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The steering is also adjustable, from firm to sloppy loose soft. Someone suggested making it speed-dependent.
It can be adjustable and speed dependent

I think regen would benefit from a "speed sensitive" setting. Heavy for low speeds, stop and go driving, lower for highway speeds, to not have the immediate decel... And I am sure that there is an optimal setting for range which varies with speed.

+1 for "speed sensitive steering" setting. Which is really speed sensitive power assist...

+1, I also agree with the "speed sensitive steering" setting

Regen kills mpg on the Prius, it's just better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick when you have to stop anyway. Allowing the car to glide (no power no regen) increases mpg a lot because all the kinetic energy is used for motion rather than some of it heating up the motors and battery.

Thank goodness MPG has nothing to do with the Model S.

Jerry is correct. George Blankenship was less than precisce in his blog. Turning down regen should not cost economy. In order of savings; dont drive, coast, regen, friction brake... regen at best loses something like 15% over coasting. Regen does work when the prius in front stops faster than you can coast down to avoid bending metal...

jbunn;
right. Less guesswork involved than coasting!

I drove a lexus RX450 last night. Very interesting to examine the regen on this car. I had never had the pleasure to drive with a hybrid before.

When you step off the gas pedal, the car starts with the regen. It is nice to see this in the dashboard too. When you hit the brakes, the regen increases.

Having this experience, I don't really agree with the speed sensitive regen. You can actually feel the regen very well, going fast and going slow. I don't see how you would prefer to have it changed depending on the speed.

When you go fast, you will automatically "brake" a little. When you go slow, you don't want your car to "brake" harder when you step off the electric pedal then going fast. It would be super annoying.

I drive my wife's lexus RX400h and don't feel the regen braking requires any driving adjustment. However, I do hear the a slight high pitch sound in the rear when braking. I hope this does not occur on the Model S

I was wondering if the Model S will turn on the brake lights when the car decelerates quickly due to regen or when adjusting its speed automatically with cruise control enabled? I would think this is a safety requirement. The last 3 hybrid cars I've had (Prius, Rx450h & Panamera) all do this when cruise control is used. The Panamera will also flash the brake lights when decelerating "very" quickly.

Brake lights will go on during regen, but I don't know what the threshold is.

@araxara, did you, family or friends own the three hybrids or did you just go for a test drive at the dealership?

@ bfadewole: No, I've owned/own all three cars. I still have the RX450h and the Panamera. The Prius was sold to make room for a Nissan Leaf.

Alex, I guess you'll probably be planning to sell one of the other two "to make room" for the Model S, which one will go? Where do you live, I wouldn't mind coming over to test ride those cars.

BTW, did you change your handle as I believe I was responding to a araxara?

bfadewole;
Maybe he's Japanese, and "araxara" was phonetic?

(-_^)

@bfadewole: I'll probably sell the Leaf. It's actually a lease, so I may buy it out and then sell it. I live in Tucson, AZ. You're welcome to come by.

Yes, I changed my username from araxara to Alex K. It's a bit more descriptive. I was having problems when I registered originally and just picked araxara. I found out last night that the username was changeable.

Thanks Alex for the offer, hopefully something brings me that way but I'm in Houston TX and that's 16 hours from you.