We did the test drive today and noted something very odd (to me at least). Given that my high hearing is typical for a middle-age man (i.e. 8-10k max), I didn't hear anything abnormal. However, as I was focused on trying to listen for something odd, I noted that my ears popped multiple times, like when you drive through the mountains, not as hard as it happens when you fly on a plane. I just figured it was me and maybe just sinus issue or something but about 2 minutes later, my wife said 'Do you ears keep popping?' Crazy.
So, for whatever reason, the Tesla Model Y we drove today made both of us feel our ears pop multiple times and we were driving in a regular area where we usually drive (i.e. local, not an out of town test drive). I have no good explanation, as ears popping would typically be associated with a pressure change, not a noise, I assume.
So, while the car was very interesting, we only did a 10 minute test drive, not the full half hour they allowed. Within the first few minutes, she simply said 'nope, not going to work', since the whole reason we are getting rid of her current CRV is based on it giving her headaches and she didn't like the ear pops.
I have mixed feelings about the whole experience. The vehicle was very innovative, but now that I'm getting older, I don't like innovative as much as I used to. At one point, she asked me to figure out if it had cruise control (which it obviously does have), but I couldn't figure it out quickly and I thought that was lame. Again, I'm 100% sure it has super cool cruise control, but I don't want to google how to drive a car and typical cars are similar enough that you can figure out cruise control when picking up a rental and that was not the case here. Just an example, but it was a general feel that so much happens on the touch screen (that was gigantic and high quality) that I just didn't like it. I like buttons, switches and things that stay in the same place. I prefer a keyboard to a phone. I like to be able to, with my eyes closed, know what thing I'm about to do by knowing where the thing is and what it feels like. Obviously you don't drive like that, but back in the day, you knew how to hit the big preset slider on a radio to tune to different radio stations. You never had to take your eyes off the road, you just went to the first slider, then slid your hand over to the third, pushed it and the radio station was what you expected. All the modern touchscreen stuff in cars seems too distracting for my personal tastes.
Anyway, since I did actually go for a test ride (she drove the whole time, as she was the target buyer, not me and if she didn't like it, why should I even try it as we weren't going to buy it), I figured I'd follow up with my experience. If there were zero hearing issues/headache issues, I think we'd be trying to figure out how to budget to buy it, as the form, fit, finish and quality was seemingly awesome and the acceleration, even on 'chill' mode was impressive. My personal preference would be for it to feel a bit more conventional inside and to not rely so much on the touchscreen/cellphone interface, but I am a dinosaur and accept that the world is moving that way, even if it isn't my preference.
She is going to test drive a few other EV's while I'm out of town and it will be interesting to see if she has the ear popping thing. Has anyone else experienced that? The salesman said some people have mentioned it, but I think he was just being a salesman and agreeing that the customer is right, not that he really had ever heard that.
Sandy.
