This is an ongoing diary from my first week with Model Y. See Day 1 here.
Obtaining Model Y was super easy, and it showed that it was a well thought-out process on Tesla’s part. All the money had been taken in advance, and I even had quite a significant credit since Tesla lowered the price by $ 3,000 between payment and pickup. As I said before, I tried to get FSD for $ 7,000, but Tesla charged me $ 8,000, so I’ll decide later if I want that.
Compare that to my experience with Chevy, where it took me a full two days to get the Bolt sold to me on MSRP, and I’m pretty sure I’ll never visit a traditional dealer again. Oh, and don’t get me started with the local Toyota dealer.
With Covid, there are a few nuances to the delivery experience, but here’s how it came down:
Model Y first sighting
I stopped at the Tesla showroom and in the street parking lot on my Model X. Then I emailed the store to let them know I was there and what car I was in and what I was wearing. While I was waiting, I tried to do one last reset of the Model X display, but my Tesla rep Justin greeted me in the car before the display appeared. He said everything was ready and asked if I wanted to complete the paperwork. I said I would like to check the car first.
I had previously asked if I could take photos and videos, and Tesla asked me not to do it in case I accidentally captured other customers or sellers. It seemed a little iffy, but I planned to take some photos of any problems with the car.
As a separate comment, I saw the MKBHD review of the Model Y and was frankly surprised by the issues it saw in its own. And his was a press vehicle (!!!). It starts at 8:40 below:
Oh!
So I got out and on a socially estranged walk, we both headed to the small parking lot where he showed me what appeared to be a gorgeous white Model Y with a white interior. I don’t know how they do it, but that white interior looks amazing and unlike any other white interior I’ve ever seen.
I started pacing around the car, looking for trouble. Upon close inspection, I found quite a few, but did not break deals. Mainly panels that were not aligned correctly and some of the same ones that MKBHD pointed out.
Model Y Panel gap / defects
If you need a gallery, I have put some of the highlights below:
While one or a few panel anomalies are forgivable, I feel Tesla could have done a lot better here, especially since I told them ahead of time that I was going to do a thorough inspection. I spoke to Justin about my complaints, he agreed and said Tesla would rectify them. Since then I have scheduled an appointment for Friday.
But something did not sit well. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an email to Model 3 employees:
Precision
Most of the Model 3’s design tolerances are already better than any other car in the world. Soon everyone will be better. This is not enough. We will continue until the Model 3 build accuracy is ten times better than any other car in the world. I’m not kidding.
Our car needs to be designed and built with such precision and precision that if an owner measures dimensions, panel gaps, and color, and their measurements do not match the Model 3 specifications, it just means their tape measure is wrong.
Some parts suppliers will be unwilling or unable to achieve this level of precision. I understand that this will be considered an unreasonable request by some. Okay, there are many other car companies with much lower standards. They simply cannot work with Tesla.
Knowing that this is the standard Tesla set for itself, I was quite disappointed. I thought I had waited long enough for the blemishes to resolve.
At this point, the idea of driving home on my mid-X model working versus driving on a near-perfect Y model with some odd gaps in the panel and a small stain on the B-pillar probably rocked me more than it should. But you can probably guess what happened next.
I said, “Let’s make an appointment to clean this up, and I’ll do the paperwork and be on the way.”
The Model Y paperwork totaled approximately 4-5 signatures. I could have done it in the car, but I chose the air conditioning from Tesla’s office because there were only 1-2 other customers there.
On my way back to my car, I heard two other Model Y purchases. They both seemed to have similar problems to mine. One family was getting a red Y Performance Model, and they were looking at some of the gaps in the panel. They also seemed to be in love with my white interior.
Later in the line, another 40-something relative was getting a white Model Y with a black interior and black wheels. The same story, inspecting the panel gaps.
In both cases, I think the emotion outweighed any imperfect problems.
And so I got on my Model Y, which was not perfect but still lustful, and drove home. My immediate reactions:
- The car is almost 100% Model 3 of the driver experience. Obviously you are higher up and that has some effects on turns and handling but overall I was satisfied. It’s fun!
- The suspension, unsurprisingly, is much louder than that of the Model X, especially on bigger hits. I got a Model 3 very early, so I thought Tesla has made its 3 / Y suspension much quieter now, but no!
- Driving is so much fun that I flew almost an hour and took the long way home.
- I am not in love with standard wheels. I could cover them with black powder
- The use of USB-C is amazing, but that means I have to get new adapters. I’m also going to measure the output, hope it can be loaded quickly.
- The rear seating area is large and additional foot / cargo space will be appreciated under the front seats.
- The cargo area is also large and that tub at the bottom is huge … as is the frunk.
- I already installed a Jeda wireless pad to be able to do landscapes
- I bought a $ 50 charging pad in the back area for the dog.
- If you have a dog, the rear area may be perfect for them to see what’s going on and stand up, but they shouldn’t be able to jump into the rear seats.
And some goodbye images of what I will cover in the next few days.
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