My Model S Journey to Ownership
My Model S Performance just arrived. It's been a seven month odyssey and totally worth the wait.
Last August I attended a fundraising event at Vermont's Champlain College. To spice up the event, they'd set up a tent with a dozen interesting cars under it, including a Tesla Roadster. While chatting with the Roadster owner, I recalled seeing a photo of a Tesla sedan prototype a couple of years ago. He surprised me when he said, "It came out in June!" As soon as I got home, I logged onto the Tesla Motors web site. That was my first glimpse of a production Model S. I placed my order a week later without even having seen one in the flesh. Tesla estimated that my Model S would arrive in June 2013.
In September I attended the opening party of the Boston area Tesla store, where I had the pleasure of meeting Tesla's George Blankenship (below left). There was a black Model S on the floor, and to me it looked absolutely gorgeous — the very definition of the word
handsome. It was the first time I'd actually seen one. I remember walking up to it and being taken by the shape of the body. It has a very muscular stance, like an Olympian crouched in the starting blocks. The huge wheels, low hood, and prominent rear flanks added to the sense of raw power. I just stood there, taking it in, stunned that such a beautiful automobile could be made in America. Only a couple of months before this, I came seriously close to buying a used Aston Martin V8 Vantage. I knew, right there in the Tesla store, that my future was sitting in front of me. I was hoping for a test drive while I was down there, but due to Tesla's pending legal battle in Massachusetts over franchise laws, the store was unable to give test drives yet.
So I flew to JFK six weeks later, grabbed a taxi over to Roosevelt Field Mall, and took a test drive with Tesla store manager, Michael Sexton. The test drive was impressive, but it was also surreal. It had only been a few weeks since Hurricane Sandy, and there were quarter-mile-long lines at
every gas station. Buzzing by them in an electric car seemed quite ironic. Eventually, we came to a road block on the highway, manned by three New York State Troopers. Due to residual flooding, we couldn't go any further. The troopers hadn't seen a Model S yet, much less knew what it was. They were blown away. Michael invited them to drop by the store for a ride. How cool. By chance, the Model S displayed in the Roosevelt Field store was pearl white. I hadn't seen one in that color yet, and I instantly realized that this was the color I wanted. It absolutely fit my vision of the Model S as part of my daily life in Vermont. Naturally, I began second-guessing myself about a month later —
after pressing the Finalize button.
In January I got the news that my car would actually be delivered in February/March, instead of June. A bit of panic set in because I'd ordered the car with 21" summer tires, and winter driving can easily extend into early April around here. Originally, I wasn't planning to buy the 19" winter wheels until next fall, so I ordered the 19" wheels as well and found some Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D tires to mount on them. After some research, this seemed like a very good non-studded performance snow tire option.
In late February, I accompanied a friend down to Boston to visit the Tesla store and get him a test drive. (They are now offering them.) He was in the market for a new car, and his two top contenders were an Audi S6 and the Model S Performance. He was duly impressed with the Model S, even though the car we test drove was not a Performance. Afterward, he suggested that we take a spin over the Tesla Service Center in nearby Watertown. To our surprise, there were about 25 new Model S's in the lot, just arrived from California. It was great to finally see nearly all the colors in one place. Bottom line: they
all look great. I noticed a pearl white one similar to my car in the lineup. I went over for a closer look and realized, after glancing at the serial number, THIS IS MY CAR. I had no idea that it had left Fremont yet.
Knowing that we still had some snow on the roads in Vermont, I asked Mat Boarman, the service manager, if he could install the recent defroster upgrade on my car, since it had not been implemented on the assembly line yet. (Apparently, the factory had a backlog of pre-built dashboard assemblies to use up first.) As I understand it, the upgrade will be done under warranty for any owner who requests it. If you are not familiar with the problem, this takes care of a driver-side window fogging problem that became evident last fall. The fix involves a different style grille on the top of the dashboard as well as an air duct change below. In some parts of the country, fogging is a non-issue, so you may not need it.
Unfortunately, when the upgrade kit arrived from the factory a week later, a critical part was missing. So rather than delay the car any further, I opted to take delivery and deal with the upgrade at another time. Mat said that the defroster upgrade can be done during a ranger visit, so no sweat. (I live 3-1/2 hours from the Boston service center, and Tesla's ranger service will be a life saver.)
THE ARRIVAL! The Boston blizzard delayed the delivery yet another week, but finally a perfect sunny day appeared on Saturday, March 9. My car was expertly delivered by Tesla Delivery Specialist, Andrew Clark. The moment the truck pulled up, I realized that I'd made the right decision on color. Tesla's pearl white has a subtle glow that is just gorgeous. My interior is black leather with red performance piping and carbon fiber trim.
MODEL S PERFORMANCE FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• This has to be one of the prettiest cars on the road today. The roof line is simply perfection. Many European sedans that used to look sleek, don't impress me as much anymore. It's hard to believe that an American car company has beat the Europeans at their own game.
• Blindingly fast. And that's coming from someone who's owned several Ferraris. My previous daily driver was a 2002 Audi S6, which now seems docile in comparison.
• Exudes confidence. The Model S feels substantial on the road, but in a good way.
• Powering through corners is just dreamy. Not only does the Model S corner flat, but it seems to have precisely the right amount of understeer.
• The driver interface in the car is simply awesome. Everything makes sense. I love that the software is a work-in-progress, that its development continues and takes owners' experiences into account. This is so unlike other luxury cars, where what you buy is what you get, and the only time things are added is when the legal department says they have to. The Model S is the first crowd-sourced automobile.
• The fit and finish is even better than I remember from my Tesla store visits. Apparently, some improvements have been made — in particular, the padded surround on the lower portion of the touch screen. I'm 6-foot-4, and I have no problem with my knee hitting that area. As for the B-pillar issue noted elsewhere on TMC, I find that entering the car "butt first" is the way to go. This minimizes contact with the B-pillar and its leather stitching.
• The iPhone app is nicely executed. Every morning, as I'm getting into the shower, I turn on the Model S climate control so the car is perfectly warmed up when I get in 30 minutes later. Life doesn't get much better than this.
• I had one interesting little glitch at the car wash. I was about midway through the car wash when I leaned forward to return my wallet to my pants pocket. My shift in position triggered the seat sensor, and the car jumped into park. After a couple of frantic seconds, I managed to get it back into neutral. I have since made a suggestion to Tesla about a "car wash mode" that would disable that auto-park feature.
• I discovered a great feature: assigning the right thumb wheel on the steering wheel to the touch screen brightness. Very handy.
• My friend who was considering a new Audi S6 instead went for the Model S Performance. One down!
I carry Model S info cards in my glove box. You can order them yourself...
Time Saving Model S Info Cards
I ask almost always that the human race can stop living in fear and instead use all of their energy and amazing brain power to advance. Both spiritually and technologically.
