Rather than clogging up the Confirmed Orders thread, I thought I'd post how it's been going in a new thread.
As I mentioned before, I got a screw in the right rear tyre on delivery day and that provided my first Tesla moment. I headed down to my local tyre shop that I've dealt with over the last few years, at Quakers Hill. After I parked and got out of the car a bloke raced over to me saying "I can't believe it - a Tesla in Quakers Hill! Do you mind if I have a look?" He's a local lawn mowing contractor and he knew all about the car. Then the owner of the tyre centre came out. He'd heard of Tesla but not seen one. I explained what had happened and he said he'd see if he could patch the tyre. He had to drive it onto the hoist, so I had to give him instructions on how to move it and how to put it in jack mode and where the jack points were. He was blown away just driving it slowly across the yard to the workshop. While they were checking out the tyre, the lawnmower guy and I were having an in depth discussion about the car and he was taking photos and rang his wife excitedly to tell her what was happening. I would have offered him a test ride, but he had his lawn mowing gear on and ultimately, after the tyre centre baulked at attempting to repair the tyre, I needed to get back to St Leonards as soon as possible.
Anyway, when they handed the car back, I asked the tyre centre owner how much I owed him for taking a look at it, and he basically said "Nothing, just driving it was enough". So, despite the annoyance of the tyre, their reactions made it much better.
Next day, I surprised my sister and Mum by turning up in it for the trip up to the Central Coast. My sister, who is something of a car nut and drives a TT, loved it and when we get a bit more time, I've promised to let her have a drive of it. Mum said she thought the car was out of the future while we were on the trip up. I'm not normally a fan of driving on the M1, but the TACC made it easy and stress free.
Then it was off to work with it last Monday. I ended up doing test rides at lunch time every day Monday to Thursday and even managed to convert a couple of the die hard sceptics with some spirited acceleration runs up the M2.
Sadly, after less than a week of ownership, I already had two noticeable stone chips on the bonnet. The combination of the darkish colour and what seems to be soft paint seems to invite them. So, I spent some time on the weekend touching them up and the car is currently getting a full body paint protection film applied. I'll have it back on Wednesday and at least have some protection against further damage. I'm also expecting my Wheel Bands to arrive later this week and I'll get them installed this weekend.
The car certainly turns heads, and I've seen a few instances of phones being taken out to grab a photo.
All up, despite the tyre and paint chips, it's been an exceptional week and an exceptional car. What I really like is that I'm happy even to sit in the crappy M2 traffic now, instead of dreading the drive home. I even got off the M2 at Pennant Hills Rd once last week and headed through Dural to get home, just because I wanted to drive the car and it would take longer that way.
Phil
As I mentioned before, I got a screw in the right rear tyre on delivery day and that provided my first Tesla moment. I headed down to my local tyre shop that I've dealt with over the last few years, at Quakers Hill. After I parked and got out of the car a bloke raced over to me saying "I can't believe it - a Tesla in Quakers Hill! Do you mind if I have a look?" He's a local lawn mowing contractor and he knew all about the car. Then the owner of the tyre centre came out. He'd heard of Tesla but not seen one. I explained what had happened and he said he'd see if he could patch the tyre. He had to drive it onto the hoist, so I had to give him instructions on how to move it and how to put it in jack mode and where the jack points were. He was blown away just driving it slowly across the yard to the workshop. While they were checking out the tyre, the lawnmower guy and I were having an in depth discussion about the car and he was taking photos and rang his wife excitedly to tell her what was happening. I would have offered him a test ride, but he had his lawn mowing gear on and ultimately, after the tyre centre baulked at attempting to repair the tyre, I needed to get back to St Leonards as soon as possible.
Anyway, when they handed the car back, I asked the tyre centre owner how much I owed him for taking a look at it, and he basically said "Nothing, just driving it was enough". So, despite the annoyance of the tyre, their reactions made it much better.
Next day, I surprised my sister and Mum by turning up in it for the trip up to the Central Coast. My sister, who is something of a car nut and drives a TT, loved it and when we get a bit more time, I've promised to let her have a drive of it. Mum said she thought the car was out of the future while we were on the trip up. I'm not normally a fan of driving on the M1, but the TACC made it easy and stress free.
Then it was off to work with it last Monday. I ended up doing test rides at lunch time every day Monday to Thursday and even managed to convert a couple of the die hard sceptics with some spirited acceleration runs up the M2.
Sadly, after less than a week of ownership, I already had two noticeable stone chips on the bonnet. The combination of the darkish colour and what seems to be soft paint seems to invite them. So, I spent some time on the weekend touching them up and the car is currently getting a full body paint protection film applied. I'll have it back on Wednesday and at least have some protection against further damage. I'm also expecting my Wheel Bands to arrive later this week and I'll get them installed this weekend.
The car certainly turns heads, and I've seen a few instances of phones being taken out to grab a photo.
All up, despite the tyre and paint chips, it's been an exceptional week and an exceptional car. What I really like is that I'm happy even to sit in the crappy M2 traffic now, instead of dreading the drive home. I even got off the M2 at Pennant Hills Rd once last week and headed through Dural to get home, just because I wanted to drive the car and it would take longer that way.
Phil
