The style of German luxury cars is really a question of acquired taste. For many of us, plastic does just fine.
It was approximately the least luxurious sedan you could conceivably purchase, comparable to my old Jeep CJ5. All metal and plastic. Fabric seats. Manual windows, locks, transmission. I was shocked that it had a radio and AC.
But it felt like a vehicle that would last decades in that climate with a screwdriver and a wrench. It was simply and purely a car, in a way that was refreshing. I might buy a car like that, especially if they made a more rugged version with a cruise control.
The 0-star crash rating, lack of airbags, and lack of rear shoulder belts and rear headrests don't need to be emulated, though.
https://jalopnik.com/horrifying-crash-test-against-a-modern-...
I hope by that you meant they are using engines which run on overprocessed dinosaurs ?
Besides that, I guess techwise both the S Class and 7 series have more than anyone would want. For eg the S Class (or maybe the 7 or both) has had steering correction for crosswinds for a couple of years now ! Besides other things like night vision, automatic breaking etc etc
They are not self driving for sure but I believe many S Class or 7 series owners/leas holders don't drive themselves. They pay someone else to drive them around most of the times.
The 7 can detect and compensate for a flat tire during driving.
I think the parent post was confusing multimedia with technology.
And honestly the hardware for multimedia in Teslas is already outdated. Tesla is updating their platform at a much higher cadence than most cars, but they still haven't escaped the impedance mismatch between multimedia hardware which gets outdated in a year, and cars, which are outdated over much longer periods.
That's why to me a high quality BT or well placed wired input is all that matters
I see... that makes sense.
I have been in a Tesla (not as the driver though, it was a taxi !!!) and that screen garnered the same reaction from me as I reacted to the 12" iPad. The touch interface did seem to be well implemented.
From a pure interaction perspective I still find the new BMW iDrive interface with the physical command dial to be quite practical, especially in the left hand drive versions. The screens are not as enormous as Tesla but they are still serviceable.
I totally get the point with updated BT and wirings. I recently bought an very cheap BT 4.0 receiver to plug into the AUX socket and stream audio from my phone. There is a significant difference between the audio quality produced by BT streaming compared to playing CD in the head unit.
I wish such things were user serviceable.
Probably not that many of you actually. When given the choices between more "noble" materials versus plastic at close prices, the market always sides so heavily against plastic that the competing product dies unless it sells for a LOT cheaper than the one with noble materials.
For eg: iPhone 5c vs classic iPhone 5. You can't sell a plastic phone for the price of an iPhone. Plastic is synonymous with cheap and if it's not cheap then no one is buying it.
For the same reason Tesla cars make a lot of people cringe at the price tags asked.
On the one hand, it's cool that Tesla have made electric cars appealing to the high-end market, because that's the only market that can really afford them at the moment, which lets them bootstrap and iterate downmarket to achieve their stated goal of helping the world transition to carbon free power.
But I hope they don't get too caught up in high-end details like fancy leathers, because unlike the cost of the battery, those aren't on a steady downward trajectory, and therefore distract from making a mass market car.
M5: 4288 lbs, 550 bhp, 400 mm six-piston fixed-caliper compound disc brakes, custom Bavarian elastokinematic suspension honed on German race tracks for decades.
P85D: 4936 lbs, 557 bhp, 355 mm four-piston fixed-calliper regular disc brakes, standard suspension setup you find in a Ford Crown Victoria.
It's not a surprise that a heavier car with the same power and significantly worse brakes and suspension handles significantly worse.
But as you say, no-one is buying a Model S to go play on racetracks. Especially since we know it can't do a full lap of the Nürburgring Nordschliefe without overheating and reducing power output.
I've been a driver for twenty years and I have never felt like I cared about 'handling'. When car reviewers talk about it I always picture a 45 year old man-child white-knuckling the wheel at the local intersection while revving his 325i, eyes darting between soccer moms and pensioners in the cars around him and imagining himself to be Ayrton Senna. Though that is probably uncharitable :)
I have owned many different cars between a top-end BMW and a beater Hyundai. The BMW is certainly a more enjoyable ride, but 'handling' was never a concern, except perhaps in a very occasional circumstance that might have gotten me arrested.
This is true, and the U.S. road network evolved this way, with cars evolving to suit the 'freeway' or the little road to get to the 'freeway'.
In Europe we have an entirely different type of road network, ours does have fast motorways and dual carriageways where 'handling is not needed'. However, the bulk of the network is the older type of network where this handling thing does matter. In fact, we kind of chuckle with embarrassment at the sight of U.S. cars and their crude engineering. In a narrow country lane when the 325i meets the U.S. soccer-mom lard-mobile, you know that the guy in the 325i will be the one flicking into reverse and backing up to a passing point.
At worst, "handling" is the difference between a car that's fun to drive and one that bores me. At best, it's the difference between smashing into the truck that stops suddenly at highway speeds and making it onto the shoulder.
I drive a small family car and I know that with worse handling we'd all have been to the hospital at least twice.
If your experience with driving is sitting in traffic or driving around suburban streets, you're right, handling (mostly) doesn't matter.
[1] https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ca/e2/45/cae2...
But I admit I might feel differently if I had to navigate roads like that on a daily basis.
I’ve yet to see one up close in person. When you rag on the interior fit and finish, are you talking about things like the quality of plastics used, gaps between panels, tactile feel of buttons, and so on? In other words, I’m assuming your complaint isn’t purely an aesthetic one (“I don’t like how it looks”), but rather an objective criticism on materials and engineering.
Here’s a litmus test: How’s the stitching on door panels and seats?
People are happy paying now limousine-class prices for £20-30,000 range quality and comfort, just because of the novelty and image that a Tesla projects. But how much longer can they sell in the image without reinforcing the image with the styling, comfort and quality that is to be expected of a £60,000 car ?
I'd be curious to hear some more detailed thoughts about what you think stands out in this regard.
But the drive is amazing, so in the end, it's all worth it. Tesla should really concentrate on the interior because it nailed the drive itself.
i agree completely. i have mentioned this to people, but i get weird looks from people awed by tesla. i have sat in one and even rode along a friend's test ride. the door handle jiggles. when the door closes, it doesn't have that firm "i'm a car door, and i just closed" feel and sound. the leather isn't that great and the seat backs and trim is sort of tacky. there's a lot of plastic pieces that jiggle around.
my kia optima sxl is finished much, much better than any tesla i have sat in.
i have asked the question: can tesla really beat in just a few years some of these other car manufacturers who have been making cars and iterating on designs for decades in quality and robustness? i think the answer is that, no they haven't, but people are continually wooed by thinking tesla is the greatest car because it's electric and has a gigantic screen. (i for one feel like the screen is poorly designed with respect to how it's mounted. it looks like someone just tacked on a giant monitor to a dash.)
Setting aside the design aesthetic of the tesla, which is minimal and modern, the actual quality and finish of the tesla is stupefying. It's unbelievably bad. I sat in a mazda recently that was much better by every measure.