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What to do in first 7 days

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I'm taking delivery of my 2020 MX LR on 2/18/2020. To be honest, I'm a little nervous - especially after reading these forums. I got the inspection checklist from the other thread and that will help with my delivery, but now I'm looking for advice on what specifically to do during the 7 day return period.

For instance, I've read about shudder issues, FWD malfunctions, you name it. Even during my brief Saturday to Monday test drive of a MX before ordering, I had a passenger B pillar camera fog issue that made the autopilot inoperable half the time. If you had to do it all over again, what would you have done withing the return window in determining whether or not to keep that particular MX?

Thanks in advance.
 
I had shudder in my 2018 and got it fixed two weeks ago. No other issues (knock on wood) in first year. The only other things I can think of that I’ve read on the forums and experienced is that water does drop on the seats when you open the FWDs in heavy rain (which can be compensated for by not opening fully), and my tires do seem to be wearing quickly (though still too early to tell for sure). So, the shudder is the only thing I take seriously and don’t just ignore and it’s fixed ...... for now. Get the X. It’s awesome.
 
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I agree with lake, enjoy it! Drive it fast, show it off, learn where things are. I can’t tell you how many times I just sat in the car within the first week for no reason. Before I ordered mine I came to these forums to get an idea of what I wanted and what to look out for. Keep in mind that a lot of posts on here are people complaining or addressing issues with vehicles. My MX has a few issues that have been resolved, nothing major. I would have returned mine for more range. Shortly before taking delivery they stopped making the standard range. Even with the lower rating I love the vehicle. It’s a please to get into everyday.
 
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What did I do in the first 7 days? Ran every errand I could. Heck, I even made up some in order to spend more time driving.

I took delivery on 12/21 and was off quite a bit of time for the holidays. I was even looking forward to my first commute back to work which is over an hour. While on that first commute on the highway, wouldn’t you know I gat a flat tire? Oh well.

I have an appointment to make some adjustments to the alignment on one of the FWDs and for my mysterious glove box opening. Other than that, I love it.
 
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If you're concerned, recommend creating a checklist of everything you want to checkout during the first 7 days:
  • Inspect paint/body for defects
  • Test doors/trunk/windows for fit
  • Verify all controls work (seat, windows, mirrors, ...)
  • Verify charging using the supplied mobile connector, a home wall connector (if you have one), and supercharger
  • Full range of driving (slower local streets, full highway speeds)
  • Verify wifi and LTE connections work
  • ...
When our first Tesla was delivered at the beginning of 2013, with the nearest service center over 1000 miles away, I had a very thorough checklist I used when UPS dropped the car off at our front door. When we picked up our 2017 S and 2018 X, we weren't as concerned about checking everything upon delivery.

The biggest item to check is whether or not you are ready to make the switch from and ICE to an EV. If you have overnight charging at home, you'll eliminate having to go to gas stations for refueling - however on road trips, you may stop a little more frequently with longer stops for recharging. Some people prefer the convenience of visiting gas stations often...
 
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I'm taking delivery of my 2020 MX LR on 2/18/2020. To be honest, I'm a little nervous - especially after reading these forums. I got the inspection checklist from the other thread and that will help with my delivery, but now I'm looking for advice on what specifically to do during the 7 day return period.

For instance, I've read about shudder issues, FWD malfunctions, you name it. Even during my brief Saturday to Monday test drive of a MX before ordering, I had a passenger B pillar camera fog issue that made the autopilot inoperable half the time. If you had to do it all over again, what would you have done withing the return window in determining whether or not to keep that particular MX?

Thanks in advance.


The only thing of any urgency is, within the first couple of days, to examine the body work and interior for shipping damage you might have missed on pickup, and then photograph and document that in writing with Tesla. This to avoid getting into a pissing contest later over who caused the damage.

Otherwise just do a normal walk through, and peculiar to a Model X, make sure both rear doors are working correctly.
 
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I've had my X since June of 2018. Did the walk around and had no issues. The trim piece that sits outboard of the driver's side window fell off. Took me a few minutes to figure out how to re-install it. It's been fine since.
Suggestions? You'd better find a good road where you can hit some speed. You need to get that out of your system. I did a few crazy things the first month and luckily had no consequence. Have not done any of that lately - until some jerk in a Porsche Cayman or something decided to do the drag race thing from a traffic light. I gave him two car lengths then dusted him off. He rolled down his window and I told him that he can't touch an eCar. I try to avoid doing that especially when I know it's really no challenge.
Love the car. It's the safest machine I've ever owned.
Get the rubber floor liners - you'll not regret it. I got Weathertechs - and have already avoided damage from spills. Also, get a good-sized thumb drive (COSTCO has a 256 GB for about $30), install the Tesla Cam folder and enable video recording and Sentry Mode. You'll not regret that either.

Enjoy,

Bob

ps - if you have any friends who are commercial or military pilots give them an opportunity to drive it. You won't believe their reactions....
 
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"I had shudder in my 2018 and got it fixed two weeks ago." Are you referring to a funky sound that seems to come from the front motor on reasonably hard acceleration and also feels in the steering wheel? I really don't know how to describe the sound and feeling, but it is something that was faint and has been getting more pronounced, especially when the motors are not up to full heat. But then, my Nov 2018 X has 17.5K miles in a little more than a year, and I love it.
 
Hi Ilguy. How did your 1st week with your M-X go?

If I may offer some thoughts....
"bashcraft1" is right on keeping it in Chill mode. Due to the enormous instant power available when "stomp on in" in Normal or Ludicrous mode, may I suggest having it in "Chill Mode" for in city - in town driving to start worth. That way accidentally stomping on it will not leave your ears in the back seat.

Do warn your passengers to sit up straight with heads against the head rest if you decide to demonstrate the raw power of Normal or Ludicrous modes. I gave my wife a sore neck once when I had "stomp on in" in Normal to quickly enter a fast moving flow of traffic on a primary arterial road. Now I warn all my passengers "heads back on the head rest please, I am going to stomp on it".

Further to AZMurph's comment on opening the back doors in rain. Always open the rear Trunk hatch 1st when raining or snowing before opening the Falcon Wing Door's or the rear hatch truck door will pour all of the water on it onto your back seat passengers.

I concurr with Dr_ScienceBI. Do get rubber floor mats, they are easier to vacuum if someone drags in a ton of sand or dirt and their up turned lip keeps snow melting off of your winter boots on the mats and out of your floor carpet.

Weather Tech makes the best IMHO and WT also make the Tesla branded floor mats.

I compared the prices between Weather Tech and the Tesla Shop, and saw a way to save about $200 Cdn.

I got the in car floor mats from Weather Tech and the Frunk and Truck half mats from Tesla itself.

Finally a word of caution regarding Autopilot, EAP or Adaptive Cruise Control. They are all currently like an 8 year old child in Grade 3.

It knows a lot, can do a lot, but like an 8 year old child, needs Constant adult Supervision. It is still learning.

Example... when a two lanes highway becomes three lanes going up a hill on a highway, if your in the right lane of the two lane part of a divided highway, it will drive down the middle of the right lane as it widens to make the highway three wide. AP or EAP will get confused when the dashed line of the third hill climbing lane starts and it kick out of self drive. Always be ready to take over.

Good luck and I look foward hearing how your 1st week went.

Kindest regards,
Hugh-SG
 
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Hugh-SG,

Thanks for the detailed reply! I've yet to take delivery as my MX LR was changed due to the roll-out of the MX LR PLUS model. Apparently, MX deliveries are being held until after March 7 so we will see what happens then I guess.
 
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Hi Ilguy. How did your 1st week with your M-X go?

If I may offer some thoughts....
"bashcraft1" is right on keeping it in Chill mode. Due to the enormous instant power available when "stomp on in" in Normal or Ludicrous mode, may I suggest having it in "Chill Mode" for in city - in town driving to start worth. That way accidentally stomping on it will not leave your ears in the back seat.

Do warn your passengers to sit up straight with heads against the head rest if you decide to demonstrate the raw power of Normal or Ludicrous modes. I gave my wife a sore neck once when I had "stomp on in" in Normal to quickly enter a fast moving flow of traffic on a primary arterial road. Now I warn all my passengers "heads back on the head rest please, I am going to stomp on it".

Further to AZMurph's comment on opening the back doors in rain. Always open the rear Trunk hatch 1st when raining or snowing before opening the Falcon Wing Door's or the rear hatch truck door will pour all of the water on it onto your back seat passengers.

I concurr with Dr_ScienceBI. Do get rubber floor mats, they are easier to vacuum if someone drags in a ton of sand or dirt and their up turned lip keeps snow melting off of your winter boots on the mats and out of your floor carpet.

Weather Tech makes the best IMHO and WT also make the Tesla branded floor mats.

I compared the prices between Weather Tech and the Tesla Shop saw a way to save about $200 Cdn.

I got the in car floor mats from Weather Tech and the Frunk and Truck half mats from Tesla itself.

Finally a word of caution regardsing Autopilot or Adaptive Cruise Control. They are both currently like an 8 year old child in Grade 3.

It knows a lot, can do a lot, but needs Constant Supervision. It is still learning.

Example when a two lanes become three going up a hill on a highway, if your in the right lane of the two lane part of a divided highway, it will drive down the middle of the right lane as it widens to make the highway three wide. AP or EAP will get confused when the dashed line of the third hill climbing land starts and it kick out of self drive. Always be ready to take over.

Good luck and I look foward hearing how your 1st week went.

Kindest regards,
Hugh-SG
+1 on the floor mats. Did the exact same thing.
 
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Hugh-SG,

Thanks for the detailed reply! I've yet to take delivery as my MX LR was changed due to the roll-out of the MX LR PLUS model. Apparently, MX deliveries are being held until after March 7 so we will see what happens then I guess.

As my signature line shows, I ordered in February and it was delivered in April. Why? This was due to heavy snow storms making the cross Canada transport from Toronto to Vancouver a nightmare.

Then the human element kicked it... the Telsa Toronto folks forgot to put the paper work in the glove box and my CPO arrived without the Ontario rego papers necessary for Tesla Vancouver to change ownership over to me.

I suggested they drive them out to Pearson Airport (a one hour drive) and put them in an Overnight flight documents delivery bag with Air Canada so they would be here next morning. I got told it would take 3 business days to get them out west. (sigh - middle of following week)... at which point I became a frustrated grumpy ole man. So they waived the delivery shipping fee after a 7 week delay to take the sting out of the additional week's wait.

That said.. welcome Tesla Pre Delivery Anxiety !!!!

Do expect to start pacing back and forth shortly like a expectant father waiting out side a hospital delivery room for his 1st born to arrive.

To help alleviate the waiting room anxiety, and help keep you from climbing the walls, may I suggest the following reading... :)

The Secret Life Of An EV Battery | CleanTechnica

Also I recommend...

InsideEVs | Electric Vehicle News, Reviews, and Reports Full of all the latest EV news,

Finally a new trip planning tool, that is donor ware supported but Free to use.

A Better Routeplanner

This is IMHO the Best variable factors route planner, that works with all EV's. I personally have given up on Tesla's own website trip planner as it just is not updated regularly with the newest TSC locations and does a miserable job of planning a trip.

A Better Route Planner is very superior in that It WILL accept air temperature and road conditions input, which is big factor in range variation between Summer and Winter.

ABRP will also ask you for what type of EV you drive (make, year and model). It will also ask you your planned Start of Trip Battery Charge, desired Arrive at Supercharger SoC level, and desired Destination arrival SoC.

It will then deliver the most accurate "how far can you get" range forecasts along with suggested alternate routes and how long you will need at each TSC to recharge.

... and remember TSC's are usually with in a 5 minute walk of diners, restaurants or a shopping mall or good Motels.

In closing... a new tool we all use to learn where and when a TSC will be arriving in your area.

supercharge.info

Best wishes,
Hugh-SG