Owners delivery stories, photos and first impressions

[Majerus]

Here's a pic of my baby taken just outside of Santa Clara, CA. If you look carefully you can see Levi's stadium in the background. These photos were taken at night (10pm) in the pitch dark. My friend did something called light painting. I'm really happy with how the pics came out.



Tesla shoot with @dangtheheo by slate104, on Flickr

Pretty cool affect, kinda looks fake though.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

pitch dark at night, bay area? the two don't go together unless it is really stormy

neat pic, almost looks like the car is in a showroom or on the TM webpage

 

[StephenM]

Here's a pic of my baby taken just outside of Santa Clara, CA. If you look carefully you can see Levi's stadium in the background. These photos were taken at night (10pm) in the pitch dark. My friend did something called light painting. I'm really happy with how the pics came out.





Tesla shoot with @dangtheheo by slate104, on Flickr

That is an AWESOME looking shot! Great color choice btw

 

[slate104]

pitch dark at night, bay area? the two don't go together unless it is really stormy

neat pic, almost looks like the car is in a showroom or on the TM webpage

It was right before it started raining last week so it was really dark and cloudy. I can assure you it's real. I was out there freezing my butt off. It's at the end of the bay outside of Alviso, and it smells AWFUL.

 

[Beckler]

Those are some great images... It has the look of being beamed down from an alien craft hovering above. And in fact that is how advanced it is compared to ICE junk

 

[Notacarguy]

One month update. I am one day shy of one month in my MS and have no regrets about this car at all. My only problem is that my wife has not taken to the car. I think after being used to sitting high in her Pilot and having larger windows she is not comfortable in the low riding MS with its smaller viewports. This may be contributing to her car sickness as even when I drive sedately, she still complains she feels to much sudden movement.

I don’t pretend I know what she is talking about because on the rare occasion I drive her Pilot that noise and vibration and overall sense of chaos I feel is worlds away from the serene experience of driving the MS. Perhaps the noise and vibration in her Pilot helped to mask the motion? Maybe the quiet of the MS just enhances your ability to feel everything else.

My drives to work are much less stressful now. Part of this is because the drive is much nicer but part of it is also because I can now pass more easily and avoid the slower traffic and the spastic drivers who seem to prefer driving with one foot on the brake and on the gas. Houston drivers are also terrible so the power is nice when you have to avoid some fool trying to change 4 lanes without looking.

I have never been a car guy, as my name states, but this vehicle is so much fun I broke down and spent about $60 and a couple hours of my time to add the tire and door sill decals. I also added an LED light in the trunk as the included hatch light is abysmal. I also replaced my under dash light with blue LEDS which my son loves and my wife thinks are completely ridiculous. I think that will be the extent of my modding though, no fancy paint wraps or tinting for me.

Nothing in this world is perfect though and the MS is no exception. My speakers produce an echo each time you change radio stations that lasts a few seconds. The brake pedal also has a strange rattle right at the top when you let go quickly and my phone’s Bluetooth won’t transfer contacts or call information. The car has also gone from a 90% charge of 185 miles to 181 miles. They are going to be pick it up in January to have these looked at. In addition, I had to get belt extenders for the backseat as it was way too hard to get the kids buckled in with their booster seats partially hiding the buckles.

However, everything else has been amazing. The navigation is better than anything I have used, including a couple of Garmin units. The slacker radio is a great feature. I find the seats very comfortable and the rear camera makes backing up a breeze. The camera easily compensates for the small back window.

Lack of storage space is not the issue I thought it was going to be. We have not gone on a long trip yet though so I haven’t tested how long my kids can go without a drink, but I suspect for those rare times it will be easy enough to grab a small cooler bag and place it between them in the back seat.

The main reason I bought the car though was for the battery technology and it is brilliant. Giving test drives and educating friends and family is a lot of fun especially when you can tell them the car does not use a drop of gas. No one can believe how an electric car can accelerate such a massive vehicle so quickly. I still can’t quite believe it myself. Sometimes I will catch myself making that “vroom” sound in my head when accelerating because the silence is still somewhat strange. I have associated noise with speed and power all my life.

I feel lucky to have been able to be in a position to afford this car and I can’t wait to see what Tesla will come up with in the near future.

 

[sickfox]

This car is an "A"!!! (AWESOME, AMAZING & 'AOUTSTANDING') I know, wrong spelling. :wink:

My wife and I picked up the car last week in Fremont, CA. It was raining pretty bad but we didn't care. We waited for 2.5 months for our car to be built and a little storm will not stop us from picking it up. I took a picture of her (below) while she was getting soaked. As soon as we parked our car in Fremont to pick it up, I already had the Tesla 'Grin'. Picking it up from the factory made it even more exciting!

Now, as soon as we picked it up, my wife drove it to San Jose, CA to get the calipers painted. While we were on the road, I noticed that she was only going 50+ mph. I was getting a little irritated because one, I know that she doesn't drive that slow and two, i know that the car is FAST! Maybe part of it was the rain so I disregarded it. We picked up the car 2 days later and she drove it home. Again, she was doing the same thing, 50+mph, this time, there was no rain. From the time we picked up the car, I haven't had the chance to drive it yet so I asked her what's the deal. And she said, I was just enjoying it.

Now it was my turn to drive. First impression: car is smooth, slick, and very muscular. It doesn't have the engine noise when you punch it, but IT CAN PUNCH!!! WOW! So, when we drove it to Burlingame, CA to go to the charging station, that's when i noticed that I was also driving at 50+mph. And that's when I TRULY appreciated how BEAUTIFUL this car is. The looks, the speed, the luxury and everything that comes with it. It's just a well thought out car and truly this is the car of the future.

Below are some pics of the car. Haven't washed her yet but I will after the next rain (Friday). She will be going through some "beautification" so stay tuned. Step 1 was complete (dechromed the window sidings with vinyl wrap). More to come... ENJOY!

 

[StephenM]

One month update. I am one day shy of one month in my MS and have no regrets about this car at all. My only problem is that my wife has not taken to the car. I think after being used to sitting high in her Pilot and having larger windows she is not comfortable in the low riding MS with its smaller viewports. This may be contributing to her car sickness as even when I drive sedately, she still complains she feels to much sudden movement.

My wife also gets motion sickness in the Model S for some reason though she was fine with my previous BMW and of course when she's driving her own car (Rav4). I will say she is on the weak side as far as this malady is concerned as she gets nauseous when trying to read something while the car is in motion.

Congratulations on getting your Tesla

 

[Notacarguy]

My wife also gets motion sickness in the Model S for some reason though she was fine with my previous BMW and of course when she's driving her own car (Rav4). I will say she is on the weak side as far as this malady is concerned as she gets nauseous when trying to read something while the car is in motion.

Congratulations on getting your Tesla

Thanks, you too. Hopefully the Model X and 3 will solve this problem for our wives.

 

[aronth5]

Well I'm not an owner (waiting for the Model 3), but yesterday was a great day as a friend let me take his P85 out for the evening.
He even did a range charge the night before to be sure there some extra miles for me after his long commute.

 

[techmaven]

With respect to motion sickness, I've found that between the instant torque and the high level of regen, it is easy for the driver to cause more sudden movements for the passengers. Especially new to Tesla drivers that are not used to gently backing off the go pedal. Since the driver is usually the one in control and can anticipate, the driver doesn't feel the effects. So several suggestions - don't abruptly take your foot off the go pedal... this may mean starting to slow down earlier, or learning to hold the go pedal at or near the "coasting" position. Try to avoid launching the car (might be hard to resist) when passengers are in the car.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

With respect to motion sickness, I...... Try to avoid launching the car (might be hard to resist) when passengers are in the car.

I wall confirm that this can be done after a couple of years!

I remember that first year and the constant 'oops sorry', as my I'd launch then look over to my wife scowling and threatening to torture me sometime too!

 

[P85D]

Wife said get out of the house this morning so I went out and took some pictures of my New P85D. Have a look

 

[morbot]

Picked my car up 10 days ago now, and there was only 1 day I haven't found an excuse to drive it... and only because I went out for a holiday party that day with lots of drinking so I took an Uber

It was great to get it before Christmas so I could show it off to all my friends & family in town. Let my dad take it for a test drive, but no one else so far. The delivery experience was cool, the Seattle "SoDo" service center has a nice vibe to it. Everyone I worked with during the whole process, from the first test drive to delivery seemed legitimately excited about the whole thing, both for me and about their product. It was a great experience.

Saw a green one in the delivery room when I picked up my black... seeing it in person and knowing it was being retired, I kinda wished I had grabbed one. My delivery specialist thought the final green/browns would arrive in December, at least at his location.

 

[mackgoo]

Hi P85D. I really like your blacked out bright work. How did you do that?

 

[P85D]

The guys at NWAUTOSALON.com wrapped the chrome window pieces , door handles and side insignia's. The rear part is painted with a removable paint. SO you can take it all off is you want in half a day. I am not a big fan of Chrome so drove it right from the Seattle "SoDo" service center to these guys for XPEL front Bra, Window tint and "Chrome Delete"

 

[morbot]

I figured you used NWAS, I got a quote from them on chrome deletion option as well
I may do it some day, but my first priorities are to get the car wrapped, windows tinted & wheels done (get my 19" cyclones darkened to match the 21" turbines)

 

[Footbag]

My P85D arrived yesterday. What a car.
I started getting interested in a Model S a bit over a year ago. However, living in Edmonton, I was not going to buy a non AWD car. The Model X was thus on the radar, but I really didn't want an SUV. I reached out to a forum member, who took me for a drive. Ok, now I knew it was really a special car, but still RWD. I happened to be at an event Elon spoke at. He, always a showman, drove through the crowd in a Model S (indoors), and they had one outside the conference for test drives. That man is an amazing speaker. Maybe not the most refined presenter, but uniquely gifted, and the thoughts he shared only proved to intrigue me further.


I was in Vegas this past summer, so made a point to go for a test drive. Decent (but not great) experience. The associate I had was new, and while nice, was not very informed. Also, doing a mild acceleration run to pass a car, the back end stepped out a bit (yep, even the P85 is very powerful). However, that further confirmed I didn't want RWD.

With the launch of the P85D, I finally felt it time to pull the trigger. After ordering, I happened to be in Chicago, so went by the SC with a colleague of mine. It was a fantastic experience! The staff was so kind. They offered up a test drive "want to take it for a spin, might help ease the pain of waiting, even though it won't be as fast as your P85D". Further, they wouldn't let me pay for a couple of shirts I picked out for me and the Mrs. Lastly, when we asked them to call us a cab to get back to our hotel, they gladly did so, but covered the fare. These are little things to be sure, but things that BMW, Lexus, and Infiniti had never done for us in many years of ownership. The Tesla expectation was starting to grow.

My DS has been ok to deal with.... I think he was just swamped, and likely had few answers to some of the big questions (delays, seats). Even the delivery driver that Tesla contracted was amazing. Really first class professional, who was fairly knowledgeable about the car "I can't quite give you the walk through the folks at the service center can, but I'll gladly share what I can, and get answers from Tesla for what I don't know". With all the info available elsewhere, I didn't take his time up on that, but did talk to him for a bit before letting him get the next P85D he had as cargo delivered to another anxious owner.


As for the car itself, it came with the red scarf around the headrests (my wife LOVED that, absolutely made her day). I quickly tested my HPWC charger, to find it only charging at 12 amps (later identified as improper dip switch settings). I didn't want to deal with that at the moment, so we headed out for an afternoon/evening of driving around town. It gets dark here quite early, so didn't see much in the way of reaction, other than a city bus driver giving us an excited thumbs up. Stopped by a friends place to show off the car (corvette nut). We were inside for just a minute or two before going out to look at the car, and already a neighbour walking his dog was on the driveway walking around the car. Turned out to be an older gentlemen from Austria. He saw TESLA and connected it to his hero, Nikola. After informing us how great Mr. Tesla was he then inquired about the car and was quite enthralled with it. Mr. Corvette loved the acceleration (even on snowy roads).

Yesterday I didn't notice any motor noise (except when launching), but today in giving a colleage a test ride, could absolutely hear the motor (front?) making a high pitched (but fairly quiet) noise. With conversation or music playing, I don't hear it, but in total silence I do... would get tiring if it was any more noticeable.


Arriving at work this morning, someone who was headed into a nearby business, called out to me "Is that a Massarati...Oh its a Tesla? All electric right? Aren't those like half a million dollars?" Didn't take long for my first Tesla moments!

 

[3s-a-charm]

Congrats, Footbag! Heated steering wheel?

 

[gpetti]

Congrats, that looks like the exact same truck that delivered my car in February. I think there are two main drivers they use out of Vancouver to Alberta. I can't remember this guys name but he had apparently been delivering Teslas since the beginning of Model S.