Booked a Model S, should I postpone delivery in the hope of getting more features?

When purchasing a hi-tech item, you get the best you can at the time as long as it does what you need it to do. Once you take delivery, don't read another article about it until you are ready for a replacement. There will always be new features just around the corner regardless of when you purchase, and by waiting you'll miss out on the experience.

I'm repeating what I've said elsewhere but the enjoyment I've had owning my S for the past 10 months dwarfs any minuscule yearning I feel for the features I could have had by waiting.

I'm in a similar dilemma ! I wouldn't mind of those feature come later, as long as the big work of wirering was already done and upgrade would be simple and cheap to do ! But we don't know if it will be, and based on the parking sensor, it cost 6200$ to add it afterward for car that it wasn't available yet ! 6200$ for a 500$ option today !

Interesting site : Modifications | TeslaTap

mochouinard said:

I'm in a similar dilemma ! I wouldn't mind of those feature come later, as long as the big work of wirering was already done and upgrade would be simple and cheap to do ! But we don't know if it will be, and based on the parking sensor, it cost 6200$ to add it afterward for car that it wasn't available yet ! 6200$ for a 500$ option today !

Interesting site : Modifications | TeslaTap

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Classic case of the perfect defeating the good. Don't wait. I figured I could do without all kinds of stuff that might be available after I got my car: 4 wheel drive, folding side mirrors, front sensors, or even body panels that lined up well. I got my car two years ago. I have never been sorry. It is still the greatest car on the road.

Unless you already know that you MUST have extra whatever, don't put it off, and don't look back.

I agree with the "Do it now" sentiment. The additional problem is that whatever feature you think is just around the corner may be just around a dozen corners, or it may not materialize at all. Counting on Elon Musk's wonderful musings, bless the fellow, is an invitation to hair-pulling frustration.

Certainly many expected things with Tesla are beyond its control to deliver in a timely manner, and "coming soon" is an understandable position. It just doesn't mean what most people, including Tesla, want it to mean.

I see no reason to have 2015 on a document rather than 2014, unless there's a licensing difference in your area. In my area, a later year designated would push back the need for emissions testing, but . . . !

If you can outfit a car the way you want it now and you'll be happy do it. If you feel a specific feature that you rely on daily is missing wait. I don't know what that feature would be but it would justify the wait. I wanted to wait for a 4G model, but the sales staff assured me that once the 4G is ready it would be a software update.

I'm getting mine September 26/29th, gotta figure out when I'm going to be able to do a factory delivery. I was thinking about the 2014 Vs 2015 too. My conclusion was that because these cars are getting so much attention It's only a matter of time until the wait goes from 3 months to 4, then 5, then 6... What's it matter what year you get it if you have to wait months to get it?

If by 4G, you mean LTE (and not fake 4G, which is just an enhancement to 3G), it will not be a software update. The modem chip in the car can not do LTE. The current modem chip supports 3G and HDSPA (which is an enhancement to 3G that many carriers referred to as 4G as a marketing ploy). If Tesla ever offers LTE in the Model S, it will require the installation of a new modem card (i.e., new hardware).

krnshh said:

I recently read Elon Musk's reply on Twitter where he acknowledged the addition of some features (the response to the Palo Alto ad). Now I'm wondering if I should wait a wee bit more in the hope that I could get the new features in the car (even though it is uncertain)

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If you're waiting for any feature that Elon has promised, you won't be waiting a "wee bit" more, you'll be waiting a LOT more. Elon tends to keep his promises on features, but he is abysmal at time-lines. Double any time-line he gives (or more) and for any item with no time-line attached, expect multiple years.

Just saw this article.

Tesla Model S Gets Minor Updates/New Features

In other words, as Tesla is focusing on Model X and introducing Model S on new markets, there are no big improvements, just some minor tweaks.

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green1 said:

If you're waiting for any feature that Elon has promised, you won't be waiting a "wee bit" more, you'll be waiting a LOT more. Elon tends to keep his promises on features, but he is abysmal at time-lines. Double any time-line he gives (or more) and for any item with no time-line attached, expect multiple years.

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Remember when he said 6.0 would come out in February?

If we were immortal, I might have waited.

seanahan said:

Remember when he said 6.0 would come out in February?

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And the chademo adapter would be out a year ago, and the centre console, and the model x, and Canadian superchargers, and the list goes on and on...

Odds are that anyone in the market for a used Model S will be educated enough on the car to know that a mere calendar date is meaningless.
An even slightly better equipped December 2013 build is more desirable than a slightly less well optioned one built say March 2014.
The only exception would be if Tesla instituted a valuable model wide change in a later build.

You will never out run the latest and greatest, you can wait for something new and then when you receive your car there will always be more goodies after. This thing is a high tech product which is always evolving, IMO you should stick with what you have.

'Owner Advisers' may not be in the "know". That said, if adaptive cruise, lane departure, collision assist, miss-givings about the seating, or any supposed improvements were ones you'd hold out for, <2 months, or so, is pretty cheap wait time. I don't know that ordering now, for January delivery, means you'll get updates. I think they build the car and can let it sit until your specified delivery. That wouldn't do much good, if updates are announced after the December builds (that get delivered in January). Lastly, I know the saw about Tesla gradually phasing improvements, but let me put it this way. A J1 '15 improvement is more likely, than a 12/1, or 2/1. With MX being later into 2015, I also wouldn't be surprised if the bigger MS changes weren't a year away, or in tandem with MX.

green1 said:

And the chademo adapter would be out a year ago, and the centre console, and the model x, and Canadian superchargers, and the list goes on and on...

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Battery swap last year...