I waited a couple days after doing this to write about it, just to let my thoughts about it percolate. You might recall I was invited to the Tesla owner's party by mistake, and while there I scheduled a Model X test drive. I was mostly interested to see how such a big, heavy electric car handles.
Remarkably well in fact. The visibility was similar to in a minivan, which surprised me right away when I got in. I was high up and there wasn't nearly as much pillar obstruction in my field of view as in my Volt. If you're wondering why no photos or video, I was told it wasn't allowed.
There was surprisingly little to sign. As soon as I approached the car, the doors unlocked and popped slightly open. Then once I was past the door, it opened the rest of the way by itself to let me in. Once I was inside with the Tesla employee, the doors closed and locked themselves.
Turning the car on was as simple as pressing the brake. There was a backup camera, as expected, and following the instruction from the Tesla guy with me, I took the Model X out of the parking lot and onto the freeway.
The acceleration was very punchy and aggressive, but so was the regen. My Volt has much softer regen than this, I basically didn't even need the brakes. The very second you let off the accelerator, the regen kicks in hard.
The next big surprise arrived when I was instructed to turn on the auto pilot. I saw firsthand what a good job it does. All I had to do to have it change lanes was signal left or right. The car then handled the rest. Every fifteen seconds or so the dash display would flash, letting me know to touch the steering wheel.
This is to let it know I'm still awake, and is required by law. Were I to not touch the steering wheel in time, the car would attempt to make it's way over to the side of the road and park there. I was assured the alarm is loud enough it'd probably wake you anyway.
The auto-lane changing was only one of many surprises to come however. Voice control for both music and GPS works adequately well, though it had trouble understanding "Rammstein". When it came time to bring the Model X in to park and recharge (As it had "only" 98 miles of range remaining) the next mind blowing technology moment happened.
The damned thing parks itself. It can parallel park, back into a space, whatever. Not only does it do these things, but does a better job of them than I do, which inspired a great deal of trust in the car's underlying technology.
There were a few times when the extra weight of the vehicle made sharp turns feel somewhat perilous, but that's because I instinctively compared it to large gas cars. The Model X is built on the Model S skateboard and as such the batteries are situated very low, for stability.
The Tesla guide then laid on the charm and pushed very hard for me to put a down payment on the X. I was honest about my finances and that it was possibly foreseeable that I could have a Model 3 some time in the next few years. Not what he wanted to hear evidently, but then his job is to upsell.
I never found him obnoxious, just determined, and ultimately did make it out of there without signing anything. They knew what they were looking for when they hired the guy, as he said many persuasive, tempting things about the merits of a Model S or X over the 3.
At the end of the day though, unless STEEM hits $10 and stays there, a Model S or X isn't in the cards. It's still an open question whether I'll make the kind of money in a few years time to afford a fully kitted out Model 3, which evidently runs close to $60,000.
For the time being, the Volt is more than adequate for my needs and I simply feel thankful that Steemit has been good enough to me that I could buy a car with what I've earned here. The test drive did however give me a tantalizing glimpse of a yet higher peak to reach for.
Stay Cozy!