berchman Loc: South Central PA

Yesterday I drove my twenty-year-old souped-up BMW M Coupe 1½ hours to Owings Mills, MD to do a first ever test drive of an electric vehicle, a Tesla Model 3 AWD with full self driving. I will forego using millennial terms like "awesome" and "amazing," but I will say that the car corners and handles better than my sports car; it has rocket ship-like acceleration from the get go; it is silent, and the infinitely adjustable driver's seat and steering wheel are very comfortable.
I rarely had to use the brake pedal. Most of my braking, including coming to a full stop, was accomplished by feathering the accelerator pedal. This is made possible by regenerative braking. In full self drive mode I flipped the turn signal to make a lane change. The car started to move over, but the a$$hole in the lane it was moving to sped up and the Tesla immediately steered back to avoid being side swiped. The 15 speakers of the sound system sounded great even to a person with one deaf ear. The car's final spectacular move was to draw up at right angles to two cars in the parking lot that had one space between them and fully self park by backing up and turning into the space. I'll probably wait a couple of years to get a Tesla, but it's definitely in my future, tested as the safest car currently on the road.
I prepared for this test drive by watching lots of YouTube videos on Teslas. The quality control problems mentioned in many of the videos have improved a lot for the 2020 models. Apparently, customer service when repairs are needed is still not up to par.

PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

That’s very interesting! Thanks!

tommy2 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

The self driving mode takes some getting used to. (I jumped in one cold turkey just to see what my s-in-l ordered.)

samantha90 Loc: Fort Worth,Texas

I have ridden in a Tesla before the thing that I was most impressed with up front was how quite it was.The acceleration was impressive also. I drive a Nissan 370z and I have to say the Tesla impressed me. The main concerns I had were charging the battery and as mentioned the quality problems. I found your remarks about your test drive interesting.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

There's a supercharger station only eight miles away and I can have my electrician put in a 240 Volt outlet in my garage. The car gets over 300 miles on a full charge. If you need to go on a long trip, the navigation screen shows you all the charging stations and coaches you when it's advisable to fill up. It's good to get out of the car anyway to stretch your legs and maybe get something to eat.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

Yes, it does. My hands were hovering over the self moving steering wheel.

Silverrails

Not sure I Trust a Self-Driving Car Yet. But I admit the story you told was interesting indeed. I might wait for the "George Jetson" model, now that will be Awesome indeed.😂 At 69, not sure I will be around when that model appears in a Showroom.

chase4 Loc: Punta Corona, California

If I may ask, how much does one of these, like the one you test-drove, cost? chase

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

As I am getting older, I am looking forward to self-driving cars.

However, at this time I have my doubts.

I would expect that the cars will do a great job in good weather, but I recently went to a party a few hours away. It was an enjoyable party but I was 3 hours from home and at the end of the party the snow had started. The snow wasn't all that bad, but I drove halfway home, 85 miles, mostly on interstates, before I could see a lane marker. I'm wondering how the self-driving cars will handle that sort of situation. On the interstates you can only tell where the edge of the pavement is by hitting the rumble strips.

If I need a car, I need it for (1) all types of weather and (2) a range of 300-500 miles per fill/charge.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Quality and customer service are major issues. It's why Lexus is so popular. We're fortunate in Dallas, too, to have the Lexus dealership with the owner who literally wrote the book on customer service. However, the car sounds great.

twosummers Loc: Melbourne Australia or Lincolnshire England

My concern with self-driving cars is that we don't even have a self-driving train and these run on rails. However I am impressed by how many Teslas I see on the roads here in Melbourne. There's even a Tesla store in the local shopping centre

SteveR Loc: Michigan

When you buy the car in a shopping center, where do you take it for maintenance?

twosummers Loc: Melbourne Australia or Lincolnshire England

Here's the Tesla store (Chadstone Shopping)

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SteveR Loc: Michigan

Just be careful on that test drive around the mall!!

gunner369 Loc: NV

I have a 2020 Hyundri Palisade (new model SUV came out in 2020) which drives it's self when its in cruise control, it follows the white lines on the road, will turn when there's curves, it also slows down when it comes upon a vehicle going slower in your lane. Here's the catch, when you take your hands off the steering wheel for 30 sec, a beeping sound will warn you to keep your hand on the wheel, but this is good for an old man like me who might fall asleep at the wheel, LOL

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