Better late than never, here's my delivery review and vehicle impressions.
Configuration: LR, 5 Seat, Blue/Black, 20", FSD
Accepted delivery at Fremont factory on
Thursday the 30th, the gentleman who assisted me with the trade in and final payment was somewhat exhausted, end of quarter crunch clearly hitting him hard.
Regrettably I was unable to persuade him to allow me to inspect the inside of the vehicle before paying, or processing the trade-in.
Exterior: Other than a few minor scuffs on the hood, and a piece of trim misalignment for the driver side FWD, it was absolutely perfect.
Transaction and tech transfer troubles: I paid via Plaid which was smooth, and we processed the trade-in which was entirely painless.
The Tesla app transitioned to the new car being active, at which point I was unable to control the vehicle. I stood outside the car trying to unlock with the app for about 10 minutes - the error "command timed out" would come up after ~90 seconds.
I tried logging out and logging back into the app. The issue persisted, and re-installing the app was what finally resolved the it granting, finally, access to inspect the interior.
Interior: Similarly was perfect, despite being slightly disheveled in terms of passenger seat backs not being locked into position.
FWDs, front doors, trunk and frunk all responding appropriately, seat materials immaculate, sound system bold and detailed,
The drive home was smooth and comfortable, I was pleasantly surprised by how pleasant it is to drive with a cooled bottom.
In the last few days I've identified a few additional issues:
- The charge port door won't open when I push the button on my home charger, nor will it open when I push the door.
- The yoke isn't perfectly aligned
Along with the minor trim alignment issue identified on the exterior, those are what I'm requesting the service center correct.
The good:
- It's a joy to drive, I'm thrilled with the vehicle interior comfort, ride, performance and features.
- Better quality than anticipated, both FWDs function beautifully every time which is a tremendous relief after the horror stories.
- Interior is dramatically better than the previously owned and previously driven Tesla models (pre-2021 refresh).
- Smooth, powerful throttle response in "Sport".
The bad:
- While I understand the pressure of a crunch, an ambivalent and exhausted delivery staff dampened my enthusiasm at handover time.
- Comfort setting rocks the cabin forward (subtly, but noticeably) even when using gentle single-peddle braking. I expected better from the dynamic suspension.
The ugly:
- This car has markedly better fit and finish than my 2016 Model S, but Tesla still has challenges with the quality of the fit and finish, as observed with the exterior panel alignment.
- Whoever is cleaning these cars for delivery needs to be more careful with the paint. Scratches in the paintwork at delivery are ridiculous.
they’d better get their a$$es in gear. We’ve got a baby on the way and if our July order isn’t fulfilled by end of September I don’t know what we’re going to do!
. I had a baby in August and we were fine with waiting until last January, but is really dragging out now.
