After following Tesla (and SpaceX) for some time I finally placed my order last week. The tipping point for me was a trip to the Bluewater shopping centre ('Mall') and the Tesla store therein. Firstly I was impressed by the looks of the face-lifted car and by the staff members there who were really helpful. That trip was followed up by a visit to the Tesla centre in Gatwick and a very enjoyable test-drive.
So do I need a Tesla? Not really, we have a 7 year old BMW 5 series touring which is excellent and meets all of our family transport needs. Do I want a Tesla, absolutely. So there was a compromise to be made.
In the end I decided that the BMW should stay, it's not worth a huge amount and it may come in handy for trips where the Model S would be 'too nice'. The victim was my weekend car, my Aston Martin Vantage S, which while faultless in every way was wasted where I live with poor quality, congested roads.
The Aston sold very quickly and with the cash in the bank I placed my order. A somewhat surreal experience in itself, ordering a car in the high 5-figures online...
I was entirely happy with this spec but then my wife had some input, he felt Red was too much on a large car and so we compromised. I dropped the red in exchange for the premium sound:
So confident was I in this spec that I confirmed the order early on-line (I think this may be a new feature).
Now it's just a matter of waiting, unfortunately the original 'September' date shown on the configurator has now become...
... still, hopefully it'll be here for Christmas.
In the meantime I'd been watching way too many videos on YouTube, purchased and watched 'Who Killed The Electric Car' and 'Revenge of the electric car' and vacillated endlessly about my home charging options...
I even visited a Supercharger location near my office to see if I could spot a car in Midnight Silver.
So do I need a Tesla? Not really, we have a 7 year old BMW 5 series touring which is excellent and meets all of our family transport needs. Do I want a Tesla, absolutely. So there was a compromise to be made.
In the end I decided that the BMW should stay, it's not worth a huge amount and it may come in handy for trips where the Model S would be 'too nice'. The victim was my weekend car, my Aston Martin Vantage S, which while faultless in every way was wasted where I live with poor quality, congested roads.
The Aston sold very quickly and with the cash in the bank I placed my order. A somewhat surreal experience in itself, ordering a car in the high 5-figures online...
I was entirely happy with this spec but then my wife had some input, he felt Red was too much on a large car and so we compromised. I dropped the red in exchange for the premium sound:
So confident was I in this spec that I confirmed the order early on-line (I think this may be a new feature).
Now it's just a matter of waiting, unfortunately the original 'September' date shown on the configurator has now become...
... still, hopefully it'll be here for Christmas.
In the meantime I'd been watching way too many videos on YouTube, purchased and watched 'Who Killed The Electric Car' and 'Revenge of the electric car' and vacillated endlessly about my home charging options...
I even visited a Supercharger location near my office to see if I could spot a car in Midnight Silver.
