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Hello from Los Altos (SF Bay Area)

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Hi,

I'm a long-time lurker in TMC and thought I should finally introduce myself. I've followed Tesla with great interest since before the Roadster shipped and purchased the Ion Blue "Final 5" Roadster almost a year ago. I haven't posted before because despite my somewhat flashy car, I am a fairly private person. With that said, I will attempt to answer the obvious questions now.

Why did I pay a premium for one of the "Final 5"? I wanted a Roadster since before they were shipping, and when I realized there were still a few brand new Roadsters left, I somewhat impulsively decide to go for it and since the car is really fully loaded (all the carbon fiber, etc.), the premium wasn't quite a high as it appears. I wasn't fond of the black stripes initially, but in person it actually looks really good and now I'm very happy with how the car looks.

Do you drive it? Yes - I drive the car pretty much every day to work and back (about 20 miles round trip), plus occasionally picking up or dropping off one of my children, going to the airport, groceries, etc. Basically any time I don't need more space than 2!

What do I like? Super fun to drive. The smooth, strong acceleration is really addicting. The other thing I now really appreciate after owning the car for almost a year is the convenience. It is super nice never having to stop for gas and never having to worry about whether I can make one more trip without refilling. I never have range anxiety now, with the ICE I had range anxiety every week or so as the tank got close to empty. I'm not sure non-EV owners really appreciate this.

What don't I like? A bit noisier than I'd like (blue-tooth works but quality not great), radio reception not as good as I'd like. Despite these minor annoyance, I am very happy with the Roadster and still enjoy driving it every day.

What do I do? I am a software engineer, but I started (and sold) a few small companies so I can afford to live in Los Altos Hills and drive a Roadster, but not wealthy enough that I don't have to work (well, maybe if I lived really frugally but that's hard to do with two teenagers and a wife!). I currently work at a very large company doing consumer electronics type product, and somewhat to my surprise having a good time.

Why did I buy the Roadster? Largely because it is super fun to drive, but also because I strongly believe in the future of electric vehicles and felt I wanted to be a part of it in some small way. To me, electric vehicles seem inevitable. In almost every way, they are already superior. The only real weakness now is the batteries, and they are getting better every year. Maybe not by much each year, but it really adds up.

Anyhow, Hello!, and now that I've put in this welcome post, maybe I'll post a bit more going forward!

PS: I'm seeing in incredible number of Model S on the road ... it seems like I see 1-2 every day! Very exciting.
 
Welcome. And yeah, we'd love to see pics if you can. A little over a year ago I was at the Menlo Park store and saw one of the red final-5 cars. I asked if they had the blue, and they said sure, they'd take me to see it...we walked all across the property and couldn't find it. They were a little worried about having misplaced the car. I'm glad they ended up finding it so they could sell it!

Doesn't look like it moved far away from home.
 
Thanks for the story. I am surprised I haven't spotted you driving around since I live fairly close.

I think this was a pic of your car when it was new:
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