Plus, Tesla's drive units tend to fail at regular intervals. Tesla needs to belong in the hands of an auto group that can give it the attention it needs to succeed. That and the small issue of repairs taking forever and insurance rates higher than a car of equal value. It's cheaper to insure just about any other car in the $85,000+ bracket than a Model S in some places.
The Model S uses the battery pack as a heat sink, but heat soak is easy to achieve if you really know how to push a vehicle to its limits without breaking ground contact. As I said, the instant torque and power is sweet, but go hard with acceleration and breaking, and the car begins to slow down and become less powerful, as it were. A decent maintained 80s hot hatch could maintain decent speed and vigor in semi-mountainous roads with lots of acceleration and breaking points in the middle of summer without running into issues. I'd argue you get a better workout on those than a modern hatch. Especially if you find one without power steering.
Granted, I haven't driven the X or the Model 3. I'm curious to see what those are like driving dynamics wise. The Model S felt somewhat solid but its rear swerved quite a bit under hard turning and the car didn't feel as planted as I thought it would be. Model S I drove did some chicanes decently, but a few hairpins we have around location one needed a different approach due to the higher weight of the vehicle and just how it's built. There's still decent body roll compared to a normal car. The car felt really solid at high speed changing from one lane to another, whereas the majority of cars may experience some weight shift to the left or right depending on turn direction. On long curving roads, the car did feel planted but this is due to its lower center of gravity by way of construction. Compared to say a Camry or Accord where you will feel a shift in the car even at such a long stretch of gently curving road.
That said, surface controls outside the steering wheel sucked.
The Model S uses the battery pack as a heat sink, but heat soak is easy to achieve if you really know how to push a vehicle to its limits without breaking ground contact. As I said, the instant torque and power is sweet, but go hard with acceleration and breaking, and the car begins to slow down and become less powerful, as it were. A decent maintained 80s hot hatch could maintain decent speed and vigor in semi-mountainous roads with lots of acceleration and breaking points in the middle of summer without running into issues. I'd argue you get a better workout on those than a modern hatch. Especially if you find one without power steering.
Granted, I haven't driven the X or the Model 3. I'm curious to see what those are like driving dynamics wise. The Model S felt somewhat solid but its rear swerved quite a bit under hard turning and the car didn't feel as planted as I thought it would be. Model S I drove did some chicanes decently, but a few hairpins we have around location one needed a different approach due to the higher weight of the vehicle and just how it's built. There's still decent body roll compared to a normal car. The car felt really solid at high speed changing from one lane to another, whereas the majority of cars may experience some weight shift to the left or right depending on turn direction. On long curving roads, the car did feel planted but this is due to its lower center of gravity by way of construction. Compared to say a Camry or Accord where you will feel a shift in the car even at such a long stretch of gently curving road.
That said, surface controls outside the steering wheel sucked.
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