Delivery Day!!!

 

Delivery Day!!!!

The big day finally arrived! Saturday, March 6 at 5:00 pm was the date we had to get the new Model Y! It was tough waiting all day, monitoring the sky for rain or snow, and just generally filling the time..... But it all worked out great, there was plenty of light for the inspection and pick-up process, and we drove it back home 30 minutes after we arrived!

The pick-up process is pretty simple. You sign a few papers, which they give to you and ask you to sit in the car to sign (a good opportunity to inspect the interior), turn over the payment and you're done! I did take the opportunity to examine the exterior as well, and am happy to say that there were no panel gap or (obvious) paint issues - the quality of the cars has absolutely improved since the early days. And the interior was fine as well - no dirt or smudges. Overall, the quality was as it should be for a $50k car!

And the driving experience was just as I remembered it from the test drives - fabulous! You have to adjust to the one-pedal driving style (see here for explanation) but it really isn't difficult. I think in the 10 days that I've had the car, I've used the brakes maybe 5 times. It's really incredible.

And the acceleration - wow! Pushes you back in your seat and does it silently, which still boggles my mind.... Friends like it too, very addictive. And I'm loving the minimalist interior - between the automatic functions for the lights, wipers and high beams, and good voice controls, there really isn't a lot you need to access on the touchscreen while driving. And connectivity with my Spotify account and Sirius streaming through my phone is excellent. As is the sound from the 11-speaker sound system.

I had a 14-50 NEMA (240v) outlet installed in my garage and the charging works perfectly. The car was at about 89% state of charge when I picked it up, which was nice. I have the cable snaked under the garage door and a hook in the side of the door opening to hang the charger when I'm not using it - but the car stays plugged in whenever I am home. I set the limit to 80%. I'm actually running it down to around 20% now, so I can try out the local Supercharger in North Brunswick, just to see how that works. Next task is to set a schedule so that I'm only charging during off-peak times.

Overall, after 215 miles, I have to say that the car beats all of my expectations. It's solid, quiet, fast, handles and rides very well.... And while very high-tech, it's also relatively easy to access all of the functionality of the car. Looking forward to the first road trip next month - going to visit my parents in Upstate New York, now that we're all vaccinated!