We picked up our new Model Y yesterday. Warning, the following is long and rambling.
Picked up our new Model Y in Mt Kisco NY on Sunday 2/20/22, 158 days since the order placed on 9/15/21. Pick up originally was scheduled for Monday 2/21 but the car came in early and they called on Friday to offer a Sunday pick up.
Pick up process was easy, but very unfamiliar compared to ICE dealerships: Look over the car, sign three documents, hand over a check, got some assistance to make sure the phone key is paired properly, ask a few questions and then drive off. No closer (a.k.a. the “finance” guy) harassing you for two hours trying to sell you crap paint protection, scotchgard, rusproofing, 3rd party extended warranty, life insurance, etc. What a relief to not go through that crap anymore.
Got home late in the afternoon after a 2.5 hour drive on the rough, patchy, curvy Taconic State Parkway. I got put in AutoPilot jail four times, as I could not master the precise amount of torque needed on the steering wheel. Got a lot better at it on the 2nd day of driving.
I’m already a big fan of one pedal driving. One of those 'where have you been all my life' features.
I watched lots of the u-tubers for how to operate the car. They are great for learning about what features and functions are available, but when it comes to using the on screen menus/functions, for me it’s hard to absorb and remember all of those menus/steps without practicing it myself. I wish they had a simulator app that let you click the menus and options to get familiar with the screens ahead of time and get some brain muscle memory developed.
Now that I’ve got the car I’ll go re-watch some of the videos to fill in things I’m missing, e.g., I still don’t know where to find the tire pressure screen, and I think I’ve looked through all of the screens under the Car menu.
And I’m not sure the best way to navigate the radio and streaming screens. I used the voice command and said “turn radio off” and all it does it switch me to AM. I told it to find classic rock and it brought up some streaming service that has categories like Tesla Top Pics, Hits of the 80’s and 90s, and so that’s what I’ve been listening to. Not sure if that’s free or paid. It’s not clear to me from the screen.
As for driving, it’s still shocking how much forward thrust the car has. Amazing to feel that much effortless thrust, with no growling engine and transmission shifting and changing the RPMs. The smooth power is really game changing.
While waiting for the car to be built I had thought about the Performance Boost upgrade, but now that I’ve driven the MYLR for a few hours on my usual roads, I’ll stick with it as is. I’ve never driven the performance model; with it being 1.3 sec quicker to 60, that must feel truly scary at full thrust.
As for the car I got, standard as it can get: Model Y Long Range in Peal white, Gemini wheels, Black interior. No tow hitch, no FSD.
I did get the one-year premium connectivity included, and I had used a referral code got the 1,000 free supercharger miles (though they expire in Aug 2022). I think those were discontinued within a couple of weeks after I ordered so I wasn't sure if they would still go through.
I chose the black interior. The car we test drove had white interior. While it was pretty to look at from the outside, once inside and driving, the only white I saw was across the dash, so it didn’t seem like any value for the money (for me).
I got the standard pearl white paint because:
- Sparkly whites are my favorite (my Yukon is white frost tri-coat).
- None of the other colors wowed me. They are OK, but not amazing (to my eyes), though I do like the bright silver they used to offer on the model 3. I wish that had some stand out, but not clownish colors.
My car does not have mud flaps nor any rear door PPF. NY uses lots of salt on the roads, so we could really use those on our cars. I’ll probably end up with Tesla mud flaps, and I’ll have to find some reasonably priced PPF for those rear doors. I do not plan on getting any professionally installed PPF on the front bumper.
AMD processor: The car does have the AMD processor.
Heated wipers: Not sure if I have the heated wiper area. The software says it is up to date, version 2021.43.102, but I thought you have to be at a certain 2022 version to have the heated wiper feature available. I’m not sure how to force the car to update to a current version.
Li-Ion front battery: Not sure. So far the only suggestion I’ve seen is to remove a panel under the frunk to check for that, which I have not done yet.
I got floor mats from AOSK. These look very similar in looks and fit to the 3D Max Spider mats given free to many of the bigger u-tubers, but these were only $99 for the set of three, and no logo on them. I have not seen the 3d spider mats in person, so I can’t say how they compare in quality.
Back in November I got the Tesla wall charger installed. For 2021 there was a 30% federal tax credit for EV charger installs. The Tesla gen3 wall charger was $540 w/tax, the licensed electrician/materials was $900, so the $1,440 total was brought down to only $1,008 after the 30% tax credit. I've seen some people
bitch express thoughts about the cost of the wall charger and installation, but they had no problem spending extra $$ for the white interior, exterior color, hundreds in accessories, PPF, ceramic coat, etc. For me, its about value for the money. The convenience of the wired wall charger and not having to drag out the mobile charger outweighs the value of a whole bunch of fluff/appearance accessories. But that's just me.
Side note: New York requires active insurance on that VIN before you can pick up the car. My insurance coverage was to begin on Monday, so I had to call my insurance’s help center on Friday evening to get them to issue new cards and have the insurance active on Sunday instead of Monday. Evening staff might not be their best as I had to explain several times why I could not wait till Monday to talk to my local agent to get the insurance changed to Sunday. They finally understood (I hope) and did update the start date and issue me new cards to send to Tesla so they could get the car registered.
If you’ve made it this far, hopefully my rambling hasn’t brought you to the edge of madness.
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Here's my wall charger and cutoff switch mounted in the garage, along with an extra dedicated 20-amp outlet I had installed at the same time.
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