I can surprisingly add 1 cent to this conversation!
I don’t own a Tesla, but I have driven one…one time.
So, I was at the post office and this older guy/customer started talking to me in line about Teslas and how amazing they are. I agreed and started going on about how I would love to see one up close some day. He proceeds to give me his car key (fob?) and tells me I can check his out in the parking lot…Of course I’m taken aback, but I have enough of my brain with me to verify what he’s telling me. He confirms, and I ask him if it’s ok to take pictures. He then explains that the doors are unlocked and I can take any pictures I want…I’m now dumbfounded because I only meant the outside. I take him up on his offer, and proceed to check out his Tesla (the sedan or S series, I think). Eventually he comes out after mailing his stuff, and I thank him for letting me get pics. I haven’t opened his car because I couldn’t bring myself to be that crazy. I’m also second guessing myself at this point; maybe I didn’t hear him correctly about taking pictures inside, right? Wrong. When he comes out he asks if I got any pics inside, I say no…he opens the doors so I can. So I get some pics of the inside and we’re talking and he’s telling me about the car. He then asks me if I want to drive it. I would like to say it’s because we built up a rapport or something, but honestly this guy loved his Tesla so much I think he wanted every person he met to drive his car or drive A Tesla and fall in love. So, my mind is blown, and I give a weak attempt at “no no, that would be asking too much of you…”, and thankfully he insisted. And that’s how I drove a mother f’n Tesla last year.
And the point of all of that was to share this:
I can confirm @jjnoriega 's point about the acceleration pedal dropping off insanely fast compared to regular cars. But here’s the thing, you can adjust that. Pretty much every single thing in that car is adjustable. As my new Tesla friend explained, you can set the pedal to decelerate/accelerate at the speed you prefer, which is connected to (or maybe in addition to?) the pedal’s release. I tested a couple different speeds. I figure everyone knows all about the self-driving, and I didn’t test out that aspect because we were in a parking lot and I didn’t want to push my luck. I also saw the giant screen JJ described. You can search a route or different routes based on charging stations. Also, there is a network of Tesla owners who do some sort of energy share thing. It sounded like if you participate you can recharge at their house and other people can recharge at yours. Basically, people who have Teslas are in love with their Teslas and want to share the good news with the world, and/or share the love with other Tesla owners. To that last point, the guy I spoke to was on his way to a get together with some other owners in our area.
Tl;Dr met an out-going Tesla owner. Drove a Tesla. Learned that the deceleration is weird, but also issue programmable. Tesla owners love their Teslas.
You can manually drive it as well as Autopilot. Autopilot in the Tesla has a few flaws (if you want to call them that). As long as the lines are clear, it should have no problem sitting in the right spot and stopping/starting with cars around. Sharp turns seem to give it issues and usually require the hand to touch the wheel to adjust.
Electricity to charge depends on the model and the battery size, but will usually run anywhere from $9 - $16 based on the rate or $0.12 per kwh.
The entire car is run from the center console essentially.
