The market really wants Tesla to just make vehicles and not get into all this side show stuff. Honestly I agree.
IMO this had a lot of potential, when it works it works pretty well but all of the safety checks they've implemented it makes it useless. How can one call it autonomous when you're forced to keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road at all times? I couldn't even take 10 seconds to get something out of the glove box without alarms going off and auto disengagement. Not sure if they're bound by regulations or what but currently there's really no point in it.
they were forced to add all that checking because, as it turns out, the self-driving isn’t safe enough. 95% of the time it’s fine, and then it tries to drive you into the back of a firetruck. It has to work 100% of the time, and it doesn’t. Allegedly next year in california and texas, or something, it will work. Sure it will.
This is what caused my wife to never use it again, it accelerated toward the car in front of us and she slammed the brakes. She's now sworn off all automation.
This is what caused my wife to never use it again, it accelerated toward the car in front of us and she slammed the brakes. She's now sworn off all automation.
They did a pre-return evaluation, ours was mint (and only 12K miles at 34 months), so $0 extra fees - returning it and even sucking up paying two payments and not using it was one of the best car experiences ever. When I was at the service center dropped it off, one of the sales goons came up to me as a Incel Camino pulled. "Cool huh?" he said, to which I replied, "No, it's very stupid, we just bought a killer EV and it's not made by Tesla ..." We wanted another one, it's a super fun vehicle for around town, here at the beach, we run it on 95% electric mode since it's mostly for 15-20 mile operation, and the '24 models added some nice new features, much bigger center display, new safety features, better interior, audio, plus something very cool I'll talk about later. In April/May the intended return time, the leases had gotten bad, I even reached out to some brokers (including the folks who had gotten our Tesla replacement), and a broker on the 4xe forums where I frequent, but nope. ) Then I considered an i4, specifically an M50, stunning, quick, but it didn't give us those extra use cases of a Wrangler we really enjoyed (being able to remove the top, handling any terrain, great for unknown parking situations, easy to park / totally curb resistant), and it didn't make sense for another "less capable" for our kind of fun vehicle sitting there. ) for almost the same price. But with the Rubicon / 4xe, all the trim details are bright blue so they really pop, the tow hooks, the hood graphics, and heck, the top doesn't have a painted finish, or the bumpers or the fenders (our previous one had painted fenders and color matched top). So I guess I'm only maintaining paint on about 1/2 the vehicle! ), kept the Jeep for 6 months before replacing it with the new Jeep, so that leaves us with the primary, family, road trip car that we got back in April. ) It's fast, quiet, it's a stunning luxury EV execution, it makes even a model S or X look super cheap, it has some killer tech like a roof that turns from opaque to clear, HUGE open cockpit and rear seating, it's kind of wagon-esque, it has the wild / goofy (depending on your perspective) front end "grill" (that can fix itself when exposed to heat). Hahaha, they have a nice open service road for big trucks, and both drivers, each time, were worried about trees, space, etc., in the neighborhood, so it worked out great (it's 2 miles south of us). Funny enough, both vehicle came from MD. They also both have wireless CarPlay which has become a requirement for us - and also both have proper driver's facing instruments (and theiX50 has an insane HUD implementation) 
Well, I figured since I'm here for now, I should follow up on the thread I started in March 2022
I won't get into Musk here, his insanely shitty behavior, his anti-free speech, his anti-trans stance that caused him to disown his child, his fear of getting into a ring with Zuckerberg (saved by his equally racist, POS mother ...), his support of the orange f***wit - well, OK, maybe I will get into it a bit
First, apologies to anyone who might have motivated by my original zeal over Tesla ownership to own one themselves. At the time we got it, June '21, it made the most sense, it was our first foray into a BEV(we had owned a PHEV, the '21 Wrangler 4xe for a few months prior) and the mix of Musk not being the person he is now + range/charge anxiety, made the '21 M3P we had, the best option. There was a point in late '22 where the lease exit would've been $0 (coming out of Covid supply chain issues), but while Musk was getting worse, I didn't know how bad it would get.
At some point in '23 I just started hating the car. AP/EAP tried to murder us several times, it had picked up some noise, I really grew tired of the single display and no forward facing driver's instrumentation,, so many decisions driven by the pale goon's whim. The "community" around Tesla become intolerable. The wife never dug on it, I think she drove it twice (greatly preferred the Jeep), I started preferring the Jeep, the daughter, who's become very politically engaged wanted no part of it.
But still, the idea of taking a big hit over the CEO? Just couldn't do it yet.
What did happen was we started shopping, and the EV market had gotten much better - and even more important, our use cases were now pretty well known. We have almost no need for DCFC, really, that's only for the 1-2 major trips a year (and always have the PHEV as a backup). The DCFC network really started to expand, manufacturers - as most folks know - got onboard with Tesla open sourcing NACS (aka, J3400), and started providing seamless Plug-n-Charge at Superchargers (well, V4), via an adapter.
Fast forward to April '24, the Jeep lease ends, so we planned on returning it. The Tesla lease didn't end for another 2 months - but in those last 60 days or so, there's no extra fees, you just pay the lease balance.
So yep, I said, f*** you to Tesla, returned it 2 months early, kept the Jeep. I started getting bombarded by the retention team, hahahaha, I had some colorful email exchanges
Of course, they claimed they'd handle the tag return, didn't and about 15 days before I could've been arrested, I get a nasty notice from FL, and they had shutoff access to my records, so I could show the DMV my ownership docs, finally found a PDF I had saved, managed to get the tag "deactivated" (this is some silly FL stuff).
The Wrangler via ChrysCap had a super easy lease extension program, up to 6 months, same monthly, an extra 1000 miles a month (we didn't need) and you paid in advance, so you could just pay a month, then call the following month or pay a couple, we did the latter for the first two months, then went monthly, hahaha, all the way down to the wire, returned it Oct 4th, 5 days before month 6 expired
I'll work backwards from the Jeep
Then we knocked around the idea of just something like an Ioniq 5 to compliment the primary ride, it would've been fine, like a AWD SEL, kind of de-contented in '24, but just as a second ride? Not terrible, and they had good 24 month lease options (we wanted to go 24 on the second vehicle as we will possibly be making some big changes in a couple of years when the daughter heads of to school
So I went back to my Jeep guy from the forum, and holy shit, at the perfect moment, Wrangler leases went nuts, in particular on 24 month/10K options (perfect!) and HUGE discounts specifically on the Rubicon 4xe (which is what we wanted, it's the more hardcore Jeep, big chonky tires, lifted, but still all the 4xe goodies), so B O O M, we pulled the trigger on a '24 Wrangler Rubicon 4xe, loaded (tech, safety, convenience), hardtop, and through a mistake at a dealer they really made up for when we "lost" the one we had planned to get, we got one with the full Napa interior package (power seats! In a Wrangler ?!?!
It is KILLER. It's black, so pray for me
So we got rid of the Tesla (good f***ing riddance
We shopped some PHEVs, thinking, OK, this is a good mix, we like it on the Wrangler, looked at a Volvo XC60R, nice, really loaded up it's very nice, a bit more wagon/car than an SUV, but with optional air suspension, 22" wheels, audio, etc., super nice - however at that price point, it was overlapping into our other consideration, a BMW X5 50e. That's their PHEV, and it's very good, 40-45 miles electric, 450HP total system output (with the ICE), 500 miles total Battery + ICE. We started shopping, and we happen to sync up with the Electric Expo in Orlando flying back through from NYC, so we stared a few extra days, went to that, saw the Volvo EX30 (had one on reserve, no deliveries till late next year, plus not our jam), enjoyed the Rivian folks (also had an R1S on reserve, waiting to see how they pan out as a company - their new JV with VW + Gen 2 R1 seem awesome, plus the new R2/R3 look like winners - we have an R2 on reserve).
Whew, OK, word tsunami - sorry about that - so we're at the event and there, near the X5 50e, is another BMW, it's their bespoke EV platform, the iX. It's made in parallel with the X5 (they will eventually merge). We look at it, we get interested, we hold off on the 50e. We determine that we'd prefer a BEV to compliment the PHEV (keep in mind this was back when we still had the 4xe, and planning on another one, which eventually worked itself out
I start researching, wind up at Leasehackr, connect with a broker who has access to quite a few cars on a couple of dealer inventories. We look, and there it is, the right color, interior, it has the hard to find (it was in short supply for '24) air suspension, sport package, deluxe seats (heat/cool/massage), immersive heating, the full ADAS package (which kicks the shit out of Tesla's EAP). And while the M3P we had claimed 315 miles, we never got more than 250-260 on the same drive we make down to Orlando (to Universal and/or Dis), which is 250-260 round trip, so it required scoring some resort charging, which mostly worked out, but added some extra undesired stress). The iX, even with the 21' sport wheel/tire setup eats that trip up, we've been seeing 65-67% remaining at arrival, plenty to get home, it EASILY beats the manufacturers 320 and delivers a good 350-360 miles (well, from100-0 which we don't do, but COULD do).
Anyway, so he makes us an insane deal on a lease (36/10K), I'm talking a 23-24% cap reduction, nothing up front, and well, that's it, in April we had a '24 iX50 delivered to our house (well, the Publix down the road), and a few months later (see my rambling above), paired it up with the new '24 Wrangler we just scored (I started with that broker, but went with "my guy" from the 4xe forum), the Jeep was also delivered to Publix
A few pics to follow
Cool, looking forward to seeing it.Well, I figured since I'm here for now, I should follow up on the thread I started in March 2022
I won't get into Musk here, his insanely shitty behavior, his anti-free speech, his anti-trans stance that caused him to disown his child, his fear of getting into a ring with Zuckerberg (saved by his equally racist, POS mother ...), his support of the orange f***wit - well, OK, maybe I will get into it a bit
First, apologies to anyone who might have motivated by my original zeal over Tesla ownership to own one themselves. At the time we got it, June '21, it made the most sense, it was our first foray into a BEV(we had owned a PHEV, the '21 Wrangler 4xe for a few months prior) and the mix of Musk not being the person he is now + range/charge anxiety, made the '21 M3P we had, the best option. There was a point in late '22 where the lease exit would've been $0 (coming out of Covid supply chain issues), but while Musk was getting worse, I didn't know how bad it would get.
At some point in '23 I just started hating the car. AP/EAP tried to murder us several times, it had picked up some noise, I really grew tired of the single display and no forward facing driver's instrumentation,, so many decisions driven by the pale goon's whim. The "community" around Tesla become intolerable. The wife never dug on it, I think she drove it twice (greatly preferred the Jeep), I started preferring the Jeep, the daughter, who's become very politically engaged wanted no part of it.
But still, the idea of taking a big hit over the CEO? Just couldn't do it yet.
What did happen was we started shopping, and the EV market had gotten much better - and even more important, our use cases were now pretty well known. We have almost no need for DCFC, really, that's only for the 1-2 major trips a year (and always have the PHEV as a backup). The DCFC network really started to expand, manufacturers - as most folks know - got onboard with Tesla open sourcing NACS (aka, J3400), and started providing seamless Plug-n-Charge at Superchargers (well, V4), via an adapter.
Fast forward to April '24, the Jeep lease ends, so we planned on returning it. The Tesla lease didn't end for another 2 months - but in those last 60 days or so, there's no extra fees, you just pay the lease balance.
So yep, I said, f*** you to Tesla, returned it 2 months early, kept the Jeep. I started getting bombarded by the retention team, hahahaha, I had some colorful email exchanges
Of course, they claimed they'd handle the tag return, didn't and about 15 days before I could've been arrested, I get a nasty notice from FL, and they had shutoff access to my records, so I could show the DMV my ownership docs, finally found a PDF I had saved, managed to get the tag "deactivated" (this is some silly FL stuff).
The Wrangler via ChrysCap had a super easy lease extension program, up to 6 months, same monthly, an extra 1000 miles a month (we didn't need) and you paid in advance, so you could just pay a month, then call the following month or pay a couple, we did the latter for the first two months, then went monthly, hahaha, all the way down to the wire, returned it Oct 4th, 5 days before month 6 expired
I'll work backwards from the Jeep
Then we knocked around the idea of just something like an Ioniq 5 to compliment the primary ride, it would've been fine, like a AWD SEL, kind of de-contented in '24, but just as a second ride? Not terrible, and they had good 24 month lease options (we wanted to go 24 on the second vehicle as we will possibly be making some big changes in a couple of years when the daughter heads of to school
So I went back to my Jeep guy from the forum, and holy shit, at the perfect moment, Wrangler leases went nuts, in particular on 24 month/10K options (perfect!) and HUGE discounts specifically on the Rubicon 4xe (which is what we wanted, it's the more hardcore Jeep, big chonky tires, lifted, but still all the 4xe goodies), so B O O M, we pulled the trigger on a '24 Wrangler Rubicon 4xe, loaded (tech, safety, convenience), hardtop, and through a mistake at a dealer they really made up for when we "lost" the one we had planned to get, we got one with the full Napa interior package (power seats! In a Wrangler ?!?!
It is KILLER. It's black, so pray for me
So we got rid of the Tesla (good f***ing riddance
We shopped some PHEVs, thinking, OK, this is a good mix, we like it on the Wrangler, looked at a Volvo XC60R, nice, really loaded up it's very nice, a bit more wagon/car than an SUV, but with optional air suspension, 22" wheels, audio, etc., super nice - however at that price point, it was overlapping into our other consideration, a BMW X5 50e. That's their PHEV, and it's very good, 40-45 miles electric, 450HP total system output (with the ICE), 500 miles total Battery + ICE. We started shopping, and we happen to sync up with the Electric Expo in Orlando flying back through from NYC, so we stared a few extra days, went to that, saw the Volvo EX30 (had one on reserve, no deliveries till late next year, plus not our jam), enjoyed the Rivian folks (also had an R1S on reserve, waiting to see how they pan out as a company - their new JV with VW + Gen 2 R1 seem awesome, plus the new R2/R3 look like winners - we have an R2 on reserve).
Whew, OK, word tsunami - sorry about that - so we're at the event and there, near the X5 50e, is another BMW, it's their bespoke EV platform, the iX. It's made in parallel with the X5 (they will eventually merge). We look at it, we get interested, we hold off on the 50e. We determine that we'd prefer a BEV to compliment the PHEV (keep in mind this was back when we still had the 4xe, and planning on another one, which eventually worked itself out
I start researching, wind up at Leasehackr, connect with a broker who has access to quite a few cars on a couple of dealer inventories. We look, and there it is, the right color, interior, it has the hard to find (it was in short supply for '24) air suspension, sport package, deluxe seats (heat/cool/massage), immersive heating, the full ADAS package (which kicks the shit out of Tesla's EAP). And while the M3P we had claimed 315 miles, we never got more than 250-260 on the same drive we make down to Orlando (to Universal and/or Dis), which is 250-260 round trip, so it required scoring some resort charging, which mostly worked out, but added some extra undesired stress). The iX, even with the 21' sport wheel/tire setup eats that trip up, we've been seeing 65-67% remaining at arrival, plenty to get home, it EASILY beats the manufacturers 320 and delivers a good 350-360 miles (well, from100-0 which we don't do, but COULD do).
Anyway, so he makes us an insane deal on a lease (36/10K), I'm talking a 23-24% cap reduction, nothing up front, and well, that's it, in April we had a '24 iX50 delivered to our house (well, the Publix down the road), and a few months later (see my rambling above), paired it up with the new '24 Wrangler we just scored (I started with that broker, but went with "my guy" from the 4xe forum), the Jeep was also delivered to Publix
A few pics to follow
Yeah they are running another trial.After the latest update it offered FSD again at no cost, not sure if it's a trial or what but I enabled it because why not.
I had one that ran out, this one didn't say anything about an expiration date. Saw on Reddit where they may be trying to gather more data for their Taxi.
here’s some data for their taxi: only an idiot designs a taxi with only two seats, and insufficient room for a family’s worth of suitcases.I had one that ran out, this one didn't say anything about an expiration date. Saw on Reddit where they may be trying to gather more data for their Taxi.
But first you have to download it from the large hoofed creature?
it will be ready before 2027.
That whole front end houses the sensor array, and it's self-healing, if it gets minor scratches, they fix themselves with some heat application.
and a Sahara, this is the the really JEEP Jeep, it's a Rubicon, so a beefy differential setup, big tires, lifted, a sway-bar that can be disconnected on the fly to increase the suspension travel. ), side curtain airbags, better cooling and regen, and the Power Box I talked about above. The '24 is a nice upgrade over the '21 and the Rubicon is just the ultimate Wrangler execution. It has flat unpainted bumpers, fenders, and massive side rails, so if you park next to it - go ahead, open your door and don't pay attention