On the Tesla Model 3

Doh! A car! A fantastic car!

I glanced nervously at the charge indicator on the sandy Nissan Leaf as I coaxed it higher into the west Maui mountains. Rain threatened, I needed coffee, probably a shower, but it didn’t matter. If the heavens opened up and the Leaf ran out of juice, I would have happily jogged the rest of the way in the rain with a giant smile on my face, because I had a date with the future. Let’s rewind a bit, and see how I got here…

My Life in Cars

My first car was a brand new 1994 Honda Civic. Bought it new right after college, drove it for 140,000 mostly-uneventful miles, and finally sold it on the opposite coast. My next car, purchased on eBay during a quarter-life crisis, was a silver 2002 Audi TT Roadster. I put a subwoofer in the trunk, won (back) the girl of my dreams, then promptly sold it and moved to Hawaii. Pretty standard stuff. Here, practicality won again and I went for a heavily-used 2007 Toyota Camry. It was beige. Doug backed it into a fence, my mom smashed a taillight, and roaches considered it a Four Seasons. It did its job without complaint.

Then along came the Nissan Leaf. I’d been eyeing electric cars for a while, but the Leaf was clearly on new ground in terms of price and almost 100 miles of range (which on Maui brings you to surf, poke and groceries). Federal and state rebates put it at just over $200/month to lease, so I jumped. Friends teased me about the “golf cart”, and it definitely didn’t exude style, but it was hella practical and I loved it, enough to lease two in a row for 5 years and swear I’d never own a gas car again.

Of course, you can’t drive an electric car without being aware of Tesla.

I did my best to ignore the Model S because I couldn’t afford it and I figured the more I knew, the more I’d want one anyway. I even went out of my way to avoid riding in one. To this day I’ve only been in one, a random Uber hailed in Colorado driven by a kind, bored, semi-retired gentleman. I tried my best to just look out the window and not notice I was in a fucking spaceship from the future, because otherwise I’d start selling my kidneys.

But then came the Model 3: The Volks-Tesla, fit for every family. So I plunked down $1000. Being only a few months into a 3-year Leaf lease, I was in no great hurry, and thankfully so, because it was a long wait…

Configuration

About 22 months after making the reservation, I got notice that it was time to configure the vehicle. The online experience was quick and smooth; I think it was clever of Tesla to offer only the longer range car at first. Even though I clearly had no practical need for the extra 100 miles, I didn’t think twice. The premium package was required for these earlier builds as well, but I had wanted it for the improved audio and the glass roof. Silver metallic, stiletto wheels, Enhanced Autopilot, and done. All I had to show for it was an image to gaze upon lovingly that I saved to my desktop. Delivery would supposedly happen in 4–6 weeks, but who knew how much longer it would take in Hawaii.

Hello, world!

Delivery

One year and 364 days after reserving, I drove up to Maui’s King Kamehameha Golf Club in my dirty Leaf, A/C off to save on battery. I’d read online something about elaborate ceremonies, but (sensing a theme?) I tried my best to know as little as possible.

It was a dark grey day, and the club was eerily empty. In front of the majestic Frank Lloyd Wright building were parked 4 brand new Teslas in pure Fast and the Furious style. The juxtaposition of Wright’s organic architecture against the curves of the gleaming Teslas with storm clouds as backdrop, was stunning. A Tesla employee wandered busily from car to car with a chamois cloth removing droplets of water and stray molecules of dust.

I met the delivery specialist at the door, and we sat in the spacious lobby to sign a few (dozen) pieces of paper. I’d opted for financing through Tesla, and that made everything straightforward. There was no actual ceremony to speak of, but the pent-up excitement over two years more than made up for it. After signing, we went and sat in the car and he showed me the basic setup, gave me his phone number, and left me to sit in silence for a few minutes. I’d read online about people with panel misalignments and all sorts of other little things, and I actually had a checklist on my phone, but I decided to just look it over quickly and not obsess over things I wouldn’t ever notice in normal use. The car looked perfect.

Anna (my wife) mocked me endlessly for reading the Model 3 manual multiple times before picking up the car, but that did little to prepare me for the strong emotions I experienced in those first few minutes. The best comparison I can make is when a decade earlier I’d moved from flip phone to the iPhone: ground-breaking user-focused design, and the feeling that every other car would now feel outdated, of a past era.

I got up the courage to inch the car along the driveway a bit; adjusted the mirrors a little more; and then off I drove…