Ordered my (our) Roadster!

[markwj]

It is agony, isn't it? I chuckle when I read this thread, as it is exact what I've been going through.

Hourly refresh MyTesla page. Check.
Clean garage. Check.
Watch every video I can find. Check.
Read very post. Check.

My roadster is in 'testing' stage now, so should be real soon...

 

[Dragon]

I still have to clean the garage. Have done it only partially. My garage is full of spider nets and dust.
I passed the weekend with a pickaxe to lower the slope for getting into this dusty garage... there's still much work to be done.

 

[bonnie]

I feel like I'm reliving waiting for my Roadster ... checked status constantly, watched all the videos repeatedly (especially one I found with the exact same configuration), posted a pic of my new 14-50 outlet on FB (yes, really), drove my friends absolutely nuts, and organized and cleaned the garage.

It all gets better once you get your car. I find myself taking the long way home some days, I enjoy almost all the people who stop to ask me questions about the car (there was this one guy, however... ew), and I have a growing appreciation for passing gas/oil change/smog check stations.

 

[NigelM]

Tesladdiction?

 

[Nichen]

Hi Bonnie sorry if I'm out of the topic here, but in what way was the guy ew? Did he try to flirt?

 

[bonnie]

Hi Bonnie sorry if I'm out of the topic here, but in what way was the guy ew? Did he try to flirt?

He not only gave off a *creepy* vibe, he turned to me and said 'I'll give you a dollar for a test drive'. So after using part of a nanosecond to carefully weigh the possibility of getting in my car with a creepy stranger, I said 'no time, sorry'.

 

[Slackjaw]

He not only gave off a *creepy* vibe, he turned to me and said 'I'll give you a dollar for a test drive'. So after using part of a nanosecond to carefully weigh the possibility of getting in my car with a creepy stranger, I said 'no time, sorry'.

Now, Bonnie1194, do you hope that:

(a) (in the spirit of Tesla Evangelism) the guy went off and got a test drive from a Tesla Rep, bought a Roadster, or

(b) (in the spirit of "ewwww, he might even be on this forum right now!") the guy went back to his pickup truck and never gave another thought to Tesla/EVs...

I think (a) is the right choice... but I am already imagining the following scene:

Bystander: "Hey! That's a real nice car!" <acting creepy>
Me: "Um, yup, uh, I guess..."
Bystander: "Woah! Is it like electric or something? I can't see a tailpipe!"
Me: <thinks for a moment> ... "No, not electric, it's just really quiet! The tailpipe is underneath!"
Me: Zooms away.

Epilogue:

Elon Musk, later: "Ah, if we'd just sold one more car, we would have been OK"
Me: <gulp>.

Given that we're still waiting for our 2.5 (see! I'm not off-topic!) I haven't been in any situation like that but I wonder if I'll ever be outright lying to people. Maybe if I just act a little creepy they will stay away...

 

[Dragon]

Slackjaw... yet another sad tale of a guy gone completely insane waiting for his Roadster...

I'm still sane. And no, I won't tell you that I've developed a song consisting of a two word lyric about my Roadster.

 

[NigelM]

:biggrin:Just got a call that my (our) Roadster arrives at the Tesla store in Ft Lauderdale tomorrow (Tuesday)!:biggrin:

Will get a final detailing etc on Wednesday and then should be delivered to our house on Thursday!!

Woohoooo!




#1211 | Roadster 2.5 | Glacier Blue, Tan Leather, Silver Wheels.

 

[bonnie]

Now, Bonnie1194, do you hope that:

(a) (in the spirit of Tesla Evangelism) the guy went off and got a test drive from a Tesla Rep, bought a Roadster, or

(b) (in the spirit of "ewwww, he might even be on this forum right now!") the guy went back to his pickup truck and never gave another thought to Tesla/EVs...

I think (a) is the right choice... but I am already imagining the following scene:

Bystander: "Hey! That's a real nice car!" <acting creepy>
Me: "Um, yup, uh, I guess..."
Bystander: "Woah! Is it like electric or something? I can't see a tailpipe!"
Me: <thinks for a moment> ... "No, not electric, it's just really quiet! The tailpipe is underneath!"
Me: Zooms away.

Epilogue:

Elon Musk, later: "Ah, if we'd just sold one more car, we would have been OK"
Me: <gulp>.

Given that we're still waiting for our 2.5 (see! I'm not off-topic!) I haven't been in any situation like that but I wonder if I'll ever be outright lying to people. Maybe if I just act a little creepy they will stay away...

I gave him a brochure.

Seriously, I'll sit and talk to people a long time about the car. But this guy was just creepy. He wasn't going to bother going to get a test drive, he wasn't buying the car, he had no good questions to ask nor did he show any real curiousity. Creepy. And since he kept calling the car a 'Telsa', he probably hasn't found this forum.

 

[SByer]

Nothing to do when the creep-o-meter goes off but shut it down.

 

[Slackjaw]

:biggrin:Just got a call that my (our) Roadster arrives at the Tesla store in Ft Lauderdale tomorrow (Tuesday)!:biggrin:

Will get a final detailing etc on Wednesday and then should be delivered to our house on Thursday!!

Congrats NigelM!!

You just about have time to re-read every single Tesla-related post on the internet and watch every youtube video... Or maybe you're past that stage now. Actually I am guessing you're lurking near the store in Ft Lauderdale right now. I'd be offering to do the "detailing" myself, for sure.

If I haven't committed them entirely to memory before June, I will definitely be re-reading the "Things not to do in a Roadster" and the "So, you got a new Roadster" threads before we pick ours up. Our car will be delivered in Manhattan and our first drive will be to take it home in rush hour New York traffic. What could possibly go wrong? :frown:

Drive safe.

 

[bonnie]

Be sure to pick up a stack of both Roadster and Model S brochures to keep in the trunk. They're great to hand out when people stop to ask you questions. And they will. Everytime you stop.

 

[Slackjaw]

Be sure to pick up a stack of both Roadster and Model S brochures to keep in the trunk. They're great to hand out when people stop to ask you questions. And they will. Everytime you stop.

This might be a bit of a sensitive topic, but do the brochures all have the price on them? I grew up in England where wealth is not always respected, and the funny thing with the Roadster is that it looks like it costs (say) $80K and really it costs $120K to $150K depending on options. And telling people that before leaving your car parked outside e.g. the methodone clinic might not be a good idea. Now we live in the USA the whole "class" dynamic is different but I'm already a bit uncomfortable talking to people about the cost of the Roadster. I suppose we can say we bought it to save money on petrol, and hope they don't do the mental arithmetic... I'm sure the joke has been made many times on this forum; I think I estimated mine would pay for itself after about 1,500 years. Admittedly when gas prices go to $10/gallon that comes down to about 300 years or something, unless the government imposes an eletricity tax to subsidise the price of gasoline.

 

[Slackjaw]

Slackjaw... yet another sad tale of a guy gone completely insane waiting for his Roadster...

LOL... You're right. Our 3 year old has more patience and self control than me. But then, he has at least 500 toy cars. I only want one! Can I have it, please? please? please? Can I?

I'm still sane. And no, I won't tell you that I've developed a song consisting of a two word lyric about my Roadster.

:biggrin:

 

[bonnie]

This might be a bit of a sensitive topic, but do the brochures all have the price on them? I grew up in England where wealth is not always respected, and the funny thing with the Roadster is that it looks like it costs (say) $80K and really it costs $120K to $150K depending on options. And telling people that before leaving your car parked outside e.g. the methodone clinic might not be a good idea. Now we live in the USA the whole "class" dynamic is different but I'm already a bit uncomfortable talking to people about the cost of the Roadster. I suppose we can say we bought it to save money on petrol, and hope they don't do the mental arithmetic... I'm sure the joke has been made many times on this forum; I think I estimated mine would pay for itself after about 1,500 years. Admittedly when gas prices go to $10/gallon that comes down to about 300 years or something, unless the government imposes an eletricity tax to subsidise the price of gasoline.

No, the brochures don't have price on them. And people like walking away with something. I always gauge who I'm talking to when I'm asked the price question. Usually I just reply with either 'expensive enough to hurt' or '$109k base'. Or (with people I know) I point out that I don't have the same expenses that they do, now that my son is through college, blah blah blah. I don't try to pretend that I bought it as an investment or to save money on gas - I bought it because it's fun to drive.

I did have one person mumble 'mid-life crisis' ... and I laughed and said, 'well I HAD one, but it seems to have disappeared now that I have this car'.

 

[Dragon]

I too don't like to talk about the price of the Roadster. Friends would think I'm completely mad. At the moment they only think I'm partially mad.
If someone asks about the price I simply say: "It's cheap if you think what a helicopter costs." That works like a charm.

 

[Jaff]

After a brief chat, I've been handing out business sized cards that only read "www.teslamotors.com", advising people to check out the website as they'll be able to learn far more about Tesla & their products from the site than they'll learn from me.

Seems to work well so far...

 

[Slackjaw]

After a brief chat, I've been handing out business sized cards that only read "www.teslamotors.com", advising people to check out the website as they'll be able to learn far more about Tesla & their products from the site than they'll learn from me.

Seems to work well so far...

I agree about pointing people to the web site, but I think the presentation (of the Roadster specifically, not so much the Model S) on the TM web site is awful. The rendered default red car with black soft top on the main Roadster page looks like a toy, and seven of the fifteen roadsters in the gallery are red too; most of the colours are not represented. It was not a beautiful car to me when I first saw it on the company web site.

Probably like most owners on this forum, a test drive (or even watching/hearing someone else drive one) was what actually convinced me to buy one of these cars. The other factor is the sales team, now I think about it; they were very impressive. I sent an enquiry via the web page and got a call within 10 minutes from someone who really knew the product (Jeff L), and he arranged for the Tesla rep (Michael S) to bring a car to my house on a Sunday morning at 8 am. So maybe what I will do is ask for a stack of business cards from one of the Tesla sales team, and hand those out.

I do appreciate that we're not all required to act as sales people for Tesla Motors; it's just sad when I think of my own experience where I did see the Top Gear review before a test drive, and wasn't overly impressed with the appearance of the car on the web site. At least the people (potential customers) we're discussing here will have seen a real Roadster before their very eyes.

 

[Jaff]

Remember Slackjaw, beauty is in the eye...I think the Roadster looks good in Red as do many who ordered their cars as such...my move to white (from Red) was a last minute decision.

Whilst I would agree with you that test driving a Roadster will clinch the sale for a serious prospect, I think it unwise to direct suspects directly to the sales staff at this point...the Model S is still far away from being in a showroom, and in my case, the local Tesla store has not opened yet...I think sending a bunch of suspects to the local sales staff right now would not be the right thing to do (time management)...The Roadster & the Model S are upscale vehicles...if the suspects visit the websites, then they can contact the local office with further queries (as these folks will be far more likely to be bona fide prospects).

I fully expect to hand out proper business cards for the local Tesla office when they have an actual Model S at their store for viewing & test driving.

I agree about pointing people to the web site, but I think the presentation (of the Roadster specifically, not so much the Model S) on the TM web site is awful. The rendered default red car with black soft top on the main Roadster page looks like a toy, and seven of the fifteen roadsters in the gallery are red too; most of the colours are not represented. It was not a beautiful car to me when I first saw it on the company web site.

Probably like most owners on this forum, a test drive (or even watching/hearing someone else drive one) was what actually convinced me to buy one of these cars. The other factor is the sales team, now I think about it; they were very impressive. I sent an enquiry via the web page and got a call within 10 minutes from someone who really knew the product (Jeff L), and he arranged for the Tesla rep (Michael S) to bring a car to my house on a Sunday morning at 8 am. So maybe what I will do is ask for a stack of business cards from one of the Tesla sales team, and hand those out.

I do appreciate that we're not all required to act as sales people for Tesla Motors; it's just sad when I think of my own experience where I did see the Top Gear review before a test drive, and wasn't overly impressed with the appearance of the car on the web site. At least the people (potential customers) we're discussing here will have seen a real Roadster before their very eyes.