MY BLUE TESLA

We're at the 11-year mark. 11 years of ownership excitement, although more recent years have become somewhat boring. In a good way though. There's just not much to report in respect to changes over the last year. Mileage is sitting around 174k miles with battery degradation probably hovering around 12% but everything else works ... almost. This popped up the other night:

A minor issue, dealt with this earlier this year.

And I still get the occasional software update (mostly bug fixes). If this reliability keeps up I'll be holding onto this car for another decade. That initial investment has paid off so far.

But much has changed in the EV space in the last 10 years. I've been seeing more Lucid Airs on the road lately, especially around my part of town. The Lucid headquarters in Newark is less than 10 minutes away so I'm sure that partially accounts for it, but I had never visited the place nor actually sat in one of their vehicles. I remember seeing their prototype being driven around our area back in 2017 in black and blue camo. A neighbor of mine drives one in my community (I think he works for them) and someone at work also rolls around in one.

A couple of months ago I finally drove over and walked around their showroom. It reminded me of the experience when I first checked out the Tesla Fremont Delivery Center on a random whim back in 2013 when Tesla was a relatively unknown company. Lucid's showroom was a quiet atmosphere, wasn't too busy on that Sunday afternoon, and there was no competition with the other few interested parties around who got to sit in the driver's seat.

Lucid has just recently begun delivering the Gravity SUV and in person it looks like a pretty large vehicle. Not something I'd be interested in, but the Air on the other hand is quite beautiful. I'm not a huge fan of some aspects of the exterior design but the interior is much more to my liking compared to what I see in modern Model S. The binnacle is similar to what the Taycan has and the UI design has a nice modern look unlike the cheesy attempts from other auto manufacturers.

The steering wheel controls felt a little overly-fancy.

Overall I really liked the interior aesthetic. I could see myself driving this.

The showroom had the skateboard platform model like Tesla used to have. I guess they have to prove a point that there's no transmission tunnel down the center.

I was tempted to do a test drive but then again I'm not interested in plopping down a nice chunk of change for a depreciating asset at this point in life. I've already done that once with Big Blue and that's probably the last time I'll scratch that itch. One of the staff mentioned a possible trade-in deal for my Model S ... but what's that going to get me - $15k, at best probably? I'll pass.

I also visited the Rivian store in Santana Row earlier this year. Trucks aren't my thing but the R1T is certainly cool looking. And I'd almost say that I'd prefer it over the Cybertruck (also on display at the Tesla store across the way). One of my co-workers took delivery of his R1T back in 2023 and I'm seeing quite a few of them on the road these days. Nice to see something other than a bunch of F-150s or Silverados.

I do like the Cybertruck wheel (covers) though. It's almost a novelty, but I like that they dared to be radically different and take some chances in life.

That quarter angle of the Cybertruck when looking from the rear though ... hmm, not my thing.

But lusting after yet another vehicle isn't my thing these days. I'm very happy with what I have, and after all the work I put into dampening the interior rattles the car drives like a dream. An 11-year old car that still rides like it's only a few months old. It's still what I consider a modern car compared to most other things on the road, and Chill Mode provides enough power for almost every situation. Plaid would be fun, sure, but the capability would almost never get used day to day. What I have is still a buttery ride on asphalt and for me that's what counts.

I do like the new Model Y though, and if I had to get another daily driver that would be my likely choice in Quicksilver.

I've been taking short road trips in California again recently. A quick shot from a recent trip to Bodega Bay.

Wonderful experience driving along the Pacific Coast Highway when there's no gear shifting and whiny engine noise.

I really like that Lucid though...