After reading all of the horror stories about ordering and delivery on this and other forums, I prepared myself to be patient. I reserved in July 2017, ordered June 30th, 2018, switched back and forth between RWD and AWD several times on July 5th, and took delivery of my beautiful blue RWD today, July 31st. His name is Nik.
I financed with a credit union that required a copy of the contract before they would fund, so that was my first source of worry. When I told my ISA about my nervousness, she signed the pro forma MVPA herself and sent me a copy which my credit union accepted. I had my cashier's check in hand 5 days before my scheduled delivery. Tesla did send me the contract to sign 2 days before my delivery, but I did not get it back with their signature until after delivery. I feel for those of you in Texas!
Financing complete, I switched my worry to finding flaws in the vehicle at delivery. I studied the checklists folks have posted on the forums so I would know what to look for. Honestly though, the value of this car to me is under the skin, not on the surface. Being a autonomous vehicle software engineer myself and having friends in Tesla Engineering, I am very excited about the powertrain, battery, and software in this vehicle much more than the quality of the paint job. Tesla has recruited an awesome engineering team that have invented some cool stuff after the old school automotive industry told them they couldn't. That's what I feel like I am buying with my $60,000. That said, I didn't want anything to fall of on my way home
Lastly, there have been reports of big delays and unhappy customers at the delivery centers so I took the day off from work and wore comfy clothes.
I arrived at the delivery center at 11:00am, 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment. We quickly found our car and fawned over it while waiting for our delivery specialist, who was 5 minutes late. They were busy, but not chaotic. Smiles all around. If I haden't already had my morning coffee, I would have tried the Tesla Blend. I set my 8-year old son loose to inspect the vehicle in detail and report back. We found a small glob of something on the inside glass that I could not scrape off. The delivery specialist brought out a small spray bottle (secret Tesla solvent?) and a hand towel and cleaned it up quickly. There was also a rough spot on the bottom edge of the front passenger side door. The paint was not scratched so it looks like minor damage to the door before painting. It's tough to notice unless you run your fingers over it. I elected to not do anything about it. I consider it to be a badge of courage indicating that Nik survived his trip through the Fremont factory We were out by 11:45.
This is an awesome car! My only complaints are the lack of detailed energy info (no instantaneous Wh/mi??) and the fact that I have to wait up to 48 hours for the app to start working on my phone. The key cards work very well though, even from inside my wallet (I made sure it was close to the outside of the wallet when folded and with the 'Tesla' label on the card facing inwards.
I come from 7 years in a LEAF so I already had the EV grin, but this car is something else. My LEAF topped out at 94 MPH, but it's easy to get to 100 quick in the Model 3 and without feeling like you are going that fast if you don't watch the spedo. This car wants to go! I've read that an update nerfed the RWD from a 0-60 time of ~4.6-4.8 up to the adverised 5.1. I have only experienced the nerfed version, but full acceleration really pushes the stock 18" wheels to their limits (a bit of slip) especially if not going straight. Steering feels a little bit loose to me, even in sport mode, like there's just a bit too much play. It's very subtle though, and I may just need to get used to it.
We live about 20 miles from the Fremont factory and the autopilot camera calibration was just finishing as we approached our exit. Because of that, and the fact that I still had plenty of range left (delivered with ~180 miles), we decided to keep going down 101. I engaged longitudinal control (TACC) and lateral control (auto-steer) and sat back to enjoy. Auto-steer tries a bit too hard to stay in the center of the lane, even if the 'lane' is extra wide because of a merge lane. Nothing so bad that I had to take over though. It was great fun to watch Nik learn to drive and I will be using this feature extensively on my rush hour commute.
Ok, I'm done typing. I'm going for another ride!
I financed with a credit union that required a copy of the contract before they would fund, so that was my first source of worry. When I told my ISA about my nervousness, she signed the pro forma MVPA herself and sent me a copy which my credit union accepted. I had my cashier's check in hand 5 days before my scheduled delivery. Tesla did send me the contract to sign 2 days before my delivery, but I did not get it back with their signature until after delivery. I feel for those of you in Texas!
Financing complete, I switched my worry to finding flaws in the vehicle at delivery. I studied the checklists folks have posted on the forums so I would know what to look for. Honestly though, the value of this car to me is under the skin, not on the surface. Being a autonomous vehicle software engineer myself and having friends in Tesla Engineering, I am very excited about the powertrain, battery, and software in this vehicle much more than the quality of the paint job. Tesla has recruited an awesome engineering team that have invented some cool stuff after the old school automotive industry told them they couldn't. That's what I feel like I am buying with my $60,000. That said, I didn't want anything to fall of on my way home
Lastly, there have been reports of big delays and unhappy customers at the delivery centers so I took the day off from work and wore comfy clothes.
I arrived at the delivery center at 11:00am, 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment. We quickly found our car and fawned over it while waiting for our delivery specialist, who was 5 minutes late. They were busy, but not chaotic. Smiles all around. If I haden't already had my morning coffee, I would have tried the Tesla Blend. I set my 8-year old son loose to inspect the vehicle in detail and report back. We found a small glob of something on the inside glass that I could not scrape off. The delivery specialist brought out a small spray bottle (secret Tesla solvent?) and a hand towel and cleaned it up quickly. There was also a rough spot on the bottom edge of the front passenger side door. The paint was not scratched so it looks like minor damage to the door before painting. It's tough to notice unless you run your fingers over it. I elected to not do anything about it. I consider it to be a badge of courage indicating that Nik survived his trip through the Fremont factory
We were out by 11:45.This is an awesome car! My only complaints are the lack of detailed energy info (no instantaneous Wh/mi??) and the fact that I have to wait up to 48 hours for the app to start working on my phone. The key cards work very well though, even from inside my wallet (I made sure it was close to the outside of the wallet when folded and with the 'Tesla' label on the card facing inwards.
I come from 7 years in a LEAF so I already had the EV grin, but this car is something else. My LEAF topped out at 94 MPH, but it's easy to get to 100 quick in the Model 3 and without feeling like you are going that fast if you don't watch the spedo. This car wants to go! I've read that an update nerfed the RWD from a 0-60 time of ~4.6-4.8 up to the adverised 5.1. I have only experienced the nerfed version, but full acceleration really pushes the stock 18" wheels to their limits (a bit of slip) especially if not going straight. Steering feels a little bit loose to me, even in sport mode, like there's just a bit too much play. It's very subtle though, and I may just need to get used to it.
We live about 20 miles from the Fremont factory and the autopilot camera calibration was just finishing as we approached our exit. Because of that, and the fact that I still had plenty of range left (delivered with ~180 miles), we decided to keep going down 101. I engaged longitudinal control (TACC) and lateral control (auto-steer) and sat back to enjoy. Auto-steer tries a bit too hard to stay in the center of the lane, even if the 'lane' is extra wide because of a merge lane. Nothing so bad that I had to take over though. It was great fun to watch Nik learn to drive and I will be using this feature extensively on my rush hour commute.
Ok, I'm done typing. I'm going for another ride!
