[McLovin]

Drove a fully loaded RWD Long Range Model 3 from Seattle to San Diego.

An interesting car, for sure. Some impressions:

1. It’s a great looking car, inside and out. The fit and finish seemed very good. I’d read things about bad panel gaps etc. but this one seemed very well made. I’ve seen a million of them, but never paid much attention, but up close it’s a bigger car than I thought.

2. It’s not inexpensive. $58K plus tax and license.

3. The full Autopilot tied to Navigation is pretty amazing. For now, it only works in that mode on the highway, but it works very well. It won’t camp in the fast lane, instead it pulls over and cruises in the next lane. If it comes up on a slower car, it turns the signal on, pulls out and passes, signals and goes back to its lane. It’ll automatically take off ramps and get on other freeways etc.

4. Even when not on Autopilot, the active safety features work well. If there’s a car in your blind spot and you try to change lanes, it’ll nudge you back into your lane.

5. The Suoercharging stations are everywhere and charge fast. They vary, but I was charging at a rate of around 400 miles per hour.

6. The car is fast, no doubt. They say 60 in 5 seconds, but it feels even faster than that.

7. I’m going to say that like the first iPhone was the future of phones, Tesla’s probably are the cars of the future. A lot of their design and functions will be copied.

8. I do like that it doesn’t need to be warmed up. It may be silly, but cold start short trips have always bothered me a bit. The mechanical simplicity is also nice. No engine, no coolant, no oil, no transmission etc.

8. It’s a great car for a lot of people. Is it a car for the traditional “enthusiast?” Probably not. At least until a new generation of enthusiast, who was not raised on internal combustion, comes around.