Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

PROOF active participation in Tesla Motors Club is a VALUABLE activity

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I became a member in Tesla Motors Club in June 2016 but did not spend significant time on the website until recently. This was a serious mistake that cost me in many ways.


I ordered a Model S 90D on July 1 and accepted delivery on August 18, 2016. Like several new owners I was distressed when Autopilot 2 arrived, making my vehicle less desirable after only two months of ownership. This enticed my return to the Tesla Motors Club website and proved to be a MOST educational experience.


On the website, I quickly learned that Autopliot 2 was known to be imminent for months and those desiring this feature should delay their purchase. I also was amazed at the significant discounts received on new Tesla vehicles toward the end of the quarter. By staying active on TMC, I easily could have delayed my purchase and saved thousands or obtained AP2. Without active participation, I knew neither of these facts and paid full price for a vehicle without AP2.


In addition to missing these two opportunities, the posts also put lack of AP2 into proper perspective. I have many upgrades not available to earlier adopters such as all wheel drive, AP1, new front end, and 90kWh battery. The combination of Tesla and Space X represent the most innovative group in the history of America. Apple and NASA of the 1960s are close but have been surpassed. With great innovation comes rapid change. As you old-timers made clear to us newbies, enjoy your Tesla. I do. Everyday, more and more!!! Those folks with AP2 will soon experience the next upgrade and join the rest of us.


The posts by many senior members have eliminated my angst related to AP2. THANKS to everyone. Keep it coming. PS. How can I change my Avatar?
 
I became a member in Tesla Motors Club in June 2016 but did not spend significant time on the website until recently. This was a serious mistake that cost me in many ways.


I ordered a Model S 90D on July 1 and accepted delivery on August 18, 2016. Like several new owners I was distressed when Autopilot 2 arrived, making my vehicle less desirable after only two months of ownership. This enticed my return to the Tesla Motors Club website and proved to be a MOST educational experience.


On the website, I quickly learned that Autopliot 2 was known to be imminent for months and those desiring this feature should delay their purchase. I also was amazed at the significant discounts received on new Tesla vehicles toward the end of the quarter. By staying active on TMC, I easily could have delayed my purchase and saved thousands or obtained AP2. Without active participation, I knew neither of these facts and paid full price for a vehicle without AP2.


In addition to missing these two opportunities, the posts also put lack of AP2 into proper perspective. I have many upgrades not available to earlier adopters such as all wheel drive, AP1, new front end, and 90kWh battery. The combination of Tesla and Space X represent the most innovative group in the history of America. Apple and NASA of the 1960s are close but have been surpassed. With great innovation comes rapid change. As you old-timers made clear to us newbies, enjoy your Tesla. I do. Everyday, more and more!!! Those folks with AP2 will soon experience the next upgrade and join the rest of us.


The posts by many senior members have eliminated my angst related to AP2. THANKS to everyone. Keep it coming. PS. How can I change my Avatar?
Good post. Very positive perspective, thanks. If you had left out the part about Apple being surpassed it would have been perfect. Maybe someday but as of now Apple changed the way the world thinks about things, very innovative (not to mention it's a $640 billion dollar company and very well run).
 
Microsoft has been in decline for a decade now, but they are still a huge company with a big impact on the industry. Apple will likely remain a major player for some time to come.

Many heavy hitters in the tech industry end up significant players over time, but become less visible. For example Qualcomm was known by consumers in the 1990s for their e-mail client (Eudora) as well as their early ventures in the cellular industry. Qualcomm is still around and is a big company in the mobile phone business, but they do most of their business in the infrastructure end of things rather than making products consumers see. Many cell phones in people's hands today have Qualcomm technology if not their parts inside.

There are a lot of former tech darlings that were once household names but are still around and still quite viable, but what they do is only seen by others in the industry, so they don't get much attention.

Apple may follow the same path and become a behind the scenes giant with their hands in tech people use, but don't realize it is an Apple product.

In any case, it may hurt a bit to have new tech come out just after you plunked down a big wad of money for your car, but it will happen no matter when you buy. There is always some new tech just around the corner.

As I said the other day, I find it ironic that people are complaining that they have a car that is one nicest cars ever built and one of the most fun to drive and they are complaining that their version won't drive itself. I've only had one long roadtrip thus far, but while AP was nice on the long boring stretches, and it's nice when I get stuck in a traffic jam, I turned off AP and drove it myself when the road got curvy. First off I didn't like the line the car took on curves, I had to resist taking over on anything more than a shallow curve, and it's more fun to drive the car myself on a mountain road. I drove SR 43 from Atascadero to I-5 in California without hitting the brake pedal once. That was some pretty significant mountain road. I drove it a lot in college and it was so much nicer in the Model S!
 
I'm really glad to hear it, @DDD4EV. TMC has been an unbelievable wealth of education for me. I discovered it days after placing my order, back when we waited 3+ months for delivery. By the time I got my car, I was a fully informed user. I knew essentially everything I needed to know about EVs, the industry, their impact on our planet and most importantly, my car. When I got in her for the first time, after being delivered to my house for free, it actually felt somewhat familiar.

But here is the shocker: I posted that I had an odd tear in my pano seal. Tesla ACTUALLY emailed me to schedule a service visit and came and picked up the car from my office. For free. I hadn't had the chance to call them.

Now, how is that for service?

Those were the days....
 
Hindsight is always 20/20. There was a survey about the announcement and less than 50% guessed that AP2.0 will be announced and even those who guessed correctly, I'm pretty sure did not expect self driving car in year or two. I for one expected Tesla to go all in with new tech but in 2H2017...

Bottom line, enjoy your (almost) glitch free car while AP2.0 owners go through what AP1.0 owners endured in 2015. And, know that new Teslas will be 'obsolete' soon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: davidc18
I agree with @DDD4EV 's observation .Ordered my MS in June and took delivery in July. I have been an avid follower of the forums on Tesla website, I never ventured out to TMC forum until I got the MS. Only then I realized that TMC has a much more active member participation in terms of posts and information shared.I wish both these forums can be integrated somehow as they strive to accomplish the same goal -empowering existing ,new MS and soon to be Tesla family members.
 
  • Like
Reactions: davidc18
I became a member in Tesla Motors Club in June 2016 but did not spend significant time on the website until recently. This was a serious mistake that cost me in many ways.


...


The posts by many senior members have eliminated my angst related to AP2. THANKS to everyone. Keep it coming. PS. How can I change my Avatar?
Welcome to TMC as an owner. I have learned a huge amount from TMC and continue to do so. I am regularly surprised about new things I learn. Chances are good you will too. Maybe the most important one is that the very latest Tesla usually has features that are retrofittable or simply come with a software update. When whatever it is is not retrofittable we still have wonderful cars. I keep thinking about getting a new one, I still stay with my now ancient antique P85D. I did upgrade to LTE and did get Ludicrous, but I'll happily keep my car for another year or so, after which I'll move to a physically smaller car :D hopefully with all the same goodies and more!

TMC always helps keep our perspectives clear and keeps us aware of the delightful diversity of Tesla owners, drivers and other interested people.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DarylS2001 and Chaz
"Very positive perspective, thanks. If you had left out the part about Apple being surpassed it would have been perfect."



I apologize for raising the specter of Apple on a Tesla forum and have to admit that the iPhone has changed the world. In spite of this, I would like to continue my support for Elon and the crew he has amassed.


We all know of the incredible innovations present throughout our Teslas. The video of Autopilot 2 demonstrated amazing performance from a vehicle that did not appear different from any other Tesla. In contrast, Google’s autonomous vehicle has a squirrel cage on top. Although Tesla has not changed the world, it is a mass of incredible innovation.


Space X is no different. Since the early years of the space race, USA and Russia have been searching for a path to recover their first stage rockets in reusable condition. This has been the elusive Holy Grail for decades. Elon and his crew not only recovered their first stage intact, they landed it on a floating platform in the ocean. Not life-changing, but incredibly innovative.
 
Now hold on there buddy.

Microsoft's stock price is up 100% in the last 3 years. Yep, that's quite a decline.

At one time the world hung on every new release from Microsoft. People lined up at stores to be the first ones to get the new OS. Microsoft completely dominated the computer market with well over 90% of all personal computers. Handheld computers were virtually non-existent.

In 2016 Microsoft dropped below 90% market share on desktops/laptops for the first time in many years and that niche of the computer market has shrunk dramatically in recent years. Portable devices are dominated by Android and iOS, Windows is an also ran in that market.

Microsoft is still a viable company and the business world still uses Windows quite heavily, but the consumer computer market has changed and they missed the boat. They are laying people off http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/29/technology/microsoft-layoffs-july-jobs/

Intel has also seen a decline as the desktop/laptop market declines. Intel has a major microprocessor development branch in the Portland area and they have been quietly laying off people for a couple of years. A friend's husband is a former Intel engineer and he's having trouble finding work after leaving Intel (just before the layoffs, but the next job didn't pan out). The Portland market is saturated with ex-Intel engineers looking for work.

Intel too will survive. They have more products than just microprocessors, but the 8086 descendants have been their bread and butter for 30 years. The decline in that market is hitting them hard.
 
Interesting story, for it's irony.

Eudora was not a Qualcomm invention -- they bought it late in it's lifecycle from the original independent developer and it stagnated thereafter.

Eudora was first released in 1988 and Qualcomm acquired it in 1991, development essentially ended in 2006. I wouldn't call that late in its life-cycle. Most people didn't even know what e-mail was in 1991.
 
Good post. Very positive perspective, thanks. If you had left out the part about Apple being surpassed it would have been perfect. Maybe someday but as of now Apple changed the way the world thinks about things, very innovative (not to mention it's a $640 billion dollar company and very well run).
If Elon's vision is fulfilled and the company survives, he will have done to the automotive and energy industries what Steve Jobs did to the cell phone industry. The global impact of Tesla Motors and Tesla Energy could be one of the largest positive changes in the world ever seen. I wouldn't call it far-fetched that Tesla exceeds Apple one day.

Another way to put it in perspective is to look at the age of Tesla... 10 years or so now? Apple wasn't the Apple we know now in its first 10 years.

I for one am drinking (guzzling) the Tesla Kool-Aid because of where I think this will all be in another 10-20 years. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: SageBrush