Red 5

Our Daily Commuter

2024 Model Y Performance

On and off the mountain we go in this rocket ship.  What a fun ride.  Our car got it's name "Red 5" from Star Wars.  "Red 5" was the call sign for Luke Skywalker's X-Wing Fighter in Star Wars Episode IV.


-Red 5 Stuff-

Tesla Description of the Car- The Tesla Model Y is a compact electric crossover aimed at small families. It is the highest-selling EV in the global market, thanks to its impressive performance, relatively accessible price point, and impressive safety standards.

Our Buying Process-

We bought the car early November 2024 via the Tesla Inventory website.  The Ultra Red (USC) color was important to us as we watched the new, used (off-lease), and DEMO cars come and go from the inventory website.  The Model Y was comfortable as we did a DEMO drive at the Valencia Tesla showroom.  We both fit in the car as it had plenty of cabin space.  Our DEMO drive was interesting as the worker (not a salesperson) walked us to the car, showed us how to get in, adjust seats, and adjust mirrors.  A quick little explanation of park, drive, and reverse and we were off.  He said be back in 30 minutes.  We had a nervous and exciting test drive of the car.  Instantly fell in love with the vehicle!  

The entire sale is done in the Tesla App.  In the iPhone app we completed the following- made the reservation payment, input our driver's information, applied for the loan, offered our KIA Sportage as a trade-in, input our insurance information, and completed everything else needed to purchase the car.  The app then alerted us when the car was ready for pick-up.  The entire buying process was via the app and we never talked to a human.  on delivery day we drove our KIA down to Long Beach where the car was located.  Gave them keys to the Sportage.  They said our new car was over there by the cones and look for your name in the car window.  Connect your phones to the car and when you drive off the lot the car is yours.  That was it!

Elon is who he is.  Some think he is amazing and others think he is an idiot.  We ignored the fact that he owns Tesla and did not factor him into our buying decision.  We are not politically active and/or motivated people.  Making political decisions on consumer purchases is a slippery slope as you never really know a company's political contributions.  Researching company and employee political positions and then trying to match to your own would be a daunting task.  We were simply looking for a commuting machine that was fun and economical to drive.

Pricing-

The Model Y we finally purchased was a DEMO car located in Long Beach, CA.  The car had 1,023 miles on it when we took delivery.  Because it was a DEMO car we received a $4k discount off the price.  Car was sold to us as new so we also received the $7.5k Federal Tax refund.  We used a current Tesla owner's referral code to earn another $1K discount.  Our down payment came from trading in our KIA Sportage.  We used the 0% financing offer from Tesla.  Ultimately we decided not to purchase the full self driving option as it was $8k at the time of the purchase.  We can add the FSD service for $99 a month if we want in the future.  We had a love hate relationship with the Full Self Driving experience.  We did like the autopark and summons features.  They were both completely unnecessary but lots of fun.

Red 5 Specs-

Dislikes-

Likes-