Love in Midlife

I don’t think we are exactly in the “honeymoon phase” anymore, now that it has been a little more than four months. But the fact that I have chosen to write about it as the subject of my first blog post since April 2018 (where did the months go?) is probably proof in itself that my relationship with my Tesla is much deeper than mere infatuation.

I decided long ago that when it would be time to retire my Mini Cooper Countryman, which served me really well through my law school years, I would buy a greener car. I was heavily leaning towards a plug-in hybrid. I had my eyes on a BMW 530e. But when we were ready to buy, the BMW dealership didn’t have any 530e in stock, even for a test drive. So purely on a whim, we ended up going to a Tesla dealership, and that turned out to be fateful! The car felt so comfortably familiar that I didn’t even feel like I was driving an all-electric vehicle. Plus the rear-view camera's continuous feed on the huge screen was thrilling during the test drive on Interstate 280. And with a range of 264 miles with a fully-charged battery, I didn’t see a reason for ‘range anxiety’ either—it was comparable to my Countryman's range. So I took the plunge and here I am--the proud owner of a Model S 90D for four months now.

I didn’t buy the car for the ‘0-60 miles in 4.2 seconds’ feature that allures some speed-seekers. In fact that level of acceleration literally gives me a headache. The autopilot feature is nice, but I rarely use it. What I absolutely love is the touchscreen in the console! It is super intuitive because it feels like you are just operating a laptop or tablet. Now I actually look forward to my commute to and from work, nearly one-hour each way. Audiobooks, regular radio, streaming content from the built-in Slacker internet radio app or music from my iphone—all these great options competing with each other for my attention is too gratifying to complain about traffic! And above all, nothing beats not having to go to the gas station--ever! I can just read about the US-Saudi Arabia relationship volatility (in the wake of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khasoggi’s brutal killing) without taking a look at the boards to check if the gas prices are reflecting the turbulence.

Elon Musk’s antics may not always make it easy to support him, but there’s no doubt that his company makes a hell of a car! 

P.S. 12/31/2018: I am certainly not alone in my admiration, as this article proves.