Signature 503 Delivered

Signature 503 Delivered - 01/16/16

I picked Signature 503 from Cleveland and drove it home to Michigan this morning.

First Impressions:
The build quality of my Signature X VIN 503 is significantly better than the build quality of my Signature S 524.

I have had no issues to report upon delivery or after driving 300 miles from Cleveland to Metro Detroit without any problems (and an additional 50 miles to the Pistons / Warriors Game this evening).

As expected, the X is less energy efficient than S (below is my 138 mile trip from Lyndhurst, Ohio to the Maumee, Ohio Supercharger).

My X is currently on firmware 7.0, and Tesla plans to push 7.1 to X owners on Monday.

After a 400 miles of driving today, the X exceeded my expectations.

As I was picking up my X, a delivery carrier with 5 Xs and 1 S pulled up (Not all cars were for the Cleveland location).

The Team in Cleveland did an awesome job.

Tesla hit another one out of the park with X.

Pictures below (Mods please rotate these photos if they upload upside down):

777dgt said:

Great looking car. We take delivery Tuesday. Question: is the window tint you have from the factory, or something you had added? Thx.

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That is factory window tint.

Congrats on your upcoming delivery! You'll love your X.

aesculus said:

The paint quality looks like it's improving. Must be getting those paint robots optimized.

Still alarmed by the wattage per mile. As Roamer points out the tire breakin may be the issue. I am hoping we can get the consumption to 350 watts/mile in ideal circumstances in order to actually have around 250 miles of range.

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The paint quality is excellent in person. I also went through the "Model X Check List" Model X Delivery Checklist and thoroughly reviewed the "initial issues with Model X" threads. My Model X did not demonstrate the vast majority of the issues Founders or the first batch of Signatures (Falcon Wing Door needing to be recalibrated, seat latch issues, etc.). All of these "issues" Tesla can and does address, but considering my X was initially scheduled for delivery the last week of 2015, which I later found out it went into production that week, I believe Tesla is addressing imperfections and incorporating into manufacturing at a remarkable pace because I found very little to report at delivery.

I would not be that alarmed with the wh/mile. Yesterday, I drove in 29 to 34 degree weather (basically at freezing or below). Today, what was the temperature in Northern California? 50 to 60 degrees? :smile: Your wh/mile I'd imagine will be 100 to 200 less than what I experienced.

Bgarret said:

Mr. Michigan Models...and my carpool friend for TMC 2014 - congrats. The more Teslas that ride in Michigan, the more likely the ban on Teslas goes away.

Cheers to your X. Would love to meet up when I'm back instate.

BGarret

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Thank you, thank you. I completely forgot to text you pictures yesterday. Yes, PM when you get back in state.

ohmman said:

This is great news (for you especially)! It's good to get feedback from the deliveries that are going as expected, who are typically the silent majority. I'm hopeful things are getting sorted out at the factory so the SC load can be reduced greatly. Thanks again, and keep us in the loop on your experience.

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Another positive point from my delivery, two day experience: Falcon Wing Doors. There was justifiably much talk and speculation surrounding the Falcon Wing Doors: Many questioned the timing of opening/closing, whether it was a gimmick vs. a practical feature. Others questioned how they would operate in inclement weather. My expectations were very low. I thought the Falcon Wing Doors looked cool and probably would not add much utility and would need service out of the gate.

I was wrong.

The last two days in Michigan have been very cold (ranging from 13 degrees to 34 degrees), windy, and slight rain. I have two young daughters (10 months and 4 years old) and found the convenience of the Falcon Wing Doors to be invaluable. My wife and I ran errands today, and the FWDs made getting the girls in and out of the car easier than we could have imagined. It was simply awesome to have unobstructed clearance getting our 10 month old in and out of the rear facing seat (open the FWD, unlatch the car seat, remove the car seat - no small opening to awkwardly maneuver). As mentioned before, the weather was undesirable (cold, windy, rain, snow flurries, etc.), and the time for the Falcon Wing Doors to open and close was fast: if the driver manually closes the door from the outside, or if the passenger closes the door on the inside, there was no time wasted waiting for the doors to close (no one was unnecessarily exposed to the harsh elements any more so than in any other automobile). I found the timing a non-issue.

If memory serves, we opened both doors 20 times today in tight parking spaces or in our garage (which is a pretty tight fit), and the FWD worked flawlessly. With that said, I know there is a contigent of people that will attempt to crush their hands, feet, and whatever body part they are willing to put in harms way because "hey, these are Falcon Wing Doors and we must prove that Tesla can not engineer every imaginable scenario." Well, that contingent is correct. Historically, I never placed my hand(s) inside a car as the doors were closing or stood as close to a car door when someone exited the vehicle. And I did not start with my Model X. Yes, there is potential for doors to pinch hands or the FWD to hit someone, but the probablity is much lower in an X than any other automobile because of the X warning beep, and the X door sensors. Tesla currently has the door sensor sensitivity high to err on the side of caution. If you approach a falcon wing door like any other door, it works as advertised. If you are willing to stand in the same position to open a FWD as you would any other door, there will be no problem.

I am now a strong advocate for Falcon Wing Doors, and I welcome Tesla to have FWD on the Model Y.

One last thing, the self opening and closing front doors are ridiculously cool. Any Model S owner that enjoys the experience of sitting in the S and pressing the brake to start the S, well, this is a logical extension of that.