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169 Posts
I love my 2011 CT200h. Due to the earthquake and tsunami at the time, It took nine months to get here, but it was worth the wait. Especially its quietness and fuel economy appeal to me. But every time the ICE kicks in, I feel a pang of disappointment. The car becomes noisy and starts burning dinosaur juice and emit gases. My roof has been covered in solar panels for years, I keep wishing I could fill the car up with my own, homemade energy.
I've seen 'em around, the sleek Teslas Model S. No ICE, exceedingly quick, decent range. They've become my dream car over the last few years. I've talked to some owners and none of them ever wants an ICE car again. But the Model S is way too expensive for me.
So when a certain Elon Musk announced the Tesla Model 3 last Friday, a bit smaller (suits me just fine), with almost the same range, free Supercharger access and much lower price, I took the plunge and donated 1000 refundable euros to the man, just to get a place in the queue.
Crazy? Not as crazy as the 113,000 believers who actually, physically lined up outside Tesla stores al over the world just to do the same thing. That was before anything was even known about the new car. They didn't even know the specs or the price. Since then, almost 300,000 people have made a reservation.
I usually drive new cars for 7-10 years. Tesla is planning to start production of the Model 3 at the end of 2017, but they've never met their production planning targets before, so I take that with a grain of salt. If I'm very lucky, I'll get my hands on one in 2020, maybe 2021.
I wish it could have been another Lexus or even Toyota, for I do like the reliability of Japanese cars. But Toyota Motor Company doesn't seem interested. They're still messing about with hand-built hydrogen fuel cell cars, mostly to get Japanese government subsidies. I can't make my own hydrogen (I'm not planning to buy it from the successor of Big Oil: Big H2) and I'm already making my own electricity. So goodbye TMC and hello Tesla! In a few years time, that is.
I've seen 'em around, the sleek Teslas Model S. No ICE, exceedingly quick, decent range. They've become my dream car over the last few years. I've talked to some owners and none of them ever wants an ICE car again. But the Model S is way too expensive for me.
So when a certain Elon Musk announced the Tesla Model 3 last Friday, a bit smaller (suits me just fine), with almost the same range, free Supercharger access and much lower price, I took the plunge and donated 1000 refundable euros to the man, just to get a place in the queue.
Crazy? Not as crazy as the 113,000 believers who actually, physically lined up outside Tesla stores al over the world just to do the same thing. That was before anything was even known about the new car. They didn't even know the specs or the price. Since then, almost 300,000 people have made a reservation.
I usually drive new cars for 7-10 years. Tesla is planning to start production of the Model 3 at the end of 2017, but they've never met their production planning targets before, so I take that with a grain of salt. If I'm very lucky, I'll get my hands on one in 2020, maybe 2021.
I wish it could have been another Lexus or even Toyota, for I do like the reliability of Japanese cars. But Toyota Motor Company doesn't seem interested. They're still messing about with hand-built hydrogen fuel cell cars, mostly to get Japanese government subsidies. I can't make my own hydrogen (I'm not planning to buy it from the successor of Big Oil: Big H2) and I'm already making my own electricity. So goodbye TMC and hello Tesla! In a few years time, that is.
