It's pretty cool, but I have to say it's about the ugliest rocket I've seen. I'm sure there are very good reasons why it looks like it does, and it obviously works well, but to me, it just looks like a grain silo or something.
SpaceX abandoned the 'composites & heat tiles" approach when they realized that certain types of stainless steel had the desired properties at both high temperatures and cryogenic temperatures, and that SS was better suited to the rapid prototyping / manufacturing that would be needed. It was brilliant, outside of the box thinking, IMO.
One thing to keep in mind is that Musk isn't interested in an Apollo program approach of send a few missions, one at a time. He wants to send a fleet of ships, repeatedly, to colonize Mars. Mass manufacturing is a key ingredient.