Adeo Ressi

Tonight, I drove a Tesla around the Four Seasons "complex" in Palo Alto. As a 6′5" lanky guy, my expectations were low about comfort. I was pleasantly surprised when I slipped behind the wheel in relative comfort.

First, the care itself looks amazing. It’s about the size of an Audi TT, but lower to the ground. When you pop the gas lid open, a plug glows with bright LEDs. How cool is that?

Second, you touch the door, and it pops open. Nice. It’s a long way down to the seat, but it’s definitely a comfortable ride for a tall person. The trickiest part is getting in and out, since it is so low to the ground. If you heard that you will not fit in the car, then you heard wrong.

Third, once inside, the controls are like a normal high-end car. The headlight, blinker, windshield wiper, and gear controls are all where you would expect them. There is a sweet onboard computer with touchscreen, which you can choose to ignore, to the left of the steering wheel, which is not a "usual location."

Fourth, acceleration is NOTICEABLE. The petal to feeling ratio is high, and the thing sounds like a quiet jet engine when you are gunning it (not that I was). Remember those little electric engines when you were a kid? That’s the sound, but muffled. When you are not accelerating, it’s much quieter than you average car.

Fifth, the steering is tight - it’s a manual (AKA: not automatic). I personally like tight steering, as I like to be in complete control of my vehicle. This may have been too tight, as you need a little movement to be able to comfortable turn the wheel. I will reserve judgement on this.

While I am not a huge fan of personalized transportation, this is a sweet vehicle.