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I'm in love


I'm in love with Tesla. No, not the good guy Nikola Tesla, however I have to thank him for this new love. I'm in love with the Tesla Model S. I just finished a test drive of a red Model S 100D and I still have a grin on my face.

I have to admit, I've never driven an automatic and/or electric car before. (Well, can you really call it an automatic, when it has no gears?). So, this was a completely new experience for me. And it blew me away instantly!

If I had to summarize the test drive in one word, I'd say: acceleration. Or maybe smoothness. Or silence. Argh, I can't summarize it in one word. It was all of these and more...

The car itself is simply beautiful. Everybody has seen it by now, even if it was only a picture on the Internet. In real life it's just like that. Great lines, a touch of future and an instant classic. I won't bother you with the details, you can read up on them on basically every car blog in the world. The inside is a lot more futuristic, than the outside. No dials, no gauges, no buttons to press. Just a huge touchscreen in the middle console and a smaller screen behind the wheel to show you the most important details like speed, radar info and navigation (if you have set a destination). The seats are extremely comfortable and deeper than I expected. I had a feeling of "racing seats", but there was no 5-point seat belt.

I'm the guy in the brown jacket.

You have a key fob, but you actually don't really use it. It only opens the doors and trunks. Otherwise you simply leave it in one of the many compartments in the car. There is nowhere to plug it in or turn the key. The car starts automatically by touching the brake. And then... nothing. Silence. Complete silence. Not even a hum. You can only see that the car is "on", because the dashboard says so. Otherwise there is no indication, no sound, no vibration, like I'm used to from my 2 liter diesel.

Presenting the 100D
While you are driving you can't hear anything either. The car is completely silent. Only the wind and the rubber rolling around on the asphalt. This is mind-blowing the first time. And the second time. And the third time... It'll take a lot of getting used to.

Then, there is the acceleration. Everybody will now ask if I tried the "ludicrous" mode? And unfortunately I have to say: I couldn't. The test car was a 100D (at least with dual motors), but the "P" was missing from the name. But you know what? It doesn't matter! It accelerates so freakishly fast, that you'll leave everybody behind on a green light. Even on the motorway, getting from 70km/h to 170km/h is only a matter of mere seconds. And you still don't hear a thing. Well, maybe a little hum from the motors. But that's it. You step on the "gas" pedal (accelerator) and a huge grin starts to form on your face. Every single time. For somebody like me, who likes to drive "dynamically" (and fast) this is the perfect car. I can't even begin to imagine how the ludicrous mode tops this...

The "auto pilot" is also amazing, even if it's not fully automatic just yet. But it keeps the car in the lane - it even gives you a resistance if you try to bring it out of the lane. It holds the distance from the car in front of you, stops and accelerates automatically (if there is somebody in front, unfortunately no red-light or traffic sign recognition).

Look ma, no hands! And somehow we made a wrong turn, because we're on Mars.

Today started actually with the launch of the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite, which was put in orbit by SpaceX and their Falcon 9 rocket (congratulations to the 50th launch!). And just a few hours later this amazing test drive. In short, I had a great day today and I'm awaiting the Model 3 with even more anticipation.



Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post and I'm in no way affiliated with Tesla Motors. Although, if they want to surprise me with a Model S, I won't say no. ;)

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