The touch screen in our old car stopped working. Luckily it was only for non essential stuff like cameras, entertainment and sat-nav.
I spent a year in Australia in my youth, and the towns there had a grid system, with lots of T junctions. An automatic was great for driving there.
I have a mix of manual & auto vehicles
roads
Manual vs Auto I loved a manual for going for drives and driving too fast at night when I was younger, doing lots of miles town/country meeting cars and endless boring gear changes I love my auto.
Elons forgotten more than you know about manufacturing cars. We get it you don’t like him but you’re talking boll*cks. It’s the likes of Ford and GM that are lagging behind which is ridiculous when you think how long they have been in the game.
Tesla have started building cars with no prior experience and a clean slate so are doing so in a way which they thing is the right way. All mainstream established manufacturers have been going long enough to have the job pretty well nailed as to the best way to build cars and make a profit. They will eventually have to change things if 100% leccy cars become the norm at which point tesla will most likely be put firmly in their place but there's no need for them to bother at present so the are just found the cheapest possible adaptions to keep selling cars imho.
I don't need to ride in one to know the model Y has been the bestselling car in the world at times this year. People are buying them, his closest rivals in the EV market are Chinese. Between them they are changing the car market, and the legacy brands are being left behind.
Tesla are building cars in a way that gives them a cost advantage over their competition. Listen to Elon on the subject for any length of time and he will talk about how the manufacturing part of the industry is the most important.
And to add to that employs Americans at steel mills and manufacturing vertually all components in California, plus assembly there,
Like any new car now the manufacturer will be in charge of any maintenance or repairs while in warranty (less maintenance on an EV) after that right to repair and access to genuine and aftermarket repairs become more important.
It's not the way they build cars which give them an advantage, I bet if you knew the true figures established manufacturers are building cars for peanuts cost wise it's the rest of the chain which lets them down.
Tesla parts manual is available online. One of the first indie repairers was Cleeveley EV in Cheltenham, with mobile service all over the country. Gary Kyriakos and various others also do repairs, look for HEVRA garages.
Yes, it is, the manufacturing process and its cost of getting cars to the consumer is vital. Cost of Production is as important in car manufacturing as it is in farming or anything else.
I remember buying a Mk5 Golf was circa £16k and it was £5k to make. They were taking 2-3 times longer to make than a focus at the time so were a bit more expensive. Same golf would be twice that price retail now, not sure of what cost of production though
My Car at 9 months old wasnt much more than this Golf your on about but split new at the time was in the early 20's ok
This is just baffling, My car has just gone into Land rover for warranty work and they have loaned me a new evoque that has done away with all physical buttons. It is absouletly awful and I can't believe this nonesense is legal. you have to take your eyes off the road for about 5 secs to adjust the temperature by one degree,first finding the right part of the screen to touch , the right part being very small and nothing to steady your arm on, then once sub menu is selected you have to press another tiny button which is very close to another tiny button that will max out temp, so very easy to press the wrong one thus taking your full concentration. The heated seats require the press of a similar button to change screen that will then have a seat option, press that and then another button to switch them on followed by another sub menu coming up to adjust temp, it's just horrible and undoubtebly lives will be lost in this economy drive. The other thing they have done is ruin what were very good steering wheel buttons by making it on very large button with numerous function by pressing different parts of it, because it is so big and odd shapped it is already jamming stuck on a brand new car and contantly selcting one option forcing you into numerous sup menu option on the touch screen to correct, imagine what it will be like with a few years under it's belt !
I often wonder who actually wants this sort of thing. Cars got better and more durable until the 2000s/early 2010s now theyre on the way back down again.This is just baffling, My car has just gone into Land rover for warranty work and they have loaned me a new evoque that has done away with all physical buttons. It is absouletly awful and I can't believe this nonesense is legal. you have to take your eyes off the road for about 5 secs to adjust the temperature by one degree,first finding the right part of the screen to touch , the right part being very small and nothing to steady your arm on, then once sub menu is selected you have to press another tiny button which is very close to another tiny button that will max out temp, so very easy to press the wrong one thus taking your full concentration. The heated seats require the press of a similar button to change screen that will then have a seat option, press that and then another button to switch them on followed by another sub menu coming up to adjust temp, it's just horrible and undoubtebly lifes will be lost in this economy drive. The other thing they have done is ruin what were very good steering wheel buttons by making it on very large button with numerous function by pressing different parts of it, because it is so big and odd shapped it is already jamming stuck on a brand new car and contantly selcting one option forcing you into numerous sup menu option on the touch screen to correct, imagine what it will be like with a few years under it's belt !
The good thing about though is I am going to make my wife drive it and then she will never nag me for a newer car again !
But seriously this penny pinching should be made illegal