After owning a Tesla, is it possible to go back to a regular old internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle? A Tesla Model S owner on the Tesla Motors Club forum recently recounted his experiences using a Cadillac XT5 while his Model S was in the shop for a “parking brake error.” The read is a fun one…
Here are some excerpts from the post made by “joer00:”
“As usual as an MS driver, when stepping on the accelerator, one expects that the car moves immediately and does so fast. Not so with the Caddy. Not expecting much I already floored it to get some power, so step, wait, wait, wait, ROOOOOAAAAAARRR, some form of acceleration, and finally at about 4000 RPM and ear-battering noise some noticeable acceleration. So I thought this must be one of those new 4 cylinder engines with 200 HP or so given the sound and power. So I went on the web to look it up. 3.6 Liter V6 with 310 HP! But reading what Cadillac thinks about it I had to laugh loud: ‘The 3.6L V6 engine with 8-speed automatic transmission delivers effortless acceleration that takes you to highway speeds quietly and smoothly, while the responsive handling keeps you feeling firmly in control.’ ”
Continuing: “They must have never driven a Tesla! So besides the terrible drivetrain, the user interface is just as bad. After 4 days I still haven’t figured out how some of the stuff works. When I got the car, the AC was blowing like hell. I saw an AC icon on the touch screen and could set the fan speed but no auto mode. After a while I figured out that there is an auto mode BUTTON under the touchscreen where the AC touchscreen controls are duplicated. Once this is pressed, you suddenly see an AUTO icon in the touch screen, BUT pressing it toggles between on and off and NO auto, DUMB! After finally done with the AC I want to go back to the main screen, but how? Looked through all icons, clicked on some, but no home. AHAAAA the home button for the touchscreen is NOT at the touchscreen, it is BELOW outside of the screen. DUMB. Next I tried to adjust the radio volume. There are ‘low’ and ‘high’ arrows but touching either of them does nothing, touching in between does nothing either. After more fiddling, AHAAAA one has to SLIDE with the finger like a touch pad. Ok, selecting the radio in the touchscreen, same slider appears there but there sliding does NOT work. DUMB!”
And: “I lost the count how often I left the car running. So the car keeps running and music playing even if one walks away and LOCKS the door, DUMB! I never liked the start and stop automatic but now experienced that this can even be dangerous. I parked the car in front of a small pond at a coffee shop. Motor stopped, I took my wallet, opened the door, one foot out, moving the other from the brake and car starts and creeps towards the pond! I don’t think that this only happens to Tesla drivers because colleagues driving cars which do not require a key being in a lock telling me that they also walked away with running engine. Can’t wait to get my car back later and after that experience I can’t understand why people buy this crappy ICE’s. I take the 35k Model 3 any time over this 50k Cadillac! And Cadillacs supposed to be the ‘cream of the American Car’!”
With that unofficial title in mind, “MikeJr74″ commented that ” if the saying is true ‘As goes GM, so goes the nation’, we are tee-totally screwed as a nation. I don’t know of a single car from a Kia, Hyundai, Fiat, etc that will not out perform the new flagship Cadillac XT5.”
That’s certainly a good point. Not that all US cars are crap, though — we can at least point to the Chevy Volt as a fairly well designed car….
I can’t drive a gasoline car any more. I don’t think I’m safe to do so, because I have so many assumptions now, including “if I take my foot off the accelerator, the car will slow down to 5 mph pretty quickly”.
When our concerns and dislikes regarding ICE cars gets irrational, we should start looking in the mirror more carefully. I get a small wave of disgust now, at traffic lights where you can always find some ugly, planet indifferent beast snorting away, while in Drive but with the brakes on. Cossacs!
I’m transferring inner feelings of anger toward a stranger for no good reason.
I worked at the plant XT5 is built. That thing shouldn’t be on the road. I drive a Leaf and luckily haven’t had to drive a gas car but did have to ride in one awhile back and became nauseated after the short trip. People need to understand that electric vehicles are not golf carts but smooth, quite rides without the nauseating smells emanating from the high operational temps in the engine compartment. Stop subsidizing oil and subsidize electric vehicles at least until they are comparably priced with ICE vehicles.