It's fascinating to see all the different opinions people have of those who had a reservation.
Especially the folks who seem to hold so much hate in their brains for people who just wanted a good EV.
I'm in that camp. I specifically waited for the Model 3. I believe in Tesla's mission. I am the target market. I want a good value car for a reasonable price. I want it to be electric. I want it to be made by a company that actually wants to change the world.
So when reservations began I put mine in immediately.
Then I waited. Patiently. No muss no fuss. It would happen when it happened. I stayed away from these forums because there was just so much negativity and ill-informed speculation about the motives of people with reservations.
Then recently they got a Model 3 in at the Atlanta showroom. That changed everything. With the Model 3, Model S, and the Model X on display, I could finally do the one thing that gave me pause about my reservation. I could actually sit my 6'3" 290 lb body in each of the cars and see how they felt. That changed everything.
It wasn't about patience, or greed, or gaming the system. It never was.
It was bout finding the right car. I'm not wealthy. I'm not hurting either. I make about $100k/year and so does my husband. We're comfortable. Our plan was to wait and buy 2 Model 3s. We don't need super speed or super distance or anything else, really. The basic car was fine with us. Until we sat in one.
The Model S was simply too small. My head was touching the ceiling in the back seat (I ride there often) and the front seat was very uncomfortably tight to me, no matter how I adjusted the seat.
The Model 3 was much better. It still felt tight both front and back, but I would be happy with it as a daily car. It's just not enough to do road trips.
Now road trips was never one of our requirements. We don't take them very often and so we hadn't thought about it.
When I sat in the Model X that changed. Suddenly I thought about a whole bunch of road trips I'd like to take. We've never explored the National Parks. We've never explored the midwest or the southwest or the Pacific coast or even the east coast. We've talked about them all, but never really explored it. Sitting in the Model X we started talking about it again. "Man, wouldn't it be cool to drive this around the Grand Canyon? Or up the coast in Fall for the leaves?"
Plus it was FAR more comfortable than either the Model S or 3. And then we test drove it. It was great.
And suddenly we were okay staying a 1-car family, and making that car an investment. At 55, it's the most expensive car I've ever bought. By a factor of 3+. The payments will be more than our mortgage. The insurance increases by $200/month. In every way, it's a stretch, but one we will manage just fine.
In the end, we canceled our Model 3 reservation. We bought the 75 Model X in blue with EAP. It arrives in June.
We had no hidden agenda. We weren't gaming the reservation system. We weren't trying cheat or resell anything. We just changed our mind.