Weird Doors
We run a vacation rental business in Portland, OR. My wife made an offhand comment about a guest's car with some 'weird doors' that she had seen open. I didn't think much of it. On the guest's last day, I finally took a look and realized it was a Tesla. Cool.
This was our first EV guest after years of vacation rentals. I felt guilty because I have two 50A 6-50 plugs for my welder(s) and I had never even considered mentioning that we have EV Charging capability at our vacation rentals. After the guest departed, I apologized for my ignorance of never thinking about EVs and the guest was very gracious - but did mention he had to go quite a ways to get a charge for his trip back to California. OK, one more thing to add to the vacation rental description - lesson learned (and a 14-50 adapter purchased).
I had never even seen a Model X. Didn't know diddly about the Falcon Wing Doors. So I started reading about Tesla, Mr. Musk's efforts to change the world, the excitement around the Model 3, and talked to my brother (an early M3 reservation holder) about the Model 3.
The obsession began. EGAD - it's just like crack. I read everything about the Teslas. For weeks. Every article, watched tons of videos. The obsession just grew and grew.
My Birthday
Then my MAJOR milestone birthday rolled around. The kids were all gone, my wife was out on errands - and I did it. Ordered a Model 3. I mentioned my birthday present offhandedly to her when she came home. Being the wonderful person she has always been, she just smiled and said 'whatever you want' when she got home. Now that I think about it, I remember the day I turned 30 and came home with a pickup AND a camper on the same day - there appears to be a pattern developing every 30 years!
Now that I had an M3 on order, the obsession kicked into overdrive. What is it about these darn Teslas???
The Bait and Switch
After a few weeks, I asked my wife if she wanted to go down to the Tesla dealership to check for any M3's on the lot. She had been humoring me for weeks, listen to my endless mindless babbling about Tesla, Elon Musk, EVs, batteries, automation (what I do for a living), yada yada. With her ever-present smile, she said 'Sure, let's go to the dealer'. What a sweetheart.
Driving onto the Tesla lot was like taking a drink after a day in the sun: natural satisfaction. M3, S, X variations could be seen waiting for service. Lots of gorgeous cars. And a Bolt on the lot too!
We finally found the showroom floor (weird - almost like it was hidden, and barely marked) and there were no M3s to sit in. But there was an S and an X. And a very friendly, zero pressure salesperson. What a pleasant experience. I sat in the S and it reminded me of my old Corvette: a definite plop down into the seats. The salesperson said I should sit in the X: much easier to get in and out, Nice.
Then she asked if I'm self-employed. Yes. 'Do you know about the Hummer Tax Credit?'. Never heard of it...
I walked off the lot, now having a new item to learn about: the EV credit, Section 179 and the Section 168K 100% deduction. And the Model X started to look WAY more affordable.
I called the salesperson back, scheduled a test drive with my wife and daughter (a current EV owner), and took the MX for a drive. Having owned multiple SUVs, I vowed to never own a rough-riding SUV ever again so I told the salesperson to take me on the roughest roads she could find. Unbelievable: the MX rode like no other SUV I'd ever owned.
And a strange thing happened somewhere on that test drive: my wife now has the Tesla disease. It's a freaking plague!
Our Model 3 reservation is history. A Blue Metallic MX 100D with EAP is on order. The Bait and Switch is complete: Elon has taken control over my mind...
We run a vacation rental business in Portland, OR. My wife made an offhand comment about a guest's car with some 'weird doors' that she had seen open. I didn't think much of it. On the guest's last day, I finally took a look and realized it was a Tesla. Cool.
This was our first EV guest after years of vacation rentals. I felt guilty because I have two 50A 6-50 plugs for my welder(s) and I had never even considered mentioning that we have EV Charging capability at our vacation rentals. After the guest departed, I apologized for my ignorance of never thinking about EVs and the guest was very gracious - but did mention he had to go quite a ways to get a charge for his trip back to California. OK, one more thing to add to the vacation rental description - lesson learned (and a 14-50 adapter purchased).
I had never even seen a Model X. Didn't know diddly about the Falcon Wing Doors. So I started reading about Tesla, Mr. Musk's efforts to change the world, the excitement around the Model 3, and talked to my brother (an early M3 reservation holder) about the Model 3.
The obsession began. EGAD - it's just like crack. I read everything about the Teslas. For weeks. Every article, watched tons of videos. The obsession just grew and grew.
My Birthday
Then my MAJOR milestone birthday rolled around. The kids were all gone, my wife was out on errands - and I did it. Ordered a Model 3. I mentioned my birthday present offhandedly to her when she came home. Being the wonderful person she has always been, she just smiled and said 'whatever you want' when she got home. Now that I think about it, I remember the day I turned 30 and came home with a pickup AND a camper on the same day - there appears to be a pattern developing every 30 years!
Now that I had an M3 on order, the obsession kicked into overdrive. What is it about these darn Teslas???
The Bait and Switch
After a few weeks, I asked my wife if she wanted to go down to the Tesla dealership to check for any M3's on the lot. She had been humoring me for weeks, listen to my endless mindless babbling about Tesla, Elon Musk, EVs, batteries, automation (what I do for a living), yada yada. With her ever-present smile, she said 'Sure, let's go to the dealer'. What a sweetheart.
Driving onto the Tesla lot was like taking a drink after a day in the sun: natural satisfaction. M3, S, X variations could be seen waiting for service. Lots of gorgeous cars. And a Bolt on the lot too!
We finally found the showroom floor (weird - almost like it was hidden, and barely marked) and there were no M3s to sit in. But there was an S and an X. And a very friendly, zero pressure salesperson. What a pleasant experience. I sat in the S and it reminded me of my old Corvette: a definite plop down into the seats. The salesperson said I should sit in the X: much easier to get in and out, Nice.
Then she asked if I'm self-employed. Yes. 'Do you know about the Hummer Tax Credit?'. Never heard of it...
I walked off the lot, now having a new item to learn about: the EV credit, Section 179 and the Section 168K 100% deduction. And the Model X started to look WAY more affordable.
I called the salesperson back, scheduled a test drive with my wife and daughter (a current EV owner), and took the MX for a drive. Having owned multiple SUVs, I vowed to never own a rough-riding SUV ever again so I told the salesperson to take me on the roughest roads she could find. Unbelievable: the MX rode like no other SUV I'd ever owned.
And a strange thing happened somewhere on that test drive: my wife now has the Tesla disease. It's a freaking plague!
Our Model 3 reservation is history. A Blue Metallic MX 100D with EAP is on order. The Bait and Switch is complete: Elon has taken control over my mind...
