Passenger reactions to full acceleration

[BubblegumPete]

Seriously!!! I have had my Model 3 LR AWD for a year on December 1 last year. My son came with me to pick up the car. Within a half mile I was on a bridge entering the freeway. The FIRST thought I had was, "OMG, I am going to have to slow down or I am going to get the first speeding ticket in my life. Now I know why people love to race cars!!" And I am 64 yr old young lady!

The FIRST thing I do when I take someone for their first ride is to NOT tell them and then start flying. They love it!

My absolute favorite thing is being at a stop light with my 14 speakers, sub-woofer and immersive sound blaring amazing music out of my open windows. And the sports car or luxury car or Dodge Ram truck is next to me. I don't look at them...but I know they want to race. In 4 seconds I am a 1/4 mile if front of them and in heaven!!!

Can you tell I LOVE my car?? I have 19,300 miles on it and will have over 20,000 miles on it when it turns a year old. It drives me 47 miles to work and 47 miles home while I listen to awesome music and clap my hands almost the entire time. Heaven!!

'In 4 seconds I am a 1/4 mile if front of them '

Wow have to you got the new Space X package on your car??

 

[ChadS]

A decade ago, I used to categorize the reactions. As I recall, the main categories were:

• laughing/giggling
• swearing
• screaming
• vowing to buy one (much more frequent now that the 3 is available)
• arm flailing (one grabbed the emergency brake!)
• barfing (fortunately only 1, and managed to get it outside the car)

Of course the first person to have a reaction was my wife. This was early October 2009...back then, "electric" meant "25mph neighborhood electric vehicle", and the most common question I'd get about my car was "can it go on the freeway?" I'd only had the Roadster (0-60 in 3.9...notably slower than the 3 Performance, but it took more people by surprise back in the day) a few days, and my wife hadn't been in it yet. We decided take a day trip over the mountains. It was a long trip, there were no charging stations within 800 miles and she's not a huge fan of acceleration, so I didn't plan to go fast. At one point we were going about 55 up a steep portion of a divided highway with two lanes on each side. I could see that up ahead one of the lanes ended...and there was an 18-wheeler in front of me. So of course, I romped on it. Despite going uphill and already at speed, her head snapped back and hit the headrest; she got a headache and was mad at me for the rest of the day. So I guess "anger" should be another category.

For another year or two I used the story about my wife a lot, whenever people would ask if the car could go on the freeway. Then the "range anxiety" media storm started, and everybody stopped asking about freeways and started asking about how far the car would go and how nervous that made me. It was more fun talking about acceleration.

As for technique, with my Model S Performance the obvious trick was to launch from a dead stop. The pull from 0 in that car was incredible. Once a friend - who was very familiar with my previous cars, but hadn't yet experienced a launch in this one - was holding his water bottle in the passenger seat as we were stopped at a stop light in front of an onramp. I looked at him and said "Ready?", but before he could answer the light turned green and I floored it. He now likes to tell the story of "the time I wasn't ready" when he juggled his water bottle and got a little bit of a shower.

But the Roadster and Model 3 Performance don't launch nearly as hard. So my usual technique there is to talk to them about regen; I will accelerate gently, then let off and let the car slow down. Then - while the car is slowing down, somewhere around 25mph - I floor it. The switch between deceleration and acceleration is delightful.

Oh yeah, my favorite reaction. Again, this was in the Roadster; I took it to a driving course. As a novice, I had to have an instructor ride with me. I drove up to the starting line, and the instructor was finishing a chat with some other people while he climbed in. I made a joke about the hard part being over now that he was in the car, and he (apparently mistaking it for a Lotus) gave a dismissive, "Oh, I have been in a lot of cars like this." He no sooner than finished the sentence, and I was signaled to start. So I floored it, and the instructor (while flailing his arms) yelled "Not like this!"

 

[corduroy]

I've learned to simply tell my passenger "put your head back". Then they usually say, why? After the acceleration, they understand why.

 

[David29]

I always tell people to put their head back against the backrest, and to look straight ahead. Don't want anyone to experience, or claim, whiplash or nausea....surprising them is bound to lead to (some) unhappy people.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Two true stories:

1. My prior car was a classic 1997 BMW 328i. It had been in the independent BMW repair shop in Burbank, CA, many times and the lead mechanic was quite familiar with it. This was also a guy who had driven a lot of fast cars. One day shortly after I bought Tessie I dropped by, picked him up, and let him drive. I punched up Ludicrous mode, told him to be easy on the go pedal. We turned onto the on-ramp for I-5 north. I told him to punch it. The car leaped and he slammed back into the seat. He let off as we approached traffic, then looked at me and said, "My god, this thing is a monster!"

2. A guy who had been the general sales manager at Nissan and Honda dealerships wanted a ride. I let him drive, showed him how to select Ludicrous speed mode (and the battery was all warmed up). This time the adventure happened on a lonely desert street. No houses, businesses, traffic, dogs or cops; nothing much more than a few Joshua trees. I told him: "OK stop. Wheel straight ahead. Lean back in the seat. Then floor it hard." We rocketed forward, up to around 100 mph. He stopped and did it a few more times. "Jeez," he said. "I may have to get one of these."

Taking folks for a ride in a Tesla is a major adventure.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

I was one of the early deliveries of the 3 in May of 2018. There were very few on the road in SoCal. So I took two friends who’d never ridden a Tesla before for a ride. I went to a side street that had little traffic and opened it up. To say the least, they were impressed. We drove for a couple more blocks until I saw flashing lights in my mirror. Uh oh. The cops! I pulled over and a young cop walks up and asks me if I knew how fast a was going a few blocks before, I guessed 45? No, he said, 60! I apologized profusely and stated I was showing off the car to my friends. The cop did not seem impressed. He went on and on about driving defensively and I was waiting for the inevitable ticket because that’s what California cops do. 5 minutes later he hands back my license and tells me to be careful next time. Then he pauses and says: “You know, I’m on the wait list for one of these.” WOW! What incredible LUCK!

So we then spend another 5 minutes talking about the 3, EVs and their potential use for police departments across the US. Always nice to meet up with a Tesla fan!

Lucky you!