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Help!! New member and I don't know if this is a good idea!
- Thread starter Mromano
- Start date
Matt,
Most everyone has answered or tried to answer your questions, but I'll throw some thought in this as well.
The car in question is priced well because the cost to repair is so high, and it's either already out of warranty or will be this year. You'll likely eek out a few tens of thousands of miles (ideally much more) before anything catastrophic happens; however, when something does, you're, as my Mom would say, *sugar* out of luck.
In my opinion, owning anything sub-100kWh pack out of warranty is going to come back and bit you in the ass (at some point!). Drive units are upwards of $10k to replace, and the HV battery is either $15k or $22k to replace depending on whether or not you want a refurbished pack or a new pack. There are companies that can do the replacements for cheaper than Tesla (the prices I quoted), so there's that, too, but you're still measuring the cost in the thousands of dollars. Through Tesla, on the HV packs, you'll get a 4yr 50k mile warranty so there's value in that, at least.
Keep in mind, warranties on the older ones are 8yrs unlimited miles, and I want to say at some point they got rid of the "unlimited" miles, but I may be speaking out of my ass on that. Someone can confirm.
My 2c - spring for a 100kWh packed car, performance or otherwise and avoid the 3. Look for one that has a warranty stretching into 2025, find one with limited battery degradation (more important that overall mileage), transferrable full-self driving (you can limit the car to what you're comfortable with it taking control of), and if you are lucky, find one that has perforated leather seats (cooling/heating). They exist, at nearly 2x the cost of this example you found, but they'll hold their value and treat you better.
Some food for thought anyways...
These are all super fair points and I totally understand, however my budget is around the 30k mark and that car you described just doesn't exist. And that the fundamental problem with an older car; as they age, the price comes down but I keep hearing how you can't keep them for these motor and battery issues. So I guess the issue is that; take a risk and hope it doesn't need a costly repair? How many of these cars need these heady repairs? Do people take the risk and hope for the best? or should I look at a model 3 and get one with plenty of warranty left on it?
Are you okay with investing $50k into a $30k car? If the answer is no, than an older model Tesla is not for you.
There's no need to lift the car. You can see the sticker on the battery pack if you look behind the front passenger wheel.
I actually did get the sticker off the car and I think it's a V1 battery pack... not good. I think? Also here is couple if pictures from the battery, any insight is this is a crappy car?
Depends on if you are a risk taker! If you are you can take the chance and get a car that lasts you 5 10+ more years or one that requires major expense in the next year. You never know but if you are really wanting to stick to around 30k, I would look for a newer model S that is a non performance (you can find some 2017s around this price point but will have to keep and eye out) or get a model 3. With the 7500 tax incentive, the model 3 is very attractive I would say though.
For me personally, I would get an S but spend a little more and find something with warranty.
For me personally, I would get an S but spend a little more and find something with warranty.
EVRider-FL
Active Member
Another option to consider is a used Model 3 Performance. Acceleration is comparable to the S you're looking at, and it would be a newer car with better technology and lower mileage (most likely).
Fair enough, so to confuse this tread even more; if you had to choose between the car I listed or something like this:
which way would one tend to go? This is a 2017 S 75D with 132k on it. Is the 2017 cars that much better? How much stronger does the PD models feel vs the D models?
kingkong5
Member
I have a 75D and a 100D. The P100D with ludicrous is so much faster. It's not close. The 75D is fast, I think 0-60 is in the 4 second range. The P100D with ludicrous can do it in way less than 3 seconds, and that's a big difference.
When I dropped off my P100DL for the EMCCD chip replacement they gave me a 75D as a loaner, and it's fine. You can still whip around people on the highway well enough, but they're not comparable cars in terms of straight line performance for sure. Still fun though.
Depends if the 75D is uncorked or not. Uncorked, it is 4.2.
Good point; the thing that stinks is I'll always know for a little more cash I could massively different ownership experience.... damn I hate the old car, is well... old. Or if it had a new battery and motor... shoot. The car I found for 28k that is a 2017 75D seems like it's in decent shape, any thoughts on it?
At some point Tesla boosted the performance of their cars. Some out in the wild were able to also be increased for free - mine excluded
The 3 also have a performance boost option. I think it was around $3k. Never did it in ours.
On Manheim, I can get a 2015+ Model S with tens of thousands less miles for nearly the same price
...fwiw
I think the 90s are actually some of the least finicky batteries. The 85s are not holding up well at this age, but 90s are still going pretty strong (knock on wood).
If this car has free unlimited Supercharging and is free of obvious major defects, I would go for it.
If you don’t go for it, send me the link to the listing and I might snap it up.
