Some more first hand real ownership feedback.

Finally updated to the latest software, autopilot works smoother and the phantom brake issues is still there but less obtrusive.

Real battery usage: driving exactly the same way as with my other cars (ie with a few hard accelerations to properly test the car), my long daily commute with a mix of city, suburban roads with a lot of high speed stop/go, clear highway and congested highway yields a real usage of 400mwh/miles. That gives me a 10-90% reasonable range of exactly 200 miles. This measure is using the battery %, not the kWh usage counter which seems to underestimate the real power used (this apparently has to do with usage when the car is idle, phantom draw and some theory about the real capacity of the battery being dependent on the yield of draw of the power, the higher draw, the more losses).

So in the worst of winter, I should always get at least 140 miles of range which is good enough and a KEY metric for my usage (well I could use the RRS too if needed be, but having two vehicles to drive in winter an an absolute must for backup).

Now this is why the Etron and the iPace range are a deal breaker for me:
The Etron EPA range is 204 miles for 0-92%, so 222 miles for 0-100, then apply the 200/295 X EPA range ratio from my first hand experience, that gives exactly 150 miles. In winter, this will drop to 90 miles at worst, and that is a huge issue, I could not buy that car.

The iPace is 234 miles for 0-100% (?), so apply the same 200/295 ratio and you get a real world usable range of 159 miles, 96 miles in winter. That is also a deal breaker.

Of course all the above is based on the low range measured by the EPA, but until we have more real world data, it would be impossible to commit. One thing for sure is that between 45 and 65mph on the highway, the Teslas are very very efficient, and I have zero doubt I could get more than 295 miles in normal weather conditions if needed be, but I would hate driving so slow. Please also note my ratio includes 22” wheels, range will increase for all these cars if you use smaller wheels (maybe 5%). But 22” looks much better.

To wrap up the range comments, an ideal daily driver for me would have a real usable 10-90 range of 250 miles instead of 200 so I could do more than one round trip and a couple of errands. The new long range model S is a hair below that, a future 120+kwh Model X with the increased efficiency of last month would be there, even with 22” wheels. Also note that all the EPA range probably turn off radio and AC/heat and is done in close to perfect weather conditions.

The coolness factor does not wear off, pedestrians stop at crosswalks to let me go by and I can see the looks of people are very curious and I see a lot of smiles.

The car is “agile”. The steering is tight on the sportiest setting, the car is really fast in acceleration and changing lanes, and taking over cars on the highway is a breeze, even better than the Macan (I would describe it as effortless when doing the same with the Macan, you would have a screaming vacuum cleaner). In the city the silence is quite something, almost eerie. On the highway, road noise mitigates that effect tough. Is it sporty in tight corners? No. But is does corner flat. Anyway there are no roads I use that have the characteristics where I could truly use a sport car. As a daily driver, the handling is perfectly adequate.

The interior is holding up well so far, I like the sophistication of the volumes, especially the door, and the materials selected are not leather, but in some ways as nice as what you find expect in the most expensive luxury cars. There are no exposed plastic that your hand touches, and the natural textured wood is a real pleasure to the touch.

Last, the car gives a confidence level while driving that I have never experienced in other cars. I find myself using the car to pick up my kids when needed when before I used to take Ubers. There is an ease of usage that I do not find in my other more sporty cars, I feel way more relaxed and less pressured, this is probably a combination of no noise and more space via the large interior and all the glass around you, probably also the fact that there are no buttons is soothing in some ways. You do not feel oppressed like you could in other cars. The UI is almost perfect, very Apple like and will not require to read a manual. It just all makes sense. You can move around sub-screens with you finger and they resize automatically while all the other screens adapt perfectly to your change.

I see our family owning an X for quite a long time, there is simply no other 7 seater on the market today or coming in the next 3-5 years that comes even close to it. Even for people who don’t need the extra seats, the large space and confort are very enjoyable for a daily driver. The EV is just the cherry on the cake.