First P85D adopters stuck in black hole

[gpetti]

Well I've finally got a P85D in my city. Started October 10th when I ordered based on very little information other than Elon's demonstration. The process is finally complete after nearly 5 months. Here I was thinking this would be a 2 month fast track process! Anyway, I'm glad to make this my final entry here and looking forward to posts raving about how wonderful the car is.

Tracking P85D delivery thread - Page 446

 

[OConnorStP]

Hey gpetti, I'm in production! Woohoo! Another Black-Hole/Reorder person is emerging from the tunnel.

 

[gpetti]

Hey gpetti, I'm in production! Woohoo! Another Black-Hole/Reorder person is emerging from the tunnel.

Awesome - nearly there. I think that you might be the last official BH alumni. You re-ordered due to a paint problem right? As I've mentioned elsewhere it appears that my car had a clear coat issue that they "repaired". I realize that I was soooo not wanting to find any problems that I didn't really inspect the paint work enough. I really couldn't have faced any more delays and in any case my wrap will nullify the remnants of this (or so the wrap place tells me).

- - - Updated - - -


Sorry - my bad, I confused you with Island. You presumably re-ordered for the same reasons I did.

 

[OConnorStP]

I reordered because of deep unease about build-quality and a concern that I'd be coping with local repairs/rebuild. 2015 VIN, heated steering wheel and control over what kind of rear seats would be in the car sealed the deal.

 

[gpetti]

I reordered because of deep unease about build-quality and a concern that I'd be coping with local repairs/rebuild. 2015 VIN, heated steering wheel and control over what kind of rear seats would be in the car sealed the deal.

Right essentially the same as me.

 

[Thormark]

People are saying they "reordered". What does that entail? Cancel your orig order and sacrifice the $2500 down? How does that work?

 

[ElectricTundra]

@OConnerStP, have you been given a delivery date? I'd guess that ours will leave the factory at the same time, likely between now and Tue and be on the same truck/rail.

 

[OConnorStP]

@ElectricTundra - Nathan called and talked about the first week of March, but he's pretty cautious about delivery dates until he sees the car actually ship so nothing more specific than that. I bet you're right, we'll be on the same truck. @Thormark - things got a little dicey there in the Black Hole. People like me were cancelling orders for cars that were already built and caught Tesla by surprise. So some people ate the deposit and some didn't. There was some turbulence, but eventually Tesla rolled my old-S deposit in on top of the deposit for the new-S. I've been rolling deposits forward ($5000 for the cancelled Model X, $2500 for the cancelled Model S, $2500 for the now-nearly-here model S) so I've got $10k on deposit right now.

 

[Supercharged]

Perhaps a lesson learned would be to wait a few months to get the kinks out before ordering anything new from any type of manufacturer.

 

[George Parrott]

I ordered on the first morning that orders were taken, but set my delivery for January and later changed that when I discovered quickly that only black interiors were going out in the early P85D cars. I delayed to ultimately a February delivery as I demanded only a tan interior option and that was (soon) made available. My car went into "production" on 15 January and finished production around 2 February with shipment to my Rocklin (California) SC on 5 February and delivery to me on 6 February.

It seems many of the P85D cars are taking 10+ days to go through production....much longer than earlier single motor P-series models for reasons that, of course, Tesla will not divulge.

At least all these 2015 build cars are getting everything as ordered out the door rather than require any post-production refitting (e.g. seats replaced). In addition all, repeat ALL, these later January onward builds with ordered Cold Weather Packages are getting the heated steering wheel--even in Central California (I love mine!).

And a big "YES" to Supercharged above...earliest adopters on any assembly line complex product are truly "beta testers" and this appears true with Tesla as well as the older line companies. Reread the early reports of VIN numbers under 2000 with the Pano roof item as one example.

This is my second Model S. I had and just closed the sale on Model S85, VIN 9649 and upgraded to the P85D, VIN 69567, so I am highly enthusiastic about Tesla technology. But this is still reality and not a fantasy world so production engineers and line workers still have "learning curves" even in Fremont.

 

[commasign]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you from the original P85D blackhole still have your cars? Been tempted to trade up to P100D? The new owner-linked S and X unlimited supercharging policy just made it much more likely I might eventually trade up, but I'm not in any rush at this point. Still love my car and it's at least 85% as good as a brand new $160k+ P100DL+.

 

[andrewket]

I traded my blackhole P85D for a P100D last December. I wanted AP2, and the range and supercharging curve for the 100 is nice. I do miss the + suspension and sway bar, though.

 

[commasign]

I traded my blackhole P85D for a P100D last December. I wanted AP2, and the range and supercharging curve for the 100 is nice. I do miss the + suspension and sway bar, though.

Do you find that the P100D range really is 60 miles more than the P85D? Also, is the P100D much quieter?

 

[ElectricTundra]

Still have my P85D and quite happy. No plans to upgrade anytime soon. The extra range of the 100 would occasionally be nice but not enough benefit to upgrade. I much prefer the handling of mine to the new ones as well.

At some point AP2 (or AP3?) capabilities may entice me to get a new one though I may keep my P85D and perhaps let my son drive it (if he moves somewhere it'd be safe - out of NYC). These and the Roadsters are the two cars that brought electric cars in to the mainstream consciousness and laid the foundation for electric cars.

 

[andrewket]

Do you find that the P100D range really is 60 miles more than the P85D? Also, is the P100D much quieter?

Yes. Rated at 100% is a whopping 316. I charge to 80% daily, hoping to keep degradation low. The 85 is really 81 and 78? Useable. The 100 is really 102 and 98 useable.

 

[benjiejr]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you from the original P85D blackhole still have your cars? Been tempted to trade up to P100D? The new owner-linked S and X unlimited supercharging policy just made it much more likely I might eventually trade up, but I'm not in any rush at this point. Still love my car and it's at least 85% as good as a brand new $160k+ P100DL+.

I still have mine. I recently purchased the extended warranty as I just hit 50K miles. I really considered upgrading instead but couldn't justify the cost at this time.

I drive my car pretty hard and have taken it to the drag strip a couple times. I had very little issues (all minor) until the last 2 months. In that time I've had the high voltage battery issue related to counter-gate (still waiting on a replacement), rear drive unit replaced for milling noise, front drive unit on order for milling noise and vibration at high speed, and a few minor issues like 12V battery and charge port replacements. Still very happy with the car though and hope to get a few more years out of it.

 

[commasign]

In that time I've had the high voltage battery issue related to counter-gate (still waiting on a replacement), rear drive unit replaced for milling noise, front drive unit on order for milling noise and vibration at high speed, and a few minor issues like 12V battery and charge port replacements.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff happening at once. I'm only at 25k miles. Thought the milling noise issues had been resolved by the time our cars were built. Definitely gonna get the extended warranty.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

23,000 on my original, black holed P85D (+L now) and still loving it. No plans to upgrade.

My wife bought a Model X with AP2 so that scratched that itch. AP2 is still not up to AP1 capability and smoothness, so I wouldn't be in any hurry there. Supposedly next month's update will finally get AP2 up to AP1 parity. We shall see.

 

[gpetti]

I traded my blackhole P85D for a P100D last December. I wanted AP2, and the range and supercharging curve for the 100 is nice. I do miss the + suspension and sway bar, though.

Wow, I only just noticed this old thread woke up. I quoted Andrew's post because I concur with these comments. In December/January of this year I had no intention of trading up. I had even installed a dash cam in my P85D. then the threat of removing free supercharging got me thinking - even though the cost didn't seem that onerous and I would probably get most of my supercharging under the free limit. I just thought that if I was ever going to do it, might as well do it before supercharging was no longer free. I took a P100D for a test drive and was somewhat surprised by the power at higher speeds. Then as I thought about it, the allure of new fascia, new autopilot, even stupider performance and a jump in range from about 407 Kms on my P85D to around 513 Kms. Further to that I have come to love the white seats in our model X and really liked the idea of a Midnight Silver exterior and a white interior. There is really no way to justify the price, no matter how many positives I can list but I decided to lease this car as I'm clearly not holding onto these cars as long as I thought I would (this is my second upgrade - started with a P85+). Now that I'm over the sticker shock, I'm very happy with this car and I've also done a matte wrap (Xpel stealth) which I love. Would be ironic if this is the one that I keep.

 

[sandpiper]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you from the original P85D blackhole still have your cars? Been tempted to trade up to P100D? The new owner-linked S and X unlimited supercharging policy just made it much more likely I might eventually trade up, but I'm not in any rush at this point. Still love my car and it's at least 85% as good as a brand new $160k+ P100DL+.

I still have mine. But I expect to upgrade near the end of this year. The longer range of the 100D is VERY appealing. And the extremely high cost of of the P100D is a more than I can rationalize.

The 100% range is now 249 miles with 44,000 miles on the car. I've had a handful of issues over the last 2.5 years: Door handles (3), MCU failed, charge port door failed, rear air suspension struts (2) failed, A/C condensor failed, seized rear brake calipers, door seals falling out, and a handful of other more minor items. It's certainly not been trouble free. But I still like it!

I've got a nearly new 90D loaner right now. It's definitely quieter and seems to be built a little more solidly.