Looking for your stories: funny/touching experiences with your car

[leilanimunter]

As I anxiously await delivery of our Model S in North Carolina, I'm putting something together about "Tesla Psychosis" and so far that is the best thread I have found with both funny and touching stories from Tesla owners:

The Tesla Psychosis | Forums | Tesla Motors

I am sure there are other great threads, so if you think of any I should look at, please link to them for me! I have heard some funny stories about people being followed in their cars by enthusiasts who want to ask questions, etc. If you are willing, I would love to hear your funny/inspiring personal stories about your experiences with your Tesla - Roadster or Model S. Thanks everyone!

 

[cschock]

Some stories

I've had funny negative and positive reactions: Negative Was driving along the highway heading to pick up my daughter at school and a pickup cruised up along side (exceeding the speed limit, don't you know) with a "XYZABC Auto Parts" logo on the side. As I looked over the passenger flipped me off as they roared ahead. I could only laugh at the feeble attempt to intimidate the future. Positive Was coming out of the supermarket and a rather scantily dressed young lady was near my car. As I walked up she said: "Is this your car?" I said "yes." She breathlessly wanted to know "Is it a Lexus? Oh my god it's so cool looking." Now, this wouldn't be funny, but seriously when has a Lexus ever been cool looking?

 

[cinergi]

Aaron.S I need your help here -- but for some reason I'm reminded of our TeslaRoadTrip where we had the @TeslaRoadTrip signs on our windows and at some point in our journey, someone tweeted us that they had just passed us on their way back from picking up their puppy ... or something. But I can't find it. That was pretty awesome

 

[SCW-Greg]

Tonight I went to pick up a pizza, parked with windows down. Walked in and waited, but saw a guy hop in his car right next to mine, pull out and start to leave. I could see him looking at my car, stop and look for a minute. Then he pulled back in and parked again. Got out of his car, and walk over to check out my car for a few minutes. Then got back into his car and waited for me to come back out.

Pizza now in hand, we chatted for about 10 minutes. He was obviously moved / excited about the car... enough to stop and take this extra time to learn more. Good guy, fun conversation.

Also happened this morning stopping off at a grocery store. Walked in and the guy at Starbucks said nice car. Kind of caught me off guard, as I didn't think he could have seen me park. He then took another employee and walked out to the parking lot to check it out. Said he had never seen one in person before.

Passed a guy in a nice Ford King Ranch, at about 75mph... as I passed him, he took time out to roll his window down, and give me a thumbs up.

Also had one guy, I think, flip me off. There were a lot of other cars around, so not 100% sure. But no one was doing anything stupid either. If that was the case, I don't get why someone would have that kind of attitude about it. Makes you wonder how many others, under their breath, feel this way.

 

[brianman]

Was coming out of the supermarket and a rather scantily dressed young lady was near my car. As I walked up she ... breathlessly wanted ...

Sometimes imagination can be an obstacle. I lost track of the rest of your story.

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Pizza now in hand, we chatted for about 10 minutes.

I'm constantly reminded that I should never be in a hurry, because likely buyers (after they've evolved from curious gawkers) are everywhere wanting to ask questions about the car. I do find myself getting a little weary of answering the basic questions that are covered on the Options & Pricing page.

If you're in-tune enough to be aware of the Tesla brand and that it's making waves, it should be absolutely obvious that they have a web site and that it's probably worth your time to, say, load it and click the obvious links for more info.

 

[PhilBa]

I just passed 4 weeks of ownership. Nothing quite prepared me for the outpouring of interest, excitement and the occasional negative.
Negatives:

• My rather well heeled neighbor called my Model S a "Status Car" and said she was sorry to see I'd bought one. This is the same woman who said it was unfair that I had found a girlfriend so soon after my divorce (1.5 years after, huh?).
• I've gotten several junior bird man salutes. Funniest one was from a guy and his girlfriend in a GTi. The girl gives me a thumbs up and the guy then flips me off. I laughed all the way home.
• Probably the worst are the guys in pseudo-hot cars (think rice rockets and shelbys) that feel the need to aggressively cut me off or otherwise challenge me. One guy refused to let me pass him by weaving between two lanes, even though he was going less than the speed limit. This never happened to me in my Prius.

Positives:

• Literally three hours after I pickup the car from the distribution center I got the now cliched "What kind of car is that?" "Tesla Model S", "Who makes it?", "uh, Tesla".
• Lots of thumbs up, waves and "Beautiful Car".
• Daily showings and q&a sessions on what it's like to own an EV - range, charging, etc.
• I get a kick out of showing off the frunk. I say, "Let's see what's under the hood", pop it open and then exclaim "Nothing!". Most people, accustomed to seeing an incomprehensible mass of metal, wires, pipes, hoses and so on, are floored by it.
• Wildest one: I was driving past a cyclist who started waving and screaming. I stopped thinking he needed help or some such. Instead he comes up to the car and starts going on about how cool the car is, how I'm going to heaven for being so "environmental" and that it was pure porn, car porn.

 

[Doug_G]

• My rather well heeled neighbor called my Model S a "Status Car" and said she was sorry to see I'd bought one. This is the same woman who said it was unfair that I had found a girlfriend so soon after my divorce (1.5 years after, huh?).

Whaa? There isn't a mandatory mourning period after a divorce! Nutty person.

• Probably the worst are the guys in pseudo-hot cars (think rice rockets and shelbys) that feel the need to aggressively cut me off or otherwise challenge me. One guy refused to let me pass him by weaving between two lanes, even though he was going less than the speed limit. This never happened to me in my Prius.

Wow, I've never encountered anything like this. The most I've had is someone try to drag race me out of a stop light.

• I get a kick out of showing off the frunk. I say, "Let's see what's under the hood", pop it open and then exclaim "Nothing!". Most people, accustomed to seeing an incomprehensible mass of metal, wires, pipes, hoses and so on, are floored by it.

That's my favorite. When they say, "oh, must be rear engine" I open the back. "Maybe it's under this cover? Nope, more storage!"


I actually had one guy ask me, "Does this car actually move?" "Quite well, thank you!"

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

how I'm going to heaven for being so "environmental"

I can imagine the look on your face... :wink:

 

[PhilBa]

I can imagine the look on your face... :wink:

Yeah, about 3 things went through my head: I'm an atheist, how does environmentalism relate to the afterlife and, perhaps the nerdiest, he must have flunked English class.

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Whaa? There isn't a mandatory mourning period after a divorce! Nutty person.

Lol, more like a mandatory party period! I could go on about the strange interactions with this person (I have trees that block her view. I love my trees, being an "environmental") but that's clearly OT, even more so than this posting...

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... Positive Was coming out of the supermarket and a rather scantily dressed young lady was near my car. As I walked up she said: "Is this your car?" I said "yes." She breathlessly wanted to know "Is it a Lexus? Oh my god it's so cool looking." Now, this wouldn't be funny, but seriously when has a Lexus ever been cool looking?

So, do we have to read the rest of that story in Penthouse Forum?

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

My sig line has all/most of my cars stories. Yesterday I finally saw the other Model S in Eureka(CA) and was driving a state vehicle. I hauled ass up on the guy and pulled up next to him then matched speed, like everyone does to a Model S they haven't seen ... and instead of a thumbs up I held up my key fob and waited for him to look over.
He did a double take then smiled big! :biggrin:


...I also needed to get a Snell helmet for hillclimbs and need a new signature next year (please)!
thinking about doing a second hill climb(Bible Creek) in a couple of weeks - it was just too much fun!
like the car!

You(anyone for that matter) should come to CA next year and do the Hoopa hillclimb. It is a blast

 

[Rastalew]

We've had our car for about 6 weeks now and it's been mostly positive feedback:

Friends and neighbors and I have been whooshing up and down our rural street cackling madly-- it's fun and infectious, spreading the Tesla grin.

Bicyclists seem to love the Model S-- we get a lot of bike racers in our neighborhood on the weekends and they always wave and thumbs up the car as we cruise silently by. Maybe they appreciate the lack of foul exhaust fumes in their face as they are laboring up our hills.

Other EV owners (especially Leaf owners) usually wave and smile. Some Prius owners refuse to acknowledge the car's existence. Of course, when we see another Model S, there's usually a frenzy of lights flashing, hand gestures, unintelligible shouts and smiles as we glide past each other.

Kids, most of all, get the most excited: in parking lots, on the streets, at stop signs and stoplights-- kids will smile, wave, laugh, point, tug on their parents, yell "cool car!"-- it's almost embarrassing, but it's cool to see kids get it, even when their parents are like, "Tesla? Isn't that a rock group from the 80's?" We do end up connecting with an eighties hair band head banging salute, if nothing else.

There have been some negatives, too:

Probably the worst are the guys in pseudo-hot cars (think rice rockets and shelbys) that feel the need to aggressively cut me off or otherwise challenge me. One guy refused to let me pass him by weaving between two lanes, even though he was going less than the speed limit. This never happened to me in my Prius.

Like PhilBa's experience, a lot of angry guys in fast-ish cars...and yes, it never happened to me in my Prius either. Of course, I don't think I ever drove my Prius around with a s**t eating grin plastered permanently to my face...

I've gotten a lot of "Boy, I wish I was as rich as you are so I could afford one."-- This is a hard one, because I do feel lucky to afford a Model S, but as I try to tell people, it's not without sacrifice and frankly, it's the first car of this price range that I felt like I could justify buying-- even now, I feel a little defensive about it! (could be years of Catholic upbringing?) I usually go on into full Tesla ambassador spiel: This is an American company, designed and built in California, I love their vision of the future and if they can succeed now, just wait til the Gen III!, etc...

I had paint splashed on the car while it was parked at work once (which I think was an honest mistake that someone probably freaked out and took off-- probably almost as much as I freaked out when I came out and saw it-- thank goodness it came right off!) I haven't heard of any other acts of vandalism to EV's...

Overall, I've met a lot of really interested, supportive people who are genuinely intrigued by Tesla, by EVs and are looking for viable alternatives to break from the yoke of Big oil. I've gotten into in depth discussions about infrastructure, energy policy with complete strangers. I've high fived little kids in Canada. I've chatted with people while charging at random places around the northwest. It's been an amazing ride so far and it looks like that part of it will never change!

I look forward to what the next six weeks, six months and six years will bring!

 

[AudubonB]

I am at a bit - great big bit - of a disadvantage here, as you will soon read, but here's one:

I just sold my first Model S! Or even 2! And..... .... I haven't even received mine yet.

Here's how it happened: two of our guests last night are a newly-minted lawyer and a med student. When they heard that this Chief Toilet Scrubber out here in the Alaskan Bush is getting a Tesla, both of them decided....and the attorney, it very much appears, is about to pull the trigger....that they, too, would have to get one.

Now, it'll be a real p_____er if each ends up with his before I get mine - that won't occur until the first week of October. But who's counting days......

 

[Vexar]

In one very busy day:
I go into the service station to buy a car wash, as I was headed to the local Tesla owner's club. They ask if I am buying gas, and I say "There's nowhere to put it, my car's electric. See?"
The population in the store looks quizzically out the window. I exit the service station and head for the turn to the on-ramp, only to have some slime-ball in a large pickup-truck try to rev past me unsuccessfully (and was on phone, not looking, etc), begrudgingly slide in behind me, match my speed, and ram me at a yield sign. Cops took a statement and were very confused about my car, especially the model name: "what kind of car...Tesla Model S...Tesla". After a few sad minutes back at my house, I get back in my car and resolve to go (late) to the club meeting. After our meeting, we go outside, and there's this pair of teenagers and they are *beside* themselves with excitement. One asks if it's Italian, is told no, then keeps guessing! I guess he was chrome-blind. Insert "what kind of car...Tesla Model S...Tesla" dialogue here. I find out he knows my son, and he tries to convince me to bring my car to Tech. Ed. class at the high school for a "show and tell" day. That night with insurance, repeat the same "what kind of car...Tesla Model S...Tesla" dialogue again, despite it being on file with them!
So, the upswing of the story is my insurance provider is golden. They sent subrogation forces after the guy who rammed me with his... 1-ton ego-prosthetic with plow truck extension mounts. Check came this week for my deductible. Considering he hadn't responded one month later to his insurance for an accident statement, he either pretended it didn't happen, all the way to losing his insurance, or he paid up. It was the biggest day to introduce people to a Tesla.

I think my favorite moment was when I went to visit my friend, and he'd heard I was getting the car so I offered to give him a quick ride. His daughters get their shoes on to come for the ride, and I ask his wife if she wants to join us. She says she's not interested, turns up her nose, so I think nothing of it. As I am about to pull away, she comes running out, wide-eyed, yelling for us to wait. She thought it was a trivial car until she looked out the window and said as much.

Overall, my reaction experiences have been enthusiastic. The pickup truck guys have some sort of class-warfare hate out here; no issues from women in the same type of vehicle. I have had some truly delightful moments with talking to people about Tesla Motors, and one momentous parent-teacher conference which convened in my car.

 

[PhilBa]

@vexar, wow, that is quite a story. It sounds like you handled it as well as could be expected. Hope that no one else has to deal with that kind of problem. If I had to pick a part of the country where something like that would happen, I think the upper midwest would be about the last.

 

[cschock]

So, do we have to read the rest of that story in Penthouse Forum?

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't publish my letter considering I just drove off with my groceries and left her to lament owning her Chevy Impala. In fact, I'd bet money she still thinks a Tesla is a Lexus model. (She might not have been the brightest girl ever.)

 

[roblab]

I've gotten a lot of "Boy, I wish I was as rich as you are so I could afford one."--

I usually point out that most people make weekly payments amounting to $20,000 to $40,000 over the ten year life of their car, for gasoline. That alone makes the Tesla that much cheaper, AND there is no maintenance, etc. etc. etc. or replacement of failed gas engine parts. Most see the sense in that immediately, or it might take a few seconds of, "Really? Lets see... 80 bucks per week is so much per year is... OMG, I pay THAT MUCH???!!" So a Tesla is really only a $35,000 car, see? Plus options, of course.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

…/In fact, I'd bet money she still thinks a Tesla is a Lexus model. (She might not have been the brightest girl ever.)

Since I don’t want to derail the thread, I’ll keep it short:

Nature versus nurture...

 

[elecblue]

I always carry a handful of brochures in my car that I can get from our local service center. As curious people ask questions, I'm happy to answer and hand out a brochure.

 

[cinergi]

I'm reminded of another instance ... I was on the highway and an old minivan (1980-something, clearly in need of a new paint job etc) pulled up and matched my speed ... rolled windows down .. all thumbs up ... and then a "wanna race?" ... we all got a good laugh out of that one

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Oh, and, as a number of us have heard now, any comments regarding "today's kids will be driving these cars; the ICE will be the weird car -- the kind of car you'd have to request when renting (e.g. today you ask for a hybrid ... tomorrow you'd have to ask for an ICE). Pretty powerful to think that an 8-year-old today may only know an EV when they get their permit in ~8 years.

edit: ref this thread: What it's all about

 

[Btrflyl8e]

My favorite thing is the folks you don't expect to know what it is tend to be the most "in the know". I had an older woman stop next to me at a light in her Lexus, so when I put my window down expecting the usual "what is that?" I was surprised with "do you love it? I've been checking those out online and am about to go for it". Constant reminder not to judge based on stereotypes.

This past weekend a "good ole boy" in a truck was checking out the car the one time I let my boyfriend drive it, so I told him "this guy wants to see what it can do so get on it when the light changes". It was a short sprint to the next red light and we were all laughing. I put the window down and the guy said "that's all electric, right?". I nodded, and he continued "this thing has a hemi, so that little maneuver just cost me half a damn tank!"