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Can't decide how to configure your X?

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Took delivery of my X a week ago. There are lots of threads with reviews of the experience, so I won't post about that. But here are my opinions on the configuration options that worked out well for me, and the ones that I regret. I know that I agonized over a few options while I was configuring and was always looking for all of the opinions I could get. Hope this helps someone. Of course, this is just my very personal opinion for my very specific situation.

Model X or Model S
I had a S85 before my X. The X drives great, but I still think that the S handles better and is more fun to drive. With that said, I don't regret my decision of trading in the S for the X at all. The increased utility and roomier feel of the X more than make up for the insignificant loss of handling and speed when compared to the S. In short, the X is just more useful on a day to day basis.

75D, 90D, P90D
I ordered the 90D. The P90D was never a consideration for me since I would almost always trade off range for performance. But I mostly got the 90D because I was promised an earlier delivery date. The product specialist at the Meet the Model X event I went to said If I ordered the 70D I shouldn't expect delivery until middle of 2017. That of course will hopefully turn out to be a way overestimate. I don't necessarily regret getting the 90D, but if I had to do it again I would get the 75D. I personally don't care about the 0-60 time. The later delivery date might have actually been a good thing, so that Tesla could iron out all the build issues. The 20 mile difference in range doesn't really affect my daily commute. And any road trips I do take aren't that far, and usually to major cities like Portland or Vancouver BC, which have easy access to superchargers along the way and lots of destination charging options. I have a 14-50 plug at home, so I've never had an issue with charging on a day-to-day basis either. I personally just don't think I'll get any use out of the extra 15kwh of battery so it's not worth the cost to me. Your situation may be different of course.

Colors and Interior
I started out configuring the X with the Deep Blue Metallic paint. My S was the older dark blue that I loved but was discontinued. I wanted a more subtle color given that the FWD's are already too attention drawing, but after seeing a bunch of pictures, I decided that the Deep Blue was a bit too bright for me, so I switched to the Midnight Silver. I love the Midnight Silver. Interestingly, if I had to do it over again I would choose the Titanium. That's not a color I had really even considered before. I feel like the design studio rendering of the Titanium doesn't do it justice. After seeing real pictures of it, I'm in love. A sophisticated yet subtle color, in my opinion. So if you're on the fence about getting the Titanium - get it!

For the interior, I got the tan interior because I was scared of the upkeep for the white seats. The tan leather interior is a lot more yellowish than I like. If I had to do it again, I think I would just get black leather.

I also got Matte Obeche Wood Decor. I think I would get this again, since I prefer matte finishes to glossy in general. But the Matte wood sort of makes it look dry and almost like a cracking look. That's the best I can explain it. But I still prefer matte over glossy.

Wheels
Started out with the 22's, but when I realized the range hit, switched over to the 20's. 22's look nicer in my opinion, but don't regret my decision to switch to 20's at all. Would do it again. Admittedly I like the look of the silver helix wheels better, but can't justify the $2500 price tag of them.

6 or 7 seats
Started out with 7 seats. I sat in the 7 seater at the meet the model x event and knew the 3rd row was going to be cramped with 7 seats, however my thinking was that most of the time I wouldn't need the 3rd row and would just leave it folded down so my "default" configuration would still be able to seat 5 people. We only have one child and he's in a rear facing seat. My wife convinced me to switch to the 6 seater because she likes having the space in between the 2 seats to put random stuff like baby bags, toys etc. That ended up being a phenomenal decision. Am super happy with the 6 seater. Also makes the interior feel a lot more roomy in my opinion. We only have 3 in our family, so we don't really need that many seats most of the time.

Autopilot
No brainer. I think the Summon feature is a bit gimmicky/party-trick-ish. But Autosteer will completely change your experience on long drives for the better. Definitely worth it. If you don't get this feature, I'm not even sure it's worth getting a Tesla. That's how strongly I feel about it. A friend of mine is convinced they'll start giving away autopilot for free after a while, because they want to collect more data. That may well be true, but I'll gladly pay the $2500 now just in case that never happens, or happens a long time from now.

Premium Upgrades Package
For me personally, this was by far my biggest regret, and biggest waste of money. I think the bioweapon defense mode is sort of useful, but almost every thing else with the PUP is not. The auto present doors are gimmicky in my opinion, and cause more trouble than they're worth. I have the feature turned off. The ventilated seats barely work at all. And I personally don't like the look of perforated seats, and they get dirty easier with crumbs from kids and stuff. The iPhone dock doesn't work with a lot of phone cases. The LED lighting upgrades aren't really noticeable. The lighting in my model S (especially trunk lighting) was terrible, and the model X is pretty bad too, even with the PUP upgrade. So all in all, I paid $4500 for an upgrade where the BWD mode is maybe the only thing I'll use on occasion, and if I had to guess, I'd probably only use it maybe 100 times over the life of the car. And I might not have even needed to get PUP to get the BWD. I'm still not quite sure if non-PUP people are getting bioweapon defense mode for free or not. Some are reporting it shows up as an option on screen, but not sure about the filter situation.

Smart Air Suspension
This came for free with my 90D so not really an option I had to agonize about. I did not have air suspension on my model S and I don't really feel a significant difference in ride comfort. The model X naturally rides higher than the S so some of the utility of air suspension is diminished. But anyway, I don't really have an opinion on this one. I haven't used it much, but it came for free.

Subzero Weather Package
I got this on my model X. I live in the pacific northwest. It's not freezing cold here, but it's not Arizona either. I also haven't needed it yet since it's June, but I think I would probably get it again if I was re-ordering. I do wish there was a way for the people in the back seat to control their seat warmers directly though.

Ultra High Fidelity Sound
I did not get this option. I don't need XM radio since I'm perfectly happy with slack and tune in. And I'm not really an audiophile so passed on this one and don't regret it.

Towing Package
I don't own a boat or a trailer and I've never towed anything in my life before. But I got this upgrade because I thought it might help a little bit with resale value, and I thought maybe there would be some situation where I would need this some day. I thought to myself that it's only $550 more than the accessory hitch which is really all that I needed. If I had to do it all over again, I would just stick to the accessory hitch. $550 isn't a lot relative to a $120k car, but you can still buy a lot of things in this world for $550. Plus I'm hearing even the accessory hitch can probably do some light towing. Either way I doubt I'll ever use this, and I regret getting it.

High Amp Charger
I did not get this option. I've got a 14-50 outlet and with that I can charge it full over night. This is all I need on a daily basis so I don't regret passing on this one.

Anyway - hope this helps someone who can't decide what to configure. Again a lot of this in my personal opinion for my specific situation. But I think the one piece of advice that all Model X owners would agree with is to stop agonizing and just configure it already! No matter the options you chose, the car itself is amazing and you won't regret it.
 
And here's my car right before it goes in to get wrapped.


13323187_1028788547200061_165541663994955938_o.jpg
 
Congrats on your X neighbor! Looks great!

Just wanted to point out a little inconsistency in your ordering logic (because I did the exact opposite! :D:p). On one hand you said that range did not matter and that you wish you'd stuck with your original plan of getting the 75D, and on the other you chose the 20" wheels because of the range hit of the 22's.

As I mentioned, I did the opposite. Range is important to me as I plan to road trip in the X, but I chose the 22's because I like the way they look and won't be using max range all the time.

Anyway, we humans are funny creatures aren't we? :confused::rolleyes::p

Hope to see you out and about in your X! It's been a few days since I've seen one. Can't wait to be waving at other from the drivers seat of ours!

Cheers!
 
Congrats on your X neighbor! Looks great!

Just wanted to point out a little inconsistency in your ordering logic (because I did the exact opposite! :D:p). On one hand you said that range did not matter and that you wish you'd stuck with your original plan of getting the 75D, and on the other you chose the 20" wheels because of the range hit of the 22's.

As I mentioned, I did the opposite. Range is important to me as I plan to road trip in the X, but I chose the 22's because I like the way they look and won't be using max range all the time.

Anyway, we humans are funny creatures aren't we? :confused::rolleyes::p

Hope to see you out and about in your X! It's been a few days since I've seen one. Can't wait to be waving at other from the drivers seat of ours!

Cheers!

yeah what i meant to convey, which admittedly i didn't do a good job of, is that range is important when it's a trade off against some other factor. in my case range is much more important than performance. So it didn't make sense for me to pay more for the P90D to get performance but sacrifice range. I would just be paying more for something that i don't really care much about (performance). in the case of the 75D vs 90D I don't think the trade off of range compared against the $10,000 cost is worth it. So I'd rather have the $10,000 and get the 75D and sacrifice a little bit of range.

In the case of the tires I didn't want to sacrifice range for the sake of performance (better handling, and looks) from the 22's.

Anyway - I think everyone is going to have a slightly different list of priorities and trade offs. This post is mainly going to be helpful for people who are on the verge of ordering and already leaning towards one way or another and just need to read one more post that helps them solidify their decision :). But it's hard to make a bad decision when it comes to this car.
 
Premium Upgrades Package
For me personally, this was by far my biggest regret, and biggest waste of money. I think the bioweapon defense mode is sort of useful, but almost every thing else with the PUP is not. The auto present doors are gimmicky in my opinion, and cause more trouble than they're worth. I have the feature turned off. The ventilated seats barely work at all. And I personally don't like the look of perforated seats, and they get dirty easier with crumbs from kids and stuff. The iPhone dock doesn't work with a lot of phone cases. The LED lighting upgrades aren't really noticeable. The lighting in my model S (especially trunk lighting) was terrible, and the model X is pretty bad too, even with the PUP upgrade. So all in all, I paid $4500 for an upgrade where the BWD mode is maybe the only thing I'll use on occasion, and if I had to guess, I'd probably only use it maybe 100 times over the life of the car. And I might not have even needed to get PUP to get the BWD. I'm still not quite sure if non-PUP people are getting bioweapon defense mode for free or not. Some are reporting it shows up as an option on screen, but not sure about the filter situation.

Well said !

How about the following items, any comments on them?

•Three-position dynamic LED turning lights for nighttime visibility
•LED fog lights
 
Great info. I had a chance to get an X90D with PUP as a loaner for a repair. I got used to the doors opening for me real fast. I would have liked that on my car, but didn't get it. I thought the BWD filter was a gimmick, but then got stuck in massive traffic at the tejon ranch stop, in 1-2 hour wait to drive .25 miles. Then I used the BWD mode, and wow, what a great idea.

I if i had to do it again, would have gotten the white seats also, they are definitely sharp looking and very supple. I have black leather now, they are great, and should stand the test of time...