Cusp of Revolution - Meursault's 48 hours with the Model S
As a more silent member of this board (long time listener/reader), I do NOT feel like I need to repeat the sentiments of those that have received vehicles already – so here I go with a novel of my own. Just sincerely know, when that day comes, the car is pure bliss – we are alive and have the opportunity to own such a vehicle - we can *finally* free ourselves from flipping between this site and the Tesla site's forum (love you all, but honestly, this site kills productivity and productivity for the most us financially allows us to experience the Model S, so...)!
For those folks with low attention spans for reading - here is the headline - THE CAR IS AN EPIPHANY.
There is nothing more than that word to describe it. Yep - there are flaws ("hi - just got your $100k car?! - ok, that warning about tire pressure - no worries - just ignore it – it is an error like when you get in Windows" - Uh, really?! – I am a Mac user.), but we are talking about a car company that is a mere babe compared to the other 'luxury' car brands (sorry, Fisker you are not even in the same realm).
Dolphin Grey Model S 3722- you are the most amazing incredible ridiculous thing that I have ever owned - exemplified by the fact that I just went to physically check on you (comfy in a covered/heated/expensive downtown parking structure - but chargepoint failure made me think there was an issue!) at 2am because I am dealing with an unexpected-second-car-in-a-one-car parking-situation-lifestyle problem in an urban landscape. The S was perfectly fine sipping slow-ass chargepoint current and simply complaining about tire pressure (which is supposedly a software flaw – see below).
My story: Long time serial BMW X-5 owner. Bought the first on ebay unseen (ha – don’t judge b-ch), but now on #4 (a 2011 5.0 - in case anyone is interested in purchasing, because it is clearly for sale). Crazy great cars those X-5ers. For those in Chicago (or read newspapers) - remember when Lake Shore Drive was closed two winters ago because of that insane snow storm? Yep, was in that insanity driving, and basically powered through it with no issues. The "Joy" of driving. X5 – just do not go to Perillo Chicago whatever you do! Seriously. It Is the end of the world. Use the suburbs – way better and you will see a huge difference.
Received my Model S Wednesday, January 9 (P85, Dolphin grey, black interior, everything else you can get except third row seats). VIN 3277, P6366. I also supposedly have the distinction of being the first VIN with a "D" designation meaning model year 2013 even though I have the proof that the car was loaded on the shipping truck on 12/31/2012. And in some ways this is exactly the wonder and question of Tesla and the Model S (here is the theme and cliff of the story of my story)...
***Build up on timing - Mostly unfair teasing despite awesome intentions. It was like a perverse japenese game show - "Yes - before 2013 you will have the car" - "No way you will get the car before Feb 2013" - "Change of plan and now you WILL have it in December" - "Nope, not coming until sometime in Jan". All of this is difficult because we are clearly obsessed (you know you are if you have read this far) and thus we draw those around us into the obsession circle to comfort our clear psychological disorder, and so then when we get excited about the car being delivered in December, those around us glom onto that notion, only to be destroyed by the fact that the car might be months ‘delayed’. Tesla should set expectations lower in these early days for delivery timing. Everyone hated me for not getting this car on time – maybe my fault – mostly Tesla’s fault for being such a flaunty tease.
***Delivery experience – weird – Random truck person (super nice though – great humor) calling me to say that it was on its way. Then silence. Then it is coming to my condo the next morning in a very difficult downtown Chicago with above head trains (the EL), etc., blah. And then NO because that is insane and so where should it be delivered? And then a suggestion of the actual Tesla service center (by me). And then confusion over whether it is allowed. And then a 10am meeting that turns into noon to pick up the car. If you have waited for years for something, all of the above is a mere bump in the road, but for a normal consumer of automobile product, my guess is that there is no way in hell this will work. Hopefully, my dear Tesla Motors Company, you are just spitting these things out so fast to the true believers that you are ignoring the crazy (used in this manner, not so great) model of delivery that you now have in place. In a word – SUCKS – be better. So easy to correct this and so just do it.
***The Car Itself and First Impressions - “Tess” – amazing. Honestly I have no loss for words normally (clearly), but this is a breathtaking car / machine – entity? It is just nuts. There have been many riders in the last 24 hours, and everyone was of the same opinion (to quote one rider – “extraordinary”). The Tesla smile has dawned over and over again as I push the car to 60 mph in such a brief time period with no gear changes. Candidly, I was feeling a little like a wuss for “Dolphin Grey” but as the cab approached the Tesla service center that fateful morning of delivery with my car clearly sitting in the middle of the road, my goodness. Incredible. All you other color choice folks made some serious errors ☺ . I had the good luck of being also one of the first recipients of the Model S in Chicago with no due bill issues. Nothing was owed to me at the time of delivery. Go you Tesla! Having read and copiously studied so much about something, it was strange to actually encounter it in real life especially since my only other time with the Model S was on my 7.25 minute test drive 5 months earlier. Sitting there, in MY Tesla with the ability to just drive away and drive the way I wanted without a handler was the feeling of exhilaration. An UTTERLY silent feeling, mind you. This thing is crazy quiet. Almost hit someone in a parking lot today because I forget that they cannot hear me . Seriously - be crazy (in a thoughtful manner) careful with this car because it is so silent.
***The Car Itself and Second Impressions – wow. This is clearly the future. $100 for premium gas for 290 miles is insane (yes, confessions of the 5.0 X5 owner), but I did not make the jump to Tesla for that reason. I am amped for the future of Tesla and its car owners. This is like a sandbox. I came up with 15 apps today. Clearly people on this site have a huge amount of interest in software improvements that are within reach, and so we stand on the precipice of the iphone car. I remember the first time holding onto an ipod that could contain 50 songs, and I was totally floored. HA. Fast forward and now - the iphone revolutionized the ‘app’ industry and so too here can Tesla. This has so far been a fanboy review of the Model S, but honestly it is also on the teetering edge of being a Delorean. This site has humbled me in the information of the community available on one single subject, and so I am curious to know more about what the average is for early adopters of tech. I am fortunate, as most of the readers of this site that own these cars or have reservations, to live in a gifted world where the Model S was a reasonable financial option for me – however, we all know that this car can’t work for “Joe the Plummer” (wasn’t this the name from a recent election?). Where is the median of buyers for the Model S? Yep, Gen III – still when? And look at me – no garage of my own – have to hustle some crazy parking garage situation only out of love – is a person that is not obsessed with a product going to visit his/her car in the dead of night because of a worry regarding charging? Hm.
***The Car Itself and Penultimate Thoughts – Great and magnificent. My mind is actually changed from 24 hours of use as I have no idea why I actually have to turn a key to turn something on or do some special action to turn something off. I have taken a number of people for test drives, and they are all blown away. At the same time they question the fundamentals – charging, etc. Clearly we are at the beginning of a war of standards on charging, and so please please please Tesla, do not be so cautious – go aggressive with your standard and the super charging protocol. Same thing with the Tesla API for the apps on the car – SO many options – this site proves how nuts people are for this car – take advantage of this and own this category. Look at how Sony won the blu-ray battle by selling the PS3 under cost (sorry to “geek out” for the non-gaming readers). Blu-ray is now the standard. Do it. So funny to say to someone that in Chicago my best available option to charge without a strange situation was 8 hours with a stupid chargepoint. That just does not make sense if super chargers are available. Partner with gas stations which are clearly the dying breed – do something – get this tech out and consumers will follow. It is the easiest and most straight forward way to make change. Look at all the stupid iphone accessories that are out there using that terrible proprietary apple connection.
***The Car Itself and final comments – Tesla has a great start here. It has so many funny flaws too. It is a modern wonder and a question of viability at the same time. Imagine just stepping into a very defined industry and proclaiming a revolution. This Model S is goofy in a weird way – we all know it on the site that have taken delivery – these seats and the “B pillar” – great to make us question why the heck I had to do something more than engage drive and then actually drive – but you got all "Toyota Prius" on us with the seats, etc. To keep it going - The structure of purchase/delivery itself needs a ton of work for the normal consumer. Us insane Tesla lovers – no problem – but for everyone else – no way. My gosh, you have spent a ton of money on the other things with this car – this is incredibly easy actually – private message me or anyone else on this site with experience in the area and we will transform (in a good way) the Tesla delivery situation. We can fix this.
On the car itself. It is great. It has flaws. Seats suck (as mentioned before)– sorry Elon – you are a god to me, but these just do not meet the bar - same with the leather on the steering wheel. No rear floor mats? Terrible call to increase margin. I have to think this was some sort of weird flaw that you were not aware of and it passed under the shade of night because it is CRAZY - $100k car = floor mats.
Oh boy here comes the very unhappy list - PLEASE DO NOT TELL US THAT ATT IS THE PROVIDER FOR CELL SERVICE. Maybe the worst company in the US next to AIG. And this B-pillar stuff I am starting to agree with. No issue on my test drive but as a 24 hour owner, I can see the issue. It is almost ripped apart – 24 hours – bad. I can just see the “lemon law” recall class action. Do not even understand why that pillar is there the way it is (sorry if I offend a great engineering mind out there – your car is great! Just flawed like the rest of us). Delivery experience (yes, a second time, because it is so important and it is a mess)– ok, revolutionary product, but seriously, fix this stuff.
***Conclusion - All you reservation holders that follow this board – you will f-ing die when you get this car. It is insane. So amazing. No words do it justice.
Congrats Tesla. Most fantastic automobile ever created. Great intro – now do more!
As a more silent member of this board (long time listener/reader), I do NOT feel like I need to repeat the sentiments of those that have received vehicles already – so here I go with a novel of my own. Just sincerely know, when that day comes, the car is pure bliss – we are alive and have the opportunity to own such a vehicle - we can *finally* free ourselves from flipping between this site and the Tesla site's forum (love you all, but honestly, this site kills productivity and productivity for the most us financially allows us to experience the Model S, so...)!
For those folks with low attention spans for reading - here is the headline - THE CAR IS AN EPIPHANY.
There is nothing more than that word to describe it. Yep - there are flaws ("hi - just got your $100k car?! - ok, that warning about tire pressure - no worries - just ignore it – it is an error like when you get in Windows" - Uh, really?! – I am a Mac user.), but we are talking about a car company that is a mere babe compared to the other 'luxury' car brands (sorry, Fisker you are not even in the same realm).
Dolphin Grey Model S 3722- you are the most amazing incredible ridiculous thing that I have ever owned - exemplified by the fact that I just went to physically check on you (comfy in a covered/heated/expensive downtown parking structure - but chargepoint failure made me think there was an issue!) at 2am because I am dealing with an unexpected-second-car-in-a-one-car parking-situation-lifestyle problem in an urban landscape. The S was perfectly fine sipping slow-ass chargepoint current and simply complaining about tire pressure (which is supposedly a software flaw – see below).
My story: Long time serial BMW X-5 owner. Bought the first on ebay unseen (ha – don’t judge b-ch), but now on #4 (a 2011 5.0 - in case anyone is interested in purchasing, because it is clearly for sale). Crazy great cars those X-5ers. For those in Chicago (or read newspapers) - remember when Lake Shore Drive was closed two winters ago because of that insane snow storm? Yep, was in that insanity driving, and basically powered through it with no issues. The "Joy" of driving. X5 – just do not go to Perillo Chicago whatever you do! Seriously. It Is the end of the world. Use the suburbs – way better and you will see a huge difference.
Received my Model S Wednesday, January 9 (P85, Dolphin grey, black interior, everything else you can get except third row seats). VIN 3277, P6366. I also supposedly have the distinction of being the first VIN with a "D" designation meaning model year 2013 even though I have the proof that the car was loaded on the shipping truck on 12/31/2012. And in some ways this is exactly the wonder and question of Tesla and the Model S (here is the theme and cliff of the story of my story)...
***Build up on timing - Mostly unfair teasing despite awesome intentions. It was like a perverse japenese game show - "Yes - before 2013 you will have the car" - "No way you will get the car before Feb 2013" - "Change of plan and now you WILL have it in December" - "Nope, not coming until sometime in Jan". All of this is difficult because we are clearly obsessed (you know you are if you have read this far) and thus we draw those around us into the obsession circle to comfort our clear psychological disorder, and so then when we get excited about the car being delivered in December, those around us glom onto that notion, only to be destroyed by the fact that the car might be months ‘delayed’. Tesla should set expectations lower in these early days for delivery timing. Everyone hated me for not getting this car on time – maybe my fault – mostly Tesla’s fault for being such a flaunty tease.
***Delivery experience – weird – Random truck person (super nice though – great humor) calling me to say that it was on its way. Then silence. Then it is coming to my condo the next morning in a very difficult downtown Chicago with above head trains (the EL), etc., blah. And then NO because that is insane and so where should it be delivered? And then a suggestion of the actual Tesla service center (by me). And then confusion over whether it is allowed. And then a 10am meeting that turns into noon to pick up the car. If you have waited for years for something, all of the above is a mere bump in the road, but for a normal consumer of automobile product, my guess is that there is no way in hell this will work. Hopefully, my dear Tesla Motors Company, you are just spitting these things out so fast to the true believers that you are ignoring the crazy (used in this manner, not so great) model of delivery that you now have in place. In a word – SUCKS – be better. So easy to correct this and so just do it.
***The Car Itself and First Impressions - “Tess” – amazing. Honestly I have no loss for words normally (clearly), but this is a breathtaking car / machine – entity? It is just nuts. There have been many riders in the last 24 hours, and everyone was of the same opinion (to quote one rider – “extraordinary”). The Tesla smile has dawned over and over again as I push the car to 60 mph in such a brief time period with no gear changes. Candidly, I was feeling a little like a wuss for “Dolphin Grey” but as the cab approached the Tesla service center that fateful morning of delivery with my car clearly sitting in the middle of the road, my goodness. Incredible. All you other color choice folks made some serious errors ☺ . I had the good luck of being also one of the first recipients of the Model S in Chicago with no due bill issues. Nothing was owed to me at the time of delivery. Go you Tesla! Having read and copiously studied so much about something, it was strange to actually encounter it in real life especially since my only other time with the Model S was on my 7.25 minute test drive 5 months earlier. Sitting there, in MY Tesla with the ability to just drive away and drive the way I wanted without a handler was the feeling of exhilaration. An UTTERLY silent feeling, mind you. This thing is crazy quiet. Almost hit someone in a parking lot today because I forget that they cannot hear me . Seriously - be crazy (in a thoughtful manner) careful with this car because it is so silent.
***The Car Itself and Second Impressions – wow. This is clearly the future. $100 for premium gas for 290 miles is insane (yes, confessions of the 5.0 X5 owner), but I did not make the jump to Tesla for that reason. I am amped for the future of Tesla and its car owners. This is like a sandbox. I came up with 15 apps today. Clearly people on this site have a huge amount of interest in software improvements that are within reach, and so we stand on the precipice of the iphone car. I remember the first time holding onto an ipod that could contain 50 songs, and I was totally floored. HA. Fast forward and now - the iphone revolutionized the ‘app’ industry and so too here can Tesla. This has so far been a fanboy review of the Model S, but honestly it is also on the teetering edge of being a Delorean. This site has humbled me in the information of the community available on one single subject, and so I am curious to know more about what the average is for early adopters of tech. I am fortunate, as most of the readers of this site that own these cars or have reservations, to live in a gifted world where the Model S was a reasonable financial option for me – however, we all know that this car can’t work for “Joe the Plummer” (wasn’t this the name from a recent election?). Where is the median of buyers for the Model S? Yep, Gen III – still when? And look at me – no garage of my own – have to hustle some crazy parking garage situation only out of love – is a person that is not obsessed with a product going to visit his/her car in the dead of night because of a worry regarding charging? Hm.
***The Car Itself and Penultimate Thoughts – Great and magnificent. My mind is actually changed from 24 hours of use as I have no idea why I actually have to turn a key to turn something on or do some special action to turn something off. I have taken a number of people for test drives, and they are all blown away. At the same time they question the fundamentals – charging, etc. Clearly we are at the beginning of a war of standards on charging, and so please please please Tesla, do not be so cautious – go aggressive with your standard and the super charging protocol. Same thing with the Tesla API for the apps on the car – SO many options – this site proves how nuts people are for this car – take advantage of this and own this category. Look at how Sony won the blu-ray battle by selling the PS3 under cost (sorry to “geek out” for the non-gaming readers). Blu-ray is now the standard. Do it. So funny to say to someone that in Chicago my best available option to charge without a strange situation was 8 hours with a stupid chargepoint. That just does not make sense if super chargers are available. Partner with gas stations which are clearly the dying breed – do something – get this tech out and consumers will follow. It is the easiest and most straight forward way to make change. Look at all the stupid iphone accessories that are out there using that terrible proprietary apple connection.
***The Car Itself and final comments – Tesla has a great start here. It has so many funny flaws too. It is a modern wonder and a question of viability at the same time. Imagine just stepping into a very defined industry and proclaiming a revolution. This Model S is goofy in a weird way – we all know it on the site that have taken delivery – these seats and the “B pillar” – great to make us question why the heck I had to do something more than engage drive and then actually drive – but you got all "Toyota Prius" on us with the seats, etc. To keep it going - The structure of purchase/delivery itself needs a ton of work for the normal consumer. Us insane Tesla lovers – no problem – but for everyone else – no way. My gosh, you have spent a ton of money on the other things with this car – this is incredibly easy actually – private message me or anyone else on this site with experience in the area and we will transform (in a good way) the Tesla delivery situation. We can fix this.
On the car itself. It is great. It has flaws. Seats suck (as mentioned before)– sorry Elon – you are a god to me, but these just do not meet the bar - same with the leather on the steering wheel. No rear floor mats? Terrible call to increase margin. I have to think this was some sort of weird flaw that you were not aware of and it passed under the shade of night because it is CRAZY - $100k car = floor mats.
Oh boy here comes the very unhappy list - PLEASE DO NOT TELL US THAT ATT IS THE PROVIDER FOR CELL SERVICE. Maybe the worst company in the US next to AIG. And this B-pillar stuff I am starting to agree with. No issue on my test drive but as a 24 hour owner, I can see the issue. It is almost ripped apart – 24 hours – bad. I can just see the “lemon law” recall class action. Do not even understand why that pillar is there the way it is (sorry if I offend a great engineering mind out there – your car is great! Just flawed like the rest of us). Delivery experience (yes, a second time, because it is so important and it is a mess)– ok, revolutionary product, but seriously, fix this stuff.
***Conclusion - All you reservation holders that follow this board – you will f-ing die when you get this car. It is insane. So amazing. No words do it justice.
Congrats Tesla. Most fantastic automobile ever created. Great intro – now do more!
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