Drastic change for me

[tsedge]

Agreed, and it wont be anything like £20k either.

Judging by the latest earnings call where Musk described it as pretty basic and "utilitarian" and intended for emerging markets, the M2 won't be a desirable car here. I'm not looking for a bargain basement no frills hatch, but something that will compete properly with the Chinese.

 

[GaryMG4]

I admire what Tesla are doing, I think the cars are horrible. And too expensive.

I took one look at the MG4 and went "wow, I can have that within my price range?"

Much the same here, when I saw the MG4 it was the first affordable EV I liked the look of. I was unsure about the charging network but 4000 miles later I realise the public network gets little use from me all my normal driving is easily covered by home charging and with a little planning longer trips are a breeze. I like the idea that a Tesla can direct you to an available charger when on long trips, but realistically I don't need that. My pet hate is that hideous white interior on the M3.

 

[Rolfe]

I've never been inside a Tesla, I just think they look horrible from the outside. But I don't care about their charging network as it's pathetic around here anyway. Might be handy on a long trip but I hardly ever do that and Gridserve seems to meet my requirements anyway. I don't need my car to treat me like a two-year-old.

 

[Kithmo]

I've never been inside a Tesla, I just think they look horrible from the outside. But I don't care about their charging network as it's pathetic around here anyway. Might be handy on a long trip but I hardly ever do that and Gridserve seems to meet my requirements anyway. I don't need my car to treat me like a retarded two-year-old.

First time I saw one in the flesh I thought the same, they reminded me of the 1990s trainer shaped car trend, a bit too plain at the front.

 

[Rolfe]

It's the backside in particular I find off-putting.

 

[pd2]

I've looked at getting rid of mine also, but the depreciation is too much so kills the idea dead.

On another note, I have got the in-laws out of their 20 plate Toyota Aygo and into a 71 plate Mazda MX-30.
Beside the range being low on the Mazda its a nice thing to be in and drive, hopefully will collect it next week.

But on the lead up to this change last week, I took them into the Arnold Clark Innovation Centre in Glasgow to test drive a few EV's. That led me to having and hours drive in each of the New Smart Brabus and a Tesla M3 extended range duel motor.

The Smart is ridiculously fast of the line, can only imaging what the Xpower feels like, but I felt it quite crashy on bumpy roads. That and the wife didn't like it.
The Model 3 though, plenty of power, very smooth and comfortable (reminded me of driving my XFR i had minus the noise). And the wife liked it.

Another 3 years lol, then I think ill go the Tesla route or see what's new then.

 

[PristDean]

Spot the difference...

 

[Kithmo]

Spot the difference...

View attachment 20994View attachment 20995

Nope, can't see it, give us a clue

 

[Rolfe]

Maybe the bar of soap needs to be the other way up to give the full effect?

 

[Stuart Wright]

I've never been inside a Tesla, I just think they look horrible from the outside. But I don't care about their charging network as it's pathetic around here anyway. Might be handy on a long trip but I hardly ever do that and Gridserve seems to meet my requirements anyway. I don't need my car to treat me like a two-year-old.

Teslas, broadly speaking, look bland IMO and that’s because they design them to have the lowest possible coefficient of drag. Within specific use cases (number of passengers, cargo space etc.) there will be an optimal design and cars will evolve towards it.
My red Model S, I think looks lovely.

I bought mine for the Supercharger network after 4 and a half years of public charging anxiety with my Ioniq. I do long journeys every few weeks, so I appreciate the completely stress free experience. I let the car choose when and where to charge because it knows when and where is optimal.
I don’t know if it is that aspect which seems to you like treating owners as two year olds.
I broadly disagree that systems which make the driving experience easier are coddling the driver.
Automatically preconditioning the battery on the way to a charger?
Telling you (via your phone) when one of the windows is slightly open?
Allowing you to set the speed limit plus or minus your chosen percentage as the default for cruise control?
These all empower the driver IMO.
And since Teslas all have 200+ miles real world range, you don’t need Superchargers every few miles. I use them because they are so much cheaper than Gridserve. But I can always use the rest of the public chargers as well if I choose to.
Teslas are far from perfect, but given £43k and the choice between any car or a Tesla, I’d get the Tesla.

Having said that, IMO, for the money, the MG4 remains the best EV available in the UK. It’s a shame that SAIC haven’t rapidly addressed the issues with the MG4 so that there is less reason to reject it. No car will ever be perfect and something about every car I’ve owned has been annoying. Tesla’s autopilot is dangerous and its auto dimming headlights are outclassed by my wife’s Fiesta’s, for example.

She’s looking around for an EV. You can pick up a two year old Kona with less than 20k miles and around 260m range for less than £20k. There are some good used deals to be had.

I think the MG4 looks way better than the Kona, though. Especially in orange. But the few used ones available are all out of her price range.

 

[Rolfe]

Funnily enough, I went for a stroll this afternoon and passed a Tesla parked just up the road. Looking at it from the front, rather than rear-on as I usually see them (following them in traffic) I thought, you know, that doesn't look so bad at all. And yes, it's nice in red. I only seem to see them in white.

I think I was probably too grumpy about the Tesla. From what I've heard, the interior layout isn't what I'd choose, but the consensus certainly agrees that the software is superb.