A little help on a used Model S

[sotagear]

I won't bore you since I have a feeling this is an overused type of thread but I have just rented a Tesla from a guy that works at Tesla Motors in Fremont today and he said I should stay away from anything used that has or a P before the number (Performance). He said that was a larger rear motor and I would have problems with it, so stay away from that, and anything with a + after the number as well. According to him I would be spending a lot of money on service with a Performance model in the future.

Just wondering if his opinion is worth paying attention to before I jump into any number of 2014 and 2015 used Model S's out there locally. He is a very cool fellow and has no stake in his info to me.

If there's a thread I can be directed to about any of this, please let me know.
Cheers,
-Dave

 

[CinRedMan]

Shocked there hasn't been any reply from "P" owners. But, with that said, most "high-performance" cars would come with similar warnings. In short, this is based on the fundamental assumption that the owner is going to EXERCISE the performance characteristics...A LOT!

In other words, "hard" miles, aggressive driving, etc. With that said, hoping a few "P" owners speak too. Of course, one should have the ability to pull all the driving data, for the life of the car, from the borg!

 

[jaguar36]

I won't bore you since I have a feeling this is an overused type of thread but I have just rented a Tesla from a guy that works at Tesla Motors in Fremont today and he said I should stay away from anything used that has or a P before the number (Performance). He said that was a larger rear motor and I would have problems with it, so stay away from that, and anything with a + after the number as well. According to him I would be spending a lot of money on service with a Performance model in the future.

There isn't anything inherently wrong with the P motor (and lots of the non-P RWD S's have the same larger motor). The + indicates that it has the 'sport' suspension, which was also included in early P85Ds even though they didn't get the +. Nothing wrong with reliability of that suspension either.

However it is pretty likely that the P cars are driven harder than the regular cars, which may cause more maintence issues in the future.

 

[demundus]

I had an 85 base, with a P85D motor swap in, that someone graciously helped me unlock. I have not had issues yet, and im 40K miles on the motor (116K on the car in total). I will say that BEFORE that swap, I had TWO additional base 85 rears put in that failed under warranty... so the opposite of what he said.

I've heard the + suspension only caused more problems with camber and wear, nothing more or less.

 

[sotagear]

Well, being new to this forum, I have no idea how active it is, but I would have expected a lot of P and + owners to chime in as well. Of course this is not "my" opinion, since there's absolutely no way I would know if this info was correct, just passing on what this Tesla employee told me to open it up for potential discussion.

As it turns out I went forward with buying and receiving a new Tesla on Saturday, so I'm no longer looking for used. However, I did appreciate his spin on trying to help me make a more informed decision, taken from a fellow that's been a supervisor on the parts side of Tesla for almost 3 years.

 

[demundus]

Well, being new to this forum, I have no idea how active it is, but I would have expected a lot of P and + owners to chime in as well. Of course this is not "my" opinion, since there's absolutely no way I would know if this info was correct, just passing on what this Tesla employee told me to open it up for potential discussion.

As it turns out I went forward with buying and receiving a new Tesla on Saturday, so I'm no longer looking for used. However, I did appreciate his spin on trying to help me make a more informed decision, taken from a fellow that's been a supervisor on the parts side of Tesla for almost 3 years.

I bet his life is a living hell, parts shortages are an ugly side effect of anything Tesla.

 

[BIG ACH]

I had an 85 base, with a P85D motor swap in, that someone graciously helped me unlock. I have not had issues yet, and im 40K miles on the motor (116K on the car in total). I will say that BEFORE that swap, I had TWO additional base 85 rears put in that failed under warranty... so the opposite of what he said.

I've heard the + suspension only caused more problems with camber and wear, nothing more or less.

Can we PM - I have so many questions

 

[demundus]

Can we PM - I have so many questions

Sure, but I can't help you do it, and the person who did it doesn't do this anymore. Also highly unlikely you have the configuration for it.