9 Years Gone

[tomas]

One year away from a great Zeppelin tune…

My 2012 S just flopped over 60k miles and is now nearly 9 years old… causing me to reflect on what I was thinking when I signed up for this hayride. So, here are 7 things I can recall:

1) loved the idea of having an electric ride and supported the sustainability mission. Still do.
2) even though I placed reservation before knowing what it would look like, I loved the lines (except for the nose cone), and loved the minimalist interior. Still do, and the nose cone has grown on me. To me, the original S is one of those timeless designs that still looks modern a decade later, and still will in another decade. people still stop me as I’m walking to/from car to tell me what a beautiful car it is. Sycamore brown with PPF, custom wheels.
3) was concerned about spending nearly $100k on the first mass production car from a new company. Would they last or go bust? They have lasted so far.
4) was concerned about battery. Would it last, or would I need to replace at huge cost? I know a few have had problems, but I’m still charging to (and getting!) a healthy 250 miles rated range at 100% (vs 265 new).
5) was concerned about range. What would I REALLY get? Was car really viable outside of daily city driving? Well, lifetime WH/MI is 314. Summer and winter. Driven mainly in northern Il and WI. YMMV
6) was concerned whether the promised supercharger network would materialize, and then whether it would really be feasible for distance travel. It has. I have charge limited A battery, but I guess everyone’s is now. Hasn’t ruined my trips, I’ve enjoyed the breaks.
7) would it be reliable, or constantly in the shop? And could Tesla provide service? I’ve had my one “grinding noise” DU replacement, contractor replacement, EMMC replacement, one air shock replacement, all under warranty, and all done promptly… most with Tesla loaners. I’ve regretted buying 8 years of prepaid annual service because even Tesla realized it was totally unnecessary. Seemed like good insurance at the time..,

So, all in all, I guess a pretty good success!

 

[XCare EV]

One year away from a great Zeppelin tune…

My 2012 S just flopped over 60k miles and is now nearly 9 years old… causing me to reflect on what I was thinking when I signed up for this hayride. So, here are 7 things I can recall:

1) loved the idea of having an electric ride and supported the sustainability mission. Still do.
2) even though I placed reservation before knowing what it would look like, I loved the lines (except for the nose cone), and loved the minimalist interior. Still do, and the nose cone has grown on me. To me, the original S is one of those timeless designs that still looks modern a decade later, and still will in another decade. people still stop me as I’m walking to/from car to tell me what a beautiful car it is. Sycamore brown with PPF, custom wheels.
3) was concerned about spending nearly $100k on the first mass production car from a new company. Would they last or go bust? They have lasted so far.
4) was concerned about battery. Would it last, or would I need to replace at huge cost? I know a few have had problems, but I’m still charging to (and getting!) a healthy 250 miles rated range at 100% (vs 265 new).
5) was concerned about range. What would I REALLY get? Was car really viable outside of daily city driving? Well, lifetime WH/MI is 314. Summer and winter. Driven mainly in northern Il and WI. YMMV
6) was concerned whether the promised supercharger network would materialize, and then whether it would really be feasible for distance travel. It has. I have charge limited A battery, but I guess everyone’s is now. Hasn’t ruined my trips, I’ve enjoyed the breaks.
7) would it be reliable, or constantly in the shop? And could Tesla provide service? I’ve had my one “grinding noise” DU replacement, contractor replacement, EMMC replacement, one air shock replacement, all under warranty, and all done promptly… most with Tesla loaners. I’ve regretted buying 8 years of prepaid annual service because even Tesla realized it was totally unnecessary. Seemed like good insurance at the time..,

So, all in all, I guess a pretty good success!

What a great read! Thanks for your insight, and for having the guts to invest in a nascent company with an amazing vision! I spend many years at Tesla, and often wondered whether it would all pay off. (hint: it has!). Be well!

 

[tomas]

PS, what it looks like right now:

 

[JimBob 909]

PS, what it looks like right now:

View attachment 718403

Your car look awesome. Congrats on taking a chance with Tesla. You paved the way for us newcommers. Thanks.

 

[TSteve]

I love reading stories like these. Most people look at a nine year old car and think about getting rid of it.

 

[garrett5688]

At less than 7k miles a year, you sure didn’t save much gas money

 

[ev-now]

At less than 7k miles a year, you sure didn’t save much gas money

Same here - about 10K per year, but such enjoyable miles (mostly for my wife, wish I could justify another one now but waiting on Cybertruck).

 

[SBK2013]

I agree. My MS is 2013 and has over 140K miles on it. Had a few warranty problems but still the best car I ever owned. I've thought about upgrading, but it's paid off and still runs great so why bother. My only regret is not buying the same amount Tesla stock as I spend on the car. If I had, I'd be retired.

 

[tomas]

Yeah, I didn’t buy the stock… was offered some founders shares at IPO. Oops!!! But my wife did a few years later and she gives me a dollar now and then

 

[AMPd]

I miss those colors, the brown, green and my favorite the old dark blue.

 

[bareyb]

2013 owner here. Mine only has about 48k miles on it, lol, it looks good as new. Have always charged the battery to 60% @ 30 Amps and Battery hasn't deteriorated much at all. I get about 5 miles less than I did when new. I did buy $5k worth of TSLA when I got it, to "help the company" and it's now worth enough to buy a new Model S Plaid. My only regret is I didn't buy more.

 

[David29]

One year away from a great Zeppelin tune…

My 2012 S just flopped over 60k miles and is now nearly 9 years old… causing me to reflect on what I was thinking when I signed up for this hayride. So, here are 7 things I can recall:

1) loved the idea of having an electric ride and supported the sustainability mission. Still do.
2) even though I placed reservation before knowing what it would look like, I loved the lines (except for the nose cone), and loved the minimalist interior. Still do, and the nose cone has grown on me. To me, the original S is one of those timeless designs that still looks modern a decade later, and still will in another decade. people still stop me as I’m walking to/from car to tell me what a beautiful car it is. Sycamore brown with PPF, custom wheels.
3) was concerned about spending nearly $100k on the first mass production car from a new company. Would they last or go bust? They have lasted so far.
4) was concerned about battery. Would it last, or would I need to replace at huge cost? I know a few have had problems, but I’m still charging to (and getting!) a healthy 250 miles rated range at 100% (vs 265 new).
5) was concerned about range. What would I REALLY get? Was car really viable outside of daily city driving? Well, lifetime WH/MI is 314. Summer and winter. Driven mainly in northern Il and WI. YMMV
6) was concerned whether the promised supercharger network would materialize, and then whether it would really be feasible for distance travel. It has. I have charge limited A battery, but I guess everyone’s is now. Hasn’t ruined my trips, I’ve enjoyed the breaks.
7) would it be reliable, or constantly in the shop? And could Tesla provide service? I’ve had my one “grinding noise” DU replacement, contractor replacement, EMMC replacement, one air shock replacement, all under warranty, and all done promptly… most with Tesla loaners. I’ve regretted buying 8 years of prepaid annual service because even Tesla realized it was totally unnecessary. Seemed like good insurance at the time..,

So, all in all, I guess a pretty good success!

Excellent, positive report! Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[David29]

I miss those colors, the brown, green and my favorite the old dark blue.

I like seeing the old colors for the novelty, and they can look lovely on a sunny day (although the green one I saw recently was very difficult to distinguish from black -- I had to really look closely to be sure of the color!). But the color I would really want to buy is the plain silver. Tesla had a prettier silver than many other cars, amazingly enough, and they look good, especially with a contrasting sunroof.

 

[tm1v2]

It has been good times! We bought our early 2013 P85 in 2014, way later than you @tomas, but still feels like early days now...no autopilot or talk of FSD, no dual motors, just a handful of superchargers in our whole state.

I remember my wife taking us to a Model S test drive event, before they were even selling the S if I recall correctly. It was clearly a quirky car, but it was a legit, desirable, and practical car - a whole new era for EV. Zero sales pressure too, seemed like mostly engineers having good-natured fun just showing off what they built and answering questions.

I remember getting a factory tour signup in the early S production days, before we even bought our S. We never toured a car factory before or since, it was very cool.

I remember buying our S. Used, but only a year old, still easily the most expensive car I or my wife had ever bought. We tested the 60, 85, P85, tested coil springs and air suspension, and tested some nice ICE cars too, though we never considered any ICE in the S price range, to us only this truly unique new EV could possibly be worth so much to us. The S was the best car we tested, and also the perfect compromise - she refused to drive a manual, and I hated automatics. Solution? Single speed!

We agreed the S would be our only car, and we sold our ICE cars soon after. We jumped into EV with both feet in, no testing the waters or wading around the kiddie pool. We went 7 years with only the S, before a buying a new M3P as a second car just last month.

I remember when service was at the factory and you could drive right up to the north side of the building - just go straight at the stop sign. I remember when they reorganized, moving the service bays to somewhere deeper inside, and customers had to take a ramp from the front of the building up to the side. You couldn't see your car being worked on anymore. Somehow that factory reorg felt like the beginning of the end of presenting a small company feel to customers.

Service center visits...lots of service center visits. Definitely a beta car. They took good care of us in those days though. Lots and lots of things big and small were replaced under warranty on ours, often with newer, hopefully more reliable revisions or rebuilds. (We're well out of extended warranty and drivetrain warranty now!)

I remember road trips in the early days. Mild hypermiling on cold evenings before there were superchargers everywhere along the interstates, so we wouldn't have to detour. Crazy queues at the superchargers on Thanksgiving travel days. Eyeing the battery swap station...when will they let us try it? (Answer: Never! ) Finding huge rocket parts being delivered while charging at SpaceX / Tesla Design HQ...I hear that's closed to the public now.

We bought the S to be a family car. And it's been an amazing one! I couldn't possibly count how many times we just let our then-baby nap while we all relaxed the A/C. No noxious fumes, no obnoxious idling engine, just comfort and convenience everywhere we went.

And the cargo space! From the huge frunk (RWD S is best there!) to the huge hatch to the under-floor storage...we've put it all to heavy use. As the kid became a toddler and preschooler, if we weren't packing big, his bike was always in the frunk, both wheels on and ready to go. Each of his first 3(!) bikes fit there wheels on.

Our 2013 S P85 chapter isn't done, but we're starting on a 2021 M3P chapter anyways. The M3P is just small and nimble enough to bring me back to sporty cars as a hobby. I never considered modifying the S, but I ordered suspension goodies for the M3P before even picking up the car. It's going to be fun too...

We considered going ICE for our 2nd car, and tested a few, then realized neither of us wants to be stuck driving the ICE. (Wife: "You know if we get a gas car you'll have to do all the fillups, right?") So another EV it had to be. We tested several EVs too. There are some legitimately appealing non-Tesla EVs now, we came really close to buying one. The supercharger network, range, software, and some other features kept us in the Tesla fold for now though. Competition is good, I'm excited to see what the future brings.

 

[tm1v2]

Yeah, I didn’t buy the stock… was offered some founders shares at IPO. Oops!!! But my wife did a few years later and she gives me a dollar now and then

Ahhh! Each time I bought a Tesla, should've put the money into TSLA instead. Thankfully my wife is also smarter than me and bought some TSLA many years ago.

 

[Plug Me In]

I will be at 9 years next March. 112k miles with lots of family road trips and supercharging. My battery is showing its age and max charge is about 210 miles (273 when new). I haven’t regretted a single minute and still love the car. I went all in with 8 year extended warranty and service plan due to the new technology. I definitely used it and have had all kinds of warranty repairs but the car has never left me stranded and the service has always been hassle free. I’m guessing that I might have been one of the last people to have loaner cars delivered to them for service.

Only real regrets is I didn’t get the pano roof to save costs and they were a little glitchy on the first few models. I have the textile seats as well which I like better than the leather but they didn’t come with seat heaters. On the plus side, my center screen was replaced and came with LTE card and I’m pretty sure premium sound.

When I first got the car, road trips were truly an adventure. Only one Supercharger on any of my road trip routes and lots of charging at RV campgrounds, dryer outlets, etc. I spent a lot of time on the PlugShare app. Our first family beach trip, we got there with 6 miles range and I paid an RV campground owner $25 to charge the car overnight. Now it’s pretty much hop in the car and go.

I bought stock at $27 when I ordered the car, promising myself that I would sell when it hit $500-1000. I assumed this would be after Model 3 hit production. After about a year of Model 3 and the stock wasn’t moving much I lost patience and sold around $350-400, a few months before it split and exploded. Still kicking myself for that one but take solace in that it paid for most of the Model S.

I’m 80% sure I’ll get a new a Tesla next summer. Most likely a Model Y , maybe a lightly used Model S. Alternatively I might replace the battery but I am a little nervous about wear and tear and service costs adding up.