly running costs are lower I can see the takeup being very rapid.

why do you needbabgarage to charge a car in?

i imagine it’ll need plugging in? no? at a charging point?

Have you ever heard of electrical cable?

do i really have to explain why kerbside charging is a crap idea?

True dat – won’t be long until someone files for personal injury after tripping over a trailing cable on the pavement.

Touchscreen – agree, they are not perfect and often badly implemented. I used to partake in an online forum over a decade ago working on DIY touchscreens for car PCs doing the hardware, screens, software etc and yea the reliability was bad and we were restricted by hardware that was available and software but no car manufacturer has yet caught up with the ideas and concepts were were all doing as a community back then. A lot are starting to now emerge like gesture controls etc and it is getting there but it’s frustrating to watch. Haptic displays, adaptable interfaces, gesture interfaces etc

As for charging you must have seen road side charge points? Why do you need a trailing cable that people can trip over? Lots of ways to do it so that people don’t trip.

do i really have to explain why kerbside charging is a crap idea?

I guess so.

do i really have to explain why kerbside charging is a crap idea?

I’m not sure these cars are aimed at people who can’t afford off-street parking.

thepurist – Member

True dat – won’t be long until someone files for personal injury after tripping over a trailing cable on the pavement.

i hadn’t even thought of that.

mostly i was going with:

1) what happens when one can’t park outside one’s house – next to ‘one’s’ charging point? does one have to trail the cable to wherever one’s car may be? – what if that’s over the road?

2) leaving your bins out overnight is enough of an excuse for the local dickheads to go to work. A plugged-in leccy CAR?!?!?!? – eggs, piss, shite, vomit, paint all over it, keyed, or just smashing it up for a laugh, you would be lucky to get away with just having your tyres let down – every night, forever.

3) someone would nick your charging point – copper and that, innit.

zilog6128 – Member

I’m not sure these cars are aimed at people who can’t afford off-street parking.

£25K? that’s only junior-rep level – let’s call him Stuart. Stuart lives in a 1 bed flat in Warwick (well, Kenilworth really).

1) what happens when i can’t park outside my house – next to ‘my’ charging point? do i have to trail the cable to wherever my car may be? – what if that’s over the road?

2) leaving your bins out overnight is enough of an excuse for the local dickheads to go to work. A plugged-in leccy CAR?!?!?!? – eggs, piss, shite, vomit, paint all over it, keyed, or just smashing it up for a laugh, you would be lucky to get away with just having your tyres let down – every night, forever.

3) someone would nick your charging point – copper and that, innit.

I would move if I was you. Sounds terrible.