Episode 4
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The Why Tesla Model Y Podcast. This is episode four. Welcome back. It's March 5th. Let's jump right back into it. The post that caught my attention over this past week, the first one, it's just simply titled, the post, so it's from user SomeWestern8451. It's titled, First Tesla After Dreaming of One for Seven Years. And

If you logged into Reddit, you checked out the Tesla Model Y subreddit at any point of this past week, you know exactly what I'm talking about. This is a post from, like I said, my guy, I don't know him, SomeWestern8451. It's just a couple photos, I should say a few photos,

Um, they caught quite a bit of feedback. There's 248 comments on this post, 659 upvotes. Um, the post reads, I took delivery back in January, but I wanted to wait until I made her my own. It was a display model. So I noticed it's even more lower than a regular performance. Or is that just me? Um, unfortunately the, the post caught a ton of backlash simply because, um,

What I thought were awesome photos. I mean, it looks like he took this thing into some sort of campground. He's in the middle of the woods. He's got another photo of it. Got a great stance to it right in front of a big body of water. However, where he went wrong, according to

To seemingly all of Reddit, to all of this Tesla Model Y subreddit, is that he's, in picture number one, he's sitting on the glass roof of the vehicle. Picture number two, he's sitting on the frunk, and the frunk, you can quite literally see the indention from where he's sitting on it. As we all know, at least owners of the Tesla Model Y, you know the frunk is

pretty dang flimsy or thin metal that goes over the top of it. My immediate thoughts when I saw this post, I'm like, you know what? Good for you. The headline grabbed my attention. He got a Tesla after wanting one for seven years.

He set a goal, he accomplished it, and now he's flexing a bit, which is completely fine. That's what the internet's for. I upvoted the post, I was about to move on. I was just thinking, hey, good for you, my guy. But then I read the comments, and...

Every single person is ripping him apart for, hey, the hood is so fragile I would never sit on it. Congrats, but hey, FYI, the hood is really soft. How the heck did you sit on the hood without damaging it? Came in looking for frunk comments, was not disappointed. The next post, help, how do I undent the hood? 75% of the comments on there were absolutely ripping the man apart for why the heck would you sit on a glass roof? Why would you sit on the frunk?

My man just joined the Tesla Model Y community, the Reddit page itself. After seven years of wanting one, this is not how we welcome somebody to the community. I mean, for what it's worth, Tesla Model Y, I feel like Tesla owners in general get a bad rap, and the media Tesla gets a bad rap. Elon and some of his comments don't help. So the last thing I'm going to do

we need is to be more unwelcoming and give justification to the nonsense that's portrayed about Tesla in the media. So for those that

I think made the comment of, "Hey, politely, probably shouldn't sit on a glass roof, probably shouldn't sit on a flimsy frunk, completely fine." But at the end of the day, it goes back to this man's been wanting this car for seven years. He finally makes it happen. He's proud of it, posts a few pictures. Let the man live. He purchased the vehicle. He seemingly worked hard for it. Let the man flex a little bit.

Anyway, that was the first post that caught my attention. As mentioned, that was if you logged into Reddit at any point in time over the past week, you had to have seen that one. The next post that caught my attention, it just reads that the title is Charging at Home is a Game Changer. This is from user 68Quebec.

Um, the post itself says just came back from a 500 mile trip, came home with 15% state of charge and no problem. Plug in with UMC and let it get charged. Having home charger is a game changer for EV purchase. If you can go for it, your life will be much easier. Um, so I clicked on this post because I, I've mentioned a couple of times, I'm apartment living at the moment, don't have a home charger, which, um,

everywhere throughout this subreddit, every single person says, do not purchase a Tesla if you live in an apartment. Don't even think about it. Don't consider it if you're not living at home with a way to plug in at night.

I disagree though. I 100% agree with the post in that charging at home is a game changer. I plan to move into a house here in six months or so. I'll probably agree with this. It makes things more convenient, perhaps more affordable as opposed to superchargers. And you don't have to necessarily go out of your way as much as if you can plug in every single night you're at home.

Obviously, the top comment on this post reads, if you can't charge at home or at work, EVs aren't worth it. Fair, but I think, as I think I mentioned before, with a little bit of planning involved,

It's not a big deal at all. Another person comments it's absolutely the best. Just curious why you have it set to 30-40 amps. Another person, their comment reads, kind of thought it would be a requirement. If I couldn't charge at home, I wouldn't have one. So, all fair comments and 100% agree. I think charging at home is and would be and will be a game changer, but with a little bit of planning, as long as you're in a

you know, rather close to a supercharger or have other charging options nearby that you can rely on. It's not bad at all. I've mentioned before, I live close to one of those Volta free chargers. It's walking distance. And so being able to park it there for a few hours, charge up, walk back and go grab it hasn't been an issue at all. I've also got superchargers walking distance. So if I need a quick charge, I can hop over there as well.

So while I agree with the post, I think home charging is and will be a game changer for myself and obviously for Tesla owners. It makes it a heck of a lot more convenient. Don't ever have to have that range anxiety of, man, when do I got to plug in next? You can just simply top up every single night.

Absolutely is going to make it a game changer. But for those out there that are apartment living, that are in the market, that are thinking about potentially purchasing a Tesla or an EV, don't let apartment living stop you. I would just make sure that you have reliable charging options nearby. At the end of the day, a lot of people switch to EVs because of all the money, right? That you can save on electric and charging versus electric.

you know, paying for gas and hitting the gas pump every week. I will say one of my absolute favorite parts of the Tesla app is that charging stats section. So for the record, and I mentioned I got my Tesla Model Y back in mid-January. So for the year so far,

It basically tracks, here's the total kilowatt hours you've charged and the total dollar amount you've spent. And it shows you what I like is the gas equivalent. So for the amount of range essentially, the amount of miles you got out of the charging that you've done, here's basically the equivalent that would have cost in gas.

So again, I'm apartment living, I have access, walking distance to a Volta free charger. I've done some supercharging on road trips for when I'm in a pinch. And so roughly 70, 80% of my charging is done at the Volta charger. 20% of my charging is done at a supercharger. I've spent $32 since mid January. I've probably logged 1500, 2000 miles on it in that time.

Spend $32, it's saying the gas equivalent is $248. And so give or take that gas estimate, it's based on, I think it's like three and a half bucks for gas, which in my area, it's maybe a dollar less, maybe 250, 280 or so at the moment. And so sure, maybe I spent $280.

you know, the gas equivalent would be 175 or 200 bucks, but still quite a bit of savings. So again, with a little bit of planning, I'm sure you have to go out of your way every now and then, but for those that are apartment living or considering buying while you're living in an apartment,

The thought is that it's temporary, and so as long as you can plan and have charging options nearby and you don't mind going out of your way every now and then to plug in, it's absolutely doable in an apartment as well. This next post that caught my attention over this past week, and I say over this past week, however,

I saw this post, shoot, probably two, three months ago. The post itself was actually posted 336 days ago. So I guess you could say it goes against the rule of posts that caught my attention over the past week. But there was a post in regard to Tesla Model Y suspension where this post that I'm about to read through was again referenced. And it's one that caught my attention. I bookmarked, I saved for later.

from many months ago and it's regarding and really the title of it reads updated 2021 model y to 2023 new coils and suspension and so for those that you know are well read on

model-wise in general from 2020 up until 2024, you know that the 2020 model and the 2021 model, I believe the 2022 model as well, all have the stiffer suspension. So not necessarily the comfort suspension or the suspension upgrade that you see in the 2023 and 2024 models. So this post is from FastRiding2290.com.

I'll just read the post and then I'll add a few comments to it. But it reads, guys, I cannot believe I was able to do this. I went to Tesla service and complained about bumpiness. They said it was normal. I said, I want the 2023 suspension and coilovers. To my surprise, they said they'd order them. Caveat was that they would not install them under any circumstances. My Model Y 2021 was bumpier than any car I've ever been in.

I just got back from Bespoke Automotive in Arlington, Texas who did an amazing job with the install. Total cost: $580 for parts from Tesla and $650 for the install.

And in all caps, the difference is astounding. I went over a bump I normally go over at 50 miles per hour and barely even felt it before I would have went flying. This is a night and day difference. If your service center lets you, you'll need to make an appointment and complain about bumpiness. Parts people should be able to order them for you. The new parts fit exactly and everything is good. I'm going to attach the part numbers for anyone who needs them. I'm so excited.

So this is incredible, and it includes a couple of photos of the actual part number, the name of the parts, a couple of photos of the actual diagram of the parts themselves. So if Tesla Service questions you on it, you can obviously show them the part number or show them these few photos. But this is awesome to know it's possible. That is...

I'd say one drawback of an older Model Y is that, yeah, the suspension isn't great. You feel bumps quite a bit. Part of that, I think, is thanks to the 20-inch wheels that at least I have, and so in my experience. But this is...

this is incredible i mean that this is the majority of the reason i debated buying a 2023 model versus the 2021 that i now have is for this so-called comfort suspension but knowing that as long as you're able to seemingly sweet talk the tesla service folks they will order those parts for you they won't install them you have to take them to a third-party shop but that can make a major major impact in the ride quality so

I mentioned it before, but when I get money to throw around on the car, one of the first things I want to do is some sort of stealth PPF to protect the vehicle, but also give it that matte look. This is another item that's high on that list and actually cheaper than a wrap or than full PPF.

And that's actually replacing that suspension altogether, which is probably a more noticeable difference that you'll appreciate daily rather than just the look and aesthetic and yes, perhaps the protection of a stealth PPF or a wrap.

There's another comment on here that says, hey, here's the latest as of April 2023 part numbers for the new 2023 plus comfort suspension components. These apply to US built units only, and they list the exact part numbers for the front left, front right, rear shock and rear spring, even for the Model Y performance. So if you want the stance of the Model Y performance a little bit lower,

that's incredible as well. Basically, you can order these parts obviously and then install them at a third party shop the same way, frankly, you would with any car. Teslas, you kind of seemingly, what you order is what you get, but knowing that it's possible at least, Tesla won't do it for you, but they'll help you in ordering the parts, that's awesome to hear.

A few comments on here said, wow, that's it for the cost? A few comments on here, however, full disclosure, said that they tried this. They went to a Tesla service center. They complained about bumpiness. They asked Tesla service to order these parts for them, and they got shut down right away, and they just said they wouldn't do it. So it seems that it depends on

What service center you go to, who you catch at the service center, are they willing to do it or not? I think the key is that we're not asking them to install them for you. Just, hey, order these parts. I'll take it to another shop and have them install them for me. This sounds like such an impactful upgrade. If you can make it work, if you can get the parts specific to

you know the vehicle which sounds completely compatible with the 2021 and i imagine the 2020 model as well but to hear how much of an impact that drives with the the smoothness of the ride going over bumps and barely feeling it frankly before i dove into the tesla model y reddit thread

That's what I figured I'd get with a Tesla. You think of it as a higher end luxury brand, but there's seemingly quite a few instances where Tesla cuts costs. Suspension, at least for the earlier models, was seemingly one of them. So great to know that this upgrade is available.

The next post that caught my attention over this past week, and I've got two more. This one is from user Alpha Male NJ. The title reads S3XY knob in. So far, so good.

It's impossible not to read that as sexy. I don't know if that's how you pronounce the brand name, but it's S3XY. The post itself reads, "Installed the sexy knob, S3XY knob. Took about 15 minutes and had to update to the latest software."

Really is wild what you can do with it. Adjust regen percentage, precondition the battery, fold mirrors while in motion, automatically reactivates autopilot after a lane change. Can't wait to get on a road trip and play around with it more.

This is pretty neat. So it sits right in the middle of your center console, basically where you would slide back the center console storage cover to access that really deep storage bin in the center console. It basically takes up

it looks like a couple inches of that room. So if you think about it, that cover for that deep center console storage, essentially it wouldn't shut all the way anymore. It would shut besides about two, three inches, and it's just a horizontal strip with this scroll wheel in the middle. So it looks pretty sleek. It matches the center console aesthetic perfectly. It

What I think is neat is I was reading through some of the comments on this thread and the rep or the company itself, there's an account,

just called sexy buttons s3xy underscore buttons that seems to be speaking on behalf of the company so they they're clearly in this tesla model y subreddit monitoring what's going on they're commenting on the posts some folks are raising questions they're addressing the questions so that's really cool to see is that rather than letting the community guess uh

about what's good, what's bad, or share feedback, or perhaps get misinformation in real time. They're replying to comments. And so I'll read through a few of these that I thought was interesting. The most notable part of that post that caught my attention was one, I kind of missed that, having an actual button or a scroll wheel or something besides just a touchscreen to toggle through different options.

So seeing, okay, there's actually an option to have some sort of a button or scroll. It also looks like it's a piece of software. So it updates, it's essentially a touch screen as well. It looks to be some sort of a touch screen, but it's got the scroll wheel on it. And so notably seeing that you can adjust your regen percentage and it automatically reactivates autopilot after a lane change, that's what caught my attention.

So the first comment on here, most upvoted comment, 56 upvotes from Dose Commas. It says, "I wonder how autopilot reactivation works. Does it just keep spamming the autopilot button after a lane change?" A comment below that says, "It waits one to five seconds after the auto blinker turns off. And then it tries once it's on a good marked road and it works. And you are able as the user to customize the time it takes

Basically after that auto blinker turns off another comment on here says I've been considering this s3 xy button myself But I'm concerned that at any point in time Tesla takes an Apple approach to things like this and via a software update it close offs closes off whatever software entry point this thing is using am I the only one the

S3XYbutton's Reddit account commented back on that and said, "Hey, we understand the concerns, but Tesla has mentioned numerous times that they are okay with third-party accessories and upgrades for their vehicles. Our sole purpose is to make products that help all Tesla users enjoy their cars even more, so we do not see a reason why they would ban us." But as you said, you never know. So helpful feedback there.

Another comment is about basically security. I'm worried about malicious actors doing something to the car just because you connected it, basically plugging in a third party plug-in or software. So there's a rather long reply back from, again, that sexybuttonss3xybuttons Reddit account that addresses those concerns.

One thing that was interesting was another comment on here reads, hey, I got mine too. The only thing I don't like and didn't know before getting it is that changing the climate control on the knob does not show on the main screen. So basically it shows that it's 75 degrees on the scroll wheel on the actual third party knob that's been installed, but the in the car is hot, but it shows 68 still on the screen.

Again, the S3XYButtons Reddit account commented back and said, "We are currently working on a release that would fix the synchronization and it's currently in beta."

So that's awesome. I mean, just for the company alone, I think that is a great way to get feedback. Monitor the Reddit threads from folks actually using and not just telling you what you want to hear, but just sit as a fly on the wall and see what people have to say about your product and then respond. Obviously, they get the feedback of, hmm, temperature sync isn't working. Sounds like it's already a work in progress, but surely...

That's happened in the past, right? Where they're probably monitoring the thread. They see over and over and over and over, man, I wish this did that. And I imagine they begin to implement a fix. So at the very least, I love the way they operate and the fact that they're monitoring the community. So I don't have this myself, but aesthetically pleasing. It seems pretty dang functional, similar to the Tesla. They can roll out software updates for bug fixes. It's continuing to get better. It has multiple functions, right?

seemingly gives you some version of enhanced autopilot without having to pay for it and that it automatically reactivates autopilot after a lane change for those of us that don't have enhanced autopilot. So let me know what you all think. Not sure if this is something I'll purchase for myself. I actually don't even know the cost of it, but would be opposed in the future if I keep seeing posts like this. Final post that caught my attention this past week.

um this is from user perpetual papercut it reads not trying to be mean but model y has been one of the best selling vehicles evs and ice included in the us for some time now i'm pretty sure it sells well outside of the us where it's available too so i'm just a little over tired of seeing these just pulled the trigger or i did so much research posts

No BS, welcome to the club with the thousands of us who did it already. Again, not trying to be mean and I'm happy for new owners, but maybe we can get a mega thread specifically for these posts. They don't really add much to the sub at this point since the Model Y is selling well and has been for a while now. Again, that's a post from Perpetual Papercut. A few interesting comments on this one.

One of them reads, hey, I've been here since 2020, so yeah, get used to it. At least we don't flex VIN numbers anymore. My favorite comment reads, just pulled the trigger. I did so much research. Love that trolling comment there.

This comment here, though, I couldn't agree with more. This is from user AJ Henderson. It just reads, "How about just a tag we can ignore if we want? Personally, I'm happy to share in people's excitement." That's really what it comes down to. I mean, that is quite literally the entire internet of

If you don't like something, just look away. Keep scrolling, unfollow, don't pay attention to the subreddit, find a way to hide it. There are so many different ways to ignore the posts that aren't your favorite, but that's the beauty of Reddit and of the internet is people post what they want. If you don't like it, don't look at it. But honestly, being a recent Tesla Model Y fan,

buyer myself back in January, I couldn't relate more to that reply to this post about personally I'm happy to share in people's excitement because it is so fresh for me because I'm still in that

honeymoon excitement phase of I still enjoy driving every time I hop in the car in the morning. And so when I see people posting, hey, not necessarily the, hey, I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. Here's the specific finances. Is this a good deal?

I can get behind this post on posts like that, right? Because everybody's financial situation is different. I don't know how much Reddit and some people in completely different financial situations can advise you financially. But when it comes to, hey, check out my new car, here's a photo of it, or like that post I shared at the beginning of the episode today of I've wanted a Tesla for seven years, I finally made it happen, here's a couple photos of me flexing on it.

absolutely nothing wrong with that I mean that is quite honestly what this subreddit is for is hey check out my car or I've got a question that that's really what it's for it is so dang simple on the internet if you don't like something you don't want to follow it you don't have to right I mean you don't have to be in the subreddit you can surely find a way to hide the posts and

Or my personal favorite is just sort by, hey, what are the top posts over this past week? Or what are the hot posts for the day? Or there's different ways to sort the entire feed to where some of these posts with one or two upvotes that perhaps not just yourself, but many folks aren't interested in, you probably don't have to see them anyway. So that's my thought. I mean, if it's

Just simply folks that are new to the Tesla community, welcome them in. I mean, it's a unique little club we have here of folks that are, I would say, on the cutting edge, but towards the front of the adoption line for EVs and completely trying something new here. Most of us coming from standard internal combustion engine, gas-powered vehicles, and

And so I think welcoming those new folks in, there's something to it. Or if you don't want to, just keep scrolling. So that's it with the post that caught my attention this past week. I do want to call out the why of the week. This is from shout out user Lucky Larmo. It reads, a thundercloud in San Diego.

And the post just reads itself, 3M Thundercloud Blue Satin. So it looks like a wrap on this one. Absolutely beautiful. It's in San Diego, of course. It's got some really solid black trim. It's got a blacked out license plate, a black fin on the rear. It's got...

a blacked out Tesla emblem on the rear and interesting enough, a SpaceX emblem on the rear, blacked out Tesla front emblem, and then a really neat looking carbon fiber black splitter in the front and then a carbon fiber rear

rear bumper basically as well that looks pretty dang sweet. It makes the car look a heck of a lot more aggressive. My only concern with specifically those front splitters as good as they look is that

just the clearance. Like I appreciate being able to park in a parking spot. There's the curb that you pull up to and not having to worry about drilling or scraping that curb because the front lip of the Tesla, as it sits at least in my 2021 Model Y long range, is that it goes over that curb no problem. With this front splitter, having to worry about, am I going to scrape that curb? Am I just going to straight up hit it?

Sure, the easy solution is park a few inches back, don't worry about it, but I like to pull as far forward as I can or back in as far back as I can so that I don't get hit by folks driving by. So to each their own, but nonetheless, absolutely love the look of this vehicle. The matte thundercloud blue satin wrap is absolutely gorgeous.

Doesn't hurt that you have palm trees and a big old mountain and what looks to be an amazing San Diego day in the background. So perhaps that may have helped you here. But that rear bumper, the front splitter, absolutely great looking car. So shout out to you, Mr. or Mrs. Lucky Larmo for the best looking Y of the week. Well, folks, that's it for this week. As a reminder, and I'm

I know I've mentioned it over the past couple of weeks, but seriously, if you would, please pause the episode, give a quick five-star review, leave a review if you would. Let me know your thoughts.

I'll also leave a Q&A and perhaps a poll over on Spotify. So if you're listening on Spotify or you're listening on Apple Podcasts, go pop over to Spotify, fill out that poll, or just the simple Q&A. Leave me a response. I'll check out the response, whether it's what you want to hear in upcoming episodes, what you want me to double down on, or other points of interest that you all are curious in.

So once again, appreciate y'all's time. Thanks for tuning in. Episode four in the books. See y'all next week.