After 2.5 impatient months and lots of second-guessing and self-doubt, I frove from Fresno and picked up my S85 at the Fremont factory yesterday. I had lots of doubts after ordering about whether I was ready to make the leap to electric, being a "car guy" all my life and historically enjoying V8 German cars. Easing the transition was the fact that I am keeping my 2013 F150 platinum, at least for now, and my wife has a LR4 for anxiety-free road trips if needed. I brought my two teenage kids with me for the tour, one a car guy like myself and the other, my daughter, largely disinterested on cars other than her honda civic getting her from A to B. As it turns out they both absolutely loved the factory tour. but I'll get to that.
First, my order. S85 in silver with panoramic roof, 19s, black napa leather and premium interior package, obeche gloss wood, black alcantara headliner, dual chargers, tech package with autopilot, smart air, premium sound. I opted against AWD as I am not looking for extreme performance and don't need AWD.
When we first pulled up at the factory I was surprised to see a big white tent out front with about 20 cars arranged in a circle inside. All the factory deliver reports I had read online showed people getting their car in the delivery stalls inside, but I assume they're too big for that now as from what I saw there are only 3 of those inside and they had model cars in there yesterday, not customer cars. We went in and checked in at the front desk which was very efficient. The lounge was about half full of excited customers there to pick up their cars. The vibe was definitely younger, successful, techie. BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche are losing this demographic to Tesla big-time, at least in California.
Although I was 20 minutes early I was immediately taken back by a Tesla employee and completed a little DMV paperwork. I had already paid for the car (0.61% APR 100% financing via Energy Federal Credit Union, thanks to a tip here) so that whole process took 5 minutes. Then my delivery specialist took me out to the tent and finally I got to see my car. I was excited and a little concerned that I had made the right choices. I needn't have worried, I personally think the stock 19s look great on a silver car and I wasn't prepared to babysit 21s (personal preference). The other concern I had was my option of black alcantara headliner in a black leather car as the majority of people opt for the cream. I loved it. And I was surprised to see part of the dash covered in alcantara, I wasn't expecting that. Perhaps because of the premium interior package?
My DS spent the next 45 minutes reviewing all the features and although I had watched all the videos and had a test drive, I still learned a lot and was kind of overwhelmed with the amount of customization of the software that can be done. It was also my first time seeing the autopilot equipment and the newer mercedes/stalks. There were a few other people in the tent and the whole atmosphere was one of an adult christmas morning.
My DS then pulled the car out of the tent and parked it out front.
10 minutes later we were on the tour with about 30 other people. I was so surprised at how interesting the tour was and it really increased my fanboy cool-aid drinking Tesla enthusiasm a lot seeing all the investment in robots and technology and the vast scope and scale of the operation of the factory. To say it's enormous in there is to fall short of the vast scale of the place. My kids completely loved it and were fascinated by the robots and watching them move whole cars around and seeing the cars start out in the huge stampers and end up on the bamboo floor. It was truly an awesome experience and one that I had somewhat discounted in advance, being so focused on the deliver itself. The tour guide was fantastic.
The drive home of course was the best part. I hit the supercharger station in Gilroy along with about 8 other Teslas. At first I was frustrated thinking the charging wasn't working because having never used one before I didn't realize how hard you have to ram that plug into the hole so I was getting a cable error on my dash. A helpful guy next door showed me how. I went and got a quick bite to eat with my kids and came back with a full charge and we headed to Fresno.
Wow all I can say is any doubt I had about making the move to electric complete vanished. What a transformative experience to drive a Tesla. My kids were completely amazed at the silence and the power, having not been in one before. When I pulled up at home I still had 100 miles of range left and realized I could have comfortably skipped the supercharger in Gilroy, but I was glad for the experience.
i plugged into my recent installed charger and was happy to see 240V and 40A and a charge rate of 29-30 miles/hr. Plenty for my commute of maybe 20-80 miles per day depending on which office I am working at or if I am on call.
I am so glad I didn't cancel my order and get an Audi S6 as I was very close to doing. THis is the right car for me, I am both a car guy and a tech guy and was looking for something different than a long line of german vehicles that have occupied my garage over the years.
First, my order. S85 in silver with panoramic roof, 19s, black napa leather and premium interior package, obeche gloss wood, black alcantara headliner, dual chargers, tech package with autopilot, smart air, premium sound. I opted against AWD as I am not looking for extreme performance and don't need AWD.
When we first pulled up at the factory I was surprised to see a big white tent out front with about 20 cars arranged in a circle inside. All the factory deliver reports I had read online showed people getting their car in the delivery stalls inside, but I assume they're too big for that now as from what I saw there are only 3 of those inside and they had model cars in there yesterday, not customer cars. We went in and checked in at the front desk which was very efficient. The lounge was about half full of excited customers there to pick up their cars. The vibe was definitely younger, successful, techie. BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche are losing this demographic to Tesla big-time, at least in California.
Although I was 20 minutes early I was immediately taken back by a Tesla employee and completed a little DMV paperwork. I had already paid for the car (0.61% APR 100% financing via Energy Federal Credit Union, thanks to a tip here) so that whole process took 5 minutes. Then my delivery specialist took me out to the tent and finally I got to see my car. I was excited and a little concerned that I had made the right choices. I needn't have worried, I personally think the stock 19s look great on a silver car and I wasn't prepared to babysit 21s (personal preference). The other concern I had was my option of black alcantara headliner in a black leather car as the majority of people opt for the cream. I loved it. And I was surprised to see part of the dash covered in alcantara, I wasn't expecting that. Perhaps because of the premium interior package?
My DS spent the next 45 minutes reviewing all the features and although I had watched all the videos and had a test drive, I still learned a lot and was kind of overwhelmed with the amount of customization of the software that can be done. It was also my first time seeing the autopilot equipment and the newer mercedes/stalks. There were a few other people in the tent and the whole atmosphere was one of an adult christmas morning.
My DS then pulled the car out of the tent and parked it out front.
10 minutes later we were on the tour with about 30 other people. I was so surprised at how interesting the tour was and it really increased my fanboy cool-aid drinking Tesla enthusiasm a lot seeing all the investment in robots and technology and the vast scope and scale of the operation of the factory. To say it's enormous in there is to fall short of the vast scale of the place. My kids completely loved it and were fascinated by the robots and watching them move whole cars around and seeing the cars start out in the huge stampers and end up on the bamboo floor. It was truly an awesome experience and one that I had somewhat discounted in advance, being so focused on the deliver itself. The tour guide was fantastic.
The drive home of course was the best part. I hit the supercharger station in Gilroy along with about 8 other Teslas. At first I was frustrated thinking the charging wasn't working because having never used one before I didn't realize how hard you have to ram that plug into the hole so I was getting a cable error on my dash. A helpful guy next door showed me how. I went and got a quick bite to eat with my kids and came back with a full charge and we headed to Fresno.
Wow all I can say is any doubt I had about making the move to electric complete vanished. What a transformative experience to drive a Tesla. My kids were completely amazed at the silence and the power, having not been in one before. When I pulled up at home I still had 100 miles of range left and realized I could have comfortably skipped the supercharger in Gilroy, but I was glad for the experience.
i plugged into my recent installed charger and was happy to see 240V and 40A and a charge rate of 29-30 miles/hr. Plenty for my commute of maybe 20-80 miles per day depending on which office I am working at or if I am on call.
I am so glad I didn't cancel my order and get an Audi S6 as I was very close to doing. THis is the right car for me, I am both a car guy and a tech guy and was looking for something different than a long line of german vehicles that have occupied my garage over the years.