Tomorrow, I go to my one-year appointment to plunk down $625 to keep my X running. But it gives me a reason to reflect on the past year, given all the discussion.
Am I still in love? With my wife, yes. Also with my AP2 75D Model X, although not as much. Here are my categories for this decision:
1. Driving Dynamics. Whenever I get frustrated with other issues, this one keeps me in the relationship. The acceleration was unexpectedly improved! The new chill mode is perfect for weekdays when my wife drives and non-chill for me on the weekends. Also, I find the car quiet, the windows fantastic (although with some need for the shade occasionally), and the front seats comfortable enough and not so wrinkled after replacement. Navigation is good enough (and slated to get better). The standard audio is good enough for my ears.
2. AP2. It's gotten much better, but once in a long while it does try to kill me and it performs poorly at lane-keeping on S-curves. Coming back from the mountains one day, it tried to exit me from I-5 at 70mph instead of staying in the rightmost lane. Even though this only happened once in a hundred opportunities, I was really fortunate that I still grip the wheel tightly while AP is on. I have begun to think of AP not as AutoPilot but as Co-Pilot. That is, it's a second pair of eyes on the road advising me when it is safe to change lanes, slowing me down or accelerating with traffic, etc... I still find my own capabilities for "silky smooth" driving to be far superior to Co-Pilot, but I am happy to have it as a second driver along to spell me for sometimes brief and sometimes longer intervals.
3 Tesla Service. Like most of us, I bring it in for a variety of usually minor reasons, except for the front seat replacement. That one surprised me by its relative generosity. The other issues in the past year were either delivery problems (door and chrome alignment, paint issues) or mostly minor ones (key fob, auto-closing of passenger side front door, and a lost credit card that went through an unexpected opening). My biggest unresolved complaint? We are now bringing it in for the fourth time to remedy a very squeaky driver-side front window.
4. Range/Supercharger anxiety. So the rate of charging of the superchargers maxes out at 96kwh, which is not exactly what I was told during the sales process. Coming back from the mountains, we decided to skip past Buellton and go to Burbank. The nav update that shows availability clearly is fantastic for this. However, the fact that there were zero chargers available at Buellton on a Saturday was still a problem. But then the Burbank chargers were at <50kwh, so we left early and made it home (barely). Since Tesla has again under-delivered on the ramp-up for new superchargers, I still get that supercharger availability anxiety (different than range anxiety).
5. Overall. Even with all that, I don't regret the purchase. I'll regret the timing of the purchase when they come out with a 500-mile version, but I can live with that. I really want to purchase FSD, but I am skeptical that it will be available in the next few years, even at Level 3 or 4. But I'm pretty aligned with Tesla's mission, with clean electric vehicles, etc. and the fact that the X remains a great car to drive is enough to say, "honey, whatever issues we have, we'll work through them." And that's as good as it gets.
Am I still in love? With my wife, yes. Also with my AP2 75D Model X, although not as much. Here are my categories for this decision:
1. Driving Dynamics. Whenever I get frustrated with other issues, this one keeps me in the relationship. The acceleration was unexpectedly improved! The new chill mode is perfect for weekdays when my wife drives and non-chill for me on the weekends. Also, I find the car quiet, the windows fantastic (although with some need for the shade occasionally), and the front seats comfortable enough and not so wrinkled after replacement. Navigation is good enough (and slated to get better). The standard audio is good enough for my ears.
2. AP2. It's gotten much better, but once in a long while it does try to kill me and it performs poorly at lane-keeping on S-curves. Coming back from the mountains one day, it tried to exit me from I-5 at 70mph instead of staying in the rightmost lane. Even though this only happened once in a hundred opportunities, I was really fortunate that I still grip the wheel tightly while AP is on. I have begun to think of AP not as AutoPilot but as Co-Pilot. That is, it's a second pair of eyes on the road advising me when it is safe to change lanes, slowing me down or accelerating with traffic, etc... I still find my own capabilities for "silky smooth" driving to be far superior to Co-Pilot, but I am happy to have it as a second driver along to spell me for sometimes brief and sometimes longer intervals.
3 Tesla Service. Like most of us, I bring it in for a variety of usually minor reasons, except for the front seat replacement. That one surprised me by its relative generosity. The other issues in the past year were either delivery problems (door and chrome alignment, paint issues) or mostly minor ones (key fob, auto-closing of passenger side front door, and a lost credit card that went through an unexpected opening). My biggest unresolved complaint? We are now bringing it in for the fourth time to remedy a very squeaky driver-side front window.
4. Range/Supercharger anxiety. So the rate of charging of the superchargers maxes out at 96kwh, which is not exactly what I was told during the sales process. Coming back from the mountains, we decided to skip past Buellton and go to Burbank. The nav update that shows availability clearly is fantastic for this. However, the fact that there were zero chargers available at Buellton on a Saturday was still a problem. But then the Burbank chargers were at <50kwh, so we left early and made it home (barely). Since Tesla has again under-delivered on the ramp-up for new superchargers, I still get that supercharger availability anxiety (different than range anxiety).
5. Overall. Even with all that, I don't regret the purchase. I'll regret the timing of the purchase when they come out with a 500-mile version, but I can live with that. I really want to purchase FSD, but I am skeptical that it will be available in the next few years, even at Level 3 or 4. But I'm pretty aligned with Tesla's mission, with clean electric vehicles, etc. and the fact that the X remains a great car to drive is enough to say, "honey, whatever issues we have, we'll work through them." And that's as good as it gets.
