Just bought an X. My first Tesla. It'll be the family beater and we'll ignore it. Suggestions?

[Ardie]

As much as you will enjoy the car, it will not be yours for the decade you plan to own it. I suspect that one (or more) of your children will learn to drive, and expect that the X will turn into "their" car.

As you know, Tesla's safety record is hard to argue with (current crazed news notwithstanding). My daughter learned to drive a station wagon that served us (and her) well. Built like a tank, it protected her from harm. With room for five, she became the designated kid-hauler for her school chums. And (whew!) nothing bad happened.

And you will probably reluctantly hand over the key fob. If any of your kids are like mine, you will need to buy several key fobs to replace the ones that become lost in a sofa, go for a ride in the washing machine, left in the school locker, or forgotten on a coffee shop table somewhere.

The Tesla app can keep tabs on its whereabouts, and, with any luck, it will keep your young drivers on their toes.

Happy (electric) motoring,
Ardie

-- And make 'em keep it clean.

 

[GOPJEW]

The problem is that most wraps only last for three to five years (and it costs $1000 to remove the wrap) so you need to repeat it if you are keeping the car long term. Most leases prohibit wraps.
If you're concerned about appearance (which doesn't seem to be a concern of the OP), painting is cheaper in the long run.

I'm sorry but that is not accurate.

The newest, best wraps like Xpel Ultimate and Suntek Ultra come with a 10 year warranty - INCLUDING labor. The paint is protected not just from rocks/chips but from bird droppings, sap, has UV protections and should keep the paint almost pristine.

The cost to paint a car "matte" far exceed the costs to wrap a car in a matte finish (and if you get a ding/chip you would need to repaint the entire panel in matte versus a low cost repair of replacing a section of wrap which would probably run about $250-$500).

Everyone's needs are different. When I leased my S I did not wrap it - why protect something I have no long-term investment or interest in?

When I bought my X, I decided that I am keeping it for the long-haul and I judged the risk/rewards worth the investment. In essence, the wrap is close to the cost of a cheap paint job - about $5k or so (I'm not sure where @mspohr got a $1300 full paint job but I can say none of my cars have ever been repaired/repainted for that little) - but my thinking is my vehicle is now protected from scratches in parking lots, door chips, rock chips from road trips, bird droppings, and other things allowing me to be a little less stressed about these things - which has it's own value too. Others may not feel the same and that is fine.

I look at the 8 year old Honda pilot my teenage daughters are driving, and all of the paint fade, chips, scratches, etc., my wife's 3 year old Audi Q5 with it's scratches and door ding chips, and am constantly reminded that, for me, I made the right decision wrapping my $150k vehicle with a product that is guaranteed for 10 years - I'm pretty happy.

 

[jtdiddy]

if one can afford a $100k ish car, but cant afford wrap protection then something is wrong

 

[Marcboy]

We have a Model X, 4 kids 14 to 5.
Ultra White interior since Elon said it is the easiest one to maintain. If this turns out to be not true, I'll ping him for a detailing

We have 2 cars, so this is an every day car, every activity car for us. We are paying attention to it, but we are not NOT doing things because of its price. We just added all weather mats (after markets even)

 

[mspohr]

if one can afford a $100k ish car, but cant afford wrap protection then something is wrong

It's not a matter of affordability.
I personally don't want my car wrapped in plastic where I have to keep it out of the sun and fix the plastic when it gets dinged and worry about blisters and edges. I'm happy with the paint and if I get too many chips, I'll have it repainted.

 

[adiggs]

This is a material upgrade from the current family car - a 2003 MPV. And, while everyone's all enamored with the Tesla right now, I know how this will go. We're not going to wash it weekly. Probably not even monthly. It doesn't snow here, so no salt on the road, which helps. It's going to haul kids and their wet swim bags and their food and get parked in the sun and dust all day at meets and have scooters tossed in the back along with all the rest of our crap.

Given our history, we're likely to own it forever. We'll probably still be driving it daily 15 years from now. We went w/ the blue and all-black interior for this reason.

So, what should I plan to do to it when I get it? It'll never be a garage queen but if there are things that will make a material difference in longevity or ease of cleanup given how we're likely to mistreat it I'd be interested. Or, we can just do nothing, sigh at the first dent/scratch, and then not worry about it for the next 15 years and 150k miles. Thoughts?

While I don't beat on my blue Model X with black interior the way you describe, for all the same reasons, I spent way too much money on getting a full Dyno shield wrap. Other options are XPel Ultimate. In both cases, the idea is the self healing film so holograms from washing the car when you do wash it, plus bumping into it with a belt buckle, and stuff like that don't actually scratch the car - they scratch the film which naturally releases the scratches (especially when its warm out).

End result - it lets me live with the car, not worry about how badly I'm damaging the paint, while also retaining that OMG it's gorgeous feeling.

Oh, and it makes washing the car a lot easier too - the water shedding property keeps mud/dirt from accumulating (for awhile anyway), and keeps it clean longer once I do take the time to clean it.

 

[Rodolfo Paiz]

I think the one thing you should know to be happy for 15 years is how to take care of your battery.

1. Plug it in all the time. The car will then do the right thing.

2. Charge it right for daily life. Figure out how much you drive. Then set up your charging to try to stay as far as you can from both empty battery and full battery: it will last the longest (in years) if it's almost never totally empty or totally full. If you have 250 miles of range, and you regularly drive 100 on a tough day, then you would charge to 70% (175 miles) and after driving 100 miles you'd be at 75 miles of range remaining (30%), which is ideal. However, you may want more of a reserve so you may choose to charge to 75% or 80%.

3. Every so often (say, 6-8 times a year) charge it to 100% when you know you're going to use it a lot the next day. The battery pack needs to do some self-cleaning and leveling and "stuff" to itself, and those processes are only triggered when you exceed something like 90% or 93% (depending on whom you ask).

This is easy as pie. But by doing these simple things, my Model S battery still had 98% of its original capacity remaining (a full charge yielded 259 or 260 miles of range, down from 265 new) when I traded in the car after four full years. I don't drive that much, so yours will degrade a little faster due to more miles... but just doing these simple things to take care of your battery will seriously improve your happiness after 8-10 years.

 

[Eclectic]

My pappy told me the best way to make a car last a long time is to change the oil every 2,000 miles.

 

[Mrcook4590]

Good point about chip repair cost. Wraps protect against chips but cost thousands and the wrap itself may need to be repaired with a chip.
How much does it cost to repaint the front of the car? There are lots of paint shops which will paint the whole car for anything from less than $1000 to $2000. I have a 20 year old Land Rover where the paint was badly eroded (clear coat erosion) and a few minor paint chips on the front. I had the whole car repainted with the "Deluxe" paint job (8 year warranty) for $1300 and it looks brand new.
Would you rather spend $4,000 now or $1300 in 10 years?

I don't know that I would trust just anyone to repaint a Tesla... all of those sensors and such.

 

[ninefiveone]

A $1300 paint job will fail in 3-5 years. Guaranteed. A proper full repaint that won't fail in 3-5 years costs $5000 at a minimum and even those will sometimes fail.

Nothing lasts (defined as both paint and clearcost not flaking off) as well as factory paintjobs because nothing beats virgin bare metal + clean room conditions + robotic application of paint across the entire car in a dedicated phase of manufacturing + curing done at the factory.

A partial repaint rarely color-matches well and to get an accurate color match on just one panel can cost $1000.

That's ignoring whether the repaint is of good visual quality (no runs, overspray, fisheyes, etc).

Also ignores that paint thickness on FWDs are very finicky.

There is a reason that quality paint jobs cost $5000-8000. It's all about prep and finishing which is an incredible amount of labor. And doing it right risks things breaking.

I would pay $4000 to keep the factory paint in perfect condition even if a top quality repaint only cost $2000. Even $1M classic collector cars that have had 6-figure restorations with paint jobs that cost up $50,000 have paint jobs that sometimes fail despite living in protected bubbles.

That doesn't mean a wrap is necessary. If you don't care about the paint, which the vast majority of people don't, then it doesn't matter. People don't generally wrap their Toyota Camry because they don't care or they won't keep the car long enough. There's no reason a Model X can't be treated like a Camry. There's no reason to treat a Model X like a Ferrari either. I really has nothing to do with the car.

If you care just know that a repaint is neither a cheap or easy solution.

 

[mspohr]

A $1300 paint job will fail in 3-5 years. Guaranteed. A proper full repaint that won't fail in 3-5 years costs $5000 at a minimum and even those will sometimes fail.

Nothing lasts (defined as both paint and clearcost not flaking off) as well as factory paintjobs because nothing beats virgin bare metal + clean room conditions + robotic application of paint across the entire car in a dedicated phase of manufacturing + curing done at the factory.

A partial repaint rarely color-matches well and to get an accurate color match on just one panel can cost $1000.

That's ignoring whether the repaint is of good visual quality (no runs, overspray, fisheyes, etc).

Also ignores that paint thickness on FWDs are very finicky.

There is a reason that quality paint jobs cost $5000-8000. It's all about prep and finishing which is an incredible amount of labor. And doing it right risks things breaking.

I would pay $4000 to keep the factory paint in perfect condition even if a top quality repaint only cost $2000. Even $1M classic collector cars that have had 6-figure restorations with paint jobs that cost up $50,000 have paint jobs that sometimes fail despite living in protected bubbles.

That doesn't mean a wrap is necessary. If you don't care about the paint, which the vast majority of people don't, then it doesn't matter. People don't generally wrap their Toyota Camry because they don't care or they won't keep the car long enough. There's no reason a Model X can't be treated like a Camry. There's no reason to treat a Model X like a Ferrari either. I really has nothing to do with the car.

If you care just know that a repaint is neither a cheap or easy solution.

My $1300 Land Rover paint job is perfect. No runs over spray, etc. Car looks brand new 5 years after the paint.

 

[mspohr]

I don't know that I would trust just anyone to repaint a Tesla... all of those sensors and such.

I've heard people have problems with the plastic wrap on the sensors. Paint not a problem. They come painted from the factory.

 

[brkaus]

My suggestion - take one of the kids bikes and tip it over onto it. Get that first scratch out of the way and you won't have to worry anymore! You said it is a beater and you have it for the long haul. After 15 years, the resale isn't going to be significantly different if it is in pristine shape or has a few scratches. It will have a lot of depreciation after 15 years.

 

[ninefiveone]

My $1300 Land Rover paint job is perfect. No runs over spray, etc. Car looks brand new 5 years after the paint.

Just wait. But in the meantime post some pictures of your perfect paint job.

 

[ninefiveone]

I've heard people have problems with the plastic wrap on the sensors. Paint not a problem. They come painted from the factory.

They calibrate the paint thickness to the micron for areas over sensors. Please share useful facts. We all know the doors are painted at the factory. This “common sense” approach works with simple things not complex things.

 

[mattack4000]

Go watch a video of how the factory paints their car and how your local bodyshops paint a car, tell me how they are the same

 

[acal]

thank you all for your thoughtful input. We're still waiting for delivery (June). I think at this point we'll probably:
-> skip wraps.
-> get a set of mats
-> I'll seriously consider pouches or fold-down tables that go on the back of the front seat. My (HS age) kids will absolutely be doing homework in the car. It's a nearly daily thing here.

I'm excited, but honestly also nervous. It's the FWDs. I don't like the attention they draw. I'm also nervous they're a source of non-durability. Can I really expect they'll just work for a decade? Still...we wanted an all-electric, we need something that seats 6 and has space for stuff, and the promise of eventual self-driving is awesome.

 

[mspohr]

Just wait. But in the meantime post some pictures of your perfect paint job.

It's been 5 years. How long do I need to wait?
Traveling now so can't take pictures until next week but I'm sure you'll find fault.

 

[MrShakeHands]

-> I'll seriously consider pouches or fold-down tables that go on the back of the front seat. My (HS age) kids will absolutely be doing homework in the car. It's a nearly daily thing here.

I like this idea - please post if you find something good, thanks!

 

[ninefiveone]

It's been 5 years. How long do I need to wait?
Traveling now so can't take pictures until next week but I'm sure you'll find fault.

Please do. Thanks!