Get Amped Tour: Chicago, 7/26 - 7/28

[cinergi]

Question: with the exception of the color of the car, will I have the opportunity to test drive the car closest to my designed reservation or is it pretty much line up and drive whatever they have when it is your turn?

My experience has been they let you choose between perf and non-perf. You get a number for your 1 hour window to control who goes first.. if the car that's available isn't what you want, they simply give the ride to the next person and you get the next car.

There's a static car for checking out, too (probably not in the combo you want). It's hard to check out the interiors of the ones in rotation but if you hang around, you can at least see it from the outside as people are coming and going.

 

[Mkent]

I will want to drive the performance for sure and would like to see the pano roof v. non-pano roof for the headroom issue. I am leaning towards the pano roof for the extra head room. Thanks for the information. I cannot wait until Thursday!

My apologies in advance to all the natives in the greater Chicago area. If you see smiling face and hear a little slow talking twang, it is only this good old boy from South Carolina having a huge time behind the wheel in a Tesla Model S!!!

 

[dsm363]

Thursday people: Join a few of us for lunch at the Double Tree Hotel (where the event is) at Foxes Sports Bar and Grille. We'll be wearing Tesla gear I'm sure.

 

[Longhorn92]

Posted on Tesla's facebook page: Blue, Black, Grey, Silver

 

[tnawara]

My session's from 11-12 tomorrow (Thursday). Looking forward to seeing TMC members there.

It's unfortunate that Miami's getting the Green and Sunset Red cars (two of my top three color choices), but I'm looking forward to driving the car - whatever the color.

 

[Mkent]

Awesome color choices! All four are on my list as final selections! I should be able to finalize my color choice after the test drive. Now, I only need to know how soon Tesla will be able to deliver my wonderful car?

By the way, I read the new Motor Trend Mag on the airline during the flight to Chicago today. Can you say they are big fans? The answer is YES!

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow at 10AM!

 

[IlliniT]

I'm slotted for 10 am Thursday. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

 

[raptorweb]

Here is the route

 

[Longhorn92]

raptorweb: Thanks for posting the route!!

I mapped it online, and the course is about 4.75 miles long. There are many sweeping turns as well as two one mile straightaways (Roosevelt Rd and Frontage Rd). If memory serves me correctly, there are only two stop lights on the entire course (at hotel intersection and at 16th and Kingery).

 

[zdre]

Route on Google Maps

 

[dsm363]

That was fun! Good meeting Liz G and raptorweb. There are already a lot of reviews so I'll just add to the 'It's awesome' chorus. Really fun car, very quick, easy to get into and out of and the 17" screen is awesome. It wasn't that bright outside but I didn't even notice there was a pano roof. No glare on screen.

 

[kcveins]

Thanks for putting up the map! I know the area well and that course has a good few turns - I'm getting to do my test drive on Saturday.

 

[Brian H]

That was fun! Good meeting Liz G and raptorweb. There are already a lot of reviews so I'll just add to the 'It's awesome' chorus. Really fun car, very quick, easy to get into and out of and the 17" screen is awesome. It wasn't that bright outside but I didn't even notice there was a pano roof. No glare on screen.

What!?!? Lissen, there ain't never enuf reviews! The vicarious experience is 51% of the point. Get on the stick and put up your turn-by-turn diary. Stat!
:cursing:

 

[Mkent]

Ok guys! I just got back from Chicago to Greenville, SC after being AMPed up! I drove the black performance Model S since I am ordering the performance version. In short, it was awesome! Now this comes froma guy who has blessed with nice cars during his first fifty years. My V10 M6 BMW would go 0-60 in 3.6 and was the closest thing to a rocket I ever drove until today. On the frontage road, my guide asked me to stop and open it up on a 0-60 run. While unofficial, we timed it at 4,2 which makes me feel solid about the 4.4 claims by Tesla. The constant torque of the electric motor will bring a smile to the most die hard ICE guy! While the fit and finish inside was not as tight as my 7 series BMW, I did not except that to be anyway. After all BMW has been making top quality cars for a long time, but what I will tell you guys, I was so impressed with the quality of the Model S, handling, acceleration, braking, and overall performance, my wife and I are definitely buying the Model S and placing a Model X order for her and getting rid of all of our fancy ICE's!

Now colors are like food, a personal taste; however, all four of my favorites were there (grey, silver, black, and blue). While I liked them all, my wife was blown away by how good looking the grey color was. I have read a lot of flack about the grey in some of the forums, but it is really beautiful in person.

In short, Tesla has a winner on their hands, and I hope everyone in Chicago has as much fun as I did!

Getting AMPed down south,

Mark


C

 

[MikeK]

Congrats! I wish I could have seen those colors again. I'm interested to know what you and your wife thought of the blue.

 

[Brian H]

MK;
"While the fit and finish inside was not as tight as my 7 series BMW, I did not except [expect] that to be anyway."
Very interesting comment. Many have excoriated TM for slackness in that area, and Elon calls those problems aggravating to his perfectionist tendencies.

About the Model X reservation: have you seen a prototype in person? And -- what res. # did you get? Post when you get it if you haven't reserved yet!
:smile:

As for the "getting rid of" part: do you intend to use the TM trade-in system, or will you do the dumping privately?

 

[ohaq]

Chicago Test Drive

Did my drive yesterday. I wanted to sign up for Saturday but it was full so I had to take a day off. Even though I will be getting the 40kWh battery I drove the performance model. I was like I cant wait in the line anymore just let me drive any car.

The route was perfect to test every thing. The roads were not that bumpy or the ride was so smooth that it felt that way. Nice curvy road, car was nicely planted on the road. The passenger in the back seat got a headache, maybe he should have had his seat belt on. I went at 80 several times from 0 and then again from 50 and it was fun all the time. On frontage road, the co-pilot said you can test regenerative breaking here, I said let me test the breaks. I went at 80 (floored the padel), well you cant go more than that. They have limited the speed, then I floored the brake, that was fun. My cousin in the back seat said once more. Well there was a stop sign at the end of the road so I did it once more. My co-pilot was great he let me do what ever I wanted.

Oh by the way I have driven these cars Mercedes benz ML 350 (2008), Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Hyundai Elantra. The smoothness was a bit better than the Camry. In quietness it just beats all of them easily. The speed pickup was better than all these cars. The handling was great, I wont even compare it to the other cars I have driven. This car had a great handling. I liked both Normal and Sport steering modes. The turn signal in Tesla are from Benz but I don't have a problem with that because I am used to it. I liked the one in Tesla better than the ones in ML350. The ones in ML 350 are stiffer. The ones in Tesla were softer, these may be the new ones that Mercedes may have improved after 2008 or from another benz model even though they look exactly the same.

I though I would just say that it was a great drive but ended up writing the above. This means it was really good. My cousin in the end said that Tesla will eat all the other cars up. He thinks that EVs wont work out. So he said that I don't know if electric vehicles will be the future but Tesla has built a great car.

The screens were sharp crisp perfect, no glare. Every thing was clear easy to read and reach.

The only regret I have is that it was only a short drive. I drove from michigan around 5 hours to test drive for 10 mins and then back home 5 hours, but it was worth it.

 

[Mkent]

Sorry for the delay guys, but being out all day yesterday has forced me to work a little today.

Answers:

1. My wife loved the blue, but she felt it was not a special standout color like the grey. Personally, I was going to select the blue until I saw the grey in person

2. I am going to sell both BMW's privately and already have them spoken for (yea!)

3. My model x reservation number is performance 1284. I have not seen the prototype in person, but feel another AMPed up tour will be on the way for the Model X as well!

Mark

 

[Meursault]

Quick question - did the Chicago Amp tour drivers receive a second confirmation email after registering for the test drive? I have the Congrats confirmation from the site when I registered, but never received anything more about the event. Yes, I am paranoid.

 

[Longhorn92]

I only received one confirmation e-mail right after registering.