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I'm surrounded by middle aged high-tech-earning Bay Area Tesla-owning colleagues who used to drive (or still have as their second household car) BWMs, Audis, Le

I'm surrounded by middle aged high-tech-earning Bay Area Tesla-owning colleagues who used to drive (or still have as their second household car) BWMs, Audis, Lexus etc. I'm one of them. We didn't buy a Tesla because it was a step up from a Camry, but because Teslas are so much more fun to drive. It's really that simple.

rootusrootus 4y ago
It can't be quite that simple in general. There have always been really fun cars, even some that were sedans. Maybe the niche Tesla figured out how to exploit was stoplight racers. Enthusiasts have never had trouble finding fun daily drivers.
- tverbeure 4y ago
  Who knows... My opinion is anecdotal and reductionist, but reducing the argument to "most of those poor saps just don't know any better" isn't any better. And you don't need to be a car enthusiast or stoplight racer to enjoy the feeling of instant torque. People buy Teslas because they're fun to drive, because they believe EVs help the environment, because of the charging network, because of the autopilot (which has been really excellent in my case), because of the promise of FSD (which is something that should never have been released), or because they think Musk is a great buddy. And any combination of those points. I'm sure you'll find some who think the fart app is cool, and, yes, there'll be some who think it's a luxury car.
BoorishBears 4y ago
I live in SF, work at a "FAANG adjacent" company so I'm surrounded by the same crowd. The minority of us who had fun to drive cars in the first place are not the ones going with Teslas for the fun driving experience. (if anything I know more who do in spite of the driving experience for practical reasons... I was one of them when I first got here from NYC) I mentioned Civic and Camry because they're common in the entire US, but most BMWs/Audis/Lexuses driven in the Bay Area are similarly utilitarian models. There might be a few more M3/M4s in our parking lot than you'd find in a random one across the country for example, but they're still drowned out by SUVs and sedans with base engines. - Maybe we're talking past each other because I'm assuming "fun to drive" in terms of driving dynamics, where by "fun to drive" you might mean the tech part. That would be more in line with my original point, and I could actually see being common.

rootusrootus 4y ago

It can't be quite that simple in general. There have always been really fun cars, even some that were sedans. Maybe the niche Tesla figured out how to exploit was stoplight racers. Enthusiasts have never had trouble finding fun daily drivers.

tverbeure 4y ago
Who knows... My opinion is anecdotal and reductionist, but reducing the argument to "most of those poor saps just don't know any better" isn't any better. And you don't need to be a car enthusiast or stoplight racer to enjoy the feeling of instant torque. People buy Teslas because they're fun to drive, because they believe EVs help the environment, because of the charging network, because of the autopilot (which has been really excellent in my case), because of the promise of FSD (which is something that should never have been released), or because they think Musk is a great buddy. And any combination of those points. I'm sure you'll find some who think the fart app is cool, and, yes, there'll be some who think it's a luxury car.

BoorishBears 4y ago

I live in SF, work at a "FAANG adjacent" company so I'm surrounded by the same crowd. The minority of us who had fun to drive cars in the first place are not the ones going with Teslas for the fun driving experience. (if anything I know more who do in spite of the driving experience for practical reasons... I was one of them when I first got here from NYC) I mentioned Civic and Camry because they're common in the entire US, but most BMWs/Audis/Lexuses driven in the Bay Area are similarly utilitarian models. There might be a few more M3/M4s in our parking lot than you'd find in a random one across the country for example, but they're still drowned out by SUVs and sedans with base engines. - Maybe we're talking past each other because I'm assuming "fun to drive" in terms of driving dynamics, where by "fun to drive" you might mean the tech part. That would be more in line with my original point, and I could actually see being common.