Owners delivery stories, photos and first impressions

[COS Blue]

Picked up my new 2021 Model S LR+ today in Littleton, CO. I've been nervous since I ordered the car in early October after reading stories of poor build quality and people refusing delivery. Found a few minor issues including smudges on the seats and door that I was worried were permanent but they were able to wipe them right out. Biggest issue is the body panel gaps on the frunk. One of the gaps is noticeably wider than the other. Not horrible but once you know it's there, it's noticeable. I asked about it and was told I could schedule service and they would work on it if they determined it wasn't within spec... but she said honestly she thought they would say it was within spec, which I guess means I just live with it. Decided it wasn't enough to refuse delivery so the 2 kids and I drove it home to Colorado Springs.

On the way home my younger daughter asked me if I could make it fart... told her I haven't figured out how to do that yet .

Love the car... I bought the 14-50 adapter and it's charging in the garage right now. Looking forward to not buying gas anymore!

 

[henderrj]

Picked up my new 2021 Model S LR+ today in Littleton, CO. I've been nervous since I ordered the car in early October after reading stories of poor build quality and people refusing delivery. Found a few minor issues including smudges on the seats and door that I was worried were permanent but they were able to wipe them right out. Biggest issue is the body panel gaps on the frunk. One of the gaps is noticeably wider than the other. Not horrible but once you know it's there, it's noticeable. I asked about it and was told I could schedule service and they would work on it if they determined it wasn't within spec... but she said honestly she thought they would say it was within spec, which I guess means I just live with it. Decided it wasn't enough to refuse delivery so the 2 kids and I drove it home to Colorado Springs.

On the way home my younger daughter asked me if I could make it fart... told her I haven't figured out how to do that yet .

Love the car... I bought the 14-50 adapter and it's charging in the garage right now. Looking forward to not buying gas anymore!

Welcome! She's a gorgeous thing.

 

[Ormond]

@COS Blue Lovely photo! Drive it in good health!

 

[arganesh]

Picked up my long range 2021 s today to compliment my M3 which i purchased in June this year. No problems except for a slight panel gap difference in the trunk (between the 2 sides- not very obvious). Ordered on Oct 3rd.

 

[Ormond]

Picked up my long range 2021 s today to compliment my M3 which i purchased in June this year. No problems except for a slight panel gap difference in the trunk (between the 2 sides- not very obvious). Ordered on Oct 3rd.

Drive it in good health! Has the ride improved? Any changes?

 

[cptmellow]

Picked up my long range 2021 s today to compliment my M3 which i purchased in June this year. No problems except for a slight panel gap difference in the trunk (between the 2 sides- not very obvious). Ordered on Oct 3rd.

how long was your wait time to get delivery? I ordered mine on Oct 10 and still waiting for VIN

 

[arganesh]

how long was your wait time to get delivery? I ordered mine on Oct 10 and still waiting for VIN

Ordered on October 3rd and picked it up on October 30th.

 

[arganesh]

Drive it in good health! Has the ride improved? Any changes?

I like to drive the 3 in the city and the S on highways. The S is a very smooth ride and the 3 is stiff but a lot of fun.

 

[MikeRPhD]

Ordered my S LR+ in June & picked it up in early Sept. Had some issues with the cameras at first (replaced by the Mobile Tech), and all is well now... great car!

 

[COS Blue]

Ordered my S LR+ in June & picked it up in early Sept. Had some issues with the cameras at first (replaced by the Mobile Tech), and all is well now... great car!

Congrats! Looks great!

 

[omf24]

This is my second used Tesla. My first was a 2013 P85, and now I have a 2016 P100D. I bought the car on Tesla's website, 10/9, and picked up the car 10/26, the car went from CA to NY. Initially when I bought the car the text said 3-4 weeks, so I was very pleased when the update said 10/25, then a subsequent update was just a day later, so 10/26 was when I picked it up.

My advisor was Johnny Dang, he was very responsive - answers phones, replies to texts, and e-mails promptly.

When I picked up the car it looked brand new inside, I would say 9.8 out of 10. Literally the steering wheel did not even have any wear, no crumbs anywhere. I was worried given horror stories I read. The car even smelled new.

The exterior was a solid 9.5 out of 10. You can tell the car was recently detailed because whoever did the detail didn't do the best job in scrubbing off the polish, but something that I did in 5 minutes on various spots.

Now, the part that wasn't so great. When I was driving the wheel had a vibration. At first I thought it needed a rotation/alignment, the tires looked brand new. The MCU has a yellow border, and the car will not summons in reverse, only forward. I took it to the service center, they replaced a bent rim, but the vibration still exists.

I'm getting a new front motor installed 11/19 that should fix the vibration issue, and the screen of the MCU is being replaced.

The car is beautiful, just disappointing that in the review process they didn't notice the vibration or the yellow around the MCU.

I changed out the rims to 19" rims instead of 21" since I live in NY and 19" is more practical, I'm listing the rims for sale in the Marketplace on this site.

 

[CaliSurfer]

New Tesla owner here and I have had my 2017 MS for two weeks now. Before obtaining my Tesla my biggest concern was owning a fully electric car and how I would be able to charge the car effectively without feeling like "wasting" a lot of time at a charger. This feeling went away quickly which I'll discuss more later.

My first day with my MS, all I wanted to do was drive her all day long (the feeling still exists but I have learned to control my urges! LOL). My first week, I still was a but concerned with the SoC and found my self fearing allowing the car to get below 30%. Each day, I felt less and less concerned. After my first weekend with my Tesla, I educated my self more with the public infrastructures around as well as the Superchargers located in my vicinity. I also learned that Supercharging at a lower SoC is a much faster way of charging if you don't have a lot of time to stay in one location. I also recently order a J1772 adapter (the car didn't come with one) and have found many areas where I can charge for free. Currently at home I am only charging on a 120V outlet as I am waiting for a warmer day to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage. But honestly with charging on 120V and maybe once a week at a Supercharger, I have learned that my original concern with if and when I could charge no longer exists.

Now to the more fun part, driving! I love driving this car and find my self having to reel back my driving habits so I don't use all my charge in one trip because this car is so fun to drive. I bought my Tesla used from Carvana and she only had one previous owner that took great car of the car because there seems to be zero blemishes with the Tesla. The only concerns I have is the rear brake light has moisture in it (covered under warranty) and the steering wheel adjust lever doesn't work (covered under warranty). So next week I'll get my first experience with interacting with the Service Department which I have read on here can be hit or miss based on your location.

My only future changes that I am looking into is the MCU2 upgrade and tinting the windows. I have had a couple times where the MCU1 restarted or booted up pretty slowly but nothing during the operation of the Tesla. Also the browser is slow to boot up on first use but once loaded, seems to function fine.

As a new owner and a new member of the Tesla family, I would love any advice or recommendations anyone may have.

 

[AustinP]

New Tesla owner here and I have had my 2017 MS for two weeks now. Before obtaining my Tesla my biggest concern was owning a fully electric car and how I would be able to charge the car effectively without feeling like "wasting" a lot of time at a charger. This feeling went away quickly which I'll discuss more later.

My first day with my MS, all I wanted to do was drive her all day long (the feeling still exists but I have learned to control my urges! LOL). My first week, I still was a but concerned with the SoC and found my self fearing allowing the car to get below 30%. Each day, I felt less and less concerned. After my first weekend with my Tesla, I educated my self more with the public infrastructures around as well as the Superchargers located in my vicinity. I also learned that Supercharging at a lower SoC is a much faster way of charging if you don't have a lot of time to stay in one location. I also recently order a J1772 adapter (the car didn't come with one) and have found many areas where I can charge for free. Currently at home I am only charging on a 120V outlet as I am waiting for a warmer day to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage. But honestly with charging on 120V and maybe once a week at a Supercharger, I have learned that my original concern with if and when I could charge no longer exists.

Now to the more fun part, driving! I love driving this car and find my self having to reel back my driving habits so I don't use all my charge in one trip because this car is so fun to drive. I bought my Tesla used from Carvana and she only had one previous owner that took great car of the car because there seems to be zero blemishes with the Tesla. The only concerns I have is the rear brake light has moisture in it (covered under warranty) and the steering wheel adjust lever doesn't work (covered under warranty). So next week I'll get my first experience with interacting with the Service Department which I have read on here can be hit or miss based on your location.

My only future changes that I am looking into is the MCU2 upgrade and tinting the windows. I have had a couple times where the MCU1 restarted or booted up pretty slowly but nothing during the operation of the Tesla. Also the browser is slow to boot up on first use but once loaded, seems to function fine.

As a new owner and a new member of the Tesla family, I would love any advice or recommendations anyone may have.

So the MCU2 is indeed appealing, at 1500$, but you should now there is a potential recall coming, so if you’re not in a hurry, it might be worthy to wait.

 

[David29]

New Tesla owner here and I have had my 2017 MS for two weeks now. Before obtaining my Tesla my biggest concern was owning a fully electric car and how I would be able to charge the car effectively without feeling like "wasting" a lot of time at a charger. This feeling went away quickly which I'll discuss more later.

My first day with my MS, all I wanted to do was drive her all day long (the feeling still exists but I have learned to control my urges! LOL). My first week, I still was a but concerned with the SoC and found my self fearing allowing the car to get below 30%. Each day, I felt less and less concerned. After my first weekend with my Tesla, I educated my self more with the public infrastructures around as well as the Superchargers located in my vicinity. I also learned that Supercharging at a lower SoC is a much faster way of charging if you don't have a lot of time to stay in one location. I also recently order a J1772 adapter (the car didn't come with one) and have found many areas where I can charge for free. Currently at home I am only charging on a 120V outlet as I am waiting for a warmer day to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage. But honestly with charging on 120V and maybe once a week at a Supercharger, I have learned that my original concern with if and when I could charge no longer exists.

Now to the more fun part, driving! I love driving this car and find my self having to reel back my driving habits so I don't use all my charge in one trip because this car is so fun to drive. I bought my Tesla used from Carvana and she only had one previous owner that took great car of the car because there seems to be zero blemishes with the Tesla. The only concerns I have is the rear brake light has moisture in it (covered under warranty) and the steering wheel adjust lever doesn't work (covered under warranty). So next week I'll get my first experience with interacting with the Service Department which I have read on here can be hit or miss based on your location.

My only future changes that I am looking into is the MCU2 upgrade and tinting the windows. I have had a couple times where the MCU1 restarted or booted up pretty slowly but nothing during the operation of the Tesla. Also the browser is slow to boot up on first use but once loaded, seems to function fine.

As a new owner and a new member of the Tesla family, I would love any advice or recommendations anyone may have.

All sounds good!
My only comment is that the tail lamps always get a little moisture in them when I get the car washed (touchless car wash) and then always disappears over a few days. So I do not worry about it. The little hole that lets water in also lets it out. So unless it is a lot of water or stays in for a prolonged period, i would not worry about that.

 

[speedy]

My only future changes that I am looking into is the MCU2 upgrade and tinting the windows. I have had a couple times where the MCU1 restarted or booted up pretty slowly but nothing during the operation of the Tesla. Also the browser is slow to boot up on first use but once loaded, seems to function fine.

As a fellow 2017 S owner, I put up with the non-working browser and slow operation for a while, but just upgraded to MCU2. I booked it in at $2500, but it dropped the day I took it in, so I got the new price. I was willing to pay $2500, but at $1500, it's a no-brainer. You get an upgraded autopilot computer (HW3) as well, even if you didn't buy FSD, so it's a good time to upgrade. Apart from games, youtube, working browser, everything just works zippier. Voice control now actually works, whereas before you were pretty much talking to yourself! With HW3, you get FSD visualizations as well. You may not have the same experience, but for my now 3 year old car, it's like getting a whole new car.

I'm pretty sure they dropped the price to entice owners to upgrade so they don't have to do any MCU1 recall, but remember that if you do get the MCU1 recall, you will probably just get a refurbished MCU1. I would rather pay a bit and get all working features with a current MCU and a current autopilot computer at a discounted price.

 

[r1200gs4ok]

All sounds good!
My only comment is that the tail lamps always get a little moisture in them when I get the car washed (touchless car wash) and then always disappears over a few days. So I do not worry about it. The little hole that lets water in also lets it out. So unless it is a lot of water or stays in for a prolonged period, i would not worry about that.

wait until the little bugs get in there and die......no way to get them out....happened to me right after I got my new 2020 LR+....mobile service had to replace assembly

 

[CaliSurfer]

The little hole that lets water in also lets it out. So unless it is a lot of water or stays in for a prolonged period, i would not worry about that.

Yeah I read about this on the forum as well. I did notice this when the car was delivered and waited a few days to see if it went away. I didn't notice a change. I have also washed the car a few times since the purchase and didn't notice any difference either. It's also been pretty cold here lately so it can be difficult for the moisture to escape. I'll give it about a week or two and if it doesn't change, I may take it in for service. I'll have the car serviced any ways for the steering position adjust so I may have them look at the rear light at the same time.

Voice control now actually works, whereas before you were pretty much talking to yourself!

I for got to even mention the SLOW voice control. Sometimes I'm not sure if the car is listening or just ignoring me! LOL

I do think I'll hold off a few months to upgrade the MCU to not only see what happens with the possible recall but also to enjoy the car in it's current state. Everything I mentioned in the OP isn't a big deal to me, just noticeable issues that haven't affected the overall drive experience with my Tesla.

 

[JoeCW]

I'll hold off a few months to upgrade the MCU to not only see what happens with the possible recall but also to enjoy the car in it's current state. Everything I mentioned in the OP isn't a big deal to me, just noticeable issues that haven't affected the overall drive experience with my Tesla.

If you can wait, more power to you. I am impatient and could not. The MCU2 does make a huge difference. The satellite view, voice response, and faster navigation are the main items for me. The entertainment and web-browsing is secondary as it is still a little slow. As for driving, I do still find myself just wanting to go for a drive in my MS regardless of the MCU upgrade.

 

[OTARon]

Just took delivery of a New to me 2017 Tesla Model S 90D Midnight Silver, 19", Ultra high fidelity sound (UHFS), Cold weather package, Smart Air suspension, Glass Roof. I spent weeks looking for the right car to replace my 2016 Tesla 90D, lost after an accident. After I had narrowed down my search to 3 cars, 2 in CA and one local, I chose the local to save a few dollars and the $1,000 in shipping. I went to the center to pick up my car and to be honest, I was a little disappointed this time around with this purchase. I thought (my own mistake I didn't dig deep enough into ultra-high fidelity sound) SiriusXM was included in UHFS but I found out at delivery SiriusXM was not included in all UHFS until 2018, before that (hence the deeper dive) it required the sun roof. The interior of the car looked like a blind person vacuumed it, and I found many french fries under the front seats. there was debris under the center console. When I picked up the car and it only had 146 miles of range and I live 61 miles from the service center, and I felt the car should have had a full charge so I could see the battery health and rage from the get go (max rage is 274 miles at 100% charge). 90D's are known for some range issues and not knowing till I got home and could put a full charge on, what kind of battery I got was a bit of a letdown. Outside of the car it is in good shape but the windshield whippers already need replacing. I wonder who was in charge of the per delivery check list. We, as the buyers of these cars, have been complacent in our acceptance of this behavior from Tesla. Would you receive this from anyone selling a $50,000+ car? I really doubt it, this is the most expensive car I have ever bought, this and my 2016 are both about the same in price, took me years to get to this point in my life. I really don't think in 2 years I will be in the Tesla family if this is how they treat their customers.

 

[David29]

Just took delivery of a New to me 2017 Tesla Model S 90D Midnight Silver, 19", Ultra high fidelity sound (UHFS), Cold weather package, Smart Air suspension, Glass Roof. I spent weeks looking for the right car to replace my 2016 Tesla 90D, lost after an accident. After I had narrowed down my search to 3 cars, 2 in CA and one local, I chose the local to save a few dollars and the $1,000 in shipping. I went to the center to pick up my car and to be honest, I was a little disappointed this time around with this purchase. I thought (my own mistake I didn't dig deep enough into ultra-high fidelity sound) SiriusXM was included in UHFS but I found out at delivery SiriusXM was not included in all UHFS until 2018, before that (hence the deeper dive) it required the sun roof. The interior of the car looked like a blind person vacuumed it, and I found many french fries under the front seats. there was debris under the center console. When I picked up the car and it only had 146 miles of range and I live 61 miles from the service center, and I felt the car should have had a full charge so I could see the battery health and rage from the get go (max rage is 274 miles at 100% charge). 90D's are known for some range issues and not knowing till I got home and could put a full charge on, what kind of battery I got was a bit of a letdown. Outside of the car it is in good shape but the windshield whippers already need replacing. I wonder who was in charge of the per delivery check list. We, as the buyers of these cars, have been complacent in our acceptance of this behavior from Tesla. Would you receive this from anyone selling a $50,000+ car? I really doubt it, this is the most expensive car I have ever bought, this and my 2016 are both about the same in price, took me years to get to this point in my life. I really don't think in 2 years I will be in the Tesla family if this is how they treat their customers.

Sad to hear of this. I keep hoping that the stories like this are rare exceptions and that the majority of Tesla customers have good purchase experiences, but it is becoming harder to retain the belief in that -- I feel rather like the child who has the growing realization that Santa isn't real.
On a side note, I was amused by the typo that substituted "rage" for "range" -- somehow the resulting phrase "so I could ...rage from the get go" worked for me in this story! I'd be raging, too, for sure.
Windshield "whippers" were another funny typo. Not intending to make fun, just think that was a very funny and appropriate word substitution, especially given the bad reputation for Tesla's wipers.
Best wishes with the car, and I hope these cosmetic issues turn out to be the worst problems and that otherwise it is a good buy and serves you well!