Hi all,
We picked the car up on Friday afternoon. Everything went smoothly apart from the fact that although my DS told me that the centre console would be installed, it wasn't and I had to wait 30-40min for it to actually be installed.
Overall, I am very happy with it but I will give a list of the positives and negatives. Given that most of the positives are already very well known, I will start with the negatives (most to least): (Bear in mind I am coming from owning a 2009 model Mercedes E300 - which was a great car)
Negatives:
1) 3G connectivity drop off. I am running version 6.2 and I had to reboot the system twice already. This is well documented in another thread.
2) Rear seat seatbelt latches way too close together. This meant that my Isofix booster style seat does not fit on the window seats. This was quite a big inconvenience. I ended up buying different booster seats.
3) Rear seats not as comfortable as the Mercedes. Padding is stiff - not a big deal for me given that the kids are using the booster seats but thought it should be pointed out. An issue for those who are considering using the Model S as a car to be "driven" in. Tesla should work on this if they want to sell more of these in Asia as a lot of people use it for that purpose.
4) Although I knew this already, the rear visibility is poor. To help with this, Tesla should have designed the rear middle seat to have a collapsing headrest.
5) Charging port glitch. My charging port doesn't open as reliably as it should but it works for the most part - this is a small niggling issue. Also had problems taking the charger out at home unless i told it to stop charging.
6) Stated range on the 70D is 385km. The Tesla guy told me to charge it to 90%. When that happens the read out sais I have 325km of range - If the 385km is the "stated" range, then I should therefore have around 346km at 90%. Although it is saying "typical". Either way, this is not much of a negative for me given that I have a charger at home and close by in Cyberport - will probably get away with charging the car every 2 to 3 days. I ranked this 6th for that reason.
7) Internal Storage. I am glad I went with the front console. Storage elsewhere is virtually non-existent. Again, I knew this going in.
Now for the positives:
1) PERFORMANCE, PERFORMANCE. This is the least powerful version? Haha. I was scared to floor it at first. I only did that on the 2nd day. In short, way more than enough. But its not the raw acceleration that impresses me most. Its the fact that its there instantly. I have driven cars that are faster on paper (including Ferraris) than the 70D but don't feel faster on public roads due to the instant torque.
2) Ride & Handling. I am glad I got the 19" wheels with standard springs. The ride is firm but comfortable. In comparison, the Mercedes I had a slightly softer ride but was "waffly" in the corners by comparison. The car feels well sorted and gives you confidence.
3) Overall cost of ownership. This was my number 1 positive before purchasing. I can say this because in trying to sell my E300 I have discovered that that car has basically halved in value EVERY 3 years for a car that when new cost around the same as my 70D. The fact that I have the resale guarantee on finance (~70% of the value) combined with low running costs makes it an ABSOLUTE no brainer. In fact, I calculated that its cheaper over 3 years than a bottom of the range 3 series BMW once you include the cost of depreciation, fuel etc.
4) In-car tech is leagues ahead of any vehicle on the market. Only exception is lack of ipod integration or native spotify and the need to use USB where the indexing is not the best on FLAC files. Outside of that, I am enjoying listening to my favourite Sydney radio station. Navigation and interface is VERY slick.
5) Next Gen front seats are superb. I am glad I went for that option. The front seats are very supportive.
6) Space. The rear and front trunks offer good storage and I particularly like the floor compartment in the rear trunk.
7) Mobile App! Love it. Very handy and useful.
Other points:
Interior fit and finish is pretty good. (although it must be said that its not quite up there with the Germans but pretty close - which is different from some of the early production cars apparently)
Wife complains about the keyless driving - she thinks she will lose the key easily this - ah...what does she know. She is also concerned that if she is standing near the car that my son can get in and somehow start driving.
After sales service, DS etc are all very polite and nice. However, they are quite young and in a lot of cases, don't seem to have as much knowledge on the car as I do which is a bit odd.
I do get a lot of people staring at the car. Which surprised me given how many there are out there.
Wife not a huge fan of the alacantra dash. I don't mind it - it seems to polarize opinion. Taste.
In summary: Its a great car and I do not regret for a minute getting it. I am now officially part of the movement! Feels great to drive something that doesn't drive on dead dinosaurs! At least not directly.
We picked the car up on Friday afternoon. Everything went smoothly apart from the fact that although my DS told me that the centre console would be installed, it wasn't and I had to wait 30-40min for it to actually be installed.
Overall, I am very happy with it but I will give a list of the positives and negatives. Given that most of the positives are already very well known, I will start with the negatives (most to least): (Bear in mind I am coming from owning a 2009 model Mercedes E300 - which was a great car)
Negatives:
1) 3G connectivity drop off. I am running version 6.2 and I had to reboot the system twice already. This is well documented in another thread.
2) Rear seat seatbelt latches way too close together. This meant that my Isofix booster style seat does not fit on the window seats. This was quite a big inconvenience. I ended up buying different booster seats.
3) Rear seats not as comfortable as the Mercedes. Padding is stiff - not a big deal for me given that the kids are using the booster seats but thought it should be pointed out. An issue for those who are considering using the Model S as a car to be "driven" in. Tesla should work on this if they want to sell more of these in Asia as a lot of people use it for that purpose.
4) Although I knew this already, the rear visibility is poor. To help with this, Tesla should have designed the rear middle seat to have a collapsing headrest.
5) Charging port glitch. My charging port doesn't open as reliably as it should but it works for the most part - this is a small niggling issue. Also had problems taking the charger out at home unless i told it to stop charging.
6) Stated range on the 70D is 385km. The Tesla guy told me to charge it to 90%. When that happens the read out sais I have 325km of range - If the 385km is the "stated" range, then I should therefore have around 346km at 90%. Although it is saying "typical". Either way, this is not much of a negative for me given that I have a charger at home and close by in Cyberport - will probably get away with charging the car every 2 to 3 days. I ranked this 6th for that reason.
7) Internal Storage. I am glad I went with the front console. Storage elsewhere is virtually non-existent. Again, I knew this going in.
Now for the positives:
1) PERFORMANCE, PERFORMANCE. This is the least powerful version? Haha. I was scared to floor it at first. I only did that on the 2nd day. In short, way more than enough. But its not the raw acceleration that impresses me most. Its the fact that its there instantly. I have driven cars that are faster on paper (including Ferraris) than the 70D but don't feel faster on public roads due to the instant torque.
2) Ride & Handling. I am glad I got the 19" wheels with standard springs. The ride is firm but comfortable. In comparison, the Mercedes I had a slightly softer ride but was "waffly" in the corners by comparison. The car feels well sorted and gives you confidence.
3) Overall cost of ownership. This was my number 1 positive before purchasing. I can say this because in trying to sell my E300 I have discovered that that car has basically halved in value EVERY 3 years for a car that when new cost around the same as my 70D. The fact that I have the resale guarantee on finance (~70% of the value) combined with low running costs makes it an ABSOLUTE no brainer. In fact, I calculated that its cheaper over 3 years than a bottom of the range 3 series BMW once you include the cost of depreciation, fuel etc.
4) In-car tech is leagues ahead of any vehicle on the market. Only exception is lack of ipod integration or native spotify and the need to use USB where the indexing is not the best on FLAC files. Outside of that, I am enjoying listening to my favourite Sydney radio station. Navigation and interface is VERY slick.
5) Next Gen front seats are superb. I am glad I went for that option. The front seats are very supportive.
6) Space. The rear and front trunks offer good storage and I particularly like the floor compartment in the rear trunk.
7) Mobile App! Love it. Very handy and useful.
Other points:
Interior fit and finish is pretty good. (although it must be said that its not quite up there with the Germans but pretty close - which is different from some of the early production cars apparently)
Wife complains about the keyless driving - she thinks she will lose the key easily this - ah...what does she know. She is also concerned that if she is standing near the car that my son can get in and somehow start driving.
After sales service, DS etc are all very polite and nice. However, they are quite young and in a lot of cases, don't seem to have as much knowledge on the car as I do which is a bit odd.
I do get a lot of people staring at the car. Which surprised me given how many there are out there.
Wife not a huge fan of the alacantra dash. I don't mind it - it seems to polarize opinion. Taste.
In summary: Its a great car and I do not regret for a minute getting it. I am now officially part of the movement! Feels great to drive something that doesn't drive on dead dinosaurs! At least not directly.
