2008 Tesla - High Mileage

[pepperdine]

Hi All,

Just wanted to see what your thoughts are on this car: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/ctd/4816091211.html

I'm a bit concerned with the high mileage.

 

[Jackyche]

Mileage is certainly important, but more importantly is battery status. Ask for CAC value and charge status in standard mode.

 

[ecarfan]

Yes that is high mileage for a Roadster but that's not necessarily a problem. Agree with@Jackyche, have them pull the logs and read the CAC value, and get mileage numbers for Standard and Range charge. Problem is, they likely have no clue how to do that.

I am currently far from home and in the Southern Hemisphere or I would try to help you out because I live very near that car dealer. I will be home next week. PM me your email address if you are serious about the car and I'll keep in touch.

EDIT: I see the OP is in the San Francisco area, so can easily drive to see the car himself. Still happy to help if needed.

 

[stevejust]

That is a killer deal. Obviously the miles is why the price is so low. It's a risk, but I'd say it's worth it. Like @ecarfan says, pull the data logs and check out what the CAC looks like.

 

[dhrivnak]

With the new battery soon to be out it could work out well. If the battery is average one should have about 210 ideal miles.

 

[augkuo]

Here's their website with more pictures - it's showing 166 miles with a full standard charge, that's about right with the mileage it has now. A range-mode charge
would put it at about 208 miles. The main thing that wears down are the rear tires - ask them when they were replaced last (about every 10k miles). It looks in
great condition so the price is right if everything else checks out ok.

2008 Tesla Roadster for Sale

With the new battery soon to be out it could work out well. If the battery is average one should have about 210 ideal miles.

 

[wiztecy]

Here's their website with more pictures - it's showing 166 miles with a full standard charge, that's about right with the mileage it has now. A range-mode charge
would put it at about 208 miles. The main thing that wears down are the rear tires - ask them when they were replaced last (about every 10k miles). It looks in
great condition so the price is right if everything else checks out ok.

2008 Tesla Roadster for Sale

Here's the pic showing the 166 charge which should be a standard mode charge. I'm sure this is off of the 110 charger (since that's what comes with it in this sale, unless the Shop is holding out on a 240 charger.) so the number you see there may be lower off the 240V charge. If you know someone with a 240V charger, or if not, ask to take it for a test drive. Run the miles down about 20-40 miles or more. Then charge off of the 240v to see what it comes up to. I'd also ask for the logs so you can see the true CAC and health of the pack. You may be able to ask Tesla as well on the service records/history, but they won't give you the CAC info. Just maintenance records if allowed.

One thing to say on a positive side for cars with higher miles, if any electrical component should was going to fail it should have by now. I tend to find used cars with higher miles for that reason. Also comes with the hard top and soft top which is a bonus and nice to have to keep it original. Would be nice to have the Tank of a charger that came with it as an option, the MC240. It'll never let you down and is serviceable. The newer UMC has a habit of having a short life and is a disposable commodity.

These guys have moved Roadsters before so they're not a new guy on the block. I knew a person who traded an Aerial Atom + a little cash for transaction for a 55k mile Roadster with them.

 

[PokerBroker]

My #105 has 40k mi and roughly 166/217 standard/range with a 139 CAC so there are worse

 

[PokerBroker]

Honestly I think the price is high... Although the market is much tighter than when I bought #105, I paid $56k for CPO with warranty and 17k miles.

 

[yobigd20]

lol I have more miles than that on my P85 already. I would hardly consider that high mileage.

 

[hcsharp]

Honestly I think the price is high... Although the market is much tighter than when I bought #105, I paid $56k for CPO with warranty and 17k miles.

It may be overpriced but prices are definitely higher now than when you bought #105. I've had 2 people contact me in the last 2 days to let me know they are now in the market for a used Roadster due to the 400 mile upgrades. One of them told me Tesla has no CPO and there are very few Roadsters for sale in the whole country.

 

[bolosky]

I've got 80K miles on my 2009 2.0 non-Sport, and I get 172 miles standard charge (though it was more like 166 in the summer, I think lower temps give higher estimated battery capacity for some strange reason). Though my car is consistently an outlier on the good side of the distribution.

 

[ecarfan]

I've had 2 people contact me in the last 2 days to let me know they are now in the market for a used Roadster due to the 400 mile upgrades. One of them told me Tesla has no CPO and there are very few Roadsters for sale in the whole country.

Henry, interesting to hear that the "3.0" upgrade announcement seems to have stimulated interest in buying Roadsters! That is likely to at least keep market prices stable or even increase them over the next year as more information becomes available about the upgrades and some cars actually receive the new parts.

Exciting times for Roadster owners! I am so glad to have made the decision to buy one just a few months ago. Lucky timing...

 

[tvuolo]

Exciting times for Roadster owners! I am so glad to have made the decision to buy one just a few months ago. Lucky timing...

You & me both. I lucked into mine just a month ago! Then I bought one of the last OVMS units before FastTech (temporarily) ran out.

 

[wiztecy]

I think lower temps give higher estimated battery capacity for some strange reason.

.

I tried making a correlation with temp vs. CAC rise or fall. What I've found, even now with my pack, is that its really dependant on each individual brick it seems. I've seen the opposite of what you saw, that when temps drop so does the CAC such as winter. And when temps rise the CAC climbs with it such as with summer temps.

I feel there's so many variables that it'll be difficult to map what's going on as a trend unless we have a good way of tracking it taking into account as many variables as we can capture. Would love to get that going, I think it'd be good. But it'd take dedication and devotion to update so I don't think we'll really get an end result.

I've seen CAC just dive for no reason, I've also seen it recover. All while treating the pack in a good way. Sometimes you may need to take the Roadster out for a long Range mode drive. It could be a good thing for it. But without the data we just don't know what's really going on.

Truly it comes down to your weakest brick, and that brick alone governs the health of the entire pack.