Back in March I was standing near someone who on seeing a Model 3 parking made derogatory comments about Tesla. He didn’t know that I was an owner & I didn’t respond directly but asked why he had that opinion….
He felt that Tesla drivers were like 'brand xyz' drivers - accelerating excessively, unnecessary speeding, dangerous overtaking and last minute cutting in. He also used the phrase “…boy racer d!*k heads”. A sweeping unfair generalisation & probably based on a single case but maybe he had a point?
On another occasion last year I’d chatted to a Model X owner at a supercharger & he voiced similar opinions about Model 3 drivers, the inference being that the cars were becoming too common & attracting the ‘wrong sort’ of drivers (came across as superior & elitist).
This past week there were two instances that reminded me of those conversations….
In the first, I'd just collected my granddaughter from the child minder & stopped at busy lights in the town centre behind a blue Model 3. On green he set off ridiculously fast (30 limit!), maybe expecting me to race him & show off as well.
On the second occasion a white Model 3 Performance, sunny day with fog lights blazing suddenly jumped 4 cars in a long line of traffic ending up two vehicles in front of me, slamming on & back down to 40 . It got him nowhere but caused the just avoided oncoming car to flash & the little Kia in front of me to brake very hard, swerve & hoot. At that instance it felt quite uncomfortable & embarrassing to be driving another white Model 3.
All Teslas are great to drive, easily manage long journeys, are full of clever, ever evolving tech and are good for the environment but they are very fast & probably encourage some owners to drive like this ‘just because we can?’ I know this is a small minority & I see Model 3s driving sedately on many local journeys but people tend to react to the negatives and opinions form based on that.
It’s bad enough to see public concern about the high purchase cost of EVs, range anxiety, unreliable charging infrastructure & who knows what else but the last thing we need is for Teslas to wind up both petrol heads and the nodding dog brigade at the same time - no doubt the press would love that.
I admit to sometimes enjoying the performance of my car in the appropriate circumstances (it’s hard not to but hopefully in a manner befitting my age) & am considering replacing it with a Model Y in a couple of years, probably a performance version if I’m given the option to continue using a tow hook.
However it’s the sort of behaviour above that other people remember & if it starts to label us with an immature, showy, irresponsible reputation I will probably look elsewhere than Tesla.
He felt that Tesla drivers were like 'brand xyz' drivers - accelerating excessively, unnecessary speeding, dangerous overtaking and last minute cutting in. He also used the phrase “…boy racer d!*k heads”. A sweeping unfair generalisation & probably based on a single case but maybe he had a point?
On another occasion last year I’d chatted to a Model X owner at a supercharger & he voiced similar opinions about Model 3 drivers, the inference being that the cars were becoming too common & attracting the ‘wrong sort’ of drivers (came across as superior & elitist).
This past week there were two instances that reminded me of those conversations….
In the first, I'd just collected my granddaughter from the child minder & stopped at busy lights in the town centre behind a blue Model 3. On green he set off ridiculously fast (30 limit!), maybe expecting me to race him & show off as well.
On the second occasion a white Model 3 Performance, sunny day with fog lights blazing suddenly jumped 4 cars in a long line of traffic ending up two vehicles in front of me, slamming on & back down to 40 . It got him nowhere but caused the just avoided oncoming car to flash & the little Kia in front of me to brake very hard, swerve & hoot. At that instance it felt quite uncomfortable & embarrassing to be driving another white Model 3.
All Teslas are great to drive, easily manage long journeys, are full of clever, ever evolving tech and are good for the environment but they are very fast & probably encourage some owners to drive like this ‘just because we can?’ I know this is a small minority & I see Model 3s driving sedately on many local journeys but people tend to react to the negatives and opinions form based on that.
It’s bad enough to see public concern about the high purchase cost of EVs, range anxiety, unreliable charging infrastructure & who knows what else but the last thing we need is for Teslas to wind up both petrol heads and the nodding dog brigade at the same time - no doubt the press would love that.
I admit to sometimes enjoying the performance of my car in the appropriate circumstances (it’s hard not to but hopefully in a manner befitting my age) & am considering replacing it with a Model Y in a couple of years, probably a performance version if I’m given the option to continue using a tow hook.
However it’s the sort of behaviour above that other people remember & if it starts to label us with an immature, showy, irresponsible reputation I will probably look elsewhere than Tesla.
