Dear Karen,
I purchased my P85+ in July, 2013 and took delivery in early August. It's my mid-life crisis car. I checked every box; got every option; spent about 4X what I had previously ever spent on a car. My previous cars were things like a 10-year old used Saab 99, a Nissan Sentra that I bought new for $14K back in 1986 and drove for 14 years, an Audi A4 that I bought new in 2000 and drove for 10 years, four Priuses at various times (new and used), a VW Golf (used). So, yeah, the Tesla stands out a little from that crowd.
I've driven the car for three years and three Boston winters.
It's an awesome car.
I have been blown away by the company, too, particularly sales and service. The sales guys tried to talk me DOWN into an S85, or at most a P85, rather than the P85+. Said I wouldn't need the extra handling option (the "+"), said most people were perfectly happy with the regular performance ("S"), didn't go to the track, didn't need the "P". I had to politely remind them that it was MY midlife crisis and I was gonna get everything. Three years down the line, they were absolutely correct: I didn't HAVE to have the P or the "+", and I could have saved a ton of money by not buying those options. The "+" in particular also required 21" wheels and summer tires, which added another $4500. On the other hand, I've enjoyed the use of all these things and have no regrets.
The service guys routinely go beyond anything I've seen before to take care of the car and my family.
I plan to upgrade my car this fall to the latest P<whatever>. Not because I don't love my current car, but because I apparently have become slightly insane with techno-lust and want the very latest that Tesla has to offer. I simply can't imagine having this feeling for any other vehicle, which always seem to me to be pretty much the same from one year to the next.
I'm NOT saying that Tesla or its salespeople or its service crew or its products are PERFECT. But I am asking myself why I don't routinely get treated this way by other automobile manufacturers and their independent dealerships (including Audi, for which I've experienced sales and service, and BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Porsche and others, for which I've experienced sales).
I'm saying all this so that you'll understand my experiences and be able to evaluate my biases.
May depend on the size of your dogs. Lots of people have done S+dogs and been very comfortable. We have Chihuahuas, but they fit in a shoebox. For very big dogs, people put down the back seat and lay out a blanket.
I can't remember whether I did this in 2013. Doesn't strike me as a biggie, though, given the cost of the car. And it has gotten a reputation as a very fast car, and Tesla has been very eager to encourage test drives in it even if the person isn't an active buyer (they have to get a large segment of the population thinking "electric"). From what I've heard from some of the sales people I know there, test drives can be *wild* experiences -- not because of the sales person driving but because of the customer! Many people are anxious to see how quickly the car accelerates, how fast it can go, what the handling is like if you push it, can you do anything crazy with Autopilot.
So this responsibility doc... I wonder if it's as much about cautioning the test driver not to get too crazy as it is about any financial issues.
This one bugs me. Your concerns should not be dismissed. Every question you, the customer, have is a good question. If you have the option of going to a different showroom, maybe you should do so. Or if you have the option of engaging with a different sales person, maybe that would be best. I also wonder whether you are treated that way because you are female; but really, no matter WHY your questions are being dismissed, you deserve better.
That said, I have certainly found after visiting multiple showrooms in Massachusetts, Maryland and other states, that there are a considerable variety of Tesla sales people. Some of them come from a computer background. Some of them are very young, maybe even still in college. Some of them are coming out of the traditional auto sales business. There has been more mixing over time; when I first started paying attention to Tesla in 2013, they all seemed to be 19-20 years old and completely new to the auto business. Today, I'm seeing a noticeable influx of traditional auto sales types who seem to have gone through some Tesla reconditioning process. (I can picture it now: "Step 1. Don't be an asshole. Step 2. Don't talk down to any customer, even the 'little women'. Step 3. Don't oversell.") But I think this reconditioning process works better with some sales people than others.
As to the substance of your concern: I infer that you are looking at an S60D and thinking about the software unlock option to turn it into an S75D. The battery pack is maybe the biggest single cost in the car's bill of materials and probably also the biggest concern from the engineering standpoint. That thing is one of the secrets to the car's phenomenal abilities. It's heated AND it's cooled. It's able to be charged through all the standard chargers in the world from a 110 socket all the way up to 80A alternating current third-party chargers. AND you can blast an 135 KILO watts of raw direct current into that thing (at a Tesla Supercharger, for free), giving you hundreds of miles of range in 20-30 minutes. The batteries sitting inside that pack are also expensive.
So Tesla has been playing around with how to make battery sizes available to the customer. They can't possibly afford to give everyone a 100 kWh battery pack (the P100D). But they do want to encourage people to buy some more range. So someone inside that company has figured out that they can afford to give people a 75 kWh battery, charge for it as if it were a 60 kWh battery, and *probably* enough people will do the software unlock that Tesla will net out to a positive on the deal. IMHO, it's a good way to go; it means you get to taste-test the product, and if you find you really want more range, it's easy to add.
The dollar figures being tossed around are, unfortunately, not out of line for this product and for large battery sizes. The world is still struggling to get below $200 per kWh for raw batteries, much less for a finished battery pack. Batteries are on a significant capacity and cost improvement curve, but it is what it is for now.
So: would 75 kWh be worth it for you? Depends on your driving pattern. The Superchargers are located on average 130 miles apart, precisely so that the S60 can use the SC network. I, myself, like having a bigger buffer AND I also like to drive places that are not exactly on the SC network. I travel back and forth between Boston and Washington, DC, and go up into New Hampshire and Maine and Vermont, and west to western New York, and into West Virginia, and so on. So, for me, the extra range of an 85 has been very useful. It's one reason I'm looking forward to upgrading to 100.
If I were configuring a Tesla as a very practical car, as opposed to a mid-life crisis car, I'd immediately toss out the P option and any other high-end stuff. I'd focus primarily on two variables: (1) what kind of driving pattern do I have versus what kind of battery pack size / range do I want to pay for and (2) do I need all-wheel drive or can I get by with rear-wheel drive.
As others have already pointed out, the strut thing was an artificially-manufactured crisis. As far as I can tell from all the Tesla people I know and talk to -- not just corporate folks but owners -- there's no crisis here.
Normal wear-and-tear items, like tires, will not be covered. Other than that, well, Tesla has been pretty astonishingly comprehensive in its coverage. I wound up needing a new battery pack. List price: $40K. Alan's price: $0. In 3 years, I've only ever paid them for the nose cone that I bashed in my own stupid self.
I think the disclosure issue was a manufactured one; I do NOT think it was maliciously hidden with respect to the investing community, the owner community, or anyone else.
That said, I share your concern about autopilot. I picture falling asleep at the wheel. :-( :-( I will STILL get autopilot when I upgrade later this fall. But I will use it strictly as a driving aid, something to back me up. If I discover that I become too complacent when I use it, I'll turn it off. Because this is a feature that is continuing to get software upgrades, I think it's reasonable to buy it now, try it, and even if I don't like it, keep trying it when new software comes out.
HOWEVER, I think it's possible that you can buy the car WITHOUT autopilot and then turn it on later (like with the extra battery). I think it costs a little bit more... but I think you also get a 30-day trial period before finally having to pay for it. So maybe you would be most comfortable going down that path, and trying-before-buying the feature.
I'm sorry that you haven't had the same set of wonderful sales experiences I've had with this company. If too many alarm bells go off for you, then I think you should head for the hills. Maybe you'd feel more comfortable with a BMW i3 or the new Chevy Volt. I can safely tell you that many other people have had great experiences, and that I'm one of them. But I think the last thing you want to do is talk yourself into something you're not going to enjoy.
Best regards,
Alan
P.S. No, I'd never take this amount of time to talk to another potential owner for say Audi or Nissan. The Tesla car and company are exceptional and special and the impact of electrifying the transport system carries major implications for alleviating carbon emissions. These factors make it worth my time (at least in my own mind) to engage others on this topic.
