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Spouse/Partner/Family's First Impressions?

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So like everybody else on these forums I have been absolutely drowning my family in Tesla stats, info, and anything that conveys the awesomeness of the vehicle that 'we' just purchased.

Now that I'm only 2 weeks from delivery (EEEEEEE!!!!!) I'm starting to wonder if I have set myself for a reaction of 'Oh.... that was it... you made it sound like it was going to be like something other than a car'

Has anyone else found themselves in this situation or does anyone who interacts with and drives the car on a regular basis tend to 'get it'??
 
Well, the first reaction of your wife will probably depend on whether she has been on a test ride or actually driven the Model S during the test ride. It also depends on whether you got a P85. The 60 and S85 are quick, but a P85 or P85+ are so quick, they invariably elicit a big emotional response the first time you floor it. I always warn people, and say "Ok, are you ready?", before I demonstrate the acceleration of my P85. Even non-car people are always impressed by the acceleration of a P85.
 
My wife never gives two craps about any of my purchases, and this was no exception. She thought I was totally nuts for wanting to do it - and I still haven't shared exactly what the final cost was - but she knew it was important to me and supported my decision to get it.

For the first couple of months of ownership, she didn't even give it a second glance. It was just that expensive new thing that Todd bought. Hadn't even ridden in it for more than about 5 minutes.

A few weeks ago, however, her mother was in town visiting and they wanted to go shopping. The kids' carseats were in the minivan so they left that with me in case I needed to take the boys anywhere - she and her mother took the Model S.

She drove it all over town two weekends in a row, and I think she's as enamored with it as she can be with any piece of technology. I think she was a bit intimidated by the screens, but after getting used to them she seems to be fine. She's a lead-foot, so I think she really enjoyed gunning it from stoplight to stoplight (especially if the energy graph was any indication!). Plus, she really loathes spending money on what she considers to be "non-tangibles" - e.g., she hates spending money on things like services because, in her mind, you don't get anything physical out of it that you can keep. So spending WAY less on gas seems to appeal to her.

So even though it's not wild-eyed enthusiasm like me, she's not giving me any grief about it and seems to get why I wanted it and why I like it so much. It's as much as I could have asked for / hoped for, so I'm happy. ;-)

Plus, she even suggested that we take it on a recent weekend trip to visit the folks in Kentucky, which means it's growing on her. I'll take that as a good sign.

Enjoy your car, and I hope your wife enjoys it as well!
 
My wife has declined my offers for a familiarization ride for two months now; seems to have no desire to drive it.

But she has mostly stopped complaining about being in the passenger seat (it does leave something to be desired, compared to the Lexus LS430). I even overheard her answering someone's questions about the Tesla the other day and she sounded well-informed.

Went through the same thing in 1990 when I bought a Lexus over her protests. But six months later, she started treating it as her car, asking that I let her know when I had to use it!
 
I agree w/ Todd - just turn her loose w/ the car without you. She will come back in love. I would agree that you can oversell it to a passenger but no amount of hype can live up to actually driving it. It's just such a better way to drive.
 
Keep in mind that you may need to make another reservation after this, though.

I can only hope! While talking about her weekend excursion in the Model S recently, I joked that she'd fall in love with it and I'd have to get her a Model X. I showed her the pics and after she realized the falcon wing doors took up less space than a regular door, she seemed intrigued. If Tesla doesn't price it into the stratosphere, maybe I can talk my wife into an X for her and the kids someday.....
 
My wife always protests when I accelerate a bit, she gets car sick as she claims, to the point I ask her not to ride with me. :cursing:

Now she starts taking a bit easy and tolerate a lot more. Until last week when I spot a M3 coming fast behind me, I waited till it aligned with me on the next lane, and floored the pedal to show who rules the road! :wink: You can imagine how mad she got....
 
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Very shortly after we got our Roadster, we drove over the mountains to Eastern Washington. I was driving at 55 or 60 with cruise control on going up the mountain pass on a four-lane road. There were occasional slow trucks in the right lane; I'd just move to the left lane and pass them. Near the top, I saw another truck ahead at the same time I saw a sign saying that the right lane ended. I sure didn't want to get stuck behind the truck, so I floored it.

My wife's head snapped back and hit the head rest; she got a headache and was mad at me all day. She made me promise to always tell her before I accelerate.

This isn't as common now, but a few years ago when explaining my car to somebody new I often got the question "Can it make it up a mountain pass OK?". I use that story as an answer.

To the OP's point, I talked about the Roadster for a long time before buying it; but we already had an electric RAV4 that my wife wanted to drive instead of her Prius, so she was strongly encouraged me to get it and expected good things from the car. A more similar case is when I bought the RAV4-EV; I had talked about that for a long time, and my wife's comment was "experiment with your car all you want, but don't touch my Prius". Three weeks after the RAV4 arrived, she was encouraging me to buy a Roadster so she could drive the RAV4. People with no EV experience are suspicious of them and think owner raves are all just fanatical delusions, but once they get to drive one everybody loves them.
 
My wife always protests when I accelerate a bit, she gets car sick as she claims, to the point I ask her not to ride with me. :cursing:

Now she starts taking a bit easy and tolerate a lot more. Until last week when I spot a M3 coming fast behind me, I waited till it aligned with me on the next lane, and floored the pedal to show who rules the road! :wink: You can imagine how mad she got....

LOL. The worst part is that because the Model S is so quiet you can actually hear what she is saying.
 
Every person I've shown the MS to was impressed. I don't think there is any way any one would think you talked up the car too much. I challenge haters to get behind the wheel and still say they think the Tesla wil die or that it's not all that. IT IS ALL THAT! On another note, could someone help me to understand how to create a forum signature? FAQ said to do it under edit profile but I do not have that option. Is it because I just have a few posts? Any advice would be great. :)
 
We have a sort of role reversal in our house... I'm the car freak and my DNA simply won't allow me to back down from an off the light challenge (I'm a girl). I've been that way since I started driving, lost my license for street racing a couple of times in my teens. My long-suffering BF (of 23 years) simply keeps his mouth shut about my automotive purchases and antics. My family just rolled their eyes with all my Tesla talk... until I took delivery and they took a ride in it. It was pretty funny to listen to my sister excitedly tell her neighbor all about the car one day.

Everyone in my building at work was super excited, the entire security force loves it and it gets "extra protection" in our lot!

I don't think people can fathom how very different this car is from what they're used to. My stoic boyfriend excitedly offered a friend of his a test ride with me while he grabbed a quick shower before they left for a Rays game the other night. The guy has a Z07 Corvette and he was amazed at what my Tesla could do!

So far no one has reacted as if the reality was a let down after all my hype!
 
The result of my wife's first impression was a Model X reservation.
:biggrin:

just slightly off topic: I'm the one w the Model X reservation. Wife, who teaches 6th grade in a public school (hero), started telling me stuff about Hyperloop or SpaceX or that an Iron Man Suit is NOT in development (or something). "How do you know THAT!?" I asked her. She blithely responded, "Oh, I follow Elon on twitter". Nice!
 
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