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Australian Model Y Waiting Room

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Autopilot:

I first tested the autopilot on city driving. That didn't go well. Combining tram tracks with windy roads gave a bit of a challenge for autopilot. The car was phantom breaking constantly (especially around windy roads).

As per the manual, this should be avoided:


Warning
Autosteer is intended for use on controlled-access highways with a fully attentive driver. Do not use Autosteer in construction zones, or in areas where bicyclists or pedestrians may be present.


Save it for the freeways.
 
I understand this is the MY Waiting room, but I think this might be beneficial to new Tesla Owners.

This is my 3-week review of the RWD-MY.

Power Consumption:

We bought the standard range MY because we don't have to drive very far and away from charging locations. We work around the city and typical commute is 40km. I was initially disappointed with the power consumption of the car because it was showing ~15% reduction in battery after driving 40 km. I knew that the advertised range is not real, but I thought it should be around that number (i.e. advertised is 455km, I expected 420 to 430). But after a 40km drive, the car was reporting a range of ~380km.

Tesla advertises:
-132Wh/km
-455 km Range,
-Battery capacity of 57.5kw (useable)

But, 57.5kw/0.132 kw/km = 435 km (🤔)

Looking at the energy app, and trip data from the car, we were averaging 160 wh/km on flat Melbourne City driving. This was disappointing.

Started digging deeper and made the following adjustments:
1. changed the driving mode to "Chill"
2. rarely use A/C. the climate control for us is just a fan with no heating or cooling. We generally pre-condition the car and it maintains temps pretty easily through the drive.
After the above changes, our power consumption dropped to an average of 130 w/km which is inline with the expected range :) .

If you use Sentry Mode, throw the above in the bin. It sucks so much juice. circa 5~7% a day if not parked at home. Recommend to turn this on only if you are sceptical about the location where you parked.

Autopilot:

I first tested the autopilot on city driving. That didn't go well. Combining tram tracks with windy roads gave a bit of a challenge for autopilot. The car was phantom breaking constantly (especially around windy roads).

But when used on freeways.... WOW! 120km drive, I did not intervene once! It is not your standard "Lane Correction" that other cars use. The cameras operate to maintain in the centre of the road at all times and vehicle detection to reduce/increase speed around cars is very smooth. Driven 120 km at night away from the city, and 120km back (into heavy traffic) with no issues both ways. Not a single phantom break. Really looking forward to long range driving now.

The car was also detecting other cars that are getting too close to you and shifts slightly to one edge of the lane to give a bit more distance.

I'm generally an anxious driver, I keep looking at mirrors and checking what cars next to me do all the time. But with autopilot on, I generally relaxed half way through. Car asks to keep hands on steering wheel. But even if you don't, autopilot still functions. Not sure if it starts yelling at you after a few minutes. I generally kept a hand on the wheel.

Tip- you need to enable autopilot while parked for each profile.


Rims

The 20" induction wheels look really good on this car. But the design of the Rims and Tires is not fit for purpose. Generally, most tires are slightly larger than the rims. That way, when you approach a Kerb, the tires will hit in lieu of the Rims. On those wheels, the Rim will hit first. We hit the Rims on day 3 of owning the car 🤬. I'll now have to sand the rim edges down, and paint the effected area. Then I'll be buying Rim Skins and installing to reduce the impact of rim rash. (Rimskins Australia)

If you have been driving a small car all your life, be mindful of the large turning circle of this car.

Body

This car is Novated through SG Fleet. Experience with them was really good and went without a hitch. They also include a ceramic coat and Window tint as part of the package. They used "Tint a Car" in Melbourne. The tint product was ok (it doesn't match the existing colour of the current tint, but it's only visible in direct sunlight.) didn't bother me. Couldn't tell the difference between the before and after ceramic coating. But the car cleans really easily. (i.e. a wet cloth with some dishwashing soap did the job). If you are getting a ceramic coat, you need to clean it fortnightly to maintain the product.


Charging

Tesla recommends once a week charging to 100% on MY. I'm getting my battery down to about 30% before I plug it into a 15Amp socket. Tesla still hasn't updated the firmware on the UMCs. So its still charging at 12Amps (12Amps * 240 volts = 2.88 kW). So it takes about 14 hours (40kw/2.88kw) to get back up to 100%. Park when I get home at 6ish, full tank by 8pm the next morning. No need for wall chargers, or superchargers for me. Once Tesla updates the firmware, it will be less than 12hours.

Good luck to all those that are waiting and I'm really hoping you enjoy the new wheels like I did (am)

Cheers
You did a good job of summarising a lot of useful information. I would add that lane-keeping is good, but not necessarily better than other EVs. It also freaks out on rural roads and isn't great even on regional highways. I had read people say how much more relaxed they were when driving on Autopilot. That might be true for freeways, it is much less true for roads like the Bruce Highway in north Queensland, where it is worse than driving with plain old dumb cruise control in my old car.

Does your detailer know you use dish detergent in the ceramic coat? Do they also know where you live? If the answer to both questions is yes, you may need to move 😄

And, yeah, rim rash is how you know you're a Tesla driver!
 
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Thanks for the link to Rimskins

What happens with kerb rash - how damaged does the rimskins get?

Also it appears that Rimskins don't recommend changing tyres when the Rimskins are on. Any thoughts?
This is one of the joys of Tesla, did both passenger side rims on day 2 of owning my M3.

Rims skins don't do anything. They just add another thing to repair, along with your rims, when you hit the kerb.

Some owners have reported the MagBak plastic protectors work well but is a relatively expensive solution.

My scratched rims are a good reminder to take more care driving/parking.
 
Does your detailer know you use dish detergent in the ceramic coat? Do they also know where you live? If the answer to both questions is yes, you may need to move 😄

Hahaha. No for both. But he was really rude and I wouldn't mind giving him a piece of my mind if he does show up.

However, I've now read a bit about ceramic coating and you are correct. I'll probably buy a cheap product to do my cleans. I've found this product (Meguiars Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo 1.89L G7164 | eBay). Any other budget recommendations?

Someone on this thread said something that I really agree with this: I'm paraphrasing here, but I've bought my Tesla to enjoy it and not spend alot of money to protect it for the next owner (if anyone knows who said this, please give him/her the credit). So I'm not going to spend heaps of money on coatings that I'll have to re-apply on annual/bi-annual basis. I'll put some effort to keep it looking good, but other than that, I'm just going to enjoy it.
 
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This is one of the joys of Tesla, did both passenger side rims on day 2 of owning my M3.

Rims skins don't do anything. They just add another thing to repair, along with your rims, when you hit the kerb.

Some owners have reported the MagBak plastic protectors work well but is a relatively expensive solution.

My scratched rims are a good reminder to take more care driving/parking.
That's good feedback. It is part of the reason I haven't bought them yet because I wanted to see Tesla owners review.

How did you damage the rims? was it during parking (slow speeds) or was it during driving (turning, etc.)?

On Rimskins website, they do mention that the Rimskins don't protect at "normal" speeds:

1691379111202.png


Are the Rimskins easy to replace? or does the adhesive need a special product to remove?
 
That's good feedback. It is part of the reason I haven't bought them yet because I wanted to see Tesla owners review.

How did you damage the rims? was it during parking (slow speeds) or was it during driving (turning, etc.)?

On Rimskins website, they do mention that the Rimskins don't protect at "normal" speeds:

View attachment 962913

Are the Rimskins easy to replace? or does the adhesive need a special product to remove?
I believe it occurred when parking the very first time the better half took the car out but the risk vs reward scenario didn't warrant further interrogation.
 
For anyone using a novated lease company (I’m with Maxxia) just make sure you keep them in the loop. I’m not sure if I’m an outlier but I received a schedule vehicle delivery email on Friday afternoon and booked it for this coming Saturday.

I immediately sent an email to Maxxia and they were able to settle the funds today (will take up to 2 days to reflect on teslas end) and I received the settlement confirmed email.

I just kept Maxxia updated at every update so went smoothly. Just thought I’d share my experience with a novated lease, can’t wait to drive it this weekend!!!
 
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I understand this is the MY Waiting room, but I think this might be beneficial to new Tesla Owners.

This is my 3-week review of the RWD-MY.

Power Consumption:

We bought the standard range MY because we don't have to drive very far and away from charging locations. We work around the city and typical commute is 40km. I was initially disappointed with the power consumption of the car because it was showing ~15% reduction in battery after driving 40 km. I knew that the advertised range is not real, but I thought it should be around that number (i.e. advertised is 455km, I expected 420 to 430). But after a 40km drive, the car was reporting a range of ~380km.

Tesla advertises:
-132Wh/km
-455 km Range,
-Battery capacity of 57.5kw (useable)

But, 57.5kw/0.132 kw/km = 435 km (🤔)

Looking at the energy app, and trip data from the car, we were averaging 160 wh/km on flat Melbourne City driving. This was disappointing.

Started digging deeper and made the following adjustments:
1. changed the driving mode to "Chill"
2. rarely use A/C. the climate control for us is just a fan with no heating or cooling. We generally pre-condition the car and it maintains temps pretty easily through the drive.
After the above changes, our power consumption dropped to an average of 130 w/km which is inline with the expected range :) .

If you use Sentry Mode, throw the above in the bin. It sucks so much juice. circa 5~7% a day if not parked at home. Recommend to turn this on only if you are sceptical about the location where you parked.

Autopilot:

I first tested the autopilot on city driving. That didn't go well. Combining tram tracks with windy roads gave a bit of a challenge for autopilot. The car was phantom breaking constantly (especially around windy roads).

But when used on freeways.... WOW! 120km drive, I did not intervene once! It is not your standard "Lane Correction" that other cars use. The cameras operate to maintain in the centre of the road at all times and vehicle detection to reduce/increase speed around cars is very smooth. Driven 120 km at night away from the city, and 120km back (into heavy traffic) with no issues both ways. Not a single phantom break. Really looking forward to long range driving now.

The car was also detecting other cars that are getting too close to you and shifts slightly to one edge of the lane to give a bit more distance.

I'm generally an anxious driver, I keep looking at mirrors and checking what cars next to me do all the time. But with autopilot on, I generally relaxed half way through. Car asks to keep hands on steering wheel. But even if you don't, autopilot still functions. Not sure if it starts yelling at you after a few minutes. I generally kept a hand on the wheel.

Tip- you need to enable autopilot while parked for each profile.


Rims

The 20" induction wheels look really good on this car. But the design of the Rims and Tires is not fit for purpose. Generally, most tires are slightly larger than the rims. That way, when you approach a Kerb, the tires will hit in lieu of the Rims. On those wheels, the Rim will hit first. We hit the Rims on day 3 of owning the car 🤬. I'll now have to sand the rim edges down, and paint the effected area. Then I'll be buying Rim Skins and installing to reduce the impact of rim rash. (Rimskins Australia)

If you have been driving a small car all your life, be mindful of the large turning circle of this car.

Body

This car is Novated through SG Fleet. Experience with them was really good and went without a hitch. They also include a ceramic coat and Window tint as part of the package. They used "Tint a Car" in Melbourne. The tint product was ok (it doesn't match the existing colour of the current tint, but it's only visible in direct sunlight.) didn't bother me. Couldn't tell the difference between the before and after ceramic coating. But the car cleans really easily. (i.e. a wet cloth with some dishwashing soap did the job). If you are getting a ceramic coat, you need to clean it fortnightly to maintain the product.


Charging

Tesla recommends once a week charging to 100% on MY. I'm getting my battery down to about 30% before I plug it into a 15Amp socket. Tesla still hasn't updated the firmware on the UMCs. So its still charging at 12Amps (12Amps * 240 volts = 2.88 kW). So it takes about 14 hours (40kw/2.88kw) to get back up to 100%. Park when I get home at 6ish, full tank by 8pm the next morning. No need for wall chargers, or superchargers for me. Once Tesla updates the firmware, it will be less than 12hours.

Good luck to all those that are waiting and I'm really hoping you enjoy the new wheels like I did (am)

Cheers
Thanks for the review. I’m picking mine up on the 19th. I’ve owned a model 3 for 2 years and my lifetime avg consumption is 142Wh/km. Your consumption is in line with what I expect to see with my new Model Y on 20” wheels. I’ll never sacrifice comfort for efficiency 😂. Not worth it in my opinion and I don’t use more than 15% charge per day anyway. If you want to run down low instead of topping up small amounts daily then a faster 7kW or 11kW charging setup would be a good investment. Hopefully Tesla sort out the UMC firmware soon. A lot of people are complaining about this. I will keep my current UMC when reading in the model 3.
I agree the wheels are a pain. My current model 3 has the standard 18” wheels and the best thing I did was fit wheel covers to protect the rims. These are easily replaced but are expensive bits of plastic. I will be reviewing some wheel protectors for the 20” wheels on my YouTube channel after I get my car. There is a company called MagBak that make a product called RimCase. If you look up their website you will see them. I am going to be testing how they perform when curbed. They aren’t cheap but either are the wheel covers for the smaller wheels. Enjoy your new car!
 
Update. My car arrived on Sunrise Ace on Tuesday. Got a text from Tesla confirming this too. Next day my delivery window changed to Aug 6-Aug 27. Picking up from Chatswood. Currently waiting on text to book date and time. Not holding my breath as there would have been a lot of cars on those ships that arrived this week.
Update. My delivery window changed to Aug 18-Sept 8. I was about to text to find out what was happening and I got another text saying my car was ready to schedule delivery. I scheduled for Aug 19th at Chatswood. This is 18days after it arrive at Port Kembla.
 
Just to sum my dates up for anyone interested.
- 9th of May order
- 12th of May vehicle built and assigned
- 22nd of May VIN assigned after I rejected trade in
Long wait in between with no news but a few discounts 😊(car sat in Singapore for a month then came the long way round via Perth and Adelaide)
- 1st of Aug car arrived on Sunrise Ace at PK
- 7th of Aug got a text to book in delivery for the 19th.
 
This car is Novated through SG Fleet. Experience with them was really good and went without a hitch. They also include a ceramic coat and Window tint as part of the package

Just so you know, these are not "included" in the lease package. You pay for them in higher weekly lease repayments. If you add up the increase in the lease to cost what they are charging, they are a good 100% more than if you just get them done on your own, and as you have found these just use the generic providers. You can get them to remove these off the lease quote but they automatically add them in initially usually with the dodgy minor dent repair option and a driver pack. The person preparing the lease gets commission on these which is why they add them into the quote.

My workplace uses SG Fleet as well. My current Model 3 is my 7th lease through them and the upcoming Y will be the 8th.
 
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There is an influx of 2023 MYs in inventory in VIC! I can see 16 vehicles listed with various configurations, take a look if you are in the waiting list and want to grab one quickly.

From what I have been told, these are most likely sitting at the warehouse at the moment. They are on one of the ships inbound and meant to arrive later this month. But yeah, it's still significantly quicker than ordering a custom one.

Although, if you did ordered a custom one that fits one of the car on the inventory list, they would most likely assign you that car?
 
Just so you know, these are not "included" in the lease package. You pay for them in higher weekly lease repayments. If you add up the increase in the lease to cost what they are charging, they are a good 100% more than if you just get them done on your own, and as you have found these just use the generic providers. You can get them to remove these off the lease quote but they automatically add them in initially usually with the dodgy minor dent repair option and a driver pack. The person preparing the lease gets commission on these which is why they add them into the quote.

My workplace uses SG Fleet as well. My current Model 3 is my 7th lease through them and the upcoming Y will be the 8th.
That is interesting to know. Based on this, it seems that the process is not very transparent. I'm assuming you are referring to the "Premium Protection Pack" that is included. I've never received a quote without this so I can't compare the increase in costs. Do you know what the increase is? Can I ask it to be removed after the first year?

Do you have any further tips for dealing with SG Fleet?

Cheers,