# Melinda's very red Model 3



## MelindaV

at the request of the Texans (@GDN, @Quicksilver) request  here's my initial impressions on my new, very red, Model 3. So if this is horribly boring, you can blame them 

Every time I open the door to the garage, the red is still a little startling after being used to a much smaller light silver car sitting there 

Delivery (totally a blow by blow of the day, so skim if you want  ):
was delayed (but seems that is the new normal) but on the second go around all went relatively smoothly, especially going in with low expectations on customer service, time needed for the delivery, etc. 
First, Portland opened a new Service/Delivery center a year or so ago that is not too far from my office. It is in an area by the river, with the access streets getting down to it, very steep (very very steep). My little 5-speed Solstice had a very light weight clutch, that was not very forgiving so I had no interest in just randomly stopping by the Service Center on a trip where I would need to actually drive the Solstice back out . So, my second delivery scheduled date was my first time to the new location. It was pretty crazy on how many cars they had squeezed into a lot (and surrounding area!). So much so that I downloaded the last bit of dashcam video before I re-formatted it's memory card. 
My delivery appointment was for 1:30p (Wednesday September 26, 2018), and left work around noon (had taken the rest of the day off, as well as Thursday & Friday!). Went by a sandwich shop and picked up lunch and drove across the river toward Tesla. I arrived at Tesla at 12:30p, found a parking space and ate my lunch, downloaded the dashcam clip linked above, re-formatted the dashcam's card and cleared out the history on the car's navigation. Around 1pm I went inside expecting an extra wait, since I was half hour early. I was greeted and checked in told they were a little behind schedule so likely would push my appointment by 15 minutes or so. Without anything else to do the rest of the day, I wasn't really concerned and went and found a section of floor to sit on and see what I may have missed here since the morning  Then saw they had a placard with the wifi password, so moved to a barstool/counter and pulled out my (work) laptop, figured may as well use it instead of the phone if it was going to be a little while. Minutes later, was approached to go over my paperwork, then go out to the Solstice to record its mileage, check its VIN, etc. Came back in and expected more waiting and immediately had someone walk up and say "Melinda?". Looked up and it was the Tesla Solar consultant I'd met with earlier this year! He was pulled in to help with deliveries  We caught up, and again expressed I wish my house was turned 90 degrees to make it more feasible. 
Minutes later, the Delivery Specialist who would be going over the car with me came and introduced himself. We went out to the delivery bays (there were two red, one blue ready to go). He first had me open the app to set my phone up, and it then had a red car in it!








(you can see this was 1:57p, so not bad for a 1:30p appointment!). He proceeded to describe the very basic features. Shortly in, he asked if I've driven a Tesla yet, and I told him I had rented Model 3s two separate times, so then he sped up his into info  In setting up the phone as a key, he took the key card folder and rubbed it around on the console. attempting not to gasp at what I knew would be scratches under it, we carried on. 
He gave me a couple minutes to look over the car and note any issues. There were a couple fisheye spots in the paint, two by the driver headlight (that are easy to forget about) and a larger one center of the hood that has a white spot 1mm+ across. He said they were within Tesla's tolerances, and I questioned that knowing others have had less imperfections corrected. He left to consult with a supervisor and returned and attempted to photograph them. I also pointed out the console scratches and he returned with a microfiber towel and one of 5 spray bottles. The large scratches totally disappeared, but there were still some that showed up following. He noted it as well. And there were a couple stops with car wrap adhesive goo that he had one of the detailing/shop guys come remove. Initially, the passenger mirror would not move far enough toward the car, but folding and un-folding the mirrors (that produced a weird clunk as if not quite seated right) seemed to have corrected that issue and could then move it equal distance as the driver side.

In the delivery bay









Sitting in the sun (parked because I remembered my custom plates were still back on the Solstice and went to track my Delivery Specialist down for a screw driver).









When I departed, the car had 7 miles on the odometer. my house is less than 15 miles away, nearly all by freeway, and the Autopilot had finished its calibrations prior to leaving Oregon (so less than 10 miles! - I actually still haven't used it, but had in the Turo rentals earlier this year). I realized shortly after I left that I had a document that should have been left with Tesla, so called when I got home and was told I could mail it to them or drop it off when convenient. I also took a little time to look over the car more once home noticed a couple others on the leading edge of the trunk (just above the fender/tail lights) on both sides, as if the trunk lid had been resting on a surface. and the passenger side front fender top .point where it meets the A pillar and windshield was missing paint at the very tip. It looked like there was extra thick paint there, and possibly a drip was chipped off. So decided to stop back by the next day (thursday) to drop the doc off and report on the extra paint defects. 

Back to Tesla the Next day:
Before going back into Portland, I wanted to get my CUs loan guy a thank you treat, and he had an assortment of cactus and succulents on his desk, so took a little ceramic bowl I'd made and stopped at Home Depot. Parked next to a Model S for the first time  









When I returned to the car, the S was just leaving. The driver smiled and waved  (another first!)

Headed into Tesla then, knowing their lot would be just as crazy as the day before. It was. But when I got there, there was actually a space close to the entry that I grabbed! (in a row of triple parked cars!) Went inside and was greeted like I was a lifelong customer, asked how the last day with the car has been and was graciously thanked for bringing the doc back in. All the while this person obviously had a ton going on, again the lounge was standing room only, other employees were asking her where cars/customers/paperwork was. She finalized my docs and gave me instruction to photograph the paint issues and an email address for their location to send them to. 
Came back out to my car, and more cars were added very near behind mine (luckily, there was spare room next to the audi I parked next to, so was able to do some back and forth shuffling toward the Audi in order to make enough room to get past the nose of a car that was sticking out behind me.

Left Tesla to go by my CU and had the car's first parking garage experience! he was super excited (loan agent, not the car for being in a garage) for bringing him a gift, wanted to see pix and was amazed I thought to thank him and bring him something. 

That evening I had an event in Downtown Ptld, so picked my favorite garage (that was totally not the closest, but close enough) and parked in an open space right next to the empty EV charging spaces. Couple hours later when I returned, the car I parked next to was still there and the EV spaces were still empty, so it looked like it didn't have any movement around it. Going the 20 or so blocks thru downtown to get back to the freeway, encountered an ass-hat in a 4door Mercedes with dealer temp plates on 3 occasions (was he circling the blocks to just zip past me at 40mph?!).

because I am sure this is about to hit the max post length, will carry on with the rest of the weekend following...


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## MelindaV

Saturday I had plans to go to a hockey game with my sister's family and another couple. the husband from that couple has asked me countless times how much longer until I get the Model 3, so I had already told my sister, that if I didn't have the dang car by the start of hockey season, I would have to skip games until it arrived. haha

So in the morning she texted me asking if we were taking my car, so it could be provided as proof that I had finally gotten it  and that there was another event at in the area and parking should be horrible (great). So instead of parking at the arena, we parked a few blocks away in the convention center garage. (3rd parking garage in 3 days!) Following the game, walked back with the other couple to show them the car, they also parked in this garage. His first comment, looking in thru the passenger door, was "isn't having all of that information distracting?". ha. most everyone else seems to think there is not enough in front of the driver. I explained to him it is off to the side, and really all you see when driving is the speed. and he decided that was ok then. 
On the freeway back north, a red Model 3 flew by in the fast lane followed very closely by a (the other) M3.

In Vancouver, there are a couple interchanges and on/off ramps right on top of each other, making couple lane changes needed over a pretty short distance, so I normally am watching for who is coming down the on-ramps and slowing down or speeding up to be able to merge into their on-ramp lane (that becomes an offramp soon after)... At this point in us driving back, going around 50mph, I see a pickup coming down the on-ramp just even with me, so I push down the accelerator just a little more. At least the intention was 'a little'. Instead that little extra jolted us forward enough to certainly get in front of the truck.  I actually looked at my sister, who was in the front seat, and after saying I hadn't intended to do that, said "that actually hurt the back of my head hitting the headrest!". hahaa

Today I had random errands to do, so went around town to multiple places, getting to see my first Model 3 while in my Model 3 and to have that driver wave , otherwise an uneventful day 

Oh, and I signed up for TeslaFi Friday evening, so now have a few days of charging sessions recorded and multiple trips entered


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## MelindaV

I also installed the interior vinyl pieces Saturday before Hockey








(can't miss an opportunity to get my glittery epoxy floor in a pix!)









and the rubber cupholder/bin mats from Amazon, the sunglass tray from @chojn1's son

Still have the Blackvue, screen protector, wheel locks, PPF for the door sills, cubby LED lights, puddle lights, and Im sure some things I'm forgetting (my Elon's Musk air freshener is airing out a little before it goes in - he's a little too musky right now).

Oh, and originally (before delivery) planned to clean and clay the car Wednesday evening, ceramic coat it thursday and let it sit to cure. but then remembered the event thursday night I needed to go to, and wanted to see what Tesla said about repairing the chips and the hood fisheye before doing anything.


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## Quicksilver

MelindaV said:


> at the request of the Texans (@GDN, @Quicksilver) request  here's my initial impressions on my new, very red, Model 3. So if this is horribly boring, you can blame them
> 
> Every time I open the door to the garage, the red is still a little startling after being used to a much smaller light silver car sitting there
> 
> Delivery (totally a blow by blow of the day, so skim if you want  ):
> was delayed (but seems that is the new normal) but on the second go around all went relatively smoothly, especially going in with low expectations on customer service, time needed for the delivery, etc.
> First, Portland opened a new Service/Delivery center a year or so ago that is not too far from my office. It is in an area by the river, with the access streets getting down to it, very steep (very very steep). My little 5-speed Solstice had a very light weight clutch, that was not very forgiving so I had no interest in just randomly stopping by the Service Center on a trip where I would need to actually drive the Solstice back out . So, my second delivery scheduled date was my first time to the new location. It was pretty crazy on how many cars they had squeezed into a lot (and surrounding area!). So much so that I downloaded the last bit of dashcam video before I re-formatted it's memory card.
> My delivery appointment was for 1:30p (Wednesday September 26, 2018), and left work around noon (had taken the rest of the day off, as well as Thursday & Friday!). Went by a sandwich shop and picked up lunch and drove across the river toward Tesla. I arrived at Tesla at 12:30p, found a parking space and ate my lunch, downloaded the dashcam clip linked above, re-formatted the dashcam's card and cleared out the history on the car's navigation. Around 1pm I went inside expecting an extra wait, since I was half hour early. I was greeted and checked in told they were a little behind schedule so likely would push my appointment by 15 minutes or so. Without anything else to do the rest of the day, I wasn't really concerned and went and found a section of floor to sit on and see what I may have missed here since the morning  Then saw they had a placard with the wifi password, so moved to a barstool/counter and pulled out my (work) laptop, figured may as well use it instead of the phone if it was going to be a little while. Minutes later, was approached to go over my paperwork, then go out to the Solstice to record its mileage, check its VIN, etc. Came back in and expected more waiting and immediately had someone walk up and say "Melinda?". Looked up and it was the Tesla Solar consultant I'd met with earlier this year! He was pulled in to help with deliveries  We caught up, and again expressed I wish my house was turned 90 degrees to make it more feasible.
> Minutes later, the Delivery Specialist who would be going over the car with me came and introduced himself. We went out to the delivery bays (there were two red, one blue ready to go). He first had me open the app to set my phone up, and it then had a red car in it!
> View attachment 15332
> 
> (you can see this was 1:57p, so not bad for a 1:30p appointment!). He proceeded to describe the very basic features. Shortly in, he asked if I've driven a Tesla yet, and I told him I had rented Model 3s two separate times, so then he sped up his into info  In setting up the phone as a key, he took the key card folder and rubbed it around on the console. attempting not to gasp at what I knew would be scratches under it, we carried on.
> He gave me a couple minutes to look over the car and note any issues. There were a couple fisheye spots in the paint, two by the driver headlight (that are easy to forget about) and a larger one center of the hood that has a white spot 1mm+ across. He said they were within Tesla's tolerances, and I questioned that knowing others have had less imperfections corrected. He left to consult with a supervisor and returned and attempted to photograph them. I also pointed out the console scratches and he returned with a microfiber towel and one of 5 spray bottles. The large scratches totally disappeared, but there were still some that showed up following. He noted it as well. And there were a couple stops with car wrap adhesive goo that he had one of the detailing/shop guys come remove. Initially, the passenger mirror would not move far enough toward the car, but folding and un-folding the mirrors (that produced a weird clunk as if not quite seated right) seemed to have corrected that issue and could then move it equal distance as the driver side.
> 
> In the delivery bay
> View attachment 15334
> 
> 
> Sitting in the sun (parked because I remembered my custom plates were still back on the Solstice and went to track my Delivery Specialist down for a screw driver).
> View attachment 15336
> 
> 
> When I departed, the car had 7 miles on the odometer. my house is less than 15 miles away, nearly all by freeway, and the Autopilot had finished its calibrations prior to leaving Oregon (so less than 10 miles! - I actually still haven't used it, but had in the Turo rentals earlier this year). I realized shortly after I left that I had a document that should have been left with Tesla, so called when I got home and was told I could mail it to them or drop it off when convenient. I also took a little time to look over the car more once home noticed a couple others on the leading edge of the trunk (just above the fender/tail lights) on both sides, as if the trunk lid had been resting on a surface. and the passenger side front fender top .point where it meets the A pillar and windshield was missing paint at the very tip. It looked like there was extra thick paint there, and possibly a drip was chipped off. So decided to stop back by the next day (thursday) to drop the doc off and report on the extra paint defects.
> 
> Back to Tesla the Next day:
> Before going back into Portland, I wanted to get my CUs loan guy a thank you treat, and he had an assortment of cactus and succulents on his desk, so took a little ceramic bowl I'd made and stopped at Home Depot. Parked next to a Model S for the first time
> View attachment 15337
> 
> 
> When I returned to the car, the S was just leaving. The driver smiled and waved  (another first!)
> 
> Headed into Tesla then, knowing their lot would be just as crazy as the day before. It was. But when I got there, there was actually a space close to the entry that I grabbed! (in a row of triple parked cars!) Went inside and was greeted like I was a lifelong customer, asked how the last day with the car has been and was graciously thanked for bringing the doc back in. All the while this person obviously had a ton going on, again the lounge was standing room only, other employees were asking her where cars/customers/paperwork was. She finalized my docs and gave me instruction to photograph the paint issues and an email address for their location to send them to.
> Came back out to my car, and more cars were added very near behind mine (luckily, there was spare room next to the audi I parked next to, so was able to do some back and forth shuffling toward the Audi in order to make enough room to get past the nose of a car that was sticking out behind me.
> 
> Left Tesla to go by my CU and had the car's first parking garage experience! he was super excited (loan agent, not the car for being in a garage) for bringing him a gift, wanted to see pix and was amazed I thought to thank him and bring him something.
> 
> That evening I had an event in Downtown Ptld, so picked my favorite garage (that was totally not the closest, but close enough) and parked in an open space right next to the empty EV charging spaces. Couple hours later when I returned, the car I parked next to was still there and the EV spaces were still empty, so it looked like it didn't have any movement around it. Going the 20 or so blocks thru downtown to get back to the freeway, encountered an ass-hat in a 4door Mercedes with dealer temp plates on 3 occasions (was he circling the blocks to just zip past me at 40mph?!).
> 
> because I am sure this is about to hit the max post length, will carry on with the rest of the weekend following...


Thanks for the great post! The interior shot of the red looks almost maroon in color...like Aggie Maroon!  On the outside in the sun, it looks more like a stunning red. Enjoy and look forward to more of your posts!


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## MelindaV

Quicksilver said:


> Thanks for the great post! The interior shot of the red looks almost maroon in color...like Aggie Maroon!  On the outside in the sun, it looks more like a stunning red. Enjoy and look forward to more of your posts!


thanks  so, I work with an A&M alumnus - I'll have to get his impression, since it will be starting to rain here this week, it should look more like that than bright red for the next 6 or so months  (and glad they got a win this week after a couple tough games!)


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## Quicksilver

MelindaV said:


> thanks  so, I work with an A&M alumnus - I'll have to get his impression, since it will be starting to rain here this week, it should look more like that than bright red for the next 6 or so months  (and glad they got a win this week after a couple tough games!)


We've been seeing rain for the past 3 weeks in the Dallas area. It's crazy wet here. I almost feel like we are in Seattle or Portland.  Yes, glad to see the Aggies win one this week. Of course Bama is almost impossible to beat. Take care!


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## Edward Reading

Woohoo! So awesome to see you finally get your car. It is so great to see people that have been waiting so long finally get these amazing vehicles. We are all extremely lucky people. Now go drive the crap out of that beauty!


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## MelindaV

Quicksilver said:


> We've been seeing rain for the past 3 weeks in the Dallas area. It's crazy wet here. I almost feel like we are in Seattle or Portland.  Yes, glad to see the Aggies win one this week. Of course Bama is almost impossible to beat. Take care!


hey, I've seen "Dallas Rain" and can tell you with no uncertainty, that your rain is nothing like our light (but constant) drizzle!

When they were still around, I worked for Hollywood Video in their architecture department and often traveled all over the place to stores being built/remodeled/needing to be remodeled/etc) I once had a work trip in and around Dallas (it may have been HOU, but pretty sure it was Dallas) many years ago, likely this time of year and was late afternoon and a beautiful sunny day and me and my coworker asked the store staff where we could go that was 'local' for dinner. he looked at us in horror and said we could not go out that night because a storm was rolling in and we needed to get back to our hotel. We got in the car (under the clear blue sky) and decided he was insane and proceeded to figure out how to get to Gilleys because that seemed like the best Texas sort of thing to do . There was a mechanical bull in the corner, and a live band and Shiner Bock after all. It was a huge wide open place, nearly totally empty when we got there at 7pm. ok, maybe people just go out later here, we thought. Then you could hear a very distant thunder and we thought, ok, maybe the video store guy knew there was something coming in, but we are from Portland, we are ok driving in the rain. then next time we looked out, there literally was a solid sheet of water running off the roof. Then the power went out and the backup generator kicked in. By now, there were a few more people around. Then a lightning strike hit the generator and they announced everyone needed to leave since they didn't have power. We looked out the back door, across a gravel lot where we had parked, maybe 30 yards away, and there were lightning strikes hitting the ground between the building and the car! the solid blanket of rain water that was coming off the edge of the roof looked like nothing now. THAT never happens here. I think people think here it rains all the time, and they imagine east coast / south rain and think that is what we have. no, we have light drizzle. maybe for months on end, but it is otherwise pretty harmless


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## Quicksilver

MelindaV said:


> hey, I've seen "Dallas Rain" and can tell you with no uncertainty, that your rain is nothing like our light (but constant) drizzle!
> 
> When they were still around, I worked for Hollywood Video in their architecture department and often traveled all over the place to stores being built/remodeled/needing to be remodeled/etc) I once had a work trip in and around Dallas many years ago, likely this time of year and was late afternoon and a beautiful sunny day and me and my coworker asked the store staff where we could go that was 'local' for dinner. he looked at us in horror and said we could not go out that night because a storm was rolling in and we needed to get back to our hotel. We got in the car (under the clear blue sky) and decided he was insane and proceeded to figure out how to get to Gilleys because that seemed like the best Texas sort of thing to do . There was a mechanical bull in the corner, and a live band and Shiner Bock after all. It was a huge wide open place, nearly totally empty when we got there at 7pm. ok, maybe people just go out later here, we thought. Then you could hear a very distant thunder and we thought, ok, maybe the video store guy knew there was something coming in, but we are from Portland, we are ok driving in the rain. then next time we looked out, there literally was a solid sheet of water running off the roof. Then the power went out and the backup generator kicked in. By now, there were a few more people around. Then a lightning strike hit the generator and they announced everyone needed to leave since they didn't have power. We looked out the back door, across a gravel lot where we had parked, maybe 30 yards away, and there were lightning strikes hitting the ground between the building and the car! the solid blanket of rain water that was coming off the edge of the roof looked like nothing now. THAT never happens here. I think people think here it rains all the time, and they imagine east coast / south rain and think that is what we have. no, we have light drizzle. maybe for months on end, but it is otherwise pretty harmless


That's a great recollection of what rain is like here in Texas. We just had a big rain storm this past week (been on and off for three weeks) and we lost power for about 6 hours. I think we had something like 7 inches within three days. We typically keep our pool water level low during spring and fall due to the rain. From the middle of our tile to the top of the coping is about 6 inches...so with the past week's rain, I had to drain the pool almost 6 inches to keep it from overflowing.  The rain storms here can be brutal. Oh, and the lightning and thunder is crazy too. It typically rattles the glass doors and windows in our home. I would love a drizzling rain - even over a few days.


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## Kizzy

That is a beautiful car, @MelindaV!

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm feeling a bit inspired to tell my delivery story in more detail.


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## Love

Awesome post/read @MelindaV! Thank you for sharing! That last image in your first post, with the car parked by a MSM Model S is just beautiful... really a great picture of your car.


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## MelindaV

Lovesword said:


> Awesome post/read @MelindaV! Thank you for sharing! That last image in your first post, with the car parked by a MSM Model S is just beautiful... really a great picture of your car.


Thanks, and that was me attempting to snap a pix while walking right in front of a moving car (who was obviously paying more attention that I was!)


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## JMart

Good stuff! Don't forget to update your signature from reservation to Model 3!


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## Rick59

Melinda
As a long-time, long-suffering “waiter” with you, I’m so glad that you finally have your 3. My wife has a red 3 and she loves it! She’s never been a car person until now. I still love my X. Enjoy!


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## kendthomp

I’m tickled that your car is so beautiful. I do have a question though... I’ve been unable to get my Tesla app (or my Model 3) to change from “%” of charge to “miles”. Is there a setting or trick I’m missing?


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## SoFlaModel3

kendthomp said:


> I'm tickled that your car is so beautiful. I do have a question though... I've been unable to get my Tesla app (or my Model 3) to change from "%" of charge to "miles". Is there a setting or trick I'm missing?


Is your car set to % or miles? I wonder if they are tied to each other...?


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## kendthomp

SoFlaModel3 said:


> Is your car set to % or miles? I wonder if they are tied to each other...?


I suspect they are and I'm just too dumb to know how to change it!


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## SoFlaModel3

kendthomp said:


> I suspect they are and I'm just too dumb to know how to change it!


I don't have my car in front of me, but it's in the settings on screen - one of the settings cog with more settings areas, possibly under Display


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## kendthomp

SoFlaModel3 said:


> I don't have my car in front of me, but it's in the settings on screen - one of the settings cog with more settings areas, possibly under Display


Thank you. I'll check that!


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## garsh

SoFlaModel3 said:


> ...possibly under Display


Yes, it's under display.

It took me a while to find it.


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## John

Congrats, @MelindaV !
What did you name it?


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## kendthomp

garsh said:


> Yes, it's under display.
> 
> It took me a while to find it.


Thank you Garsh. Now I have to wait until I get off this afternoon. It's gonna drive me nuts. Ok, maybe more nuts...


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## Mad Hungarian

Awesome write-up Melinda, thanks for such a detailed account.
Only one thing missing... where's the de rigueur delivery pic of you with the car??


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## MelindaV

Mad Hungarian said:


> Awesome write-up Melinda, thanks for such a detailed account.
> Only one thing missing... where's the de rigueur delivery pic of you with the car??


totally forgot about taking one. so, will have to save that for the next Tesla


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## GDN

Agree - read your initial post yesterday. Never good to see the blemishes, but should all be able to be addressed. I know how the pain must build, even 5 months longer than what I had to wait. 

Loved your write up about the TX/Dallas storms and rains, but that is kind of how it is some days. We get some nice slow rain some days, but others it can be a pretty violet thunderstorm. Come back in the spring time and we'll likely get you a tornado thrown in for free.


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## Mad Hungarian

MelindaV said:


> totally forgot about taking one. so, will have to save that for the next Tesla


Damn.
Well then you need to take one from the location of your choosing.
On behalf of all who appreciate your work on this forum I say we will not take no for an answer


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## kendthomp

I totally agree with Mad Hungarian! You do an excellent Job for us!!!


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## babula

kendthomp said:


> Thank you. I'll check that!


You probably figured it out by now but all of those settings are under Display -> Gear icon.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, IMO percentage might be a better representation of whats actually happening but I also like the miles displayed just for piece of mind.


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## MelindaV

kendthomp said:


> I totally agree with Mad Hungarian! You do an excellent Job for us!!!


thanks (and @Mad Hungarian)  !


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## MelindaV

John said:


> Congrats, @MelindaV !
> What did you name it?


I've gone back and forth deciding between a few names (will my car end up having an identity crisis if I change its name every quarter? ha)
For now at least it is "E.M.C. 908" (Electromagnetic MotorCar, 908 for the number of days from reservation to delivery). The runner up name was Clifford. Maybe it should be "Clifford the E.M.C 908"


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## kendthomp

MelindaV said:


> thanks (and @Mad Hungarian)  !


Thanks for the tip!


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## John

MelindaV said:


> I've gone back and forth deciding between a few names (will my car end up having an identity crisis if I change its name every quarter? ha)
> For now at least it is "E.M.C. 908" (Electromagnetic MotorCar, 908 for the number of days from reservation to delivery). The runner up name was Clifford. Maybe it should be "Clifford the E.M.C 908"


NCC-908 if you've got some trekky in you.


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## MelindaV

John said:


> NCC-908 if you've got some trekky in you.


Nope no trekky at all


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## Mesprit87

Really glad to see a patient and sometime less patient (who wouldn't be!) Reservation holder get her car!

Can't wait to be able to talk about RedX , but it seems my first week of october window is OUT the window.

Congrats and enjoy


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## LUXMAN

MelindaV said:


> I've gone back and forth deciding between a few names (will my car end up having an identity crisis if I change its name every quarter? ha)
> For now at least it is "E.M.C. 908" (Electromagnetic MotorCar, 908 for the number of days from reservation to delivery). The runner up name was Clifford. Maybe it should be "Clifford the E.M.C 908"


Or "the red tomato" as my wife is prone to call my dear Ruby Woo


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## LUXMAN

MelindaV said:


> Nope no trekky at all


So sorry to hear that. That is unfortunate


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## MelindaV

LUXMAN said:


> So sorry to hear that. That is unfortunate
> View attachment 15409


see, totally lost on me


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## GDN

LUXMAN said:


> Or "the red tomato" as my wife is prone to call my dear Ruby Woo


Hmmm - "the red tomato" - I'm sure that is meant with the best of intentions. Such a prettier color than most tomatoes.


----------



## BellevueEd

Melinda, congratulations! I've not been following the forum for as closely after my delivery following two years, one month, and 23 days. My red M3 became Teslarossa, following a family naming contest. We head off Sunday, our first major trip, visiting my sister in Minneapolis. We did a short trip to Hanford to visit the B reactor, and get a bit of experience using a Supercharger. So, Sunday, we hit Ellensburg, Ritzville, and Coeur d'alene. Still plan to meet you in Centralia some day. Trivia: Don Head still in Portland?


----------



## MelindaV

BellevueEd said:


> Trivia: Don Head still in Portland?


I had to look up who that was, but one of the WH games I went to last year honored a number of prior players, at least one dated back to the Broncos, so could have been him 

safe travels on your trip!

I've not been out to Hanford, but have a funny story related... When I was looking for my Italian Greyhound, I first saw there was a shelter half way down the Columbia Gorge that had one and drove out there with my older sister (who I previously thought was pretty intelligent) to take a look at the dog they had. On the exit from I-84 where the shelter was, it may even have been signed for Hanford/Umatilla, there was an evacuation route sign pointing back onto the freeway. My sister commented "I wouldn't think a tsunami could come this far up from the coast". :facepalm:


----------



## BellevueEd

Head was a goalie for the Buckaroos in '75, the year the team folded.


----------



## MelindaV

BellevueEd said:


> Head was a goalie for the Buckaroos in '75, the year the team folded.


buckaroos~broncos
the game I was thinking of where they had prior players, was also the first home game after the Humboldt Broncos fatalities, had a tribute to them too (I think I said broncos in my earlier post thinking of that, instead of saying buckaroos).


----------



## @gravityrydr

Quicksilver said:


> Thanks for the great post! The interior shot of the red looks almost maroon in color...like Aggie Maroon!  On the outside in the sun, it looks more like a stunning red. Enjoy and look forward to more of your posts!


That's what I love about MCR. One car, three different colors.


----------



## MelindaV

Today I took my car out for some show-and-tell...
started by going down to my dad's house (about 40 miles south). Gave him, his lady friend and lady friend's daughter all the selling points, how you charge it, what the trunk(s) look like, how the doors open, etc then hung out and caught up with him for a while. He had been working in his shop, so declined going for a drive since he was dusty and didn't want to get dust in the new black interior car (my mother had taught him something!).
When I was getting ready to leave, he suggested I stop off at a friend's shop (van conversion shop that makes vans into RVs, mobile medical clinics, etc). Incidentally, He and my dad were the first people I mentioned I would be reserving a Tesla way back on March 31, 2016! My dad had spinal surgery that day, and when I went to visit after work that night (pre-reveal  ), this guy stopped by as well. I asked if they knew about the not yet announced Model 3, that I was going to be going home to watch the unveiling and planned to reserve one. They both looked at me like I was crazy. ok, the one not totally wasted on pain killers looked at me like that, the other just looked dazed. lol.
So went by his shop on the way back home. He was totally tickled, after coming outside, ran back in to get his electronics guy to come out. Returned with the electronics guy plus another man. They all were like little boys looking at a new toy. The other guy told me he worked at the Fremont factory as a contractor for a few months working on a press that forms plastic facias, bumpers, interior pieces, etc! So we chatted about that for a while. Apparently, Toyota/GM had 5 of these particular presses at NUMMI and Toyota took 3 of the 5 back to Japan when they moved out, leaving 2 in Fremont. The company he was working for went thru and rebuilt these from the ground up, replacing all the lines, hydraulics, seals, and whatever else goes into these things. (pretty much just made me want to get down to Fremont to take the tour that much more!) He said every single Tesla factory employee he worked with and met there loved working for Tesla! which then spoke about the auto union push to unionize the factory and he rolled his eyes and said nobody he knew from there was at all interested in that, and it was all from big oil $. 
After the three of them inspected all the panel alignments, noticed the tiny specs of white paint the hood picked up on the freeway :/ (which come off, but I need to go over the entire thing with clay bar), checked the tire size, tire pressure, nearly crawled under the car, etc I continued on my way home. 
I needed to stop for an errand not too far from their shop, and always forget which is the thru vs right turn lane on an intersection that recently was changed, so ended up in the wrong one (pretty much the same as every other time I've gone thru that intersection in the last year), so instead of just turning around at the next intersection, went thru the SBUX drivethru (first consumable food in the car!) and the clerk at the window asked a ton of questions about the car, complemented the color about 5 times, said she wished she had one at least 3 times, then had my coffee . 
Used my little 3D printed cup holder insert  and went to the store I intended to get to 10 minutes earlier. 
After getting home, I decided while the battery is half empty, I should test out the Supercharger (going on a work day road trip next week with my boss, so figured it would be best to make sure it works before getting him stranded 200 miles away from home  ) so swing by to my sister's to pick up something she offered a week or so earlier, and then to the supercharger a little ways beyond her at Fred Meyer (for the midwesterners - a Kroger acquisition, but not just a grocery store - my PNW people will know all about what makes a FM pretty cool). So with the battery down to around 50%, plugged in, saw the screen acknowledged it began charging, got my shopping bags out of the frunk and walked across the parking lot. 50 yards away from the car, I get an alert that charging was interrupted. Walk back over, remove the connector, plug it back in, wait a minute and see it is changing and head toward the store again. Again about 50 yards away, it does the same. :/ so walk back again, unplug it and move over to the adjacent stall. All looks good, but wait just a little longer this time, THEN walk back toward the store. Grab the groceries I needed and get back to the car with 20kWh added (in just under 20 minutes).


----------



## MelindaV

and, the one funny V9 thing I encountered, a 3 wheeled motorcycle passed me on the left... he showed up as a box truck on the screen when behind and next to me. Then when he was just forward, he appeared as a car.


----------



## $ Trillion Musk

MelindaV said:


> and, the one funny V9 thing I encountered, a 3 wheeled motorcycle passed me on the left... he showed up as a box truck on the screen when behind and next to me. Then when he was just forward, he appeared as a car.


Would've been funny too if it appeared as a 3 wheeled motorcycle.  I enjoyed your stories! Please keep them coming.


----------



## ADK46

LUXMAN said:


> So sorry to hear that. That is unfortunate /QUOTE]
> 
> See the potential:


----------



## Midnit3

Please let us know how they resolved your blemishes MelindaV and of course congratulations!


----------



## MelindaV

for work yesterday, myself and one of my office's owners went down to a job site in Southern Oregon, about 200 miles each way in the Tesla. (tuesday night, one of my other bosses asked if the other person was driving and when I said I was taking the Model 3, he looked sad because someone else gets to go on a trip in it before him  )
There is a supercharger at about the halfway point, and nothing near the end point. So set the charge limit to around 80% to be done by the time I needed to leave (5:45am!) and of course we got to the midpoint supercharger without issue. Plugged in and told my coworker we would need to plug in 20 minutes or so and we walked over to a McD for a drink. Came back and the nav estimated the round trip range would leave us with around 5% battery, so took him we would should wait another 10 minutes or so. 
When we started back, it estimated we would get back to the supercharger with 11% battery. Going no more than 65mph (up and down hills, with the AC running), we ended up back plugged in with 8% on the battery. walked to the pub nearby and we got a coke (me), mixed drink (him) and onion rings and sat outside (while October is still in the upper 70s after 5pm!) for about 45 minutes - which was well over what time we needed to charge enough to get home.

Over the trip, we tried out a number of the stitcher stations (that I normally don't because playing a podcast or audio book) and even in the passes without any LTE recognized signal, the playback didn't miss a beat. 
The one weird issue that did come up though... when departing in the afternoon and entering the supercharger location, it would begin navigating to it, then within seconds flash a 'recalculating' message, find the route, then recalculate again. OVER and OVER again. Finally, because I knew where we were going, I canceled the navigation. Only to have it show up as "recalculating" again!! did a CPU reset (with TACC set) and it came back on, still attempting to recalculate. Then a minute later it did a CPU reset unprovoked (pretty sure I saw someone else say they had this happen. Maybe @Lovesword). around this time I decided to just use my home address to nav to, since it would include the supercharger, and that seemed to stick without recalculating.

per Teslafi, here's the trip stats:
total miles: 391.08
rated miles: 462.02
efficiency: 84.65%
time driving: 6 hrs 45 min
kWh used: 110.85
Wh/Mile: 283
Elevation range: 5ft - 760ft 
Temp range: 43F - 82F

the southern half of the drive (from supercharger to destination and back to supercharger) is the beginning of mountain passes, so is constantly climbing up and dropping back down, so interesting to see how the efficiency was on this type of highway at freeway speeds, vs my typical commute with a 300ft drop in one direction at stop and go speeds.


----------



## MelindaV

in my morning search for odd foglight behavior, I stopped for a fall color photo


----------



## Michael Russo

@MelindaV , late to this party so hope it's still ok to congratulate you profusely on the new arrival as well as applauding your initiative in joining the already large 'here are the personal experiences with my car thread' family !! Well done!

Also, taking this opportunity, on behalf of our ever larger M3OC family, to thank you for everything you've done so far as probably the most senior mod after @TrevP !! And all you continue to do. You rock!


----------



## Foxtrotter

@MelindaV, congratulations on your red car. On Oct. 11 we charged my wife's red 3 at the Vancouver, Wa supercharger on our way to Astoria as a part of a grand tour of the Oregon coast looping up from Santa Barbara. We were the only Tesla there. We didn't know about Fred Meyer before, but after encountering them at several superchargers developed a liking for their sandwiches. Red is incredibly pretty.


----------



## MelindaV

Foxtrotter said:


> @MelindaV, congratulations on your red car. On Oct. 11 we charged my wife's red 3 at the Vancouver, Wa supercharger on our way to Astoria as a part of a grand tour of the Oregon coast looping up from Santa Barbara. We were the only Tesla there. We didn't know about Fred Meyer before, but after encountering them at several superchargers developed a liking for their sandwiches. Red is incredibly pretty.


hope you enjoyed your trip down the coast! 
Fred Meyer's story is really quite interesting and feel fortunate to have always had them around here


----------



## Foxtrotter

We loved the trip down the coast. The 3 is a great car for leisurely touristing as well as for long-haul driving. Our longest day was over 500 miles on 5 and the shortest was about 50 on the coast. It excels at both uses. The nav is great just as a map to use for getting around in towns or parks. Just blow the view up and get a very detailed image of the layout.

I'll check out the Fred Meyer story.


----------



## MelindaV

anyone else randomly stop what they are doing to look into the garage?


----------



## Foxtrotter

Or compulsively take pictures of the car in different places?


----------



## GDN

MelindaV said:


> anyone else randomly stop what they are doing to look into the garage?


Absolutely - 4 months now and still do it. It doesn't get old.

Very nice garage floor there by the way. Would like to consider that some day, but the old jeep that sits next to it leaks too much oil to make it too nice.


----------



## Sandy

MelindaV said:


> anyone else randomly stop what they are doing to look into the garage?
> 
> View attachment 16582


Hey Melinda, Never did follow up on how your floor came out. Looks awesome!


----------



## LUXMAN

MelindaV said:


> anyone else randomly stop what they are doing to look into the garage?
> 
> View attachment 16582


Yup. Honeymoon Phase. I'm 7 months in and while it tapers off, I still do it or just go "damn!!!!" when I see her


----------



## Mesprit87

MelindaV said:


> anyone else randomly stop what they are doing to look into the garage?


Not yet... but at least I have a responsive DA, car is still across the border


----------



## MelindaV

earlier this week I had to go to a project job site in Southern Oregon, so got to go on another mini road trip! (did the exact same trip 2 weeks earlier). This time, I went on my own and met a couple contractors down at the site. after walking around the project with them, myself and one of them needed to go to the city/county offices to submit a permit and I offered to drive.  
He needed to make a call first, so I was already in the car when he came up to the passenger door when ready to go. after a few seconds of him standing looking confused, I rolled the window down to explain to press the fat part 
Then once in the car, he mentioned he noticed the screen earlier and asked what car it was. When I said Tesla, he reacted with "Oh.... My friend has a Model X" and proceeded to asked if that was what this car is or what the differences are. sounds like he had not seen or been in his friends X. As we went across town, he asked a number of questions that I thought were great, and showed he didn't really know much about Tesla. When we got to the courthouse, he again commented on how great the backup camera and proximity sensors are for parking then he got a little panicy trying to find the door handle then I pointed him to the button .
While we were inside, it had sprinkled a little so the roof was glowing orange. He asked about that and I explained it is the IR coating and (sadface) that the earlier cars have it on the rear glass as well. 
On the way back, we got on the freeway and had it in TACC, and he asked about AP, so put it in EAP, did an auto lane change and by then were to our exit. It acted perfectly (but we were on a pretty ideal stretch of freeway with very little traffic). 
of course he mentioned the Elon shenanigans that everyone hears on the 'news' and if I didn't know differently, would have thought he was talking about the most rogue playboy there is - not someone responsible for building multiple monumental groundbreaking (indeed the case for the Boring Co - ha!) companies.
Overall, I thought it was really interesting sharing the car with someone who was not as knowledgeable on Teslas as many of the people I know, and the things he noticed and asked about.


----------



## Cintoman

I too was late to this thread, and wanted to congratulate you on your red beauty. I waited just a few days longer for my Blue Model 3 (Day 1, in-store - Dedham, MA, early am, waaaay before reveal)....911 days. Got mine on 9/27. I too have a few paint/scratch issues which a Tesla approved body shop will be handling/repairing. Best of luck with yours and looking forward to hearing more about you and your car.

-- Cintoman


----------



## MelindaV

Cintoman said:


> I too was late to this thread, and wanted to congratulate you on your red beauty. I waited just a few days longer for my Blue Model 3 (Day 1, in-store - Dedham, MA, early am, waaaay before reveal)....911 days. Got mine on 9/27. I too have a few paint/scratch issues which a Tesla approved body shop will be handling/repairing. Best of luck with yours and looking forward to hearing more about you and your car.
> 
> -- Cintoman


thanks  congratulations on yours as well!


----------



## PNWmisty

Oh, yes! I visit ours at all hours. Sometimes I wake up at 5am and visit them in my bathrobe. I have to walk outside because they are both in a carport. A few days ago it was 32 degrees and there I was, standing in the dark, outside, looking at them. 

It's normal, right?


----------



## MelindaV

PNWmisty said:


> It's normal, right?


I don't see a problem (ok, maybe depending on robe coverage, proximity to neighbors) 

My car really needs to be washed, and was seriously considering washing it yeasterday before work (at 5 am). I didn't, but it was a close call.

That also is normal, right?


----------



## PNWmisty

MelindaV said:


> I don't see a problem (ok, maybe depending on robe coverage, proximity to neighbors)
> 
> My car really needs to be washed, and was seriously considering washing it yeasterday before work (at 5 am). I didn't, but it was a close call.
> 
> That also is normal, right?


The only thing I find a bit concerning is you decided NOT to wash it!


----------



## Mesprit87

MelindaV said:


> That also is normal, right?


If you didn't wash it a few hours before...

By the way, RedX is in Montreal, Vin in the profile so getting there!
But snow is getting here too, 6" this morning


----------



## MelindaV

my pups have drop-off vet appointments for tomorrow, so will be their first time in the car :screamcat:
I have a backseat hammock seat cover, seatbelt extenders (so the seat belt connectors can project thru the seat cover and car-rated harnesses. The seat cover has been on a chair one of the dogs likes to sit on for the last month or so, so hopefully it will not seem so new and scary when they are in the car.
Neither of my dogs are particularly chill dogs and the trip across town normally involves a lot of whimpering, panting and crying.


----------



## Cintoman

MelindaV said:


> My car really needs to be washed, and was seriously considering washing it yeasterday before work (at 5 am). I didn't, but it was a close call.
> 
> That also is normal, right?


Perfectly normal....my neighbors used to ??? me when I was out there in the winter washing my cars with the 2-bucket method, getting rid of all the snow/slush/sand/salt, in the dead of winter. Nearly killed myself a few times slipping on my slanted driveway with all the wash water getting frozen, even though I'd fill the buckets up with hot water. So perfectly normal I'd say.

--Cintoman


----------



## fritter63

please let us know how those vinyl overlays last in the summer/heat.....


----------



## MelindaV

fritter63 said:


> please let us know how those vinyl overlays last in the summer/heat.....


the 3M 1080 is designed for vehicle wraps, and 3M states it has a 10+ year lifespan in all weather conditions. So inside with Cabin Overheat Protection keeping the interior under 120F, it should be good


----------



## GDN

How was the trip with the dogs today? They like the new ride?


----------



## MelindaV

GDN said:


> How was the trip with the dogs today? They like the new ride?


I don't think they minded the car nearly as much as being securely tethered to it.
Tried it get a pix, and that did not go well either


----------



## MelindaV

Finally got my car into the service center to follow-up on a couple issues from delivery (a few paint chips, squeaks/vibrations, left turn signal, etc) and have in its place a white 85D AP1 Model S. It 'just' fit in my work parking space. shall see how it does in my garage.


----------



## fritter63

Congrats, still waiting on a response for a couple of tickets, similar things. A paint chip, panel alignment, and front plate mount. Gonna start harassing them now, it's been months.


----------



## MelindaV

So, have now driven the loaner Model S 85D (that I have coined "Big Boy" - maybe I should see what its name actually is and consider renaming him), I certainly much prefer the Model 3 design. here are a few observations after 2 days 
to fit in my garage, I have to pull forward to where it says "STOP", then go another 4 or so inches to be able to close the door. I thought the Model 3 was tight (front to back, but I have reconsidered my impression of that  ). 
Oddly the S that is wider, it does not feel as tight centered in the lane with other traffic to the right and left as the 3.
It has way too many knobs, buttons, switches, levers for someone unfamiliar to jump in and go. People complain about the 3 having everything on the screen, but it is intuitive and makes sense. on the S, you kinda need to know what all the buttons do and how. (like why does the energy display flash up on the dash display then go back to the trips screen before you can even see what it is showing?!)
The turn signals feel flimsy and like it could break off at any time (maybe something is just loose on this car)
BT audio.... while people were complaining about the 3 picking up audio (and turning on HVAC, etc)when you open another door, the S will maintain audio until it is locked. AND, unlike the 3, it resumes play (BT) immediately when unlocking, even if audio had previously been paused. The 3 will remain paused. so my norm has been to pause whatever I've been listening to (audiobook, podcast, etc) and if opening a rear door, it would not auto start it, but in the S it starts playing again when a door is opened.
AP - again, maybe just this car... but in slow traffic on the freeway (55mph zone going 10mph), when engaging TACC it would not set at 55 (or + if set to an additional standard), but any random speed. sometimes 55, other times 18, other times the current speed.... seems totally random. and since the AP lever is not visible when driving, markings are not intuitive, at least for me, speeding up or slowing down took more trial/error than in the 3. (it also misread speed zones that are correct in the 3)
mechanical braking was much more lurchy - maybe the extra weight, or again just this particular car.
Backup camera - in the daylight, I think the S is slightly better. At night the 3 is better.
center console and cupholders are a hands down 100% improvement in the 3. (this is one with the yacht floor - which doesn't bother me as much as the cup holder position behind you).
The rendered car on the screen shows the braking behavior much clearer on the S than the 3 (party may be that my 3 is red, and the loaner is white), but what catches my eye in the S is the 3rd brake light at the top of the rear window, which can't see at all (at the bottom of the window) in the 3's display. In TACC, it also seemed to light up the brake lights more on the S than my 3 (at least based on the flickering red glow bouncing off the following semi's chrome grille).
I do like that you can see both a part of the map and the energy chart (or whatever) at the same time. But overall, seems the screen has a lot of un-needed real estate (may just be from being used to the horiz screen shape/size). 
I like the location of the 3's seat position controllers better than the S where they seem too far back (and every time I went to reach for them were buried under the edge of my coat). but do like the REAL leather better.
The S has air suspension, could not feel any significant difference in the ride quality over the 3s coil suspension.

so, overall - if the S was the only option I would be happy with it. But after driving the 3 for a couple months, for me it wins hands down.


----------



## MelindaV

I also found out this morning when it started to sprinkle that I have no idea if that car has auto-wipers. could not find any setting on the screen or on the lever to indicate that it did.


----------



## MelindaV

My car is back from its first service appointment! (and the 85D Big Boy is back with Tesla).
Overall I am quite impressed with them. The three separate guys I personally spoke to (customer service guy who was my point of contact, the tech that went out on a drive with me and the guy who set me up with a loaner car) were all awesome. Friendly, interested in figuring out what was wrong and knew me when I came back in today! 
The couple paint chips on the side edges of my trunk they repaired, then my service guy (that works with the customers, not the cars) went over to check on it and opened the trunk and noticed it looked like they had not been done, but knew the paint guy already corrected them... then noticed they actually were caused by the trunk lid being slightly out of alignment causing the rubbing at these points, so they corrected that and fixed the paint again.
The dash vibration or rattle I was hearing the tech I went out with for a drive when I dropped it off monday heard something in the passenger C pillar that I'd not noticed, or I was hearing it in the front when it really was the back... So they replaced some trim pieces there. Then he drove it again and could hear the dash vibration I had heard. He could not find a specific thing causing it, but did go thru and wrap my Blackvue wiring cables in the A-pillar and down under the dash with foam insulation to eliminate that as the cause (which the vibration was there prior to the camera). I thought that was pretty sweet... instead of just blowing it off as a customer caused issue, they looked at what I've done and if that was the issue took action to correct it. 
My left turn signal issue they didn't have the part in, so have ordered it and will reschedule an appointment when it is in.
and my charge port door was not closing totally flush, and squeaked as it closed, so they adjusted it's alignment and it lays 100% flush now and closes with just the whirling motor sound. 

It was also freshly washed (it was pretty clean, but did have bits of leaves off the roads on the front surfaces) and the one place on the hood that had a slight scuff in the clear coat (that's another story) appears to have been buffed out!


----------



## fritter63

Good to know about the paint chips. We have one on the leading edge of the passenger side rear door, and I've not heard a thing after filing a ticket 3 months ago. Gonna start harassing them..... (slight panel alignment issue too)


----------



## MelindaV

My morning commute involved picking up a nail and a moderate air leak in a tire. Stopped at a gas station to get a little more air in it, and pretty much failed due to their really crappy air compressor. Could not get the pressure higher than 37lbs, but at least it seemed to hold between 36-37lbs until I got to Tesla's service center. stopped by without calling ahead, and they were able to patch the tire in just over an hour  They also topped off all my other tires a couple pounds without asking 
I also found tons of new Model 3s ready to be delivered with about half having the full roof/rear glass coated! the couple I walked up to were VINs 129xxx and 164xxx.

makes me wonder what Tesla would charge to voluntarily change out the rear glass... I really do like the gold/orange/purple glow and it is drizzly here like half the year.....


----------



## Jay79

MelindaV said:


> My morning commute involved picking up a nail and a moderate air leak in a tire. Stopped at a gas station to get a little more air in it, and pretty much failed due to their really crappy air compressor. Could not get the pressure higher than 37lbs, but at least it seemed to hold between 36-37lbs until I got to Tesla's service center. stopped by without calling ahead, and they were able to patch the tire in just over an hour  They also topped off all my other tires a couple pounds without asking
> I also found tons of new Model 3s ready to be delivered with about half having the full roof/rear glass coated! the couple I walked up to were VINs 129xxx and 164xxx.
> 
> makes me wonder what Tesla would charge to voluntarily change out the rear glass... I really do like the gold/orange/purple glow and it is drizzly here like half the year.....


Any pics of the new glass?


----------



## Bokonon

Jay79 said:


> Any pics of the new glass?


She posted one here in the Orange Glass thread.


----------



## Jay79

Bokonon said:


> She posted one here in the Orange Glass thread.


Wow that's cool!


----------



## GDN

Jay79 said:


> Any pics of the new glass?


Keep in mind this isn't "new" glass necessarily, or maybe we don't know. All of the cars delivered this year through mid year had a full coating. All of them. The partial and no coatings started showing up July /August timeframe I believe. This is a surprise seeing full coatings from what appears to be recent builds. I've got a build from 11/7 and no coating. It's very random from our perspective, maybe Tesla knows what they are doing.


----------



## PNWmisty

GDN said:


> Keep in mind this isn't "new" glass necessarily, or maybe we don't know. All of the cars delivered this year through mid year had a full coating. All of them. The partial and no coatings started showing up July /August timeframe I believe. This is a surprise seeing full coatings from what appears to be recent builds. I've got a build from 11/7 and no coating. It's very random from our perspective, maybe Tesla knows what they are doing.


It could be as simple as having a new shipment of glass come in (without the orange), having nowhere to put it except in front of the last remaining stock of orange glass. Very busy so didn't rotate the stock. It's not like glass has a shelf life or anything.


----------



## GDN

PNWmisty said:


> It could be as simple as having a new shipment of glass come in (without the orange), having nowhere to put it except in front of the last remaining stock of orange glass. Very busy so didn't rotate the stock. It's not like glass has a shelf life or anything.


Right - it's just some of the newer people to the forum and Model 3 think this coated glass is new, when in fact it was on all the cars up to a certain point in time and it has somewhat disappeared a few months. Some with none of the color changing coating, some with half and now again some with full. It's all interesting and just day to day based on supplier or Tesla simply changing things up - we all know they like to do that.


----------



## FRC

MelindaV said:


> I really do like the gold/orange/purple glow and it is drizzly here like half the year.....


ONLY HALF?


----------



## MelindaV

FRC said:


> ONLY HALF?


Yes, only half (or at least 5/12ths). 
Technically we are in a drought along with most of the rest of the west coast, and on average go from May thru September with no rain at all. And on average annually have 36" of rain vs 46" in Athens, GA because we don't have soggy summers  for that matter this month to date, the difference between 1.79" (Ptld) and 7.33" (Athens)


----------



## Cintoman

Yeah, it's weird because my car, built in 08/18, VIN: 097730 does not have the orange coating on the back glass. But, like all cars, it has the orange coating on the glass above the driver's head.

--Cintoman


----------



## FRC

MelindaV said:


> Yes, only half (or at least 5/12ths).
> Technically we are in a drought along with most of the rest of the west coast, and on average go from May thru September with no rain at all. And on average annually have 36" of rain vs 46" in Athens, GA because we don't have soggy summers  for that matter this month to date, the difference between 1.79" (Ptld) and 7.33" (Athens)


Yeah, but here it's a dry rain.


----------



## MelindaV

FRC said:


> Yeah, but here it's a dry rain.


mmmhmmmmm if you say so.


----------



## Quicksilver

MelindaV said:


> Yes, only half (or at least 5/12ths).
> Technically we are in a drought along with most of the rest of the west coast, and on average go from May thru September with no rain at all. And on average annually have 36" of rain vs 46" in Athens, GA because we don't have soggy summers  for that matter this month to date, the difference between 1.79" (Ptld) and 7.33" (Athens)


I do kind of like the gold/orange/purple coating...adds a little character to the roof...


----------



## MelindaV

I realized after the fact yesterday that I had the perfect opportunity to use Summon and didn't.
a coworker and I spent the morning at a house a client is considering buying. We met their real estate agent there and spent a couple hours measuring/photographing/etc. It is a large property, and when we got there, there were a few cars along the circular driveway, a car in an attached carport and space to park about 50 more cars. We pulled up behind the carport and met the real estate agent (who it was her car parked there). Asked where we should park, and she said it was fine where we stopped - maybe blocking a few feet of the carport.
Just before we were done, she said she was running over to one of the neighbor's homes and would be back in 5 minutes. I asked if she needed me to pull my car forward and she said it was fine. She got out and back into the space fine, but that would have been an awesome time to use it! standing under the cover while it rains and move the car forward 5 or 6 feet! 
next time..


----------



## PNWmisty

MelindaV said:


> I realized after the fact yesterday that I had the perfect opportunity to use Summon and didn't.
> a coworker and I spent the morning at a house a client is considering buying. We met their real estate agent there and spent a couple hours measuring/photographing/etc. It is a large property, and when we got there, there were a few cars along the circular driveway, a car in an attached carport and space to park about 50 more cars. We pulled up behind the carport and met the real estate agent (who it was her car parked there). Asked where we should park, and she said it was fine where we stopped - maybe blocking a few feet of the carport.
> Just before we were done, she said she was running over to one of the neighbor's homes and would be back in 5 minutes. I asked if she needed me to pull my car forward and she said it was fine. She got out and back into the space fine, but that would have been an awesome time to use it! standing under the cover while it rains and move the car forward 5 or 6 feet!
> next time..


Yes, it would even be better from a second story bedroom window looking down on the cars!

If you think you might have an opportunity to use summon, it's a good idea to plan ahead a bit. I do the phone fiddling discretely like I'm checking e-mail or a text. That way if the opportunity presents itself I'm already connected and ready to demonstrate.


----------



## GateFather

MelindaV said:


> I also installed the interior vinyl pieces Saturday before Hockey
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (can't miss an opportunity to get my glittery epoxy floor in a pix!)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and the rubber cupholder/bin mats from Amazon, the sunglass tray from @chojn1's son
> 
> Still have the Blackvue, screen protector, wheel locks, PPF for the door sills, cubby LED lights, puddle lights, and Im sure some things I'm forgetting (my Elon's Musk air freshener is airing out a little before it goes in - he's a little too musky right now).
> 
> Oh, and originally (before delivery) planned to clean and clay the car Wednesday evening, ceramic coat it thursday and let it sit to cure. but then remembered the event thursday night I needed to go to, and wanted to see what Tesla said about repairing the chips and the hood fisheye before doing anything.


Can I ask where you got the vinyl wrap for the door window section? Does it come in the brushed titanium (as sold for center console on Abstract Ocean?)


----------



## MelindaV

GateFather said:


> Can I ask where you got the vinyl wrap for the door window section? Does it come in the brushed titanium (as sold for center console on Abstract Ocean?)


From @kenriko on Amazon. I think he has done titanium in the past (mine is black brushed)


----------



## GateFather

MelindaV said:


> From @kenriko on Amazon. I think he has done titanium in the past (mine is black brushed)


Thanks. Is your center console also brushed black?


----------



## MelindaV

LUXMAN said:


> So can we see a pic of the 67 Mustang? I ask as you know I had a '66 for years and you have piqued my interest


This will tell you how long it's been since I've driven it.... I think this is the only digital pix I have, and obviously not a great example  
Maybe when I go down to my dad's at Christmas I'll see if it is accessible and get couple photos that are more presentable (at least without a tiny BMW on the roof).








for background (and to age myself), I got this car in 1987 or 1988. It hadn't been driven for a few years prior and the previous owner had started to restore it. it had multiple primer patches and a couple minor dents. My dad rebuilds antique cars (which he still doesn't consider this an antique) and we cleaned it up, picked the color (yes, I specifically picked the yellow ), replaced the chrome and interior, got it running and I drove it until structural pieces began to fail around 1999. (having a control arm bolt break thru the cast metal was an eye opener!). The car only has a 5 digit odometer, so don't know it's true mileage, but I had it turn over 2 full times while driving it, so more than 200k  
In the time I drove it, the motor was rebuilt twice (V8 302), the transmission once, new radiator, countless power steering leaks fixed (apparently all temporarily), countless oil leak fixes (also apparently all temporary), various starters, alternators, distributors, etc. It seemed like I knew my mechanic really well with as many times as it was in the shop, but at least most of the things are easily changed out on this car.
When I got my new car in 2000, I parked this at my dad's (who has this building that is about 8,000 or 10,000sf just for cars) and took it out now and then when it was nice out. At that time, I lived about 5 minutes from my parents house, so that was easy. When I moved an hour away, the times I took it out dropped significantly, and now it requires a good amount of time to actually get it started again (and a lot of starter fluid dumped down the carb).

BUT even though it doesn't get driven, I still love it. I keep the custom plates registered (which probably is silly), and only on rare occasions have considered if I should sell it (like when calculating the added cost to go with a P3D+).


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## MelindaV

driving home tonight, had an interesting collision warning sound.

The local freeway near my house in the last month removed two intersections (full cross traffic with lights, left turn lanes, etc) and made each a right in / right out instead. it has literally made the time it takes me to get thru that freeway half what it used to (they were very long lights). But because this was the highway department's down and dirty way of making the change, the 'on-ramps' are using the same right turn lanes that was there previously when it was signaled but with a dedicated on-ramp lane for some distance and a few bollards, curbs and stripes. 
Drivers using these have not been very quick to learn that these should be treated as freeway on-ramps and often times come around those turns very slowly or come to a complete stop. 
Now that a few weeks have gone by, most seem to be getting it. Coming home tonight (with Queen blaring), just before I got to the (previous) intersection, a white Lincoln was coming toward the onramp fairly quickly. My Collision Alert warning seemed to think he was going to run straight across the freeway, yelled at me and disabled EAP/TACC.


----------



## Bokonon

MelindaV said:


> driving home tonight, had an interesting collision warning sound.
> Coming home tonight (with Queen blaring), just before I got to the (previous) intersection, a white Lincoln was coming toward the onramp fairly quickly. My Collision Alert warning seemed to think he was going to run straight across the freeway, yelled at me and disabled EAP/TACC.


Interesting. Was the warning sound and/or display any different from the forward-collision warning? Or was it just (beep-beep-beep-beep!) followed by (sad-sounding DOO-doo of Autosteer disengaging)?

I had an incident last week where I was driving eastbound on a state highway at 50 mph with Autosteer engaged. A westbound car waiting in an unsignaled left-turn lane decided to cut across in front of me, and the distance was short enough for the forward-collision warning to sound. My car quickly slowed down to about 35 as this happened, but I didn't actually press the brake, Autosteer remained engaged, and it accelerated back to 50 mph a few seconds later.

It's a slightly different scenario than the one you encountered, but it made me wonder about whether there are different types of collision alerts, and how the car responds differently to them (especially with Autopilot engaged).


----------



## MelindaV

Bokonon said:


> Interesting. Was the warning sound and/or display any different from the forward-collision warning? Or was it just (beep-beep-beep-beep!) followed by (sad-sounding DOO-doo of Autosteer disengaging)?


It didn't show the car highlighted in red like you would get for a forward collision (didn't notice if it showed the car coming from the left on the screen, but the red in the past has been hard to miss seeing). I had disengaged autosteer just prior (because the offramp lane line starts too late and EAP moves too far right), so here would only have been TACC, but still had the disengage bonk-bonk sound after the beeps.
With the four beeps, it disengaged TACC and I immediately pressed the accelerator to not slow down any more, not sure if it braked as well, or if it slowed just from the initial lack of TACC.


----------



## GDN

Bokonon said:


> Interesting. Was the warning sound and/or display any different from the forward-collision warning? Or was it just (beep-beep-beep-beep!) followed by (sad-sounding DOO-doo of Autosteer disengaging)?


All I can say is those are very accurate ways to describe the sounds. As I read it and your description the sounds played in my head.

Maybe we not only need a listing of the voice commands available and the best after market purchases for our cars, but a list of the sounds and warnings the car makes at various times as well.


----------



## LUXMAN

MelindaV said:


> This will tell you how long it's been since I've driven it.... I think this is the only digital pix I have, and obviously not a great example
> Maybe when I go down to my dad's at Christmas I'll see if it is accessible and get couple photos that are more presentable (at least without a tiny BMW on the roof).
> View attachment 18689
> 
> for background (and to age myself), I got this car in 1987 or 1988. It hadn't been driven for a few years prior and the previous owner had started to restore it. it had multiple primer patches and a couple minor dents. My dad rebuilds antique cars (which he still doesn't consider this an antique) and we cleaned it up, picked the color (yes, I specifically picked the yellow ), replaced the chrome and interior, got it running and I drove it until structural pieces began to fail around 1999. (having a control arm bolt break thru the cast metal was an eye opener!). The car only has a 5 digit odometer, so don't know it's true mileage, but I had it turn over 2 full times while driving it, so more than 200k
> In the time I drove it, the motor was rebuilt twice (V8 302), the transmission once, new radiator, countless power steering leaks fixed (apparently all temporarily), countless oil leak fixes (also apparently all temporary), various starters, alternators, distributors, etc. It seemed like I knew my mechanic really well with as many times as it was in the shop, but at least most of the things are easily changed out on this car.
> When I got my new car in 2000, I parked this at my dad's (who has this building that is about 8,000 or 10,000sf just for cars) and took it out now and then when it was nice out. At that time, I lived about 5 minutes from my parents house, so that was easy. When I moved an hour away, the times I took it out dropped significantly, and now it requires a good amount of time to actually get it started again (and a lot of starter fluid dumped down the carb).
> 
> BUT even though it doesn't get driven, I still love it. I keep the custom plates registered (which probably is silly), and only on rare occasions have considered if I should sell it (like when calculating the added cost to go with a P3D+).


Thank you for sharing that!. I got mine in 1986 and had her until 2000. Drove her most of the time but went through a couple transmissions myself. I occasionally miss the car but then I remember the constant stuff I did to her and now that I drive electric, I have no more interest in owning one. But I think it is cool that you keep her registered. Maybe one day you can get her up and running by a PRO shop and bring her home.
We are a 2 electric car family with one gas pickup and one "antique" Jeep. She only gets driven maybe 1500 miles a year. She is in great shape but the thing has become a pain to drive for me. But it is the wife's, so I keep it up for her.


----------



## LUXMAN

MelindaV said:


> driving home tonight, had an interesting collision warning sound.
> 
> The local freeway near my house in the last month removed two intersections (full cross traffic with lights, left turn lanes, etc) and made each a right in / right out instead. it has literally made the time it takes me to get thru that freeway half what it used to (they were very long lights). But because this was the highway department's down and dirty way of making the change, the 'on-ramps' are using the same right turn lanes that was there previously when it was signaled but with a dedicated on-ramp lane for some distance and a few bollards, curbs and stripes.
> Drivers using these have not been very quick to learn that these should be treated as freeway on-ramps and often times come around those turns very slowly or come to a complete stop.
> Now that a few weeks have gone by, most seem to be getting it. Coming home tonight (with Queen blaring), just before I got to the (previous) intersection, a white Lincoln was coming toward the onramp fairly quickly. My Collision Alert warning seemed to think he was going to run straight across the freeway, yelled at me and disabled EAP/TACC.


Cool that the 3 saw that. and LOVE the music


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## MelindaV

I am coming up on having driven my car for 90 days now and thought to look up the amount of fuel I purchased last year over the same timeframe.

Fuel last year = $647.27
Additional electrical this year over last for same days = $60.59*
Supercharge fees = $37.25 (would equate to $12.13 if charged at home)
Total charging costs = $97.84

Current miles = 3,679 miles
miles over same dates in 2017 = 2,994 miles 

Current cost per mile = 2.66 cents
2017 cost per mile over same dates = 21.62 cents

So... The Tesla costs 12.3% to fuel on a day to day basis than my previous car.

generally, I drive about 12,000 miles a year. so based on this, the Tesla saves $2,275.20/year. Or in other words, it will have paid for itself in 26.81 years!

I did these calcs prior to getting the car based on what we were seeing for efficiency ratings on the first cars coming out last year, so glad to see my real world numbers are holding up!


* I don't have a separate meter on my WC, so this is simply taking the difference from the same time period last year as this year (both had very similar weather/temps).


----------



## MelindaV

A few weeks ago, I saw TomBihn was going to have their retail store open that Saturday (they normally only have a few weekday hours that they are open to the public) and decided to drive up to Seattle (160 miles ea way, and had plans that afternoon where I would be picked up at 430p, so seemed totally reasonable to leave at 9am  )

If you aren't familiar with TB, they make awesome bags that are designed and made 100% in Seattle. They range from hiking backpacks, travel bags, laptop bags, shopping bags, etc. All are amazing and I probably don't want to add up all I've gotten from them over the years. 
This time I picked up their "First Aid Pouch", which is a little zippered bag (8"x5"x2") with mesh pockets and a Medium size Organizer Pouch for my glovebox manuals and wheel hub key thinger to live in.

Over New Years I filled up the First Aid Pouch with an assortment of things - some from a small first aid kit and some other things added in (flashlight, paper/pencil, scissors, various bandage pads, various band aids, & tape, alcohol pads, hand wipes, antibiotic cream, gloves, ice pack, Tums, Advil, Tylenol, aspirin, wool socks, tape measure, dental floss, first aid cheat sheet), added a fleece blanket and put them both in the frunk.
here's pix from Instagram showing all that I crammed into that little bag 



__
http://instagr.am/p/BsG9dM1lVWl/

oh, and I got back home around 4:15p, so plenty of time 

That trip was the same that I had the chance to use the Dashcam (both Tesla and Blackvue) in an official capacity which resulted in a WSP trooper knocking on a VW owner's door.


----------



## MelindaV

coming home tonight, I get to the bottom of my offramp, in the right lane, following a firetruck and was telling EAP how well it did coming to a stop without smashing into the firetruck  when I notice in the left lane is an older Prius with 5 teenage boys all hanging out the passenger side windows waving at me. I roll the window down and answer about 10 questions for them before the light changed. including price, can it really drive itself, can they drive it, can they drive it if they wear a seat belt (ha, like their safety at that point was my issue with them driving), is it fast, would I trade for a Prius, do I like it, etc, etc. 
It was cute. They were very excited (not that there are not a ton of them around now, but maybe no-one else rolls the window down to actually talk to them  ).


----------



## MelindaV

and with it being the end of the month, here's my numbers for January. Interesting the average temp was the same as December. Difference in Wh/Mile is every drive in December I only used the HVAC when the windows began to fog then turned it back off once clear. January, I mostly had it on upper 60s - some drives turned it off.


----------



## MelindaV

and because I thought it was the highest I've seen, snapped a pix of my Wh/Mile number yesterday as I was pulling out of my parking lot after work. this was with the outside temp at 46F, pre-heated to 68 for about 5 or so minutes and not moving more than 10mph.


----------



## GDN

MelindaV said:


> and because I thought it was the highest I've seen, snapped a pix of my Wh/Mile number yesterday as I was pulling out of my parking lot after work. this was with the outside temp at 46F, pre-heated to 68 for about 5 or so minutes and not moving more than 10mph.
> View attachment 21358


It must be all of that bacon cooking.


----------



## Bokonon

MelindaV said:


> Interesting the average temp was the same as December. Difference in Wh/Mile is every drive in December I only used the HVAC when the windows began to fog then turned it back off once clear. January, I mostly had it on high 60s - some drives turned it off.


Interesting, I basically ran the opposite experiment, and came out with similar results:

December:
- HVAC on Auto + 65-68
- Average drive temp 36.8F
--> 296 Wh/mi (291 Wh/mi for commute only)

January: 
- HVAC mostly off + seat heat, occasional LO + fan
- Average drive temp 31.5F
--> 258 Wh/mi (242 Wh/mi for commute only)

There were a few exceptions to the January no-HVAC rule, most notably the time my wife took the car into work in 20-degree weather and averaged a whopping 470+ Wh/mi for the day (her profile has HVAC = Auto 70 and she spent a lot of time in traffic). That one day alone may have skewed the numbers significantly. 

But yeah, it just goes to show greedy the cabin heater gets as the temperatures drop... Your consumption increased 11% at a balmy 44 F, mine went up 15-20% only ~10 degrees lower.


----------



## MelindaV

Washed my car today, mostly because I couldn't get the spring training game to stream from my computer, and knew it was on seattle radio and could listen via TuneIn, so went out to the garage, rolled the windows down and washed the car.

When I got to the wheels, discovered one wheel has a couple dings. I am the only one that drives this car, and haven't hit any curbs or potholes that would have made contact. The only other one that has driven it since I last washed it was the service center when swapping out a flat tire, but they drove it thru their building and parked it outside in a row of other cars - not against a curb (and this was not the wheel with the flat).

The two places along the rim are about ¼ the circumference apart and both places seem too small for curb rash.


















Even more so now, hoping the referral award wheels are awesome and can swap over to them.


----------



## Perscitus

These could be rock chips (especially the first pic) as it is not uncommon for wheels to get chipped or grazed by road debris.

Sadly with the road infrastructure in its current national state, wheels have joined tires and quickly becoming another wear/tear item.

Maybe the referral wheels will be the Chinese market Aero 19s, would look good on your color 3.


----------



## FRC

@MelindaV , I wish my rims looked half as good as yours. I rashed all 4 of mine in the first two weeks before I got a feel for where the rims are!


----------



## MelindaV

End of the month is the favorite day of the month now so I can see how my energy efficiency did

So far 155 days, 5,338 miles, and 1,549 kWh used since delivery on September 26th. Total electricity cost $173 ($135 home elec, $38 Supercharger). (my previous car would have cost more than $800 to fuel it for 5338 miles!)

February has had the highest Wh/mile (309Wh/M) so far, the least miles per month (656 miles - excluding the last couple days of September), the least kWh used (203kWh) and the coldest month (average 39F).


----------



## Skione65

MelindaV said:


> End of the month is the favorite day of the month now so I can see how my energy efficiency did
> 
> So far 155 days, 5,338 miles, and 1,549 kWh used since delivery on September 26th. Total electricity cost $173 ($135 home elec, $38 Supercharger). (my previous car would have cost more than $800 to fuel it for 5338 miles!)
> 
> February has had the highest Wh/mile (309Wh/M) so far, the least miles per month (656 miles - excluding the last couple days of September), the least kWh used (203kWh) and the coldest month (average 39F).
> 
> View attachment 22644
> 
> View attachment 22642


@MelindaV,

Melinda is that an App? Where do you get that data? Love it!

Ski


----------



## MelindaV

Skione65 said:


> @MelindaV,
> 
> Melinda is that an App? Where do you get that data? Love it!
> 
> Ski


Here's what I do... have a reminder alarm for 9pm the last day of the month, to remind me go out and snap a pix of my monthly and lifetime trip cards and reset the monthly, get the average temperature from Teslafi, enter that all into a spreadsheet in Numbers on my Mac that spits out the graphs  so all manually combined


----------



## MelindaV

This morning it looked like it was going to be a nice day today, so decided to drive over to the coast (about 2+ hour drive over). I have a friend who moved over there last summer, so sent her a message asking what she had planned for the day and her and her partner were just unpacking at the house they just bought, after living 6 months in a motorhome on an empty lot they planned to build on - found this house and changed plans. So drove over to the coast, then another hour down to their house. Hung out with them for a couple hours before driving home via a different route. 
In total drove 322 miles, with a short Supercharging stop when I got over to the coast and another on the way home to add a little cushion for the return home. 
For the day, averaged 242Wh/mile, with most of the drive there and returning thru mountain passes with ups and downs and some twists & turns.

Charged next to Californian MCR Model 3s at both of my charging stops

















took the "looking thru the Supercharger" photo









and a couple highway viewpoint pix



























(for anyone that has heard the Oregon coast is always dreary, wet and windy... here it is clear, sunny and calm in March!)


----------



## Skione65

@MelindaV,

Amazing Seascape photos! Love 'em!

Ski


----------



## MelindaV

Skione65 said:


> @MelindaV,
> 
> Amazing Seascape photos! Love 'em!
> 
> Ski


Thanks Ski!


----------



## telero

MelindaV said:


> Charged next to Californian MCR Model 3s at both of my charging stops


This might be a little passive-agressive of me, but at the Lincoln City superchargers I always try to charge in the spots that also allow for 30 minutes of general parking. That limits the potential for ICE legally blocking charging spots as much as possible. The way the Oregon law is, only spots that are marked/signed as reserved for alternative fueling are subject to ticket for the violation. All of the spots at Lincoln City have the ORS signing about how it's a violation to park there without charging, but it doesn't actually apply to the spots that allow general parking.


----------



## MelindaV

telero said:


> This might be a little passive-agressive of me, but at the Lincoln City superchargers I always try to charge in the spots that also allow for 30 minutes of general parking. That limits the potential for ICE legally blocking charging spots as much as possible. The way the Oregon law is, only spots that are marked/signed as reserved for alternative fueling are subject to ticket for the violation. All of the spots at Lincoln City have the ORS signing about how it's a violation to park there without charging, but it doesn't actually apply to the spots that allow general parking.


interesting. I ended up using a spot that was signed as "Tesla Charging Only" (plus the ORS sign), and didn't notice there were specific spaces that allowed the 30 minute general parking (I do now feel slightly bad for giving the lady returning to an SUV parked at the far west space dirty looks now though)
All the times I've seen Superchargers with the 30 minute general parking signs, they have been across all stations (Like Vancouver's Salmon Creek Supercharger at a Fred Meyer).


----------



## MelindaV

at a local Tesla club meetup yesterday, was able to see the RPMTesla carbon fiber replacement hub covers. I've been considering these since before I got my car, but even at a $300 sale price, they seem a little expensive.
but really like what they add to the wheels.

what do you all think?


----------



## GDN

I think at $300 it would be a bit hard to swallow. I know there are places that sell the decals if you wanted to change the color of the T. One thing I really like still is to order the centers from the S. They aren't a bright chrome, but they are metal. I liked the look. Have been looking for picture and haven't hit the right key work search yet.


----------



## MelindaV

GDN said:


> I think at $300 it would be a bit hard to swallow. I know there are places that sell the decals if you wanted to change the color of the T. One thing I really like still is to order the centers from the S. They aren't a bright chrome, but they are metal. I liked the look. Have been looking for picture and haven't hit the right key work search yet.


on these CF replacements, the T is embedded in the resin. RPM sells an option that includes a colored vinyl T to be surface mounted, but if I get these, I'd rather have the embedded version. (first choice would be an embedded red T, but the silver embedded imo is better than red applied).


----------



## MelindaV

here's my March 2019 update...

1,208 miles driven in March, 6,546 total miles to date.
March had so far my lowest Wh/Mile at 258 and used 311 kWh, (lifetime is 284Wh/mile and 1,861kWh) with outside temperatures back to where you don't need to have the heat on to be comfortable.
















and the lifetime data from Teslafi


----------



## Sandy

CF center caps with the embedded T and circle


----------



## MelindaV

Sandy said:


> CF center caps with the embedded T and circle


I'm going to wait and see what the referral award wheels (that should be delivered this summer barring ElonTime) look like, and if I'll switch to those full time before buying these.


----------



## MelindaV

Learned a couple things today... One I should have known, and that fellow Tesla owners are good people. 

Today I had a work meeting about 100 miles away. Weather was expected to be wet and windy and the drive had multiple elevation changes going over a mountain range. The only Supercharger en route is across town from where I live, so not really helpful, and about 25 minutes beyond the destination. So I charged to about 95% and figured I could make it there and back with some cushion without charging.
Then I heard one of the people coming to the meeting I was going to had a flight delayed and wouldn't be there for about 2 hours. So since I had some time to kill, drove down to that supercharger.

Since coming back into cell signals, my phone was not finding any service. So while I was plugged in, I figured I would restart the phone. While doing that, I rounded up the empty water bottles and snacks from the drive over into the plastic bag they came in. Popped the trunk and got out to put them in the trunk (on the off chance I showed anyone the car at the meeting, didn't really want random trash floating around). Closed the trunk and about half way back to the driver door, the horn beeped and mirrors folded. with the phone powered off sitting on the phone charger. 

There were already a couple cars there, so figured one of those owners would return soon and hoped I could use one of their phones. As I was debating going into the stores and using a phone (for what, not sure...), when a local Model X owner, Dana, pulled up and looked at me a little funny for standing outside my car with it starting to rain. I told him I locked myself out of the car, and asked if he had a cell with internet access I might be able to use. he handed his phone over and I was able to login to Teslafi and unlock the door. (thank you Dana!!) after recovering my phone, we chatted for another 10 minutes or so while I was plugged in. this was far and away the most supercharger conversation I've been part of in 6 months (and 12 or so SCr visits). He also mentioned each time he's used that Supercharger, he had been the only one there and was surprised to see others there, so I lucked out having multiple others there to fall back on.

so, even if your phone (inside the car) is powered down, don't assume the car will not lock after a certain amount of time when it doesn't find the phone talking to the car.


----------



## FRC

This is my number one fear, and the reason I never(never say never) leave my phone in the car. Is there any foolproof solution to avoid this?


----------



## lance.bailey

I keep the card key in my wallet. it's really thin and is handy if I am in the garage without the phone and need to pop into the car or plug in the charger.

also came in handy at my first service visit when they asked for my key and I didn't want to give them my phone.


----------



## FRC

lance.bailey said:


> I keep the card key in my wallet. it's really thin and is handy if I am in the garage without the phone and need to pop into the car or plug in the charger.
> 
> also came in handy at my first service visit when they asked for my key and I didn't want to give them my phone.


This is not a solution for me since the key card stays in my wallet, in my car!


----------



## GDN

Glad to hear that it turned out well. Teslafi is an easy way to do it, but if the other owner doesn't mind and you are careful they could log out of the Tesla app and you could log in with your credentials (for the vast majority that don't use a service like Teslafi). I believe you'd be able to unlock your car that way - doesn't have to be paired, just logged in to your account. Just be sure and log back out. If this is the case, then anyone with a smartphone could help you out by downloading the Tesla app. Log in, unlock, log out. Buy them a beer. 

Tesla can also remotely unlock it after verifying who you are, etc, but I'm sure that would take longer than getting local assistance with a phone.

I also keep my card key on me, but I think that might be easier as a male because my wallet is usually in my pocket, where a woman might have hers in her purse in the trunk or tucked under the seat.

Good to hear the positive outcome.


----------



## garsh

FRC said:


> This is not a solution for me since the key card stays in my wallet, in my car!


If you can't be bothered to keep the key card on your person somehow, then you can probably find a spot underneath the car to tape one for emergency use. Ideas: up in a wheel well, on top of a control arm, slip it right on top of one of the aero panels, right at the edge.

Or keep it at home, and plan on calling somebody to bring it to you in an emergency.

What did you do with your keys before you got a Tesla? Would it make sense for you to purchase a Tesla fob so that you can do the same thing?

And there's always Melinda's solution: borrow somebody's phone, install the Tesla app, log in, and remotely unlock. OK, she used Teslafi, but should also work for the Tesla app as long as you remember your login and password.


----------



## FRC

You're right,@garsh. No good way to keep key card on me. I don't keep my wallet in my pocket due to spinal issues. Currently my emergency plan is borrow a phone a call my wife to unlock remotely. But with a long road trip looming, I think I need to investigate a safe place to duct tape a card.


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## lance.bailey

@FRC , there have been some studies (going back decades) about the relationship between spinal pain and men who keep their wallets in the hip pocket. can you move your wallet? My dad kept his 2" thick (no kidding) wallet in his hip pocket and I don't know how he didn't lean over like Pisa when he sat down. When I was cleaning out his apartment after he died, I found that wallet. I had made it for him when I was a kid a camp and 45 years later he still used it.

I keep my wallet in my jacket pocket and cross myself[1] when I leave one "zone" for another to make sure I don't leave anything behind.

[1]Spectacles, testicles, wallet, phone.


----------



## MelindaV

Ok, y’all are getting a little off track here. I for one have my phone on me 99% of the waking day. Point was weird edge cases happen.


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## lance.bailey

@MelindaV - sorry


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## UncleMilt

I'd have borrowed a phone and called my wife or daughters to unlock it remotely since they all have the app. I couldn't have logged into Teslafi or the Tesla app because all of my passwords are unique 12-character combinations that I rely upon a password manager to recall.


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## MelindaV

UncleMilt said:


> I'd have borrowed a phone and called my wife or daughters to unlock it remotely since they all have the app. I couldn't have logged into Teslafi or the Tesla app because all of my passwords are unique 12-character combinations that I rely upon a password manager to recall.


see, the other downside on relying on cell phones, is the only phone numbers I know any more are my dad's shop number (and don't think I could talk him thru pulling up the website, logging in and finding the controls to unlock it) and my office's main line. since no-one else has my car in the tesla app already, my alternate would be that or calling tesla (once I figured out their number )


----------



## MelindaV

here's my latest month numbers thru April 30


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## MelindaV

I did a version of the Frunk spring update that i1Tesla recently showed in a video. I didn't want to go with as small of a spring as he showed, so instead got a 1 ⅞" x 7/16" x .047 this is the same length as i1Tesla used, but heavier gauge. The stock spring is 2 ⅜" long, so the replacement is stretched when on. It was significantly easier to close, but still took quite a bit of pressure. So I added a ⅜" ring to the end of the spring, bringing it within a ⅛" of the stock springs length.

Here's a little video showing it in action. it still has a click to get past, but requires significantly less pressure than the stock spring.


----------



## mnsweeps

I will wait on doing the soft close.. I already changed the frunk struts to open fully like iITesla. There must be some reason why the stock spring has so much pressure? Like what happens on windy, rainy days? Is it possible that the wind, rain can get through the frunk gap and try opening it.. just some crazy thoughts..


----------



## MelindaV

mnsweeps said:


> I will wait on doing the soft close.. I already changed the frunk struts to open fully like iITesla. There must be some reason why the stock spring has so much pressure? Like what happens on windy, rainy days? Is it possible that the wind, rain can get through the frunk gap and try opening it.. just some crazy thoughts..


I expect it is so stiff to keep the hood latched in the event of a minor rear end crash where the latch may end up mis-aligned and could otherwise pop. 
remember, this is also the secondary latch.


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## MelindaV

my range has tanked since around the time of the 2019.12.1 install and @TrevP suggested to try the tesla recommendation given in the LikeTesla video posted a few months back. so testing this out over the next couple weeks...










I typically charge nightly to 85%, so moving to 90% doesn't seem very significant.

here's where I am starting from following charging to 90% this morning








I hadn't plugged it in the last couple nights, so the charge level dropped to somewhere between 10-20% (can't recall precisely) and following this morning's recharge to 85% it was at 253.0, a 100% equivalent of 297.7 miles. a few miles less than the last charge.

I increased the charge to 90% and following the charge it read as 268.8 miles of rated range, or the 100% equivalent of 298.73 miles.
Moved the charge rate up to 100% and will see where that lands. (will update in an hour...)


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## MelindaV

after letting it sit and change to 100%, here's where it landed. This was after it stalled out at 299.59 miles for about 5 minutes and 300.0 for 20 minutes before saying it was complete.
so slight bump up, but still not near where it was a month ago.


----------



## MelindaV

continuing on with my attempt at regaining the lost 10 miles...

this last week I didn't charge nightly as I normally do, but let the battery get down to about 7% yesterday and charged back to 100% overnight. 
added 68.26kWh to the battery, and still topping out at just 300 miles. again, after initially getting to 100%, it sat saying "30 minutes remaining" for about half hour. So, going to do the same this next week and if no difference, I'll contact service and ask about them re-flashing it to get back the drop in capacity.


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## MelindaV

after the 100% charge this morning, I went out for a drive to burn thru some of it. Ended going out to my power plant, Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River at the Oregon - Washington border. Pix from each side


















also, because the dam and locks are managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, it is a Federal site, So on the Oregon side (the first pix), needed to go thru a police check point. Got up to the officer and he asked me to "open the trunk and frunk". I complemented him on his knowledge that there is a frunk and that it is called a frunk. he said he previously was educated by another Tesla owner 

[ETA - construction started in 1934, so right as Hoover Dam was finishing construction. The dam's innards were redone in the 50s and has since produced 9.2 Billion (with a B) kWh of electricity; enough to charge 122,666,666 Model 3s from 0-100%, or enough to drive the circumference of the earth 1,500,000 times.]

Prior to getting to the dam, stopped off at Multnomah Falls for a quick pix.


----------



## GDN

Beautiful scenery. I love TX, but we struggle to find scenery quite like that in the Northern part of the state for sure. Very nice pics.


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## MelindaV

GDN said:


> Beautiful scenery. I love TX, but we struggle to find scenery quite like that in the Northern part of the state for sure. Very nice pics.


Come visit me and I can take you on a drive with everything from high desert, snow (ok, we'd have to take your car to the snowy parts), sandy ocean beaches, wine country and temperate rainforest.


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## Quicksilver

Yes indeed! Beautiful landscape...that we north Texans can only dream about.


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## MelindaV

Quicksilver said:


> Yes indeed! Beautiful landscape...that we north Texans can only dream about.


at a prior job where I had a lot of work trips that involved day long drives in various states, I remember stopping on the side of some Texas highway to take pix of wild flowers with oil rigs in the background. that combination is certainly something we don't have here


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## Quicksilver

MelindaV said:


> at a prior job where I had a lot of work trips that involved day long drives in various states, I remember stopping on the side of some Texas highway to take pix of wild flowers with oil rigs in the background. that combination is certainly something we don't have here


True, but that doesn't compare to waterfalls and mountains.


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## Perscitus

Amazing photos and great info Melinda! 

Reminds me of (and makes me long for) when I lived outside of Portland OR. Jetskied and kayaked on Hood and Vancouver Rivers and drove all around Crater Lake, Mt Hood, through the coastal range rainforest to the Haystack and fishermen villages and towns. Beautiful country!


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## Dr. J

MelindaV said:


> I increased the charge to 90% and following the charge it read as 268.8 miles of rated range, or the 100% equivalent of 298.73 miles.


I realize this is not helpful, but approximately 3.5% (1- (300/311)) battery degradation after ~9,000 miles seems quite good.


----------



## MelindaV

Dr. J said:


> I realize this is not helpful, but approximately 3.5% (1- (300/311)) battery degradation after ~9,000 miles seems quite good.


but not when it nearly all happens overnight (first charge after 2019.12.1.1)


----------



## Dr. J

MelindaV said:


> but not when it nearly all happens overnight (first charge after 2019.12.1.1)


That would seem to indicate a firmware issue and not a battery issue (though hard to say for certain). I choose to remain (mostly) blissfully ignorant of what the BMS is doing by (mostly) keeping the display set to %.

Say, do you notice after you charge to 100% that the first several miles (20 or so) are consumed at about triple the rate of normal rated miles? I've only charged to 100% once, and I'm about to do it again tonight. If it's normal, it's one more thing I don't need to worry about.


----------



## FRC

Dr. J said:


> I realize this is not helpful, but approximately 3.5% (1- (300/311)) battery degradation after ~9,000 miles seems quite good.


If you consistently lost 3.5% of original range each 9000 miles, you'd be below 80% at 54,000 miles. Doesn't sound at all good to me, nor do I think it would be acceptable to Tesla.


----------



## MelindaV

Dr. J said:


> That would seem to indicate a firmware issue and not a battery issue


but 12.1.2 nor 16.2 changed anything.


Dr. J said:


> Say, do you notice after you charge to 100% that the first several miles (20 or so) are consumed at about triple the rate of normal rated miles? I've only charged to 100% once, and I'm about to do it again tonight. If it's normal, it's one more thing I don't need to worry about.


no. Like yesterday when I left with 100% charge, the wh/mile was pretty typical of what I always see, and the rated miles shown on the screen dropped off consistently with the miles I'd actually driven.


----------



## Dr. J

FRC said:


> If you consistently lost 3.5% of original range each 9000 miles, you'd be below 80% at 54,000 miles. Doesn't sound at all good to me, nor do I think it would be acceptable to Tesla.


But of course that's not likely happen, as Li ion batteries typically see a large loss at the beginning, then flattening out.

https://electrek.co/2018/04/14/tesla-battery-degradation-data/

"The data clearly shows that for the first 50,000 miles (100,000 km), most Tesla battery packs will lose about 5% of their capacity, but after the 50,000-mile mark, the capacity levels off and it looks like it could be difficult to make a pack degrade by another 5%. "


----------



## Bokonon

Dr. J said:


> That would seem to indicate a firmware issue and not a battery issue (though hard to say for certain). I choose to remain (mostly) blissfully ignorant of what the BMS is doing by (mostly) keeping the display set to %.


I tend to subscribe to this theory (and the practice of using %) as well. My AWD is approximately the same vintage as Melinda's, and my 100% projected range has also consistently been 297-298 since 2019.12.x. It actually started drifting downward (from 304-306) under 2019.8.x, but stuck to 298 under 2019.12.1.2.

A similar thing happened last fall. I was at 307-309 for the first couple months of ownership, then it started drifting downward, but immediately after 2018.42.3, it jumped back up to an all-time high of 311. So I'm inclined to think something similar is happening here.


----------



## MelindaV

Bokonon said:


> I tend to subscribe to this theory (and the practice of using %) as well. My AWD is approximately the same vintage as Melinda's, and my 100% projected range has also consistently been 297-298 since 2019.12.x. It actually started drifting downward (from 304-306) under 2019.8.x, but stuck to 298 under 2019.12.1.2.
> 
> A similar thing happened last fall. I was at 307-309 for the first couple months of ownership, then it started drifting downward, but immediately after 2018.42.3, it jumped back up to an all-time high of 311. So I'm inclined to think something similar is happening here.


@Dr. J also is from last September, but RWD, correct? @Dr. J - did you get the 325 bump a couple months ago?


----------



## Dr. J

MelindaV said:


> @Dr. J also is from last September, but RWD, correct? @Dr. J - did you get the 325 bump a couple months ago?


Yes, I got something close to it: 321, I think. One of the few times I switched the display from % to miles. 

And yes, RWD.


----------



## Bokonon

Dr. J said:


> Yes, I got something close to it: 321, I think. One of the few times I switched the display from % to miles.
> And yes, RWD


Interesting. When you mentioned rated range appearing to fall off more quickly at the top, it rang a bell from one of the RWD range-upgrade threads... I don't have the specific post handy, but I feel like at least one other person had that impression.

If the "additional" range for RWD was just the result of Tesla adjusting the rated Wh/mile downward, that would make sense, but I'd also expect it to be consistent from 0-100%. But since rated miles are an estimate on top of another estimate (SoC %), it's also possible that the SoC % estimate is less accurate near top... but then you'd expect to see the same behavior on an AWD vehicle too. So the net of it is: 🤷‍♂️.


----------



## Dr. J

Bokonon said:


> Interesting. When you mentioned rated range appearing to fall off more quickly at the top, it rang a bell from one of the RWD range-upgrade threads... I don't have the specific post handy, but I feel like at least one other person had that impression.
> 
> If the "additional" range for RWD was just the result of Tesla adjusting the rated Wh/mile downward, that would make sense, but I'd also expect it to be consistent from 0-100%. But since rated miles are an estimate on top of another estimate (SoC %), it's also possible that the SoC % estimate is less accurate near top... but then you'd expect to see the same behavior on an AWD vehicle too. So the net of it is: 🤷‍♂️.


I'll report back in the next few days on my upcoming charge to 100%. Besides the usual variables, there's also variation in the fleet. We're dealing with very few data points (posts from individual owners). Hard to tell what's "normal."


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## MelindaV

just got back home from running the battery back down to under 10% (8% this time) and charging back to 100%...

FYI - so many police out this morning! so anyone driving for the holiday weekend, watch your speed. over the 125 miles or so I went this morning, I counted something like 22 or 23 cop cars - most all on the half of that drive that was freeway. nearly all either with someone already pulled over, or sitting with radar guns.


----------



## Guest

MelindaV said:


> I did a version of the Frunk spring update that i1Tesla recently showed in a video. I didn't want to go with as small of a spring as he showed, so instead got a 1 ⅞" x 7/16" x .047 this is the same length as i1Tesla used, but heavier gauge. The stock spring is 2 ⅜" long, so the replacement is stretched when on. It was significantly easier to close, but still took quite a bit of pressure. So I added a ⅜" ring to the end of the spring, bringing it within a ⅛" of the stock springs length.
> 
> Here's a little video showing it in action. it still has a click to get past, but requires significantly less pressure than the stock spring.


I'm assuming you still have to replace the struts with stronger ones like itesla did, correct? I looking to see if anyone was able to keep the stock struts but replacement springs.


----------



## MelindaV

Setoyuilien said:


> I'm assuming you still have to replace the struts with stronger ones like itesla did, correct? I looking to see if anyone was able to keep the stock struts but replacement springs.


no - I did not change the struts.


----------



## GDN

Dr. J said:


> I'll report back in the next few days on my upcoming charge to 100%. Besides the usual variables, there's also variation in the fleet. We're dealing with very few data points (posts from individual owners). Hard to tell what's "normal."


When you do this and you hit 100% switch over to see what the miles say if you would.

As noted by @MelindaV and @Bokonon My AWD also is some number of miles under 310 now for a full charge as well. It had consistently hit 310 the first 4 to 5 months or so. I figure this is SW related, but will keep an eye on it and how this plays out.


----------



## Dr. J

GDN said:


> When you do this and you hit 100% switch over to see what the miles say if you would.


Will do. For reference, the car is 8 months old with fewer than 5,000 miles.


----------



## RonAz

If she does not mind, I will add a bit more description to MelindaV's picture for those of you that are not from around these parts.
The picture is of the dam spillways in the middle of the river. What you don't see are the two large powerhouses on each side of the spillway. They are also passing a very large amount of water as well. During spring runoff a lot of water flows down the Columbia.


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## MelindaV

RonAz said:


> If she does not mind, I will add a bit more description to MelindaV's picture for those of you that are not from around these parts.
> The picture is of the dam spillways in the middle of the river. What you don't see are the two large powerhouses on each side of the spillway. They are also passing a very large amount of water as well. During spring runoff a lot of water flows down the Columbia.


plus shipping channels, fish ladders and a hatchery


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## Deadbattery

I rarely charge to 100 as the use case is ... Drive 322 miles less reasonable cushion without stopping anywhere convenient enough to charge. seems like a rare case indeed. 

I have 28k on the car and am showing ~322 pretty consistently charging to 80-90% and extrapolating the range.

Unclear when it was boosted but it definitely was. Frankly I still believe the battery has another 10 miles of headroom that is software locked. 325 no longer mattered as a marketing tool to get a higher ratio of folks to get AWD but if they delivered an RWD with 334 miles, it would be the same as a Model S. Not ok.

J


----------



## MelindaV

today's charge started at 8% and up to 100%. at 100%, rated range shows as 300.4 miles. so no change after 3 cycles of a low SOC to 100%.


----------



## SR22pilot

I have two cars. With the first (AWD) it originally showed 308 when fully charged but rapidly dropped to the 294-296 range. I have done the low discharge and charge back to 100% cycle twice but that didn't help. I now charge to 90% but that hasn't helped. The AWD has only been on a Supercharger once. The other car is a RWD. It originally showed 310m- 311 when fully charged. Now, after software updates, it shows 325. It was originally charged to 80% but now gets charged to 90%.

Maybe it has to do with car color and interior color. The AWD is red, 19"rims AWD with white interior.


----------



## MelindaV

SR22pilot said:


> Maybe it has to do with car color and interior color. The AWD is read, 19"rims AWD with white interior.


good point, but I have black interior, so that should be good for at least 1-2 more miles 

and I wouldn't be concerned about it if it was a gradual drop (I started at 311) over the 8 months - but since most of the loss currently shown was deducted over night (a month or so ago), It just seems like it should be there and isn't a typical degradation. Prior to 2019.12.1.1, my normal was between 308 and 306. I was ok with that 3-5 mile reduction.


----------



## SR22pilot

MelindaV said:


> good point, but I have black interior, so that should be good for at least 1-2 more miles
> 
> and I wouldn't be concerned about it if it was a gradual drop (I started at 311) over the 8 months - but since most of the loss currently shown was deducted over night (a month or so ago), It just seems like it should be there and isn't a typical degradation. Prior to 2019.12.1.1, my normal was between 308 and 306. I was ok with that 3-5 mile reduction.


Hmmm I missed that your interior was black. Then again, I do have a couple of mile greater loss.

Mine also happened overnight. It was 308 till it wasn't; as in it was suddenly 296. Now when i calculate it out it is between 294 and 296.


----------



## Dr. J

GDN said:


> When you do this and you hit 100% switch over to see what the miles say if you would.
> 
> As noted by @MelindaV and @Bokonon My AWD also is some number of miles under 310 now for a full charge as well. It had consistently hit 310 the first 4 to 5 months or so. I figure this is SW related, but will keep an eye on it and how this plays out.


Charged to 100% for my road trip and got 322 rated miles. The first few miles went in a hurry (first few miles at 2:1 rated-to-actual ratio, then 3:2), but I now think it is accurately showing energy use. I assume the first mile is fractional (went from 322 to 321 in the first half a block from the house), and the next few miles are used at a very high Wh/mi rate as I start driving (around 750 Wh/mi, slowly dropping). Makes sense--the car is loaded down and has in-town start-of-trip (in)efficiency that I'm not used to. Also, no regen, so even though I babied it and slowed down to hit nearly all the traffic lights on green (it was 5:20 AM on Memorial Day, no traffic), the Wh/mi didn't drop significantly until I got on the freeway (about 3 miles away).

Here's an interesting speculative graph in an informative thread on the other forum. The PhD in chemical engineering replies in post #23 on the following page. I recommend watching this guy's videos on battery tech. Long story short: Charging to 100% and discharging below ~15% causes a great deal of stress on the battery, especially in hot weather. My new, less anxious strategy on road trips will be to stop my trip-starting charging at between 93% and 97% and then drive appropriately to reach the destination. My daily use strategy (remember, I don't drive much) is to keep SoC between 50% and 76%. I don't have a high need to know my 100% range, and when the Henrietta supercharger (yay!) comes online in the next few months 100 miles away, heading NW I won't have a need to start out with more than 75% SoC assuming decent weather.

I think it's interesting from the few data points we have that the drop in range appears to be on AWDs and not RWDs. I suspect a firmware update has (probably accurately, on average) starting providing real world rated range to both types. Again, not a scientific opinion, just a SWAG.


----------



## MelindaV

May summary time!

My miles for May equalled 1,604 (odometer at 9,647) with an average temp of 65F
driving efficiency 250Wh/mile and total driving usage 402 kWh
total usage including non-driving was 490 kWh (88 kWh non-driving usage - so pre-cooling, Sentry and whatever other vampire drain cost $7.00 or 22.5¢ per day - not bad).


----------



## MelindaV

I finally got around to ceramic coating (something I intended to do immediately after delivery, if not for a couple paint issues on my list of things for Tesla to correct)... So 8 ½ months layer, and a half day of cleaning and polishing the car (to remove 8 ½ months of tiny swirls), it is now done!




































I purchased the TorqX polisher from Chemical Guys on the Memorial Day sale last weekend (previously had picked up their 36 and 38 polishes, and hand polish pads - which just prior to purchasing the TorqX I tried out and decided the cost was worth it). 
After a typical ONR wash and clay bar, I hit the areas where I could see micro swirls/scratches with their orange pad and the 36 polish. This primarily was around the door handles and above the top crease of the doors, the trunk lid and area around the rear license plate, the hood and the upper (nose) part of the front bumper. Then went over every area with the white pad and 38 polish. That took from around 9am - 6pm Saturday.
This morning, I did a light wipedown with a damp ONR towel, sprayed with a diluted alcohol solution and wiped off to remove any polish residue. went around looking for any remaining residue and repeated as needed. Applied the GlossCoat in sections, knocking down any high spots before going on to the next section. waiting an hour after the last panel was done and went back and applied OptiSeal. (when applied directly after the GlossCoat, the OptiSeal acts as a sacrificial layer. If there is any moisture on the surface before the GlossCoat is totally cured, the OptiSeal will protect it from getting water spots - and by the time the GlossCoat is totally cured, it will have shed off the OptiSeal - at least that is the theory by the Optimum guys).
I didn't really clean the wheels - besides just the exterior surfaces, so after the GlossCoat cure is done, and I next wash the car, I will do a little more to clean them up and apply coating to them as well (so don't judge the grime still on the barrel). but I did add Optimum's Tire Gel - which I like because it has a satin finish, and doesn't leave the tires looking greasy like some of the other tire dressings do.
Since I bought the GlossCoat, Optimum has since come out with HyperSeal, and recommending it be used to prolong the GlossCoat finish (instead of the OptiSeal), so may purchase it.

Thanks @GDN for letting me bounce polishing questions off of  (you've seen the pix of his black 3, right?! 😍)

(links provided for reference, I don't get anything for you clicking them  )


----------



## GDN

Wow. What a rewarding weekend. It looks awesome and I’m sure it’s even nicer in person. Great photos to show off the hard work!!


----------



## MelindaV

while out running around today, I stopped at a shopping center with a couple Volta chargers. This center is always crazy busy on weekends, so didn't expect to really find one of the two chargers open, but drove thru the parking lot anyway. 
One of the chargers had a Leaf plugged in, the other a F150 backed into the spot - bumper up against the "EV charging only" sign post. a row of parking away was a mall cop ticketing illegally parked cars along both curbs of a driveway (did I mention this mall is ridiculously busy?). I pulled up to the guy and rolled down my window. He had a nice greeting and asked what I needed. I asked if when he was done if he could tag the Ford pickup in the charging space. He looked over toward the charging spaces and looked back inside my car and said he would. Then continued to ask me all about the car. if it is as awesome as everyone says they are (the entire time cars backing up behind and in front of me, since both sides of the driveway had the illegally parked cars). I thanked him and said I should get out of the other cars way, and he just rolled his eyes at them and said they could wait. ha! (sounds like a mall cop, right?!)


----------



## Dr. J

MelindaV said:


> while out running around today, I stopped at a shopping center with a couple Volta chargers. This center is always crazy busy on weekends, so didn't expect to really find one of the two chargers open, but drove thru the parking lot anyway.
> One of the chargers had a Leaf plugged in, the other a F150 backed into the spot - bumper up against the "EV charging only" sign post. a row of parking away was a mall cop ticketing illegally parked cars along both curbs of a driveway (did I mention this mall is ridiculously busy?). I pulled up to the guy and rolled down my window. He had a nice greeting and asked what I needed. I asked if when he was done if he could tag the Ford pickup in the charging space. He looked over toward the charging spaces and looked back inside my car and said he would. Then continued to ask me all about the car. if it is as awesome as everyone says they are (the entire time cars backing up behind and in front of me, since both sides of the driveway had the illegally parked cars). I thanked him and said I should get out of the other cars way, and he just rolled his eyes at them and said they could wait. ha! (sounds like a mall cop, right?!)


...And then he got in the F150 and drove off. The end.


----------



## MelindaV

9,999 miles following tonights commute home


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1139726001468870662


----------



## MelindaV

my info thru June!

I didn't have any work road trips this last month, so my miles driven was quite a bit lower than the last few months (but have 2 in the next 2 weeks - so July should be a big mileage month!).

In June I had 773 miles bringing my total to 10,420 miles (in 277 days since delivery)
My Wh/mile averaged 239 and used 185 kWh for driving - this has been the first month since delivery with the average under the rated 240 Wh/m!
The average temperature was 71F (with at least a couple drives hitting 100F)


----------



## Deadbattery

MelindaV said:


> my info thru June!
> 
> I didn't have any work road trips this last month, so my miles driven was quite a bit lower than the last few months (but have 2 in the next 2 weeks - so July should be a big mileage month!).
> 
> In June I had 773 miles bringing my total to 10,420 miles (in 277 days since delivery)
> My Wh/mile averaged 239 and used 185 kWh for driving - this has been the first month since delivery with the average under the rated 240 Wh/m!
> The average temperature was 71F (with at least a couple drives hitting 100F)
> 
> View attachment 27271
> 
> 
> View attachment 27272


I like this a lot. I should track, are you using an app or just tracking mileage WH/MI and avg temp once a month?

Forgive me if you have answered this before


----------



## MelindaV

Deadbattery said:


> I like this a lot. I should track, are you using an app or just tracking mileage WH/MI and avg temp once a month?
> 
> Forgive me if you have answered this before


I am setting one of the trip gauges to the current month, then get the average temp from Teslafi. I probably should go back to the beginning and add the actual charge kWh added to account for vampire/sentry/cohp usage as well, but that hadn't occurred to me when I first started (but available in Teslafi). Then I have a basic spreadsheet in Numbers (apple's excel) that creates the graphs.


----------



## Deadbattery

MelindaV said:


> I am setting one of the trip gauges to the current month, then get the average temp from Teslafi. I probably should go back to the beginning and add the actual charge kWh added to account for vampire/sentry/cohp usage as well, but that hadn't occurred to me when I first started (but available in Teslafi). Then I have a basic spreadsheet in Numbers (apple's excel) that creates the graphs.


It is the first. so Spreadsheet started!

I am at 32,000 miles today so will lose a little history but a year from now will look cool. (lifetime is 229kwh, going into winter it was 210, winter! makes a big difference)


----------



## MelindaV

this weekend, I had my windows tinted, so of course stopped later that day to take a couple pix


----------



## MelindaV

I work for an architecture firm and spend much of my time on the phone with general contractors. Since last fall I've been working on a project on the other side of the state. Yesterday I get a call from the contractor and after we went over his question, he said "you know, yesterday I was driving across town following a car like yours. And at every light, I could not believe how fast that thing took off! I've never seen anything like it. I've owned some fast cars, but my god! (giggle giggle)". "I've always thought those cars look nice, but who wants to not have a gas engine?! but MY GOD! that thing was ridiculous! and have you seen that roadster they are going to make? MY GOD!". 
I asked him if he was going to be on-site when Im there next week, and offered to take him on a ride. he said he would love that (giggles some more uncontrollably). this is from a 60 year old truck guy.


----------



## Lady Sprite Blue

Yeah, I’ve given a few of those rides. Accelerate once per customer and that’s all that's needed. 🙃


----------



## MelindaV

End of the month info for July!

total odometer miles are up to 11,623 (308 days since delivery)

Average temperature: 74
July miles: 1,204
average July Wh/mile: 230

Charging kWh added: 330.6 (277.92 at home, 52.68 supercharging)
Total charging cost: $22.01 (2 supercharging stops used referral program free credits)

Driving kWh: 277kWh ($17.81)
Vampire drain: 53.06kWh ($4.20)

based on my prior car, and the current price at the gas station I previously went to, this month would have cost me $198.33. a difference of $176.32!

looking at my total charing costs for the 11,623 miles, I've had $270.72 (3220kWh) at home and $102.56 (554kWh including the free credits) supercharging and $0 for L2/Destination charging (90kWh) for a total of $373.28. that comes out to just over 3 cents per mile!


----------



## MelindaV

I had a work day-trip today of about 190 miles each way. 
On the way south, I counted 7 Tesla car carriers headed north (to Portland, Seattle, Bellevue, BC, Alberta) over about 3 ½ hours. so if all things equal, there is a truck headed for the NW from Fremont every 30 minutes 

My two supercharging stops both started with more than 500miles/hour charge rates at about 133kW (outbound with the battery starting around 50%, return around 25%).

while at my destination, I took the guy I mentioned in post#190 above out for a ride.
went the couple miles to the freeway, then down the freeway to the next exit and back (about a 20 minute drive). Accelerated onto the freeway, from about 35MPH then at the exit we turned around at, there was an empty access road that we did a quick 0-60 before getting back to the freeway onramp. Showed him TACC and lane keeping, when we got back, showed him some of the games. talked about the maintenance (or lack there of), battery life, where the battery is, where the motors are, software updates, etc, etc. Multiple times he said "I need to get one of these", "when's the pick-up coming out?" "I really like this interior", etc, etc  He also appreciated the things like the simplicity of the door handles inside and out, the air vent system, the lack of cluttered up dash/console buttons/knobs/levers and really liked the screen.


----------



## Dr. J

MelindaV said:


> I had a work day-trip today of about 190 miles each way.
> On the way south, I counted 7 Tesla car carriers headed north (to Portland, Seattle, Bellevue, BC, Alberta) over about 3 ½ hours. so if all things equal, there is a truck headed for the NW from Fremont every 30 minutes
> 
> My two supercharging stops both started with more than 500miles/hour charge rates at about 133kW (outbound with the battery starting around 50%, return around 25%).
> 
> while at my destination, I took the guy I mentioned in post#190 above out for a ride.
> went the couple miles to the freeway, then down the freeway to the next exit and back (about a 20 minute drive). Accelerated onto the freeway, from about 35MPH then at the exit we turned around at, there was an empty access road that we did a quick 0-60 before getting back to the freeway onramp. Showed him TACC and lane keeping, when we got back, showed him some of the games. talked about the maintenance (or lack there of), battery life, where the battery is, where the motors are, software updates, etc, etc. Multiple times he said "I need to get one of these", "when's the pick-up coming out?" "I really like this interior", etc, etc  He also appreciated the things like the simplicity of the door handles inside and out, the air vent system, the lack of cluttered up dash/console buttons/knobs/levers and really liked the screen.


"....and gave him my referral code." There. FTFY.


----------



## Lady Sprite Blue

MelindaV, what’s your commission rate?


----------



## MelindaV

I forgot to add to my story from taking the contractor for a ride tuesday, when we got back and standing outside the car, he commented how precise and perfect all the panel gaps are :hearteyes:
I told him uneven panel gaps are one of the things people think is typical of Tesla, and he shook his head and said, 'well they all look perfect on this one!".


----------



## gary in NY

MelindaV said:


> this weekend, I had my windows tinted, so of course stopped later that day to take a couple pix
> 
> View attachment 27292


The shine on your car is remarkable. I didn't read your entire thread, but have you done a paint correction/PPF/ceramic coating? My car has swirls in the paint when the sun hits it just right. That's also when you can see the matalic flakes in the paint. Obsidian Black Metallic is such a nice color; too bad it has been discontinued. I want that same color for my Model Y.


----------



## MelindaV

gary in NY said:


> The shine on your car is remarkable. I didn't read your entire thread, but have you done a paint correction/PPF/ceramic coating? My car has swirls in the paint when the sun hits it just right. That's also when you can see the matalic flakes in the paint. Obsidian Black Metallic is such a nice color; too bad it has been discontinued. I want that same color for my Model Y.


I polished it earlier this year and applied Opti-coat (myself). I think that was before this pix, not positive - could have been after this. but the pearl in the red topcoat really makes the red glow, even when it is dusty and hasn't been washed in weeks


----------



## MelindaV

my totals for August 2019....

Odometer: 13,154
August Miles: 1,531

852 miles were from 3 day trips, averaging 52MPH (to Seattle, Roseburg & Stevenson, WA)
678 miles were commuting and around town, averaging 22MPH

The August temperatures during my drives ranged from a low of 61F to a high of 99F

Home charging: (29 charges) 328kWh $26.00
J1772 charging: (1 charge) 19kWh - $5.49 (Chargepoint in Seattle)
Supercharging: (3 charges) 91kWh - $0 (free Referral credits!)
totaling 438kWh added to the battery for $31.49

Drives used: 376kWh ~$27.03
Vampire drain: 61kWh ~ $4.46,

Efficiency: 246Wh/mile

Comparing to my prior car's MPG and my local gas prices, it would have cost $248.00 for the same distance (taking into account both the slow in town driving and the road trip freeway speeds).


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## MelindaV

Car hit 1 year last week, and here are its September numbers!

exactly 1500 miles for the month (780 of those were work road trip miles - the rest local commuting miles)
Odometer total = 14,654 miles
Average 241 Wh/mile and used 362 kWh

The weather has been crazy with a high of 89F on the 12th, and yesterday had a low of 44F (temps taken during drives). So a 45F swing in 2ish weeks.

This month should have some fun numbers... the plan is I'll be driving down to central California for work that in total should be about 1500 miles for the weekend.


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## MelindaV

I had a quick 1,444 mile work road trip the end of the week, and here's the summary of it...

Left early Thursday morning and returned last Saturday night.
Total driving time was 26 hrs 13 minutes over the 3 days (just over 40% of the time I was away from home).
1st day was just over 9 ½ hrs driving and all freeway
2nd day was just over 6 hrs driving and most all rural highways
3rd day was 10 ½ hours driving all freeways

Stopped at 10 superchargers (twitter pix from each below) for 4 hours 22 minutes
Used one L2 (free!) 30amp charger near my destination (an adjacent hospital) for 4 hrs 30 minutes on the 2nd day
added 335.5kWh (310.38kWh at Superchargers / 25.12kWh at the L2)
My previous referral award supercharger credits ended during the second stop, with the balance costing $72.07

With the rolling PG&E outages, I expected to run into some areas without power, so charged at each stop within California with enough to get to an alternate location, but fortunately didn't need to charge my route because of any outages. My destination for Friday had been dark all day Wednesday & Thursday, and with no Supercharger options between it and Sacramento anyway, charged to 100% before leaving Sac Friday morning. Luckily, the power was back on in that town, and used a Chargepoint L2 free charger at hospital adjacent to my destination to get back to 90% for the return back toward I-5.
Overall, even with the PG&E concerns, this was a really easy trip! (just wish the SC credits stretched a little further).

Free referral credits at Springfield, OR

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1182302808176910341
$0.81 at Grands Pass, OR

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1182343209764081665
$8.96 at Mt Shasta, CA

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1182380887687626752
$8.12 at Corning, CA

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1182468144503250944
$12.47 at Sacramento, CA

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1182673660970037248
(no pix from the L2 charger)

(rest of twitter pix in next post)...


----------



## MelindaV

$3.92 at Sacramento (Arden Way), CA

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1183055273281245184
$14.26 at Chico, CA

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1183087578586595328
$8.68 at Mt Shasta, CA

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1183138564504084480
$9.72 at Grants Pass, OR

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1183176880683270145
$5.13 at Springfield, OR

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1183221872042762240


----------



## MelindaV

October '19 was a pretty big month for my car! went on a quick road trip for work and had more miles this month than any other.

to start with the colorful charts:

















Total miles for the month were 2,231 and odometer is now at 16,885 miles

I charged a total of 29 times pulling 330.34kWh* from the grid - adding 305.64kWh* to the battery.
10 of these were at Superchargers. My allot of free referral supercharging credits ended with the 1st stop of the work road trip), (1) J1772 and the rest were in my garage. 
*numbers based on the data Teslafi provides (there was at least one partial charge at home that didn't get fully recorded to Teslafi due to a cellular network outage - so there is some slop in there)

here's a snapshot of what the work trip looked like








(I mentioned 10 Supercharger stops - and you can see this adds up to 11 - one I moved stalls so it shows as 2.
Also, I didn't stay at 3 different hotels Friday night - but who'd think at 9pm on a Friday in a small sized city with a million motels/hotels, everything would be sold out, and you couldn't just drive up to the first one or three and get a room?!)

I was gone from home for about 63 hours and the car was moving 26 hours 15 minutes of that.

Initially, part of my 'plan' for volunteering to drive for this work trip (besides I needed to get to a town that was still a minimum 2 hour drive from the closest airport and had business in another city along the route) was to see if I could get a Fremont factory tour and meet up with a couple of my friends from a previous car club that in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, tours are only Monday - Friday, so that didn't work out for this trip, but it was still a fun little adventure vs flying and being gone from home just as long.

As Ive mentioned many times here before, most of my driving is pretty slow stop and go freeway driving (OMG last night I left work and it took a full hour to get 2 miles!), so my tires are in quite good condition still. Tread across all 4 measures between 7/32 and 8/32. (19" Conti on the Sport wheels).


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## MelindaV

and lastly for this month's update, this little old man that I've thought was pretty much invincible is apparently not. so while he is feeling likely as good as he is going to, did a #FrunkPuppy pix this morning 🐶

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1190271268706086913


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## MelindaV

I’ve been taking my dog into the vet each Saturday for a few weeks and today while waiting for him, the receptionist mentioned she had just came back from Seattle and on the drive was next “to one of those self driving cars” with the ‘driver’ reading a book. She asked me and the other owner waiting if we’d seen any. I pointed out to my car. She jumped up and asked if she could go look at it. I told her of course and unlocked it. 
When she came back in she asked “what is the thing on the dash” I told her it was the dash  and offered to take her for a drive one of my visits (which she proceeded to look up when my next visits were scheduled for ) 
Then explained about AP and the guy reading is an ass.


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## MelindaV

for the last 5 or 6 years, each spring my sister and I have gone down to Phoenix and Las Vegas for spring training baseball and hockey (Vegas just in the last couple years) for about a week. 
Last year we rented a Model 3 thru Turo for the time in Arizona and besides for staying on the NW side of Phoenix where charging is still pretty sparse, it worked out great! (kinda looks like Peoria/Glendale have an EV repellant or something)









This year, I'm considering driving down with my dogs in the car and my sister will fly. Route would look something like this:


























(added Williams as a stop as that Supercharger should be open by March - everything but the pedestals are in, including the transformer). I also added Kettleman as a stop, because Kettleman  and Buckeye charging back up to 95% to last us the first couple days there.

A Better Route Planner gives the overall drive time about 2 hours longer than GoogleMaps, so anticipate with any extra stops with the pups, the overall time from ABRP likely is pretty close to what I'd get.

For those of you that travel between CA and AZ, any suggestions on swapping these stops for other area superchargers? Ones that can be problematic? or others that are great ones to stop at and shouldn't be passed up? 
Also Both ABRP and Google suggest staying on I-5 and not turning east until down in LA, with the route turning at Bakersfield taking an hour longer. I assume this will greatly vary based on time of day. Would it be better to just plan on bypassing LA all together? (otherwise, I can plan a stop at my uncle's in Simi Valley, adding about 45minutes RT)


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## AEDennis

@MelindaV I haven't been to Arizona since I started driving Tesla, but hear that Quartzite is a potential logjam. Especially during popular/holiday weekends. Not sure if Spring Training is one for this though.


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## MelindaV

AEDennis said:


> @MelindaV I haven't been to Arizona since I started driving Tesla, but here that Quartzite is a potential logjam. Especially during popular/holiday weekends. Not sure if Spring Training is one for this though.


since posting my route, two new V3 Superchargers have opened! Red Bluff, CA (19 miles from Corning, CA) and Ehrenberg, AZ (18 miles from Quartzite)! on my california trip a few weeks ago, Corning was the only SC I ran into issues at, so happy to see both of these have been added!
and based on the Ehrenberg SC thread on TMC, looks like Quartzite should have a V3 buildout soon too!


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## MelindaV

here's my car's info thru November

Drove 1,588 miles with odometer now at 18,473
For the month of November, the Wh/m was 264 (lifetime 261) using a total of 419kWh.
During the November drives, the outside temperature ranged from 31F to 71F, averaging 49F.

I had 2 day work trips, of about 350 & 400 miles round trip and included supercharger fees of $24.30 for 90kWh and one free L2 charger for 8kWh, the rest of my charging was at home at just under 8¢/kWh - so ~$50.00. 
Not bad, considering my previous car could go about 325 miles on $50 gas!


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## tesla_lightning

Nice write up, thanks for sharing. I too have the Red model with 19" inch sport wheels, it does turn heads when you drive by.

I too started to capture my experience with the new Tesla Model 3, which can be found here: http://theteslaexperience.com

*@MelindaV What do you use to create those nice charts and graph?*


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## MelindaV

Current info:

December miles: 1,023 
December Wh/m: 293 Wh/mile 
December kWh used: 300 kWh 
Average Temperature: 45F
Time Spent Driving: 41 hours, 7 minutes
Average Speed: 24.8MPH
Charging kWh added: 385.45 kWh 
Total Charging Cost: $30.77 (all at home)
Driving Cost: $23.95
Preconditioning/Sentry Cost: $6.82

Lifetime miles: 19,296
Lifetime Wh/m: 263
Lifetime kWh used: 5,129


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## Mike

MelindaV said:


> December miles: 1,023
> December Wh/m: 293 Wh/mile
> December kWh used: 300 kWh
> Average Temperature: 45F
> Time Spent Driving: 41 hours, 7 minutes
> Average Speed: 24.8MPH
> Charging kWh added: 385.45 kWh


@MelindaV I may have asked this already in the past:

The 300 kWh used, is that what the car odometer said?

And the 385.45 kWh, is that what was pulled from the grid to travel the 1,023 miles?

Thanks.


----------



## MelindaV

Mike said:


> @MelindaV I may have asked this already in the past:
> 
> The 300 kWh used, is that what the car odometer said?
> 
> And the 385.45 kWh, is that what was pulled from the grid to travel the 1,023 miles?
> 
> Thanks.


correct. the Trip Card for December (I reset it each month) listed the 300kWh (that only registers the drives and not vampire drain). Teslafi (via the Tesla API) lists the charge added at 385.45 kWh, so for the drives plus any vampire losses. There likely is some amount of additional loss between the panel and the charge port, but to me, not significant enough to worry about.


----------



## Mike

MelindaV said:


> correct. the Trip Card for December (I reset it each month) listed the 300kWh (that only registers the drives and not vampire drain). Teslafi (via the Tesla API) lists the charge added at 385.45 kWh, so for the drives plus any vampire losses. There likely is some amount of additional loss between the panel and the charge port, but to me, not significant enough to worry about.


Excellent, thanks.

I know my winter (I call it "overhead") vampire losses average out to about 33%.

Yours for December are 28.5%, so I guess I'm in the same ball park.


----------



## MelindaV

Mike said:


> Excellent, thanks.
> 
> I know my winter (I call it "overhead") vampire losses average out to about 33%.
> 
> Yours for December are 28.5%, so I guess I'm in the same ball park.


and looking back at July, 16%. if I remember when I get home tonight, I'll take a look at what it was prior to Sentry mode coming online, since that is probably my biggest non-heat / non-driving related drain.

ETA: I can't recall exactly when Sentry came on line, but looking back at December 2018, my vampire/overhead loss was 18% - so looking at that, I would expect must of the difference would be in the pre-heating that wasn't going on last year but was this year, more than Sentry (that I think was some time in Dec'18)


----------



## MelindaV

While procrastinating doing actual work one day last week, I added up the work miles I had on expense reports for 2019. Over about 25 local drives (most all sub 10 miles), 8 day trips and one 3-day trip I had 4,768 miles driven for work. About 31% of my total miles (15,389) driven! 
if you take commuting & work trips combined, the total is 12,090 miles or 78.5% of my 2019 miles.

goal for 2020 is to have at least as many miles for non-work drives as miles on work expense reports!


----------



## MelindaV

My car just passed 20,000 miles, so scheduled a service appointment to address a couple things before a big road trip coming up. (new cabin air filter, rotate tires, check a speaker that drops out, check the front wheel/suspension that clunks on 100% turns, etc)
When scheduling on the app, I checked the "range" option as I had a ticket open last summer for a sudden range drop, that never has been addressed or corrected with SW updates.

I posted on twitter what my battery is looking like.

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1221477625429839872


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## AEDennis

Thanks for the update @MelindaV


----------



## MelindaV

I still am needing to do my January 2020 update, but have been pretty busy lately, so haven't had a chance to summarize the month yet...
BUT...

today I got cones, stop lights/signs & new pavement markings!! came at the price of my historical data 🥵 (bye bye lifetime trip card) and an uncurbed wheel (Damn Ptld Tesla, I know your lot is tight, but WTF?!).

a couple posts from the day

waiting for the door to open

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225811298459373568
on the wrong side of the tracks getting back to the office, shown on the screen as a typical traffic light

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225913290036936704
(hey! for anyone in Inner SE Ptld, you know what a pain these trains can be - this one I sat at for a full 20 minutes!. There is a website for it now! isatrainblocking11th.com - kinda along the same lines as isitsnowinginpdx.com).

real-time HOV lane markings being picked up by the camera(s)

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225978131476926465
and when looking at the invoice after getting home, saw their tire rotation recommendation was 'no', but was charged for it, I went out the the garage to see if the one small scuff I had was on the same corner... It wasn't, but along side it was this new shiny scuff 🤯

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225979186604457987


----------



## Mike

MelindaV said:


> I still am needing to do my January 2020 update, but have been pretty busy lately, so haven't had a chance to summarize the month yet...
> BUT...
> 
> today I got cones, stop lights/signs & new pavement markings!! came at the price of my historical data 🥵 (bye bye lifetime trip card) and an uncurbed wheel (Damn Ptld Tesla, I know your lot is tight, but WTF?!).
> 
> a couple posts from the day
> 
> waiting for the door to open
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225811298459373568
> on the wrong side of the tracks getting back to the office, shown on the screen as a typical traffic light
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225913290036936704
> (hey! for anyone in Inner SE Ptld, you know what a pain these trains can be - this one I sat at for a full 20 minutes!. There is a website for it now! isatrainblocking11th.com - kinda along the same lines as isitsnowinginpdx.com).
> 
> real-time HOV lane markings being picked up by the camera(s)
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225978131476926465
> and when looking at the invoice after getting home, saw their tire rotation recommendation was 'no', but was charged for it, I went out the the garage to see if the one small scuff I had was on the same corner... It wasn't, but along side it was this new shiny scuff 🤯
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1225979186604457987


I'd call them.

It sucks if one has to make a walk around video record of their vehicle at time of drop off...

Reminds me of when I helped my brother return an Infinity (sedan) after his lease was over (over 12 years ago)...we spent 90 minutes taking hi res pictures of every part of that car in -10c wx...but was worth it later in the process when claims were made about excess damage, etc.


----------



## MelindaV

Posting while laying in the back of the car. 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MYDXD43/?tag=model3ownersc-20


----------



## MelindaV

Hey @[email protected] - best approach to removing paint (latex presumably) splatters, blobs and stringy bits?
our always in demand graffiti removal crew does not consider cars being within their drip/splatter area :rage: and after noticing at lunch the wall was re-painted (2' from my front bumper) and have at least a dozen paint spots on the hood & bumper. testing out a couple spots, they seem to come up with a little spit and a fingernail (so assume ONR tonight will do the trick), but figured I'd check in before proceeding.


----------



## RichEV

MelindaV said:


> View attachment 32237
> 
> Posting while laying in the back of the car.
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MYDXD43/?tag=model3ownersc-20


Going to try camping on your spring training trip?


----------



## MelindaV

RichEV said:


> Going to try camping on your spring training trip?


THAT is my plan. I think. 

Im taking my dog, who on a typical day sleeps about 22hrs, so will be interesting to see how he does for the drive down and back.


----------



## [email protected]

MelindaV said:


> Hey @[email protected] - best approach to removing paint (latex presumably) splatters, blobs and stringy bits?
> our always in demand graffiti removal crew does not consider cars being within their drip/splatter area :rage: and after noticing at lunch the wall was re-painted (2' from my front bumper) and have at least a dozen paint spots on the hood & bumper. testing out a couple spots, they seem to come up with a little spit and a fingernail (so assume ONR tonight will do the trick), but figured I'd check in before proceeding.
> View attachment 32328


Ah crap!
Sorry this happened Melinda.
Couple of things...
To get the attention of the painting crew, mention that you'll be contacting your insurance company to make a claim on this. They are ABSOLUTELY at fault and a call from an insurance company will get their boss' attention. You may not need or want to make an actual claim, but they're at fault, period. I deal with this sort of thing almost weekly (and more frequently during summer painting months) with painters and insurance companies... the painters are ALWAYS at fault.

A fingernail can remove almost anything from your paint, but that doesn't mean that it will come off easily using professional, safe methods on your car. In your case it sounds like it's not too bad since you're addressing it quickly, and it's paint splatter from a roller not overspray from a sprayer or deck stain. If the ONR wash didn't remove it (and assuming you don't want to fingernail every single speck), just bring it by my shop and I can show you the safest methods for DIY. It's hard to flatly suggest a method for this due to so many variables, including your comfort level with detailing tools like a clay bar, clay towel, lacquer thinner, other paint solvents, etc. However if you _are_ comfortable using clay bar or towel then that is the next method I recommend.


----------



## MelindaV

for any west coast people interested in meeting up, here's my expected route/schedule starting this Wednesday March 11th-13 (presuming all goes as scheduled) and returning Thursday March 19-21st. I likely will add posts to twitter along the way if you want to follow along

I'll be with my dog, so tried to keep each leg around 90 minutes where Superchargers allow (not possible passing thru Oregon), plus bonus of not needing to sit at a supercharger to get the battery back up to 80 or 90%, but can stop charging around 50-70% instead. I left some of the California legs between chargers closer to 2 hours to 2 ½ hours, knowing there will be some other options along the route if needing to get out of the car earlier. If a charge stop was less than 10 minutes, added on a few minutes to bring it up to at least 15/20 minutes & added a few mid day longer stops to get out and move around, plus overnight stops. so obviously, not attempting to get there in the shortest possible time, but still keep most of the stops to a minimum for charging & rest-stopping.

There is still snow on the ground around the Oregon/California border, and snow expected across much of Oregon shortly after I leave, so here's hoping it stays off the road while I'm driving thru there! the traffic cam at Siskiyou Pass currently looks like this:








:fearscream: (I don't have that Canadian gene like @TrevP / @Mad Hungarian to tolerate driving in snow)

March 11-13:
Portland, OR to Williams, CA Wednesday
Williams, CA to Ehrenburg, AZ Thursday & Ehrenburg, AZ to Phoenix Friday









return looks similar for Thursday March 19-21st.
Thursday Phoenix, AZ to Ehrenburg, AZ & Friday Ehrenburg, AZ to Williams, CA (with a couple hour stop in Concord to meet up w some friends for dinner)
Friday Williams, CA to Portland, OR


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## MelindaV

added this accessory this weekend

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1246811023203393536


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## MelindaV

My car rarely has been out of the garage in the last three months, but did have to go to a location across town for work today and odometer currently is sitting at 25,000!







also have an appointment to have the referral wheels installed later this morning to celebrate the mileage birthday!


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## MelindaV

Post install dash









and pix while still sitting a Tesla.









and at the stop to pickup lunch on the way home


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## Maevra

MelindaV said:


> added this accessory this weekend
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1246811023203393536


Gaah so cute Melinda! Reminds me of our pup in one of the first Model 3 frunkpuppy photos! (Don't mind me I came back here mostly for the nostalgia and to see/connect with a lot of the original M3OC crew from way back when.)


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## SoFlaModel3

Maevra said:


> Gaah so cute Melinda! Reminds me of our pup in one of the first Model 3 frunkpuppy photos! (Don't mind me I came back here mostly for the nostalgia and to see/connect with a lot of the original M3OC crew from way back when.)


We have missed you!


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