so i booked a model x test drive. originally it was supposed to be at one of their drop off locations (no person there) but they contacted me to say that couldn't happen and to pick another location so i did and that's at the new this year showroom in orlando, fl.

got there and this beauty was in the parking lot, and i figured it was my ride so i parked next to it.



app said to go inside to meet an advisor which i did. very nice!!



met one advisor who confirmed who i was an my appointment, gave me the key card and lead me out to the X. she showed me a couple of things like door handles, but i already knew what to do, mostly.

one thing i was dying to try out was the falcon rear doors of course, to see if they're finicky or just bad like many have said. i found them to be flawless. perfect fit, perfect operation. i tested them stopping if i was in the way (yup), and all good. tested how face they're above the vehicle and stick out from the side. not sure if i could open them in my garage, i'd have to check.



inside was nice, with nice materials, and the all important to me gauges in front of the driver (behind the normal steering wheel lol).



the rear view mirror is stupidly small and pretty much useless. would be nice if they offered a large digital rear view mirror, but of course they do offer rear view on the screen too so maybe it's not needed.

headliner very nice and i was PLEASED to see that the roof is not all glass. the windshield does reach back quite a lot and there's these odd top glass panels which i guess are part of the falcon doors.



so i roughly adjusted the seat (a little on the firm side) and set off. i then realized the steering wheel wasn't adjusted right but couldn't figure out how to change that while driving, lol. at a light i did find it though and adjusted it with the screen and left wheel.

i can't express strongly enough how much i prefer having the screen behind the wheel in addition to the center screen. could i live with the single center screen 3 or Y? sure, but would i like it? not really.

display driving down the road (sorry focus is off).



the car is BLISTERINGLY fast. my ioniq is definitely quick, about the same performance as my lc500, but the model x has faster acceleration. talking to the advisor later i said the plaid just seemed pointless and only good for tickets, and he agreed!

more to come...

 

random pics / observations:

found this white mark on the rear door area and advisor said that was buffing compound not removed.



this is a 3 row version (7 seat). took me a good while to figure out how to lower the third row seats. i then tried to figure out how to raise them back up and gave up (revoke my nerd card) and the advisor i asked about it later laughed and explained. you lower the seat by pressing a button on the top of the seat to the outside of the headrest. you raise it by pressing the same button, now hard to get at inside the car behind the falcon doors.



^ the area behind the third row has loads more storage below that floor cover. the frunk is quite roomy too.

x with rear side and back doors open.



checked software version. was trying to see if this was hw3 or hw4 - couldn't find it. note the screen has tons of glare... i'd get an anti-glare screen protector i think!



i tried to find a distance to empty measurement and gave up. i found battery level and use, but not dte.



oh wait, maybe it's the "259" shown on this 'software' screen? (why there??)



i was driving on city streets and some highway driving, so i didn't get to do any canyon carving. the car is pretty big and could benefit from rear steering. the air ride suspension was comfortable, but didn't blow me away. there was more road/wind noise inside than i expected but it's not bad.

the car had full self driving enabled, which i guess is why i had the fancy traffic display on the main gauges (which is pretty awesome). so i engaged auto pilot on the highway and it acted like adaptive cruise i'm used to until it surprised me by doing a lane change i did not initiate. i got a chuckle out of that and it did it perfectly, in reasonably dense traffic.

car exterior looks good to me.



interior was good, although i thought the steering wheel button area looked/felt very cheap.



all in all, a great experience. not sure if i'll get one but good 'learning'.

 

inside the 'show room' i had to sit in a cybertruck.

not for me.



peaked around into another area, and i guess this is delivery prep or service area?



back in the showroom, another X (this one 6 seat config with 2nd row captains chairs which i liked), and a gorgeous blue model s plaid.



oh hell yeah.

 

Great, fair and quick review 👍👍😀

Distance to empty is on the screen in front of you beside the battery icon - it's either set to % or range left (dte)

 

I agree. It was an enjoyable read.
It sounds the showroom experience was good too.

 

That 259 is the odometer reading. The remaining range is the percentage beside the green battery on the bottom left on the screen behind the steering wheel. I think it defaults to a percentage, but you can change to miles by changing a setting.

 

And don't buy the bs about the Plaid being pointless until you drive one. I let a friend of mine that got a MS long range 6 months ago drive my Plaid for the first time today. Now he wants to trade.

 

Great review @bitkahuna .

Enjoyed it.
Ok, the falcon doors, a plus or not really needed?

 

The infamous Tesla worm.

 

Great review Bit! Looks like they fixed the falcon wing doors being super slow to open or close. You can change it to display SoC or range by touching the number, you can do it in the app as well





You should have tried Insane mode

 

My friend offered to let me test out his Plaid, and I passed because I knew I would want one

 

ah thanks guys... yes def. saw the %age but didn't know it's either %age or miles/km. on my hyundai you get both %age and distance which is nice.

"need"? no, lol. but they're cool as s--t.

well it's $15-20k more, and i don't need to fly that fast, but everyone's entitled to their opinions. i'm not saying the plaid isn't awesome or if money were no object i wouldn't get one, but for me at this time, if i got an x, probably not.

huh?

 

yes they definitely weren't slow.

thanks.

on city streets, i think not.

 

couple of other things i forgot to mention.

the buttons on the wheel for turn signals suck.

the press to open door handles and soft touch close front doors were great.

 

The Tesla worm is the split in the air bag housing that shows through on the steering wheel cover. I never noticed it until people pointed it out in pics