In late September 2021, I finally ordered the Tesla Model Y Long Range that I've been wanting for years.  On June 2, 2022 I took delivery of the car. (Yes, it took that long to get it).  Here are my impressions after almost 6 months with it.

Delivery

There's very little you have to do to take delivery of a Tesla.  Nearly everything is done online through their Tesla app.  The only thing I really had to do was show up, pay them, and then drive off.  That said, it was a simple buying experience, but by no means a perfect delivery.  

I had my brother give me a ride to the Tesla location to pick up the car.  I had decided to keep my old car for the time being, so I didn't have a car to trade, so I couldn't just drive in with one car and drive off with another.  When I arrived, my car was sitting in the parking lot, all washed and ready to go with my name on it.  

Unfortunately the car was locked.  I asked to inspect the inside of the car before I took delivery and they outright refused.  They basically said, take it or leave it.  This made me angry.  It was basically, "F*ck you.  Take delivery now or we'll give it to someone else.  We don't care."  I was NOT happy with this, but then buying a car is NEVER a fun process, so I took delivery.  The car has a warranty anyway, so anything that is wrong can be fixed under warranty.  They remotely unlocked the car, assigned it to my Tesla app and that was it.  

I walked out and got in the car.  It already had a new license plate installed, complete with Tesla license plate frame.  On the dash was all the paper work and the two keycards for the car.  The Tesla uses NFC cards as the 'keys' and not regular car keys.  You then use these keys to pair your Tesla app on your phone to the car.  Once you do this, you no longer need the keys to get in or out.  You just walk up to the car, it recognizes your phone and unlocks for you.  Of course you should always keep one of those cards in your wallet in case there are issues with the Tesla app unlocking the car (which I have had since).

Everything in the car looked good barring a few very minor details.  Tesla gives you 100 miles to report any issues with the car on delivery.  My brother got in his car and left and I drove off the lot.  The camera system in the Tesla needs calibrating when you first get it, so all the features don't work right away.  This calibration usually requires around 20 miles of driving.  Since it was a good 20 miles from the Tesla location to my home, that was done on the drive home.  I drove it VERY carefully home.

So far so good.  Things would go downhill soon though, through no fault of Tesla...

Life with a Tesla Part 2 - The Accident