Ramblings Only

His wife wants a Tesla it seems and he went on to ask me what I like about it other than the fact that it is electric and that it is fast. For a minute I was taken aback. It has been a year since I drove ICE cars. I sat in them in Africa but that doesn't really count as driving. I told him just this ' once you drive a tesla, and I know every tesla owner says this but it is true really, you don't want to drive any other car. '

My reason for that statement was that over the weekend we were exploring options for a vacation in later this year and a road trip in any other car seemed most boring inspite of exotic locales.  I realized with dismay, Mia has completely spoilt road trips for me! I started looking to see if we could rent Teslas where we go. 

Yesterday was Mia's first annual service appointment. I got a loaner Tesla in the meantime, a P85+. OMG the P is really a Performance with a capital P with amazing acceleration. It doesn't drive like a car that weighs two tons. The maneuvering is like that of a tiny nifty compact sports car. Sick sick. I noticed the bumps on the roads were much softer, mostly owing to the air suspension which Mia doesn't have. But man the P is totally worth it. Mia is fast but this is something else.The guy emailed me and said my vehicle will not be ready until the next day and I replied back saying 'no issues! Since I have a loaner tesla!' Sometimes when they dont have teslas to loan out, they give enterprise rental cars. I would have really fought with him if I had a rental car.

I drove home and realized I couldn't open the garage door from this car.  Thankfully I had the home keys with me buried in my bag. I rarely use them. Makes you think how much you are on autopilot during the day. I left in a hurry in the evening to pick up JSK and realized I didn't have her car seat! I immediately went to the rear to see if the child seats were installed. No luck there. When I called DH he was in a meeting and just to get me to hang up said just buckle her in the normal seat. He called me back in 10 minutes to change my mind but I was already on my way for pick up. JSK was very cautious as I made her sit in the middle seat at the back with the buckle on. I was only driving on internal 35mph roads and was careful not to be rash which the beast totally warranted for. Made it home safely after her ballet class. Phew! 

This car does not have autopilot. I have to step on the brakes?  :--P It wouldnt steer itself.. I have to steer it? :--P It didnt connect my phone automatically. Most difficult one was the parking sensors. This one didn't have the advanced sensors or software just the basic one. It was so difficult to park anywhere especially drive into the garage without them. I am so used to them, it will be very difficult to do without them.  Another thing was the Hillltop brake or parking brakes. Since tesla doesn't creep I take foot off the brake at stop signals. Pressing slightly hard on the brake puts the parking brake, then I can my feet off the brakes, which didn't happen in this one. The dashboard was the old version, which was what we had got our car with before the latest software update. But it looked..outdated already. I couldnt double check that I locked her on my iPhone App. I couldnt change charging options on the App. I had to do them physically in the car. Psst.

It is a high end model with accent lighting inside, 21" sporty tires, 21K miles. I drove like an ahole back from work just to feel how it is to drive like one. My Spire immediately buzzed "You seem tense. Would you like to take a minute to relax?" More about my Spire in another post. Tensed was right!

So anyway, these are times you realize how much you start taking for granted and how much of a creature of habit we are. I will get Mia back tomorrow and I hope I dont trash my loaner a lot until then.

Happy Friday!