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Tesla Model 3 Moments

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Had a moment at, of all places, a muffler shop! Felt out of place getting some exhaust pipe for my diesel tractor with the NOEXHST plate!
KIMG0794.jpeg
 
Re-posting this here upon request...

Had a fun time tonight and thought I’d share,

Was taking an engineer friend for a test ride today. He was sitting in the back seat behind me. After we’d shown him some of the standard things, the display, doing some quick launches, heating his seat, etc., but not really selling the car too hard, he decides to play smartass. From the peanut gallery I hear “So, what else can this thing do?” and then without pausing to allow anyone to answer he blurts out “Computer, Play Ministry”.

Due to my serendipitous choice of response <demo the voice commands>, I had pressed the right steering wheel button after his question, so the computer was listening right at “Play Ministry”, accurately parsed it out and fired up a Ministry song. It was brilliant - and not at all the result he was expecting.

“Well then.”

<grin>
 
Re-posting this here upon request...

Had a fun time tonight and thought I’d share,

Was taking an engineer friend for a test ride today. He was sitting in the back seat behind me. After we’d shown him some of the standard things, the display, doing some quick launches, heating his seat, etc., but not really selling the car too hard, he decides to play smartass. From the peanut gallery I hear “So, what else can this thing do?” and then without pausing to allow anyone to answer he blurts out “Computer, Play Ministry”.

Due to my serendipitous choice of response <demo the voice commands>, I had pressed the right steering wheel button after his question, so the computer was listening right at “Play Ministry”, accurately parsed it out and fired up a Ministry song. It was brilliant - and not at all the result he was expecting.

“Well then.”

<grin>

Was there any Bad Blood during this test drive?
 
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Love these M3 moments, hope others will keep posting!

Still waiting for my family's M3 but my parents got theirs at the end of January (3018). They were pretty nervous at first (coming out of a 2004 VW Jetta Wagon) but a week later told me to get the old piece of junk out of their driveway.

Turns out my Dad had a Tesla Model 3 moment a few weeks ago.

He went to the Washington, DC Department of Motor Vehicles to turn in the license plates from that 2004 Jetta. As he was parking, he sees a couple of guys watching his car. He gets out and falls into conversation with them about the Model 3 for at least 15 minutes. (I say this because Dad reported to me that he was anxious to get inside to finish his errand but felt like he had to be polite. I haven't seen my Dad have a conversation shorter than 15 minutes about... well... anything. The only question is whether it was more like 30 minutes than 15. But I digress.)

As the conversation wraps up, one of the guys asks why my Dad is there. He explains that he's there to return the unneeded license plates. The guy says, "come with me". They walk into the DMV. The place is completely packed and overwhelming. You know the drill: babies crying, women fainting, strong men brought to their knees. My Dad's new friend cuts through the lines, ignores all the people sitting at the benches, walks my Dad to a corner in the back of the room. The new friend sits down at a workstation and says, OK, let's get this done. A minute later the plates are officially accepted, my Dad has handed them over, and is ready to go. My Dad says he thanked the man and left, but I suspect that another 15 minutes were consumed by the thank-you. :)

My Dad is so proud to have had an Official Tesla Moment!

Alan
 
Maybe it's because I live in San Jose and drive around (jaded) Silicon Valley where Teslas are like Starbucks; throw a rock in any direction and you could hit one. So far in the 2 1/2 weeks that I've owned the 3, I've only had one Tesla Model 3 Moment.

I was driving on north 85 just south of 280 on the way up to SFO. I come up on my twin; MSM with Aeros. As I slowly pass him on the right, we look at each other then nod and wave.

I've had other opportunities to acknowledge shared ownership of the 3 while sitting in the NB 87 parking lot when heading to work, but not many people make eye contact. The most I've talked about the car is with my neighbor two doors down who bought an S a couple of weeks before I got my 3 and the parking attendant at the Cupertino Supercharger.
 
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My wife and I went to Shake Shack at Legacy West in Frisco (north Dallas people will know where I'm talking about), which happens to be across the street from a Tesla gallery. We were fortunate to get a parallel parking space on the street, within view of the Tesla gallery. After we finished eating we, of course, had to go into the gallery and ooh and ah over the Model X (which we both not so secretly desire).

We entered the Tesla gallery just in time to hear a sales rep tell an interested couple that they didn't have a Model 3 on site, that the closest one was up in Southlake. My wife pointed out the window at our Model 3 and said, "That's our Model 3 right there if you want to take a look." For the next 15 minutes the couple climbed in and around our Model 3 while my wife explained all the features. We then spent another 15 minutes in the store with them answering questions about the Model 3 and EV ownership in general. I'm pretty sure they went home and reserved a Model 3 that night.
 
OMG, yeah, after 5 Tesla years ('13 P85+, '16 P100D), I'm thoroughly addicted to those scroll wheels! Volume, skip song, pause, select, etc. And just getting out of the car and it shuts itself down and locks up. I hate my Prius now, it just sits there and doesn't turn off when it's supposed to, I have to touch the freakin' door handle to get it to open up not just once in a blue moon but every single time, it can't be Summoned (not that I'd want it to approach me!), it never knows where to take me and trying to explain it to the GPS is sooooo cumbersome, the engine is so annoying what with cutting in and out, the acceleration is so pathetic.... And to think I liked that Prius when I bought it a year before I bought my first Tesla...
 
I find people don’t recognize the M3 anywhere near as often as they recognize the MS (I have a 2013 P85). Have had very few Tesla moments - 2 weeks ago got a thumbs-up from a Kia Soul on the Baltimore beltway.
Every test-driver loves it, of course, but they’re people who know me already.

But there is one unexpected Tesla M3 moment that keeps on giving. I just received my FOURTH “we are doing research... survey ... for your new car” - somebody’s taking the competitive threat seriously (I hope). But they hired idiots for the survey - how am I supposed to answer these questions?
- are you (extremely unlikely.... extremely likely) to recommend the dealership?
- how smooth is the transition?
- engine noise?
- and then mpg - and only TWO digits, I can’t even plug in MPGe

They just. Don’t. Get it....
Anyone else notice this?
 
I find people don’t recognize the M3 anywhere near as often as they recognize the MS (I have a 2013 P85). Have had very few Tesla moments - 2 weeks ago got a thumbs-up from a Kia Soul on the Baltimore beltway.
Every test-driver loves it, of course, but they’re people who know me already.

But there is one unexpected Tesla M3 moment that keeps on giving. I just received my FOURTH “we are doing research... survey ... for your new car” - somebody’s taking the competitive threat seriously (I hope). But they hired idiots for the survey - how am I supposed to answer these questions?
- are you (extremely unlikely.... extremely likely) to recommend the dealership?
- how smooth is the transition?
- engine noise?
- and then mpg - and only TWO digits, I can’t even plug in MPGe

They just. Don’t. Get it....
Anyone else notice this?
That sounds like a survey somehow triggered off vehicle registrations, which some States/counties make vehicle registrations data available (sell it?). It might have been swept up in a targeting of all new vehicles, thus the questions that don't fit?
 
Going North on I-5 in Oregon a 4x4 diesel pickup shoots out a huge cloud of black smoke and cuts in front of me and repeats blowing big clouds every 15 seconds or so. I think he is just an idiot, my passenger thinks it was directed at the Tesla. The cloud of smoke when accelerating to cut in front of me makes some sense, but the repeated bursts, kinda like a biker reving the engine at a like makes less sense.
 
your passenger was most likely correct - Rolling coal - Wikipedia

Which is a violation of the Federal Clean Air Act (or at least it is until the scourge in office affects its regressive agenda). Some states / municipalities also have code that applies (even here in Texas). I think it's worthwhile to document this happening (w/ identifying plates) via video and publish online. Not that shame is necessarily a concept well understood by those prone to engage in the behavior, but I'd like to think some form of law enforcement might eventually take interest (although admittedly that's probably fanciful). Another perspective on the matter here:

Coal Rolling - The Colbert Report (Video Clip) | Comedy Central
 
We had a couple of moments.

1. We took a road trip over the summer. Our first supercharger experience was in Bakersfield. As we were finishing up, a Model X owner and his wife had pulled up, she came over and asked a little bit about the car. She was about to walk away, when we briefly mentioned that we came from SD and this was our first stop. She goes "oh nice" and proceeds to continue walking away...then a split second later you see the light bulb come on. She stopped in her tracks real fast and hurried back to us "You came all the way from SD and THIS is your first stop?!?!" She was very impressed by the range.

2. Before we got the car, BIL would ask every so often "So what is that that you like so much about Tesla?". From his tone, you could tell he didn't have a very high opinion of Teslas. He was one of those people that love ICE engines and probably thought an EV was not a real car. Over the course of last summer, he had some friends stay over that have a 3 so he was able to drive it some. I had stopped bringing up the car since I always felt such negativity towards the topic. We got together with some friends and my parents one day. Of course the conversation turned to our Tesla when the friends found out we had one. BIL was in the other room when my mom and I told the story about how we waited in line for 5 hours on the first day...and how we even called BIL to see if he wanted us to reserve one for him. I said, "yah, but BIL doesn't like Teslas...my mom was even willing to put down a deposit for him..." From the next room, BIL yells over "I WAS WRONG!!! I WAS SOOOO WRONG!!!"

3. We had a huge family reunion over the summer, a bunch of relatives from Europe came over and rented a huge house. We all met there for dinner. As soon as we drove up into the large driveway, all the European relatives came out to gawk and say how nice the 3 is. We had dinner and all the local relatives got up to leave at 10. So we all head to our cars, and all the European relatives..about 30 or more..crowd around our car. Everyone ignored the brand new Porsche someone else had. We stayed an extra 30 mins at least answering all their questions. It was very dark so we opened all the doors, the trunk and the frunk. Everyone treated our car like it was some precious piece of art. No one dared touch or even sit it. We encouraged them to sit inside, we offered rides. Nothing. I tried to downplay it and say this is the "cheap" Tesla. They just ooo-ed and ahh-ed from the outside. So many questions! So many excited comments: "Look at that screen!! Look at the boot! There are TWO of them!" haha.