Fix 2017 Model X suspension issues, or trade in for a new Y?
I am hoping for some advice here as I am in a stressful situation where my personal car/Tesla expert husband can't provide much help due to an illness that he had a few years ago that severely impacted his memory/cognition. We have a 2017 Model X with FSD, the MCU upgrade, and unlimited supercharging. It has about 26k miles on it because we are city people that primarily drive places that are 2 or 3 miles away on a daily basis, and only road trip once or twice a year (max of about 400 miles). Thankfully it is paid off, because in 2022 my husband had to go on long-term disability, so our income changed quite a bit. The X has been needing a lot of annoying little repairs over the last couple years that it has been out of warrantly, but nothing too costly. I have had it in my mind that the battery and drive unit warranty are up in June 2025, and I would need to figure out whether it would be better to sell/trade in before that happens.
So, what I have right now is a very squeaky/creaky Model X that I just found out needs $7200 work of repairs to the control arms, air springs, and also brake pads/calipers/rotors (possibly my fault due to not even thinking about brake maintenance, but the last 2 years have been a whirlwind of caregiving responsibilities, growing kids, just barely hanging in there at work, etc.). I declined the repairs and picked up the car to think about it. Then we went to test drive a Model Y, because now that I'm used to Tesla, the app, etc, I can't really imagine driving a regular car again. I know there are other EVs now that I could look at, but not sure I'm ready to go down that path. We would need a 7 seater if we had a Y, I wouldn't want to do a used one since it seems like there are none from 2022-23 and a 2021 Y will practically be out of warranty the second we get it.
Our trade-in value on the Y is not great ($27k) plus they would take off the $7k of repairs, and when they see the actual car they are going to see a little bit of damage that I haven't gotten repaired yet that will probably ding us around $1000, I would think.
My question...do I fork over $7k to keep this car chugging along and wait and see how much the next crazy repair costs us? Try to drive it into the ground? I know the battery should last us a long time since we have low miles, but know nothing about the drive unit. Or more like $19k with the trade in for a brand new Model Y? Of course, we also missed out on transferring FSD and unlimited supercharging, though given our driving style, we don't use either of them all that often.
Thank you for reading and any thoughts you have! I'm trying to figure out the things I'm not considering/don't know enough to consider/etc.
So, what I have right now is a very squeaky/creaky Model X that I just found out needs $7200 work of repairs to the control arms, air springs, and also brake pads/calipers/rotors (possibly my fault due to not even thinking about brake maintenance, but the last 2 years have been a whirlwind of caregiving responsibilities, growing kids, just barely hanging in there at work, etc.). I declined the repairs and picked up the car to think about it. Then we went to test drive a Model Y, because now that I'm used to Tesla, the app, etc, I can't really imagine driving a regular car again. I know there are other EVs now that I could look at, but not sure I'm ready to go down that path. We would need a 7 seater if we had a Y, I wouldn't want to do a used one since it seems like there are none from 2022-23 and a 2021 Y will practically be out of warranty the second we get it.
Our trade-in value on the Y is not great ($27k) plus they would take off the $7k of repairs, and when they see the actual car they are going to see a little bit of damage that I haven't gotten repaired yet that will probably ding us around $1000, I would think.
My question...do I fork over $7k to keep this car chugging along and wait and see how much the next crazy repair costs us? Try to drive it into the ground? I know the battery should last us a long time since we have low miles, but know nothing about the drive unit. Or more like $19k with the trade in for a brand new Model Y? Of course, we also missed out on transferring FSD and unlimited supercharging, though given our driving style, we don't use either of them all that often.
Thank you for reading and any thoughts you have! I'm trying to figure out the things I'm not considering/don't know enough to consider/etc.