Very sad to read the conclusion of your saga, and that it was not a happy ending. Especially with your helpfulness to all the Tesla purchasers on this site (which I'm sure has saved a few calls to Tesla sales reps).Having finally taken delivery of my October ordered MY RWD a week ago (and having been royally screwed by the price drop), I suggest avoiding spending extra on your car. But the cheapest variant you can be happy with. Also take a moment to consider other cars coming onto the market.
I believe you have ordered red like I did. It was not worth it. Mine was delivered with spots of dark discolouration eaten into the clear coat of the bonnet. The paint is also really easily damaged. Don't casually wipe a light coat of dust off without using water unless you want to watch the scratches form in front of your eyes.. Was this a problem during transport and delivery, or a problem from the factory? I don't know, but I am stuck with an expensive paint job that looks like crap.
Between that and an assortment of other disappointments, I have been really disheartened by the car. There are good things, too, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do a proper review because I just feel sick about the whole thing.
There are some really silly software issues.
For example, steering assist only works at the signposted speed limit (plus an offset if you want). That is great except that the car keeps missing speed signs, so you can be stuck driving 30km along the highway before it reads another speed sign and allows you to use steering assist at the posted speed limit.
Autopilot (one click down or two clicks down on the right stalk) is very prone to following too close to the car in front e.g. 1 second gap at 80kph, 1.5 second at 100kph. On a 1000km round trip, I was frequently needing to drive manually to keep a safe following distance. It was Ok sometimes, and dangerous other times.
Steering assist is similarly good if it works. It also frequently turns off because of a gentle curve in the road, especially left-hand curves when it seems to detect incoming traffic as a collision threat. The car also frequently complains about imminent lane changes when nothing is happening. It did not cope at all with single-lane rural roads without painted road borders. It frequently popped an urgent alarm, silencing the music while shrieking at me to take control because we're about to crash!!! Honestly, I've never driven a more annoying car to drive on a country road. By comparison, the traffic-aware cruise control and lane-keeping assist on the 2022 Kona is easier to use, more reliable and less intrusive.
The Tesla navigation will not show any chargers other than Tesla superchargers. You also cannot precondition the battery for DC fast charging unless you are going to a Supercharger. Given the lack of Superchargers north of Gympie, this is more than a little annoying.
Charging from solar via the UMC is not practical. You can set when you want the car to be ready at the same time each day, but can only specify weekdays or weekends, not different days of the week. You can't specify just when you want it ready next. You can't truly prevent it charging at peak times. You can say when off-peak time ends, but not when it starts. That is so limited.
You can load your music collection onto a hard drive (on a separate partition from sentry mode). There is no way to specify a play list. You can search and play by artist, song or genre. There is no way to build a playlist from different albums, for example.
You can't watch your own videos while parked. The only way is to use premium connectivity and Netflix or Disney+. How hard is it to play an MP4 file via USB?
The driving experience is pretty quiet (as expected, and this is a good feature), but no better than the 2022 Kona EV. The Tesla doesn't make a bonging noise in reverse, though. That's good.
I did eventually get my UMC replaced with the proper 10A/15A tails. It took Tesla three attempts (each time telling me it had been sent, but then having some kind of system problem) to actually send it to me, so I had to make other arrangements to charge my car initially.
Home delivery is supposed to be arranged through the app. That doesn't happen at all. The car is dropped off with the key cards, the truck leaves and you check over the car, but can't connect the app to it. You have to phone Sales (I mistakenly phoned Support) and they tell you it will take up to an hour for the app to be connected to the car. It is drivable using the cards in the meantime, but none of the app features work.
Again, I just can't bring myself to do a proper job of reviewing this car because I just feel sick about it. I know some people here have had great experiences. I have had the short end of the stick repeatedly and I am just completely over it.
Do not trust Tesla to tell you the truth about anything, or to look after you properly. Do not believe the hype about their superior software. Avoid paying extra for better paint. The white interior does seem nice, though. Honestly, having bought other cars, with the Kona EV being just a few months ago, I don't believe Tesla are offering better value or a better experience. At least, they didn't for me.
I hope you you can get some enjoyment out of the car but understand with your experience thus far it's going to be harder or take longer to get there.
All the best.
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