The great thing about Tesla, they are constantly innovating new features into their cars on a daily basis. The bad thing about Tesla, they are constantly innovating new features into their cars on a daily basis!!
At the end of last year, I ordered my brand new, top of the line car. Went for the best in hopes it would be considered somewhat "current" for at least some time.
So, here we are less than one year later, and my $130,000+, top of the line (at the time) P90D is now sadly outdated. I get that they don't follow traditional model years like all other manufacturers. Is that really a good thing though? I'm on the fence. How many people are not happy to have spent a premium price on a car only have it be so outdated just months later? Heck in some cases, it can be outdated just a few days/weeks later.
My car when ordered had the best available following features that now, less than 10 months later are no longer true....
1. Nose cone was current, now looks old compared to new car.
2. Headlights now outdated.
3. Rocker panels, now outdated.
4. Don't have a center console (had to pay $1,200 to have one added)
5. 40 amp charger now improved to 48 amps for faster charging times
6. Standard piano black trim now upgraded as base.
7. Ugly 19" wheels now upgraded to be more in line with both available optional wheels offered.
8. Premium interior doesn't include latest features released a few months ago.
9. 90 kwh battery is no longer the best available
10. 2.9 0-60 is now bettered by 4/10ths of a second.
11. Autopilot now outdated.
#9, 10 and 11 were the primary reasons I chose to upgrade from my 2013. It drove me nuts that there were new features available, so I took a bath on my car and paid full price for the best I could get. Now, here we are just a few months later and again, the three primary reasons I upgraded and spent a fortune on a new Tesla have all already been outdated. Now, my choices are. 1. Live without the best for another 2+ years. Or 2. Take another bath, probably to the tune of a $50,000 loss over a few months, and go buy a new one?? Probably to have it be outdated again in a few more months.
Not complaining or whining, just stating facts. I can't be the only one bothered by having their car outdated so quickly can I ???
Again, love the company and their innovation and constant improvements. But twice now my car has been very quickly outdated. It would be nice if Tesla were able to offer reasonably priced retrofits to older cars (meaning one purchased last month!!) and keep their existing customers happy and not feeling burned by bad timing of a new release. Unfortunately, they rarely offer retrofits and the few that they do are unreasonably priced. I wanted to add front sensors to my old car and it was something like $8,000 just to do that.
While I likely will struggle to ever go back to an ICE vehicle, I will say for peace of mind, it's nice to know that when you purchase a newly revised model of just about any other car, it's likely going to be current for a minimum of 3 years, often times closer to 6 or 8 years on higher end models. Generally there are very minor year to year revisions. But Tesla has completely re-written that book. Just trying to find the positive for existing owners in this model??? The software updates are great, but the above 11 items can't be resolved by software updates.
Also, at least with other manufacturers, you know at least 18 months ahead of time when a new model is going to be released, so you can hold out for the new model. With Tesla, they keep everything secret until one day, boom, it's available for sale on the website.
So, while the above I guess is "complaining", I'm not doing it for the sake of just whining, but more in the hopes that if other owners feel the same way, possibly we can encourage Tesla to keep their existing customers in mind by finding ways to offer retrofits to cars that maybe are less than a year or two old? If they get enough feedback, maybe they'll listen. As it is now, their attitude is "just buy a new one". While some owners are already on their 5th Tesla, that's not practical for most of us.
At the end of last year, I ordered my brand new, top of the line car. Went for the best in hopes it would be considered somewhat "current" for at least some time.
So, here we are less than one year later, and my $130,000+, top of the line (at the time) P90D is now sadly outdated. I get that they don't follow traditional model years like all other manufacturers. Is that really a good thing though? I'm on the fence. How many people are not happy to have spent a premium price on a car only have it be so outdated just months later? Heck in some cases, it can be outdated just a few days/weeks later.
My car when ordered had the best available following features that now, less than 10 months later are no longer true....
1. Nose cone was current, now looks old compared to new car.
2. Headlights now outdated.
3. Rocker panels, now outdated.
4. Don't have a center console (had to pay $1,200 to have one added)
5. 40 amp charger now improved to 48 amps for faster charging times
6. Standard piano black trim now upgraded as base.
7. Ugly 19" wheels now upgraded to be more in line with both available optional wheels offered.
8. Premium interior doesn't include latest features released a few months ago.
9. 90 kwh battery is no longer the best available
10. 2.9 0-60 is now bettered by 4/10ths of a second.
11. Autopilot now outdated.
#9, 10 and 11 were the primary reasons I chose to upgrade from my 2013. It drove me nuts that there were new features available, so I took a bath on my car and paid full price for the best I could get. Now, here we are just a few months later and again, the three primary reasons I upgraded and spent a fortune on a new Tesla have all already been outdated. Now, my choices are. 1. Live without the best for another 2+ years. Or 2. Take another bath, probably to the tune of a $50,000 loss over a few months, and go buy a new one?? Probably to have it be outdated again in a few more months.
Not complaining or whining, just stating facts. I can't be the only one bothered by having their car outdated so quickly can I ???
Again, love the company and their innovation and constant improvements. But twice now my car has been very quickly outdated. It would be nice if Tesla were able to offer reasonably priced retrofits to older cars (meaning one purchased last month!!) and keep their existing customers happy and not feeling burned by bad timing of a new release. Unfortunately, they rarely offer retrofits and the few that they do are unreasonably priced. I wanted to add front sensors to my old car and it was something like $8,000 just to do that.
While I likely will struggle to ever go back to an ICE vehicle, I will say for peace of mind, it's nice to know that when you purchase a newly revised model of just about any other car, it's likely going to be current for a minimum of 3 years, often times closer to 6 or 8 years on higher end models. Generally there are very minor year to year revisions. But Tesla has completely re-written that book. Just trying to find the positive for existing owners in this model??? The software updates are great, but the above 11 items can't be resolved by software updates.
Also, at least with other manufacturers, you know at least 18 months ahead of time when a new model is going to be released, so you can hold out for the new model. With Tesla, they keep everything secret until one day, boom, it's available for sale on the website.
So, while the above I guess is "complaining", I'm not doing it for the sake of just whining, but more in the hopes that if other owners feel the same way, possibly we can encourage Tesla to keep their existing customers in mind by finding ways to offer retrofits to cars that maybe are less than a year or two old? If they get enough feedback, maybe they'll listen. As it is now, their attitude is "just buy a new one". While some owners are already on their 5th Tesla, that's not practical for most of us.
