Tow Hitch Waiting Room

[pmg102]

Alternatively. I’m tempted with stick on plates. So could always use the one I take off the back I guess.

 

[lowcarbon]

Great to know worth waiting for tow-hitch (bikes + dinghy option). Do regret adding to order as still waiting for VIN match -- though suspect the 19" Sport makes this a non-standard M3.

 

[pdk42]

Quick towing report. With one of these on the back (about 900Kg and 11m long):

And doing about 50-55mph on a mix of dual and single carriageways with numerous roundabouts, this is the consumption report:

Not as good as I was hoping for (around 330-340), but not bad. It's still about 200miles range from a full battery. I'll still bank on less, but it shouldn't stop me doing a decent journey with appropriately-planned Supercharger stops. Of course, unhitching is necessary which is a bit of a faff.

 

[Cogarch]

Tried the tow hitch and a Thule EasyFold bike rack today for the first time.

Tow hitch was a bit fiddly at first, but think I have it sussed now. Very heavy hitch. No markings that I can see that overrides the 90kg tongue/nose weight. Hitch felt very solid. Can confirm the Westfalia brand. Our road and drive is on a slope and visually tested the reverse out and enter with just the hitch without incident.

Then tried the Thule Easyfold bike rack that we had boxed for many months. Got an excellent deal from Halfords so took the risk to hold on to it during the car delivery delays. Glad we did, very easy to fit, but 13pin electrics a bit fiddly. Surprisingly little room up there. Need to be careful with electrics as they need to be carefully tied up to avoid cables hanging low. Must also remember to unplug electrics before unhitching the tow rack. Thankfully the rack is easier to handle than when it is in the box and it positions nicely on the tow hitch then quite a lot of force needed to lock it down. We repeated the reverse out and enter with the rack again without incident - plenty of room even with the slope.

Need to sort a number plate for the bike rack. Good job the rack tilts otherwise you could not open/close the boot lid.

Only thing to note, blue Caravan symbol lit up, but its now red after removing the bike rack and hitch - need to look that one up. I'm guessing that you need to manually turn off tow hitch mode when done.

View attachment 462876

Snap! Fitted mine yesterday too.

Interesting point you made about the caravan symbol. It was only halfway into our first road trip today (after removing the cycle carrier) the I noticed the red symbol being still there. That may have been the reason why Autopilot seemed reluctant to initiate.

I have heard elsewhere that the towing mode should not be selected for a bike carrier, but as you say it seems to have turned itself on will-nilly.

 

[Cogarch]

The plate for the bike rack looks like it may be an odd size when I briefly looked. Thule sell a blank plate possibly for this reason, but its white in the photos that I have seen so not sure what's going on there - possibly a stock photo or colour of plates for bike racks is different to a car?

We will be changing plate as some point, so don't want to spend too much getting one for short term so I shall see about doing something temporary. However I found a local graphics company that does plates so may ask them. Not sure if it needs to meet same BS AU regs as car reg.

It's very simple to get one made up at Halfords. You need to present your V5 and your driving licence and they print it there and then -- standard size works fine.

 

[MrBadger]

Thanks. I’ll see if I can get a blank plate then I can just stick the required letters on and swap them over when we change plate over.

 

[Kitster]

Called Tesla today. Confirmed 'still no vin ..still don't know when your car is coming but probably taking longer cos of the spec ' white exterior white interior tow hitch LR AWD standard tyres.

Deposit 3 years ago , reserved 1.5.19 with another £2k down although modified to tow hitch in July (after being told it would not affect my delivery date). Creeping closer to the point when I may want to hold out for next 2020 registration .

 

[Cogarch]

Sadly it must be the white interior, as otherwise your early reservation, early order and spec is identical to mine, which I received 2 weeks ago at West Drayton...

 

[PB.Brown]

Called Tesla today. Confirmed 'still no vin ..still don't know when your car is coming but probably taking longer cos of the spec ' white exterior white interior tow hitch LR AWD standard tyres.

Deposit 3 years ago , reserved 1.5.19 with another £2k down although modified to tow hitch in July (after being told it would not affect my delivery date). Creeping closer to the point when I may want to hold out for next 2020 registration .

Hi, really feel for you....and feel bad that I received my MSM LR AWD tow hitch just over a week ago after only ordering on 24th July.
Just keep calling them every week so they know your name

 

[Avendit]

Also feeling bad for all those still waiting. Not towed anything yet, but otherwise very happy with my car.

After calling to whine when my Edinburgh pickup vin disappeared I was offered, and bit their hands off for, a red p- with tow for a good deal, but have to pick up from Manchester. Apparently I wasn't the only p- with tow that day either!

Pickup went well, chill mode meant I struggled for the first while on the way up to Edinburgh, switched that off, got first supercharge in lovely tebay all fine. Done one longer trip to Cumbria and back, both ways on less than a charge, using a destination charger so most my miles have been paid for by work so far at 45p/mile . So far I think I'm in profit!

It's currently in the ed centre for a wee tuneup, the bonnet is very slightly off, the tracking is a bit out, and the brake servo is only working intermittently. Nothing beyond what I expected tbh. Sorted with a x75 loaner - nice, but frankly I'd have the 3 over it. Mear 200 miles indicated range and too many stalks pointing everywhere.

Have asked for confirmation of the P- tow ratings, and will update with this and towing experience when it comes around.

 

[MrBadger]

I believe P- tow rating is 500kg

 

[Avendit]

I believe P- tow rating is 500kg

I believe too, but some confirmation somewhere would be good. Can't actually find the relevant VIN plate on the car to check!

 

[MrBadger]

it will be on the v5

 

[Avendit]

it will be on the v5

Doh! cheers 500KG confirmed.

 

[p_iv]

Why is P- less than other models?

 

[p_iv]

the brake servo is only working intermittently.

Were there any warning 'lamps' or anything for the brake servo issue? There have been a couple of times when I wondered about mine, but it could equally be explained by getting used to a new car having come from one where the brakes are very fierce... I don't find I use brakes much ;-)

 

[Avendit]

Why is P- less than other models?

No idea, it just is. Price you pay for being able to tow at 162mph I guess. I am fine with it for my purposes.

Were there any warning 'lamps' or anything for the brake servo issue? There have been a couple of times when I wondered about mine, but it could equally be explained by getting used to a new car having come from one where the brakes are very fierce... I don't find I use brakes much ;-)

No warnings or anything, but stopping those last few MPH I was needing to lean on the brakes awfully heavy. Not hard, just heavy. They worked fine, just took more effort. I thought they just needed bled or something, but once I raised a request they remote-diagnosed the iBoost as a problem (their words, not mine. Google says its a bosch thingie that makes up for not having a source of vacuum to power assisted brakes from ).

 

[Tintin825]

Called Tesla today. Confirmed 'still no vin ..still don't know when your car is coming but probably taking longer cos of the spec ' white exterior white interior tow hitch LR AWD standard tyres.

Deposit 3 years ago , reserved 1.5.19 with another £2k down although modified to tow hitch in July (after being told it would not affect my delivery date). Creeping closer to the point when I may want to hold out for next 2020 registration .

I had a similar conversation today with the delivery team. I ordered a M3 DBM LR White Interior 18" wheels with Tow Hitch on the 8th of August. The lady described my spec as a "unicorn" - best case end of October if it is on boat about to leave. Apparently they do not know what is on the boat. She also mentioned that Tesla are making cars of same specs on mass rather than to order. So hoping that there are enough of the white interior orders to get made and be shipped.

What is intriguing is that if I spec my order on their site now, it estimates a November delivery.

 

[Avendit]

What is intriguing is that if I spec my order on their site now, it estimates a November delivery.

meh, as far as anyone can tell this is just some intern's first coding project of currentmonth + 6 weeks + rand()... Keep an eye on your source code and the shipping thread and these will give you a much better idea. That said, I hope that one more ship's worth of tackling the backlog and the intern's estimations will not be too far off any more.

 

[Tintin825]

meh, as far as anyone can tell this is just some intern's first coding project of currentmonth + 6 weeks + rand()... Keep an eye on your source code and the shipping thread and these will give you a much better idea. That said, I hope that one more ship's worth of tackling the backlog and the intern's estimations will not be too far off any more.

Thanks for the tips. I did notice that in early September, their algorithm estimated November too, so maybe there was some known spike that made them tweak their estimates.