I's also a Tesla enthusiast who is not an owner yet, and probably wont be for while. I have been following Tesla since before the first roadster was delivered. Every time I am in a city with a Tesla store, I always stop in. My wife accusing me of secretly working for Tesla, has I have about a half dozen Tesla polo and T-shirts I picked up on these visits in my closet (in fact, my boss once asked me if I work for Tesla on the side, as I wear the Tesla shirts to work frequently). When the first picture of whitestar leaked out (not long before it officially became Model S), I was so excited about it that I immediately emailed the picture to my dad, who responded that it looks like a jag, and wanted to know if it got better MPG than my current car. On the day of the TSLA IPO, I bought bought in with the thought that I may not make money on the investment, but I want to be a part owner of my favorite company. In hindsight, I wish I has bought much more stock than I did.
My wife made me promise not to put down a deposit without actually sitting in the car first, so when Model S Beta vin #14 made its way to the Dania Beach showroom, I scheduled a business trip to my companies office nearby, and stopped in to check it out. I came home with reservation number P8661. When the get amped events came around, I cashed in some skymiles and went to the LA event. To say I was blown away by the car is an understatement, and I probably never forget pulling up to the "floor it" sign on jack northrop way, and rocketing past the SpaceX factory in my dream car (I am a huge space enthusiast as well, and actually found out about Tesla while looking up info on the newly formed space company SpaceX).
I sat happy with my reservation for a while, but it slowly became obvious to me that the 40 kWh pack was not going to have anywhere near the 160 mile range advertized at the time, and due to the fact that one day a week I drive 100 miles round trip, I really needed to be looking at the 60 kWh pack, not the 40 that I had squeezed into the budget. When the service plan pricing was announced to be mandatory to keep your warranty, that was the final straw that pushed the Model S out of my budget. I tearfully called Tesla and cancelled my reservation. At that point, I really needed a new car, as I had been limping a 10 year old Pontiac along hoping to make it until my Tesla arrived, so I did the only thing an EV enthusiast with a budget and a long daily commute could do, and went to the local Chevy dealer and signed a lease on a Volt. My original intent was to lease the volt for the years, and then get a Gen III when I turn the volt back into the dealer in late 2015. With Gen III being pushed back to 2016-2017, that plan looks to have unraveled, so I am trying to come up with a new strategy that will eventually result in a Tesla in my garage. Current options being evaluated are to looked for a gently used Model S, Try to sign a short term lease on a different car to bridge the gap between my volt and Gen III, or to simply find a way to save up enough cash to bridge the gap to get me into a new Model S. I guess I still have 2 1/2 years to figure that one out.
