6 Week Update of Ownership Experience

[2101Guy]

Purchased my 2017 90D (1200 miles) via Tesla in December 2019 here in Virginia, USA. Inventory car with Sunroof, 19" Slipstream wheels, Premium upgrade interior, Premium Leather seats (black) Enhanced Auto Pilot, , Air Suspension, HW2.0/MCU1,

Came from a (slightly modified) E55 AMG Mercedes with 560lb ft of torque and 506hp.

Observations on the Model S.
Pro's
- Quiet, extremely quick off the line, smooth, tremendous handling, excellent ride quality, great braking. 100% exceeded my high expectations in these categories
- Styling is still (to me) one of the best looking cars in its class. Tesla really nailed this car out of the box.
- Technology. Is there any need to comment further? The bottom line: Still the only car brand today, that constantly improves over time
- Service: Perhaps I've been fortunate, but the local service center in Richmond, VA has been great. Model S Loaner each time without asking, and issues resolved quickly.
- Ergonomics. Well thought out. Ability to (for example) control how much the sunroof is open via thumbwheel on steering wheel. How quickly one gets acclimated to having all controls on the touch screen. Just a couple of examples.

Con's
- Fit and finish on interior. Inconsistent. Alcantara roof and alcantara/leather dash/door panels? Great. But fit and finish and quality of some of the plastics as well as fitment? (See attached photo). Questionable at best. Some pieces are flimsy plastic that I've seen in low end rental subcompacts. The kind of plastics that scuff and mar very easily.
- Workmanship in some areas. SC had to replace entire glovebox due to felt backing separating from the backside of glovebox door. Appeared the glue was low quality?
-Rear hatch gap on passenger side. Just noticed this the other day, but there is obvious different in panel gap when comparing driver to passenger. Will have addressed at next SC visit.
-Had a dash rattle addressed at SC. Turned out it was loose sway bar/strut bar nuts that were not torqued properly. SC fixed without issue. (Tech heard it immediately during our test drive when I dropped it off).
-Autopilot still beta. Works well, but some inconsistency. Even with my settings set to NO confirmation for lane changes, I still get prompted to slightly turn the steering wheel when navigate on autopilot wants to initiate a lane change. Pulling back on the autopilot stalk works as an alternative to turning the steering wheel, EXCEPT when the auto lane change is needed for taking an exit. The stalk option doesnt seem to work consistently, and moving the steering wheel be hand more often than not disengages the auto pilot (even when the steering wheel icon on the nav screen is blue/its an exit that NOA claims it can take.).
- Smart Summon distance-209 feet is not sufficient. I park on the far end of my parking lot at work, away from everyone. Private lot off of a private road. Car is typically about 400 feet from the front door of my building. I can clearly see the car the entire 400 feet. Why the limit to 209 feet? Allow the owner to customize his max distance in his app, requiring him/her to accept liability for the extra distance.

Overall...beyond pleased with the car. Quite obvious how Tesla leveraged the aspect of going all in/being solely EV focused to create a great product. Other car manufacturers are riding the fence by still having to support ICE while giving half hearted attempts to go EV.

 

[2101Guy]

Followup: Replaced the 19" Slipstreams with 21" Arachnids with the Michelin Pilot Sports. The Slipstreams with the Michelin Touring All seasons were exceptionally smooth and quiet. The 21's are definitely a bit firmer, but thus far, not harsh at all. Tire/road noise is up about 15% or so and can definitely hear the sticker tires attracting more small pebbles and tossing them up within the wheelwells more. But the look is much more to my liking

 

[Zer0t]

How about a photo with those new rims?

 

[2101Guy]

Before... (with the Michelin Touring all seasons..these will become my winter wheels/tires)

 

[2101Guy]

After

 

[2101Guy]

Also, another update: Still some sort of rattle that appears to be emanating from passenger side suspension. Appears when I make right turns up onto my driveway and I can also reproduce when I gently press the accelerator and release..press..release..

and if over very, very bumpy road at slow speeds...its very noticeable. appt scheduled for this Friday

 

[Big Toys]

Congrats on your high end purchase. Surprised about the QC? Yeah, most of us are are too. It's a feature.

 

[VikH]

Purchased my 2017 90D (1200 miles) via Tesla in December 2019 here in Virginia, USA. Inventory car with Sunroof, 19" Slipstream wheels, Premium upgrade interior, Premium Leather seats (black) Enhanced Auto Pilot, , Air Suspension, HW2.0/MCU1,

What was the adjustment and total price of the car? Whats the back story on the car? Where was this car sitting for 2 years (unregistered) with only 1200 miles?

 

[2101Guy]

Not 100% sure on the backstory, as I could never seem to get the information from the sales rep or anyone at Tesla. I simply know it was never titled so most likely it was a demo of some sort? But it was sold to me as “new” and as such, I qualified for new car financing, the full warranty started on date I took delivery and the 50k miles part of the warranty began at the 1200 mile mark. My paperwork indicated EAP and free supercharging. Both initially were not on the car but after showing my sales paperwork to the sales person a couple weeks later, it was no issue in having both of those items restored. (Again.. Those items were listed on my sales paperwork as things I paid Tesla for. Not just on the original window sticker)

as far as adjustment, I’ll just say it was substantially less than the $109k window sticker from 2017. (And I do mean substantial). But to be transparent, I believe a large part of that adjustment reflected fact that new model s’s had significant price reductions since 2017. No one in 2019 was paying $109k (or even close) for a 90D.

 

[2101Guy]

Speaking of attention to detail..noticed this screen as I was changing wheels over the weekend..

 

[VikH]

Not 100% sure on the backstory, as I could never seem to get the information from the sales rep or anyone at Tesla. I simply know it was never titled so most likely it was a demo of some sort? But it was sold to me as “new” and as such, I qualified for new car financing, the full warranty started on date I took delivery and the 50k miles part of the warranty began at the 1200 mile mark. My paperwork indicated EAP and free supercharging. Both initially were not on the car but after showing my sales paperwork to the sales person a couple weeks later, it was no issue in having both of those items restored. (Again.. Those items were listed on my sales paperwork as things I paid Tesla for. Not just on the original window sticker)

as far as adjustment, I’ll just say it was substantially less than the $109k window sticker from 2017. (And I do mean substantial). But to be transparent, I believe a large part of that adjustment reflected fact that new model s’s had significant price reductions since 2017. No one in 2019 was paying $109k (or even close) for a 90D.

I hope you got a good deal well below a new Long Range Model S. The 90 pack has a bad reputation for high degradation and poor capacity. They have not made a new car with a 90 pack since 2017 when they switched over to 100 packs.

 

[2101Guy]

I hope you got a good deal well below a new Long Range Model S. The 90 pack has a bad reputation for high degradation and poor capacity. They have not made a new car with a 90 pack since 2017 when they switched over to 100 packs.

Thanks. Yep, I'd definitely consider it a good deal, and yes, far below a new Long Range. And with the fully intact warranties in place, Zero concerns on the pack.

 

[2101Guy]

Also, another update: Still some sort of rattle that appears to be emanating from passenger side suspension. Appears when I make right turns up onto my driveway and I can also reproduce when I gently press the accelerator and release..press..release..

and if over very, very bumpy road at slow speeds...its very noticeable. appt scheduled for this Friday

issue resolved by the SC. Motor mount bolt required tightening to factory torque spec.