Got an EV6

[Rich]

Does a Tesla update more than infotainment over the air?

[Laconian]

AFAIK everything is fair game for Tesla's OTA.

[CaminoRacer]

At least your car won't be randomly bricked OTA

[Morris Minor]

Does a Tesla update more than infotainment over the air?

Everything. It's always good to have a decent WiFi signal in your garage anyway (podcasts & music while you detail.) You need it for Tesla's wall connector as well as the car.

[Morris Minor]

I complained about it to the dealer, but I imagine it fell on deaf ears. The dealer got $279 from the interaction.

I have never taken the Mazda back to the dealership. It's an hour away and I hate them.

The CX-5's infotainment system was a buggy shitty mess. I found that the firmware was about four revisions behind.

Rather then go to the dealer I was able to get the latest via a guy on a Mazda forum. The procedure was archaic: had to be a low capacity USB-A storage drive formatted to FAT16. The update menu was like something out of the 1980s. 

[Laconian]

I have been using the EV6 as my waiting room while my husband gets his 2-hour treatments.

The seats are comfortable, but I still experience backaches and need to walk after about 1.5 hours. I do wonder how a car with superlative seats would feel, such as a Volvo or a MB.

Turning on "Utility Mode" (in EV Settings) is good when you want to keep the car idle with HVAC running for long periods of time. It is better than Accessory mode because it allows the heat pump to operate and engages the high voltage battery, saving the feeble 12V battery from wear and tear.

The backseat is hugely spacious and a great, albeit dark, place to spend time. The seats are comfortable and recline back pretty far.

I really wish my dumb brain let me take naps.

[AutobahnSHO]

I have been using the EV6 as my waiting room while my husband gets his 2-hour treatments.

The seats are comfortable, but I still experience backaches and need to walk after about 1.5 hours. I do wonder how a car with superlative seats would feel, such as a Volvo or a MB.

Turning on "Utility Mode" (in EV Settings) is good when you want to keep the car idle with HVAC running for long periods of time. It is better than Accessory mode because it allows the heat pump to operate and engages the high voltage battery, saving the feeble 12V battery from wear and tear.

The backseat is hugely spacious and a great, albeit dark, place to spend time. The seats are comfortable and recline back pretty far.

I really wish my dumb brain let me take naps.

Nice!

To me, naps are best achieved
-10-20min timer. Anything more makes me groggy
-sit/lay in a way that NO muscles are engaged. I have to be completely relaxed without trying to hold head some or whatever
-I DON'T try to minimize noises. It's fine if someone is watching TV or there's other stuff going on.
-close eyes and drift- even if it takes 9min of the 10min timer to fall asleep, it's still enough to feel re-energized.

[Morris Minor]

I watch YouTube videos that are in my nerd zone but aren't interesting enough to keep me engaged. e.g. I watched one of a guy troubleshooting a problem in a 100-year-old telephone exchange automatic switch. Cool retrotech but zzzz's too.

[CaminoRacer]

I can nap any time, any place. It's probably my greatest skill

[Laconian]

That would be an amazing power to have.

[Laconian]

After going back and forth between the EV6 and the Miata, I think that Mazda does HVAC automation better than Kia. The Miata only turns up the fans when the engine's at temp, and the fan speed will back off completely and become inaudible once the cabin's at temp. The Kia just turns up the fans and runs them hard regardless of the heat pump's ability to deliver, and once the cabin's at temp, the slowest fan speed is still noticeable. I would rather it just turn off.

Also, the logic around the automatic keyless lock/unlock is baffling. Sometimes it's helpful and does the right thing, sometimes it's no help at all, I can't figure it out. Again this is a case where my Miata does it right every time.

It kind of leaves me with a Samsung impression. Lovely hardware, with convincingly glitzy software that's also hampered by some boneheaded control logic.

[CaminoRacer]

I'm rarely impressed with auto climate control. Give me 3 knobs and I can get it right every time with minimal effort.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I'm rarely impressed with auto climate control. Give me 3 knobs and I can get it right every time with minimal effort.

My temperature needs change frequently, anyway, so I'm always manually adjusting auto climate controls.

[giant_mtb]

I'm rarely impressed with auto climate control. Give me 3 knobs and I can get it right every time with minimal effort.

Yep.

[afty]

Does the heat pump need time to warm up or something? I would have expected instant heat

[Laconian]

Does the heat pump need time to warm up or something? I would have expected instant heat

I think the coolant lines need to pressurize or something. It takes about 30 seconds to get going. Not horrible but it is weird to have the car naïvely blasting icy air at passengers when the temp is set to 75...

[Morris Minor]

Set the 2010 G37 cabin temp to say 73° and it does not start blowing until it has warm air to deliver.
Set the 2021 CX-5 cabin temp to 73° and it will immediately blow cold air in your face. Just what you need on a freezing morning.

I got roasted & flayed for pointing this out on the CX-5 subreddit, "That's what all cars do, what are you whining about?"

[AutobahnSHO]

Yeah my 2003 Odyssey (and 2012 Odyssey) stay on auto.
For heat they wait until the engine was warm enough, then blow dash and floor.
For A/C they turn on right away and toggle between recirculate or fresh (depending) and blow through dash vents.

[Laconian]

The Outback also waited for the engine to warm up before blowing.

A nice aspect but overall the Outback had a pretty lame HVAC system. Tepid heater and seat warmers. The seat warmers never got therapeutically hot. The impression was "incontinence bath" at best

[AutobahnSHO]

The Outback also waited for the engine to warm up before blowing.

A nice aspect but overall the Outback had a pretty lame HVAC system. Tepid heater and seat warmers. The seat warmers never got therapeutically hot. The impression was "incontinence bath" at best

Interesting. Impreza the seat warmers took a long time to warm up (as long as engine heat)  but got uncomfortably hot.

[giant_mtb]

Interesting. Impreza the seat warmers took a long time to warm up (as long as engine heat)  but got uncomfortably hot.

Was never a big fan of seat heaters, especially ones that are overly warm.  If it's cold outside, I'm dressed for it...throwing a bunch of heat on my back while the air temp warms up in the vehicle is just gonna make my back start sweating.

Now, heated steering wheels on the other hand...I'm all for that.  Soooo nice having warm hands without gloves on while the car warms up.

[Morris Minor]

Another vote here for heated steering wheels over heated seats.

Vented seats on the other hand... love those.

[Laconian]

Was never a big fan of seat heaters, especially ones that are overly warm.  If it's cold outside, I'm dressed for it...throwing a bunch of heat on my back while the air temp warms up in the vehicle is just gonna make my back start sweating.

Now, heated steering wheels on the other hand...I'm all for that.  Soooo nice having warm hands without gloves on while the car warms up.

EVs gave out powerful seat heaters like candy because it's much more energy efficient to warm individuals directly than it is to heat the entire cabin. So instead of making the cabin 72 degrees you might do 69 plus a heater.

Not sure if the tradeoff is quite so clear cut with heat pumps though. Pumps can move something like 5 or 6 joules of heat per joule consumed.