Ordering a Model X
Ordering a Model X ================== After much hemming and hawing, we placed our order today. While the car seats we expected to use did not fit, we figured if we were spending so much on a car, it was worth a few hundred dollars to order new car seats. These had arrived over the last couple of days, so we through them in the trunk and drove to the larger stand-alone showroom. Salespeople at the mall where we went previously had suggested trying the five-seat option, but the only vehicle they had for demonstration was the six-seat model along with a Model S.
Finding Seats that Fit ---------------------- Infant carriers are wide, as are car seats generally, so fitting three across even the notably wide Model X was not ideal. I envisioned our children older, the flailing of arms and he punched me screams that such tightly packed children would inevitably cause (of course, this is the future that our current famly car faces). The five and seven seat versions were a little cheaper, as Tesla had switched from an captain's chair set-up (still found in the six seater) to a bench middle-row for the five and seven seat configurations (the latter sharing a rear fold-down bench with the seven-seater).
Through a little bit of adjustment and possible some self-delusion about practicality of driving positions, we were able to get a Cybex Aton infant carrier in the third row, behind a Graco Expand-2-fit rear facing in the middle. This left the driver seat in a plausible driving position, and more importantly, the passenger seat unencumbered and able to move back or recline (Tesla frowns on reclining the driver seat to sleep while operating the vehicle).
The Ordering Process -------------------- Convinced that we could make the Model X work to fit three children and two adults, we decided to put our order in. I knew that we could configure and order online from home—pretty much every other maker only let's you do the former directly—but still thinking like an old-world car-buyer, I figured that I'd flag somebody down to earn a comission, and hopefully score some discount or extra accessories. It turns out that didn't work. Essentially what happened next was that the salesman I was able to get (the more senior sales man was assisting an older couple) loaded the same Tesla Web site and navigated to the same custimization page you'd find yourself. The one "benefit" is that the salesman took the liberty of clicking through most of the agreements that popped-up. After we placed our order, the salesman awkwardly told us to hold-on a moment while he tracked down a legacy pin and notepad to scribble down our confirmation number so he could associate it with his account. With mixed feelings—he personally didn't end-up helping us much, but other people at the dealersihp did—but hopeful that having a person to call regarding the car might come in handy down the line, we put down a $2,000 deposit on a credit card (no more, no less) to hold our spot in the build-queue, and went home.
Mixed Feelings -------------- Upon arriving home, I saw a congratulatory eMail from the salesman at the mall; even though I'd provided non-identical contact information, apparently there was enough matching between the two that Tesla's system identified him as the first contact, and he got credit for the sale. I was admittedly indifferent, on one hand, he'd spent much more time helping me; on the other, the stand-alone shop and some of the other people working the floor there had been much more helpful simply given that they had the configurations I needed to test available. I was both annoyed that my attempts at confusing their system didn't work (as it had recently with different Volvo dealerships), and impressed that they had been able to get that part of their system correct. I was a little worried about the practicality of an electric vehicle, not to mention a little unsure if the seating arrangement would work-out as well as I was telling my wife.