After a few weeks with my car I am finally getting around to writing up my experience.
TL;DR: Delivery meh. Car good.
Ordering
I first ordered my Model S Plaid in early January. The most difficult aspect was deciding on colors because it can be hard to tell from looking online. I went to a (new) service center and was disappointed to find out they only had one car for me to look at / sit in (but not drive). For other color options they had me walk around the lot and look at "personal" vehicles for customers waiting on service. I ordered the car and changed my mind on colors 2 times after the fact but still ended up settling on my original choice (MSM exterior, white interior). In February they had matched me with a VIN so their original estimate was pretty spot on, but I had recently learned about the new Matrix LED headlights and decided to wait. They unmatched the VIN and I kept watching for when the new stuff would finally come out. Mid march the refresh refresh came out so I waited over a week and then decided to remove my order hold. This unfortunately caused them to immediately match me with an old VIN. I also rejected this one and put my order back on hold. This time I waited a few more weeks and finally when I removed the order hold the long wait began. While the first release of holding seemed to keep me at the front of the line, the second time it seemed to put me at the very back.
On June 10th, I finally received a new VIN (brand new car) with a delivery appointment for June 21st. I had to scramble a bit to get paperwork in order because Texas has dumb laws and Tesla requires you to fully pay (or finance) the car prior to them shipping it to the state. After setting up the wire transfers and insurance and the like, I received a call the morning of Saturday June 18th. They asked if I would be willing to pickup my car early, preferably later that day. This led to a mix of excitement and panic as I now had less time to prepare all the things I intended to prior to my delivery (wash/clean my trade-in vehicle, straighten up the garage bays, etc).
Delivery
My first impression of the delivery experience was rather positive, primarily around the trade-in. They literally walked over to the car to verify mileage, took the fobs, had me sign a paper and drove off with it accepted. There was no drama over inspecting the car or deciding if it was worth the original offer. This makes sense considering Tesla tends to offer lower amounts than other trade-in places but I opted for simplicity and offsetting my tax burden as it wasn't worth the 1-2 grand difference to arrange transport and pay more taxes to Texas.
When I went to inspect my Model S, I was instructed I would not be allowed inside until after I accepted the delivery. I had read reports of this but wasn't clear on if this would happen to me or not. It seems to be a common thing in Texas with how they have to sell the car to you. I think it's possible the service center has the discretion where they could let you in if they wanted to, but official policy is to not let you. I argued a bit with the service reps but finally said screw it and simply inspected the exterior as best I could. The exterior overall looked to be in better shape than many of the horror stories I've seen on TMC. I got the service guy to at least verbally agree they'll fix any defects I find for free, and since I had already transferred all of the money for the car to Tesla a few days prior (as required in Texas ) so I figured screw it and accepted the delivery so I could inspect the inside.
Defects
Mostly things seemed to be okay. I immediately noticed two glaring problems with the interior. One of them the service guys claim they noticed as well, but wouldn't fix then and there and said I had to schedule an appointment. Why Tesla doesn't just fix/correct these issues prior to the customer sees the car, I think is mostly due to bad customer service and desire to rush the cars out. The main problem (which they also noticed) was the driver side A pillar has a broken clip. It was initially only a small gap but after getting the car home and playing with it some I can see it's barely held up and can easily be taken off (picture attached).
The second defect was with the "hidden" drive selection in the center console. The drive indicators are only supposed to be visible when you touch the plastic and activate the lights. The plastic is damaged and it "bleeds" through always so part of the letter D is visible always even when the backlights are off.
Tesla Service for Repairs
I setup the service appointment while I was still there receiving my car. It was expected mobile service would come to my house and fix it 3 days later (Tuesday morning since Monday was a holiday). I figured this was reasonable enough so I left feeling mostly satisfied. Monday I was notified that they wouldn't be able to do both repairs via mobile service so they want me to bring it into the service center. The problem is, the service center wont have the parts to repair it for Tuesday (June 21st which was my original delivery day), so they moved the appointment to June 30th.
On June 24th they contacted me to say the parts they ordered would not arrive in time for June 30th so they moved the appointment to July 7th (another week out). I was somewhat annoyed as my brand new $150,000 car still has manufacturing defects they haven't corrected, BUT I figured parts and supply chain issues happen so it's whatever I'd just be patient.
On July 1st they contacted me again to say the parts would still not arrive in time so they pushed it out another week to July 14th. At this point I am still waiting to see if this will be held or if they will simply push it again. Thankfully the issues are inside the car and only cosmetic but if I had more serious issues I'd be pretty pissed off about the entire ordeal.
Car Impressions
Overall I love the car. It's been a total blast to drive. I driven a few hundred miles so far, and they've been the most enjoyable I've ever driven. The one pedal driving took some getting used to but now I feel quite comfortable with it. I find the yoke to be enjoyable, really the only complaint I'd have has more to do with the lack of stalks. Signaling while coming out of a turn (such as in a traffic circle/rotary/roundabout) is a huge pain in the ass. Other than that though it seems fine for normal driving. I've launched it a few times (private roads/safe areas without other cars). I still haven't gotten used to the experience and will need many more launches to fully acclimate. I've gotten the car up to ~125 MPH and never felt any shake/rattle/vibration that others have reported. I'll be on the lookout for these in the future but so far so good.
The software is a bit underwhelming, and coming from a software background I'm quite tempted to look into modding the MCU software. Most of the time it's fine, but the UI design is not great (and others have made many posts in detail around this so I don't think it's worth going much deeper here). I mostly like the display in the driver side dash, and I can't imagine having a 3/Y without having the driver-side display and only relying on the center screen. FSD (non-beta) seems to be okay, it's far from perfect but it manages fairly well in most of the situations I've put it through. I am looking forward to getting my score high enough to get into the beta My first 3 days of driving were progressively worse safety scores until I started using AP more so it's begun climbing up.
Despite the issues, I really love it. IMO the acceleration and speed are worth the price of admission. I expect my wife to be asking about a Model X to replace her SUV soon.
Future
I will hopefully get it wrapped and tinted soon (I'm still talking with places here in Austin on getting it scheduled). I also plan to order some signature wheels (which is why I didn't upgrade to the 21s). I will likely adjust the suspension some (lowering links, control arms, maybe a sway bar). I agree that the brakes are mostly okay for daily/city driving (if you get used to the stopping distance) but I plan on better rotors/pads/lines/fluid and possibly putting in the air-intake/cooling ducts for the front rotors.
TL;DR: Delivery meh. Car good.
Ordering
I first ordered my Model S Plaid in early January. The most difficult aspect was deciding on colors because it can be hard to tell from looking online. I went to a (new) service center and was disappointed to find out they only had one car for me to look at / sit in (but not drive). For other color options they had me walk around the lot and look at "personal" vehicles for customers waiting on service. I ordered the car and changed my mind on colors 2 times after the fact but still ended up settling on my original choice (MSM exterior, white interior). In February they had matched me with a VIN so their original estimate was pretty spot on, but I had recently learned about the new Matrix LED headlights and decided to wait. They unmatched the VIN and I kept watching for when the new stuff would finally come out. Mid march the refresh refresh came out so I waited over a week and then decided to remove my order hold. This unfortunately caused them to immediately match me with an old VIN. I also rejected this one and put my order back on hold. This time I waited a few more weeks and finally when I removed the order hold the long wait began. While the first release of holding seemed to keep me at the front of the line, the second time it seemed to put me at the very back.
On June 10th, I finally received a new VIN (brand new car) with a delivery appointment for June 21st. I had to scramble a bit to get paperwork in order because Texas has dumb laws and Tesla requires you to fully pay (or finance) the car prior to them shipping it to the state. After setting up the wire transfers and insurance and the like, I received a call the morning of Saturday June 18th. They asked if I would be willing to pickup my car early, preferably later that day. This led to a mix of excitement and panic as I now had less time to prepare all the things I intended to prior to my delivery (wash/clean my trade-in vehicle, straighten up the garage bays, etc).
Delivery
My first impression of the delivery experience was rather positive, primarily around the trade-in. They literally walked over to the car to verify mileage, took the fobs, had me sign a paper and drove off with it accepted. There was no drama over inspecting the car or deciding if it was worth the original offer. This makes sense considering Tesla tends to offer lower amounts than other trade-in places but I opted for simplicity and offsetting my tax burden as it wasn't worth the 1-2 grand difference to arrange transport and pay more taxes to Texas.
When I went to inspect my Model S, I was instructed I would not be allowed inside until after I accepted the delivery. I had read reports of this but wasn't clear on if this would happen to me or not. It seems to be a common thing in Texas with how they have to sell the car to you. I think it's possible the service center has the discretion where they could let you in if they wanted to, but official policy is to not let you. I argued a bit with the service reps but finally said screw it and simply inspected the exterior as best I could. The exterior overall looked to be in better shape than many of the horror stories I've seen on TMC. I got the service guy to at least verbally agree they'll fix any defects I find for free, and since I had already transferred all of the money for the car to Tesla a few days prior (as required in Texas
) so I figured screw it and accepted the delivery so I could inspect the inside.Defects
Mostly things seemed to be okay. I immediately noticed two glaring problems with the interior. One of them the service guys claim they noticed as well, but wouldn't fix then and there and said I had to schedule an appointment. Why Tesla doesn't just fix/correct these issues prior to the customer sees the car, I think is mostly due to bad customer service and desire to rush the cars out. The main problem (which they also noticed) was the driver side A pillar has a broken clip. It was initially only a small gap but after getting the car home and playing with it some I can see it's barely held up and can easily be taken off (picture attached).
The second defect was with the "hidden" drive selection in the center console. The drive indicators are only supposed to be visible when you touch the plastic and activate the lights. The plastic is damaged and it "bleeds" through always so part of the letter D is visible always even when the backlights are off.
Tesla Service for Repairs
I setup the service appointment while I was still there receiving my car. It was expected mobile service would come to my house and fix it 3 days later (Tuesday morning since Monday was a holiday). I figured this was reasonable enough so I left feeling mostly satisfied. Monday I was notified that they wouldn't be able to do both repairs via mobile service so they want me to bring it into the service center. The problem is, the service center wont have the parts to repair it for Tuesday (June 21st which was my original delivery day), so they moved the appointment to June 30th.
On June 24th they contacted me to say the parts they ordered would not arrive in time for June 30th so they moved the appointment to July 7th (another week out). I was somewhat annoyed as my brand new $150,000 car still has manufacturing defects they haven't corrected, BUT I figured parts and supply chain issues happen so it's whatever I'd just be patient.
On July 1st they contacted me again to say the parts would still not arrive in time so they pushed it out another week to July 14th. At this point I am still waiting to see if this will be held or if they will simply push it again. Thankfully the issues are inside the car and only cosmetic but if I had more serious issues I'd be pretty pissed off about the entire ordeal.
Car Impressions
Overall I love the car. It's been a total blast to drive. I driven a few hundred miles so far, and they've been the most enjoyable I've ever driven. The one pedal driving took some getting used to but now I feel quite comfortable with it. I find the yoke to be enjoyable, really the only complaint I'd have has more to do with the lack of stalks. Signaling while coming out of a turn (such as in a traffic circle/rotary/roundabout) is a huge pain in the ass. Other than that though it seems fine for normal driving. I've launched it a few times (private roads/safe areas without other cars). I still haven't gotten used to the experience and will need many more launches to fully acclimate. I've gotten the car up to ~125 MPH and never felt any shake/rattle/vibration that others have reported. I'll be on the lookout for these in the future but so far so good.
The software is a bit underwhelming, and coming from a software background I'm quite tempted to look into modding the MCU software. Most of the time it's fine, but the UI design is not great (and others have made many posts in detail around this so I don't think it's worth going much deeper here). I mostly like the display in the driver side dash, and I can't imagine having a 3/Y without having the driver-side display and only relying on the center screen. FSD (non-beta) seems to be okay, it's far from perfect but it manages fairly well in most of the situations I've put it through. I am looking forward to getting my score high enough to get into the beta
My first 3 days of driving were progressively worse safety scores until I started using AP more so it's begun climbing up.Despite the issues, I really love it. IMO the acceleration and speed are worth the price of admission. I expect my wife to be asking about a Model X to replace her SUV soon.
Future
I will hopefully get it wrapped and tinted soon (I'm still talking with places here in Austin on getting it scheduled). I also plan to order some signature wheels (which is why I didn't upgrade to the 21s). I will likely adjust the suspension some (lowering links, control arms, maybe a sway bar). I agree that the brakes are mostly okay for daily/city driving (if you get used to the stopping distance) but I plan on better rotors/pads/lines/fluid and possibly putting in the air-intake/cooling ducts for the front rotors.
Actually, I don't like any of the Tesla colors. I was thinking about red, but one always hears that red cars get stopped more by the police, so for now I have ordered white (delivery March-June 2023). Was it worth it to get the Plaid? I have driven one (plenty on the used market) and loved it, but 0-60 in 2 seconds seems a little over the top. I ordered the LR, 0-60 in 3 seconds. Not that long ago, almost no sports car could do that, not a Porsche, not a Ferrari, whatever. And at around $150,000, you are getting into the world of some pretty high-end sports cars. But I very much would be interested in hearing your views on the Plaid v. LR.
