Posted inCars

After four months of owning a Tesla, driving another car feels like being in a Model T

OK, for those who want to nitpick the title of this post, I've never ridden in a Model T -- which stopped being made by Ford in 1927. I'm just using the Model T as shorthand for a car that is technologically unsophisticated compared to the 2026 Tesla Model Y Premium that I got last May. In previous posts about the Tesla (see this blog's Cars category), I've described why I like it so much. Way more than any other car I've driven in the 61 years since I got my driver's license. Yeah, I'm old. What I haven't talked…
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Posted inCars

Best description of Tesla Full Self-Driving I’ve ever come across

I"m a big fan of Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised). It's what tilted the scale in favor of my getting a 2026 Model Y Juniper last May. Taking a test drive and trying FSD out convinced me that a Tesla needed to replace my Subaru Crosstrek. Since, I've been using FSD 95% of the time. Tesla keeps track of that stat automatically. It feels strange to drive the car manually, which I mainly do when parking, especially in a parking garage, given that FSD sometimes handles parking fine, but sometimes does decidedly weird things. It's kind of difficult to describe why…
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Here’s 20 reasons why I’m liking my Tesla Model Y Premium more than any other car

Having gotten my driver's license at 16, I've driven lots of different cars in the past 61 years (from that you math wizards can figure out how old I am). This makes the title of this blog post a huge endorsement of the 2026 Tesla Model Y Juniper -- a car I'm liking much more than I thought I would after I leased a red model about nine weeks ago. In mid-June I listed some of the things I enjoyed about the car. Here's an updated list, now that I'm considerably more familiar with my Tesla. In no particular order...…
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Posted inCars

Warning: ask me how I’m liking my Tesla Model Y Juniper at your own risk

You know how it goes. Sometimes before arriving at a social gathering, a wife or husband will say to their partner, "Be sure not to mention _______ to Kurt; once he starts talking about this, he never shuts up." That _______ could be fishing, golf, a trip to Europe, his job, or anything that Kurt finds way more interesting than anyone else at the party. So you've got to be careful in choosing conversation topics around him. At all costs, avoid any mention of his passion unless you enjoy listening to monologues. I sympathize with guys (and gals) like Kurt,…
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Posted inCars Home life

If you’re a Tesla owner, beware of Tesstudio

Buyer beware. That's always good advice. It's especially good advice if you're thinking about buying something from Tesstudio, which sells Tesla accessories and has horrible customer service. My tale of Tesstudio woe hasn't reached a conclusion yet. But I've learned enough about the company to make me want to get this blog post warning out into cyberspace as soon as possible. As a new Model Y Juniper owner, I was concerned that the large glass roof would heat up my car too much in the summer. Actually, I've learned that this isn't a major concern here in western Oregon, as…
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Posted inCars

Meet my end-of-life crisis car: a 2026 Tesla Model Y Premium

I'm too old to have a mid-life crisis. So I'm calling my just-leased Tesla Model Y my end-of-life crisis car. While it isn't a red convertible with a beautiful blonde sitting in the passenger seat, I can check two of those three boxes: the Tesla is red and my beautiful wife of 36 years , Laurel, is blonde. (Note: 36 years is how long we've been married, not her age.) Here I am with the car in our driveway. We picked up the 2026 Model Y Premium from the Salem dealership two days ago, May 27. The car arrived more…
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Posted inCars

Goodbye BMW iX3. Hello Tesla Model Y. I’ve decided who I love the most.

A test drive made a heck of a lot of difference. On May 6 I wrote "I’m one step closer to having a 2027 BMW iX3. Sadly, it’s a small step." That was when I put down $1,000 on a reservation deposit for BMW's new electric vehicle with 434 miles of range and fast charging. I wasn't wild about the styling or color choices, but was fine with silver. After paying the $1,000, I figured it made sense to check out the main competition to the iX3 in my mind, Tesla's Model Y. I'd never even sat in one, much…
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Posted inCars Current affairs Uncategorized

Loving Tesla doesn’t mean I love Elon Musk. Loving Washington Post doesn’t mean I love Jeff Bezos.

I usually don't read comments on Facebook posts where I've shared a link to one of my blog posts. It isn't that I don't care what people think about what I've written. It's more that after I write something, I feel good that I've expressed how I feel about some subject, and now others are free to express how they feel about what I felt. Today I made an exception. My wife was driving us back to Salem from Eugene, where we'd visited our granddaughter, Evelyn, who is finishing her first year at the University of Oregon. Entertaining myself with…
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Posted inCars

Driving a Tesla around Salem with Full Self-Driving, I was super impressed

Amazingly, I had never ridden in a Tesla until today, after I'd made an appointment to try out Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which for me is the main reason I'd choose a Tesla over other electric cars. So not only was I able to ride in a Tesla, after Rylan, the general manager (hopefully I recall his name correctly), took me for a demonstration ride with him in the driver's seat, when we returned to the dealership on Mission Street I was given the opportunity to take out the Model Y on my own. I came away really impressed with FSD.…
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Posted inCars

I’m one step closer to having a 2027 BMW iX3. Sadly, it’s a small step.

In late March of this year I wrote, "With Tesla easing out of the car-making business, the BMW iX3 looks appealing." Excerpt: For my next car, I’d like to either get a plug-in hybrid or an all-electric vehicle. Rumor has it that the 2027 Hyundai Tucson PHEV will have 62 miles of electric range, up from 33 miles in the current model. That would beat the RAV 4 PHEV. So I’m keeping my eyes open for news about the 2027 Tucson, which will feature a major redesign. As long as I’m car window-shopping, the recently released (in Europe) BMW iX3…
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Posted inCars Home life Uncategorized

With Tesla easing out of the car-making business, the BMW ix3 electric SUV looks appealing

My wife and I were early electric car buyers. Too early. Because we only kept the 2011 Nissan Leaf we bought for about eight months. Even though it just had a range of about 100 miles, there were other reasons why we sold it and bought a Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid. Now I'm driving a gas-powered Subaru Crosstrek, while my wife has a Toyota RAV 4 plug-in hybrid. It has enough electric range that she has to worry about its gasoline going bad if the car hasn't been driven out of town for a while. For my next car, I'd…
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