Back in January, we took the plunge and ordered a new Tesla Model Y “Juniper” launch…

…edition. “Ultra Red”, white interior, 20” wheels (which was the only option for the launch edition). We chose the same battery and drive as our Model 3: RWD (rear wheel drive), LFP battery (no nickel or cobalt), 0 to 100km/h in 5.9s.

The main reason for the upgrade is for the greater ease of getting in and out of the car, which has been increasingly painful on Fran’s arthritic hips.

As those of you who follow our Tesla Tripping blog will know, we have looked at and test driven quite a lot of other options. The best contender was the XPeng G6. In the end we stuck with the Tesla Model Y because of the huge storage space, driving performance and the tech.

The Tesla app has guided us through the whole process up to now, with registration, trade-in, insurance. Today is delivery day. The final `Start` button is still disabled in the app. I’m guessing it will enable at exactly 3pm, when we’re at Tesla Mulgrave.

We are trading in our Tesla Model 3, after driving 91,000 km in 2.7 years (plus 9000km in other hire cars, such as through Europe). We are both a bit sad about leaving our “old” car, which has taken us so far, on many adventures. It runs perfectly, like the day we bought it. If there are any hiccups with the trade in, we will probably just keep it for a few weeks, partly out of sentimentality.