But this e-mail was from a stodgy old German car company, not from a brash kid in Silicon Valley. So I decided to take them up on their offer.
My first reaction upon driving the car was that these people surely were smoking something if they thought I would trade in my Tesla for this four-door hatchback. It just didn’t have the acceleration or torque. It felt slow and small. But then I realized that wasn’t a fair comparison. They’re cars of different categories and prices. It wasn’t an either, or: this car was for a different market. The Mercedes public relations team had just been very creative in getting my attention.