After what felt like an eternity (but really wasn't bad at all), I picked up my Model S from the Rockville MD service center on Friday. Short summary: What an incredible car. I'll be wearing the Tesla Grin for a LONG time.
I've uploaded some interior and exterior photos, because not many people seem to have my specific color combination (silver exterior, grey performance leather interior, obeche matte wood decor). Or at least I haven't found many photos yet. They're "only" iPhone photos so far -- I accidentally left my actual camera at work, and I'll add those photos to the album when I can.
https://plus.google.com/photos/117611954206662077432/albums/5921425397532157137
After confirming my order on 7/29, I originally booked a 9/6 delivery, then it got pushed back to 9/12 due to the factory retooling for the new options (e.g. parking sensors). While I wasn't thrilled about the delay, or the fact that I'd have had to pay several thousand dollars more to reprice the whole car if I wanted any of the new options (which I didn't do), I figured it would all work out... and it did. The service center proactively re-scheduled me to 9/7, and then they were able to further accommodate me when I found out my son's little league season started that day... by re-scheduling me again to 9/6!
I ended up taking most of the day off work, drove to CarMax to get rid of my 2004 Mazda 6 station wagon (so yeah, the P85 is just a *bit* of an upgrade), and then the Delivery Specialist picked me up and drove me to the service center to get started. I brought a printed copy of Nickjhowe's checklist (http://nickjhowe.com/tesla/modelsguide.html) with me -- thanks for organizing it! -- and everything seemed perfect. There was one software glitch where some of the icons on top weren't showing up, solved by a reboot. Since most of the paperwork was signed online, there was almost nothing else to do aside from the walk-through itself, temporary tag (from NJ -- I've gotten lots of questions about that), and front license plate holder.
What I didn't expect, despite spending ridiculous amounts of time reading posts here and on teslamotors.com, in no particular order:
* After delivery, I drove it to a friend's house nearby, and he immediately noticed a problem on the underside. (I guess I was too excited to see it right away.) The protective cover under the battery looked like it was partially torn off. Long story short, it happened when it came off the truck, they had already ordered a replacement part, and I can bring the car back any time to get it replaced. The service manager wasn't around when I took delivery, otherwise he'd have told me then, but he called an hour or so later to apologize and explain everything.
* I like the grey performance seats and trim a lot, but it's a shade or two lighter than I remember it. Even so, I still think it goes really well with the silver paint and obeche matte decor.
* The power! Even after two test drives, one of which was in a similarly configured car (P85, 19" wheels, air suspension), and both of which blew me away. While turning onto the main road out of the service center, I stepped on the accelerator a bit harder than I probably should have and the traction control had to kick in. Thinking about it from the perspective of maximizing performance and handling, I can definitely see why people think the 21" wheels are important and why people buy the Plus package. But the P85 with 19" wheels is *plenty* fast and (now that I'm more used to the pedal) handles just fine for me. Driving now feels almost effortless to me, as the car seems like it could handle any hill without compromising acceleration, any curve at WELL above the posted speed limit, and ridiculous acceleration from any starting speed.
* How conflicted I feel between maximizing efficiency (I love seeing Wh/mi drop) and maximizing opportunities to floor it.
* The noise. Obviously it's nearly silent compared to any gas-powered car, and I have no problem with the amount of road noise I hear while driving (i.e. not much). But particularly in a garage, when I open the door and the air conditioning comes on, the fan seems a bit loud. Not a complaint at all, just something I hadn't thought about.
* The size. I know it's a big car, and a wide car, and most of the time I agree with others that it doesn't drive like one. I strongly suspect I'll be more comfortable with it over time, but right now I'm really nervous parking it and driving in crowded lots. Part of it might also be because I've never had such an expensive car before. If I had ordered after 8/3, I'm pretty sure I would've gotten the parking sensors.
* How quickly it gets dirty. It still looks amazing, but it's my daily driver. I have 8-year-old twins -- a son who plays Little League baseball and a daughter who plays soccer. It's just not gonna stay clean, even if I were to clean it every day. I'm trying to decide what to do about OptiCoat and/or XPEL, so it's at least more likely to stay nice on the outside.
* Little things in the user interface. I was demoing the car to some co-workers, waiting to turn left, and I brought up the Controls screen. It has a picture of the car, and on it the turn signal was flashing in sync with the real one. I might have even read about this before, but when we saw it we all started laughing at how great it was that Tesla took the time to build in that level of detail. (We're also software engineers and we think about UI/UX all the time.)
* Others' reactions. I know I've read a ton about it, but I don't know if anything could have fully prepared me for it. The random thumbs-up, the reactions from friends & colleagues who sound more excited than I feel, and the barrage of questions about range, charging, etc. The guy who entered the info for my old car's appraisal at CarMax spent 20 minutes asking me about it after I told him what I was buying. When I got to my office after delivery, my co-workers didn't even want me to sit down at my desk before going back to the garage to show it off. Stopped at a light, random guy in a Volt was unbelievably excited and had me open my window to tell me so. I have yet to see my car surrounded by a crowd -- perhaps the DC area is beyond that point now.
I've uploaded some interior and exterior photos, because not many people seem to have my specific color combination (silver exterior, grey performance leather interior, obeche matte wood decor). Or at least I haven't found many photos yet. They're "only" iPhone photos so far -- I accidentally left my actual camera at work, and I'll add those photos to the album when I can.
https://plus.google.com/photos/117611954206662077432/albums/5921425397532157137
After confirming my order on 7/29, I originally booked a 9/6 delivery, then it got pushed back to 9/12 due to the factory retooling for the new options (e.g. parking sensors). While I wasn't thrilled about the delay, or the fact that I'd have had to pay several thousand dollars more to reprice the whole car if I wanted any of the new options (which I didn't do), I figured it would all work out... and it did. The service center proactively re-scheduled me to 9/7, and then they were able to further accommodate me when I found out my son's little league season started that day... by re-scheduling me again to 9/6!
I ended up taking most of the day off work, drove to CarMax to get rid of my 2004 Mazda 6 station wagon (so yeah, the P85 is just a *bit* of an upgrade), and then the Delivery Specialist picked me up and drove me to the service center to get started. I brought a printed copy of Nickjhowe's checklist (http://nickjhowe.com/tesla/modelsguide.html) with me -- thanks for organizing it! -- and everything seemed perfect. There was one software glitch where some of the icons on top weren't showing up, solved by a reboot. Since most of the paperwork was signed online, there was almost nothing else to do aside from the walk-through itself, temporary tag (from NJ -- I've gotten lots of questions about that), and front license plate holder.
What I didn't expect, despite spending ridiculous amounts of time reading posts here and on teslamotors.com, in no particular order:
* After delivery, I drove it to a friend's house nearby, and he immediately noticed a problem on the underside. (I guess I was too excited to see it right away.) The protective cover under the battery looked like it was partially torn off. Long story short, it happened when it came off the truck, they had already ordered a replacement part, and I can bring the car back any time to get it replaced. The service manager wasn't around when I took delivery, otherwise he'd have told me then, but he called an hour or so later to apologize and explain everything.
* I like the grey performance seats and trim a lot, but it's a shade or two lighter than I remember it. Even so, I still think it goes really well with the silver paint and obeche matte decor.
* The power! Even after two test drives, one of which was in a similarly configured car (P85, 19" wheels, air suspension), and both of which blew me away. While turning onto the main road out of the service center, I stepped on the accelerator a bit harder than I probably should have and the traction control had to kick in. Thinking about it from the perspective of maximizing performance and handling, I can definitely see why people think the 21" wheels are important and why people buy the Plus package. But the P85 with 19" wheels is *plenty* fast and (now that I'm more used to the pedal) handles just fine for me. Driving now feels almost effortless to me, as the car seems like it could handle any hill without compromising acceleration, any curve at WELL above the posted speed limit, and ridiculous acceleration from any starting speed.
* How conflicted I feel between maximizing efficiency (I love seeing Wh/mi drop) and maximizing opportunities to floor it.
* The noise. Obviously it's nearly silent compared to any gas-powered car, and I have no problem with the amount of road noise I hear while driving (i.e. not much). But particularly in a garage, when I open the door and the air conditioning comes on, the fan seems a bit loud. Not a complaint at all, just something I hadn't thought about.
* The size. I know it's a big car, and a wide car, and most of the time I agree with others that it doesn't drive like one. I strongly suspect I'll be more comfortable with it over time, but right now I'm really nervous parking it and driving in crowded lots. Part of it might also be because I've never had such an expensive car before. If I had ordered after 8/3, I'm pretty sure I would've gotten the parking sensors.
* How quickly it gets dirty. It still looks amazing, but it's my daily driver. I have 8-year-old twins -- a son who plays Little League baseball and a daughter who plays soccer. It's just not gonna stay clean, even if I were to clean it every day. I'm trying to decide what to do about OptiCoat and/or XPEL, so it's at least more likely to stay nice on the outside.
* Little things in the user interface. I was demoing the car to some co-workers, waiting to turn left, and I brought up the Controls screen. It has a picture of the car, and on it the turn signal was flashing in sync with the real one. I might have even read about this before, but when we saw it we all started laughing at how great it was that Tesla took the time to build in that level of detail. (We're also software engineers and we think about UI/UX all the time.)
* Others' reactions. I know I've read a ton about it, but I don't know if anything could have fully prepared me for it. The random thumbs-up, the reactions from friends & colleagues who sound more excited than I feel, and the barrage of questions about range, charging, etc. The guy who entered the info for my old car's appraisal at CarMax spent 20 minutes asking me about it after I told him what I was buying. When I got to my office after delivery, my co-workers didn't even want me to sit down at my desk before going back to the garage to show it off. Stopped at a light, random guy in a Volt was unbelievably excited and had me open my window to tell me so. I have yet to see my car surrounded by a crowd -- perhaps the DC area is beyond that point now.
