News and Views From my kids accomplishments, to my heretical perspective of the world

I got my Tesla Model 3 yesterday, and Gisele and I took a drive up to the Mogollon Rim today to spend the afternoon with Richard, Dianna, Dale and Donna. It was very pleasant up there, though windy. Dianna made a delicious lunch for us of BBQ chicken, fruit salad and other fixings. I’m so full I think I’m going to skip dinner!

The car is lots of fun to drive, unbelievable acceleration and the autopilot works quite well.

I would have had enough battery to get there and back, but I gave some joy rides and then charged in a 240V outlet for a couple of hours. We made it back with 84 miles of range remaining of our nominal 310 miles.

I noticed a couple of interesting quirks and/or features with the autopilot.
– It tends to crowd the outside of the lane on curves, never actually crossing the lane marker, but getting close. Makes me nervous when there is a car next to me, since many people tend to hug the inner edge of the lane on curves.
– It is supposed to auto lane-change by holding the turn signal. It didn’t work at all on Highway 87, even though that is a 4-lane highway. But it did work on Loop 101 in Tempe. With a little research I found that the car knows when you are on a real freeway and only actuates auto lane change there.
– This one was a real surprise: Coming down from the rim north of Strawberry the speed limit is something like 45, but there are several hairpin curves with 20 mph warning signs. I let the car approach one of these turns and noticed that it was slowing down by itself, even though cruise control was still set for 50. It actually seems to know where the tight curves are and slows down for them.

Autopilot is very cool, and continuously improving. I wouldn’t take a nap with it yet, but it makes the trip a lot more relaxing.

On March 31, 2016 I paid a deposit with Tesla to reserve a Model 3. This didn’t constitute an “order”, it just put me in line so that if and when they started producing the car I would be in the queue to order one.

Early this morning (early here in Taiwan, but mid-day in the US) I got an email from Tesla, inviting me to configure and order my Model 3. At 4 in the morning I got out of bed and placed the order on my phone, and then tried to get back to sleep!

Here’s what I ordered:
– Long range battery (EPA rated at 310 miles on a full charge)
– Premium Upgrade Package (Heated front and rear seats, premium sound, premium materials throughout, glass roof, basically a bunch of nice stuff)
– Autopilot (Tesla’s package of adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, lane switching, auto parking…)
– Metallic Silver paint. I know; boring. I agonized over the color, thinking that the red looks really nice, but in the end practicality won out. It should be cooler in the summer, and much easier to keep (apparently) clean. It is the least popular color that is being ordered (as I learned in the Tesla Model 3 forum that I haunt), which indicates that people don’t think it is as pretty, but also means that I will be more unique.

– I did not get the Fully Self Driving package. This actually isn’t implemented yet, but Tesla says that all the hardware is present and once the software is finished it will be downloaded to your car if you have purchased it. If you don’t pre-pay, it will cost an extra $1000 to add it later ($4000 instead of $3000 now). I think the technical and legal challenges are big enough that it may be a long time before this is implemented, and I will take the chance that my $3000 will grow enough while invested to make up most of the difference.

Note that the long range battery and the premium upgrade package are required at this point. Tesla isn’t making any cars without these “options” until later in the year. I would have bought them anyway, but those who don’t want these have to defer until they are available.

Tesla says it will take between 3 and 6 weeks to deliver. If they meet this, it should be here in time to drive to southern California in early June for my niece’s wedding. That should be fun!