So yesterday was the long-awaited delivery of my 85D at the store in Syosset, NY.
What a day! What a car!
First my specs:
“Old/discontinued” Blue
Grey Next Gen Interior
Black Alcantara
Pano Roof
Active Air Suspension
Carbon Fiber accents
Premium Interior leather/lighting
Standard Sound
Subzero Weather Package
Autopilot
19 wheels with standard rims
VIN 854xx
I ordered the March 23rd, Confirmed a week later, made a slight change in early April to take advantage of the new pricing which dropped the price of my conifg by $600 while adding premium interior and lighting (which I had omitted from my original confirg.) I was hit with a $500 change fee but saved $100 and came out ahead overall so I didn’t mind.
My car arrived in Syosset the week of June 15th but I was overseas and only able to schedule to pick up my new baby yesterday afternoon.
Now for the good stuff…
The car is BEAUTIFUL. I spent the better part of the past 3 months fretting over fit and finish issues (miss-aligned doors, lift gates., sub par interiors for a $100,000 car…blah blah blah.) so far, the car is stunning.
Perhaps not the most luxe interior I have driven but a VAST improvement over the cars I remember seeing in 2012 and 2013. I have to be honest guys, in the early days of showroom visits I always left a bit disappointed at the fit and finish of the Model S interior. But I’m so happy to say that my car, as configured/delivered more than exceeds my expectations.
I am so glad I got the old discontinued blue. The “new” blue is lovely of course, but I found it way to similar to the blue of my Chevy Volt (what can I say am obsessed with the color blue, guys) a few people at the Syosset supercharger stopped to ask me about my color. I am happy knowing my car is somehow unique and “custom” as the old blue color is no longer an option. I actually like that it looks almost black in all but direct sunlight. A minor change once in a while to keep things from getting boring.
I am also happy to see Tesla listening to customer feedback every now and again. Being able to open the charge port door directly from the chargeport itself when you don’t have Tesla branded charging equipment was a big deal for me b/c for the foreseeable future I may be stuck using non-Telsa methods for charging.
Also, since I used to constantly forget to close the charge port on my Chevy Volt, its nice to see Telsa adding “auto close” saves me from getting in and out of my car.
The car itself drives like a dream. I had a bit of traffic heading home yesterday afternoon and I drove in “old lady mode,” but this morning I took the long way around to work (to avoid the traffic on the West side) and was able to play around with TACC and “punch the goose peddle” a little bit.. whooooooo!
I did not get the Premium sound package b/c I found it overpriced for what was delivered and so far I am happy with this decision. The standard sound does occasionally sound anemic, but I expected no less given that there is no subwoofer in the package. I’ll be getting a Reus upgrade sometime in fall or around the holidays and in the meantime will be doing a good bit of testing… right now I’m listening to lots of hiphiop and rap, next week I will switch to mostly “techno” and let the chips fall where they may.
Part of me wishes I had taken the plunge much earlier b/c the Model S is such a great car. But I know deep down I’m glad I waited this long. Never mind that as a product the Model S is constantly evolving, but what is being delivered today is a much more mature product than what was available in 2013 – I financed my baby against the objections of many who said that this technology was evolving so quickly that I should lease and trade up after 3 years. But even with this financing, if I REALLY want something better, I can put the car up for sale at any time and get something newer. That said, I know if something really nice technology wise gets released this fall at the same price point that I paid, I probably will feel selfishly miffed.
A few very, very minor disappointments:
1.My car shipped with 3G not LTE – “there is a retrofit available if you are interested,“ said my DS…
2. My DS could not explain TACC to me. I grew up driving Mercedes so I am familiar with the Mercedes steering wheel and stalk but always found Mercedes CC counter- intuitive, while Lexus, Nisan, Cadillac, Hyundai, and Chevy CC were always intuitive to me. I have never had “TACC” in any of my vehicles so I can only compare what Tesla offers with plain old CC. I think I will eventually “get it” but my DS was unhelpful “I don’t ever use CC…” he said to me., and moved on. Not cool.
3. I am doing my best to learn to drive with creep off, but something strange is going on when I am stopped at a very slight incline. Hill Hold does not activate (I suspect the gradient was not enough to engage Hill Hold) but on a number of occasions I felt the car start to roll back when I lifted my foot off the break in order to step on the goose pedal.
I was in bumper to bumper traffic outside the Midtown tunnel and was so afraid that I would roll back and scrape against the car behind me that was following me a bit too closely. (I did roll back a bit.. and it was completely unnerving!)I really don’t want to use creep, but I will say I have only ever driven automatic cars, and the Chevy Volt which has creep, so I am familiar with creep much more than no creep and find it useful for small maneuvers.
4. I could not get my EZ Pass scanned at the toll plaza. My DS mentioned that zone in the windshield that is most unobstructed to RF is to the right of the rear view mirror (on the passenger side) which I found counter intuitive. In all cars I have seen the unobstructed zone is on the driver’s side, but before I could test this, a cop came by and I handed him my EZ Pass and he helped me get through. My DS did say that I would most likely have to invest in an EZ Pass that goes in the nosecone, but I was so hopeful that everything would be ok as is. Oh well, another minor disappointment.
5. The frunk on the D is smaller than I had anticipated. I feel like you lose more than just the trunk cargo space box area..
Overall I am so, so, SO happy with my Model S. My charging situation is still a little touch and go, but I live a block and a half from the Telsa showroom at Columbus Circle which has 2 HPWC in the garage that I am hoping to use on occasion. I am not allowed to plug in at my garage at work, and I park mostly on the street at home. I will email my sales rep and DS asking permission to use the HPWC before showing up and currently remain hopeful and am sending positive energy out into the universe. – a coworker of mine did kindly comment:
“you just forked over $100,000.. I’d be shocked if they balk at giving you a few dollars in free electricity once in a while. “ Should that not work out, I will be stuck paying $0.49/kWh.. the prospect of which I am not too excited about.
we shall see.
What a day! What a car!
First my specs:
“Old/discontinued” Blue
Grey Next Gen Interior
Black Alcantara
Pano Roof
Active Air Suspension
Carbon Fiber accents
Premium Interior leather/lighting
Standard Sound
Subzero Weather Package
Autopilot
19 wheels with standard rims
VIN 854xx
I ordered the March 23rd, Confirmed a week later, made a slight change in early April to take advantage of the new pricing which dropped the price of my conifg by $600 while adding premium interior and lighting (which I had omitted from my original confirg.) I was hit with a $500 change fee but saved $100 and came out ahead overall so I didn’t mind.
My car arrived in Syosset the week of June 15th but I was overseas and only able to schedule to pick up my new baby yesterday afternoon.
Now for the good stuff…
The car is BEAUTIFUL. I spent the better part of the past 3 months fretting over fit and finish issues (miss-aligned doors, lift gates., sub par interiors for a $100,000 car…blah blah blah.) so far, the car is stunning.
Perhaps not the most luxe interior I have driven but a VAST improvement over the cars I remember seeing in 2012 and 2013. I have to be honest guys, in the early days of showroom visits I always left a bit disappointed at the fit and finish of the Model S interior. But I’m so happy to say that my car, as configured/delivered more than exceeds my expectations.
I am so glad I got the old discontinued blue. The “new” blue is lovely of course, but I found it way to similar to the blue of my Chevy Volt (what can I say am obsessed with the color blue, guys) a few people at the Syosset supercharger stopped to ask me about my color. I am happy knowing my car is somehow unique and “custom” as the old blue color is no longer an option. I actually like that it looks almost black in all but direct sunlight. A minor change once in a while to keep things from getting boring.
I am also happy to see Tesla listening to customer feedback every now and again. Being able to open the charge port door directly from the chargeport itself when you don’t have Tesla branded charging equipment was a big deal for me b/c for the foreseeable future I may be stuck using non-Telsa methods for charging.
Also, since I used to constantly forget to close the charge port on my Chevy Volt, its nice to see Telsa adding “auto close” saves me from getting in and out of my car.
The car itself drives like a dream. I had a bit of traffic heading home yesterday afternoon and I drove in “old lady mode,” but this morning I took the long way around to work (to avoid the traffic on the West side) and was able to play around with TACC and “punch the goose peddle” a little bit.. whooooooo!
I did not get the Premium sound package b/c I found it overpriced for what was delivered and so far I am happy with this decision. The standard sound does occasionally sound anemic, but I expected no less given that there is no subwoofer in the package. I’ll be getting a Reus upgrade sometime in fall or around the holidays and in the meantime will be doing a good bit of testing… right now I’m listening to lots of hiphiop and rap, next week I will switch to mostly “techno” and let the chips fall where they may.
Part of me wishes I had taken the plunge much earlier b/c the Model S is such a great car. But I know deep down I’m glad I waited this long. Never mind that as a product the Model S is constantly evolving, but what is being delivered today is a much more mature product than what was available in 2013 – I financed my baby against the objections of many who said that this technology was evolving so quickly that I should lease and trade up after 3 years. But even with this financing, if I REALLY want something better, I can put the car up for sale at any time and get something newer. That said, I know if something really nice technology wise gets released this fall at the same price point that I paid, I probably will feel selfishly miffed.
A few very, very minor disappointments:
1.My car shipped with 3G not LTE – “there is a retrofit available if you are interested,“ said my DS…
2. My DS could not explain TACC to me. I grew up driving Mercedes so I am familiar with the Mercedes steering wheel and stalk but always found Mercedes CC counter- intuitive, while Lexus, Nisan, Cadillac, Hyundai, and Chevy CC were always intuitive to me. I have never had “TACC” in any of my vehicles so I can only compare what Tesla offers with plain old CC. I think I will eventually “get it” but my DS was unhelpful “I don’t ever use CC…” he said to me., and moved on. Not cool.
3. I am doing my best to learn to drive with creep off, but something strange is going on when I am stopped at a very slight incline. Hill Hold does not activate (I suspect the gradient was not enough to engage Hill Hold) but on a number of occasions I felt the car start to roll back when I lifted my foot off the break in order to step on the goose pedal.
I was in bumper to bumper traffic outside the Midtown tunnel and was so afraid that I would roll back and scrape against the car behind me that was following me a bit too closely. (I did roll back a bit.. and it was completely unnerving!)I really don’t want to use creep, but I will say I have only ever driven automatic cars, and the Chevy Volt which has creep, so I am familiar with creep much more than no creep and find it useful for small maneuvers.
4. I could not get my EZ Pass scanned at the toll plaza. My DS mentioned that zone in the windshield that is most unobstructed to RF is to the right of the rear view mirror (on the passenger side) which I found counter intuitive. In all cars I have seen the unobstructed zone is on the driver’s side, but before I could test this, a cop came by and I handed him my EZ Pass and he helped me get through. My DS did say that I would most likely have to invest in an EZ Pass that goes in the nosecone, but I was so hopeful that everything would be ok as is. Oh well, another minor disappointment.
5. The frunk on the D is smaller than I had anticipated. I feel like you lose more than just the trunk cargo space box area..
Overall I am so, so, SO happy with my Model S. My charging situation is still a little touch and go, but I live a block and a half from the Telsa showroom at Columbus Circle which has 2 HPWC in the garage that I am hoping to use on occasion. I am not allowed to plug in at my garage at work, and I park mostly on the street at home. I will email my sales rep and DS asking permission to use the HPWC before showing up and currently remain hopeful and am sending positive energy out into the universe. – a coworker of mine did kindly comment:
“you just forked over $100,000.. I’d be shocked if they balk at giving you a few dollars in free electricity once in a while. “ Should that not work out, I will be stuck paying $0.49/kWh.. the prospect of which I am not too excited about.
we shall see.
