We test drove a Tesla Model Y Performance today. Been looking at one for a few weeks. Wife’s current car is a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT that takes premium and gets 13 MPG. Premium was $5.15 today.

How’s the insurance on these Teslas?
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Consumer Reports trashed the Model Y. The Mustang EV has been getting great reviews.
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Insurance was a concern for me as well. Through Geico my rates did go up but not as much as I had heard. I think it was around a 20% increase from the MDX to the MY performance.

That being said, I hit a highway cone at 4 AM on the way to work one morning. It was in the middle of the exit ramp and had been hit previously to where the black side was facing me so I didn't see it in time. Currently the parts for the Tesla have to come from Tesla so the total damage for a bumper, trim piece, and a bent "impact diffuser" was close to $5k. This was for damage that was barely noticeable. So I don't know how the insurance rates my adjust over time due to the high cost of repairs.

I love the car. I am not preaching green anything but I charge almost exclusively at work ($10 per month on employee plan). It's a bubbly, plain crossover family car that even my wife can drive, and it isn't a slouch if I want to go fast.
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People seem to get hung up on the "green" stuff a lot (see: this thread). But the reality is that, unless you are the type to wax nostalgic about the loud engines of the past, most people pretty quickly come to love EVs because they're just a super pleasant driving experience. They're quieter than a lot of luxury vehicles, often at far lower costs. Even the cheapest EVs will beat most muscle cars off of the line. Similarly, the instant torque makes it a dream to move around in traffic since you can quickly zip ahead of someone when you need to. And then you realize you haven't gone to a gas station or had to get an oil change in years...

As I've said all along, I get the hesitation if you regularly drive hundreds of miles, but if you mainly need a commuter car, they're starting to hit "no brainer" territory.
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BFD, what's your point? All cars beat me off the line, lol!
If I'm so inclined, mine eats on the big end when I want.


It's not only torque that gets you outta problems. Disc brakes, lol.
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Congrats
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I've never driven an electric vehicle. My luxury car of choice is Audi and they are switching to all electric.

I have a question for those who have driven them, do they all have that drag when you let off the gas that feels like your emergency brake is on? I absolutely hate that. I want zero drag when I coast. I once test drove a CX5 that gets great gas mileage and that's one of the reasons why apparently. It was awful and I went with a Rogue instead.

I would hate that if they all do that. I can't imagine that being the case though
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Depends on the manufacturer and how they chose to program their cars. Most of them do WANT a tiny bit of drag since that's how you recapture a bit of power (regen braking). I don't personally find it to be significant, but you might.

You'd think Audi would have a mode that would minimize it, though, given their brand. Probably best just to take some test drives and play with the driving modes.
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That's a easy question, you can turn it off.

It has a option where you can switch it off with the touch on the screen and it will act like a normal car when cruising. But if you leave it on it will regenerate power from the breaking when your foot is off the gas, you also don't need to end up using your brake 98% of the time so its supposed to save your breaks where you don't need to replace them for 180k miles or more. but once you get used to it, takes about 100 miles of driving, you end up liking it more. or at least myself and my wife did.

Spent an extra $14 last month is electricitly vs. $300 in gas, they are freaking amazing!!
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Electric Police cars aren't working:

https://www.the-sun.com/motors/57100...ing-out-power/
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Let's not kid ourselves.

This is going to come down to having large battery banks charging solar at every house that owns an Electric vehicle.

They'll develop a way to dump a lot of juice quickly from those banks into the car.

Or a quick swap battery stock at every "gas" station.
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we have a decent size house and our electric was $300-400 a month and now is $30-40 a month with the Tesla charger at the house. During the fall , winter and spring I would expect zero electric bill. virtually feels off the grid in a way.
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nissan leaf is great if all you do is run around town. Won't help me much when I need to drive 400 miles for a trip
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If people understood how charging works with fast chargers and how quick you can fill up they would rethink electric. I was the same way before I purchased our Model 3, I believe with the Leaf you can drive 200 miles , then find a supercharger (all over the place) and spend 10-15 minutes filling up and then go on your way, only spending around $5-8 for a full tank.
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