We have a reservation for the Model S (general production) and have been getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of information from Tesla, particularly trying to find out where we are in the reservation list. From the numbers I've seen in the forum posting 'Model S Tally', it's difficult to tell where anyone is on the list, but perhaps that is their intention. We were told from Tesla that were #1 on the Canada list, but can't seem to get any information about when Canadian approved Model S' will be produced; we are concerned that they may go through all the US production first and it could be some time before any for Canada are available.
There are actually several different lists:
P - General Production
R - Roadster Owners
S - Signature reservations
SS - Signature Special - Roadster Owners again.
SS owners get their cars first, followed by S, then R, then P. You're the first on the P list.
I wouldn't get too worried about being on the "last" list. There are not that many people on the R list; apparently less than 10% of Model S reservation holders own Roadsters. Also many if not most of them transferred to the SS list when the Signature was announced for Canada (originally there was no Canadian Signature list). Anyone who is on the S list is paying over $90k (I've heard $95k).
The Tesla web site states that Canadian deliveries will begin about three months after USA deliveries. The cars are being built to Canadian specifications from the get-go; they just have to do minor firmware modifications (such as force the daytime running lights always on). The delay is because the documentation has to be reformatted for submission to Canada (different "forms" as it were), and then the Canadian authorities have to review and authorize them.
There will be at most 200 Canadian Signature vehicles. Tesla is going to be building a lot more than 200 cars a month, even at the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised if the Canadian General Production cars were only a month behind the Signatures.
Also, when we put in a reservation several years ago, we believed that for $50K, we would be getting a car that would go 300k; then they decided to make three levels so now the 330k car has been priced way out of our range.
Tesla has never claimed 300 miles for the base price. They've always said "up to 300 miles", and "starting at $57k". They they didn't word this very well in their early announcements, so you could easily have gotten confused and assumed both at the same time. That has never been the case. It's unfortunate that some people got that impression.
Personally, I'd recommend going for the 230 mile pack. The Roadster is 240 miles and it's more than plenty for 99% of driving.
To add insult to injury, I just found out about the Factory tour that was held for all reservation owners, however we didn't receive an invitation. Maybe it was an oversight but we were really disappointed that we didn't have the opportunity to go, we would've been there in a heart beat.
Yeah, that's really unfortunate. You're not alone. When you send out thousands of emails inevitably some don't get to their destination. Email is not actually that reliable these days, in large measure due to spam and anti-spam filters. Bulk emails like that especially tend to get pulled. (A lot of ISPs do email filtering and their customers aren't even aware of it.) If you had found these forums earlier you would have heard about it.
On the other hand, no one has had the opportunity to test drive a car yet... that is still to come.
We had an opportunity to test drive the roadster and were awed by it, so it's unfortunate that after waiting so long, we are thinking of pulling out. Anyone else had similar experiences?
Yep, it's an awesome car. I made the "mistake" of test driving a Roadster, and ended up buying one. It's an absolute blast to drive!
Tesla is a young and rapidly growing company. They've got piles of work to do and are all scrambling to get things done. They've inevitably make some mistakes. But they've always bent over backwards to provide excellent service, and any time they've made a mistake they've always made good on it - and then some. Honestly despite the occasional bump I've never had such a good experience with a car company.
I've ridden in a Model S and it's also an awesome car. It's not quite as fast as the Roadster, but it's still pretty damned fast! It is also quieter than a Roadster, more comfortable, and incredibly stable in a corner. The touchscreen system is amazing. I had no hesitation whatsoever in putting in a reservation. If you stick with it, I'm certain you won't regret it.