Reboots and problems

[borski]

I spent the weekend in Minneapolis / Northfield with some family, and I rented a GMC Terrain from Hertz. It was an awful car, for lots of reasons (brakes were worn, handling was hot garbage, etc.). But I’ve now been renting for a little while (my car is stuck getting body work done due to an accident; some of the delay is my fault, due to the radar/laser install and PPF, etc.) across two very different cars: a Tesla Model Y for about 45 days and now a GMC Terrain for a weekend. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Every car has issues. I already knew this, of course, but these rentals confirmed it.
   • Tesla Model Y
     • Kept crashing on me, requiring reboots multiple times a day usually.
     • The auto wipers literally never worked right, and in Autopilot I couldn’t turn them off, which made it doubly annoying.
     • I hated not having a speedometer in front of me.
     • The navigation was absolute garbage and kept taking me to the wrong place, coupled with instructions like “Take 101 N” when the exit was for 85 S, which then *led* to 101 N and didn’t have a sign for that.
     • The car wouldn’t charge unless I left it unlocked, and it would randomly reset my charge limit to 50%. I have no idea why this was happening, but it was supremely frustrating to wake up and discover the car wasn’t charged. I eventually figured out to leave it unlocked, but WHY?! And then the random resetting to 50% made no sense either.
     • Superchargers worked, most of the time, but I ran into two that didn’t.
     • Autopilot mostly worked very well, except for the two times it nearly hit a car and the one time it decided a trash can was supremely interesting and decided to veer towards it.
     • The rear and side cameras worked ~90% of the time, but when they didn’t they just showed me a static image of the last thing they saw; sound familiar?
     • The UI was extremely difficult to navigate; just a wall of text. Adjusting the ACs, while the single vent is neat, was also a big pain and kept resetting to what I didn’t want.
     • There were more issues, but I’m not trying to review the Model Y - this isn’t an exhaustive list, and it isn’t intended to be; I promise I eventually get to a point in this post and am not bashing Tesla (they’re just caught in the crossfire)
   • GMC Terrain
     • Nobody on this forum is ever allowed to say that ICE cars don’t have issues again, lol
     • Brakes were garbage
     • Kept switching out of AWD to 2WD for no reason; I eventually figured out that the car got ‘confused’ because the temperature was so cold outside, and it decided that AWD couldn’t work for some reason. I have no idea if this is true, but some YouTube video told me it was, and when it warmed up a bit it stopped switching out of AWD.
     • On my way to return the car to the airport this morning, it threw a service light, an oil light, and turned off traction control because “something is wrong, call service.” I was concerned, obviously, since I was driving through plenty of ice and snow, but I was only a few miles from the gas station (and airport) so figured it would be fine. GUESS WHAT FIXED IT? At the gas station, I turned the car off (as one does when filling up), and then turned it back on after the fill up, effectively rebooting it. Look ma, no errors. It’s not just EVs that need reboots every now and again.
     • The trunk would let me open it a little, and then close itself, over and over again. I had to force it up and hold it there against the motor trying to close it in order to get it to stay open.
     • It had CarPlay, but it only sometimes worked; I had to constantly disconnect and reconnect, and the nav screen would randomly decide to look garbled and corrupted, forcing me to disconnect/reconnect.
2. There were some things I liked about both cars
   • Tesla Model Y
     • Automatic integration with MyQ to open/close doors via geofencing was great
     • Lots of space and room in the hatch
     • The games were fun to mess around with while charging (though the steering wheel as input was awful)
     • The ‘FSD-style’ view of cars and trash cans and cones and stop signs, etc., was very very neat; I found it helpful.
     • I really liked the energy burn down graph. I took a long trip to just north of Sacramento, and while I got there with 9% (which freaked me out and now I understand range anxiety, whereas the Lucid very much spoiled me) it was very very helpful to have the burn down graph over time and see my current burn compared to the nav estimate. This is probably the feature I most hope Lucid adds, though I do find myself looking at the range a lot less in the Lucid since it just goes a lot further.
     • The Rainbow road while Autopilot was active was actually an extremely helpful and unexpected feature. I found that it was easier to know when it was / wasn’t active and kept me more engaged, because I have ADHD and the rainbow road had more stimulation, which helped me. It could certainly be distracting for neurotypical folks, I imagine, but I liked it.
     • I’m sure there were other things I liked, but it definitely wasn’t the car for me (which is fine!)
   • GMC Terrain
     • Honestly, not very much. It was massive? Had lots of space?
     • Oh, when you got close to something, instead of just beeping or showing you on the camera what was happening, it vibrated the seat. It took me a bit to get used to but I actually liked that feature. It was definitely a convenient ‘hey! pay attention!’ alert

The point I’m trying to make is: no matter which car you have or get, it will have some problems. I know that we’re all easily annoyed (and often rightfully so) about some of Lucid’s issues and growing pains, and that the software is still playing some catch-up, that some vehicles have more reliability issues than others, etc., but from the past few rentals I was left with one overwhelming feeling: I miss my car so much.

Nothing else drives like it, every car has software problems, and no car is immune from needing reboots or throwing errors. My recent experiences confirmed that, at least for me. We, on this forum, are particularly attuned to cars and their issues, but we should also try to remember the value they provide and the things we like about them as well. The Model Y wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t for me, and definitely had plenty of problems. The GMC Terrain was, okay it was pretty awful, but also not entirely without its merits.

Now I’m off to Maui and renting a Mustang convertible, and I’m very excited to figure out all the ways in which it will also fail to please me and require a reboot or some feature will break or be missing, or whatever. But at the end of the day I’m going to be driving a convertible in Maui and have very little to complain about, so just try and enjoy the ride

Maybe that’s the lesson I’m trying to impart: enjoy the ride. Chill out, relax a little bit, accept that every car has flaws, and enjoy the ride, beauty and warts and all. If you end up deciding it’s not the car for you, that’s OK! You don’t have to like every car; I certainly don’t. But deciding it *shouldn’t* be the car for everyone else is not great; I’m certain there’s plenty of people that like the Model Y. Hell, there were things I liked about it and wished Lucid would add! I’m a little less certain anyone likes the Terrain but maybe that’s just me.

Sorry for the rant, happy Monday, and hello from 10,000 feet.

 

[HC_79]

Did the GMC have CarPlay though? That seems to dictate whether you're "best in class" these days

Like you said, every car has quirks. I hated the software on the e-Tron but couldn't fault the ride and build quality. The Model 3 \ Y aren't for me (put a HUD in and it may be a different story) but I could see myself getting the S or X if Lucid wasn't around even though i've experienced issues in those cars also. Like you, when my car was in the shop for 5 weeks and I was driving around others you really do miss the car, even with its current quirks.

 

[borski]

Did the GMC have CarPlay though? That seems to dictate whether you're "best in class" these days

It had CarPlay, but it only sometimes worked; I had to constantly disconnect and reconnect, and the nav screen would randomly decide to look garbled and corrupted, forcing me to disconnect/reconnect.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I spent the weekend in Minneapolis / Northfield with some family, and I rented a GMC Terrain from Hertz. It was an awful car, for lots of reasons (brakes were worn, handling was hot garbage, etc.). But I’ve now been renting for a little while (my car is stuck getting body work done due to an accident; some of the delay is my fault, due to the radar/laser install and PPF, etc.) across two very different cars: a Tesla Model Y for about 45 days and now a GMC Terrain for a weekend. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Every car has issues. I already knew this, of course, but these rentals confirmed it.
   • Tesla Model Y
     • Kept crashing on me, requiring reboots multiple times a day usually.
     • The auto wipers literally never worked right, and in Autopilot I couldn’t turn them off, which made it doubly annoying.
     • I hated not having a speedometer in front of me.
     • The navigation was absolute garbage and kept taking me to the wrong place, coupled with instructions like “Take 101 N” when the exit was for 85 S, which then *led* to 101 N and didn’t have a sign for that.
     • The car wouldn’t charge unless I left it unlocked, and it would randomly reset my charge limit to 50%. I have no idea why this was happening, but it was supremely frustrating to wake up and discover the car wasn’t charged. I eventually figured out to leave it unlocked, but WHY?! And then the random resetting to 50% made no sense either.
     • Superchargers worked, most of the time, but I ran into two that didn’t.
     • Autopilot mostly worked very well, except for the two times it nearly hit a car and the one time it decided a trash can was supremely interesting and decided to veer towards it.
     • The rear and side cameras worked ~90% of the time, but when they didn’t they just showed me a static image of the last thing they saw; sound familiar?
     • The UI was extremely difficult to navigate; just a wall of text. Adjusting the ACs, while the single vent is neat, was also a big pain and kept resetting to what I didn’t want.
     • There were more issues, but I’m not trying to review the Model Y - this isn’t an exhaustive list, and it isn’t intended to be; I promise I eventually get to a point in this post and am not bashing Tesla (they’re just caught in the crossfire)
   • GMC Terrain
     • Nobody on this forum is ever allowed to say that ICE cars don’t have issues again, lol
     • Brakes were garbage
     • Kept switching out of AWD to 2WD for no reason; I eventually figured out that the car got ‘confused’ because the temperature was so cold outside, and it decided that AWD couldn’t work for some reason. I have no idea if this is true, but some YouTube video told me it was, and when it warmed up a bit it stopped switching out of AWD.
     • On my way to return the car to the airport this morning, it threw a service light, an oil light, and turned off traction control because “something is wrong, call service.” I was concerned, obviously, since I was driving through plenty of ice and snow, but I was only a few miles from the gas station (and airport) so figured it would be fine. GUESS WHAT FIXED IT? At the gas station, I turned the car off (as one does when filling up), and then turned it back on after the fill up, effectively rebooting it. Look ma, no errors. It’s not just EVs that need reboots every now and again.
     • The trunk would let me open it a little, and then close itself, over and over again. I had to force it up and hold it there against the motor trying to close it in order to get it to stay open.
     • It had CarPlay, but it only sometimes worked; I had to constantly disconnect and reconnect, and the nav screen would randomly decide to look garbled and corrupted, forcing me to disconnect/reconnect.
2. There were some things I liked about both cars
   • Tesla Model Y
     • Automatic integration with MyQ to open/close doors via geofencing was great
     • Lots of space and room in the hatch
     • The games were fun to mess around with while charging (though the steering wheel as input was awful)
     • The ‘FSD-style’ view of cars and trash cans and cones and stop signs, etc., was very very neat; I found it helpful.
     • I really liked the energy burn down graph. I took a long trip to just north of Sacramento, and while I got there with 9% (which freaked me out and now I understand range anxiety, whereas the Lucid very much spoiled me) it was very very helpful to have the burn down graph over time and see my current burn compared to the nav estimate. This is probably the feature I most hope Lucid adds, though I do find myself looking at the range a lot less in the Lucid since it just goes a lot further.
     • The Rainbow road while Autopilot was active was actually an extremely helpful and unexpected feature. I found that it was easier to know when it was / wasn’t active and kept me more engaged, because I have ADHD and the rainbow road had more stimulation, which helped me. It could certainly be distracting for neurotypical folks, I imagine, but I liked it.
     • I’m sure there were other things I liked, but it definitely wasn’t the car for me (which is fine!)
   • GMC Terrain
     • Honestly, not very much. It was massive? Had lots of space?
     • Oh, when you got close to something, instead of just beeping or showing you on the camera what was happening, it vibrated the seat. It took me a bit to get used to but I actually liked that feature. It was definitely a convenient ‘hey! pay attention!’ alert

The point I’m trying to make is: no matter which car you have or get, it will have some problems. I know that we’re all easily annoyed (and often rightfully so) about some of Lucid’s issues and growing pains, and that the software is still playing some catch-up, that some vehicles have more reliability issues than others, etc., but from the past few rentals I was left with one overwhelming feeling: I miss my car so much.

Nothing else drives like it, every car has software problems, and no car is immune from needing reboots or throwing errors. My recent experiences confirmed that, at least for me. We, on this forum, are particularly attuned to cars and their issues, but we should also try to remember the value they provide and the things we like about them as well. The Model Y wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t for me, and definitely had plenty of problems. The GMC Terrain was, okay it was pretty awful, but also not entirely without its merits.

Now I’m off to Maui and renting a Mustang convertible, and I’m very excited to figure out all the ways in which it will also fail to please me and require a reboot or some feature will break or be missing, or whatever. But at the end of the day I’m going to be driving a convertible in Maui and have very little to complain about, so just try and enjoy the ride

Maybe that’s the lesson I’m trying to impart: enjoy the ride. Chill out, relax a little bit, accept that every car has flaws, and enjoy the ride, beauty and warts and all. If you end up deciding it’s not the car for you, that’s OK! You don’t have to like every car; I certainly don’t. But deciding it *shouldn’t* be the car for everyone else is not great; I’m certain there’s plenty of people that like the Model Y. Hell, there were things I liked about it and wished Lucid would add! I’m a little less certain anyone likes the Terrain but maybe that’s just me.

Sorry for the rant, happy Monday, and hello from 10,000 feet.

I’m in a Tesla 3 rental now. I do not like this car. The seats are comfortable, but the suspension is like a cross between a trampoline bouncy and race car crashy, completely undoing any benefit comfortable seats might add. Like a Nissan Altima has better suspension, I know cuz I just had one as a rental in Florida. I’m confused as to how they got the suspension that wrong. The steering feels like my video game racing wheel, like it has tight ropes that imitate real steering resistance. The cameras are mediocre quality compared to the Lucid, and it’s weird that I have to look to RIGHT to see what’s on my LEFT.
I also don’t like the vehicle display of other vehicles and objects because they keep popping in and out like some low resolution defective rendering, super distracting. But I do love the “fasten your seatbelts” airplane style sound when stop lights turn green, that’s fun.

The UI in this car is the worst I’ve ever used in any vehicle. It took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to change climate settings, the fonts are way too small and remind of Xbox version one menus, and it’s weird how you have layered windows on the screen. If you’re going to have to put the entire car into one screen, you’ve gotta do a better job at interface, this wall of disorganized text is a cluttered mess.

Seriously though I have two questions: how do I turn on the wipers, and how do I turn on auto pilot? I’m computer savvy and cannot figure this thing out. I realize this car is less than half the price of the Lucid but it really makes me appreciate how much more elegant and sensible the Lucid UI is. It’s funny the Tesla UI is so bad, whereas Motor Trend called the Lucid “Car 2.0”, I feel like the Tesla is “Car 0.85”, like they forgot to make it a car instead of a screen that’s attached to a motor and wheels.

The one pedal driving in the Tesla is really good at least, not too different from the Lucid, and the sound system is ok, nothing amazing but it’s pretty good. And the RFID entry system seems to work better than Lucid’s fob I guess although I rarely have a problem in the Lucid. I totally agree about the energy consumption info/graph in the car though, that’s helpful, except the font is wrong and so small you can barely read any of it.

This car really makes me appreciate how good the Lucid is at so many things. I’m curious about the Tesla Model S, I’d hope it’s waaay better than the 3?

 

[borski]

Seriously though I have two questions: how do I turn on the wipers, and how do I turn on auto pilot?

This took me forever to figure out.

For the wipers, press the button on the end of the left stalk and then you can increase/decrease speed, etc.

For autopilot, I had to google it, lol - press down on the right stalk to turn on cruise control, then press down twice in quick succession on the right stalk to turn on autopilot. Adjust the speed with either the left or right scroll wheel, I can't remember. This all assumes you have autopilot turned on in the settings, which is its own adventure, and I wish you luck. It does work well, though, once you have paid the proper fees to the gods.

 

[joec]

This took me forever to figure out.

For the wipers, press the button on the end of the left stalk and then you can increase/decrease speed, etc.

For autopilot, I had to google it, lol - press down on the right stalk to turn on cruise control, then press down twice in quick succession on the right stalk to turn on autopilot. Adjust the speed with either the left or right scroll wheel, I can't remember. This all assumes you have autopilot turned on in the settings, which is its own adventure, and I wish you luck. It does work well, though, once you have paid the proper fees to the gods.

Except, he has a model 3, not a y. So be ready for phantom braking, which is far more common on the 3.

I’m glad I’m not alone in not being impressed with the UX design on the Tesla. It was actually a bit better before the major layout rethink they did a little over a year ago. But now it’s just a series of screens with walls of text and switches that aren’t particularly well organized. Oh, and the 1/3 of the screen dedicated to video game graphics the driver doesn’t need at all if they just look out the windshield and use their own eyes.

 

[joec]

Technically, you can add a windshield wiper button to the row of icons on the bottom of the screen. Along with seat heat buttons. But it’s not very intuitive to figure out how to do that. You have to put the panel of other app icons into “edit” mode, and then those other icons will appear and can be dragged down. Even most Tesla owners I know don’t know how to do that.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Technically, you can add a windshield wiper button to the row of icons on the bottom of the screen. Along with seat heat buttons. But it’s not very intuitive to figure out how to do that. You have to put the panel of other app icons into “edit” mode, and then those other icons will appear and can be dragged down. Even most Tesla owners I know don’t know how to do that.

I can’t even find a windshield wiper button haha. The button I push in on the wiper stalk just either wipes once or cleans it, which makes sense, just still can’t figure out how to turn the damn things on. It’s ok cuz it’s not raining or snowing here, but just trying to be prepared. And yeah that autopilot screen is hilarious, it’s like the car is trying to keep you from looking out the windshield. Also since it’s a rental I wonder if I can’t customize it? It won’t allow me to open the glovebox either without a PIN. Must be the rental is locked out of certain features?

I like the wireless charging in the car and center console at least, it’s better than the Lucid, although that deep bin where you plug the USB cables in is silly cuz you can’t close it if you’re connected to anything with a USB plug. But the closing mechanism on it is nicely done. I just don’t get the design concept on this car, it’s both elegantly minimalistic and stupidly chaotic at the same time. WTF.

 

[HariK]

I spent the weekend in Minneapolis / Northfield with some family, and I rented a GMC Terrain from Hertz. It was an awful car, for lots of reasons (brakes were worn, handling was hot garbage, etc.). But I’ve now been renting for a little while (my car is stuck getting body work done due to an accident; some of the delay is my fault, due to the radar/laser install and PPF, etc.) across two very different cars: a Tesla Model Y for about 45 days and now a GMC Terrain for a weekend. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Every car has issues. I already knew this, of course, but these rentals confirmed it.
   • Tesla Model Y
     • Kept crashing on me, requiring reboots multiple times a day usually.
     • The auto wipers literally never worked right, and in Autopilot I couldn’t turn them off, which made it doubly annoying.
     • I hated not having a speedometer in front of me.
     • The navigation was absolute garbage and kept taking me to the wrong place, coupled with instructions like “Take 101 N” when the exit was for 85 S, which then *led* to 101 N and didn’t have a sign for that.
     • The car wouldn’t charge unless I left it unlocked, and it would randomly reset my charge limit to 50%. I have no idea why this was happening, but it was supremely frustrating to wake up and discover the car wasn’t charged. I eventually figured out to leave it unlocked, but WHY?! And then the random resetting to 50% made no sense either.
     • Superchargers worked, most of the time, but I ran into two that didn’t.
     • Autopilot mostly worked very well, except for the two times it nearly hit a car and the one time it decided a trash can was supremely interesting and decided to veer towards it.
     • The rear and side cameras worked ~90% of the time, but when they didn’t they just showed me a static image of the last thing they saw; sound familiar?
     • The UI was extremely difficult to navigate; just a wall of text. Adjusting the ACs, while the single vent is neat, was also a big pain and kept resetting to what I didn’t want.
     • There were more issues, but I’m not trying to review the Model Y - this isn’t an exhaustive list, and it isn’t intended to be; I promise I eventually get to a point in this post and am not bashing Tesla (they’re just caught in the crossfire)
   • GMC Terrain
     • Nobody on this forum is ever allowed to say that ICE cars don’t have issues again, lol
     • Brakes were garbage
     • Kept switching out of AWD to 2WD for no reason; I eventually figured out that the car got ‘confused’ because the temperature was so cold outside, and it decided that AWD couldn’t work for some reason. I have no idea if this is true, but some YouTube video told me it was, and when it warmed up a bit it stopped switching out of AWD.
     • On my way to return the car to the airport this morning, it threw a service light, an oil light, and turned off traction control because “something is wrong, call service.” I was concerned, obviously, since I was driving through plenty of ice and snow, but I was only a few miles from the gas station (and airport) so figured it would be fine. GUESS WHAT FIXED IT? At the gas station, I turned the car off (as one does when filling up), and then turned it back on after the fill up, effectively rebooting it. Look ma, no errors. It’s not just EVs that need reboots every now and again.
     • The trunk would let me open it a little, and then close itself, over and over again. I had to force it up and hold it there against the motor trying to close it in order to get it to stay open.
     • It had CarPlay, but it only sometimes worked; I had to constantly disconnect and reconnect, and the nav screen would randomly decide to look garbled and corrupted, forcing me to disconnect/reconnect.
2. There were some things I liked about both cars
   • Tesla Model Y
     • Automatic integration with MyQ to open/close doors via geofencing was great
     • Lots of space and room in the hatch
     • The games were fun to mess around with while charging (though the steering wheel as input was awful)
     • The ‘FSD-style’ view of cars and trash cans and cones and stop signs, etc., was very very neat; I found it helpful.
     • I really liked the energy burn down graph. I took a long trip to just north of Sacramento, and while I got there with 9% (which freaked me out and now I understand range anxiety, whereas the Lucid very much spoiled me) it was very very helpful to have the burn down graph over time and see my current burn compared to the nav estimate. This is probably the feature I most hope Lucid adds, though I do find myself looking at the range a lot less in the Lucid since it just goes a lot further.
     • The Rainbow road while Autopilot was active was actually an extremely helpful and unexpected feature. I found that it was easier to know when it was / wasn’t active and kept me more engaged, because I have ADHD and the rainbow road had more stimulation, which helped me. It could certainly be distracting for neurotypical folks, I imagine, but I liked it.
     • I’m sure there were other things I liked, but it definitely wasn’t the car for me (which is fine!)
   • GMC Terrain
     • Honestly, not very much. It was massive? Had lots of space?
     • Oh, when you got close to something, instead of just beeping or showing you on the camera what was happening, it vibrated the seat. It took me a bit to get used to but I actually liked that feature. It was definitely a convenient ‘hey! pay attention!’ alert

The point I’m trying to make is: no matter which car you have or get, it will have some problems. I know that we’re all easily annoyed (and often rightfully so) about some of Lucid’s issues and growing pains, and that the software is still playing some catch-up, that some vehicles have more reliability issues than others, etc., but from the past few rentals I was left with one overwhelming feeling: I miss my car so much.

Nothing else drives like it, every car has software problems, and no car is immune from needing reboots or throwing errors. My recent experiences confirmed that, at least for me. We, on this forum, are particularly attuned to cars and their issues, but we should also try to remember the value they provide and the things we like about them as well. The Model Y wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t for me, and definitely had plenty of problems. The GMC Terrain was, okay it was pretty awful, but also not entirely without its merits.

Now I’m off to Maui and renting a Mustang convertible, and I’m very excited to figure out all the ways in which it will also fail to please me and require a reboot or some feature will break or be missing, or whatever. But at the end of the day I’m going to be driving a convertible in Maui and have very little to complain about, so just try and enjoy the ride

Maybe that’s the lesson I’m trying to impart: enjoy the ride. Chill out, relax a little bit, accept that every car has flaws, and enjoy the ride, beauty and warts and all. If you end up deciding it’s not the car for you, that’s OK! You don’t have to like every car; I certainly don’t. But deciding it *shouldn’t* be the car for everyone else is not great; I’m certain there’s plenty of people that like the Model Y. Hell, there were things I liked about it and wished Lucid would add! I’m a little less certain anyone likes the Terrain but maybe that’s just me.

Sorry for the rant, happy Monday, and hello from 10,000 feet.

I rented a Nissan Altima in Slat Lake City and drove to yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion National park, Bryce Canyon national park 2000 miles in 7 days. It too had a fancy display and I just could not figure out how to use adaptive cruise control it had until I stopped at a hotel and looked up on youtube videos. Then it did work well. This model did not have steering control but has lane departure warning it too worked.

I rented in Hawaii Ford fusion Hybrid and Pacifica Hybrid minivan and both were very intuitive to drive and did as expected.

What this told me is that the conventional automakers understand the importance of physical buttons and displays in the right place. Also, they are used to the idea of not having OTA updates which means that they really checked everything to avoid expensive recalls to the dealers. This is something the new EV only automakers should learn. It is OK to add features later but every feature needs to work as specified.

 

[DeaneG]

@borski the most bewildering part of my recent (not by choice) rental of a Mustang convertible in San Diego - when you gve it a little throttle, a loud engine-like rumbling comes out of the door speakers. Took me a while to figure out why/where the noise was coming from.

 

[HariK]

@borski the most bewildering part of my recent (not by choice) rental of a Mustang convertible in San Diego - when you gve it a little throttle, a loud engine-like rumbling comes out of the door speakers. Took me a while to figure out why/where the noise was coming from.

Interesting use of audio!

 

[Steveinarizona]

I rented a Nissan Altima in Slat Lake City and drove to yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion National park, Bryce Canyon national park 2000 miles in 7 days. It too had a fancy display and I just could not figure out how to use adaptive cruise control it had until I stopped at a hotel and looked up on youtube videos. Then it did work well. This model did not have steering control but has lane departure warning it too worked.

I rented in Hawaii Ford fusion Hybrid and Pacifica Hybrid minivan and both were very intuitive to drive and did as expected.

What this told me is that the conventional automakers understand the importance of physical buttons and displays in the right place. Also, they are used to the idea of not having OTA updates which means that they really checked everything to avoid expensive recalls to the dealers. This is something the new EV only automakers should learn. It is OK to add features later but every feature needs to work as specified.

Yes. In my GV60 I have buttons or switches for just about everything (radio/SXM;AC;heat;lights;hatch;frunk;navigation;map; etc.). Tesla does a whole lot of things I don't agree with such as the lack of buttons and putting the only screen to the right of the driver and, despite folks calling it so, it is far, far from a luxury car. It is essentially a very fast, cheap box.

 

[DeaneG]

Yes. In my GV60 I have buttons or switches for just about everything (radio/SXM;AC;heat;lights;hatch;frunk;navigation;map; etc.). Tesla does a whole lot of things I don't agree with such as the lack of buttons and putting the only screen to the right of the driver and, despite folks calling it so, it is far, far from a luxury car. It is essentially a very fast, cheap box.

It's a car that seems designed by a high school kid.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

It's a car that seems designed by a high school kid.

Yeah no kidding. I finally figured out how to turn on the wipers, press in the left stalk lightly then a small menu comes up at the bottom of the center screen allowing you to choose wiper speed, so to adjust wiper speed you push the LEFT stalk in, then look away from the road at the bottom of the screen on the RIGHT and hope you pick the right button to control the wipers in front of your face. While I'm not a fan of the Lucid wiper button locations (just put a rotary switch on the R stalk, done) at least they're dedicated touch buttons and next to the left stalk. There is VERY little about the Tesla UI I'd consider clever, safe or well thought out. One positive thing I'll say about the Tesla is the HVAC heats up FAST. But the downside is it feels like it's blowing directly into my eyes at all times unless I turn off the front vents completely, dragging around the airflow location doesn't change the heat in the eyes effect. And when that HVAC turns on it is crazy loud outside of the car, sounds like a hoover vacuum starting up.

 

[DeaneG]

I was able to keep it out of my eyes by spreading (splitting) the air flow as wide as possible, and aiming it down as far as it would go.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I was able to keep it out of my eyes by spreading (splitting) the air flow as wide as possible, and aiming it down as far as it would go.

Ah I didn’t know you could split it wide. I just aimed it down.

 

[Clyde2575]

I’m in a Tesla 3 rental now. I do not like this car. The seats are comfortable, but the suspension is like a cross between a trampoline bouncy and race car crashy, completely undoing any benefit comfortable seats might add. Like a Nissan Altima has better suspension, I know cuz I just had one as a rental in Florida. I’m confused as to how they got the suspension that wrong. The steering feels like my video game racing wheel, like it has tight ropes that imitate real steering resistance. The cameras are mediocre quality compared to the Lucid, and it’s weird that I have to look to RIGHT to see what’s on my LEFT.
I also don’t like the vehicle display of other vehicles and objects because they keep popping in and out like some low resolution defective rendering, super distracting. But I do love the “fasten your seatbelts” airplane style sound when stop lights turn green, that’s fun.

The UI in this car is the worst I’ve ever used in any vehicle. It took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to change climate settings, the fonts are way too small and remind of Xbox version one menus, and it’s weird how you have layered windows on the screen. If you’re going to have to put the entire car into one screen, you’ve gotta do a better job at interface, this wall of disorganized text is a cluttered mess.

Seriously though I have two questions: how do I turn on the wipers, and how do I turn on auto pilot? I’m computer savvy and cannot figure this thing out. I realize this car is less than half the price of the Lucid but it really makes me appreciate how much more elegant and sensible the Lucid UI is. It’s funny the Tesla UI is so bad, whereas Motor Trend called the Lucid “Car 2.0”, I feel like the Tesla is “Car 0.85”, like they forgot to make it a car instead of a screen that’s attached to a motor and wheels.

The one pedal driving in the Tesla is really good at least, not too different from the Lucid, and the sound system is ok, nothing amazing but it’s pretty good. And the RFID entry system seems to work better than Lucid’s fob I guess although I rarely have a problem in the Lucid. I totally agree about the energy consumption info/graph in the car though, that’s helpful, except the font is wrong and so small you can barely read any of it.

This car really makes me appreciate how good the Lucid is at so many things. I’m curious about the Tesla Model S, I’d hope it’s waaay better than the 3?

I am also in a rental 3 right now and I feel almost the exact same way. The only difference I have is that the 1 pedal driving doesn't work and I cannot find the setting to change it. I had a 3 and forgot just how much I didn't care for it until being in this one for 30 minutes.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I am also in a rental 3 right now and I feel almost the exact same way. The only difference I have is that the 1 pedal driving doesn't work and I cannot find the setting to change it. I had a 3 and forgot just how much I didn't care for it until being in this one for 30 minutes.

Yeah I think brake hold is under one of those 17 menus on the screen? The only other time I literally could not figure out how to do something simple in a car was my wife’s Subaru, where the tire pressure was stuck on kPA instead of PSI, so I had to look that up. The fact that I had to look up how to turn on the damn wipers in the Tesla is pretty funny.

It’s not all bad, the car does some cool things, a few of them it does better than Lucid when it comes to data and customization, the sun visors are clever, the center console is mostly better, but as a car that you enjoy driving? Nope. It’s an aggravating infotainment experience and an unpleasant ride.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

What blows my mind is the Model 3 is HUGELY popular. Like I see one around here less than every 10 minutes.

 

[DeaneG]

What blows my mind is the Model 3 is HUGELY popular. Like I see one around here less than every 10 minutes.

Around one per minute in the SF bay area. I saw three identical white Model 3's at the traffic light near my house a couple days ago.