Newbie Cyberster Owner - Initial Experience and Questions

[TeslaDriver]

Took the plunge and am now a happy Cyberster owner. I have some questions. Maybe my experience will be helpful to others. Please correct anything I have got wrong here, this is from memory and from my very first drive ...

I watched a YouTube yesterday. It was very thorough, which was helpful (in the sense of "I now know that feature/option exists" rather than remembering where they all are!). I sat in the dealer's car park "configuring" for quite a while, Google and ChatGPT in hand ... didn't solve much, so drove home and planner to get the CONFIG done later.

Seat Memory

Move the seat. Press and hold M button for 3 seconds, then press either 1 or 2 to remember settings. There is a helpful confirmation DING (might be a message on screen too)

When getting into car press your number (1 or 2) and if make adjustments then remember to "M" them again.

I chose 2 so that someone more important can have 1

I then set about creating a profile for me. I had the APP downloaded. On right screen I clicked "Person" icon, then from APP I was able to scan the displayed QR code to link the car. (I tried to put my phone between steering wheel and QR code, but it was too close, and actually holding phone my side of steering wheel was fine).

Then on next APP screen it wanted another QR code (for my profile I think). The car right screen displayed two QR codes side by side ... I assumed APP would sort that out, but it failed several times, so I put a finger over left QR code so phone only approved right QR code. That worked.

I then thought "I'll change my name on the profile", I failed on that, and I gave up (and drove home instead)

CGPT said that there is a "start button" on central console and press-and-hold to change from "Driving mode" to "Config mode" and then the config of Profile would be in the middle screen. There isn't a START button, and after a bit of Google I gave up on that and drove home.

CGPT was of the opinion that the synchronisation of Profile, Seat Memory and associating that with a Key, is not well sorted. Q: What's the best way to have HIS/HERS profiles and to choose "my" profile whenever I get in the driver seat?

CGPT said that with a profile chosen any changes (music etc.) are automatically saved, thus important to choose a profile as soon as getting into the car otherwise I will be altering my partner's profile. Maybe I should have a GUEST profile too (for friends / valet / garage to use)

Whilst driving my phone rang ... I couldn't answer it as not configured hands free - that might be worth doing before setting off

After setting-off the things I investigated (might have been handy to do a dress-rehearsal before setting off!!) included:

What the steering wheel buttons do. I had a bit of an idea. but:

Right scroll wheel and arrow keys - up/down is speaker volume. If radio is on (toggle with the round button) changes radio volume, with radio off it changes satnav volume (I had radio-off and satnav-on at that point, in case that makes a difference)

With radio-on the left/right arrows change station. It toggled through a myriad of stations - Q: if I set radio favourites will it only toggle through those?

I wanted to see the state-of-charge. Its on the main screen, bottom left, but I didn't spot that (eyesight deteriorating with age ...). The right screen was still on Person/Profile. There are 3 buttons on steering wheel, one for each screen, and they loop round the various functions (including the ones that are of no use at all whilst driving, but the behaviour is predictable). That got me to the "Consumption graph" on the right screen ... but that wasn't helpful for "State of charge". I then realised that there was a menu across the top of that screen with 3 options, the middle one is "Charging", clicking that gave me a charge-state-bar and a percentage, nice large numbers too! then using the screen-select button and looping round the various modes on the right screen my choice on the "charging" mode was sticky/persistent. So just need the right one selected, and the loop round the various modes.

Hill-Hold : top-left of the speedo is an "(A)" symbol. Its always there, but grey / green. When green "hold" is set. That seems to se when you come to a stop (eg on regen) or by pressing the brake (when stationary / to come toa stop). It releases when you drive away. I am more used to "Nothing/Something" rather than the subtle colour change.

One pedal driving: I had that set (via the central console; I'm used to that as a Tesla Driver). It shows to the left of speedo as "S" (Single pedal). It seems with that set the flappy-paddle won't change to other regen modes (fine by me, I like one-pedal driving)

I don't think the full-regen is quite as sharp as Tesla, but it works well, brought me to a complete stop (older Tesla I had needed the brake pressing under 2 or 3 MPH)

I set COMFORT mode. Acceleration is not stellar, but the "Red button" is awesome. I really like that - basically in "comfort mode" it was RED button to overtake, or to jump onto a roundabout, or exit smartly from one. Much prefer that to Tesla. I run Sport mode in Tesla, but that's the whole time, sport-suspension/ride, sport-steering/biceps!, etc. I would be happy with Tesla CHILL mode at times, but the absence of kick-down, in CHILL mode, means I would never use it in practice. No way to easily get momentary "boost".

Too much traffic getting from A-to-B this Saturday morning for me to stop on a decent A-Road and try out the launch. That experience is to come.

Came home, closed the door. Went into house ... came out to check a few minutes later, radio still on, car not locked. Used key, but had expected "It will lock itself when key is out of range"

Plugged it in, it started charging . Q: What's a sensible daily limit? (With best battery health in mind)

Went into the APP. Experimented with "Unlock" ... and then,. a bit later on, found it had locked itself - by itself - on that occasion.

APP showed the car charging .. .went into the CHARGING screen - it showed the car not charging .. went from there into the SCHEDULED CHARGING screen ... it timed out. Tried it a few times. Couldn't get out of that screen until it timed out each time. Q: Any ideas on that please? Would it help if car was configured to my WiFi (when at home)? Is that possible?

Q: If I choose scheduled charging is that "geographic, for THAT location"? If not what happens when I stop for A/C eg at work / away from home, will I have to remember to choose CHARGE NOW?

 

[TeslaDriver]

Just discovered that the menu options at the top of a screen - which shows, say, 3 options - can be dragged sideways which then reveals more options. That's probably why I wasn't finding the PROFILE settings

 

[leomindel]

Good luck with your new car, most of your questions have been answered here in the forum. A quick search and you will find the answers and even more.

To your questions:

Q: What's the best way to have HIS/HERS profiles and to choose "my" profile whenever I get in the driver seat?
Not seen a way to do that - note the seat presets only work when the car is in P not when driving.

Q: if I set radio favourites will it only toggle through those?
Yes "fill the heart" sign when on a radio station

One pedal driving: can only be set on the central console but it is one a few settings that stays.

Phone, the car has carplay or android auto, plug in with the left USB (the old style one), I would not bluetooth I find it messes things up.

Q: Any ideas on that please? Would it help if car was configured to my WiFi (when at home)? Is that possible?
Yes on the right screen.

Q: What's a sensible daily limit? (With best battery health in mind)
I normally leave mine at 90% and go to 100% before long drives as well as letting it ballance the battery but each to their own.

FYI there is no lock when you walk away but the car does lock after a min or so if unlocked and then not opened.

 

[TeslaDriver]

the car does lock after a min or so if unlocked and then not opened.

Car is sat on my drive, I’ve just gone out and unlocked, opened drivers door, closed the door (as if I had gone to fetch something, and it hasn’t locked a good 15 minutes later. I’ll get in the habit of locking it manually.

I unlocked the car from APP yesterday (an experiment) and found it was re-locked a few minutes later

Tesla locks automatically … but my phone has to get out of range so you can never quite be sure, so my partner always manually locks it to be sure …

1st world problem!

Tried setting up a second profile (different phone, install APP, scan QR code, verify … then attempt to scan 2nd QR code and it said “already done, contact previous owner” … I presume that is my profile from yesterday

Her phone APP is showing “bind to vehicle” so I reckon I’m either doing something wrong or I need to set up her phone APP with my email address / password (which will be fine, especially if “multiple preferences profiles” is not possible)

Q: can I disable creep in reverse? I am using OPD so no creep forwards but, for me, it’s disconcerting that when I engage R the car sets off immediately espy if I’m in a tight space

Also seems like I cannot toggle D/R unless car stationary and foot on brake - which will make 3-point-turn a bit tedious. Not a problem per se of course

 

[TeslaDriver]

or I need to set up her phone APP with my email address / password

Solved this. Found that I can do INVITE from the APP on my phone, and then, after she "accepts the email invite", the APP on her phone then links to the car.

Still can't get into scheduled car charging (on both of our phone APPs). Car is on WiFi, so connectivity is probably as good as it will get.

 

[TeslaDriver]

APP showed the car charging .. .went into the CHARGING screen - it showed the car not charging .. went from there into the SCHEDULED CHARGING screen ... it timed out. Tried it a few times. Couldn't get out of that screen until it timed out each time. Q: Any ideas on that please? Would it help if car was configured to my WiFi (when at home)? Is that possible?

Solved this, in a roundabout way. Couldn't get Scheduled Charging to work from phone APP (it timed out repeatedly)

Found where to set that on dashboard, and after doing that it is now available in APP as well (cause not necessarily equal to effect!)

In setting up phone Bluetooth there were multiple phones in the history. Either dealer didn't do "factory reset" (haven't seen anything elsewhere eg radio & SatNav favourites were empty), or perhaps Factory Reset doesn't throw away phone Bluetooth history ... or maybe "That's normal" for Bluetooth anyway.

Also discovered (Newbie issue only!) that boot can be opened, or click on door's open-button, without unlocking car (ie with car key buried in handbag )

Loving the car (nothing unexpected there ...), no idea why there are a fair few, low mileage, young-ones, for sale on AutoTrader ... my partner took it to see a friend on Sunday; she needed some persuading, first-time and all that, and came home with a huge smile. Apparently she arrived at destination, parked next to an MG SUV; elderly couple, car was new to them, absolutely ecstatic with their purchase and thrilled to see an MG EV sports car (that they didn't know existed).

Happy days

 

[Cool Grandad]

Took the plunge and am now a happy Cyberster owner. I have some questions. Maybe my experience will be helpful to others. Please correct anything I have got wrong here, this is from memory and from my very first drive ...

I watched a YouTube yesterday. It was very thorough, which was helpful (in the sense of "I now know that feature/option exists" rather than remembering where they all are!). I sat in the dealer's car park "configuring" for quite a while, Google and ChatGPT in hand ... didn't solve much, so drove home and planner to get the CONFIG done later.

Seat Memory

Move the seat. Press and hold M button for 3 seconds, then press either 1 or 2 to remember settings. There is a helpful confirmation DING (might be a message on screen too)

When getting into car press your number (1 or 2) and if make adjustments then remember to "M" them again.

I chose 2 so that someone more important can have 1

I then set about creating a profile for me. I had the APP downloaded. On right screen I clicked "Person" icon, then from APP I was able to scan the displayed QR code to link the car. (I tried to put my phone between steering wheel and QR code, but it was too close, and actually holding phone my side of steering wheel was fine).

Then on next APP screen it wanted another QR code (for my profile I think). The car right screen displayed two QR codes side by side ... I assumed APP would sort that out, but it failed several times, so I put a finger over left QR code so phone only approved right QR code. That worked.

I then thought "I'll change my name on the profile", I failed on that, and I gave up (and drove home instead)

CGPT said that there is a "start button" on central console and press-and-hold to change from "Driving mode" to "Config mode" and then the config of Profile would be in the middle screen. There isn't a START button, and after a bit of Google I gave up on that and drove home.

CGPT was of the opinion that the synchronisation of Profile, Seat Memory and associating that with a Key, is not well sorted. Q: What's the best way to have HIS/HERS profiles and to choose "my" profile whenever I get in the driver seat?

CGPT said that with a profile chosen any changes (music etc.) are automatically saved, thus important to choose a profile as soon as getting into the car otherwise I will be altering my partner's profile. Maybe I should have a GUEST profile too (for friends / valet / garage to use)

Whilst driving my phone rang ... I couldn't answer it as not configured hands free - that might be worth doing before setting off

After setting-off the things I investigated (might have been handy to do a dress-rehearsal before setting off!!) included:

What the steering wheel buttons do. I had a bit of an idea. but:

Right scroll wheel and arrow keys - up/down is speaker volume. If radio is on (toggle with the round button) changes radio volume, with radio off it changes satnav volume (I had radio-off and satnav-on at that point, in case that makes a difference)

With radio-on the left/right arrows change station. It toggled through a myriad of stations - Q: if I set radio favourites will it only toggle through those?

I wanted to see the state-of-charge. Its on the main screen, bottom left, but I didn't spot that (eyesight deteriorating with age ...). The right screen was still on Person/Profile. There are 3 buttons on steering wheel, one for each screen, and they loop round the various functions (including the ones that are of no use at all whilst driving, but the behaviour is predictable). That got me to the "Consumption graph" on the right screen ... but that wasn't helpful for "State of charge". I then realised that there was a menu across the top of that screen with 3 options, the middle one is "Charging", clicking that gave me a charge-state-bar and a percentage, nice large numbers too! then using the screen-select button and looping round the various modes on the right screen my choice on the "charging" mode was sticky/persistent. So just need the right one selected, and the loop round the various modes.

Hill-Hold : top-left of the speedo is an "(A)" symbol. Its always there, but grey / green. When green "hold" is set. That seems to se when you come to a stop (eg on regen) or by pressing the brake (when stationary / to come toa stop). It releases when you drive away. I am more used to "Nothing/Something" rather than the subtle colour change.

One pedal driving: I had that set (via the central console; I'm used to that as a Tesla Driver). It shows to the left of speedo as "S" (Single pedal). It seems with that set the flappy-paddle won't change to other regen modes (fine by me, I like one-pedal driving)

I don't think the full-regen is quite as sharp as Tesla, but it works well, brought me to a complete stop (older Tesla I had needed the brake pressing under 2 or 3 MPH)

I set COMFORT mode. Acceleration is not stellar, but the "Red button" is awesome. I really like that - basically in "comfort mode" it was RED button to overtake, or to jump onto a roundabout, or exit smartly from one. Much prefer that to Tesla. I run Sport mode in Tesla, but that's the whole time, sport-suspension/ride, sport-steering/biceps!, etc. I would be happy with Tesla CHILL mode at times, but the absence of kick-down, in CHILL mode, means I would never use it in practice. No way to easily get momentary "boost".

Too much traffic getting from A-to-B this Saturday morning for me to stop on a decent A-Road and try out the launch. That experience is to come.

Came home, closed the door. Went into house ... came out to check a few minutes later, radio still on, car not locked. Used key, but had expected "It will lock itself when key is out of range"

Plugged it in, it started charging . Q: What's a sensible daily limit? (With best battery health in mind)

Went into the APP. Experimented with "Unlock" ... and then,. a bit later on, found it had locked itself - by itself - on that occasion.

APP showed the car charging .. .went into the CHARGING screen - it showed the car not charging .. went from there into the SCHEDULED CHARGING screen ... it timed out. Tried it a few times. Couldn't get out of that screen until it timed out each time. Q: Any ideas on that please? Would it help if car was configured to my WiFi (when at home)? Is that possible?

Q: If I choose scheduled charging is that "geographic, for THAT location"? If not what happens when I stop for A/C eg at work / away from home, will I have to remember to choose CHARGE NOW?

View attachment 44519 View attachment 44517View attachment 44518

Hi had my Cyberster for a year now. I don’t think we have been out in it over this period and someone has not commented how fantastic looking car it is and quite often not knowing what make of car it is. I am over the moon with it but not happy with Hendys dealership Exeter for their back up service.
Regards charging I assume most owners are on an EV tariff? I’m on the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff. 7p per KW at off peak times which is guaranteed from 23.30-05.30 and very often when scheduled through the octopus App for several hours per day. I’ve found this to work really well for me. My only issue is not the amount of charging stations available but the cost to charge my car typically 75-90 p per KW. If I drive to achieve 3.5 miles to the KW that equates to 35 miles costing £7.50-£9.00!! -very expensive!! Needless to say I plan my journeys carefully!

 

[Shelmec]

Glad you're enjoying it! I'm also a Cyberster owner in Suffolk - maybe we'll see each other out and about....

The phone app, for me, is the weakest part of the offering. Can be hard to get it to see the car even when it should and won't have timed out for inactivity. For example, got home this morning after a long drive. Got out of the car and was about to plug in and thought "I don't need 100%, I'll use the phone to set the limit to 90%" but no joy. Ended up opening the door and setting through the screens.

I normally charge to 80%, and use 90% or 100% when I know I have a longer journey coming up - I chose 90% for tomorrow as 80% is not quite enough.

I always use the key to lock the car as a habit. It will lock itself if unlocked without a door being opened (for example unlocking to open the charge flap) but if it's been used it won't lock when key is out of range.

You've used comfort and super-sport. Try custom for the perfect mix, although (maybe just me) I can't get it to use Adaptive cruise control in comfort, so I tend to use right paddle to switch between comfort and sport. I reserve the "red button" for special occasions.

Not tried launch on mine yet (14 month in) as it needs the right temperature, road conditions, battery charge, central console setup, etc to get the complete experience. Sport/super-sport is normally plenty....

One hidden easter egg (which is mentioned in the forums) - if you find the recline is not going back far enough, you can hold the seat adjustments - will do a little more after around 5-10 seconds. Can't get it any lower as the battery is in the way.

Glad you're enjoying it, and we're coming into the right time of year for the car as well

 

[inksane]

Hi had my Cyberster for a year now. I don’t think we have been out in it over this period and someone has not commented how fantastic looking car it is and quite often not knowing what make of car it is. I am over the moon with it but not happy with Hendys dealership Exeter for their back up service.
Regards charging I assume most owners are on an EV tariff? I’m on the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff. 7p per KW at off peak times which is guaranteed from 23.30-05.30 and very often when scheduled through the octopus App for several hours per day. I’ve found this to work really well for me. My only issue is not the amount of charging stations available but the cost to charge my car typically 75-90 p per KW. If I drive to achieve 3.5 miles to the KW that equates to 35 miles costing £7.50-£9.00!! -very expensive!! Needless to say I plan my journeys carefully!

These charging station prices are insane! Is it just you area or is it common in the UK? Here in Spain they can be found much cheaper although many requiere a subscription which just pays for itself after about a 75% charge depending on the network.

For example, Endesa/Enel with a 14euro/month you can supercharge for .22euro/kW. Tesla SCs (12euro/month subscription) are about 0.40e/kW and even cheaper at night. Electra (also subscription) are about 0.29e/kW. Some other networks can get more expensive but I've never seen >0.70e/kW.

Home charging seems to be the same story as over there, 0.7e - 0.10e/kW off peak.

 

[Johnnymag]

Hi had my Cyberster for a year now. I don’t think we have been out in it over this period and someone has not commented how fantastic looking car it is and quite often not knowing what make of car it is. I am over the moon with it but not happy with Hendys dealership Exeter for their back up service.
Regards charging I assume most owners are on an EV tariff? I’m on the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff. 7p per KW at off peak times which is guaranteed from 23.30-05.30 and very often when scheduled through the octopus App for several hours per day. I’ve found this to work really well for me. My only issue is not the amount of charging stations available but the cost to charge my car typically 75-90 p per KW. If I drive to achieve 3.5 miles to the KW that equates to 35 miles costing £7.50-£9.00!! -very expensive!! Needless to say I plan my journeys carefully!

Hi, I too have had mine from Hendy in Exeter and agree they are hopeless - I now take mine to Newton Abbot (who had never seen one in the flesh until I turned up but they managed to service and upgrade to OS 34). Hendy has now lost the franchise.....

 

[Johnnymag]

Sorry if this is a repeat question but does anyone know if there's a list of what changes/improvements OS 34 has made? I literally haven't noticed anything - was hoping changes made to driving settings and ICE settings would be remembered - would it be too much to ask that it remembered I listen to the radio rather than use the Satnav (which I don't use at all!) or that I always set regen to 3?

 

[CybersterWatcher]

Weirdly, I had the opposite experience to you yesterday.

I went out as a passenger in a Tesla Model 3 performance, on a 200 mile run.

Despite doing 80MPH most of the journey (and a lot faster at points), with full heating and the car in sport mode all of the way the car still did 3.5m/KW and ended back with 10% battery.

The Cyberster on the other hand would be lucky to do 2.1m/KW and would have needed charging.

Just goes to show how inefficient it is, I was very impressed with the Tesla

 

[Cool Grandad]

Glad you're enjoying it! I'm also a Cyberster owner in Suffolk - maybe we'll see each other out and about....

The phone app, for me, is the weakest part of the offering. Can be hard to get it to see the car even when it should and won't have timed out for inactivity. For example, got home this morning after a long drive. Got out of the car and was about to plug in and thought "I don't need 100%, I'll use the phone to set the limit to 90%" but no joy. Ended up opening the door and setting through the screens.

I normally charge to 80%, and use 90% or 100% when I know I have a longer journey coming up - I chose 90% for tomorrow as 80% is not quite enough.

I always use the key to lock the car as a habit. It will lock itself if unlocked without a door being opened (for example unlocking to open the charge flap) but if it's been used it won't lock when key is out of range.

You've used comfort and super-sport. Try custom for the perfect mix, although (maybe just me) I can't get it to use Adaptive cruise control in comfort, so I tend to use right paddle to switch between comfort and sport. I reserve the "red button" for special occasions.

Not tried launch on mine yet (14 month in) as it needs the right temperature, road conditions, battery charge, central console setup, etc to get the complete experience. Sport/super-sport is normally plenty....

One hidden easter egg (which is mentioned in the forums) - if you find the recline is not going back far enough, you can hold the seat adjustments - will do a little more after around 5-10 seconds. Can't get it any lower as the battery is in the way.

Glad you're enjoying it, and we're coming into the right time of year for the car as well

The only thing Iwill say like you I charge mine to 80% and 100% for longer journey but if I don’t set the charger (which is a Zappi) the phone App and the charger settings to the same % then I sometimes don’t get what I want.

 

[GranTurismoEra]

Autolock can go in suggestions for potential R35 update. Or over the air

 

[GranTurismoEra]

Weirdly, I had the opposite experience to you yesterday.

I went out as a passenger in a Tesla Model 3 performance, on a 200 mile run.

Despite doing 80MPH most of the journey (and a lot faster at points), with full heating and the car in sport mode all of the way the car still did 3.5m/KW and ended back with 10% battery.

The Cyberster on the other hand would be lucky to do 2.1m/KW and would have needed charging.

Just goes to show how inefficient it is, I was very impressed with the Tesla

Weight difference of 200+ kg and older less effecient tech. Maybe gen 2 will improve on these

 

[Cool Grandad]

Hi, I too have had mine from Hendy in Exeter and agree they are hopeless - I now take mine to Newton Abbot (who had never seen one in the flesh until I turned up but they managed to service and upgrade to OS 34). Hendy has now lost the franchise.....

Excuse my ignorance and hopeless with technology due to my age !what is OS 34. I have a Cyberster Is this upgrade something that has to be done at a dealership?

 

[Chongma]

I’m on the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff. 7p per KW at off peak times which is guaranteed from 23.30-05.30

Wait till Wednesday, and it's going to 3.5p per KWh! Only issue now is that it's so tempting to buy an EV that can seat more than 2 people...

 

[TeslaDriver]

I don’t think we have been out in it over this period and someone has not commented how fantastic looking car it is and quite often not knowing what make of car it is

Happy days indeed. I think MG have been very clever in what they have produced, at this moment in EV-olution <sorry-about-that-one!>

My only issue is ... the cost to charge my car typically 75-90 p per KW

I'm relaxed about that. I am able to charge at home, which accounts for well North of 80% of my charging, at a fraction of petrol per-mile cost, and when I charge at exorbitant longer-route fast chargers it then works out at a bit over 20p a mile - which is what I would be paying for petrol in a thirsty ICE anyway, so for 20% of my mileage, paying exotic-car-equivalent fuel cost is covered by my "man maths"

If you aren't using Tesla Supercharger do consider it - they are routinely the cheapest. Some of their older, slower, sites are reserved for Tesla only, but the newer, bigger, faster ones are all (predominantly??) open-to-all. The APP will tell you which (and you need the APP for payment on all bar the newest which have card-swipe) (Google says Tesla average is 60p; that is the non-member rate (assuming you won't be using it often enough to pay a monthly fee for a discount), although price is time-"surge"-sensitive).

Not tried launch on mine yet (14 month in) as it needs the right temperature, road conditions, battery charge, central console setup, etc to get the complete experience. Sport/super-sport is normally plenty....

I had performance Model-S back in 2015. Foot on brake, fully depress-and-release accelerator, fully depress accelerator again (foot STILL on brake), that's the "set" method, car hunkers down, wait a few seconds until the dash says "I'm ready mate" ... release brake.

I did it a couple of times ... I have no idea how much faster it was ... but I thought it was a bit of a palaver (eg "at the lights") so when showing off to mates I would just stamp the accelerator, that seemed plenty quick enough to me - fairground-rollercoaster sort of body-sensor-upheaval. I haven't tried "From standing start" yet, but at test drive, and driving it home from dealer, passing a car on an A-Road using Red Button was very impressive in terms of picking up speed.

That reminds me, coming out of a 40MPH zone near here, after a couple of hundred yards there is a gap in the hedge, and I have a note of terminal speed at the hedge-gap in various Tesla's that I have driven. I'll give that test a go.

Glad you're enjoying it, and we're coming into the right time of year for the car as well

I'm still baffled why there are 30+ on AutoTrader, 5,000 miles or less, a year and a bit old, £20K discount ... I'm happy on that point though.

I went out as a passenger in a Tesla Model 3 performance, on a 200 mile run ... I was very impressed with the Tesla

I'm not sure many people are aware of this, so in case not:

You can test drive a Tesla. It goes like this:

Book online.
Download Phone APP.
Rock up at location (the one I went on was a farm yard, concrete pad, with a couple of rather dismal small barns converted into eg Poodle Parlour. Two Tesla's were plugged in. No humans in sight, definitely not a recognised Tesla venue, presumably they are dotted all around the country.)

Approach the car with the APP open. It unlocks. Screen explains how to adjust seat, mirrors, etc. and a bit of other info. Then off you go. Return an hour later. Plug it back in. No salesperson trying to flog you anything.

You'll probably get a call from a Tesla Person subsequently, but they aren't on commission, and if you actually want to buy one they won't be able to help you, you'll have to do that online ...

... its a free hour's entertainment ... DO IT !!

If you can book 2 x one-hour sessions, back-to-back (with a partner/mate), that might be wise ... a newbie might spend 59 minutes familiarising themselves with the cockpit!!

If not familiar with them I suggest:

If you want to have fun driving : test the Model-3
If you actually want to buy one and need a hatchback : try the Model-Y, but its not the same drivers experience IMO (I don't suppose Tesla will care if you test both ...)

If you want to try the performance models then I reckon you'll need to actually visit somewhere with a human!

I don't know if it is regional, but here's the (UK) invite that I got:

Book your drive: tesla.com/en_GB/drive

My MG test drive was an hours one-to-one chat, driving licence checking, forms to sign, explanation of insurance excess, walk round for (lack of) damage inspection ... and then about a 10 minute drive.

... I know its MG's 100th anniversary, but very little has changed (with all legacy-automotive brands)

 

[TeslaDriver]

Weight difference of 200+ kg and older less effecient tech. Maybe gen 2 will improve on these

Tesla has been in the game a while ... the way they have improved scavenging heat / cool-th and redistributing it is impressive, and they have been aggressive on CD improvements. 2015 model I had was borderline to get 3 miles/kWh, now 4 miles is readily achievable and 5 miles/kWh if you try.

I think the UK EV Database is useful for comparisons of real-world-range and charging-speed etc. (rather than WLTP/whatever)

https://ev-database.org/uk/

 

[Old No1]

Took the plunge and am now a happy Cyberster owner. I have some questions. Maybe my experience will be helpful to others. Please correct anything I have got wrong here, this is from memory and from my very first drive ...

I watched a YouTube yesterday. It was very thorough, which was helpful (in the sense of "I now know that feature/option exists" rather than remembering where they all are!). I sat in the dealer's car park "configuring" for quite a while, Google and ChatGPT in hand ... didn't solve much, so drove home and planner to get the CONFIG done later.

Seat Memory

Move the seat. Press and hold M button for 3 seconds, then press either 1 or 2 to remember settings. There is a helpful confirmation DING (might be a message on screen too)

When getting into car press your number (1 or 2) and if make adjustments then remember to "M" them again.

I chose 2 so that someone more important can have 1

I then set about creating a profile for me. I had the APP downloaded. On right screen I clicked "Person" icon, then from APP I was able to scan the displayed QR code to link the car. (I tried to put my phone between steering wheel and QR code, but it was too close, and actually holding phone my side of steering wheel was fine).

Then on next APP screen it wanted another QR code (for my profile I think). The car right screen displayed two QR codes side by side ... I assumed APP would sort that out, but it failed several times, so I put a finger over left QR code so phone only approved right QR code. That worked.

I then thought "I'll change my name on the profile", I failed on that, and I gave up (and drove home instead)

CGPT said that there is a "start button" on central console and press-and-hold to change from "Driving mode" to "Config mode" and then the config of Profile would be in the middle screen. There isn't a START button, and after a bit of Google I gave up on that and drove home.

CGPT was of the opinion that the synchronisation of Profile, Seat Memory and associating that with a Key, is not well sorted. Q: What's the best way to have HIS/HERS profiles and to choose "my" profile whenever I get in the driver seat?

CGPT said that with a profile chosen any changes (music etc.) are automatically saved, thus important to choose a profile as soon as getting into the car otherwise I will be altering my partner's profile. Maybe I should have a GUEST profile too (for friends / valet / garage to use)

Whilst driving my phone rang ... I couldn't answer it as not configured hands free - that might be worth doing before setting off

After setting-off the things I investigated (might have been handy to do a dress-rehearsal before setting off!!) included:

What the steering wheel buttons do. I had a bit of an idea. but:

Right scroll wheel and arrow keys - up/down is speaker volume. If radio is on (toggle with the round button) changes radio volume, with radio off it changes satnav volume (I had radio-off and satnav-on at that point, in case that makes a difference)

With radio-on the left/right arrows change station. It toggled through a myriad of stations - Q: if I set radio favourites will it only toggle through those?

I wanted to see the state-of-charge. Its on the main screen, bottom left, but I didn't spot that (eyesight deteriorating with age ...). The right screen was still on Person/Profile. There are 3 buttons on steering wheel, one for each screen, and they loop round the various functions (including the ones that are of no use at all whilst driving, but the behaviour is predictable). That got me to the "Consumption graph" on the right screen ... but that wasn't helpful for "State of charge". I then realised that there was a menu across the top of that screen with 3 options, the middle one is "Charging", clicking that gave me a charge-state-bar and a percentage, nice large numbers too! then using the screen-select button and looping round the various modes on the right screen my choice on the "charging" mode was sticky/persistent. So just need the right one selected, and the loop round the various modes.

Hill-Hold : top-left of the speedo is an "(A)" symbol. Its always there, but grey / green. When green "hold" is set. That seems to se when you come to a stop (eg on regen) or by pressing the brake (when stationary / to come toa stop). It releases when you drive away. I am more used to "Nothing/Something" rather than the subtle colour change.

One pedal driving: I had that set (via the central console; I'm used to that as a Tesla Driver). It shows to the left of speedo as "S" (Single pedal). It seems with that set the flappy-paddle won't change to other regen modes (fine by me, I like one-pedal driving)

I don't think the full-regen is quite as sharp as Tesla, but it works well, brought me to a complete stop (older Tesla I had needed the brake pressing under 2 or 3 MPH)

I set COMFORT mode. Acceleration is not stellar, but the "Red button" is awesome. I really like that - basically in "comfort mode" it was RED button to overtake, or to jump onto a roundabout, or exit smartly from one. Much prefer that to Tesla. I run Sport mode in Tesla, but that's the whole time, sport-suspension/ride, sport-steering/biceps!, etc. I would be happy with Tesla CHILL mode at times, but the absence of kick-down, in CHILL mode, means I would never use it in practice. No way to easily get momentary "boost".

Too much traffic getting from A-to-B this Saturday morning for me to stop on a decent A-Road and try out the launch. That experience is to come.

Came home, closed the door. Went into house ... came out to check a few minutes later, radio still on, car not locked. Used key, but had expected "It will lock itself when key is out of range"

Plugged it in, it started charging . Q: What's a sensible daily limit? (With best battery health in mind)

Went into the APP. Experimented with "Unlock" ... and then,. a bit later on, found it had locked itself - by itself - on that occasion.

APP showed the car charging .. .went into the CHARGING screen - it showed the car not charging .. went from there into the SCHEDULED CHARGING screen ... it timed out. Tried it a few times. Couldn't get out of that screen until it timed out each time. Q: Any ideas on that please? Would it help if car was configured to my WiFi (when at home)? Is that possible?

Q: If I choose scheduled charging is that "geographic, for THAT location"? If not what happens when I stop for A/C eg at work / away from home, will I have to remember to choose CHARGE NOW?

View attachment 44519 View attachment 44517View attachment 44518

But what is it like to drive e.g. acceleration, steering feel, oversteer/understeer etc ...or perhaps that is no longer relevant!?