Long term issues, reliability, concerns? Lease or finance?

[jkdman123]

maybe - can we start with FSD first before going ALL THE WAY of RoboTaxis driving without drivers autonomously thru cities? lol. Tesla will DEFINITELY re-sell lease returns and not hold them in inventory (and on their balance sheet) for the year that RobotTaxis will be ready for prime-time. Hint: as long as bright sunlight disables the cameras ("blindspot detection limited") - fully autonomous RoboTaxis ain't ready

All I know is what I was told. I didn’t wanna roll the dice after only 3 years and possibly end up having to buy a brand new car at the end of the lease.

 

[Knightshade]

Based on past history of both the Model S and 3, you can guarantee Tesla will devalue the car; from new hardware like AP 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and now 3.0, facade changes and lowering prices to make quarter results, Tesla is consistently chasing quarterly revenue and provides deals. This will eventually work against the value of your car. .

HW3 is a free upgrade if you bought FSD.

If you didn't it provides no function or value in the vehicle anyway.

Nothing else significant has really improved on the 3 hardware other than maybe it's got a bit more road noise insulation (at the cost of losing homelink, the included 14-50, the frunk hooks, the dead pedal, the frunk carpet, etc....)

 

[texas_star_TM3]

All I know is what I was told. I didn’t wanna roll the dice after only 3 years and possibly end up having to buy a brand new car at the end of the lease.

lease buy outs financially only very rarely makes sense... the residual value is typically calculated very high - and not in your favor... if you feel so strongly that RoboTaxis are out and about in 3 years... maybe buy some Tesla stock to hedge that lease risk- because that stock would be $1k+ then...

 

[Az_Rael]

Like iOS updates to older iPhones, will the Tesla software upgrades over time make the performance of the car’s computer and battery deteriorate? Has anybody heard of this happening? I’m also worried about them upgrading the car’s internal computing power, which will then prevent us long term owners from reaping the rewards of cool software updates in the future.

Yes, this has happened in the Model S world. Once the MCU was updated to a new version, the older MCUs really slowed down with the newer software. Plus not getting the latest and greatest features.

What you may see instead is that older cars with earlier tech may not get as many software based improvements as later models. But at worst the performance should generally stay the same since the basic tasks required to operate the car shouldn’t change.

The original MCU 1 on the Model S has suffered significant performance reductions over time as Tesla has updated the software for the newer hardware.

 

[Knightshade]

The original MCU 1 on the Model S has suffered significant performance reductions over time as Tesla has updated the software for the newer hardware.

on the other hand, MCU1 is from 2012. And still gets updates.

Who else (other than paid map updates) is still giving improvements/updates to 2012 car software? Let alone free?

 

[gavine]

I'm a fan of leasing in-general, however, when we got our Model X in 2016, I was concerned "what if" I wasn't able to afford the high payment a year or two later so I decided to buy which would allow me to just sell it if it came to that. It's quite difficult to get-out of a lease. I did wind-up selling it after 2-years and did well on the sale. The sum of my payments minus tax credit was about the same as if I had leased so it was a break-even proposition with the benefit of getting-out early without penalty.

We bought our Model 3 because we knew we were going to get the Model Y when it came-out so needed the same assurance that we could just sell when we were ready.

 

[ZappCatt]

Yes, this has happened in the Model S world. Once the MCU was updated to a new version, the older MCUs really slowed down with the newer software. Plus not getting the latest and greatest features.

The original MCU 1 on the Model S has suffered significant performance reductions over time as Tesla has updated the software for the newer hardware.

....and yet, 4 year old Model S cars with MCU 1 and AP1 are selling for $40K+ as fast as Tesla can get them updated and into their online database....

 

[Az_Rael]

on the other hand, MCU1 is from 2012. And still gets updates.

Who else (other than paid map updates) is still giving improvements/updates to 2012 car software? Let alone free?

There are plenty of classic owners who have stopped updating their cars because all the updates bring for them are more problems.

....and yet, 4 year old Model S cars with MCU 1 and AP1 are selling for $40K+ as fast as Tesla can get them updated and into their online database....

Well, sure, those folks are buying cars that originally sold for $80k to over $100k new. Not sure that an over 50% depreciation rate is really anything to sneeze at when deciding lease vs. buy. It might swing someone into the lease category.

 

[ZappCatt]

Well, sure, those folks are buying cars that originally sold for $80k to over $100k new. Not sure that an over 50% depreciation rate is really anything to sneeze at when deciding lease vs. buy. It might swing someone into the lease category.

The ones anywhere near $40k are the Model 60 which sold for $66k in 2016, not the higher end ones pushing $80-$100k.
2016 Model S | Tesla

$24k in 4 years? About the same as I am paying for a lease on a Model 3 for 3 years, and I have a mileage limit.

 

[Az_Rael]

The ones anywhere near $40k are the Model 60 which sold for $66k in 2016, not the higher end ones pushing $80-$100k.
2016 Model S | Tesla

$24k in 4 years? About the same as I am paying for a lease on a Model 3 for 3 years, and I have a mileage limit.

AP1 85s are available for those prices too. Those did go for $80-$100k new