I spent three nights in Estes Park with my good friend Adam and his sister Alix. We hung out and caught up mostly, with fly fishing, a test drive of a Tesla, and a good hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Tuesday morning we went on a fly fishing outing with a guide. The fish weren’t biting much, but Adam landed two trout. Alix and I got skunked. We could see the jerk fish in the water looking at and then ignoring our lures. Our guide was great, worked really hard to keep us trying different techniques and lure types. I came to enjoy the appeal of the cast and reel; there’s a certain meditative Zen to it. If I could do that and catch dinner as a result, I can see some real appeal.
A friend of Alix’s has a Tesla Model S and after chatting with him passionately about it and the future of transportation, I asked if he’d take us for a ride. We all went Wednesday morning. He, unexpectedly to us passengers, let us all get behind the wheel and experience it ourselves.
The handling and acceleration are like nothing I’ve ever driven, even with four people in the car and going uphill in the mountains. The motor has so much torque and it responds instantly, giving the most generous and smooth acceleration I’ve ever experienced—it can just slam you into the back of the seat when you step on it. Conversely as soon as you let off the accelerator, that is, command the car to give less power and speed that it presently is, it immediately recaptures that power back into the batteries, which decelerates the car extremely quickly. There’s no “coasting,” that would be wasteful, as much power as is possible is kept in the system. With the low center of gravity and the immediately responsive acceleration and deceleration, you’re able to put the car just where you want it at just the speed you want. The connection between your mind and your foot and the movement and placement of the car is so tightly coupled that you feel a strong almost psychic connection to the car. That’s a big reason I enjoy driving a stick shift, I have better intuition and connection with how the car’s power will behave. The Tesla mind/body/car connection is so much better than a stick shift I would never look back. It was a totally new experience, and an absolute pleasure to drive.
Aside from power and handling, the car is a beauty to use. Magic door handles that appear and disappear when you’re close. Near silent operation (just tire and wind noise, but no engine). No fluids to maintain (only window washer) or oil changes. Amazing cargo space since there’s no engine. Simplicity of engineering, no liquid cooling system or lubrication system, pretty much just batteries, a motor, and steering. A clever glass cockpit. Free super-chargers (no fuel costs!). Free maintenance. The car has 3G built in, wifi and a mobile app to monitor charging status etc. Adjustable car height above the road. The only drawback is range anxiety, but if you look at Tesla’s 2015 vision for super chargers you can see that won’t be a concern for long.
I had high expectations for Tesla, and they were exceeded. Adam and Alix knew very little about Tesla at the start, both ended the day looking at price, tax credits and lower cost of ownership than a petrol car, and concluding that the Model S and X are reasonable purchases, not just luxury automobiles. I couldn’t agree more.
After the drive we went for a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park at Wild Basin, about six miles round trip with a few beautiful waterfalls.
It was great staying in one place with a living room and friends—it recharged my road trip batteries a good bit. Thanks guys!
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