3 years and 88K miles later...

[omarsultan]

So, this week, my Model S turns 3 years old. So, how is life after 88K miles behind the wheel--in short, life if good:

Battery, Charging and Range

• Original 85kWh battery pack, rev B IIRC
• Charging to 100% = 249 rated miles and it has been stable there for a while (more than a year). This represents 6% loss from new. TBH, I do not miss the 6% and have really stopped worrying about range a long time ago. These days I have my IC set to show %SoC as I find that more useful.
• I charge to 90% every day on an 80A HPWC. I Supercharge on average, twice per week
• Waiting for Superchargers still not an issue--waiting for more than 10 min is a rare occurrence.

Repairs & Maintenance

• Drivers map light @ ~1 month, fixed under warranty (they replaced all the map lights)
• Drive unit: once for the droning noise @ ~six months, fixed under warranty
• Driver's seat wiring harness: @ ~12 months, fixed via warranty valet service
• 12V battery warning: @~2 years, fixed via warranty ranger service
• Liftgate strut started to make creaky noises: recent, fixed via ESA
• HPWC: once for a bad cable and once for what ended up be a wiring connection that had worked loose, both addressed via warranty ranger services (back in the day, if you bought the HPWC with the car, it was covered by the same terms of the car warranty)
• Its goes in annually for the recommended service and I have the tires rotated every 6K miles
• I am still on my original brake pads, although I am guessing they will want to replace them this year as I should cross 100K miles before my next service.

Costs

• No surprise, but the biggest cost associated with the car is tires--a set of 21" Contis last me about 9-10 months
• I have a dedicated ToU meter so I have good data on my charing costs. My off-peak rate is $0.06/kWh and I pay ~$55/month for electricity to feed my Model S. This still blows me away as that is less than it used to cost to fill-up my car once with premium gas. BTW, the works out to ~$0.02/mile for me

Wear and Tear

• The interior has held up very well--still looks pristine. The only noticeable wear is from when I first got the car and had not yet figured out how to get in without rubbing against the B-pillar--I'll probably get the trim piece replaced
• The exterior is OptiCoated but not wrapped. The nose and the hood have a fine collection of chips which I periodically clean up with Dr ColorChip or Langka, but otherwise the rest of the paint looks great (maybe something to keep in mind if you want to wrap but are tying to stick to a budget)
• The windshield looks as you might expect for a car with 80K miles on it--might get that replaced to celebrate hitting 100K miles (likely this winter)

Usage
Even though we had a Jeep Grand Cherokee when we got the MS, the Tesla quickly became the go to car for everything from trips to the mountains and paddle boarding excursions to Lake Tahoe to trips to Home Depot to pick up sod. The Jeep was literally gathering dust. We have since traded it in for a Model X, so it will be interesting to see how our usage patterns change.

 

[ApauloThirteen]

Thanks, extremely well written summary, useful info to new buyers who do have questions, and much appreciated.

Wow, our off peaks in the SF bay area can only go down to $.09/kwh. V nice you can get to $.06.

Happy EVing and please keep posting, esp the long term thoughts and results on the X.

 

[buckerine]

Great to hear that the car's been so reliable and relatively low cost to maintain, especially for an "early" model.

 

[StoXto3toY]

Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to write this up--much appreciated.

 

[msnow]

Well done, thank you!

 

[Swissmoneychf]

Thank you for the feedback, very instructive.

Repairs & Maintenance

• Drivers map light @ ~1 month, fixed under warranty (they replaced all the map lights)
• Drive unit: once for the droning noise @ ~six months, fixed under warranty
• Driver's seat wiring harness: @ ~12 months, fixed via warranty valet service
• 12V battery warning: @~2 years, fixed via warranty ranger service
• Liftgate strut started to make creaky noises: recent, fixed via ESA
• HPWC: once for a bad cable and once for what ended up be a wiring connection that had worked loose, both addressed via warranty ranger services (back in the day, if you bought the HPWC with the car, it was covered by the same terms of the car warranty)
• Its goes in annually for the recommended service and I have the tires rotated every 6K miles
• I am still on my original brake pads, although I am guessing they will want to replace them this year as I should cross 100K miles before my next service.

That's a lot of repairs... In my current car that is now 6 years old, I did 4 services, that's it. No other maintenance needed...

 

[Gizmotoy]

• The exterior is OptiCoated but not wrapped. The nose and the hood have a fine collection of chips which I periodically clean up with Dr ColorChip or Lanka, but otherwise the rest of the paint looks great (maybe something to keep in mind if you want to wrap but are tying to stick to a budget)

Interesting you've used both Dr ColorChip and Lanka. Which do you prefer? Trying to decide on which to buy for one of my other vehicles.

 

[Galve2000]

Congrats on the 3 year mark! here's to the next 88,000 miles!

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

At first I was going to call you a slacker for only driving 88K at 3 years, then I realized that's going to be a challenging benchmark for me to hit with 6 months and 20K to go. So instead, I say "Great job and many more happy road trips!"
Very similar to my maintenance experience; I may even have fewer items.
I'm on 19's and mercifully getting much more than 9 months between purchases, though I would agree that tires are the biggest out of pocket expense. My TOU is also better.
My wife isn't ready for a new car yet though I suspect it will be an X when the time comes.
We also traded a Jeep to get the MS and I've been a big Opus fan since high school.
So basically, we could be long lost brothers separated by a continent

 

[omarsultan]

Interesting you've used both Dr ColorChip and Lanka. Which do you prefer? Trying to decide on which to buy for one of my other vehicles.

For bigger chips, I use the Langka as I think the color match is more important. For the little rash-y chips, Dr ColorChip is easy--get the squeegee if you go that route, it makes life a lot easier.

 

[Gizmotoy]

For bigger chips, I use the Langka as I think the color match is more important. For the little rash-y chips, Dr ColorChip is easy--get the squeegee if you go that route, it makes life a lot easier.

Sorry to derail: Have you used either on scratches? Seems like Dr ColorChip would be a better choice there.

 

[omarsultan]

Sorry to derail: Have you used either on scratches? Seems like Dr ColorChip would be a better choice there.

Scratches are hard. I use the manufacturer's touchup paint with these type of micro-brushes (https://smile.amazon.com/Detail-Mic...68625196&sr=8-2&keywords=Car+paint+microbrush) and slowly build-up/fill the scratch (don't brush, just touch the paint to the scratch and let it be drawn it) and then use Langka to smooth it out once it dries.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Do you think you'll keep the S after 100K miles?

 

[Garlan Garner]

So, this week, my Model S turns 3 years old. So, how is life after 88K miles behind the wheel--in short, life if good:

Battery, Charging and Range

• Original 85kWh battery pack, rev B IIRC
• Charging to 100% = 249 rated miles and it has been stable there for a while (more than a year). This represents 6% loss from new. TBH, I do not miss the 6% and have really stopped worrying about range a long time ago. These days I have my IC set to show %SoC as I find that more useful.
• I charge to 90% every day on an 80A HPWC. I Supercharge on average, twice per week
• Waiting for Superchargers still not an issue--waiting for more than 10 min is a rare occurrence.

Repairs & Maintenance

• Drivers map light @ ~1 month, fixed under warranty (they replaced all the map lights)
• Drive unit: once for the droning noise @ ~six months, fixed under warranty
• Driver's seat wiring harness: @ ~12 months, fixed via warranty valet service
• 12V battery warning: @~2 years, fixed via warranty ranger service
• Liftgate strut started to make creaky noises: recent, fixed via ESA
• HPWC: once for a bad cable and once for what ended up be a wiring connection that had worked loose, both addressed via warranty ranger services (back in the day, if you bought the HPWC with the car, it was covered by the same terms of the car warranty)
• Its goes in annually for the recommended service and I have the tires rotated every 6K miles
• I am still on my original brake pads, although I am guessing they will want to replace them this year as I should cross 100K miles before my next service.

Costs

• No surprise, but the biggest cost associated with the car is tires--a set of 21" Contis last me about 9-10 months
• I have a dedicated ToU meter so I have good data on my charing costs. My off-peak rate is $0.06/kWh and I pay ~$55/month for electricity to feed my Model S. This still blows me away as that is less than it used to cost to fill-up my car once with premium gas. BTW, the works out to ~$0.02/mile for me

Wear and Tear

• The interior has held up very well--still looks pristine. The only noticeable wear is from when I first got the car and had not yet figured out how to get in without rubbing against the B-pillar--I'll probably get the trim piece replaced
• The exterior is OptiCoated but not wrapped. The nose and the hood have a fine collection of chips which I periodically clean up with Dr ColorChip or Langka, but otherwise the rest of the paint looks great (maybe something to keep in mind if you want to wrap but are tying to stick to a budget)
• The windshield looks as you might expect for a car with 80K miles on it--might get that replaced to celebrate hitting 100K miles (likely this winter)

Usage
Even though we had a Jeep Grand Cherokee when we got the MS, the Tesla quickly became the go to car for everything from trips to the mountains and paddle boarding excursions to Lake Tahoe to trips to Home Depot to pick up sod. The Jeep was literally gathering dust. We have since traded it in for a Model X, so it will be interesting to see how our usage patterns change.

Very Very well done. Thanks for all of the great information.

 

[omarsultan]

Do you think you'll keep the S after 100K miles?

Without a doubt. We tend to hold onto our cars for a while anyway, but I am really impressed by how well the car has held up to the mileage. The one thing I forgot to mention above is that its the car is still tight--none of the squeaks or rattles you might expect with a high mileage car.

Pretty much the only things that might get me out of this car are Model S 2.0, or now that we have the Model X, perhaps Roadster 3.0.

 

[sorka]

Thank you for the feedback, very instructive.



That's a lot of repairs... In my current car that is now 6 years old, I did 4 services, that's it. No other maintenance needed...

I'm at 8 visits already at 24K miles on my 2015 P85DL.

 

[sorka]

Scratches are hard. I use the manufacturer's touchup paint with these type of micro-brushes (Amazon.com: Detail Micro Brushes Paint Touch Up Applicators pack/40: Automotive) and slowly build-up/fill the scratch (don't brush, just touch the paint to the scratch and let it be drawn it) and then use Langka to smooth it out once it dries.

I'm really glad I did xpel ultimate full front. It has saved me at least a dozen times now from concrete and gravel trucks dropping sprays of aggregate behind them.

 

[omarsultan]

One small addendum: car came back from its annual spa day with a clean bill of health, no problems. Perhaps the most interesting thing was the wear on the (original) brake pads: thickness was 7mm all around and 5mm for the e-brake. The recommendation is replacing them at 2mm, so these pads are going to last me for a quite a while.

Yay for regen.

 

[Jeff4155]

I was about to ask about the brake pads, till I saw your last post. As a potential customer that will probably not see a Tesla till 2017 in South Africa I have to ask how the brake pads can last so long? from my understanding is that the brakes help recuperate power when going down hill, but does it consist of two separate brakes? (e-Brake -1 and standard Brake -2)

Congrats on the vehicle mileage and great write up

 

[Saghost]

I was about to ask about the brake pads, till I saw your last post. As a potential customer that will probably not see a Tesla till 2017 in South Africa I have to ask how the brake pads can last so long? from my understanding is that the brakes help recuperate power when going down hill, but does it consist of two separate brakes? (e-Brake -1 and standard Brake -2)

Congrats on the vehicle mileage and great write up

That power recuperation is why they last, but it isn't done with the brake pads.

The main drive motors adjust the field timing so that they work as generators while still spinning in the same direction, which is where the recovered energy comes from.

With Tesla, that all happens when you lift your foot off the accelerator. If you press the brake pedal, the pads press against the discs and stop the car in a typical manner - but in normal driving you shouldn't have to do that much except at very low speeds, which is why modern EVs tend to have very long pad lives.