Adding data point. MCU1 to MCU2 and AP2 to AP3 upgrade completed in Paramus, NJ. Car is ready for pick up.
Dropped off on Friday morning, didn't see any movement until 3 pm Saturday and around 7 pm Saturday I got a "Software Update Complete" notification. The car was out for test drive this morning (Monday) at around 8.50 am so I'm assuming the upgrade took about 4 hours on Saturday and they staged the software and left for the weekend.
I did have a couple of minor items I added to the list (cabin filter replacement and brake caliper cleaning/brake fluid check). That may have added some time.
I did ask if I can keep the old MCU and they said that I'd have to pay the core fee of $1,000 to keep it so I passed on it. MCU upgrade had no added labor fees. Cabin filter replacement had minimal labor fee ($20) with the filter itself costing about $9.
Service in Paramus is excellent. People from New York may want to consider Paramus for this upgrade because
1. Service is EXCELLENT and
2. You save way more than you'd have paid in tolls going there and back because of lower sales tax.
I'll add any notable info on how the MCU2 and FSD performs when I pick up the car.
So impressions with the upgrade:
1. Bad stuff first, I lost all settings. I mean ALL except my music favorites. This really sucks because I lost my trip meters. I expected this and it was part of my checklist based on the TinkerTry website.
2. Mobile access is screwed up. I can't unlock the car using app (weirdly, I can lock and use keyless start), open trunk or frunk. Everything else on the app works. This was also part of my checklist based on another forum user’s experience.
Both these issues are being worked on remotely by Tesla. Highly doubt I'll get my settings back because they couldn't transfer it from my old MCU before they swapped in the new one (transfer failed). And it seems Tesla Paramus was using usb to transfer the settings as opposed to using the online toolbox Tesla provides.
I spoke to another Tesla Service Center that had been reported as being able to restore settings to see how they were able to restore the settings which was very informative. Instructions below in case anyone needs it.
In the Tesla Toolbox session, while connected to the old MCU, they create a backup image of settings. They are instructed to then re-flash the old MCU (seems Tesla is fixing the security issue previously report by green
Tesla has been getting rid of computers without wiping them — compromising customer accounts - Electrek). This is a good thing for security but, if the back up fails (this service center says the success rate is about 60%), they can’t restore the settings.
Once they have the back up, they restore it to the new MCU and it either works or it doesn’t.
Now on to the good stuff.
3. The UI is a DREAM! Trip calculations are ridiculously fast, I see animations on the UI that didn't work on old MCU or was too choppy to think it was an animation.
4. LTE Coverage is much much higher in all areas I'm driving in (put 250 miles so far since picking up the car yesterday) and the web browser works for every website.
5. IC is also very smooth and shows much nicer transitions and animations.
6. FM radio is gone. Expected, and before I took the car in I did create my FM radio favorites in the TuneIn app (For those that haven’t explored, you can navigate the FM radios by location in TuneIn to favorite in case voice search doesn’t bring it up). Slightly annoying thing about the FM radio missing, and this may be my light OCD kicking in, but the spacing of icons under music is off. On the left, icons are tightly spaced but as it moves right towards USB, it gets a little wider.
7. Dashcam is recording. Although I can't seem to access the 60 min loop on the dashcam viewer. In reading the manual again it seems the viewer is only for Sentry and Saved clips not the 60 min loop. The 60 min loop is on the drive though. I'm guessing they didn't want to constantly index the 60 min loop recording folder.
Other interesting notes:
8. Rear camera is much brighter than before. I know others have reported this before, its true.
9. Notifications volume is definitely louder. I might have to turn on Joe mode.
10. No traffic signal control initially. Nav database was up to date (it was downloading while I was at service center and continued downloading while I was driving connected to hotspot) but I'm seeing online reports that it will take some additional time. Tried reboot, walking away and letting the car sleep for 5 mins, no luck. This morning it was available.
11. Highway AP is not any better or worse than AP2 I had before. Don’t expect anything significant here. Maybe when PlaidNet rolls out it will be better on highways.
12. City AP is somewhat better but not a whole lot. Not counting visualizations obviously.
13. Car recognizes two usb drives I have (1 for music and another for sentry/dashcam). I thought it should but wasn't sure until now.
14. They didn't unplug or mess with the diagnostics port. I have two diagnostics connectors attached with an OBD splitter and they are still connected and working fine.
15. Interesting change people may not know come from old MCU 1 cars- a reboot using scroll wheels reboots both MCU and IC (as opposed to individual reboots available on MCU 1)
16. Tesla Paramus did a test drive and calibrated AP functions before giving the car back. Only thing that needed additional calibration was No Confirm NoA and Smart Summon.
Long and short of it, definitely a great upgrade. Highly recommend it if you're planning on holding on to the car for a while. But if you do, make a checklist to make sure you're set after the upgrade
