Just been skimming through the new posts but will read in more depth tomorrow.
Some points to add to the consensus:
i want to make clear that my DS has been pretty good or at least as good as he could be with zero information. While I suspect that some DSs may have embellished or created information where none existed, and some people have had worse experiences, I agree that by and large they have a job that in these situations must be painfully difficult.
I want to continue to clarify that the amount of time here is only a small part of the issue. I waited much longer for my first car but it was part of a well understood, fair process. The issue here is that for this particular group of supposed early adopters we are seeing the production line start moving again and other peoples cars start moving towards actual completion and delivery. I'm not clear if some of these might have Recaro seats or not but at least they are getting their cars delivered. To put it another way the process does not appear to be fair so the delays are all the more difficult and thus we expect/need to know what is going on.
This leads me to the Frankenstein car scenario. I'm increasingly of the opinion that this will be the case. The only solid piece of information that my DS was able to get (this is a guy that says nothing unless he has real information) was that my car would NOT have the Recaro seats. Until now nobody has asked me about taking the older seats but he wasn't asking me if I would take delivery with the older seats, just telling me that as and when the car would finally ship, it would not have the new seats. Assuming this is an accurate interpretation by my DS, it means the seats are not the holdup. Distressingly this shoots holes in Jerome's explanation, but more importantly it suggests they are working on something else for which they may also be waiting for parts.
To summarize my points and points made by others, I believe we have the worst of two worlds. All the disadvantages of being an early adopter (QA trouble, missing features) and we are not getting the cars early either. In fact we are apparently getting our cars later than other owners who will have a normal build car and at least the heated steering that we know of.
With all this in mind, I have ordered a new car which (thanks to the amount of time I've wasted on this one) may not arrive until late February. I'm hoping that Tesla will help to expedite this and the local sales manager and my DS seem to be doing their best to help.
I'm waiting to find out if my deposit will be transferred but it seems hopeful. Of course I'm lucky to have the luxury of doing this as I don't have to have the car in 2014, but after spending over 60 days of excitedly waiting for my new car - probably more than 20 since I gave up my old car - I'm feeling deeply disappointed as I'm thinking most people on the forum would be. I'm sure I'll be deliriously happy when I finally get my car and obviously I'm thankful for that but like most of you here I'm very frustrated right now.
- - - Updated - - -
Incidentally, I think they might be relieved that some of us are reordering.
- - - Updated - - -
If people are reordering due to the stupid heated steering wheel, Tesla needs to just retrofit it for anyone who wants it. That has to cost less than building two cars...
I asked my DS to confirm again whether Ts was retrofittable or not. He was told categorically no. I had also asked if this was a policy position or a technical reality but they did not respond to that question.
- - - Updated - - -
Batches are fine, except mine has been "In Production" for 22 days now.
I'm thinking a factory worker decided to just not bring my car back from testing...
Just to remind you most of us are in the same boat, ie around 20 days or more in production.
- - - Updated - - -
This is my current dashboard. My trade in is still on there, despite the fact that I haven't had the car for weeks, and my first P85d is still there until they move my deposit to the new order. Nice fleet.
View attachment 65962T