Horrible Second Week of Ownership

While I thoroughly enjoyed receiving my Tesla Model S and the first week I drove it, my experience during the second week was in stark contrast. While I blame it all on Elon Musk, it’s not what you think. Our Tesla Model S has ruined me. We cheated on her and went to Maui without her. Left in a cold garage, we were in the warm sun of Maui driving an internal combustion rental car.

After only one week driving Elon’s dream machine my relationship with cars has changed for life. It’s amazing how quickly you can adapt to a better way of commuting. Almost every part of the rental car driving experience seemed pathetic, old-fashioned and of the last millennium. It all started with the key. A key, what’s that? As I approached our rental car it just sat there, dead to the world. No auto presentation, no door handles popping out, and certainly no lights illuminating my way. Then, once I sat in the seat, I had to put the key in the ignition and start the car. The engine turned over in what sounded to us as an almost primal belching adding as much noise pollution as air pollution out of the exhaust pipes. One could accept the primitiveness of a key if it worked reliably, however his car had a key and a fob. When our fob died, we tried to get in the car with the key. We succeeded in accessing the car and tripping the car alarm. We called Chevy and the rental car company, but neither could remotely shut off the alarm. Instead, the solution was to tow it away and get a replacement car. No nice Tesla people to call who could remotely access all aspects of the car.

Our uncomfortable experience didn’t end there. Forget for a moment I had to turn the radio on and that it wasn’t waiting on my favorite station, I can excuse that. However, once on, we had to listen to terrestrial radio. Granted an invention of Nikola Tesla himself, but very passé nowadays. Ear rupturing dribble spewed out of one morning DJ’s mouth after another. Where was slacker or at least a USB stick to listen to unencumbered by the dumbed down speech of morning jocks?

I would love to say our pain ended there, but once the drive began I had to contend with using the brake. A brake, really? Sadly, instead of the one-pedal driving I became accustomed to with my Model S, I had to constantly shift from the gas pedal (ok, that’s another issue), to the brake and back.

The icing on the cake was we had range anxiety! When headed to the Road to Hana, one review after another warned you to fill up before you left because there were no gas stations in route. The irony was that had we run low on electrons there was electricity in the far off towns. Score another for Tesla.

I could go on and one about the countless features the Model S has that our rental car didn’t (auto dimming mirrors, rear view mirrors that reposition on reverse, etc), but it’s obvious: the Tesla Model S has set a new standard. Sure there are some considerations when you drive an electric vehicle, but there are always considerations when you drive. Pick your poison, I’ll pick the one that doesn’t pollute the air.