Back in April, Millennium Falcon, my VW ID.4, was in a mishap that resulted in some repairable damage to the rear quarter panel, rear hatch, and crushable bits under the car. Damage stopped short of the battery charger and other expensive bits.
As I write in late September, Millennium Falcon is in pieces at the VW repair activity awaiting replacement contactor/disconnect assemblies so it could be reassembled and shipped to the collision repair activity for to do the mechanical repairs. The battery box is out of the car. The doors are tagged out as, without the battery in place, you’ll fall out the bottom of the car. So no work can be done. They can’t even update the console firmware.
Without the contactor/disconnects, the drive doesn’t work. These devices use pyrotechnic fuses to disconnect the battery from the battery module connectors. Without them, the car can’t go. These are fairly sensitive shock activated devices. When working as designed, they become unusable and must be replace. Without contactors, an ID is not a vehicle, it is sculpture!
In mid-September I learned that the contactor/disconnect assemblies were on global backorder in the VW parts logistics system. That it has been several months suggests that they might be on galactic backorder! VW had no date for availability.
I called VW Customer Care and made the observation that Chattanooga and Mosel among other VW assembly activities were putting ID.4 and other vehicles together that needed these same HV contactor/disconnects.
Oh, and can’t you just nick a couple off the line? In reality, other factories make the battery packs where the contactors are located. And the dealer and assembly operations are separate companies with a common parent so we’re not raiding the fridge for ice cream here.
In looking at the part number I checked in April, visiting the local VW parts manager and his staff, I learned that at least 4 SKUs (stock keeping units) had been used for these parts since launch. And the new one, the one you are supposed to use, can’t be had.
But this is a different story, Millennium Falcon is out of service with no immediate prospects to return to service. I’m renting a stand-in from Enterprise for an unknown period. While paying bills, I realized I had a car payment plus going out the door to Enterprise each month. Why not turn the Enterprise bill into an actual car payment?
What to Buy
I’d been watching Consumer Reports Talking Cars podcast and following the new introductions pretty closely. And my financial advisor and I would chat cars from time to time. He’s leased a couple of Tesla Model Y vehicles most recently, changing from Audi A6. And he was a fan, not fanatical, but a repeat customer.
So winnowing down the vehicles actually on sale here, another ID, a Hyundai Ioniq 5, or a Tesla Model Y? I wanted a hatchback for the dogs and for the odd schlep. So I started doing some searching and found that the Ioniq 5 and the Tesla Model Y were comparable in cost as was an ID optioned like the Falcon.
So, I started with the Tesla. After all I was a Tesla skeptic (too many snide remarks in YouTube videos) and I had to find out why the Consumer Reports car test Mafia kept casting aspersions to the controls. You schedule a test drive on the website. Show up at the venue and do some preliminaries to be authorized to go for a jaunt.
Don’t Test Drive a Tesla
I did and I was ruined. Yep, it is a glass cockpit. Yes, Rocky’s nose can cause real carnage. But he rather likes his cushy man-cave in the wayback. And Missy likes to step up into the second row and do her bendy greyhound thing to U-turn onto the bench seat.
But I was impressed with the controls and the way the Model Y moved. The Tesla design fixed most of the control issues I had with the Falcon’s cockpit and appeared not to offer any new ones. The things you need to do while driving are automated like the climate control, lights, and wipers. Things like going form regular climate mode to deicing have voice commands and they are rumored to work. Clearly, there is an interesting follow up article to write.
Pre-underway Checks
Hopping in a new vehicle takes a few minutes to adjust the vehicle for a comfortable driving position and good visibility.
The seats are power adjustable with controls on the seat base. The customary controls in the customary place, working in the manner invented by the German makes. The seat adjusts fore and aft, up and down, back rake, and base angle for proper thigh support. And the seats are comfortable. There’s just no position that lets you see the sloped bonnet. We’ll come back to that.
First, you can actually position the mirrors without the use of curses. The display selects the mirror to position and the left wheel controller positions it up and down and left and right. Then you switch the controller to the right mirror and repeat. Then release the left controller.
Moving the wheel toward you and away and adjusting it up and down uses the same technique. Select wheel adjustment and use the right controller. Oh, and you can adjust the pedals too.
I’ve never used more than the cruise controls on my earlier vehicles because I could never remember the finger dances to do anything more. With adaptive cruise control active or lane keeping active, the right ball adjusts set upper speed.
The Key
Your mobile is the key. The Tesla app runs on it in the background. As you approach, app and car chat via BlueTooth. The doors unlock. You saddle up. Put your foot on the brake. Nudge the right stalk upward to choose forward or back and take your foot off the brake. The car holds until you push the accelerator. It won’t go creepy into the vehicle ahead if you are distracted for a few seconds. Teslas don’t move until you tell them to.
A regular building security NFC key is used as a valet key and an oops, I forgot my phone key. Keep one with you in your wallet or on a lanyard.
Backing
The long body and high rear window limit vision directly aft but the view aft is better than that of the ID.4. The greenhouse gives good visibility to the sides and the quarters.
High resolution cameras supplement the view and engage automatically. The car backs about like any contemporary vehicle using the rear camera and the bendy path overlay. Backing tip in is nicely tuned as is off accelerator slowing. It was easy to back out into the lot exit lane and to back into the space when I returned. High marks here.
And it seems easier to manage than the ID.4 while backing. Climbing the driveway ramp is always a little clumsy for the Falcon. And contrasty light and the ID camera don’t get along. Anxious to see the Tesla back into the carport.
The View Forward
It was good. The windscreen gives a panoramic view forward but the bonnet surface is not visible. Ther’s really not much cuing regarding the location of the nose.
The forward looking autopilot camera supplements the view forward. The autopilot uses machine vision to identify the lanes, the vehicles ahead, and objects along the lane. As I drove through Wilowby Spit and OceanView, the camera was recognizing and showing the wheelie bins at the curb, lane marking cones, and other things encroaching on the marked travel lane.
Two aft-facing cameras just ahead of the B-pillars stand blind spot watch. The car can chime when the lane along side is fouled. The ID was good about warning overtaking vehicles in the lane along side. I didn’t audition this feature. I believe it was off.
The cameras help with residential street maneuvering to pass between parked vehicles at the curbs. Very nicely done. Tesla removes the background in this view and sketches proxies for the things detected. This view also shows traffic signs and signals. Again nice. A time-zone ahead of VW.
Parking is now entirely machine vision. The sonar dots are still there but they don’t have sensors behind them. Or wiring harness. Or firmware. Machine vision techniques judge the distance from the nose or tail to an obstacle. It worked well but without the cross lines in the cameral view it is a little harder to judge where the end of the vehicle is in the camera view.
Something in the way she moves
Tesla tuned the drive beautifully, both the accelerator map and the lift-off deceleration map. Tesla appears to offer about twice the deceleration of the ID.4, 1/4G vs 1/8G. A quarter G is more than most operators will use slowing to stop.
Lifting slows the vehicle a bit more aggressively than my Mk 7 GTI DSG would slow on lift off. Like the ID.4 and the GTI, the amount of lift modulates the slowing.
Unlike the VAG vehicles, the Tesla vehicles will come to a full stop and hold so you need to feather the accelerator to come smoothly to the stop line. In the beginning, I was stopping short of the stop lines.
Oh, and the drive is robust, even in “Chill” mode. Or novice test drive mode. And it likes to cut apexes, something I tried on the I-64 mile 279 on-ramp. Not aggressively but roll was controlled and the vehicle was poised and confident.
And Tesla let me solo!
I made about a half-hour solo going down to I-64W, off at 4th View, East on Ocean View, and back on Little Creek, Azalea Garden, Norview, and Military Highway. I was impressed with how easy it was to pick up the Tesla and to drive it by sound. The ride was a bit sporty as a result of low profile tires and 20 inch wheels. I ordered the 19’s to compensate. It is a calmer ride.
Check-in and ordering
At the end of the ride, I checked in and we chatted Teslas, process, etc. The customer shepards knew the product and the purcase process. They all are Tesla employees on salary with health care, sick leave, vacation, and pensions. And no commissions so no game playing pre-sales.
Ordering is on line using the website or Tesla phone app. Including submission of all required paper work, downpayment, and arrangement of Tesla Finance financing (usually leasing). They were competitive but not with Navy Federal.
The app is set up as a state machine that walks you through all the purchase mechanics. The staff will text if you miss something or appear to be stuck. I was shocked to find that I would have a car from factory stock delivered in early October, possibly on my birthday!
It’s in route!
As I let Rocky out today (September 29) , my mobile chirped. A text from Tesla reported that my vehicle was expected to arrive on Oct 6 with delivery Friday the eight. Delivery is quick, on the hour. Rumored to take 15 minues. So estimated delivery Amazon quick and ordering Amazon efficient.
A far cry from the torture of Southern Hospitality. The price is the price, no hidden fees. No surprise $1000 fuzzy dice! No paint and fabric protection. Just a professional, highly cost-efficent customer introduction, ordering, and delivery process. And no feather-bedding. Everybody in the sales area was with a customer or working on a customer’s behalf. No staff standing around. No wasted motion.
The typical dealer sales and fulfilment process does not add value, just pain, a half-day wasted, hard feelings, and poor service.
Dismal Manor Dispatches 
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