He Said: 12 Days of Tesla Christmas

From the garage of  He Said:

Today is the 12th and last day of our 12 Days of Tesla Christmas shopping and your last opportunity to get your favorite Tesla Model 3 owner a copy of He Said, She Said: Tesla Model 3 User’s Guide at $2.00 off the regular price. It’s available in ebook format for $4.99 or trade paperback for just $9.99 from Amazon and other online booksellers. If you’re a new Model 3 owner or just thinking about buying one, this book will give you all the information you need in a fun, sassy format.  Get mansplained and ma’amsplained all in one book!  Sale ends today.

I admit it.  I like playing the games in our Tesla. The wife worries I’m going to wear down the tires turning the wheel while I play Beach Buggy Racing 2 but who hasn’t wanted to play Mario Cart (which is what BBR2 most resembles) behind the wheel of a real car? Except there is another option.  You can connect up to two game controllers through the USB ports in the Model 3 and play BBR2 or Cuphead using the controllers! I ordered one of these controllers (the price was right) and tried it out. It worked great. I haven’t actually gone head-to-head with anyone playing BBR2 with the controllers yet but my grandson is visiting this Christmas so I’m ordering another controller and looking to spend some quality garage-time with him.  I know, I know – I’m gonna get wiped.  But I’ll still have fun! 

Some cars look fast just standing still.  Did you ever notice that? Mostly, it’s the sleek lines, low-slung body and wide tires but sometimes it extends to the interior.  When I saw these performance pedal covers, they looked like something Kyle Busch would appreciate.  But the final touch, the piece de resistance is this “deal pedal” cover that matches them. The combination is just what I’m looking for make the inside of my Model 3 look as dope as the outside does.

We did a favor for a fellow Tesla owner a few weeks ago and, to show her appreciation she gifted us with a set of fancy valve stem covers for our wheels.  It got me thinking about the various products out there to add a little extra sparkle to the most neglected part of our vehicle – at least when it comes to bling.  For instance, valve covers are cheap but are available with a Tesla logo that looks super cool on these shiny black ones. If you’re looking to add some color, there are these knurled caps that come in a variety of colors. Of course, if your aesthetic runs to the dark side, you might want to check out the black skull caps.

Maybe you feel that valve stem covers are not quite enough flash.  You could always get a set of lug nut covers.  Or why not go all the way and get lug nut covers AND silver center caps?  Whether you’re buying them for your own Tesla or putting them in the someone else’s stocking, these are just the cheap but super cool gifts that should fit right into your budget.

The console of the Tesla Model 3 has some nice storage areas in the center console and on the first day of Tesla Christmas shopping (down at the bottom of this blog) I pointed out a great organizer you can get for one of them. But someone who is clearly more obsessive about organization than I am found a way to make use of a recessed area in the console cover!  It’s like a secret stash compartment where you can keep all that small detritus that accumulates in your car over the course of time. Makes it easy to get at but keeps it out of your way.  I think it’s pure genius.

Technically, the Tesla Model 3 in our family belongs to my wife.  She’d been wanting a Tesla almost since the first car rolled off the line. It’s not that I didn’t want a Tesla but we only have room for two vehicles and I need a pickup truck because papa needs to haul stuff.  You know how it is, right? So, I ordered a CyberTruck. Yes, I did! But now I have at least two years to kill while I wait for it to be delivered. Fortunately, it’s never too early to start shopping for accessories and that’s where TrucksV2.com comes in. They are a company that has apparently come back from the future (est. 2021) to help us get prepared for our new CyberTrucks. They’ve got a bunch of cool apparel, etc. but I’m gonna start by putting this 20 oz. tumbler on my Christmas list this year.  Could hold something hot, something cold, whatever.  The important thing is that it’s emblazoned with the cool CyberTruck outline that’s the logo of Trucks V2 – a constant reminder of the super high-performance, semi-indestructible (except for the windows, maybe) truck that is coming my way in 2021.  Yessssss!!!!

The only thing that really worries me when I’m driving my Model 3 (other than someone hitting me from behind) is getting a flat tire. I’ve never before owned a car that didn’t come with a spare and that needed flatbed towing. And though there are more and more Tesla’s (especially M3s) on the road these days, I can’t be certain the garage I end up in will understand how to properly jack the car up without, you know . . . jacking up the car up. These jack lift pads help make sure that jack (or lift) doesn’t puncture portions of the battery that surround the lift points on the bottom of the car. I’m asking Santa for a set of these to protect my sleigh in the coming year.

When I was in my twenties, I had a friend who made everyone take their shoes off when they got into his car.  He drove a beautiful Chevy Camaro with a custom paint job and he would take it to the car shows and sometimes rent it to movie production companies. He was absolutely obsessed with keeping that car spotless inside and out. That isn’t me. However, snow and mud on the upholstered  floor mats, even after it dries is a pain to clean up. So, I think a set of TOOCA’s all weather mats should find a place under my Christmas tree this year. These are made to fit the Model 3, they have little nibs on the bottom to keep them from slipping out of place and raised edges to keep snow, water (and coffee?) that lands on the mat from running right onto the floor. Santa, PLEASE help me keep my Model 3 clean with minimal effort this winter! (I’m talking to you, Sheryl).

It’s the Fourth Day of Tesla Christmas Shopping and look what I found!  Is this sweet or what?! I mean it’s nice that Tesla provides under-door lights so you can avoid stepping on . . . well, whatever. But, now I can change these functional but somewhat dull lights into something that will impress even the most jaded parking valet. The easy installation and impressive finish prompted reviews such as this one from “Amazon Customer” who said, “Exactly what was expected!” or customer “Moses” who posted “It is what it is” (I think once you’ve seen all that Moses has it’s hard to be impressed by puddle lights). But seriously, these lights by Eogifee look awesome and I’m getting them.

On the Third Day of Tesla Christmas Shopping, I asked for the 256kb fully-formatted MicroSD with USB adapter available at puretesla.com.  I’m currently using a standard USB flash drive and I’ve been reading  that this may not be the best device for dash cams because their ability to continually rewrite over the same area of flash memory is somewhat limited compared to MicroSD cards.  This device is completely plug-n-play as it is already correctly formatted with a TeslaCam directory, so all I have to do is plug it into the USB port on my Model 3 and I’m ready to go. Did I mention it also comes with a USB-C connection so I can remove it and plug it directly into my Mac Air to watch the footage? How great is that?! 

On the second day of Tesla Christmas Shopping – Cyber Monday, I found this and it’s just the right size for a stocking stuffer.

I hate trying to find a parking place in the city. Consequently, I deal with a lot of parking valets – fine fellows, one and all I’m sure, but I can’t help thinking of that scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when the parking attendant takes off in Cameron’s father’s Ferrari. Fortunately, Tesla offers Valet Mode and a key card to limit what the valet can do with my car and how fast he can drive it. I’m still not sure why a valet would need to drive my car 70 MPH to park it but that’s the top speed set in valet mode. Perhaps Elon frequents a restaurant in a part of town that’s so crowded they have to park cars in the next town over. 

Whatever, the Tesla card key and valet mode is the perfect way to offload the loathsome parking drudge. While I do have a rubbery version of this key holder, I prefer to keep the card key in my wallet when it’s not with the valet and taking the key out of that rubber holder is literally like pulling teeth. This looks like a much better solution. It’s hard plastic so it should be much easier to insert and remove the card and it’s completely see-through so (unlike my rubber key holder) it allows the valet to see the instructions on the back in case it’s his first day on the job (please let it not be his first day on the job).

On the first day of Christmas, I hope I’m gettin’ one of these bad boys  . . . 

The center console organizer from JDMCAR.

There’s a deep well right behind the phone charging deck in the center console of the Model 3. It’s an excellent place to lose store lots of things. After free diving into this abyss a few times to retrieve change, that USB stick or the fully punched coffee club card (I know it’s in there somewhere),  you’ll want something like this organizer to keep the things you need most often right on top and easy to reach.