So, 3 years and 14 days after I placed my reservation, 6 months and 21 days after our order and a painful 51 days after our original delivery date, we picked up my Tesla Model X 90D, VIN 22xx Saturday morning on May 21st, 2016 at the Tesla factory in Fremont, CA.
We arrived at the factory in our loaner Nissan Rogue (awful car, btw) just in time for our 11am appointment and was met at the delivery center by our delivery orientation specialist (DoS) who got us signed in and told us he would meet us right after the factory tour.
The factory tour was, without a doubt, amazing. We saw far more than I expected to see and were closer to the action than I had ever been in any other factory tour (the Boeing factory being my main comparable prior tour). The tour guide was knowledgable and was genuinely passionate about Tesla’s mission and products besides being an car geek. If you’re an owner who hasn’t taken the tour yet, stop what you’re doing and get an appointment now 🙂
After the tour, we were taken back to the delivery center, where I did the final paperwork and took delivery of the car. There were only 2-3 other deliveries at that time (another X and maybe 2 S), which was surprising since I would have thought that Saturday morning would be a popular time. The DoS spent over an hour with us, giving us a detailed overview of the exterior features and charging, interior and came with us for the first drive where he talked through the autopilot. He was thorough and very helpful. After the orientation and test drive, we attempted a recharge at the supercharger at the factory (which did nothing as we had driven only 5 miles from a full charge) and then drove off.
Fit, Finish and Options
- We got the Metallic Blue with black multi-pattern seat, black liner and matte obeche trim, 6 seat interior, accessory hitch and high-speed charger
- The car had 12 miles on it at delivery, lower than I expected.
- Fit and finish was good – there weren’t any obvious blemishes or scratches when we took delivery. We did notice a couple of door trims that weren’t perfectly cut and a plastic piece of the front passenger’s seat had a gap in it. The 3rd row seats looked a lot better that some of the other earlier deliveries I had seen photos of on the forums – no exposed wire or poorly cut carpeting.
- Love the Obeche Matte trim. I can see why they made it an upgrade for later orders
- The black multi-pattern seats are great! They look richer in person and the pattern adds visual texture to them and I’m now glad my last minute change to the black leather seats fell through.
- Along with the car, we got a Tesla umbrella, pen, mug, certificate of ownership, the sunshade, the 2″ hitch and a wire for the tow adapter and phone mount for the ‘blind holster kit’
The first 100 miles
After pick up and a quick lunch, we drove down to Santa Cruz along I-880 and 17 and then back up to San Francisco via Half Moon Bay along US-1.
- The car is amazing. It drives like a dream and even with no P and no L, the acceleration is like nothing I’ve experienced so far.
- It took me about 30 seconds to trust the autopilot features – might have something to do with all the Tesla videos I’ve watched in the past few months. Autopilot worked flawlessly, through the heavy traffic in San Jose, the curvy mountains roads on 17 and the hills on US-1. Of the 100+ miles I put on the car today, about 80 were in Autopilot mode.
- No issues so far with the doors or windows. I was stopped on a shoulder along US-1 and tried to open one of the falcon wing doors against a strong wind and it stopped early, but that is potentially by design.
- Parking the car in our tiny garage was tricky and summon didn’t work since I don’t have 8″ of room on either side. The falcon wings barely open in my garage and the rear liftgate hit the garage roof when it opened. Sigh, city living.
- I must be a pretty conservative driver, since the efficiency showed 280-340 Wh/mi the entire time I drove.
- I tried summon at a restaurant parking lot, much to the amazement of some of the diners.
Some photos below
