Saw a Tesla S on the road

[Kaido]

Stuck in traffic yesterday and saw a white Tesla model S on the opposite side of the road from me. I thought it was a nice new Ford Focus from a distance until I saw the Tesla logo on the front! Haha. They have similar designs, especially the angled teardrop headlights:

http://media.dealerskins.com/carspecs2002/Photos/JATOCOLOR400/Ford\Focus\2013\8399_cc0480_032_YZ.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/green.autobl...model-s-quick-spin-white-opt-1-1340662803.jpg

Never seen one in the wild before. It was smaller than I expected too - the press shots make it look huge, but it definitely didn't look like a boat in-person. It had the 19" rims, which I think made it look more like a normal car than the spiffy 21" rims do.

Pretty cool to see electric cars on the road! :thumbsup:

 

[Phobic9]

There's a guy near me that recently got one. I saw him at the grocery store and pretty much stood there for 10 minutes drooling on myself. Talked to him for a bit and obviously he loves it.

I will agree with you that it's pretty cool to see more electric cars on the road, especially where I am (Ohio).

 

[Phanuel]

Live in the bay area, see a ton of them. They're pretty large, but I prefer smaller cars so what is 'normal' to most people is a land barge to me.

 

[Imported]

They look huge to me.. but I do prefer smaller cars.

 

[hanoverphist]

i got to mess with one in my friends custom shop. guy brought it in for a complete tint way cool cars. i love the HUGE nav/control center in the dash console. and the pop out door handles.

 

[Imported]

The large touch screen/nav/console is probably the thing I hate most on the car after playing with it at their store. I can't imagine myself driving and fumbling with the screen like that. The car has sooo much space though. You could probably fit a small army in there.

 

[Drako]

They're all over the place out here. There are two in the parking garage at my work right now. One of them is baby shit brown - don't understand why anyone would buy a car that color

 

[Kaido]

They're all over the place out here. There are two in the parking garage at my work right now. One of them is baby poop brown - don't understand why anyone would buy a car that color

It depends on the car. I've actually seen brown look really nice on a few cars, like certain VW's. Looks bad on most and terrible on some though

 

[disappoint]

i got to mess with one in my friends custom shop. guy brought it in for a complete tint way cool cars. i love the HUGE nav/control center in the dash console. and the pop out door handles.

What's the container in front of the car for? Looks like a soda syrup container for those commercial soda fountains. And what's the Chef from South Park doing on it?

 

[Kaido]

The large touch screen/nav/console is probably the thing I hate most on the car after playing with it at their store. I can't imagine myself driving and fumbling with the screen like that. The car has sooo much space though. You could probably fit a small army in there.

Yeah, I thought it was cool initially, but I wonder how long-term usability is. Personally I'd prefer just a backup camera & a Garmin GPS.

 

[Phanuel]

Physical touch controls are something I hope never goes away, even in higher end cars. Being able to feel and know you're on the right control while driving is invaluable. Trying to adjust climate control or radio or any other small thing on a piece of glass or slightly squishy plastic screen is nearly impossible.

 

[mmntech]

I've seen two of them in the last two months. One in downtown Toronto, one out here. They are nice looking but I think they're definitely garage queens. Electric cars with electric heaters just aren't ideal for the Canadian winter.

 

[Kaido]

They look huge to me.. but I do prefer smaller cars.

It's very similar in size to my S80. I picked up a used Volvo a few months ago and it felt like a boat at first, but I got used to it pretty quickly. Volvo lists it as a mid-size luxury sedan; the Tesla S is only a bit bigger, so I think it'd be pretty easy to manage. I don't have a problem with the S80 in parking lots like I have with other large(r) cars.

I'd love to get a Leaf or Fit EV, but the range is just out of my comfort zone. The top-end EPA range on the Tesla S with the bigger battery is a whopping 265 miles, which is far, far better than the 70 & 80-mile ranges the less expensive electric cars are advertising.

I've been considering a Tesla because I spend so much on gas every month, but once you factor in the really good range & specs it just about doubles the price to $100k+, so you have to really look at the * in the $580* a month figure advertised on their homepage because that jumps up to $1,000/mo, haha. My Volvo eats about $85 a week in Connecticut premium gas, so an electric car would be nice both from a gas-savings point of view & from a low-maintenance POV, but with a car at such a high-end price, you're really not saving any money at all. $580 a month can be a car payment for a regular car plus gas (say $249 + 4 weeks of gas), but doubling that kinda takes the fun out of the math calculations

 

[Kaido]

Physical touch controls are something I hope never goes away, even in higher end cars. Being able to feel and know you're on the right control while driving is invaluable. Trying to adjust climate control or radio or any other small thing on a piece of glass or slightly squishy plastic screen is nearly impossible.

110% agree. This is why I like the Tivo remote over all other remotes - you don't have to look at it in the dark when you're watching a movie because all of the buttons have a different shape and are tactile instead of touch. I never even really got used to my Logitech Harmony remotes for that reason, and mostly think an iPhone/touch-device remote is pretty dumb because you have to (1) unlock it, (2) look at it, and (3) touch it, by which time you've passed where you want to pause to get up & go to the bathroom :biggrin:

 

[AustinInDallas]

Physical touch controls are something I hope never goes away, even in higher end cars. Being able to feel and know you're on the right control while driving is invaluable. Trying to adjust climate control or radio or any other small thing on a piece of glass or slightly squishy plastic screen is nearly impossible.

"Computer, adjust ambient temperature up two degrees Celsius and turn on traffic radio station"

 

[Kaido]

"Computer, adjust ambient temperature up two degrees Celsius and turn on traffic radio station"

Real-world response: "Did you say adjacent alien throttle up two pancakes and turn on traffic waffle sinus" ?

 

[Insomniator]

I saw one at a crappy gas station in my town, would not expect one to be there. 1. Its a gas station. 2. 95% of cars in my town are retarded lifted pickup trucks driven by NJ's version of hicks. 3. The Sonoco down the road has the ONLY electric charge station in the state of NJ... maybe he was looking for that?


Nice car indeed however.

 

[Kaido]

I saw one at a crappy gas station in my town, would not expect one to be there. 1. Its a gas station. 2. 95% of cars in my town are retarded lifted pickup trucks driven by NJ's version of hicks. 3. The Sonoco down the road has the ONLY electric charge station in the state of NJ... maybe he was looking for that?


Nice car indeed however.

Snacks.

 

[zoiks]

Lots of those here in Palo Alto. I see at least 5 or 6 everyday. It's really impressive given that there's still a 3 month wait for these cars.
One thing I love about the car is how sleek it is from the side with no ripples/seams. Love to have one but need a garage for it which I don't have.

 

[XavierMace]

I goaded one into racing the other day just because I wanted to see it. Definitely a nice car.

 

[Kaido]

Lots of those here in Palo Alto. I see at least 5 or 6 everyday. It's really impressive given that there's still a 3 month wait for these cars.
One thing I love about the car is how sleek it is from the side with no ripples/seams. Love to have one but need a garage for it which I don't have.

I almost wish they'd come out with a less-nice-looking one that doesn't draw so much attention, so if you were to go through a bad area you wouldn't make yourself a target. But Tesla's the only one that beats the 100-mile battery-only range, so in my book it's really the only one that I'd call practical.

 

[Baked]

Seems like everyone has a Tesla S around here. Looks good.

 

[vi edit]

There's one I see in town on occassion. I think the same guy owns a GT-R so this must be his more economic "grocery getter".

It sits ridiculoulsy low to the ground, and it's different looking in person than I thought it would be. It's not cheap looking, but there's something to the styling that didn't translate as well as the pictures would show. Can't really put my finger on what that is. Crazy quiet though. All you hear is the gravel under the tires when he takes off.

 

[Midwayman]

I see a couple a day on my commute now. Probably getting more common than the Porsche Panamerica that I was seeing all the time recently.

 

[Doppel]

I saw my first a week back in Virginia. LIKE. It is a nice car.