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Vancouver Store

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Hi all,

I was down in the Bellevue store last weekend for a test drive (which ended in me ordering a car) and of course was talking to the staff a fair bit. One of them told me that they are just waiting for a lease to expire on Robson Street and that's where they'll be opening up the Vancouver store. I think she said January was the timeline. Anyone else heard something like this?
 
It appears to be open now on Powell according to this Tesla Page ...

Edit: Kind of confusing as its the same address as the service center. not sure if its a glitch or they mean to temporarily host the store at the service center location or maybe keep the store there and move the service center.
 
It appears to be open now on Powell according to this Tesla Page ...

Edit: Kind of confusing as its the same address as the service center. not sure if its a glitch or they mean to temporarily host the store at the service center location or maybe keep the store there and move the service center.

Say what? :) This is the service centre. But after seeing that page I'm curious. It does mention it's appointment only, so I assume this is where you'll start a test drive. The Lodel Hotel downtown was the previous starting spot. Will be testing this out soon actually. My friend is lined up for a test drive here soon and surely I'm tagging along!
 
My wife has driven past the SC a couple times this week and mentioned that there is a grey Model S there with 100% Electric / Zero Emission decals on it. So maybe they finally have a test drive car for Vancouver. With the number of cars I see getting delivered to Vancouver it makes sense to have a test drive car here. When I went down to Bellevue a few weeks ago for my test drive I asked if they get many other people from Vancouver and it sounded like they get quite a few.
 
Official email today. "Tesla Vancouver Now Open". By appointment only. Test drive link takes you to a BC Vancouver campaign signup saying, in most cases, contact in a few days.

Hopefully my friend's test drive will be soon and I can report on the inside! She's already been contacted and on the list.
 
They do have an "Ownership" guy (Jon) now at the Powell Service center, so they can function a bit like a store. But that is really a temporary measure, I was told directly that they are close to signing papers to get a store downtown somewhere in place by early 2014. And I'll post in another thread why I think this will be a hopping place....
 
The "grey" Tesla Model S with 100% Electric/Zero Emmisions is actually green and the personal car of one one guys that works there. The test drive car is a P85+ Black with lots of goodies and is for test drives for the serious. The store is due Feb/Mar in the Robson/Pacific Centre area and should have more options for test drives if you can wait! Patience grasshoppers! Lets look for the first Supercharger station in BC!
 
The "grey" Tesla Model S with 100% Electric/Zero Emmisions is actually green and the personal car of one one guys that works there. The test drive car is a P85+ Black with lots of goodies and is for test drives for the serious. The store is due Feb/Mar in the Robson/Pacific Centre area and should have more options for test drives if you can wait! Patience grasshoppers! Lets look for the first Supercharger station in BC!

I got a chance to drive that Black P85 for 3 days over the labour day long weekend while they fixed one of my windows. It really does have all the options & much more power than my 60. It was nice!

They also told me the same thing about the Vancouver store time line. They also said they were very close to signing the papers on the deal.
 
If all goes well, I will be test driving the Vancouver P85+ next week, but it may be sold by then. I'm just waiting to hear back from Jon as to when the buyer will take possession (hopefully not before I can drive it).

How is the test drive route for Vancouver? It seems like you'd just be buried in traffic at the store/service center's current location.
 
If all goes well, I will be test driving the Vancouver P85+ next week, but it may be sold by then. I'm just waiting to hear back from Jon as to when the buyer will take possession (hopefully not before I can drive it).

How is the test drive route for Vancouver? It seems like you'd just be buried in traffic at the store/service center's current location.

A friend of mine did a test drive a couple weekends ago. Sounds like the route was mainly around east Vancouver, all city driving. I was surprised they didn't go on the highway at all. A good route might be leave SC, head over second narrows bridge, take the highway to Taylor Way, then back down across Lions Gate bridge, then out through downtown and gastown and back to the SC. I'm not sure how much time you get though. I did my test drive in Bellevue back in early August and I got 45 minutes but they said it was a larger spot because they knew we came down and were staying the night just for the test drive.

Make sure to tell them how far you're coming for a test drive and ask for at least an hour or more if you can get it.
 
Going for a test drive!

Jon finally got back to me yesterday and I'm booked in for a drive early next week! Sounds like I'll have about 3 hours with the car (arrival to the next test drive appointment)! He suggested taking a drive up to Mount Seymour for our route. Looked it up on Google Maps and it seems perfect (windy mountain road) to test out the P85+. Pretty darn excited! Not going to sleep much the next few days!

Couple quick questions about the Vancouver "Store": Despite what it says on the Tesla website, it's really just a service center at this time, right? Do they have a full staff, or is Jon holding down the fort by himself?
 
I had a long talk with Jon a few weeks ago. Since I was the first customer in BC, and very enthusiastic, he was interested in picking my brain.

He confirmed a downtown location for the store, that they were waiting for a lease to end, and that it would be next year. He also indicated that his plan was to operate our of the SC for now, and to offer a variety of different test drive routes depending on the seriousness of the potential buyer, their driving preferences and home location.

We also talked about setting up test drive days in the Victoria area for those of us on the west side of the Strait, and he indicated he would definitely get to that.

He is a really smart guy (ex-Apple) and very personable. We are lucky to have him in BC, IMHO.
 
So, my P85+ test drive may not be happening. :crying: I got a message from Jon today that the car had a little accident on Saturday (somebody sideswiped it while it was parked), so it has to spend next week in the shop.

This is super annoying for me since my airfare is non-refundable. However, Jon has mentioned that the damage seems to be merely cosmetic, so if the body shop cannot take the car immediately and I don't mind taking out a scuffed car he's still willing to do the test drive with me. :biggrin: (Major props to Jon for making the effort!)

He's supposed to let me know what the situation is tomorrow morning when he hears from the body shop. *crosses fingers, toes, and unmentionables*

Never thought I'd be counting on a body shop being super busy...