If I knew then, what I know now...

I love the dark blue color on my car, but it is REALLY hard to keep clean. Wish I'd picked the dolphin grey color.

. . . install nema 14-50 outlet.
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@MLH - I did load a varied collection of my favorite music (of all different genres) onto a thumb drive destined for the Model S so I could test the audio system right away. I would recommend that for sure. I ripped from CDs using high-quality lossless FLAC format. Have a camera ready to take lots of pictures & video. I also read all the online documentation and actively participated in events and the online forums before delivery. The delivery specialist was excellent and thorough, but did not have too many things to show me I didn't already know from my research

I've met many other owners/reservation holders who have become friends. If you are having home delivery, invite friends and family! I waited nearly 3 1/2 years for the car so it was quite an exciting experience to finally see it show up in the driveway! Our Tesla experience has been aweseome since the beginning! Only about 1200 miles on the S so far as our previous Audi S4 is winding down on lease and we've been putting the miles on it. It goes back Friday so the Tesla will get a lot more action.

And as wycolo says, make sure you have 240v charging available. 120v will work for overnight with very small daily commutes, but I've never seen more than 2mi/hr charge rate on 120v.

The only "configuration regret" would be that I did not order twin chargers. I dont need HPWC at home, but having the extra charging capacity when travelling might come in handy. Hopefully Super Chargers and high-current DC charging will become prevalant making the need for twin chargers unwarranted for me. Enjoy your delivery experience!

1) At delivery, should have followed the delivery guy back to the office to make sure he actually put a missing item I had on the due bill rather than just asking him twice and trusting that he would. These guys deliver like 10 cars a day each, so make sure you get everything in writing.

2) Should have ordered Alloy Gators before picking up the car. We scuffed a rim from the service station on the way home on pickup day.

Though, I must say I was in a way relieved by that... For the last 60 years, every time me or someone in my family bought a new car, we dinged it within the first week, and then not again after. And it's generally body damage. So I felt like the curse ran its course with the rim and was thankful that it was something that's relatively easily fixable .

3) Should not have subscribed to XM - the quality is truly terrible. Listened to it for 5 minutes.

4) Should have made an appointment at a detailer and installed paint armor immediately after pickup. I was afraid of how the seams would look on a pearl white, but nicks on the paint look worse.


This one may be slightly off topic, since it's a "before order" thing instead of a "before delivery" thing, but:

5) Should have ordered the car with the jump seats installed, instead of the twin chargers.

At the time I ordered I was told that the twin chargers can't be installed after the fact, but that jumps seats could. But it turned out to be the other way around. I never use the twin chargers, and don't see this changing. But I wanted it there for resale value since it wasn't something that could be ordered after the fact. I do however see me using jump seats in a few years. So now instead of just having to order jump seats in a few years, I'll have to order a Model X instead (oh, wait...).

1) Wish I'd gotten the tech package simply for the powered lift gate. With kids in the jump seats, it would have been very useful to open the door for them from the screen...or the fob. The kids struggle with it on their own.
2) Wish I'd gotten performance. The non-perf 85 is still crazy fast, but it just makes me think each time "can you imagine how insane the performance version is?!?!" Oh well. still fun
3) Tech package...again. For navigation and home link. Kinda sucks having a great big map when it's mostly useless. Not even a "suggested route" drawn to the point you searched out. Just a pin. And with the "minimalist" styling inside, having a nasty garage door opener stuck to the visor kinda ruins it.

Grey is nice for cleanliness. It hasn't really looked dirty but I still clean it.

The only thing I wished I had gotten but still wouldn't have used yet + maybe never would? - twin chargers.
but at over $3000 hell no. I will never need it once a Supercharger is on I-5 somewhere near Redding


so I have absolutely no changes I would make

grey, P, grey 21", tech, sound, paint armor, black interior, pano

I would have passed on parcel shelf. Just received it yesterday and haven't missed it. Especially since I have the rear facing seats, doh... $250 I should have saved...

I am still waiting for my delivery--they say late April or early May, but if I had to configure again I would definitely order standard suspension. Reading through the just released service agreements and ESA (extended warranty) the air suspension does not appear to be covered for normal wear and tear. Air suspensions can be extremely costly to fix or replace when they wear out. I had expected air suspension to be covered by the extended warranty but parts are only covered for manufacturers defects, not normal degradation.

I plan on owing the car for at least 8 years, maybe more. In that time I can foresee the possibility of my air suspension failing, incurring costly repairs. I can envision older air suspension Model S cars actually having lower resale value than cars with standard suspension if there are enough reports of air failing after a period of time. I had originally configured with standard suspension and only upped to air to try to get the car sooner. It's debatable now whether my car will arrive any sooner and I feel like a real chump. I personally don't need the extra height for steep driveways or snow and have always been happy with a standard suspension ride.

Doug_G said:

I would have bought a new snow brush with softer bristles. Most cars sit around for at least several months before they get delivered to customers, and their paint fully hardens. Model S goes from factory to garage very quickly, and when it arrives the paint is a little bit softer than usual. As a result I have a whole bunch of sleeks in the paint caused by brushing snow off the car - of course I didn't notice this was happening until after cleaning the salt crud off the car.

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+1 on that comment! I picked up a stone chip on the hood just beyond where the paint armor reaches. I must have rubbed it with my finger to see if it was dirt or a scratch, and I noticed last night in my garage that in addition to the chip, I have tiny scratches where I must have rubbed them in to the finish with my finger! Man, the paint is soft on my car! I need the weather to improve a bit so I can get a good coat of wax on it.

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MarkR said:

I love the dark blue color on my car, but it is REALLY hard to keep clean. Wish I'd picked the dolphin grey color.

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Grey was my first choice until I saw the blue in person (twice) and went for that. I could go either way, but you're right... it is hard to keep looking nice. I went back and forth on tan vs. black interior and settled on tan. The tan interior I got seems lighter than what I remember in the test drive cars, and I'm kinda wondering if I should have gone with black... oh well, the tan is still quite nice and perhaps I just need to get used to it after having several previous cars with black interiors.

I would have waited just a little while longer for that BEAUTIFUL red. Apart from that, this car is flipping fantastic.

I would have convinced my parking garage to install a charging station sooner. Now that the car is getting popular, they know I don't need it.

I'd probably pass on the pano roof...I've always had one, but rarely used it, and in the S, because of the way it tilts, it's fairly noisy, even when it's not open far. Plus it gets creaky when the interior of the car warms up.

HPWC...I didn't pay for twin chargers (would never need them), so this was just for convenience and looks, but it turns out that the UMC is just fine, and not $1200's worth of inconvenient to pull out a couple of times a week (I don't charge every day).

Things I want, but glad I didn't get, but still want:

- Black paint...it looks very nice for at least 10 minutes after cleaning. I know it's not practical, even here in a warmer state, the thing gets covered in dust/pollen very quickly. So I'm really happy with the grey, but I still like black.
- Grey wheels....I know I would have dinged them twice now, but I still like them. If someone offered me a set, I'd buy them, But I know that's a bad decision.
- Performance....it would have been a huge stretch for me financially, and for 99.8% of my driving time, entirely pointless. But, you know, for that other 0.2% it would be fun and totally unnecessary

I maybe would have got the kids seats and then removed them - I didn't know they wouldn't be able to be added retroactively. No kids yet but I plan to still be driving this car when I do!

As everyone would agree a lot depends on ones personal situation. I live in Olympia WA which is 70 miles from Bellevue and 110 miles from Portland. I have had my MS for 3 months and driven it 9000 miles. I wish I ordered the twin chargers and the HPWC. The quicker charging at home prior to a long road trip would mean I can leave earlier and not wait 2 hours to get a full charger and using the Tesla store chargers would be mean I could halve my wait time at the mall which would leave me more time to do other things. I also wished I ordered the jump seats even though I don't have children because I have many friends with at least 2 kids who could car pool with me and my wife instead of taking separate cars.

pete8314 said:

I'd probably pass on the pano roof...I've always had one, but rarely used it, and in the S, because of the way it tilts, it's fairly noisy, even when it's not open far. Plus it gets creaky when the interior of the car warms up.
ay).....

Things I want, but glad I didn't get, but still want:
- Grey wheels....I know I would have dinged them twice now, but I still like them. If someone offered me a set, I'd buy them, But I know that's a bad decision.
- Performance....it would have been a huge stretch for me financially, and for 99.8% of my driving time, entirely pointless. But, you know, for that other 0.2% it would be fun and totally unnecessary

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roof does have minor creak when hot - sometimes. open it to 23% and it is fairly quiet even going 55-65mph (compared to my previous cars)
grey wheels - I have had no problems with yet.

performance. floored many times daily, sometimes for 'necessity', sometimes for fun and 'exercise' :wink:

MLH said:

For those of you who have been in possession of your MS for several weeks or longer, what lessons/experiences caused you to think "It would have been nice to... before delivery?

Examples)

Load music collection on thumb drive
Read E=IR chapter in old textbook

For those of us counting the weeks to delivery, suggestions will certainly be beneficial distractions.

TIA,

Mark

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@MLH: What is E=IR?

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Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Ohms.Law said:

@MLH: What is E=IR?

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Also V=IR or Ohm's law ... Wait I see what you did there.

ElSupreme said:

Also V=IR or Ohm's law ... Wait I see what you did there.

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Mmmmm, ohm slaw. Goes great with beer-battered fish & chips!