bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
Graham was the one who set up a Roadster test drive for me in November 2010 - a week later I was wiring money to Tesla as a downpayment. Say hello to him for me next time you're in store!
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Graham was the one who set up a Roadster test drive for me in November 2010 - a week later I was wiring money to Tesla as a downpayment. Say hello to him for me next time you're in store!
NigelM
Recovering Member
Ditto....Graham was the person who called me after I filled out an online enquiry and I too ended up writing out a check. He's doing a good job here.
Tommy
Member
Thanks Arnold for taking photos of the green exterior and grey interior; you are a man of your word!
Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
No problem. FWIW, my friend's wife, who had never seen the car and was really only interested in the colors and such thought the green was the nicest of the five cars we saw. When it first drove up she quickly thought it was black, then as it went into the sun she saw it was clearly green. We both commented that it's dark enough that it is definitely attractive and not a cheesy, lighter green. She also was definitely in favor of a grey interior over tan for the green car.
I want to echo Arnold's remarks. I only got a chance to briefly talk to Graham because he was so busy working hard. Laying out a suitable route here was more challeging than in Fremont were there were large expanses of Tesla's private property.
I want to also thank the entire Tesla team, Will, Dustin and Colette and her Palo Alto team. The place was infused with enthusiasm and good natured accommodation!
What a blast! :biggrin:
Larry
Tommy
Member
Wow, all these great photos being posted just goes to prove Florida is the Sunshine State; keep them coming!
teslasguy
MSP P#1117
Last but not least, the highlight of the event for me was that a very nice guy asked if he could put this gigantic box into the car I was going to test drive before I went out. I quickly realized what it was and blurted "You're South Florida Author!" and started yammering with him about his opportunity console, to which both our wives promptly rolled their eyes at us :redface::tongue: He was extremely nice and obviously I gave him all the time he needed to check the fit of his prototype. I have to tell you -- it looked phenomenal! Those who are unhappy with the storage etc. are really going to love what he's done. My wife is already negotiating to help get his inevitable business off the ground because I think he's going to sell a lot of them :wink::biggrin:
BTW, a couple of Tesla employees took pictures of the model as well -- they were clearly excited to be seeing it in person as well, and were very supportive of SoFlaAuthor's efforts. That was really cool to see! I also cut off his face on purpose in case he didn't want his face all over the internet
Anyway, I'm posting my pictures below, most of which are of the green car, the gray interior and the opportunity console prototype. It was very sunny when I took these, so the car looks pretty good, but the opp console was tough to get a good picture of because of the shadows. There's one surprise at the end -- a prototype of something that an engineer in working on in Palo Alto. I already told the Tesla rep who had it that I want to place an order immediately!
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Thx for the shout-out, Arnold. I really enjoyed the event. Lot's of very nice comments about the CCI as well. Work continues and more progress is being made every day.
And about cutting off my head ... you're photo-editing makes me look much better than I look in person
Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
A couple of other notes from my test drive. Visibility through the rear window is terrible. I drive plenty of rental cars and have never experienced such a poor view with what looks like a fairly large blind spot. I love the backup camera and that it can be on while driving because I'll probably end up using it to supplement the rear view mirror.
The shift stalk, cruise control and wiper stalk are all not only Mercedes products, but are in exactly the same position as they are in Mercedes cars (at least they are in my wife's GL and my in-laws S class). For those who found it awkward, I can assure you it will become comfortable and routine pretty quickly. Presumably Mercedes did some research on where best to position these, and Tesla followed their example. Mercedes has been using them for at least six years because my wife's previous car was an R class and had it as well.
The shift stalk, cruise control and wiper stalk are all not only Mercedes products, but are in exactly the same position as they are in Mercedes cars (at least they are in my wife's GL and my in-laws S class). For those who found it awkward, I can assure you it will become comfortable and routine pretty quickly. Presumably Mercedes did some research on where best to position these, and Tesla followed their example. Mercedes has been using them for at least six years because my wife's previous car was an R class and had it as well.
Arnold, have you driven a Gen-2 Prius? I find it to have rather bad rearward visibility, and I wonder how you might think Model S compares. I didn't notice particularly poor visibility on my test drive, but I didn't have to make many lane changes so I might not have noticed blind spot issues.
Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
I once drive a Prius and thought the rear visibility wasn't good. But for a car the size of the Model S the rear window seems tiny, and is super-sloped so that the view is obscured. What makes me worry about blind spots is that within my field of vision in the rear view mirror were all four sides of the frame holding the window, so whatever I should have been able to see in that space was blocked by the frame both left and right of the window. I've never seen that before.
I know the car is designed to maximize aerodynamics so it's a worthwhile compromise by Tesla, but just something I'll definitely have to get used to, and will have to get used to relying on the side mirrors even more.
When the mirrors are adjust correctly, there are no blind spots in the Prius (Note: Turning the Homelink mirror so that the buttons are at the top makes the mirror match the window and improves the rear view). I expect proper mirror adjustment will eliminate any blind spots with the Model S as well.
Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
I hope you are right. I was just surprised at how much of the frame on all sides of the rear window I saw through my mirror. This means much more reliance on the side view mirrors. I'm sure after some time behind the wheel it will become second natures but it was definitely so,etching I noticed during the test drive.
I did have a chance to fiddle with the Model S mirrors at the Palo Alto event, for what it's worth. I was able to adjust the side mirror so that its field of view overlapped the interior rear-view mirror. The only thing I wasn't able to establish is whether, so adjusted, the side mirror's field of view was wide enough so that a car coming up along side would appear in my peripheral vision before completely disappearing from the side mirror. Hopefully so!
Just got back from Miami and I thought the test drive event was great. I got to drive the Pearl White one and it was fast! Also, I got to look at a few of the different interiors. I noticed the the Green car had the textile instead of leather and it looks really nice. For those who haven't seen it, I recomend it.
Kipernicus
Model S Res#P1440
How did Model S hold up in the Florida heat? A/C kept the car cool without sounding too strained? Pano roof block out enough light and heat?
The outside temperatures were in the 90's. We were comfortable on a low setting. I asked the co-pilot to turn up the AC all the way to check it out. My wife in the rear froze her knees.
Our car didn't have a panoramic roof, but I question whether an 8 minute ride would yield anything conclusive.
Larry
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