2017 Model X vs 2023 Model X

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here it is. And it might help somebody that is looking into buying a 2023 X.

2023 Model X vs 2017 Model X
This will not be a power/spec/features comparison, instead I will try to be brief about what caught my attention. I recently upgraded from M3 to MX and the MX is now in the service center for fixing the panel gaps (sounds normal now) and for some weird alerts that came up about none of the ADAS features being available (cruise control, autosteer, emergency braking etc), no regen either. That went away in a few hours, but was pretty scary. So while I am waiting for my X to be "fixed" I got a 2017 MX as a loaner. I've been driving M3 and MY for the past 5 years and have completely forgotten what the old S and X driving was feeling like. The 2023 X felt much like a Y with more features. When I got behind the wheel of the 2017 X I started having flashbacks. I will try to summarize:

2017 vs 2023 Model X differences
1. The 2017 front doors so you can enter/exit without touching the door. 2023's doors only staj ajar and you have to hand-wrestle the motors to open them. If there is a way to adjust/set the doors to open - please let me know.
2. Dashboard screen (instrument panel) is customizable - you can put a clock, navigation, trip counters, media, energy meter (with average KWh/m for past 30 miles) etc. The 2023 only has this little (almost invisible) bar on the bottom that shows power.
3. The regen is significantly weaker on the 2017 and there is no option for the car to completely stop on its own. If you get it to a complete stop it will roll back or forward depending on the angle of the road (it doesn't take much). I remembered that you can keep it still (on hold) by pressing the brake pedal harder after the car is not moving. Then the H symbol shows on the instrumental panel.
4. The portrait screen is by far more ergonomic to operate. You have your arm on the arm rest and not having it "hanging the air". Even so, I like the landscape better and if I get to choose again - it will be landscape even with the "hanging arm".
5. Only a month of stalkless driving and now it is annoying Not to mention this car has 4 of them! (well one is a tiny one that you do not get to use while driving, but still..)
6. I know I already mentioned the Energy app, but still - the only way to see what your consumption is in a 2023 X is by opening the Trip counters. Energy app only shows estimation and other crap data that is useless. BY the way, the CONTROL/DISPLAY on the 2017 has Energy Display setting options as Percentage and Distance, but also Rated and Ideal when Distance is selected. I found the Ideal to be very close to real life usage estimation.
7. No ultrasonic sensors means no Summon / Smart Summon.

I will not get into the center console, vents etc, just wanted to share some points I think are important. And if it is not clear by now - some of the updates are unfortunately downgrades... I think...

There might be more things I do not recall for now, but I will post if I remember.

"Render - Tesla Model X 2017 By Alang7™" by Alang7™ is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail

 

[Joey_82]

Tesla gave me a 2017 Model X for a loaner when I brought my MY in for service recently. What got me was the placement of the front seat cup holders under the center armrest! That has got to be the worst placement having to slide the armrest back to use the cupholder. The center armrest becomes practically unusable then, and the reach for your drink is awkward. That would have been enough for me to trade-in for 2023 MX! lol

Not to mention you can't drive with just 1 pedal. Felt like I was back in an ICE car. lol

Yeah that particularly I find such a weird design. And I also don't find a good spot to keep my phone (or passenger's phone) while driving. The centre console area on the refresh I find so much more well thought out.

 

[TOBASH]

Yes I agree, the upgrades are massive, which is why I made sure to point them out. But Refresh would probably be $90K after CA sales tax with NO FSD, and wait for tax credit later. $103K with FSD, and my trade in might be worth $33K in a quick sale. So I can't afford the Refresh, and even if I could, then I'd be annoyed by eye tracking nagging on autopilot. More realistic for me is 2021 Raven X Performance with FSD included and some warranty remaining.

Screw eye tracking! Screw the new screen. Screw the poorly opening doors.

Seat cups have placement under arm rest AND in console, so plenty of room for drinks and telephones.

Sure I’d like the new metallic magnet motors BUT not that big a deal.

I just did the infotainment upgrade and had the suspension repaired on warranty and had the FSD computer finally installed on my 2017 P100D. Me thinks the 2017 P100D with manual shift stalks, FSD, FUSC, tow hitch, heat package, ventilated seats (a discontinued option), active rear spoiler (another discontinued option) is superior.

 

[chillaban]

Screw eye tracking! Screw the new screen. Screw the poorly opening doors.

Seat cups have placement under arm rest AND in console, so plenty of room for drinks and telephones.

Sure I’d like the new metallic magnet motors BUT not that big a deal.

I just did the infotainment upgrade and had the suspension repaired on warranty and had the FSD computer finally installed on my 2017 P100D. Me thinks the 2017 P100D with manual shift stalks, FSD, FUSC, tow hitch, heat package, ventilated seats (a discontinued option), active rear spoiler (another discontinued option) is superior.

The FSD computer / HW 2.0/2.5 cameras are already outdated. The Intel MCU is 2 generations old now. There’s no parts and wiring for retrofitting those any further.

The newer base X comes with the tow hitch, same heated items as the old cold weather package. Ventilated seats are back. The dual permanent magnet motors gets you a comfortable 280-330Wh/mi which is a huge step up. Heat pump for the winter months.

Yes there’s some trade offs but IMO overall the refresh X beats the legacy X any day unless your goal is to defeat autopilot attention monitoring.


(If anything keeping the old HW2.5 computer with radar Autopilot would be the sweet spot. Damn I got one of those as a loaner and that was the best autopilot implementation ever)

 

[Adair Martin]

Nice summary, thanks for sharing. I currently drive a legacy X (pre-raven), and have been so tempted to upgrade to a newer model.

I had a 3 prior to the X, and also have a Y in the household. I needed a bigger vehicle and ended up with the X (which I love) and don't think I could go back to any other vehicle (or even 3/Y for that matter).

I haven't driven the newer S/X, but your comment about it feeling like driving a Y with more features really excites me. The legacy X I have drives well (it has 22's), but it's a rough ride and has some cabin rattles that at times drives me a bit crazy. The X is in excellent shape but sometimes the ride is rough and turns me off a bit, especially when I take our Y for a drive and it feels so much quieter and very smooth. Other thing I love about the new X is the yoke, landscape display (newer Ryzen MCU of course), and storage layout.

But, my concerns are similar to what you mentioned - lose customization in the instrument panel (very minor), no stalks (meh, don't really care), lack of USS (bugs me a bit) and also inclusion of cabin camera (that I'd find a bit annoying - on our Y with FSD I find its bugging me so often). My legacy X with EAP and USS works beautifully for all the highway driving I do.

At the end of the day I don't think I'm going to pull the trigger (really not necessary), but I remain tempted.

It’s interesting that no one in this thread mentioned about Supercharging speeds. I upgraded my 2017 Model X to a 2023 in August to transfer my FSD license to a new vehicle.

Supercharging on the new V3 Superchargers is MUCH faster on the new X than on the 2017. On the old X, my strategy on road trips was to stop at Superchargers with a restaurant like a Denny’s, CrackerBarrrel, or Waffle House nearby, because it would take about 45 minutes to eat, and the charge would be complete when I finished my meal.

In the new X, it charged too fast for that! Now, I plug in, go into Wendy’s to use the rest room, order the food, and I get a message on my phone that the car is ready to go at about the same time as I sit down to eat! Lol!!!

I had to rewrap by burger, get a bag from the counter, and take my food out to the car and move it away from the charging spot so I wouldn’t get hit with “idle fees”!

It appears that Tesla has prioritized SuperCharging speed over home charging speed. My first Tesla, a 2012 Model S Performance, used to charge at 80 Amps on my wall charger. It had “duel chargers”, and I had it on a 100 amp circuit. The 2017 X charged at 72 amps. Not a big difference. The 2023 X, however, only charges at 48 amps. I still have it on a 100 amp circuit, it just doesn’t use all the capacity. So, it charges at home slower than my other cars did. But, that’s really not an issue.
I’m thinking that drawing fewer amps is probably safer and could prevent fires from starting due to poorly installed 14-50 receptacles.

 

[Adair Martin]

I had an April 2017 Model X that I swapped for a new X in early August. My incentive was the FSD transfer before the end of September.

Item 3. The old model could not fully stop because it had different motors (inductive instead of the newer permanent magnet). However, I found that once I turned off Creep Mode in the old one (which I did after about two weeks), that Brake Hold was pretty reliable after a complete stop even if I didn't press the brake pedal extra hard. Worked fine for me.

Item 6: Yeh, being an engineer, I miss the details on the energy apps and the convenience of having them on the driver's instrument panel.

My biggest irritation, though, is that I used the mirror fold button on the driver's door a lot. I back into my garage and would leave the mirrors out until I had the rear of the car just inside the garage door before I would fold the outside mirrors (so the "Fold at this location" was not a good option). There is almost no clearance on my garage door with the mirrors out. Similarly, I would wait until I exited the garage before opening the mirrors (even though I could wait until I exceeded 30 MPH for them to deploy automatically). The new car requires THREE actions (press CONTROLS icon, press Fold Mirrors button, press CONTROLS icon again so I can see the backup camera). I use the backup camera because I have painter's tape on the garage floor to position the car so the doors will clear the support posts in the middle of the garage as well as be far enough in so the garage door will close without hitting the front bumper. I was hoping that the Fold Mirrors button could be added to the Apps Launcher bar or even be a selection on the left scroll wheel menu, but no luck yet.

Have you considered entering your garage nose first rather than backing in? When I approach my garage, my mirrors retract automatically before I enter the garage. And then, they stay closed until I’m driving at about 30 mph.

Some people hang a tennis ball from the ceiling that will indicate when to stop when it touches the windshield.

 

[Joey_82]

Screw eye tracking! Screw the new screen. Screw the poorly opening doors.

Seat cups have placement under arm rest AND in console, so plenty of room for drinks and telephones.

Sure I’d like the new metallic magnet motors BUT not that big a deal.

I just did the infotainment upgrade and had the suspension repaired on warranty and had the FSD computer finally installed on my 2017 P100D. Me thinks the 2017 P100D with manual shift stalks, FSD, FUSC, tow hitch, heat package, ventilated seats (a discontinued option), active rear spoiler (another discontinued option) is superior.

I don't disagree - my 2018 P100D feels like a brand new car all around still (damn wish I had the active rear spoiler though lol). But one thing that I find a bit rough compared to newer models is the intel / MCU2 compared to Ryzen. Certain things still feel so slow. I mean like we've been saying, pros and cons all around.

Almost forgot about the newer motors. From several Raven and newer refreshed models I've driven, I noticed that they're all close to ~210Wh/km (sorry, Canadian here lol), whereas I'm hovering around 280Wh/km lifetime.

 

[TOBASH]

The FSD computer / HW 2.0/2.5 cameras are already outdated. The Intel MCU is 2 generations old now. There’s no parts and wiring for retrofitting those any further.

The newer base X comes with the tow hitch, same heated items as the old cold weather package. Ventilated seats are back. The dual permanent magnet motors gets you a comfortable 280-330Wh/mi which is a huge step up. Heat pump for the winter months.

Yes there’s some trade offs but IMO overall the refresh X beats the legacy X any day unless your goal is to defeat autopilot attention monitoring.


(If anything keeping the old HW2.5 computer with radar Autopilot would be the sweet spot. Damn I got one of those as a loaner and that was the best autopilot implementation ever)

Sorry, but no way I agree with you. You realize all my computers and cameras were also upgraded literally a week ago.

No way I would upgrade to a new annoying vehicle at this point in time. “Legacy” kicks ass. The stalk alone and FSD without ocular focus police is priceless. The fact that my doors actually open properly is also priceless. I also like to charge at home at 70 amps and 40mph.

 

[chillaban]

Sorry, but no way I agree with you. You realize all my computers and cameras were also upgraded literally a week ago.

No way I would upgrade to a new annoying vehicle at this point in time. “Legacy” kicks ass. The stalk alone and FSD without ocular focus police is priceless. The fact that my doors actually open properly is also priceless. I also like to charge at home at 70 amps and 40mph.

I am very familiar with the Tesla hardware components and it doesn't matter if they were replaced last week, they were replaced with almost 3 year old components regardless of when they put it in your car. In no way is that remotely close to the Ryzen + HW4 MCU/AP modules that are the latest state of the art.

P.S. I still have a 2017 legacy with the same set of upgrades. You can play sour grapes all you want but there are huge upgrades to the S/X since 2017. Really the main con is the removal of USS.

 

[TOBASH]

I am very familiar with the Tesla hardware components and it doesn't matter if they were replaced last week, they were replaced with almost 3 year old components regardless of when they put it in your car. In no way is that remotely close to the Ryzen + HW4 MCU/AP modules that are the latest state of the art.

P.S. I still have a 2017 legacy with the same set of upgrades. You can play sour grapes all you want but there are huge upgrades to the S/X since 2017. Really the main con is the removal of USS.

Whatever. No way I will upgrade for the aforementioned reasons and many more.

 

[chillaban]

I don't disagree - my 2018 P100D feels like a brand new car all around still (damn wish I had the active rear spoiler though lol). But one thing that I find a bit rough compared to newer models is the intel / MCU2 compared to Ryzen. Certain things still feel so slow. I mean like we've been saying, pros and cons all around.

Almost forgot about the newer motors. From several Raven and newer refreshed models I've driven, I noticed that they're all close to ~210Wh/km (sorry, Canadian here lol), whereas I'm hovering around 280Wh/km lifetime.

Suspension and ride quality too.... The old Smart Air Suspension is quite great but the new adaptive one is far more composed especially on highways and bridges with rough transitions.

 

[Joey_82]

Sorry, but no way I agree with you. You realize all my computers and cameras were also upgraded literally a week ago.

No way I would upgrade to a new annoying vehicle at this point in time. “Legacy” kicks ass. The stalk alone and FSD without ocular focus police is priceless. The fact that my doors actually open properly is also priceless. I also like to charge at home at 70 amps and 40mph.

I am very familiar with the Tesla hardware components and it doesn't matter if they were replaced last week, they were replaced with almost 3 year old components regardless of when they put it in your car. In no way is that remotely close to the Ryzen + HW4 MCU/AP modules that are the latest state of the art.

P.S. I still have a 2017 legacy with the same set of upgrades. You can play sour grapes all you want but there are huge upgrades to the S/X since 2017. Really the main con is the removal of USS.

Gotta say, I like the arguments and features (or lack there of in some instances) for both legacy and refresh models. I love my 2018, the stalks, lack of cabin camera, etc. But at the same time after driving the refresh without stalks, newer centre console, etc, I'd be quite happy with that as well.

Side note: Just had a chance to take a 20 minute drive of both raven performance and 2023 LR. Both were excellent vehicles, and the change in some of these features kind of comes down to personal preference.

I tried to really get a good sense of the difference in seats. Both felt so comfortable, yet quite different in a sense. Hard to describe.

 

[Joey_82]

Suspension and ride quality too.... The old Smart Air Suspension is quite great but the new adaptive one is far more composed especially on highways and bridges with rough transitions.

Coming from a pre-Raven X with 22's, driving both the Raven and refresh with 20's and suspension set to comfort and purposely driving in some rough areas was one of the biggest improvements I found. That part really impressed me.

 

[Adair Martin]

I hate to say it, but it seems like Tesla is giving more attention to upgrading Models 3 and Y than it does to S and X. Of course, it sells many more of the less expensive vehicles, so upgrading those affects more customers.

I believe that eliminating the Sensors was a cost cutting move for Tesla. Saving those costs on the mass market cars makes some sense if there are inexpensive ways to substitute for them. However, the functionality those sensors provide for Model X are unique to it, the door opening feature is one of its unique features. And removing those sensors has lessened the desirability of Model X. Keeping them for the small numbers of Model X’s produced would not have materially affected the bottom line, in my opinion.

I expect their engineers are busy getting the kinks out of the Cybertruck right now. I hope that they will soon be able to get back to the X and get our doors and parking features restored.

 

[chillaban]

Whatever. No way I will upgrade for the aforementioned reasons and many more.

BTW I just wanted to say, I in no way intend to dismiss that you still like your legacy X. It is still an excellent car and you have every right to be a happy camper.

While there are some downgrades in the new post-refresh models, I still strongly feel they are overall significantly more refined and upgraded compared to the legacy S/X in almost every way (minus the vision parking garbage and its fallout)

 

[MXSD]

I still strongly feel they are overall significantly more refined and upgraded compared to the legacy S/X in almost every way (minus the vision parking garbage and its fallout)

Don't forget the useless baby cupholders & front doors basically don't work

 

[bill-dub-ya]

This is an interesting thread, with many excellent points being made for both the older and newer versions of the MX.

While I enjoy many features of my 2020 MX, my concern is that there will be much less support for it in the future, especially with respect to software upgrades. For example, the legacy MX will never see the blind-spot camera views on the portrait-style center screen.

My personal plan is to move to a Cybertruck, unless the pricing doesn't work out for me. If that is the case, I will be seriously considering a refreshed MX.

 

[David29]

Coming from a pre-Raven X with 22's, driving both the Raven and refresh with 20's and suspension set to comfort and purposely driving in some rough areas was one of the biggest improvements I found. That part really impressed me.

As someone who is now shopping for a newer car (now in a 2015 Model S) and has been looking at Model X, I have enjoyed reading this comparison thread. I have decided to focus on the Raven models, because I want the improved efficiency and the advanced air suspension, but do not care for the stalk-less design of the 2023 model.
I do not really "need" a big SUV like the X. The main reason I am considering one is that the low seating position of my Model S is bothering my back and it was suggested that I would benefit from the higher seating in an SUV. I tried the Model Y, which is a good size for my needs, but the ride is too harsh and the seats are awful. Plus I missed the instrument cluster.
So I focused on the Model X. I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable I found the seat in the 2020 Raven model I drove a few days ago. I have also test driven the 2023 Model X twice, because the current pricing is so tempting, but I found the seat to be much less comfortable -- does anyone else notice the difference between the Raven seats and the new ones? I am surprised that the seats are apparently so different, and it might be my imagination or maybe I did not find the "right" position in the 2023.
I am not entirely convinced that the suspension in the Raven is as good as I had expected from what I have read, and I gather the suspension is the same in the 2023 -- feels the same, anyway. It is still nowhere as supple as in the Audi eTron, which has the best ride of the few SUVs I have tried, but the Mercedes EQE is pretty good as well. I am trying to decide if the compromises in software and other aspects of the German cars (or maybe the Koreans -- have not yet tried the Genesis) are worth it to get their superior ride, noise control, and comfort, or whether to stay in the Tesla "ecosystem" at the price of less comfort but familiar software and reliable charging infrastructure..

 

[garrysekhon]

I had an April 2017 Model X that I swapped for a new X in early August. My incentive was the FSD transfer before the end of September.

Item 3. The old model could not fully stop because it had different motors (inductive instead of the newer permanent magnet). However, I found that once I turned off Creep Mode in the old one (which I did after about two weeks), that Brake Hold was pretty reliable after a complete stop even if I didn't press the brake pedal extra hard. Worked fine for me.

Item 6: Yeh, being an engineer, I miss the details on the energy apps and the convenience of having them on the driver's instrument panel.

My biggest irritation, though, is that I used the mirror fold button on the driver's door a lot. I back into my garage and would leave the mirrors out until I had the rear of the car just inside the garage door before I would fold the outside mirrors (so the "Fold at this location" was not a good option). There is almost no clearance on my garage door with the mirrors out. Similarly, I would wait until I exited the garage before opening the mirrors (even though I could wait until I exceeded 30 MPH for them to deploy automatically). The new car requires THREE actions (press CONTROLS icon, press Fold Mirrors button, press CONTROLS icon again so I can see the backup camera). I use the backup camera because I have painter's tape on the garage floor to position the car so the doors will clear the support posts in the middle of the garage as well as be far enough in so the garage door will close without hitting the front bumper. I was hoping that the Fold Mirrors button could be added to the Apps Launcher bar or even be a selection on the left scroll wheel menu, but no luck yet.

Next time just use voice commands like “close mirrors” or “open mirrors“ etc.

 

[David29]

As someone who is now shopping for a newer car (now in a 2015 Model S) and has been looking at Model X, I have enjoyed reading this comparison thread. I have decided to focus on the Raven models, because I want the improved efficiency and the advanced air suspension, but do not care for the stalk-less design of the 2023 model.
I do not really "need" a big SUV like the X. The main reason I am considering one is that the low seating position of my Model S is bothering my back and it was suggested that I would benefit from the higher seating in an SUV. I tried the Model Y, which is a good size for my needs, but the ride is too harsh and the seats are awful. Plus I missed the instrument cluster.
So I focused on the Model X. I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable I found the seat in the 2020 Raven model I drove a few days ago. I have also test driven the 2023 Model X twice, because the current pricing is so tempting, but I found the seat to be much less comfortable -- does anyone else notice the difference between the Raven seats and the new ones? I am surprised that the seats are apparently so different, and it might be my imagination or maybe I did not find the "right" position in the 2023.
I am not entirely convinced that the suspension in the Raven is as good as I had expected from what I have read, and I gather the suspension is the same in the 2023 -- feels the same, anyway. It is still nowhere as supple as in the Audi eTron, which has the best ride of the few SUVs I have tried, but the Mercedes EQE is pretty good as well. I am trying to decide if the compromises in software and other aspects of the German cars (or maybe the Koreans -- have not yet tried the Genesis) are worth it to get their superior ride, noise control, and comfort, or whether to stay in the Tesla "ecosystem" at the price of less comfort but familiar software and reliable charging infrastructure..

Just to follow up -- I had a second test drive in the 2020 Raven Model X that I was looking at, and decided it is simply too noisy, much noisier than my old Model S (which I already thought to be too noisy). Plus the driver's seat, which I had found to be surprisingly comfortable on the previous ride, was not that comfortable, perhaps because I had a longer ride. So I said "No thanks" to the seller and have decided that is the last time I will consider a Model X. I guess I have been kidding myself that it would work.
So, eTron anyone? Or maybe a Genesis? The search for a comfortable, quiet car goes on....

 

[chillaban]

Just to follow up -- I had a second test drive in the 2020 Raven Model X that I was looking at, and decided it is simply too noisy, much noisier than my old Model S (which I already thought to be too noisy). Plus the driver's seat, which I had found to be surprisingly comfortable on the previous ride, was not that comfortable, perhaps because I had a longer ride. So I said "No thanks" to the seller and have decided that is the last time I will consider a Model X. I guess I have been kidding myself that it would work.
So, eTron anyone? Or maybe a Genesis? The search for a comfortable, quiet car goes on....

Honestly I don’t think the ride quality and comfort of any Tesla comes close to the e-tron or EQS. That’s simply not their forte. But right now if you plan on DCFC road trips, the non Tesla DCFC experience simply isn’t realistic for a lot of trips and even when the day comes when the supercharger network truly opens up the pricing of it is looking to be rather steep.

I think you’ll want to consider what you plan on using the car for.

BTW I think a lot of the seat comfort is like mattress shopping. The thing that feels most comfortable at first is the thing that will have your back in agony 8 hours later. I find the 23 seats strike a perfect balance between soft yet supportive.