I ordered my Tesla Model 3 in November on a Sunday night. My son (same household) owns a Model S, I was first day reservation holder.
That same week on Wednesday I get a text from a delivery specialist — Your car is on it’s way!
—I was in the middle of a meeting, presenting on screen and that text comes up on my watch in front of me— “Sharon? Um Sharon? Change screen…Sharon???” I think you could say I was in shock.
Here I was hoping that I would get it by the middle of December because I was ordering so late. I couldn’t even secure my funding that quick…it ended up sitting at the Service Center for a week (Psst they don’t finance KS residents—so message me and I’ll dig up the link for Alliant financing for you with their Tesla link)…they forgot to tell me they don’t do financing for KS.
Any way… delivery day came and I was thrilled…not a lot of sleeping the night before!! There was my beautiful car! It was raining…I even didn’t mind getting wet getting my picture taken with my new car when we pulled out of the service center. So my first experience driving was going to the detail shop where they put on a clear wrap and 2 coats of ceramicPro and a top coat which took a week…a week later and I go to the detail shop…wow SUPER SHINY!! I highly recommend getting the paint wrapped (I am told that the CA laws make the paint be a softer paint if manufactured in the shop)…this should help protect it better.
The little car you see in the box is the gift from Tesla for having a first day reservation…they only made them in red… that was lucky.
The last two pics are the car with the clear wrap and ceramicPro coating.
That weekend we took it on it’s maiden voyage … we took a trip down to Silver Dollar City — why not a down and back in a day…on a nice sunny day it would have been fine…we learned a lot on that trip like how cold weather affects range. We didn’t charge as long as we should have…and it was about 10+ degrees warmer there than home…on the way home we hit a cold front and the temperature dived and so did our range…but a nice little jaunt over to a super charger and we were good. Just made for a longer day than we had anticipated (we also did a dinner cruise and other things we hadn’t originally planned). but we learned a lot and it was a good experience!
I have been so busy cutting with the GF on projects we are being paid for (inexpensive but it’s something in the Makerspace fund that wasn’t there before)…that I haven’t had a chance to start my own Christmas presents I want to make.
I love my Tesla!!! Yesterday I drove to a store and went to the “pick up area” where they bring your purchase out to your car – a guy with a muscle car parked and got out of his car… he looked the car over and then turned to me, gave me a nod and a smile… I’ve never had a car that someone did that to before…kind of a nice feeling.
During a tsunami in Japan there was a dealership that had a multiple cars burning.
Seems that electric cars combust when in mid door height water, which makes sense since you are shorting out some high amp potentials.
Not trying to be scary.
Just a heads up to leave the vehicle if you do stall out in a deep puddle.
So, where are you going for your road trip to break it in?
Oh never mind, saw Silver Dollar.
I got an email just a bit ago…I can’t believe they can do this…but if you want a Tesla before the end of the year and be eligible for the $7500 (check with tax person for eligibility) that expires the end of the year…you still have chance to get a new Tesla X, S, or Model 3 by the end of the year…
Hi Sharon,
The $7,500 tax credit expires on December 31. Let your friends and family know and give them 6 months of free unlimited Supercharging. If they order now we’ll make sure the car gets delivered before the end of the year.
We took it down to Branson for a quick trip…our BIG road trip will be next year before the 6 months free unlimited Super Charging expires…ON OUR HONEYMOON!! so the decision is…where and how far can we get when we leave??? Will have to talk to my boss to see how much time I can take off… because next Friday my contract to hire position turns into a FULL TIME employee position!!! I’m a Data Security Analyst in Information Security! Dream job!
Hmmm will read up on that a bit with the water…I’m not in a flood plain…but you never know…just googled and this video came up:
Havent heard much about Teslas catching fire because of being submerged. In fact there’s high demand for flood damaged Teslas because their electronics can be brought back to life and the batteries are completely watertight. The electronics are sealed up pretty good.
Congratulations on your beautiful new Tesla Model 3. I just took delivery of my very own Tesla Model 3, 3 weeks ago. It is an amazing car and I have no fear of puddles since the DOT wouldn’t allow them on the road if they started on fire when they get wet and since the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has listed the Tesla Model 3 as the safest care that has ever been tested, I’m confident we’ll be fine.
I also went straight from delivery to paint protection. I did the paint protection film on the front, up to the mirrors, Ceramic coating, 5 coats, on the whole car and 20% window tint on everything except the windshield and the “sunroof” area. I live in Illinois, so I went and had snow tires put on for the winter also. I work at a foundry and want to protect the paint from fall out and I take a lot of road trips so I wanted to protect from rock chips. We love the car so much that my wife now wants a used Model S next year. I can’t wait.
if he gets I think one more referral he will get a set of custom wheels…and I will get the charger and the mini kid version of the Model S to drive because I got him his other referrals. personally having something “etched” and shot into space as a referral doesn’t thrill me…I have a Glowforge.
I lucked out with timing, I almost didn’t order the red because of cost but fiance looked at my spreadsheet comparison of the options and said it was only $16 a month and when I have up my daily Starbucks, it saved that much in a week… so we ordered and then the price went down $1K on the car and they honored the decreased price as I hadn’t taken delivery… so it ended up the same price as the others.
Definitely need to meet up and get a ride next time I’m in KC. Very pretty.
I’ve been really entertained by Rich Rebuilds on YouTube. Before watching him, I was just not giving any mental space to the EV thing or Tesla. Not buying for a while, so not interested. But his rebuild sagas are pretty informative.
And now that GM is going to discontinue the Impala, I guess I’ll be getting something different when I’m ready to buy a new car, I hope in ten years if not before. Hmm. Ten years with a ICE. Will they be around?
Not sure where this notion of EV catching fires from standing water came from- but its not true. Majority of the damage is to the interior. Not the electronics.
Secondly, most EVs have either have contactors or explosive fuses to protect the high voltage side of things.
So for those new Tesla owners that have noticed a clunk sound when they approach their vehicle, that’s the car enabling the high voltage side of the pack to the inverter to the motors. Same goes for charging.
I’ve been trying to make a video but it seems like the universe is against me. It gets dark so early this time of year that I can’t do it during the week, and every weekend it’s either bad weather or something comes up that steals the whole day from me. I even bought gopros and mounts for inside the car but it looks terrible unless I can get some daylight. Yesterday I got up early to do this and ended up helping a friend fix his thermostat, then ran an errand, and got home at 6:30 in the dark. Today it’s raining. The car is fine but I’m feeling really down about the whole video situation.
Definitely need to meet up and get a ride next time I’m in KC. Very pretty.
I’ve been really entertained by Rich Rebuilds on YouTube. Before watching him, I was just not giving any mental space to the EV thing or Tesla. Not buying for a while, so not interested. But his rebuild sagas are pretty informative.
And now that GM is going to discontinue the Impala, I guess I’ll be getting something different when I’m ready to buy a new car, I hope in ten years if not before. Hmm. Ten years with a ICE. Will they be around?
I lucked out with timing, I almost didn’t order the red because of cost but fiance looked at my spreadsheet comparison of the options and said it was only $16 a month and when I have up my daily Starbucks, it saved that much in a week… so we ordered and then the price went down $1K on the car and they honored the decreased price as I hadn’t taken delivery… so it ended up the same price as the others.
You can use my Tesla referral link for a Supercharging credit on Model S, Model X or Model 3, or a 5-year extended warranty on solar panels.
if he gets I think one more referral he will get a set of custom wheels…and I will get the charger and the mini kid version of the Model S to drive because I got him his other referrals. personally having something “etched” and shot into space as a referral doesn’t thrill me…I have a Glowforge.
dystracktd:
I thought you must be hating yours. I didn’t see any videos after the pickup.
I’ve been trying to make a video but it seems like the universe is against me. It gets dark so early this time of year that I can’t do it during the week, and every weekend it’s either bad weather or something comes up that steals the whole day from me. I even bought gopros and mounts for inside the car but it looks terrible unless I can get some daylight. Yesterday I got up early to do this and ended up helping a friend fix his thermostat, then ran an errand, and got home at 6:30 in the dark. Today it’s raining. The car is fine but I’m feeling really down about the whole video situation.
Not sure where this notion of EV catching fires from standing water came from- but its not true. Majority of the damage is to the interior. Not the electronics.
Secondly, most EVs have either have contactors or explosive fuses to protect the high voltage side of things.
So for those new Tesla owners that have noticed a clunk sound when they approach their vehicle, that’s the car enabling the high voltage side of the pack to the inverter to the motors. Same goes for charging.
Definitely need to meet up and get a ride next time I’m in KC. Very pretty.
I’ve been really entertained by Rich Rebuilds on YouTube. Before watching him, I was just not giving any mental space to the EV thing or Tesla. Not buying for a while, so not interested. But his rebuild sagas are pretty informative.
And now that GM is going to discontinue the Impala, I guess I’ll be getting something different when I’m ready to buy a new car, I hope in ten years if not before. Hmm. Ten years with a ICE. Will they be around?
I lucked out with timing, I almost didn’t order the red because of cost but fiance looked at my spreadsheet comparison of the options and said it was only $16 a month and when I have up my daily Starbucks, it saved that much in a week… so we ordered and then the price went down $1K on the car and they honored the decreased price as I hadn’t taken delivery… so it ended up the same price as the others.
You can use my Tesla referral link for a Supercharging credit on Model S, Model X or Model 3, or a 5-year extended warranty on solar panels.
if he gets I think one more referral he will get a set of custom wheels…and I will get the charger and the mini kid version of the Model S to drive because I got him his other referrals. personally having something “etched” and shot into space as a referral doesn’t thrill me…I have a Glowforge.
Hands down best car I’ve ever owned.
It was the one my wife learned to drive in, that her mother bought new. The one I poured my time and treasure into, rebuilding with Shelby spec. suspension and HP engine. New interior and original color.
Because it was MY car, attention to detail like the hand tied wire loom.
My baby for 20 years, until I drove this out of the service center…
Totally unanticipated, but I have no desire to drive the car that constantly drew looks, comments and even had a guy follow me home to ask if I would restore his.
The other surprise was that I don’t even miss the deep exhaust note, and I can’t look at an exhaust pipe in traffic without seeing the ass end of a motor vehicle.
“Motor vehicle” - on a side note, General motors, Ford Motor Company, BMW - all of em… to be clear, a motor consumes energy, an engine develops energy. A Tesla has a motor. The rest have engines.
I would have liked to pay less, but I couldn’t be happier with our long range dual motor Model 3.
(Oh, and a bonus is the Tesla makes the Mustang feel slow.)
If you would like to know what the sensors on your Tesla sees… reminds me of what the Terminator robot readout looked like
Fine looking motor vehicles you have there people, welcome to the future.
but we learned a lot and it was a good experience!
dystracktd:
