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Owners delivery stories, photos and first impressions

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This is fabulous repayment for the efforts to post my tropical Tesla photos. Gorgeous photos of two mountain Teslas and a 007 desert beauty. This thread is once again alive and well!

with your permission, it will go into the rotation with photos of Maui and Kauai as part of my desktop back ground
Gen3_in_Utah, enjoy the photos on your desktop and be sure to post photos of YOUR Gen3 Tesla when you get it one day!
 
Got my solid white Model S with gray interior and piano black trim on May 29. So far I am loving every minute of driving this car. Absolutely beautiful car. It turns heads everywhere I go. I have had people walk up or roll windows down to ask about the car. It handles very well on curvy mountain roads. I love how linear the accelerator is throughout its range and makes for controlling speeds at low end so much easier than other cars I have owned. Regen brakes have been amazing. I can come down the mountains without having to touch brakes and regain most of the energy lost going up. I averaged 295 Wh/mi on a roundtrip of 112 miles into mountains going from 4900 feet of elevation to 9800 feet, and back.

Model S in Rocky Mountain National Park:

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And the gray leather interior with piano black trim:
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Nice car :) its exactly the same as mine. But i have to wait 3-4 months before i get mine to Norway, so its good to have some nice pictures to look at in the meanwhile. I am also have lot of hills where i live, so its nice to hear about the regen. Like this one, Trollstigen:

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Enjoy you car :smile:.
 
Had our delivery on 6/8/2013 and have loved every minute!!! Have put 1,000 miles on it (with two days being in the shop being tinted/wrapped). We went with a stacked tint to get the darker smoky color to go with the black as Crystalline by itself would not have been as dark or smoky. 3M Color Stable CS-50 & Crystalline 50 on back and sides with Crystalline 70 on Pano and Windshield. Definitely cuts the heat down inside when sitting in the hot AZ sun. Front end wrapped in SunTek (had to replace the factory PPF as it had already started to peel after 3 days).

Some pics after tinting/wrapping:

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Irishstoutaz - car looks great. How do you like the wheel T stickers - I see you have them on.
 
Had our delivery on 6/8/2013 and have loved every minute!!! Have put 1,000 miles on it (with two days being in the shop being tinted/wrapped). We went with a stacked tint to get the darker smoky color to go with the black as Crystalline by itself would not have been as dark or smoky. 3M Color Stable CS-50 & Crystalline 50 on back and sides with Crystalline 70 on Pano and Windshield. Definitely cuts the heat down inside when sitting in the hot AZ sun. Front end wrapped in SunTek (had to replace the factory PPF as it had already started to peel after 3 days). *Also installed the Center Cap sticker that Roger (rogbmw) created... nice finishing touch!

Some pics after tinting/wrapping:

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Great looking car. Since the tint is 50 on 50 does the darkness equal to a 25? Also, do you know what is the darkness of the factory tint for the pano roof? Was it not sufficient?
 
Had our delivery on 6/8/2013 and have loved every minute!!! Have put 1,000 miles on it (with two days being in the shop being tinted/wrapped). We went with a stacked tint to get the darker smoky color to go with the black as Crystalline by itself would not have been as dark or smoky. 3M Color Stable CS-50 & Crystalline 50 on back and sides with Crystalline 70 on Pano and Windshield. Definitely cuts the heat down inside when sitting in the hot AZ sun. Front end wrapped in SunTek (had to replace the factory PPF as it had already started to peel after 3 days). *Also installed the Center Cap sticker that Roger (rogbmw) created... nice finishing touch!

Some pics after tinting/wrapping:

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Love it!!!

Getting mine wrapped and tinted tomorrow, though it won't be as dark. But man that is tempting.

Also getting paint corrected and C. Quartz treatment over the weekend. Adds a protective layer on the clear coat.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.532408256811131.1073741826.117814038270557&type=1

I'll post pics when done.
 
Thanks... It essentially ends up being close to 25 and is a little darker than legal here but not by much and might look a little darker in the pics given the time of day I took them. The Pano was dark already and just added the Chrystalline 70 to cut down on any heat that could come through (wasn't bad to begin with but figured why not). The 70 is very light in color and doesn't really add any color but had the same infrared heat reduction of 97%)vs. the 90 which I think was 92%. It definitely has cut down on the heat by about 20-30 degrees when sitting in full AZ sun.

Great looking car. Since the tint is 50 on 50 does the darkness equal to a 25? Also, do you know what is the darkness of the factory tint for the pano roof? Was it not sufficient?

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Thanks... I am going to be trying some polishes within the next few weeks and will post how they work. Let us know how yours turns out with the CQuartz (especially with Black) and if it makes it easier to maintain in the long run. *Keep in mind if you tint using the Chrystalline only, you can get the reddish/purple hue and is particularly visible on black cars. Looking forward to seeing your pics!

Love it!!!

Getting mine wrapped and tinted tomorrow, though it won't be as dark. But man that is tempting.

Also getting paint corrected and C. Quartz treatment over the weekend. Adds a protective layer on the clear coat.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.532408256811131.1073741826.117814038270557&type=1

I'll post pics when done.
 
Thanks... I am going to be trying some polishes within the next few weeks and will post how they work. Let us know how yours turns out with the CQuartz (especially with Black) and if it makes it easier to maintain in the long run. *Keep in mind if you tint using the Chrystalline only, you can get the reddish/purple hue and is particularly visible on black cars. Looking forward to seeing your pics!

The tint they put on was 45% carbon from 3M, 80 on the windshield, and left the pano alone. Carbon shouldn't colorize over time. And not that we have heat anywhere near AZ, but I thought it will help the car maintain interior temp with less effort.
 
2.5 weeks after delivery, I am at 1,250 miles. To put that in context, I have been out of town 4 days since taking delivery. So, I've put 2 times my normal mileage on my car in the time I have owned it.
The bottom line so far:
it's my favorite car, ever

Prior cars from beginning of driving:
'79 Suburban
'79 Monte Carlo
'94 Infiniti G20t (first car I bought and paid for)
'98 Mercedes SLK
'01 BMW X5
'05 Infinity G35
'09 Toyota Camry Hybrid (amazing how children and start-ups change things)

In May, I sold my company and my gift to myself was dumping the Camry. I looked at BMW 5, 6, 7 series and Audi RS5. My wife was against the cost of the Tesla on principle (thinking $100K). I never liked my Camry, but I could not reconcile myself to returning to 20-30 MPG (I regularly got 35 MPG with the Camry Hybrid). I just could not bring myself to by one of those gas-guzzling German cars (my wife's gift to herself ended up being a BMW X3, but she was coming from a Honda Odyssey, so she got BETTER gas mileage with her BMW).
If you look at my purchase history, I've bought a lot of first generation cars. The SLK and X5 were first generation. And my wife got an Infiniti FX35 around 2003-2004. So I know to expect imperfections. Also, I am an entrepreneur and I know what it's like to grow a company and the pains that can come with it.
In short, I jumped in eyes wide open. And I think that's important for anyone buying a Tesla in 2013. You should expect the best car ever made, but it will have warts you aren't used to seeing in cars and delivery and service.
On the other hand, it's also important to note this: I've never owned a car that didn't have a recall during my ownership tenure, and I've never owned a car that did not, at one point, make me want to go Aaron Hernandez on someone. That includes my prior favorite the Mercedes SLK.
What I got:
VIN 116xx, 60 KWh, Blue, Pano, Tech, (everything but the suspension and HPWC)
Other details:
I got the supercharger and dual chargers, but I did not get the HPWC. Both were future-proofing decisions, but I have no use for them today.
The good:
* Acceleration (OMG)
* General driving experience
* Navigation
* Driver console
* 17” console
* Panoramic roof
* First usable driver profiles in any car I have had

Bad:
* Lack of certain common high-end options (HUD, lane departure warnings, collision warnings)
* Rear-wheel drive
* Back seat head rests
* Heat dissipation (window tinting is a MUST in this car)

Ugly:
* Windshield wiper max speed
* Support for iTunes on the iPhone
* Center console area
* Homelink programming

Delivery communication was generally poor, though I did enjoy working with Andy out of the Oakbrook, IL sales center. Todd at the Eden Prairie service center has been very helpful. As some of you may have noted, I have had absolutely no luck in getting owner access to these forums despite talking with Andy, the 877 number, the owner email, and other emails people have suggested. In fact, the guy at the 877 number suggested I should just use the TMC forums.
One thing I never realized is that there's a natural clock that evolves in your head when you start driving a car that says "it's time to get gas". Around 500 miles into my ownership experience, I started feeling that nagging in the back of my mind. It faded around 750-1,000 miles.
You just can't appreciate how fun it is to never go to a gas station. In fact, it feels wrong even going near one.
Learnings:
* I bought the service plan for 4 years, no ranger service (nearest service center is 8 miles away). I've never owned a car more than 5 years.
* The family has altered our driving practices to favor using the electric car. That's why I have incurred so many miles.
* Dual chargers may prove to be a waste. There's no need for a HPWC in your house. A NEMA 14-50 is sufficient.
* I still think the superchargers will prove to be a good investment.
* The pano is amazing. Best decision I made. No noise so far.
 
Picked up at Tampa Service Center on 6/29. Only the begining, what an amazing car! Not much more I can say that hasn't been said before.

Funny story though, we live in Orlando so wife's car needed gas for the trip back from Tampa and the very first stop I had people knocking on the window wanting to talk Tesla. Even got my first picture of someone taking a picture of a Tesla, which I need to post on the other thread. All of this in the first hour of ownership. Mark, the manager at Tampa service center, warned us that this was going to happen, but had no idea it would be immediatly! Wife questioned what would have happen if I had this car when I was single?

Thought I would post this photo, last time I will have to stop at one of these!

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Picked up at Tampa Service Center on 6/29.

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Thanks... I am going to be trying some polishes within the next few weeks and will post how they work. Let us know how yours turns out with the CQuartz (especially with Black) and if it makes it easier to maintain in the long run. *Keep in mind if you tint using the Chrystalline only, you can get the reddish/purple hue and is particularly visible on black cars. Looking forward to seeing your pics!

So the guys at Autowerx here, spent 12.5 hours prepping, washing, detailing, polishing, washing again (because our neighbor decided to blow off his driveway during all this, dust flying everywhere thank you, even tho we were in my garage and across the street), then they erase/wipe any chemicals off, and finally putting on two robust coats of C.Quartz. The work they do is beyond anal, beyond anyone's expectations... they're quiet paint finish fanatics! It's truly amazing.

I know (outside of factory baked in orange peel), my car's finish would win awards... it's that good. With black any imperfection shows, and they got this to a blemish-free, mirror-like status.

After all their work in washing, blow drying, and prep, he showed me with a bright flashlight, looking directly into the paint, how you could still see minors water spots and other imperfections. These are things you can't see normally otherwise. And my car is only three weeks old, and only a couple of careful two-bucket washes on it. After their polishing, (not sure what they used), they put on two robust coats of C.Quartz. This stuff is buffed and then cures over 24 hours and needs to wait a week before the next wash. They literally are adding a glass like layer on top of your factory clear coat.

I'm a believer (in case you can't tell). They've read the forum posts on polishes and gloss coat tests here, and their research still puts this at the top. One of the most durable coatings you can put on top of your factory finish. Comes with a two year minimum warranty.

I'm waiting for him to put pics up showing a side-by-side panel comparison of my car.

I have a couple pics of them working here (btw, it was 90-95 most of the day, and 75% humidity, not normal around here)...

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It's hard not to talk these guys up, or the product, because I don't think this car's paint and finish can be any more perfect or truly stunning than it is now. Kind of don't want to take the car out, rather enter in a show first, but I know with the PPF on the front, and it's complete coating, it's armored up and ready for the daily commute. ;)

Find or get a referral, for your own local *fanatic* car detailer, it makes all the difference in the world!
https://www.facebook.com/autowerxdetailing