My 12 month review of owning my 2022 Model S Long Range

Ordered before the price hike/at the $79k price point. Took about 9 months or so to come in at that time. 11/2021 build. No matrix headlights/no pivoting screen. (not that I'd ever pivot..the screen from the default position). White on white, 19" wheels, no FSD(had it on the 2017. $15k is a ripoff. Free AP is a tremendous value). Accumulated 8k miles in 12 months. I charge home at 240volts via mobile connector to about 60% daily. My commute or travel gets me to no lower than about 45%. Have done about 4 road trips, supercharged a total of twice. Supercharger network is game changing. Dont know what my current degradation is as I haven't bothered to even check

Pickup/delivery in Virginia was a 9 out of 10. Despite being told the car would come with all seasons, came with summer only tires. Tesla gladly did the swap for me at no cost once all seasons came in. Only other issue was rear hatch/trunk cover missing at pickup time. They said they would contact me once it came in later, but weeks later, heard nothing. Drove the few miles to the service center few weeks later, and apparently it was there sitting. They handed it to me.

Only issue at all with the car, was a failed drivers seat pressure sensor. I noticed that randomly the car wouldn't not turn "off" (not that its ever truly off, but you get what Im saying) when I exited. Screen would still be on, climate still running, doors would not lock upon walking away. Opened a ticket, Tesla did remote diagnostics and determined failed sensor. Mobile Ranger came and replaced it in less than an hour a few days later.

The numerous improvements with the refresh over my prior 2017 S were 100% worth upgrading. Quality of interior materials, speed of the MCU, enhanced quietness, the Audio system, charging speed, range, acceleration, its ability to not lose any acceleration push once you hit 90+ like the 2017 did, ventilated seats, heated rear seats, heat pump efficiency, its ability to maintain high levels of acceleration even at 25% or so battery power..the list of improvements goes on and on. Thought for SURE i'd HATE the yoke, but for me, its extremely comfortable/ergonomic when you are driving straight (which lets face it, is most of the time Im driving), its "ok" when turning, and it is not as good as a round wheel when doing u turns or parallell parking. That said, for me? I have zero desire to replace it with the optional Tesla round wheel now offered. But if I were to get a brand new S? Not 100% sure I'd go with Yoke again. But I might. See how conflicted I am with it?

Performance: The car is FAST. No other way to put it. 3.1 0-60 is within supercar territory. For a heavy car, the lateral grip is amazing. I did go to 21" wheels (MRR brand, via vendor on this site. Dont recall the offsets but they are staggered) and have Pilot Sport All seasons and can take exit ramps easily at over 3x the posted speeds for the ramp. With minimal body lean and zero tire squeal. Shes not nimble, but when needed, big girl CAN dance. Braking? Ehh....Not terrible but pedal feel overall is NOT awe inspiring. For me, the additional spend for a Plaid not worth it. But that's me. I can CERTAINLY understand and appreciate those who spent more to get the fastest production car on Earth.

Only other mods I've done is 38% tint on sides, and 20% on the hatch. PPF'ed my hood myself, had a local detailing guy PPF my front bumper. Small aftermarket CF style lip spoiler on trunk. No other mods planned. At this point, will be impossible for me to go backwards to an ICE vehicle.

 

[2101Guy]

@Huncowboy I hear people say that Tesla S aren’t luxurious and it always confuses me. I guess I don’t know what luxury is…reference I’ve owned a Infiniti FX35 and Cadillac ELR…not sure either we’re luxurious but the entire on both was definitely better than my S. Maybe that’s it..I have been in a few Bentleys and no doin that’s luxury but a bit excessive IMO.

Many mean lacks features of cars at that $100k+ price point. Ie: soft close doors, heads up display on windshield, massage seating, adjustable headrests, fragrance settings, adjustable ambient lighting, heated armrests (center and on door), etc. Things an E or S class Benz or 5 or 7 series bmw would have

 

[Rocketfan30]

I have a similar experience to you except my LR was delivered at the end of September so it's a 2021. I had a few minor issues at delivery but got all those fixed thanks to the inspection checklist (funny, I know I had some of the same issues with my Benz and Ford/ remember interior gaps but thought they were no big deal).

I had a weird frustrating issue with my Level 2 charger that I use for my other non-Tesla EV that would almost always stop charging with a red light after 30 minutes to an hour in my first month of ownership. 4 weeks in a Service Center (argh) before they said it was fixed without explanation but I had the same problem the next day (ARGH). I read a post somewhere here about some Level 2 chargers and cables being so heavy that it pulls out enough over time to cause an issue. I thought that couldn't be true but in desperation propped up the cable with a stool and never had this problem again (more than a year now, knock on wood). I was so relieved and happy (love the car otherwise) that I even installed a nice double hook off the wall to rest the cable while it is plugged into the car so I could use the stool as a stool again.

I love the car. Driving it in traffic with autopilot and getting the sudden hit of acceleration on an open road whenever I want is incredible. I also think the minimal interior with the big screens is great. I even got used to and like the Yoke but wish I had stalks for the turn signal and a center horn button because those are two things I still am not used to (and not being able to quickly hit the horn has been dangerous to me twice). I was a little upset about losing the promised advanced gaming features (w/o a $2k upgrade so no Cyberpunk or Witcher 3 for me) but it's not that big a deal because I probably wouldn't sit in my car to play those kinds of games anyway (and can always pick up a Steam Deck if I do).

My only worry now is battery degradation. I'm down 8% in 15 months but understand from the folks here that the most significant percentage of degradation happens in the first 12 months so hopefully this will slow down.

 

[Nickos]

I have a similar experience to you except my LR was delivered at the end of September so it's a 2021. I had a few minor issues at delivery but got all those fixed thanks to the inspection checklist (funny, I know I had some of the same issues with my Benz and Ford/ remember interior gaps but thought they were no big deal).

I had a weird frustrating issue with my Level 2 charger that I use for my other non-Tesla EV that would almost always stop charging with a red light after 30 minutes to an hour in my first month of ownership. 4 weeks in a Service Center (argh) before they said it was fixed without explanation but I had the same problem the next day (ARGH). I read a post somewhere here about some Level 2 chargers and cables being so heavy that it pulls out enough over time to cause an issue. I thought that couldn't be true but in desperation propped up the cable with a stool and never had this problem again (more than a year now, knock on wood). I was so relieved and happy (love the car otherwise) that I even installed a nice double hook off the wall to rest the cable while it is plugged into the car so I could use the stool as a stool again.

I love the car. Driving it in traffic with autopilot and getting the sudden hit of acceleration on an open road whenever I want is incredible. I also think the minimal interior with the big screens is great. I even got used to and like the Yoke but wish I had stalks for the turn signal and a center horn button because those are two things I still am not used to (and not being able to quickly hit the horn has been dangerous to me twice). I was a little upset about losing the promised advanced gaming features (w/o a $2k upgrade so no Cyberpunk or Witcher 3 for me) but it's not that big a deal because I probably wouldn't sit in my car to play those kinds of games anyway (and can always pick up a Steam Deck if I do).

My only worry now is battery degradation. I'm down 8% in 15 months but understand from the folks here that the most significant percentage of degradation happens in the first 12 months so hopefully this will slow down.

Interesting post, thank you. On the 8% thing: Unless all you do is supercharge and go to 100% and 0% regularly, I doubt that's true degradation, likely just the driving and charging habits which have the algorithm out of whack with reality...

 

[Huncowboy]

@Huncowboy I hear people say that Tesla S aren’t luxurious and it always confuses me. I guess I don’t know what luxury is…reference I’ve owned a Infiniti FX35 and Cadillac ELR…not sure either we’re luxurious but the entire on both was definitely better than my S. Maybe that’s it..I have been in a few Bentleys and no doin that’s luxury but a bit excessive IMO.

Someone behind me answered it. Lack of features (ok I don't need fragrance), and to me the materials being used are inexpensive. The design is what it is. I don't necessarily have an issue with that. It is not my style.

My only worry now is battery degradation. I'm down 8% in 15 months but understand from the folks here that the most significant percentage of degradation happens in the first 12 months so hopefully this will slow down.

Something interesting happened to me when it comes to battery degradation. First few months I've been charging it to 80%. Then around 8 months into it I was reading (I think it was in the manual) that if the car is a 4 wheel drive, charge it daily to 90%. So I started that. It suddenly took a huge dive. After that I decided to keep it at 60% unless I know I will drive then charge it to 70-80% if I remember and have time. 60% is actually enough for me anyways. I can almost do two days like that. I just decided to do this because I play with FPV drones Lipo batteries love to sit at 50-60%. I know this is not the same but Elon said 50-70% is the happy place so I went for the middle. So I have been doing that for the past 4-5 months and it recovered a lot. Here is my graph from Tessie. Check the spike. Also note this is a 22k miles car and graph. My wife's car (2022 MX) is always charged to 60% unless we go places. From day one. That is the second graph. Pretty flat.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

It suddenly took a huge dive.

The graph doesn't make sense to me. Your degradation took a big dive, but then your batter recovered? I didn't think they recovered from degradation from just changing charging habits. Seems like the graph is inaccurate compared to what's really happening with the battery capacity.

 

[KJD]

Ordered before the price hike/at the $79k price point. Took about 9 months or so to come in at that time. 11/2021 build. No matrix headlights/no pivoting screen. (not that I'd ever pivot..the screen from the default position). White on white, 19" wheels, no FSD(had it on the 2017. $15k is a ripoff. Free AP is a tremendous value). Accumulated 8k miles in 12 months. I charge home at 240volts via mobile connector to about 60% daily. My commute or travel gets me to no lower than about 45%. Have done about 4 road trips, supercharged a total of twice. Supercharger network is game changing. Dont know what my current degradation is as I haven't bothered to even check

Pickup/delivery in Virginia was a 9 out of 10. Despite being told the car would come with all seasons, came with summer only tires. Tesla gladly did the swap for me at no cost once all seasons came in. Only other issue was rear hatch/trunk cover missing at pickup time. They said they would contact me once it came in later, but weeks later, heard nothing. Drove the few miles to the service center few weeks later, and apparently it was there sitting. They handed it to me.

Only issue at all with the car, was a failed drivers seat pressure sensor. I noticed that randomly the car wouldn't not turn "off" (not that its ever truly off, but you get what Im saying) when I exited. Screen would still be on, climate still running, doors would not lock upon walking away. Opened a ticket, Tesla did remote diagnostics and determined failed sensor. Mobile Ranger came and replaced it in less than an hour a few days later.

The numerous improvements with the refresh over my prior 2017 S were 100% worth upgrading. Quality of interior materials, speed of the MCU, enhanced quietness, the Audio system, charging speed, range, acceleration, its ability to not lose any acceleration push once you hit 90+ like the 2017 did, ventilated seats, heated rear seats, heat pump efficiency, its ability to maintain high levels of acceleration even at 25% or so battery power..the list of improvements goes on and on. Thought for SURE i'd HATE the yoke, but for me, its extremely comfortable/ergonomic when you are driving straight (which lets face it, is most of the time Im driving), its "ok" when turning, and it is not as good as a round wheel when doing u turns or parallell parking. That said, for me? I have zero desire to replace it with the optional Tesla round wheel now offered. But if I were to get a brand new S? Not 100% sure I'd go with Yoke again. But I might. See how conflicted I am with it?

Performance: The car is FAST. No other way to put it. 3.1 0-60 is within supercar territory. For a heavy car, the lateral grip is amazing. I did go to 21" wheels (MRR brand, via vendor on this site. Dont recall the offsets but they are staggered) and have Pilot Sport All seasons and can take exit ramps easily at over 3x the posted speeds for the ramp. With minimal body lean and zero tire squeal. Shes not nimble, but when needed, big girl CAN dance. Braking? Ehh....Not terrible but pedal feel overall is NOT awe inspiring. For me, the additional spend for a Plaid not worth it. But that's me. I can CERTAINLY understand and appreciate those who spent more to get the fastest production car on Earth.

Only other mods I've done is 38% tint on sides, and 20% on the hatch. PPF'ed my hood myself, had a local detailing guy PPF my front bumper. Small aftermarket CF style lip spoiler on trunk. No other mods planned. At this point, will be impossible for me to go backwards to an ICE vehicle.

View attachment 905051

Great review. One question. When Tesla came out with the round wheel option I was almost ready to order one, but then I read that the horn button is still not good and they still do not have a real turn signal lever or gear shift lever. How do you feel about the stalkless design ?

 

[vcor]

I'm comfortable with the stalkless design. Horn is a non-issue to me. Use it maybe once a year, and then it still works fine. The mash technique works for me (you put your palm over all the controls). Try it a few times to get the hang of it. Plenty of other cars over the years do not have a center horn, so it's not all that unique. Ok, that's my lead to queue up the horn-haters!

 

[Leytonstone]

Stalkless design will prove infuriating for drivers like me who use roundabouts every day, which demand you indicate once to enter them and then again - in the opposite direction while the wheel is turned over - in order to exit.

The horn smash I feel I could eventually accept, even though it too runs counter to most other new cars on sale and certainly every class competitor. For years here and elsewhere in Europe, the motoring press mocked Renaults, Peugeots and Citroens for putting the horn on a stalk, and now even they don't do it any more. When even the French give up on a cause célèbre you know it's a massive, irreversible dead end they've reached!

I would go as far as to say that the level of Muskian gimmickry introduced with the S redesign will relegate the car to also-ran in both comparison tests and sales which, in these days of such broadly capable machinery, boil down to nitpicking. Which is a pity when Tesla used to come up with groundbreaking ideas and new ways of doing things that you could literally hear the legacy makers scrambling to copy. Nobody is going to emulate the yoke/stalks thing. Nobody.

 

[AKS AKS]

Ordered before the price hike/at the $79k price point. Took about 9 months or so to come in at that time. 11/2021 build. No matrix headlights/no pivoting screen. (not that I'd ever pivot..the screen from the default position). White on white, 19" wheels, no FSD(had it on the 2017. $15k is a ripoff. Free AP is a tremendous value). Accumulated 8k miles in 12 months. I charge home at 240volts via mobile connector to about 60% daily. My commute or travel gets me to no lower than about 45%. Have done about 4 road trips, supercharged a total of twice. Supercharger network is game changing. Dont know what my current degradation is as I haven't bothered to even check

Pickup/delivery in Virginia was a 9 out of 10. Despite being told the car would come with all seasons, came with summer only tires. Tesla gladly did the swap for me at no cost once all seasons came in. Only other issue was rear hatch/trunk cover missing at pickup time. They said they would contact me once it came in later, but weeks later, heard nothing. Drove the few miles to the service center few weeks later, and apparently it was there sitting. They handed it to me.

Only issue at all with the car, was a failed drivers seat pressure sensor. I noticed that randomly the car wouldn't not turn "off" (not that its ever truly off, but you get what Im saying) when I exited. Screen would still be on, climate still running, doors would not lock upon walking away. Opened a ticket, Tesla did remote diagnostics and determined failed sensor. Mobile Ranger came and replaced it in less than an hour a few days later.

The numerous improvements with the refresh over my prior 2017 S were 100% worth upgrading. Quality of interior materials, speed of the MCU, enhanced quietness, the Audio system, charging speed, range, acceleration, its ability to not lose any acceleration push once you hit 90+ like the 2017 did, ventilated seats, heated rear seats, heat pump efficiency, its ability to maintain high levels of acceleration even at 25% or so battery power..the list of improvements goes on and on. Thought for SURE i'd HATE the yoke, but for me, its extremely comfortable/ergonomic when you are driving straight (which lets face it, is most of the time Im driving), its "ok" when turning, and it is not as good as a round wheel when doing u turns or parallell parking. That said, for me? I have zero desire to replace it with the optional Tesla round wheel now offered. But if I were to get a brand new S? Not 100% sure I'd go with Yoke again. But I might. See how conflicted I am with it?

Performance: The car is FAST. No other way to put it. 3.1 0-60 is within supercar territory. For a heavy car, the lateral grip is amazing. I did go to 21" wheels (MRR brand, via vendor on this site. Dont recall the offsets but they are staggered) and have Pilot Sport All seasons and can take exit ramps easily at over 3x the posted speeds for the ramp. With minimal body lean and zero tire squeal. Shes not nimble, but when needed, big girl CAN dance. Braking? Ehh....Not terrible but pedal feel overall is NOT awe inspiring. For me, the additional spend for a Plaid not worth it. But that's me. I can CERTAINLY understand and appreciate those who spent more to get the fastest production car on Earth.

Only other mods I've done is 38% tint on sides, and 20% on the hatch. PPF'ed my hood myself, had a local detailing guy PPF my front bumper. Small aftermarket CF style lip spoiler on trunk. No other mods planned. At this point, will be impossible for me to go backwards to an ICE vehicle.

View attachment 905051

Remarkably similar experience to mine (got mine in March '22)! I've had Saabs, Lexuses, Audis, BMWs before this. Never going back to any of those. Ever.
The pluses far outweighs the minuses with the MS-LR. Fixes for a few main minuses are:
1) Make alert fonts much larger! There's so much screen real estate in the 17" screen that can be used, and my aging eyes would be really grateful.
2) Activate front cameras during parking (my front bumper and wheel rims are already scuzzy from regular curb-bumping).
3) Make CarPlay available, please.

 

[2101Guy]

Great review. One question. When Tesla came out with the round wheel option I was almost ready to order one, but then I read that the horn button is still not good and they still do not have a real turn signal lever or gear shift lever. How do you feel about the stalkless design ?

Stalkless design LOOKS great/clean, but isn’t practical. Especially when yoke is turned upside down (think exiting a parking space then quickly turning yoke at exit of parking lot near the parking space. Yoke is upside down. Have to angle head weirdly to see which button to push. DUMB)

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Remarkably similar experience to mine (got mine in March '22)! I've had Saabs, Lexuses, Audis, BMWs before this. Never going back to any of those. Ever.
The pluses far outweighs the minuses with the MS-LR. Fixes for a few main minuses are:
1) Make alert fonts much larger! There's so much screen real estate in the 17" screen that can be used, and my aging eyes would be really grateful.
2) Activate front cameras during parking (my front bumper and wheel rims are already scuzzy from regular curb-bumping).
3) Make CarPlay available, please.

1) They should have an option to customize font size in the config menu like you can with your phone/tablet.
2) Not going to help because the cameras can't see the curb from the top of the windshield. You're suppose to use the distance measure on the screen. Other cars like the ones you listed have another bumper mounted camera.
3) That would hurt their Premium subscription revenue, so probably not going to happen.

 

[JimmyB]

Remarkably similar experience to mine (got mine in March '22)! I've had Saabs, Lexuses, Audis, BMWs before this. Never going back to any of those. Ever.
The pluses far outweighs the minuses with the MS-LR. Fixes for a few main minuses are:
1) Make alert fonts much larger! There's so much screen real estate in the 17" screen that can be used, and my aging eyes would be really grateful.
2) Activate front cameras during parking (my front bumper and wheel rims are already scuzzy from regular curb-bumping).
3) Make CarPlay available, please.

3 is eminently doable if you don't mind messing around with a Raspberry Pi a little bit ...

... and it looks even better on the landscape screen. See teslaandroid.com for more (no affiliation, just super happy with it)

 

[DayTrippin]

Something interesting happened to me when it comes to battery degradation. First few months I've been charging it to 80%. Then around 8 months into it I was reading (I think it was in the manual) that if the car is a 4 wheel drive, charge it daily to 90%. So I started that. It suddenly took a huge dive. After that I decided to keep it at 60% unless I know I will drive then charge it to 70-80% if I remember and have time. 60% is actually enough for me anyways. I can almost do two days like that. I just decided to do this because I play with FPV drones Lipo batteries love to sit at 50-60%. I know this is not the same but Elon said 50-70% is the happy place so I went for the middle. So I have been doing that for the past 4-5 months and it recovered a lot. Here is my graph from Tessie. Check the spike. Also note this is a 22k miles car and graph. My wife's car (2022 MX) is always charged to 60% unless we go places. From day one. That is the second graph. Pretty flat.

I have about 10k miles on mine, bought 3/22. My degradation is 0.1%. I keep my charge level at 50-55% except for long trips and only charge to 90% if doing that. I used SC's for about 3.5k miles. I will typically use the SC to go from about 20% to about 65% or 70%. I also charge in smaller increments (daily) rather than running it down and doing a big charge after 3 days of use.

I agree with a lot of the comments but Tesla flat out lied about the 0-60 times for the LR. I still hate the yoke but I hate the lack of stalks even more as time goes on. I don't think the Plaid is worth the upcharge and glad I didn't originally go with it. I rarely can use the power the LR has where I live and the Plaid would be even more constrained. It is more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

If I am driving in the city a lot, I'll take our 3 over our S any day.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I agree with a lot of the comments but Tesla flat out lied about the 0-60 times for the LR.

What was the lie?

 

[DayTrippin]

They claim 3.1 seconds 0-60. I haven't found a single Model S LR that can do it. Truth be told, a good running M3P (or even average) will smoke the refreshed S LR to 60 mph. The S LR runs about .2 seconds slower to 60 than claimed. It as if Tesla neutered the car so as to make the Plaid look better.

It runs as great from about 40 mph up, and that is where it shines compared to the previous performance models and will outrun any of them, just not to 60 mph.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

They claim 3.1 seconds 0-60. I haven't found a single Model S LR that can do it. Truth be told, a good running M3P (or even average) will smoke the refreshed S LR to 60 mph. The S LR runs about .2 seconds slower to 60 than claimed. It as if Tesla neutered the car so as to make the Plaid look better.

It runs as great from about 40 mph up, and that is where it shines compared to the previous performance models and will outrun any of them, just not to 60 mph.

Is that just a rollout/no rollout thing?

I would love to see a YT video of a SLR vs M3P, but I haven't been able to find any.

 

[DayTrippin]

Is that just a rollout/no rollout thing?

I would love to see a YT video of a SLR vs M3P, but I haven't been able to find any.

No it isn't. They don't have the little asterisk next to the number like they do the other models regarding the advantage rollout. Trust me, I've been down this road and made a ton of runs. They claim 3.1* seconds for the M3P and 3.1 (no asterisk and footnote regarding rollout) for the MS LR. So on paper, they MS LR should easily beat the M3P to 60 and doesn't. It won't even match it. I've ran a few M3Ps on the street and there hasn't been a single one I'll beat off the line. From 30 mph on up, no contest, the S LR will pull them. Even if I am at 40% SoC. SoC really doesn't have much effect on the S LR or even temps. Hell nothing seems to make a different. I must have done 50+ runs in my car. Launch mode, 100% SoC, tire pressure, preheat pack, you name it, nothing makes consistent, repeatable difference that is worth the effort. Cheetah mode might help the Plaid, no different on the LR. Which is great at the same time as it is consistent AF. Nothing seems to throw it off its game but you can't even tease out a really fast run by putting something magical together.

Tesla says the MS LR should run 3.1 to 60 without the headstart of 1' rollout. In the real world, I've seen M3P's run in the high 2's with rollout. Best I've done is 3.08 with 1' rollout when that is about what the car should have done WITHOUT rollout. So comparing it apples to apples, 3 to S, the S should have handily beaten the 3P to 60 by at least 2 tenths. In the real world, it is the other way around. I want the 2 tenths quicker car I was promised and paid for. Going from 3.3 to 3.1 is significant, especially when already running that quickly. People pay a lot of money to get that sort of improvement and not receive it, is very irritating. My friends with Taycans will easily beat their claimed times. Done enough Dragy runs to know. The S LR runs about .2 seconds slower than claimed.

Go check out the Dragy leaderboard sometime. I haven't been there in a while but you'll likely still see a LOT of M3P's ahead of the fastest MS LR and there is no way that should be the case. It clearly feels like the launch is neutered. The M3P pulls so much harder of the line. Hell, my M3 LR with boost isn't that much slower than my MS LR to 60.

So Elon - I want the acceleration I was promised and paid for...

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I am guessing, if they are pressed, Tesla will say they forgot the asterisk and just add it on. It wouldn't be the first time they changed important details all of a sudden on their website.