Much of the year had passed, and we were approaching late November 2020, we were ready to take the next step, now how do we safely test drive a car or two while being mindful that the COVID Pandemic has spread from coast to coast.
I hit up the Tesla website, and low and behold, there it is, schedule a test drive.
I fill out the information and schedule our test drive for 11/24/2020, the confirmation email provides additional information for the 30 minute test drive as well as links to video tutorials so you are prepared for your first drive.
We arrive a few minutes prior to our scheduled appointment, they verify we have uploaded our Drivers License as well as accepted the terms for the test drive, all done electronically. An advisor walks us to a car, has us get in, then walks us through getting the essentials adjusted for the driver, in his words, the only thing you can’t adjust electronically is the rear-view mirror.
Shawna was up first and she has not gone down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos related to driving a Tesla, but she puts it in Drive and slowly pushes the accelerator pedal and we make our way out of the parking lot. It’s a little jerky as she tries to get used to the one pedal driving, in this mode instead of pushing the brake pedal, you keep your foot on the accelerator pedal and lift up slightly, this enables regen mode which slows the car while using the motors to generate power to charge the battery. She hits the go pedal to pull out on the main road, and her words were ” I can get used to this”. Amazing smooth power, instant torque, along with amazing handling. Shawna drove for 15 minutes and has already decided, she is getting a Tesla. 🙂
Now it’s my turn, we switch seats, get everything adjusted and off we go, I am fairly comfortable after watching hours of videos, we pull out on the main road and I hit the go pedal about half way, and everyone giggles, these cars get up and go. We decided we had enough time for a quick highway run and the car feels amazing, once we exit the highway the vision system was done calibrating and Tesla’s Full Self Driving is now available to us. I pull away from the stop light and pull down twice on the right stalk, and at that time the Model 3 is driving itself, we approach a stop light behind two other cars and it stops, the light turns green, it chimes for me to confirm it’s a green light and off it goes, accelerating, braking, and steering as necessary. I have no plans to purchase this $10,000 option at the time of this writing, unless I have another unreal year in the Stock Market.
We wrap up our test drive and Shawna looks over and sits in a Model Y, she likes the extra space, along with being seated higher, but no decision is made. The decision that was made is that we are getting white interior, what a statement it makes when compared to the black. We speak with the advisor and let him know we are going home to order our Tesla’s.

Up next: Ordering, do I get a standard range, standard range plus, or a long range?

Thanks for reading:
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