Canadian Model S and X Owner Thoughts...

[TrevTremaine]

I charged at the South Barrie charger on Sunday driving back from Muskoka and *may* have encountered yet another problem with my car (or maybe it was the chargers). There are 8 stalls and I plugged in to the first stall (sorry didn’t get the number). Plugged in, walked away but something told me to check the app. Realized I wasn’t charging. Went back to the car to find an error message. Something like “can’t DC fast charge”. Tried it a few times and same thing. Moved to the next charger immediately beside mine and I got the same message. Now, I start to panic a bit. I’ve got 80km in range and about 90km to home. I figure I will move the car one more time and hit the second last charger and it works. Whew!!! Felt like I dodged a real bullet but I sent in another service request to figure out if it was the car or charger because I will be driving to NYC in a month and if I can’t DC charge, I will have to take the wife’s car.

I know this is probably something you did, but if the charge cable isn't properly seated, it can give this message. Might also want to reboot if all else fails. Check the handle of the charger and make sure that the connectors inside look good. It may be the charger itself, but that's doubtful - they were all being used last week without issue.

I guess give it a go closer to home in the meantime before your trip to NYC at a couple of chargers and see if you continue to encounter it. Might warrant a look over by a Tesla mechanic.

 

[Vawlkus]

2017 Model X owner here.

I will never buy anything BUT another Tesla, and I already know what my next vehicle will be (CT of course).

I have no serious quibbles with Tesla service, even out where we still don’t have a dedicated Tesla service center yet. The Ranger service is still a real draw for me, and I get along well with the techs that roam my area.

Tesla is not perfect, anyone that disputes that is an idiot or a troll. That said, a lot of the negativity towards Tesla & Musk is just media BS IMHO.

 

[wayner]

I have a 2104 MS that was delivered in the first week of 2015. I really like the car but have had niggling issues, three of the door handles have had to be replaced because they didn't present. I now have "bubbles" appearing on the dashboard which also seems to be a common issue.

My service experiences have been ok, but they have gone downhill since my first experiences in 2015. I was also a Lexus owner previously and Lexus does a better job of providing a superior service experience. I think Tesla needs to up their game in this area.

I am happy to keep my car for now, my next purchase will likely be a Model Y, at least choosing from the current lineup.

I don't use Superchargers very often as I don't drive outside of my local area very often. I probably only use SCs 2 or 3 times per year, despite my free Supercharging for life. But this is one thing that would keep me from buying a non-Tesla EV - the fast charging infrastructure isn't there yet unless you own a Tesla.

 

[Struja]

I know this is probably something you did, but if the charge cable isn't properly seated, it can give this message. Might also want to reboot if all else fails. Check the handle of the charger and make sure that the connectors inside look good. It may be the charger itself, but that's doubtful - they were all being used last week without issue.

I guess give it a go closer to home in the meantime before your trip to NYC at a couple of chargers and see if you continue to encounter it. Might warrant a look over by a Tesla mechanic.

Yeah, the car itself actually says "check connection" so I probably checked it two or three time on each of the first two stalls. When I got to the third, there was a bit of delay and then it started. I also went through all the typical Tesla rebooting solutions as well but they didn't help (at least not at the first two stalls). I've already contacted Tesla service via the app and have an appointment for Thursday. I'm pretty sure this is my 6th visit for 2022.

 

[Struja]

2017 Model X owner here.

I will never buy anything BUT another Tesla, and I already know what my next vehicle will be (CT of course).

I have no serious quibbles with Tesla service, even out where we still don’t have a dedicated Tesla service center yet. The Ranger service is still a real draw for me, and I get along well with the techs that roam my area.

Tesla is not perfect, anyone that disputes that is an idiot or a troll. That said, a lot of the negativity towards Tesla & Musk is just media BS IMHO.

My experience with the Rangers coming to my home was much the same. I thought they were all competent and efficient. Unfortunately, I haven't had a "home" service in about 2 years (even though I've had at least 3 scheduled and changed at the last minute).

 

[coolmanfever]

how do you buy tesla's extended warranty for car? only can buy at time of delivery?

 

[brulaz]

Yeah, the car itself actually says "check connection" so I probably checked it two or three time on each of the first two stalls. When I got to the third, there was a bit of delay and then it started. I also went through all the typical Tesla rebooting solutions as well but they didn't help (at least not at the first two stalls). I've already contacted Tesla service via the app and have an appointment for Thursday. I'm pretty sure this is my 6th visit for 2022.

This happened to me at a pair of chargers in North Barrie. They are connected in pairs apparently. I know it wasn't me as after I moved another Tesla had the same problem. All other chargers were working fine. I was later told there's a phone number on the chargers you can call to report the problem.

 

[Struja]

how do you buy tesla's extended warranty for car? only can buy at time of delivery?

My understanding it you can only buy it at the time of purchase and on NEW vehicles. Mine was a certified pre-owned, purchased direct from Tesla but not eligible for the extended warranty.

 

[Struja]

This happened to me at a pair of chargers in North Barrie. They are connected in pairs apparently. I know it wasn't me as after I moved another Tesla had the same problem. All other chargers were working fine. I was later told there's a phone number on the chargers you can call to report the problem.

This is really good to know. Thanks.

I'm having another bad day with Tesla today, so this makes me feel somewhat better. I was scheduled for service today (through the app) for 3 potential problems...

1. My AC works intermittently (waiting on a part)
2. DC fast charging not working
3. My main screen is now rebooting on its own about once every 3-4 days (figured this might be part of the EMMC recall - they still haven't got to me).

I made my appointment for 7:45am, not thinking anything of it. I got nothing back from Tesla through the app, other than to confirm the appointment. No estimate, no messages, nothing. I show up this morning and had NO idea they didn't open until 8:30am and there is a sign that says "drop keys off in dropbox".

Well, okay, but how do I get home? How do I get to work after getting home? What about the clients I have scheduled to meet? I mean, I assume I could have got myself an UBER, but why should I or at the least, where is the f***ing communication from Tesla? Like I said... I must have lost my mind that I continue to love my car.

 

[Struja]

I finally had my service appointment yesterday and I have a few interesting observations. Let's start with the good...

After my complaints the service experience was excellent. I got a loaner car (2017 Model X 90D). I was amazed because I felt this car was LIGHT years more advanced than mine. I always thought giving Tesla loaners out was a good idea (my wife wants to replace her RX with possibly an X so having it for the full day was a great dress rehearsal). Personally, I HATE SUV's but I've never driven one that drove as nice as this Model X drives. I think it drives leaps and bounds better than my wife's current RX (which is a 2016).

They addressed all of my current problems, so hopefully this was my 7th and last visit of 2022. I had the eMMC recall done and my screen seems to be more responsive and faster...is that a consequence of the repair? If so, a marked improvement.

Areas to work on...

As I was waiting for my loaner, a guy comes in (much like I did last week) and says "I've been waiting outside for 3 hours, why do you guys give a 5am appointment if you don't open until 8:30am and don't advise that it is simply a drop off service".

This is exactly the same complaint I had made a week earlier and when I spoke to the service manager she said "we are working on addressing this" but I see a week later they've done nothing. This is simply poor communication and so easily fixed, I don't get it.

My Model X loaner... as I said before, there were SOOOO many things to love about this car. It felt was more advanced than mine (with Navigate on Autopilot, air suspension etc..). However, this car looked pretty abused (that's not Tesla's fault), but maybe some X owners can answer some of these questions for me...

1. This car had a third row and we kept getting warning about the third row not latching? We checked them several times and couldn't fix it. Is that normal?

2. Loved the falcon wing doors but I noticed the paint on the interior of the door had been peeled right off from what looked like was door friction. Is that a thing?

3. Rattles, rattles and more rattles. This could be related to how poorly loaners are treated (which is a real shame). I try to treat a loaner no different than my own car but you can see this thing has been pretty beaten up, but what stuck me is that I was driving this 200k car and it reminded me of my wife's OLD Pontiac Firebird (yes, my wife had one of those back in the day). The amount of rattling noises drove me nuts. So, while there is no doubt this thing drives way better than my wife's car from a fit and finish perspective, it is light years behind her Lexus (keep in mind, that Lexus has been pampered though).

 

[TrevTremaine]

I finally had my service appointment yesterday and I have a few interesting observations. Let's start with the good...

After my complaints the service experience was excellent. I got a loaner car (2017 Model X 90D). I was amazed because I felt this car was LIGHT years more advanced than mine. I always thought giving Tesla loaners out was a good idea (my wife wants to replace her RX with possibly an X so having it for the full day was a great dress rehearsal). Personally, I HATE SUV's but I've never driven one that drove as nice as this Model X drives. I think it drives leaps and bounds better than my wife's current RX (which is a 2016).

They addressed all of my current problems, so hopefully this was my 7th and last visit of 2022. I had the eMMC recall done and my screen seems to be more responsive and faster...is that a consequence of the repair? If so, a marked improvement.

Areas to work on...

As I was waiting for my loaner, a guy comes in (much like I did last week) and says "I've been waiting outside for 3 hours, why do you guys give a 5am appointment if you don't open until 8:30am and don't advise that it is simply a drop off service".

This is exactly the same complaint I had made a week earlier and when I spoke to the service manager she said "we are working on addressing this" but I see a week later they've done nothing. This is simply poor communication and so easily fixed, I don't get it.

My Model X loaner... as I said before, there were SOOOO many things to love about this car. It felt was more advanced than mine (with Navigate on Autopilot, air suspension etc..). However, this car looked pretty abused (that's not Tesla's fault), but maybe some X owners can answer some of these questions for me...

1. This car had a third row and we kept getting warning about the third row not latching? We checked them several times and couldn't fix it. Is that normal?

2. Loved the falcon wing doors but I noticed the paint on the interior of the door had been peeled right off from what looked like was door friction. Is that a thing?

3. Rattles, rattles and more rattles. This could be related to how poorly loaners are treated (which is a real shame). I try to treat a loaner no different than my own car but you can see this thing has been pretty beaten up, but what stuck me is that I was driving this 200k car and it reminded me of my wife's OLD Pontiac Firebird (yes, my wife had one of those back in the day). The amount of rattling noises drove me nuts. So, while there is no doubt this thing drives way better than my wife's car from a fit and finish perspective, it is light years behind her Lexus (keep in mind, that Lexus has been pampered though).

I'll answer

#2) Misalignment has been noted that causes this. Tesla also has put PPF or something similar to help prevent this which happened (I think) on a specific model year.
#3) Model Xs have been noted for creaks, groans and rattles. Thus far, my new one hasn't but then again - it's new. Fit and finish has improved with the refresh, but it's still not perfect.

The refresh is better overall, although I still wish for simple things like turn signal and gear selector stalks and a proper horn placement. That 2017 you borrowed doesn't even have the Raven suspension, which is MUCH better.

 

[Struja]

I'll answer

#2) Misalignment has been noted that causes this. Tesla also has put PPF or something similar to help prevent this which happened (I think) on a specific model year.
#3) Model Xs have been noted for creaks, groans and rattles. Thus far, my new one hasn't but then again - it's new. Fit and finish has improved with the refresh, but it's still not perfect.

The refresh is better overall, although I still wish for simple things like turn signal and gear selector stalks and a proper horn placement. That 2017 you borrowed doesn't even have the Raven suspension, which is MUCH better.

Thanks TT. I didn’t realize there was new suspension with the Ravens. Getting this X was so helpful because I see that Tesla is definitely improving their cars. I hope that continues. My wife and I often joke that crossing her car’s reliability with everything else about mine would make the perfect car. A Tesla with Lexus level reliability. That would be something to behold.

 

[TrevTremaine]

Thanks TT. I didn’t realize there was new suspension with the Ravens. Getting this X was so helpful because I see that Tesla is definitely improving their cars. I hope that continues. My wife and I often joke that crossing her car’s reliability with everything else about mine would make the perfect car. A Tesla with Lexus level reliability. That would be something to behold.

The issue with reliability is that it's always a moving target. I think that my 2016 Model S would have held up much worse than the 2017. In turn, when I had a 2015 Model S, it was a major step backward in so many ways - starting with horrendously bad seats.

I think Tesla is working towards reliability, but like anything you buy that's packed with electronic/servo convenience items, it's eventually bound to break. The next part is whether it's relatively cost effective and easy to repair in combination with warranty coverage. I've owned cars from other manufacturers, and a key point is more to do with manufacturer support. For instance, my BMW 5 series was an utter nightmare but BMW did everything in their powers to fix what they could - most of it under warranty. Comparatively, my Ford Explorer turned out to be equally bad in some respects, but instead many of the problems turned into customer costs. In the end, I did not keep either vehicle simply because they were trending to be expensive after the majority of the warranties ran out. It's hard to see where Tesla fits in this since they are a relatively young company and a majority of their vehicles are less than a decade old. Tesla has revised the motors to make them more durable, although other parts linked to suspension and such are certainly questionable (such as the acceleration shimmy issue). Interestingly, Tesla is still the only manufacturer that allows for upgrading systems in order to keep the overall vehicle "fresh". Time will tell the longevity issues - probably in the next few years (I'm thinking by around 2025 as the fleet starts to get to that 8 year mark).

 

[Laughing Hippo]

Hi there, Model X 75D 2016 owner here with MCU2 upgrade.
Loved the car, but as you can see, it's an early build. Was in the service center probably around a dozen times or more, had mobile technicians coming over at least 10 times as well. Despite all of the minor flaws, I have enjoyed the Model X. I have barley used the Supercharger and or other fast charger and have always charged the car up to only 80%. But guess what, the HV battery died all of a sudden. Lucky for me it is still under warranty, but in 2 and a half years it will be out of warranty. The price if it were out of warranty? 20k. I was planning to keep the car even after the 8 year warranty because I was certain that I kept the battery in good condition, but all the precaution is not worth it. My other two ice cars I know for a fact that because I do regular maintenance I will not be charged with a 20k bill even after they come out of warranty. Do you know how much warranty tesla will give you after they change the 20k HV battery after warranty? 1 year. My car is currently in the service center waiting for a new (refurbished) HV battery for 8 weeks. 8 weeks. The stress with the falcon wing doors, the MCU crashing after every update, scroll on the wheel breaking, and so many other things were still manageable, but after the HV battery dying, I am calling it quits before my 8 years expire. The sad part is even after 6 years, there is still no choice of a 3 row EV other than a Y!

 

[Struja]

Hi there, Model X 75D 2016 owner here with MCU2 upgrade.
Loved the car, but as you can see, it's an early build. Was in the service center probably around a dozen times or more, had mobile technicians coming over at least 10 times as well. Despite all of the minor flaws, I have enjoyed the Model X. I have barley used the Supercharger and or other fast charger and have always charged the car up to only 80%. But guess what, the HV battery died all of a sudden. Lucky for me it is still under warranty, but in 2 and a half years it will be out of warranty. The price if it were out of warranty? 20k. I was planning to keep the car even after the 8 year warranty because I was certain that I kept the battery in good condition, but all the precaution is not worth it. My other two ice cars I know for a fact that because I do regular maintenance I will not be charged with a 20k bill even after they come out of warranty. Do you know how much warranty tesla will give you after they change the 20k HV battery after warranty? 1 year. My car is currently in the service center waiting for a new (refurbished) HV battery for 8 weeks. 8 weeks. The stress with the falcon wing doors, the MCU crashing after every update, scroll on the wheel breaking, and so many other things were still manageable, but after the HV battery dying, I am calling it quits before my 8 years expire. The sad part is even after 6 years, there is still no choice of a 3 row EV other than a Y!

I don’t think anyone could blame you and that seems like the rational thing to do. It’s the part I struggle with most with being an older Model S owner…I think if it were an ICE car I would have bailed long ago.

 

[KBF]

When my kids got too big for the rear jumpseats, I traded in my Signature Model S for an X. I really regret that - I should have traded in my Ford Explorer for the X, but I was in horticulture at the time and needed something to haul trees etc... I was too pragmatic. And my TSLA stock had only gone up 10x at the time, not 300x... Had I known...

I will never buy another non-EV, and while I was tempted by the Rivian, Supercharging alone puts Tesla ahead.

I have a reservation for Cybertruck (finally getting rid of the Ford), and maybe if Tesla stock goes up another 10x, once my kids are out of the house, I'd be tempted to get a new S. But the free unlimited Supercharging on my X might be hard to give up! I travel between BC and MB a fair bit, and more often once I move to Vancouver Island next year.

 

[richrootes]

A new S would be nice, but I like the free Supercharging too

Plus, this government needs to get its head of of its arse and get rid so called ‘luxury taxes’ on vehicles costing over $100K - EVs should not be included

 

[Vawlkus]

A new S would be nice, but I like the free Supercharging too

Plus, this government needs to get its head of of its arse and get rid so called ‘luxury taxes’ on vehicles costing over $100K - EVs should not be included

TBF, I can see the tax applying to the S and X, they are luxury EVs after all. It shouldn’t apply to others besides stuff like Lucid.

 

[Struja]

TBF, I can see the tax applying to the S and X, they are luxury EVs after all. It shouldn’t apply to others besides stuff like Lucid.

Depends on what your goals are as a government. If your are truly serious about reducing automotive emissions, you should try to do everything to incentivize EV adoption, or at the very least, you shouldn’t do anything to curb it. Based on their Luxury tax, I can buy a $98,000 Grand Wagoneer, which gets about 15mpg and pay no luxury tax but the Model S does. If your objective is to incentivize more EVs on the road, this isn’t the way to do it.

On the other hand, if you don’t truly care about EV use and you are just simply looking to increase the tax pot, then I suppose it makes sense.

 

[Vawlkus]

Depends on what your goals are as a government. If your are truly serious about reducing automotive emissions, you should try to do everything to incentivize EV adoption, or at the very least, you shouldn’t do anything to curb it. Based on their Luxury tax, I can buy a $98,000 Grand Wagoneer, which gets about 15mpg and pay no luxury tax but the Model S does. If your objective is to incentivize more EVs on the road, this isn’t the way to do it.

On the other hand, if you don’t truly care about EV use and you are just simply looking to increase the tax pot, then I suppose it makes sense.

They have to appear to at least fight the “rich people toys” argument that gets levied against EVs en mass, thus taxing the more expensive models gives government a “see, we’re hard on the rich” talking point while providing incentives to the less expensive versions.