Buying my 1st Tesla

[John E.]

While earlier versions of the 90 had problems with degradation, later versions do not. My S 90D (which I'll be selling soon) only has about 2.5% degradation after over 2 years of driving.

Personally, I wouldn't get anything without AP if you take road trips. If you don't do road trips, at least look for a car with TACC. I would only get a car with AP 2 or newer. We had an AP1 car but immediately changed to an AP2 when it came out. While it took a while to get a lot of the AP features enabled (and we are still waiting on other functionality), they are finally arriving and AP2+ hardware has the ability to receive new functionality. AP 1 cars will never have the same AP functionality available to AP2+ cars.

As for the "new fascia" being worth it or not, it's up to you. I purposely held off on ordering my Model S until we knew about the "facelift" back in 2016. Some people love the old front end. Others hate it.

If buying a used car from a non-dealer, you can still buy an extended service agreement directly from Tesla that is good for 2 or 4 years, assuming the original factory warranty hasn't expired yet.

Also, only cars ordered before 1/15/17 will have free Supercharging that will transfer to the new owner.

IMO, I would get a late 2016 AP2 S 90D with free Supercharging. Oh wait...I did!

I just looked at EV-CPO side and there are almost zero cars available with AP2.....what is the main difference between AP1 and AP2?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I just looked at EV-CPO side and there are almost zero cars available with AP2.....what is the main difference between AP1 and AP2?

AP1 has 1 camera. It's pretty much reached its peak. AP2 has 8 cameras, better ultrasonic sensors and the autopilot computer is 40x as fast as the AP1 computer. They keep adding new features to AP2 and AP2.5. Navigate on Autopilot came out recently and it can suggest lane changes on the highway, take highway interchanges and exits on its own. Currently, it prompts the driver to confirm the lane changes but in the coming weeks, it will be able to do them automatically.

AP2 can also be upgraded to AP3 if you purchase FSD (Full Self Driving) which will include an autopilot computer upgrade. It will also allow the car to recognize stop lights, traffic signs, etc. and be able to drive itself. AP1 will never have FSD or other Enhanced Autopilot features.

With that said, I just took a deposit this week on the AP2 S90D that I have listed for sale. Sale is pending.

 

[David29]

@MorrisonHiker

I called Tesla finance just yesterday, and they told me that the free supercharging was ONLY for the owner, and if that owner sold their car, it would NOT transfer to the new owner.

Good example of some people at Tesla either being uninformed or not being clear enough. earlier cars had transferable free supercharging (it stayed with the car) but cars after a certain date (early 2017, possibly?) had free supercharging only for the original owner, as you were told.

 

[commasign]

Good example of some people at Tesla either being uninformed or not being clear enough. earlier cars had transferable free supercharging (it stayed with the car) but cars after a certain date (early 2017, possibly?) had free supercharging only for the original owner, as you were told.

Correct. January 2017 was the cutoff. Before January 2017 the free supercharging is transferable. After January 2017 it is not transferable.

 

[John E.]

@MorrisonHiker @David29 @commasign

Thank you for adding good info to the thread. I guess my main comment is, if AP2 is that good, and few CPO's have it, you then have to do a new Tesla?!?

 

[commasign]

@MorrisonHiker @David29 @commasign

Thank you for adding good info to the thread. I guess my main comment is, if AP2 is that good, and few CPO's have it, you then have to do a new Tesla?!?

I think a lot of CPOs are end of lease returns. So we’re not quite in that window yet since AP2 was released October 2016 you would see 3 year lease returns towards the end of this year and more early next year.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

@MorrisonHiker @David29 @commasign

Thank you for adding good info to the thread. I guess my main comment is, if AP2 is that good, and few CPO's have it, you then have to do a new Tesla?!?

Tesla has them but they get bought up immediately since they are in more demand than AP1 cars or cars without autopilot. You can also buy from private sellers.

If you can wait, I'm sure you'll be seeing more AP2 cars listed on Tesla's site (as @commasign mentioned) in the coming months, especially once the AP3 hardware is officially announced. Remember that AP2+ cars can be upgraded to AP3 according to Elon, if the FSD package has been purchased. Right now, it doesn't make much sense to purchase FSD since there are no FSD features. You might want to purchase FSD to lock in the price and be guaranteed an upgrade to AP3. We've bought it for two of our Teslas but not the others. For the second one, we had to order FSD "off-menu". We still have the option to order FSD on the other cars, but at a higher cost than it was originally offered at.

 

[HankLloydRight]

AP1 has 1 camera.

AP1 has 1 camera and front facing radar.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

AP1 has 1 camera and front facing radar.

Well they both have radars. AP1 also has ultrasonics but they aren't as good as AP2+ ultrasonics. I was just listing the differences. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Savage27]

This has been a very informative thread. I have/had a lot of the same questions as OP and majority were addressed here. Thanks to all!!