MY BLUE TESLA

Odometer: 162,797.

What an amazing journey it's been so far. Big Blue was the most expensive purchase I've ever made (outside of my home) and also one of the most riskiest considering the many, many challenges Tesla faced as a company, the onslaught of TSLA short selling, the wild swings of the stock, the boldness of some of the technological efforts (Autopilot, FSD, Cybertruck, energy storage, robotics, AI), the political challenges, and totally upending the business-to-consumer selling model. Transforming a small company with radical new ideas in a hostile market into a world-leading innovator is a massive test of endurance that both employees and investors have had to endure.

And ten years later, we're still here.

Neither Tesla's hardware build quality or software releases are perfect and undergo constant refinement, but fast-moving companies often take that risk while estimating/balancing against what the market will tolerate. Compared to the vehicles Tesla currently produces, my car is a yesteryear legacy, outgunned in almost every measurable technical metric.

But Big Blue still drives like Day One. The only deterioration (aside from charging capacity) is the charging speed, which I suspect is due to a combination of the aging battery pack's condition as well as intentional software throttling likely to help preserve pack longevity, or maybe also to discourage frequent Superchargers like myself.

While I can charge at home via the 120V setup, dealing with the HOA and my particular physical garage arrangement to get proper L2 charging in place was more hassle than it was worth. I fallback on using free Supercharging multiple times a week. It was part of the deal when I originally signed up for this long trip. At the ten-year mark, my extended mission now is to see how long I can keep the car going.

Battery degradation has slowed considerably it seems. The capacity is still just 11% down from when it left the factory with 9 miles on the odometer.

My annual DMV registration and insurance renewals are relatively low, and any maintenance is limited to tire changes and maybe eventually the 12V battery, although the driver's side headlight has become problematic lately, possibly due to ballast corrosion which I've read is a common problem with the older Model S.

Believe it or not, I'm constantly set to Chill Mode these days and almost never miss the accelerator stomp. I just look forward to a smooth ride. Sudden thrusts forward when jamming the pedal was fun for a while, but it has worn away into novelty.

The time spent taking interior trim apart and adding cut-to-shape (closed cell) foam pieces in specific areas to dampen rattles significantly improved quality of life and ride (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5). The car feels almost restored to brand new, and considering I'm running on MCU2 probably even better than Day One.

It was a lot of careful, focused work but it has paid off. It almost feels like the car I took delivery of back in 2014.

In The Beginning...

Perhaps it's time to reminisce a bit. The first week of ownership was magical ... until the 12V battery failure at 173 miles on the odometer.

Tesla Roadside Assistance was put to the test. This ultimately required a flatbed tow from the side of the 101 North freeway to the Sunnyvale Service Center and led to my first service experience. I was treated very well for my troubles and got a Model S loaner (without a sunroof).

Road Trips

I dared to venture my first road trip in 2015 to test the Supercharger network which had a miniscule footprint compared to today and the outcome was overall a pleasant surprise. Going from the San Francisco Bay Area to Las Vegas to San Diego and then back home was achieved with no hiccups, although range anxiety was certainly top of mind due to how untested it all was. Tesla's investment into their charging network was fundamental to their success and overall pain-free customer experience. If the Supercharger network had not existed, it's possible I may have passed on considering the Model S to begin with.

In another much longer 2.4-week road trip in 2019 (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5) I covered 4,982 miles and took advantage of the expanded Supercharger network with zero issues.

I've taken many other relatively short(er) road trips up and down California and to Las Vegas, so Big Blue has seen its share of the open road:

Service Visits

Aside from two separate motor replacements due to the milling sound, there have been very little in terms of major issues. The door handle problems were annoying, but not enough to toss the car off a cliff. I did a lookback assessment of various service visits or requests back in 2022 and there hasn't been much activity on that topic in quite some time.

I realize that Tesla Service has a ton of mixed reviews with many cheering their experience and others giving negative ratings. My personal contacts with Tesla Service have been generally very positive, but perhaps there's some home base bias as almost all of my issues were resolved with the Service Center right next to the Fremont factory.

Managing service concerns through the app took a few iterations for Tesla to get right, but overall I'm fine with it.

The recent headlight thing is starting to bug me a bit...

Long gone are the days when you could get an old Tesla Roadster as a loaner while your Model S had its annual service which was a thing back then.

Automation Overlords

Autopilot is still a thing today (and still in beta!), although it's been overshadowed by FSD. In the original 2015 update it was a long-awaited feature that finally came to life with varying degrees of success and issues but the evolution happened through much trial and error. I've had the privilege to experience the revolution first hand.

Software updates, somewhat surprisingly, are still a thing for this old car. I'm pretty sure if I were still on MCU1 that it would be non-existent or at the very least a rare occasion. That MCU2 upgrade was totally worth it. Not that the updates these days really add any noticeable value except "minor fixes and improvements."

Updates downloaded in 2024 so far for a decade-old car:

So speaking of software, have you ever wondered what the car is doing on the Internet while you're asleep, driving, or parked as you sit in the local diner having a late dinner? A few years ago I decided to find out by looking at the network traffic generated through my home Wi-Fi network (I run a dedicated SSID just for the car) and the results were a bit eye-opening.

In parsing through the network capture metadata, I was able to get a sense of the network activity generated based on the car's software version installed at the time:

And this is with me hardly doing anything with the car. I almost never touch the games, watch YouTube, or use the built-in web browser.

Miscellaneous

In the last few months, I've started entertaining the idea of replacing the non-premium factory speakers with ones from Light Harmonic. Even after all these years this has never been a priority, but as I've chipped away at the car's current imperfections, the audio system is beginning to stand out as an area for improvement. When I originally ordered the car I intentionally dismissed the premium audio option as the car's total price was already getting prohibitively expensive. I'm okay with that choice.

One "functional" damage that I noticed in the last year was a split along one of the rear diffuser fins. Probably happened while reversing onto a concrete parking block. I just happened to notice one day how a small strip of rubber-plastic was was sheered off with the tail end of it dragging along the pavement. Not exactly a great look, in my opinion. Even though I obsess over detailing the car and attempt to preserve factory clear coat to the grave and end of humanity, a part of me doesn't care as much about the underbody. I figured I could super glue it or just apply duct tape.

So I went with duct tape. I had to move along in life. No, I'm not proud of this. No, I also don't care right now.

After ten years, some battle scars are to be expected.

A lingering door handle issue is on the driver's side front where the chrome cover has loosened a bit from the base that it's screwed onto. When I close the door it jiggles a bit, giving off cheap-car vibes. This will require removal of the door handle unit from inside. Having gone through that process before, I'm not a huge fan of stepping through the exercise again, although I also don't want to pay Tesla Service to drop by just to tighten a couple of screws.

Final Thoughts and The Future

If I had to do it all over again ... I'd pretty much repeat the same decisions. Except I'd skip the leather seat option.

Financially speaking, a car is almost never a good investment. However in looking back and what I've gotten out of it, including Autopilot's evolution, cross-country charging on road trips, and the privilege of being at the leading edge of the modern consumer vehicle experience, it's been worth it as an emotional investment compared to the financial opportunity cost. I'm hardly impressed by traditional luxury-oriented offerings that emphasize the creature comforts of massage chairs, heritage, and fit-and-finish rather than an aspiring insight into the future and other forward-looking innovation. I see no current offering from any other manufacturer that's compelling.

I wish the car felt "smaller" and more nimble like a Model 3, and I wish the build quality was better. And I certainly wish the damn thing charged faster like the newer Teslas and not like desperately sipping a thick milkshake through a thin straw. Alas, the price of progress...

And one day I will put my Turbines back on.

There are two sets of these things sitting in my garage but the freeway repavement around here hasn't finished up yet.

In just over a week, Tesla will (finally) host its Robotaxi reveal event, exactly ten years to the day when Elon stood up on stage and announced Dual Motor and Autopilot. I'm sure just like Autopilot or FSD, promises will be made, minimally kept on some subtle nuances which their marketing will proclaim victory on, and in about seven years out Elon will finally declare it's ready for prime time. It'll all be exciting nonetheless, and I'm sure it'll have up and down momentums paralleling Bitcoin.

What I'm really waiting on are next-gen Cybertrucks that come equipped with modular weapons systems that can be used on the battlefield. I'd think this would be a natural fit for a production line in Texas. Be brave, Elon. Make that happen and I'll stand in the order queue. Add some rocket launchers in the back too. You're familiar with rockets, right, Elon?

In the meantime, let's see if in five or ten years I'll still be rolling grandpa Big Blue, maybe even on the original battery pack and still taking advantage of Free Lifetime Supercharging like a cheapskate trying to extract that last dollar of value from an emotional purchase made long, long ago.