BLUF: An overall impressive car that has the potential to be even better, but Tesla needs to continue improving build quality/attention to detail, add features expected at this price point, and prioritize utility/intuitive controls over aesthetics and “cool” factor.
Reading through some of the owner threads here has been tremendously helpful to me, so I’m launching this thread on my experience with my first Tesla in hopes that it might be helpful to some of you.
BACKGROUND: First time Tesla owner. I have owned Audis exclusively since 2002, and prior to that was in a B5 VW Passat from 1998 when I punched out of college and bought my first “new” car. For my money, NO ONE does the combination of interior/exterior design and performance better than Audi. Subjective of course, but that’s my standard. I am coming from an Oolong Grey C7 (2013) S6. The S6 was still in fantastic shape, and was modified (Stage 2) with APR software, APR downpipes, and a Milltek non-resonated exhaust. On my daily driving tune (93 octane) APR claims 586hp/694ft-lbs. Power delivery from the twin-turbo 4.0l V8 was impressive and the car sounded incredible, but after 10 years and a professional lifetime of shooting loud things or being shot at by loud things, the ever present rumble of that V8/exhaust combo was becoming tiring for a daily driver. In 2019 when we replaced the wife’s Q7 with an e-Tron, I further started to appreciate the peaceful cabin of an electric vehicle and the convenience of charging at home. We already had a Chargepoint 40A charger installed for the e-Tron in our main 2-car garage, plus an additional 240v run with a Nema 14-50 outlet in our other 2-car bay, so the infrastructure was there for a second electric vehicle.
I cross shopped the MSP with the Audi RS6 Avant and the Audi RS7. The RS6 has been a dream car of mine for decades and was my first choice for a replacement for the S6 now that Audi has finally brought it in its pure Avant form to the U.S. Unfortunately, the limited numbers earmarked for the U.S. market and COVID’s impact on the car market meant that used prices often exceeded new, and I simply could not find my combination of color (Nardo/black) and options with low miles for a decent price. No matter how much I looked, used MSPs with lower miles consistently came back at a lower price compared to the RS6 or RS7. Add the savings from gas (I averaged a tank per week in the S6 and did not see that changing with the RS6) and overall maintenance costs and the MSP ultimately won out.
CONFIGURATION: I wanted MSM or White with black interior. I did not care either way if the car came with 19s or 21s. I have always purchased a set of summer wheels for every car I’ve owned and I knew I would do the same here. A car with FSD or the enhanced Auto Pilot would have been sweet, but would not have been a deal breaker either way. I like to drive and the likelihood of me using FSD was pretty slim – slim enough to not be worth a $15k expenditure. Enhanced Auto Pilot would have been nice, but not $6k nice; I hardly used the Driver Assistance (Audi’s version of Auto Pilot) in the 10 years I had the S6. I knew the Yoke would be an issue and planned to purchase a round wheel from day 1. The announcement that Tesla had relented and finally decided to offer one stayed my hand, but in hindsight I wish I’d gone with one of the aftermarket carbon/leather wheels.
COST: c/a January I paid $113k for a used August 2022 built MSM/black with 21” wheels and no enhanced Auto Pilot or FSD from a Land Rover dealership out of state. The car had 1500 miles on the odometer; practically new. Seemingly a few weeks later I could have bought a new White MSP similarly configured for the same price. Them’s the breaks. I couldn’t find a RS6 with that low miles for that price anywhere and I only purchase used German cars if they have a CPO warranty. Our e-Tron Prestige stickered at $90k. We bargained down to $65k (loyalty discount, USAA and Costco car program incentives, etc). Audi couldn’t give them away in 2019 and even gave us 0% financing plus the full $7500 tax credit, which it qualified for at the time. I thought that was a smoking deal. This, not so much, but all things considered, in line with pricing at the time. As an example, a local Ford dealership had a 2021 - White Plaid similarly configured with about 9k miles and refused to budge from $117k. That car had some pretty egregious fit/finish issues and I ultimately passed. Wife found this car the same night I told Ford we were out and was about to give up on the Tesla all together and redouble my Audi efforts.
Here she is on delivery night.
Reading through some of the owner threads here has been tremendously helpful to me, so I’m launching this thread on my experience with my first Tesla in hopes that it might be helpful to some of you.
BACKGROUND: First time Tesla owner. I have owned Audis exclusively since 2002, and prior to that was in a B5 VW Passat from 1998 when I punched out of college and bought my first “new” car. For my money, NO ONE does the combination of interior/exterior design and performance better than Audi. Subjective of course, but that’s my standard. I am coming from an Oolong Grey C7 (2013) S6. The S6 was still in fantastic shape, and was modified (Stage 2) with APR software, APR downpipes, and a Milltek non-resonated exhaust. On my daily driving tune (93 octane) APR claims 586hp/694ft-lbs. Power delivery from the twin-turbo 4.0l V8 was impressive and the car sounded incredible, but after 10 years and a professional lifetime of shooting loud things or being shot at by loud things, the ever present rumble of that V8/exhaust combo was becoming tiring for a daily driver. In 2019 when we replaced the wife’s Q7 with an e-Tron, I further started to appreciate the peaceful cabin of an electric vehicle and the convenience of charging at home. We already had a Chargepoint 40A charger installed for the e-Tron in our main 2-car garage, plus an additional 240v run with a Nema 14-50 outlet in our other 2-car bay, so the infrastructure was there for a second electric vehicle.
I cross shopped the MSP with the Audi RS6 Avant and the Audi RS7. The RS6 has been a dream car of mine for decades and was my first choice for a replacement for the S6 now that Audi has finally brought it in its pure Avant form to the U.S. Unfortunately, the limited numbers earmarked for the U.S. market and COVID’s impact on the car market meant that used prices often exceeded new, and I simply could not find my combination of color (Nardo/black) and options with low miles for a decent price. No matter how much I looked, used MSPs with lower miles consistently came back at a lower price compared to the RS6 or RS7. Add the savings from gas (I averaged a tank per week in the S6 and did not see that changing with the RS6) and overall maintenance costs and the MSP ultimately won out.
CONFIGURATION: I wanted MSM or White with black interior. I did not care either way if the car came with 19s or 21s. I have always purchased a set of summer wheels for every car I’ve owned and I knew I would do the same here. A car with FSD or the enhanced Auto Pilot would have been sweet, but would not have been a deal breaker either way. I like to drive and the likelihood of me using FSD was pretty slim – slim enough to not be worth a $15k expenditure. Enhanced Auto Pilot would have been nice, but not $6k nice; I hardly used the Driver Assistance (Audi’s version of Auto Pilot) in the 10 years I had the S6. I knew the Yoke would be an issue and planned to purchase a round wheel from day 1. The announcement that Tesla had relented and finally decided to offer one stayed my hand, but in hindsight I wish I’d gone with one of the aftermarket carbon/leather wheels.
COST: c/a January I paid $113k for a used August 2022 built MSM/black with 21” wheels and no enhanced Auto Pilot or FSD from a Land Rover dealership out of state. The car had 1500 miles on the odometer; practically new. Seemingly a few weeks later I could have bought a new White MSP similarly configured for the same price. Them’s the breaks. I couldn’t find a RS6 with that low miles for that price anywhere and I only purchase used German cars if they have a CPO warranty. Our e-Tron Prestige stickered at $90k. We bargained down to $65k (loyalty discount, USAA and Costco car program incentives, etc). Audi couldn’t give them away in 2019 and even gave us 0% financing plus the full $7500 tax credit, which it qualified for at the time. I thought that was a smoking deal. This, not so much, but all things considered, in line with pricing at the time. As an example, a local Ford dealership had a 2021 - White Plaid similarly configured with about 9k miles and refused to budge from $117k. That car had some pretty egregious fit/finish issues and I ultimately passed. Wife found this car the same night I told Ford we were out and was about to give up on the Tesla all together and redouble my Audi efforts.
Here she is on delivery night.
