If you haven't already shorted Tesla, this might be a good time to do so

Not even close to being ready for prime time

The new, "affordable" Tesla is reviewed by Car and Driver, and it doesn't sound encouraging. $50,000 (and up) instead of the promised $30,000, shoddy fit and finish, and a range of 200 miles, instead of the claimed 340. That will get you a round to trip to Hartford, but no further. One-way to Boston? Maybe: better have a charger awaiting you up there, if you want to go home, and that will no longer be a  round trip you can make in a day.

The info screen is buttonless and I promise you, from my own experience with my new Honda Ridgeline, you will absolutely hate, hate, hate it.

The mileage range is perhaps the most distressing feature (though the company's failure to come anywhere close to the production volume it predicted should alarm investors). Milage, as in all electric cars, drops 25% in 28-degree temperatures, from a 54-degree day. That probably won't bother the California trendies who are expected to buy these toys, so long as they don't want to go skiing, but anyone in New England or the midwest is going to be disappointed. The Chevy Leaf, by the way, has a tiny range of 140 miles in cold weather and, I believe, even that mileage requires you to forego using the heater. We're heading back to the days of sleds and (synthetic, of course) wolf skin lap robes.

This is the technology set to be mandated for all vehicles by 2030. Someone better hurry up in figuring out how to do it.