The Test Drive
Yesterday I took off and drove to San Antonio to check out the Fusion Red car there. I went with some misgivings, as I'd been looking at the photos online and wasn't thrilled with some of the details that I saw -- but it was a chance to get some hands-on time with a Roadster and take a test drive, which I'd never really done before.
And what a day I picked for this! After making my way through 160 miles of freezing rain, I finally got to examine the car. I've got to say, it's better than the small and poorly-lit photos online had led me to expect. Fusion Red is a bright, vivid color, and the car looks good. (And it does have that protective clear plastic material applied to the nose and various other parts of the body.) The wheels are shiny, either chromed or high-polished, but they look better than I had expected from the photos. I had been concerned about some modifications that the original owner had done to it. It does have the carbon fiber lower door sills that I personally would not have put on there, but those could be easily vinyl wrapped. The vent hoods sticking up on top of the dash aren't that obtrusive once you're sitting in the car, and the dash around them appeared to be leather-wrapped. The Kenwood head unit is connected to a back-up camera, to my surprise.
None of us could figure out the "mystery gauge" on top of the dash. I thought it was an added speedometer, but it only flashed seemingly random 0 and 1 and 2 numbers while I was driving. So... It's either something else, or it's a broken speedometer.
As far as I could tell, the battery seems to be in good shape. It wasn't fully charged, but the numbers shown on the display looked about right to me. They also have a J1772 adaptor with it, I noticed.
There were a couple of minor glitches. They don't have the valet key, they don't have the PIN code, and there's an error code for a tire inflation sensor that probably just needs to be cleared. They said they are going to have Tesla check it over and correct any issues they find. I didn't get the impression that this was a "problem car" at all. It's just a slightly eccentric car, and I was actually tempted. Keep in mind, this was the first time I got to examine one closely and take it for a spin, so I was trying not to become too giddy or dazzled.
I once checked out a Lotus Elise, but that was years ago, and I had forgotten just how awkward it is to get in and out -- especially with the hard top on. On the other hand, the crummy rear visibility isn't as crummy as that of my old Esprit!
And the test drive... Others have said this, but yes, it really is a bit like driving in low gear all the time, except that I could go faster and faster, and the car was happy to do that. The regen seemed perfectly natural to me. Unfortunately, I was perhaps a bit too nervous to get a proper, full impression during my brief spin -- flying down a cold-and-damp expressway in traffic while the sales guy crammed in next to me tried to figure out how to get some windshield defogger action going.
When I left, I told them not to hold it for me. That car is just not quite my style, and I think if I'm patient I'll find one that's a better match for me. I suspect somebody out there will love it, though.
