Hey guys! New owner here and would appreciate your opinion

[califbuckeye]

Hello all!

I am new to the Tesla world and this group. Thanks for having me! I would really appreciate your advice on an issue. I'm not sure if I needed a new thread for this, but I have an issue concerning the purchase of a beautiful Titanium 2016 RWD 75 Model S recently. I came across it and purchased it from a 3rd party site and they will take it back if I choose, but I love the car and really don't want to give it up.

But here's the thing... This car is perfectly fine today, has just under 10K miles (if that matters) and was put into service in August 2016. Since that time I found out that this car has already had the Rear wheel drive motor fail on it TWICE and needed to be replaced. So now on its third motor, things again seem fine, but my question to you is would you let the history of this car affect your decision in anyway to keep it?

I believe I understand the modular nature of these cars and as such past repairs like this should have no bearing on the car's future integrity and health. So then should I have concern about the viability of these motors? I don't want to go there, because it would cast a shadow on getting ANY Tesla car (and like you, I DON'T want to think that) The car is still under warranty so if it does fail again, it would be fixed...AGAIN... but at what point do you start to wonder about how coincidental is this really? Is the issue here I just need to let go of my old combustion engine way of thinking?

I would so appreciate your thoughts on how you would feel about this and have any of you had your drive units fail?
How common of an issue is that, if at all?

Many thanks in advance, everyone.

 

[Shock-On-T]

I'd keep it. Once anything that will go wrong has gone wrong they should be very reliable.

 

[Pentium2004]

Hello all!

I am new to the Tesla world and this group. Thanks for having me! I would really appreciate your advice on an issue. I'm not sure if I needed a new thread for this, but I have an issue concerning the purchase of a beautiful Titanium 2016 RWD 75 Model S recently. I came across it and purchased it from a 3rd party site and they will take it back if I choose, but I love the car and really don't want to give it up.

But here's the thing... This car is perfectly fine today, has just under 10K miles (if that matters) and was put into service in August 2016. Since that time I found out that this car has already had the Rear wheel drive motor fail on it TWICE and needed to be replaced. So now on its third motor, things again seem fine, but my question to you is would you let the history of this car affect your decision in anyway to keep it?

I believe I understand the modular nature of these cars and as such past repairs like this should have no bearing on the car's future integrity and health. So then should I have concern about the viability of these motors? I don't want to go there, because it would cast a shadow on getting ANY Tesla car (and like you, I DON'T want to think that) The car is still under warranty so if it does fail again, it would be fixed...AGAIN... but at what point do you start to wonder about how coincidental is this really? Is the issue here I just need to let go of my old combustion engine way of thinking?

I would so appreciate your thoughts on how you would feel about this and have any of you had your drive units fail?
How common of an issue is that, if at all?

Many thanks in advance, everyone.

I wouldn't be too worried about a drive unit failure. That is no indication that there is an actual issue with the car itself. There tends to be drive unit issues with the RWD more than the AWD but it is declining so obviously they are working out the issue. I would just recommend to keep it under warranty while you own it since it will cost a small fortune to fix anything. They also typically put you in pretty nice loaner cars so you get to drive that and save miles on your car.

 

[Duffer]

Being that these cars are modular/plug and play, I wouldn't worry about the drive unit failing again.

Enjoy your S75 and welcome to the family!

 

[arcus]

What others said. If the DU fails it will be replaced under warranty, no big deal. Welcome and enjoy it!

 

[mspohr]

Drive unit replacement is an easy switch and is covered for 8 years. They had some problems with them ("milling" noises, not dead in the street failure) and replaced a lot of them just because they were making noise.
The car should be good now and if not, they'll fix it.
Keep the car and don't worry. Enjoy it.

 

[brkaus]

I wouldn’t worry about it. You have plenty of warranty left to ensure you get a lasting drive unit.

Perhaps ask for some price reduction from the 3rd party for your troubles.

 

[Aieukl378]

Just hit 30k on my 2016 RWD Model S 75...never had drive unit replaced or any other problems whatsoever. Seems pretty weird there were problems before it hit 10k. Make sure to check car fax on that vehicle.

 

[demundus]

Hello all!

I am new to the Tesla world and this group. Thanks for having me! I would really appreciate your advice on an issue. I'm not sure if I needed a new thread for this, but I have an issue concerning the purchase of a beautiful Titanium 2016 RWD 75 Model S recently. I came across it and purchased it from a 3rd party site and they will take it back if I choose, but I love the car and really don't want to give it up.

But here's the thing... This car is perfectly fine today, has just under 10K miles (if that matters) and was put into service in August 2016. Since that time I found out that this car has already had the Rear wheel drive motor fail on it TWICE and needed to be replaced. So now on its third motor, things again seem fine, but my question to you is would you let the history of this car affect your decision in anyway to keep it?

I believe I understand the modular nature of these cars and as such past repairs like this should have no bearing on the car's future integrity and health. So then should I have concern about the viability of these motors? I don't want to go there, because it would cast a shadow on getting ANY Tesla car (and like you, I DON'T want to think that) The car is still under warranty so if it does fail again, it would be fixed...AGAIN... but at what point do you start to wonder about how coincidental is this really? Is the issue here I just need to let go of my old combustion engine way of thinking?

I would so appreciate your thoughts on how you would feel about this and have any of you had your drive units fail?
How common of an issue is that, if at all?

Many thanks in advance, everyone.

D/U failure is so normal its not even worth the thread... in OLDER cars. I was surprised to see it was a 2016. I think I'd still keep it, but do get the rest of the vehicle's history if possible from Tesla.

 

[califbuckeye]

Thx so much to all of you for your thoughts. That's what I kinda thought you would say, but I wanted to be sure. As an aside for Hotlobstah, as I understand it (pls correct me if you don't think this is true), Tesla does not report previous mechanical issues on their cars. For the record, I do have BOTH the carfax and the Autocheck reports on this car and they are both perfectly clean. At first I thought the 3rd party I bought it from wasn't being transparent, but I have come to find out that the drive unit failures happened when it was with a previous owner, Tesla does not like to give out too much information about the service done under previous ownership. So, no one knew the history of this car until I did some digging.

So my takeaway from this experience is Tesla will only report previous accidents/frame repair as a part of the car's history. A perspective new buyer won't have access to anything else. And if you decide to buy the car from a 3rd party like I did, you won't even have access to that. You are going on the fact that, as Duffer said, these cars are modular plug and play so that lowers your risk going forward assuming there is warranty left. But Carfaxes and Autocheck have very limited usefulness with regard to Teslas.

Thank you all again! I LOVE being in the FAM!

 

[MDMGSO47]

My wife had one fail early on her 2016 titanium S75. No problems since. I wonder if the problem is the titanium color . . . .

 

[Ghosty]

DU should be least of your concerns for various reasons. 1. It has warranty for 8 years, unlimited miles. 2. If DU fails, most people who have shared their experience have had no issues from Tesla replacing these units. 3. Pre-owned market prices have stayed steady for face-lift cars or have, in some cases, increased - because RWD is no longer available. Prices were more prone to negotiation due to fact that you can buy new RWD with base price of 69k. Now, base price is 74k for AWD. No other option.

Enjoy your car. Congratulations!

 

[demundus]

Thx so much to all of you for your thoughts. That's what I kinda thought you would say, but I wanted to be sure. As an aside for Hotlobstah, as I understand it (pls correct me if you don't think this is true), Tesla does not report previous mechanical issues on their cars. For the record, I do have BOTH the carfax and the Autocheck reports on this car and they are both perfectly clean. At first I thought the 3rd party I bought it from wasn't being transparent, but I have come to find out that the drive unit failures happened when it was with a previous owner, Tesla does not like to give out too much information about the service done under previous ownership. So, no one knew the history of this car until I did some digging.

So my takeaway from this experience is Tesla will only report previous accidents/frame repair as a part of the car's history. A perspective new buyer won't have access to anything else. And if you decide to buy the car from a 3rd party like I did, you won't even have access to that. You are going on the fact that, as Duffer said, these cars are modular plug and play so that lowers your risk going forward assuming there is warranty left. But Carfaxes and Autocheck have very limited usefulness with regard to Teslas.

Thank you all again! I LOVE being in the FAM!

I asked them for a list of parts that were invoiced to the car (read over the phone). Thats how I was able to deduce 2 of my 4 doorhandles were done before i bought the car. etc etc

Its true they wont disclose history because their dumb service invoices look like a personal bank statement, but you can try to get them to verbally tell you about the car.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Replacing a Drive Unit, is like replacing an alternator on an ICE, Tesla has done it so many times that the techs can do it in their sleep. In 7 years consider trading it in, so that you are covered by the drive unit warranty again. Drive it like you stole it and dont worry about it.

Also the Door handle replacement is a $1 part to fix and takes about two hours if you are good with tools. I was terrified that they would fail, but when one of handles did. I fixed it myself...

Tesla door handle failure - pivot gear (anyone have one I can buy?)