I took delivery of my P85D as scheduled on Tuesday, 12/30. Sorry for the late post, but this is the first chance I have had to get back to the forum.
A bit of history - this is my first Tesla. My journey started in 2013 when I saw my first Tesla. It pulled up next to me on a four lane street and when the traffic light turned from red to green, it was silently gone as I waited for all the internal parts of my ICE vehicle (BMW X5) to catch up. I was smitten. But the true flirtations really started when I had my first test drive in Austin, TX in early 2014. I still couldn't quite justify the added expense over the cost of my prior German vehicles, plus I really wanted AWD. In early October this year, I couldn't control my Tesla infatuation any longer, so I visited the Minneapolis Tesla location where Ashley was a phenomenal help. After another test drive and significant hand wringing, I ordered a S85. One week later came the "D" announcement. I promptly upgraded my order to the S85D, which bumped my delivery date from December to February. At first, this seemed manageable to me, even though my current vehicle lease ended in December. I told myself that I could wait the 6-8 weeks, right? Then the S85D delivery date moved from "February" to "late February" and then to "March". In the mean time, I was Googling everything Tesla, scouring the forums and blogs, while driving my partner absolutely crazy with constant talk of Tesla. I began debating upgrading to the P85D. Could I wait until March for the S85D? Do I seriously want to spend that much on a P85D? The X5 had been my first BMW after many years with various Audis. I loved Audi, so maybe I should just do the practical thing and buy another Audi? Audi was tried and true, while Tesla - well she was beautiful and fast and green with cutting edge technology, but I shouldn't succumb to her? Or should I? Ashley continued to take call after call from me and finally in mid-October, I confirmed my P85D order. And then the horrendous wait began. More reading of the forums. Day and night. More obsessive Tesla talk. My partner threatened divorce if I even mentioned Tesla one more time. :wink: And, then the delivery delays started occurring and the issues with the decreased range started popping up with the P85Ds that were being delivered, and I started getting cold feet. Why the hell was I spending this much money on a car? Was I nuts? And then my Tuesday 12/30 delivery date came, and my infatuation turned into a full blown love affair! So to my first impressions of the car. AWESOME. INSANE. UNBELIEVABLE. She is a beautiful beast - a technological marvel! In four days I put over 600 miles on her, and I could not be happier. I honestly think I could never go back to an ICE vehicle. Just the thought of driving an ICE vehicle feels antiquated to me now.
My delivery experience at the Grand Ave-Chicago Tesla center went very smooth. My Delivery Specialist, Tim was great to work with as well as David who did the vehicle orientation. The place was definitely hectic as they had a whole car lot full of P85Ds due to be delivered, but they still did a very nice job, and I did not feel rushed at all. The red Tesla scarves were a nice touch. The walk through went as expected - no real surprises as I had read everything and watched all the videos ahead of time. My car did not come with any Next Gen seats (to be delivered some time in February), although I was pleasantly surprised to receive not only the yacht floor, but the heated steering wheel! This was a great bonus for me as I have had heated steering wheels in my previous vehicles and really was going to miss not having it in the Tesla, especially considering our winters here in Michigan.
First impressions from a newbie after 675 miles in four days:
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Cabin noise: Or I should say, lack of noise. Very quiet, even with the dual motors. I wasn't sure what to expect with the new motor up front closer to the driver, but honestly to me, it wasn't different than my recollections of driving the S85.
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Acceleration: Truly insane. It really is the best word to describe it. I described it to friends by saying it feels like your cheeks are being sucked into your face while the blood simultaneously pools in the back of your head. The first chance I had to try it out, I also had my 56 year old brother and 76 year old father in the car with me, along with probably an additional 75 pounds of cargo. We all three just giggled out loud and my brother immediately shouted "Do it again, do it again!" Seriously, insane!
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Ride and handling: Excellent with the air suspension - very smooth, composed, yet nimble and sporty. It did not feel floaty at all to me. I originally wanted a coil suspension, but must admit the air suspension is really nice, and I have already used the "very high" setting to avoid scraping on some high curbs. The auto-raising feature at the remembered location is also really nice.
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Hifi stereo: I am not an audiofile by any means, but I thought the sound was superb. And the ability to stream Slacker HD content seamlessly is so cool. Because bluetooth streaming is lower sound quality, I bought a low-profile 64GB SanDisk USB drive and downloaded 4,000 songs from my iTunes library. I was impressed with how quickly they all loaded and how the interface automatically sorted them into various categories by song, album, etc.
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Technology: Everything about the technology in the car seems well thought out and intuitive. I have hated the BMWs implementation and have always felt that Audi did this the best, but the Tesla blows it out of the water.
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Driver assistance: Lane departure seemed to work very well, even on wet, slushy, and snowy roads. Seemed very accurate to me. Only a couple of times did it go off at the wrong time. The vibration created feels as if you are driving over rumble strips on the road and can be felt by not only the driver but the passengers. It seemed a little too subtle to me - I wish it was a little stronger. Maybe in a future software update?
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Speed warning: Was quite surprised with how accurate it was generally. I am sure it saved me a few speeding tickets already as it's quite easy to speed in this car. This will be a great feature when the adaptive cruise control software is released.
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Tesla app: Love this! Already used it multiple times to turn on the cabin heat ahead of time and to check the status of charging.
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Interior: Very roomy, but miss useable cup holders. I will definitely install the center console when it becomes available in matte Obeche wood. I personally do not like the temporary Nappa seats, especially for long trips. I will be glad when the Next Gen seats are installed. Fit and finish seems on par with my prior German vehicles, although the interior is a bit more austere although I don't mind it.
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Heated steering wheel: Works very well - gets plenty hot but not so much that you have to shut it off. Found it interesting that the driver's seat heater stays on between vehicle restarts, but not the steering wheel. Would be nice if the steering wheel responded the same as the driver's seat here.
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Frunk closing: I really struggle here. Seems very difficult to close to me. Took several attempts each time, and I could feel the hood flexing. At delivery, the procedure they showed me is the same as the one in the car manual; however, I have read on the forums here that some delivery specialists have been giving alternate instructions. I really wish Tesla would give us clear direction here as I am concerned I am going to inadvertently get the dreaded crease. It's keeping me from using the frunk like I was hoping.
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Braking: The regenerative braking works really well. Within just a couple of hours, I found myself only needing to use the regular brakes to bring the vehicle to a stop during the last few rolling feet, and even then only some times. I am getting squealing from the break pads like others have noted, although I think it has gotten better.
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Range: Crappy for sure, but no surprise to anyone here who has been staying up on the forums. I for one am very much looking forward to the software update due out later this month. Let's all hope that Tesla stays on track with this one and delivers it in a timely manner. Since I was leaving on a trip to visit my family in northwest Illinois right after the delivery in Chicago, my Delivery Specialist was kind enough to have the car fully charged for me upon my arrival. With ambient temperature at 18 degrees F and a 13 mph headwind, energy use was 460 Wh/mi in the first 100 miles of steady interstate driving using cruise control set at 71.
Attaching a few photos below. At one point during my trip, I pulled into a Nissan dealer to use their public charger to get a little extra juice. As I was backing into the spot, all the sales people started coming up to the showroom window and were peering out. Then one came running out to my car. I was sure they were going to tell me I couldn't charge there because it was reserved for Leafs. Instead, he wanted to know what kind of car I had and to tell me how cool it looked. When he learned it was a Tesla, he started riddling me with questions and before long, all the sales people and even service people were crowded around my car asking me questions and showering me with compliments. It was an awesome experience, although I feel sorry for any potential Nissan customers that may have been at the dealership, because they were clearly not being serviced at that moment, LOL!
Overall, I couldn't be more thrilled with this car, and I have no doubt that it will only get better and better. I just keep looking for reasons to drive some where as I proudly wear my Tesla Grin!
