SW2Fiddler
We Are Cognitive Dissidents
Hey! The Apple Maps camera-mobile is cruising my neighborhood. A white Model S may be "on the map" in Alief TX at some point.
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swengl
Member
I attended a local charity car show at a church near the house that ended up having about 30 cars that ranged from a 1902 Rambler (!) to your standard 70's muscle cars to my 85D. I parked right beside my neighbor's Audi R8 (dark green, beautiful car 
). I spent 4 hours straight telling folks about the car, it was a blast. I popped the frunk and the trunk and the majority of folks would walk up and say "Where's the engine?" Of course, my response was "It doesn't have one" and that was usually enough to draw them into a conversation about EVs and specifically Tesla's ground up approach. Many folks had never heard of Tesla, but once I gave them the walk around and a brief spec summary, they became very interested in learning more. For every youngster that walked by that took an interest, I told them that they would probably be driving a car similar to mine when they grew up (many of the parents agreed and said that they hoped so). So do I.
). I spent 4 hours straight telling folks about the car, it was a blast. I popped the frunk and the trunk and the majority of folks would walk up and say "Where's the engine?" Of course, my response was "It doesn't have one" and that was usually enough to draw them into a conversation about EVs and specifically Tesla's ground up approach. Many folks had never heard of Tesla, but once I gave them the walk around and a brief spec summary, they became very interested in learning more. For every youngster that walked by that took an interest, I told them that they would probably be driving a car similar to mine when they grew up (many of the parents agreed and said that they hoped so). So do I.
tonybelding
Active Member
I was gonna say, "You still have gas stations there?"
When I was growing up, we had so many gas stations in town, the joke was that if one ever caught fire the whole town would go up like a string of firecrackers. In the 1980s, self-serve gas and convenience stores started to catch on. Then, in the 1990s, we got new environmental regulations that required all the old and leaky gasoline storage tanks to be replaced, which was something no gas station could afford to do, and every one of them closed down. (A couple remained as tire fixers and oil changers, but the gas pumps were gone.) Since then the convenience stores have been the only source of fuel.
tstafford
Active Member
Standard stuff here but I figured I post it.
Yesterday - Put the rear seats down and filled 'er up with a bunch of cardboard recycling that was too big for the curbside can. Took it to the convenience center. The folks working there loved it. "What is it?" "I heard they can go 500 miles on a charge!" "WHAT - it doesn't use ANY gas??", etc. Fun stuff.
Today - Father and his two young kids complimented me on the car. They were looking it over in the grocery store parking lot when I came back. Dad was explaining to them about the environmental aspects and the silent operation.
Yesterday - Put the rear seats down and filled 'er up with a bunch of cardboard recycling that was too big for the curbside can. Took it to the convenience center. The folks working there loved it. "What is it?" "I heard they can go 500 miles on a charge!" "WHAT - it doesn't use ANY gas??", etc. Fun stuff.
Today - Father and his two young kids complimented me on the car. They were looking it over in the grocery store parking lot when I came back. Dad was explaining to them about the environmental aspects and the silent operation.
It wasn't a random Tesla moment, but I was hanging out with some friends at a house party yesterday and someone needed to go pick up dinner for the group. I offered to drive so I took two friends to pick up the food. One of my friends is a total car buff, but has a father who won't go near a Tesla for fear of being electrocuted, even though they both really like fast cars.
Right outside of her subdivision is a long straightaway that is not heavily traveled and had nobody around, so I floored it. Both of my friends grabbed whatever they could and screamed. It really was like the videos you see on YouTube.
Except for the fact that I have a 70D.
"This is actually the slow and cheap Tesla."
Then I scared them by enabling TACC when we got onto some moderate traffic and kept repeating "Not touching the pedals, not touching the pedals" as the car in front of us came to a complete stop at a red light. It was glorious.
Right outside of her subdivision is a long straightaway that is not heavily traveled and had nobody around, so I floored it. Both of my friends grabbed whatever they could and screamed. It really was like the videos you see on YouTube.
Except for the fact that I have a 70D.
"This is actually the slow and cheap Tesla."
Then I scared them by enabling TACC when we got onto some moderate traffic and kept repeating "Not touching the pedals, not touching the pedals" as the car in front of us came to a complete stop at a red light. It was glorious.
I had a self-inflicted Tesla moment yesterday. I attended a city-wide party in my old hometown and somehow got into a chat with a dad and his two sons (teenager and an 11 year old). Now it turns out that the teenager was a total car-guy and the conversation went something like:
Me: Yeah, I'm sort of a big car guy too, just bought a new car.
Son: What did you get? a cool car?
Me: It really is a cool car, but I'm pretty sure you can't guess which one
Him: BMW? Merc?
Me: Nope, Nope, way cooler
Him: Porsche?
Me: Way cooler, it's a Tesla.
Him: Are you f*** kidding me? You have a Tesla, did you bring it? Where is it?
Me: Sry, It's parked on the other side of town (don't park a Tesla where drunk people go)
At this point the car was parked about 2 miles away and everybody has had a few too many beers to drive safely. So I offer to drop by the next day and take Dad and both kids for a small drive. As you can imagine the kids freak out completely and the dad is just grateful.
So I show up the next morning and they are all waiting for me. The dad tells me that the only thing he heard of this morning was "Tesla", the oldest son had even called friends just to tell them that he was going for a ride in a Tesla.
So we do the usual "see the big screen"-tour and take off slowly. They all marvel at how quiet it is until we hit a highway and I just floor it. I swear both kids nearly screamed with joy as our Tardis took off like a rocket. The father was visible shaken and kept repeating "I didn't expect that".
We had a nice and cosy test-drive and at the end everybody had a great time. The oldest son was planning on becoming a mechanic, now he is considering wether it might be better to become an electrical-engineer.
Me: Yeah, I'm sort of a big car guy too, just bought a new car.
Son: What did you get? a cool car?
Me: It really is a cool car, but I'm pretty sure you can't guess which one
Him: BMW? Merc?
Me: Nope, Nope, way cooler
Him: Porsche?
Me: Way cooler, it's a Tesla.
Him: Are you f*** kidding me? You have a Tesla, did you bring it? Where is it?
Me: Sry, It's parked on the other side of town (don't park a Tesla where drunk people go)
At this point the car was parked about 2 miles away and everybody has had a few too many beers to drive safely. So I offer to drop by the next day and take Dad and both kids for a small drive. As you can imagine the kids freak out completely and the dad is just grateful.
So I show up the next morning and they are all waiting for me. The dad tells me that the only thing he heard of this morning was "Tesla", the oldest son had even called friends just to tell them that he was going for a ride in a Tesla.
So we do the usual "see the big screen"-tour and take off slowly. They all marvel at how quiet it is until we hit a highway and I just floor it. I swear both kids nearly screamed with joy as our Tardis took off like a rocket. The father was visible shaken and kept repeating "I didn't expect that".
We had a nice and cosy test-drive and at the end everybody had a great time. The oldest son was planning on becoming a mechanic, now he is considering wether it might be better to become an electrical-engineer.
I guess this can be considered a Tesla moment, but not exactly with someone who didn't know about it, my wife. We were in Dallas traffic the other day and Tesla rerouted me fairly quickly to get off of the freeway to avoid an upcoming traffic jam. I looked at my right mirror and saw a gap but the other car was coming on quickly. So I gave the 85D a quick boost on the go-pedal and jutted over. Apparently I didn't give my wife any warning because it threw her head back into the headrest...and she exclaimed, "You just broke my hair clip!!" Whoops! :biggrin:
Not the one you were asking, but I normally say something to the effect of, "Everything is controlled via this touch screen. The only exceptions are flashers (hit flashers button on and off) and glove box (hit button)." If you have air suspension, one of the things that gets the biggest reactions out of adults is the location enabled suspension. I raise it up, point to the auto location icon (or whatever it says) and tell them that the next time I come to this GPS location it will automatically raise up. I show them the settings screen that shows how you can turn on and off the creep mode, and that this was done by just an OTA update by artificially generating the creep mode found in ICE vehicles. Of course you have to drag down the sunroof with your finger. Show them the web browser, always on backup camera, etc.
Not the one you were asking, but I normally say something to the effect of, "Everything is controlled via this touch screen. The only exceptions are flashers (hit flashers button on and off) and glove box (hit button)." If you have air suspension, one of the things that gets the biggest reactions out of adults is the location enabled suspension. I raise it up, point to the auto location icon (or whatever it says) and tell them that the next time I come to this GPS location it will automatically raise up. I show them the settings screen that shows how you can turn on and off the creep mode, and that this was done by just an OTA update by artificially generating the creep mode found in ICE vehicles. Of course you have to drag down the sunroof with your finger. Show them the web browser, always on backup camera, etc.
My assistant's son got married on Saturday and the parents asked me to borrow my Model S as the "Limo" for the newly married! They returned the car with 3 miles remaining but guess what took the center stage! With the iPhone app, I could see them zipping along the freeway at 85MPH! I told them no "just Married" painting or dragging tin cans along the freeway!
I generally start with the camera on top and the Nav on the bottom. Then make the Nav full screen and do a pinch to zoom. Set a destination and show the turn-by-turn on the smaller display, Then the calendar function. After that it depends on what they are interested in.
"Same thing"?We had a nice and cosy test-drive and at the end everybody had a great time. The oldest son was planning on becoming a mechanic, now he is considering wether it might be better to become an electrical-engineer.
The number of 'Tesla moments' has fallen to a trickle as the S has become more and more common on the roads here in Colorado. It's still not a daily thing to see another one, but I no longer get many second looks on the roads.
So yesterday's Tesla Moment Trifecta really made me smile. The first one came when I walked up to my car in an underground garage at one of the ski resorts: somebody had left me a post-it on the driver's window with "Awesome car!" written on it. The second came on the newly-paved entrance road to the same resort, some beautifully smooth new asphalt. There were a number of twenty-something hipster/slackers (when did that become a thing?) riding longboards down the road in the opposite direction. One board had two riders, one sitting, one standing. The standing rider caught sight of the red P85D as I approached and did a full double-take and craned around as I passed, breaking his hipster cool, pointing and talking to his buddies excitedly. He got a grin and a thumbs-up from me.
The third moment came at a stoplight on a multi-lane boulevard in suburban Denver, when a huge pickup pulled up on my left (I swear the bottom of the passenger window was higher than the roof of my D) and I became aware that the driver dad and his young son were both trying to get my attention. I gave them the thumbs-up just as the light changed and, since the road ahead was clear for a good half-mile, launched away from the light for their entertainment (and mine). It wasn't even a full-out launch, but when they caught up with me at the next light, it was to more smiles and a big thumbs-up from the kid.
So yesterday's Tesla Moment Trifecta really made me smile. The first one came when I walked up to my car in an underground garage at one of the ski resorts: somebody had left me a post-it on the driver's window with "Awesome car!" written on it. The second came on the newly-paved entrance road to the same resort, some beautifully smooth new asphalt. There were a number of twenty-something hipster/slackers (when did that become a thing?) riding longboards down the road in the opposite direction. One board had two riders, one sitting, one standing. The standing rider caught sight of the red P85D as I approached and did a full double-take and craned around as I passed, breaking his hipster cool, pointing and talking to his buddies excitedly. He got a grin and a thumbs-up from me.
The third moment came at a stoplight on a multi-lane boulevard in suburban Denver, when a huge pickup pulled up on my left (I swear the bottom of the passenger window was higher than the roof of my D) and I became aware that the driver dad and his young son were both trying to get my attention. I gave them the thumbs-up just as the light changed and, since the road ahead was clear for a good half-mile, launched away from the light for their entertainment (and mine). It wasn't even a full-out launch, but when they caught up with me at the next light, it was to more smiles and a big thumbs-up from the kid.
Since I don't have air suspension, the one that gets the biggest reaction from me is the pano roof. I don't tell them what's about to happen, I just tell them to drag around on the roof on the top of the car in the settings page. When they get that the roof is opening to the exact position they dragged their finger, they typically lose it.
I tend to do:
1. Sunroof
2. Navi system (trip planner, my target of choice is almost always Amsterdam), just to show how the tripplanner tells you where to charge.
3. Energy screen
4. Media player - demo Rdio streaming
5. Some of the settings
6. Rear view camera.
I tend to skip over the web-browser and just mention that it's a little slow.
Also I normally make a little joke about "and now we just enter a pin code on the screen to start the car...." after a small artistic pause I go: "Nah, just look at the speedo" and press the brake to flip the display. Then discreetly flick it to drive and take off.
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"Same thing"?
Not where I live. Electricians install stuff, electrical engineers design and build stuff
Both are very respectable and good jobs imho, but guess which pays more.
Tesla's are getting more popular in my neck of the woods, so not many "tesla moments", but this weekend had a guy in a '57 Chevy (I'm not a car person, I wouldn't have known what car he was driving, except his plate said 57chevy, lol) drive by and give me a thumbs up.
beeeerock
Active Member
On the highway yesterday afternoon in typical summer traffic. Somebody was doing about 80 in a 100 zone and traffic was backed up behind. I joined the tail of the car snake and remained patient for an opportunity to get a bunch of us by. Up behind me came an out of province Chevy pickup, which began to tailgate me - so close I needed the camera to see his bumper. It was annoying and I was sorely tempted to flip him the bird or do something to get him to back off. However, a passing lane came along and I move over to go by the slower traffic. So did he and I had the idea he was going to try to tailgate me to push me past as much of the traffic as possible.
So I did the obvious Tesla thing - punched it! He was a speck in my mirror very quickly and I got past most of the traffic.
Later, in a four lane section where the congestion thinned out, he caught up to me again. Sat behind me for a few minutes, then went by very slowly. Got slightly ahead then backed off and let me go by him as my cruise control maintained my speed. I could see the passenger gawking out of the corner of my eye, but I pretended not to notice. He eventually settled in behind me, this time at a safe distance and stayed there for about 50 km before taking another road.
Which made me wonder - what is the correct etiquette for acknowledging someone obviously gawking... without causing them to become distracted and sideswipe you? LOL
So I did the obvious Tesla thing - punched it! He was a speck in my mirror very quickly and I got past most of the traffic.
Later, in a four lane section where the congestion thinned out, he caught up to me again. Sat behind me for a few minutes, then went by very slowly. Got slightly ahead then backed off and let me go by him as my cruise control maintained my speed. I could see the passenger gawking out of the corner of my eye, but I pretended not to notice. He eventually settled in behind me, this time at a safe distance and stayed there for about 50 km before taking another road.
Which made me wonder - what is the correct etiquette for acknowledging someone obviously gawking... without causing them to become distracted and sideswipe you? LOL
As I am another Colorado resident with the Tesla, I still get people noticing the car and asking questions about it. Not so much in the Tech Center area, but in other areas, people still look in awe...
kushari
Model X 100D
I've had the same guy see me three times and always said the same thing. "You're awesome for owning a Tesla and saving the environment". The last time I said hey man, I remember you, you've seen me a few times. He's like oh yeah, I remember, You're awesome, your car is awesome! (not exact words, but something along those lines). I might give him a ride next time he tells me I'm awesome and my car is awesome.
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I always do the same, and do it so casually, oh there's no engine and I have two trunks. That's what makes the gawk. That it's so normal for me, seriously though after owning the Model S, you get so used to it, that ICE cars annoy you with their sounds, and their lack of two trunks etc. Haha.I attended a local charity car show at a church near the house that ended up having about 30 cars that ranged from a 1902 Rambler (!) to your standard 70's muscle cars to my 85D. I parked right beside my neighbor's Audi R8 (dark green, beautiful car
cmu5p
Member
At a VA water park this weekend, three young parking attendants in their golf cart stopped to watch my boys climb into the trunk. Lots of questions: does it have the big screen? (showed him) Ludicrous mode? ("no, this a working mom's Tesla, but plenty fast for us") How's it drive? ("awesome and quiet- except for the kids"), how far can you go ("drove 160miles here on a single charge and free juice whenever I need it") etc. etc.
He walked away saying, "That's it, I'm going back to premed."
So there, we're saving the environment and just converted one to fill the doctor shortage.
He walked away saying, "That's it, I'm going back to premed."
So there, we're saving the environment and just converted one to fill the doctor shortage.
I had a wonderful Tesla moment yesterday. I was on my way down to the Georgia Power CHAdeMo. I only had 32 miles of rated range left so I was definitely NOT at full power potential. I had a Corvette pull alongside of me on Riverwatch Parkway. He had his convertible top down and I had the sunroof open and windows down. He launched pretty good so I thought, What the heck, and just maintained pace with him to the next light. He hollered over, Hey that's pretty quick. What do you have under the hood? My response, A trunk! When the light turned green this time I put the pedal down and, try as he might, he was three car lengths back when I let up. I had to make sure I had enough to get to the charger! He passed me with grins and thumbs up.
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