[Simon Mac]

Firstly I'm biased, I think I've fallen in love with the car.

It's the first car I've ever felt the urge to give a name So from this point forward I will call her "Rita" in honour of the Alton Towers attraction she reminds me of.

Rita has impressed such a wide demographic I'm surprised.
- My 15 year old son loves it because Will-I-Am has one
- My mum loves it because it's big and comfy
- My petrol head work colleagues love it because it is goes like stink
- My premium brand snob (Merc, Porsche) co directors love it because it really does feel upmarket
- My geek mates love it because it is just the height of geek.
- I love it for all of the above

Driving around Rita truly does feel like all other cars on the road are old fashioned. Ok she may be a big old girl, and my model is definitely built for comfort, not for speed, but she's got enough go in her to keep me entertained.

She is lacking a few things we come to take for granted, sunglasses holder and grab handles but tbh these I can forgive. Sure at this money in say a Merc, you might also get radar cruise control, or emergency braking, but having never owned a car with these things it's not something I miss.

I didn't order Rita with fog lights, so wasn't expecting the cornering lights, which was a nice surprise.

I also didn't order dual chargers, but the system info screen on "Visual Tesla" app say it is installed, so again a bonus. Saying that I haven't tried any charge points with >11Kw, so I don't know if it is software capped.

Rita does have a strange quirk with the floor, which I've only just picked up on. As the "floor pan" is much thicker than the simple pressed steel of a normal car. The floor inside is higher up than you'd expect.

The rear bumper undertray is actually a diffuser. Which would make sense as the whole underside is flat (a bit like my Elise)

Other random thoughts / discoveries about Rita

• The front seats have a handy pocket in front of the seat base.
• The non-premium audio still goes up to 11.
• The frunk is fun, but without any handles for shutting it, it's a fingerprint magnet, so I doubt I'll be using it much. But then the boot is so big, not really a great need.
• The LED Interior lights are a nice touch, and just the right shade of whitish blue.
• I don't have a pano roof, so the cream interior really does make the cabin feel airy. The seatbelts are not colour coordinated to the trim though.
• The courtesy / puddle lights in the handles really do work well.
• I keep going to put the imaginary centre shift into P every time I stop.
• I keep trying to take the imaginary key out of the ignition

Finally for the record: I'm not called Bob, and I don't know anyone called Sue.

 

[Paul]

Sorry, but had to get this out of my brain...

Sounds absolutely fantastic for all the right reasons.

That said, I refuse to purchase one until they resolve the sunglasses storage issue*.





*that and the whole money thing.

 

[Andy]

Another happy Tesla customer. Good report.

What's the deal if you have a little niggle and you need to take it in to be looked at? Do you have to go to London each time or are they planning on opening service centres around the UK? Or maybe they come and collect?

 

[Simon Mac]

They operate a mobile service.

Fingers crossed I don't need to physically take car back, as it is a royal pita getting from Nottingham to Heathrow. 3 hours each way, and outside round trip range.

there was talk of them opening a Birmingham service centre which would work much better for me.

 

[Lee Jones]

They're planning Birmingham and Manchester, can't come soon enough. Also, the ranger service is mega-expensive; £440 for a visit from London to the Wirral (at £1 per return mile).

 

[Dean Hamer]

Did you guys take out the servicing pack.

It seems very expensive for the servicing? When in actual fact there isn't much to service. Especially if you have over the air updates etc.

I'm sure I read that Elon said you don't need to service the Model S and you will still have warranty cover if anything happens?

 

[jontracey]

I'm sure I read that Elon said you don't need to service the Model S and you will still have warranty cover if anything happens?

He did at the Belgium tesla meeting, there is a video on Youtube to record the evidence

He promised to look into the cost of services as he believed they were too high, and stated that servicing the car is not a condition of the warranty

Go here to about 11:15 for the info

 

[Lee Jones]

I bought it yesterday, I no-brainer given it's a "company car" and I always fully service my cars. £450 a service though, I'm not sure how much, say, a MB S Class costs to service so I can't say if it's expensive or not as I've only ever owned small mainstream cars from new, or older large cars my local garage can service on the cheap.

 

[Simon Mac]

I think they are having to tread quite carefully. The changes in the EU rules a few years back about honouring warranties if you take a car outside main dealer network mean they have no option to make the "servicing" optional.

Ultimately the service is really just a visual inspection of brake pads / discs, re-fill the washer bottle, change the wiper blades, rotate the tyres and maybe if you are lucky grease the door hinges.

If I took the car to a VAT registered garage for the above. they'd do the lot for <£50.

As the remainder of the checks / diagnosis can be done over the air and automatically, it really is hard to justify the price.

Saying that, there is a concierge style support service which I've already used (phoning at a weekend after 7, they still man the phones), and using 3G they can remotely connect to the car and assist. The valet parking at the airports is also nice. Ultimately they could refuse to offer these value add service to those that don't pay the fee, but then is it really worth £500 per year ?

To me no, I don't fly enough, and I'm hoping not to need to ring them very frequently!

 

[Edd Beesley]

When you have the paid for "service" you get upgrades too, things like the titanium armour, sun visors, and some other things I can't remember.

 

[fenlander]

things like the titanium armour

Oooh, tell me more. Is this like a bat mobile where it retracts and can be deployed in an emergency abuse situation?

"Hey, nice car, wouldn't want to see it scratched"

Bam, bam, bam, swish. Lock down.

 

[jontracey]

you dont need armour for that you need this

 

[Lee Jones]

I also think that when it comes to resale, having had full Tesla service history may be worth something.

From the Tesla website...

Tesla Service includes everything needed to keep your Model S in great condition. System monitoring is always on alert and software updates keep your car up-to-date with new features even after you’ve taken delivery. To us, “annual service” is really everyday service.


Includes

• Annual inspection (or every 12,500 miles)
• Replacement parts like brake pads and windshield wipers (excluding tires)
• System monitoring
• Remote diagnostics
• Software updates
• New features

Hmm, if this is what we're paying for with annual service, does that mean that those without annual service do not get this? I believe everyone benefits from software updates etc? If so, isn't the sales blurb more than just a bit misleading?

 

[Edd Beesley]

Oooh, tell me more. Is this like a bat mobile where it retracts and can be deployed in an emergency abuse situation?

"Hey, nice car, wouldn't want to see it scratched"

Bam, bam, bam, swish. Lock down.

It's for the underside of the car, and can crush concrete blocks and starter motors to death...

 

[Simon Mac]

I also think that when it comes to resale, having had full Tesla service history may be worth something.

From the Tesla website...

Tesla Service includes everything needed to keep your Model S in great condition. System monitoring is always on alert and software updates keep your car up-to-date with new features even after you’ve taken delivery. To us, “annual service” is really everyday service.


Includes

• Annual inspection (or every 12,500 miles)
• Replacement parts like brake pads and windshield wipers (excluding tires)
• System monitoring
• Remote diagnostics
• Software updates
• New features

Hmm, if this is what we're paying for with annual service, does that mean that those without annual service do not get this? I believe everyone benefits from software updates etc? If so, isn't the sales blurb more than just a bit misleading?

I believe some in the US have not paid, and are still receiving the updates/upgrades...

The titanium underbody was actually a recall matter, so they had to do it. The same happened on early Navara's where they had alloy wheel issues. They replaced all of them with the latest model of wheel FOC.

 

[Mark Sanders]

He did at the Belgium tesla meeting, there is a video on Youtube to record the evidence

He promised to look into the cost of services as he believed they were too high, and stated that servicing the car is not a condition of the warranty

Go here to about 11:15 for the info

Thanks for confirming that .. I was beginning to think I'd dreamt it.... as these non-service but keep warantee details dont seem to show up on their site. I wonder if it was an Elon-Balls which they later began to regret

 

[PRO-AMPERA]

How about some pictures?????

 

[Simon Mac]

How about some pictures?????

I can't stop driving it round and it's now filthy

I did post some basic ones here:
Clicky

When I've given it a wash I'll post some more!

 

[Simon Mac]

This morning's commute (well almost, it's actually 6 miles).

 

[Edd Beesley]

251wh/mi is pretty good!