Test Drove a Tesla Today

This guy has a problem with Elon Musk pronouncing the name Te-zzz-la instead of Te-sss-la. I was a bit surprised, because I've only ever heard the name pronounced with a z-sound, never with an s-sound. He might be correct, though. I mean, almost everybody pronounces Edmond Halley's name wrong.

I have only heard the name Tesla pronounced with a sibilant s. Musk does have a bit of an accent, however. But it is his company, so if he wants the name of his car to be pronounced with a z, he certainly can. The NBA team  in Boston is pronounced Seltics, rather than with the hard C as in Celtics.

Just a couple of nights ago, I muttered, "Its Halley, you dimwit." when a Jeopardy contestant mispronounced the name of the comet.

Big deal. I haven't cared much for Porsche since the late fifties models.

The Mission E (Mission Airy?) is a beaut though.

Maybe it's just Porsche drivers I don't like.

I like the interior here.

It does look nice. At first, I thought they were Recaro seats, but while looking to see if they were (they aren't), I found some unflattering reviews of the roadster's seats:

"The seats feel like they are carved out of whalebone."
-- Los Angeles Times

"Now that waterboarding is banned, may we suggest simply locking terrorists inside a Tesla."
-- Car and Driver

Ha! What do you expect for $55,000???

They were talking about when it was new and a hundred grand.
I had a car with seats that fit those descriptions. Very spartan and uncomfortable, but you didn't have to sit in them for long, because you got where you were going very quickly.

Hmmmm. Maybe that explains why almost all these 2008 Tesla Roadsters have less than 20,000 miles on them.

That may be part of it. It's a bit of a conundrum: most of the people who can afford the car are too old to be able to drive them extensively without discomfort. When I was young, such seating did not bother me in the least; or riding a Harley hundreds of miles at a stretch was perfectly comfortable. Today...well, that's certainly not the case.

Life is backwards.

We should retire when we're young and fit and able to do adventurous things. Then when we get old and sedate and crippled up we should go to work in an office.

Sad.

One of the commenters here makes an excellent point:

Quote :

Soon front grills will be a synonym for outdated technology and will look very old fashioned. The same will happen to long flat bonnets as they will no longer serve as engine covers.

What could we do with car bonnets/hoods, once the engine compartment is no longer needed? You still need a crumple zone but it could be something completely different.

Tesla just released a new automobile operating system (Ver. 8.0) which has, among its new features, a very innovative thing: because the batteries are essentially "always on" in an electric car, the new software keeps the cabin cool if an infant or animal is inside, regardless of whether the car is moving.

Hopefully this won't encourage parents to lock their little monsters in the Tesla while they shop.

NoCoPilot wrote:

What could we do with car bonnets/hoods, once the engine compartment is no longer needed?  You still need a crumple zone but it could be something completely different.

The trunk on rear-engine cars is in the front. I guess you could have two trunks?

Why are Volkswagen Bugs forbidden in Africa?

Bet it won't come in under $35,000.

Bet I don't care.

The rear windows are a joke. I can understand -- almost -- that kind of foolishness on a rear-engine supercar where the whole rear deck is taken up by a 12-cylinder powerplant and a couple of blowers, but for an electric car -- with the motors in the wheels -- that's just foolish.

Tesla is pimping for new customers. This is one hell of a deal.

Quote :

Teslas ordered between now and December 31st will continue to receive free, unlimited Supercharging. All Teslas ordered on or after January 1, 2017 will be provided 400 kWh of free Supercharging credits (roughly 1,000 miles) annually. Beyond that, owners will incur a small fee to use Supercharging.

The free charging that used to come with a Tesla was a good deal. Now the buyers will have to pay for it. How do you consider that a hell of a deal?