So I finally got around to writing up my delivery experience from June 6th.
Flew up to Oakland from LA early in the morning and took a cab over to the factory. I arrived in plenty of time for my 10am appointment and there were several Tesla's under a white canopy which looked prepped for delivery.
I waited in the reception area until 10am, which was similar in feel to the Tesla stores around the country. At 10am on the dot I was called over and taken to a showroom style area behind the reception and there she was......ready and waiting for me :smile:
Paperwork was sorted out in under 5 minutes, which was a refreshing change from the usual crap you have to deal with at a car dealership and I think I only had to sign a couple of documents, from memory I think I signed about 30 when I last bought a car (or at least if felt like 30).
I was given a thorough run through of the main functions of the car, most of which I knew in advance but it was good to test them out on my own vehicle. After we were done, they kindly topped off the charge as to give me a full "tank" for my drive back to LA.
Then it was on to the factory tour. It was short but sweet....would loved to have spent more time there but it's a working car factory, not Disneyland :biggrin:. I'd definitely recommend it if you're in the area, it's very informative and our tour was absolutely full. The most interesting thing for me was seeing how the process works and how immaculate the factory was, it felt more akin to aerospace than cars.
A couple of obligatory purchases at the store and then it was time to get behind the wheel. I had planned on stopping at Harris Ranch and then Tejon, but I decided to also stop at Gilroy for some lunch....and to test out the Supercharger for the first time....all relatively simple, although it take a few seconds to figure out how to release the charging cable.
My first supercharge conversation took place at Gilroy from a friendly owner who asked if I'd just picked up my car....we traded stories about our path to ownership, I think this part of the ownership experience is an intangible that can't be overlooked. If you consider that most of the luxury car brands advertise not to actually sell cars, but to reassure the people who've already purchased a car that they made the right choice, then Tesla is absolutely able to achieve the same thing through their growing army of evangelists!!
The drive to Harris Ranch was great....really interesting mix of straight highway and a some hills and turns on the 152. I was definitely conscious of my available range and started to get used to the difference between rated range and actual range. I do wish the energy app would default to average vs instant though, as instant doesn't really tell you a whole lot in my opinion.
Stopped at Harris for a coffee...great place to stop....the restaurant looks great and the store was equally good....a coffee and croissant and I was back on the road to Tejon....again, great place for the Supercharger, very different from Harris, but plenty of options for food and drink.
I'd ripped a bunch of my favorite CD's in FLAC format and put them on a USB to really test out the sound system on the journey....suffice to say my speakers got a great workout! I have the high fidelity sound package and I'd say that it's good, but not spectacular in terms of sound quality, although the more I play around with the settings, the more I'm getting out of it.
I crossed the grapevine, again, very conscious of power consumption but was really amazed to see how little energy I used coming down the other side....gravity definitely is your friend when trying to preserve range.
Finally arrived home....didn't really feel like I'd been driving for several hours and was actually a little disappointed to get out of the car. Over the next couple of days I switched out my wheels to the TS Sportline aftermarket ones....I had the windows tinted with 3M Crystaline and finally had the whole car OptiCoated.
Here is how it looks now;
After having the car for 10 days or so, I couldn't be happier....no major issues to report, just a couple of small things that I will have my local SC take care of.
The Tesla grin is definitely present every time I drive it and I've had some great compliments from friends and strangers alike, even though they are relatively common place in LA these days.
Flew up to Oakland from LA early in the morning and took a cab over to the factory. I arrived in plenty of time for my 10am appointment and there were several Tesla's under a white canopy which looked prepped for delivery.
I waited in the reception area until 10am, which was similar in feel to the Tesla stores around the country. At 10am on the dot I was called over and taken to a showroom style area behind the reception and there she was......ready and waiting for me :smile:
Paperwork was sorted out in under 5 minutes, which was a refreshing change from the usual crap you have to deal with at a car dealership and I think I only had to sign a couple of documents, from memory I think I signed about 30 when I last bought a car (or at least if felt like 30).
I was given a thorough run through of the main functions of the car, most of which I knew in advance but it was good to test them out on my own vehicle. After we were done, they kindly topped off the charge as to give me a full "tank" for my drive back to LA.
Then it was on to the factory tour. It was short but sweet....would loved to have spent more time there but it's a working car factory, not Disneyland :biggrin:. I'd definitely recommend it if you're in the area, it's very informative and our tour was absolutely full. The most interesting thing for me was seeing how the process works and how immaculate the factory was, it felt more akin to aerospace than cars.
A couple of obligatory purchases at the store and then it was time to get behind the wheel. I had planned on stopping at Harris Ranch and then Tejon, but I decided to also stop at Gilroy for some lunch....and to test out the Supercharger for the first time....all relatively simple, although it take a few seconds to figure out how to release the charging cable.
My first supercharge conversation took place at Gilroy from a friendly owner who asked if I'd just picked up my car....we traded stories about our path to ownership, I think this part of the ownership experience is an intangible that can't be overlooked. If you consider that most of the luxury car brands advertise not to actually sell cars, but to reassure the people who've already purchased a car that they made the right choice, then Tesla is absolutely able to achieve the same thing through their growing army of evangelists!!
The drive to Harris Ranch was great....really interesting mix of straight highway and a some hills and turns on the 152. I was definitely conscious of my available range and started to get used to the difference between rated range and actual range. I do wish the energy app would default to average vs instant though, as instant doesn't really tell you a whole lot in my opinion.
Stopped at Harris for a coffee...great place to stop....the restaurant looks great and the store was equally good....a coffee and croissant and I was back on the road to Tejon....again, great place for the Supercharger, very different from Harris, but plenty of options for food and drink.
I'd ripped a bunch of my favorite CD's in FLAC format and put them on a USB to really test out the sound system on the journey....suffice to say my speakers got a great workout! I have the high fidelity sound package and I'd say that it's good, but not spectacular in terms of sound quality, although the more I play around with the settings, the more I'm getting out of it.
I crossed the grapevine, again, very conscious of power consumption but was really amazed to see how little energy I used coming down the other side....gravity definitely is your friend when trying to preserve range.
Finally arrived home....didn't really feel like I'd been driving for several hours and was actually a little disappointed to get out of the car. Over the next couple of days I switched out my wheels to the TS Sportline aftermarket ones....I had the windows tinted with 3M Crystaline and finally had the whole car OptiCoated.
Here is how it looks now;
After having the car for 10 days or so, I couldn't be happier....no major issues to report, just a couple of small things that I will have my local SC take care of.
The Tesla grin is definitely present every time I drive it and I've had some great compliments from friends and strangers alike, even though they are relatively common place in LA these days.
