Looking to buy a 2019 Model S Raven

[Lyrical]

Hi, I'm somewhat new to owning/driving EVs and am thinking about making the jump to a used Model S from an ICE car. My wife recently got a 2022 M3LR and I've started to enjoy the benefits of having an EV (charging overnight/being "full" each morning, instant torque, cheaper than gas, etc).

I don't particlarly love the M3 though (really don't like not having a center cluster) and I like the Model S hatch + look (and more power I believe) much more. I know the new MS refreshes are much nicer but out of my price range, but I did find a 2019 MSLR (Raven) w/ around 56k miles for about $55k. I'm aware it'll be missing some features of my wife's M3LR (faster charging, phone key, wireless charging) but not a big deal for me (unless there's a lot more I'm missing/unaware of?).

This particlar one (56k miles for $55k) seems to be among the cheapest I can find for a Raven model and think it's a decent deal but wanted to see if I could get any insight from the community. Carfax shows around 9/2019 first registration so it's about 3.5 years old so it's a bit high mileage but I've read the Raven motors hold up pretty well - not sure if I should be concerned.

Any advice/insight is much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Lyrical]

To everyone that replied to this thread, thank you very much. You have helped me make a decision and I have officially joined the Tesla owner club.

I went ahead and purchased the used Model S Raven in question and it's been great so far. I did notice a few things that I wanted to run by you guys that I wasn't sure of, though.

1) I noticed this car doesn't make the humming sound in reverse, nor does it make any beeping sound from the Ultra Sonic Sensors (USS) when it shows on the display that it's detecting stuff while reversing. Is this normal for the 2019 model year? My wife's 2022 M3LR has a reverse hum and USS chiming.
2) I noticed there's no "precondition battery" option when navigating to a supercharger like my wife's M3LR does. Again, is this normal for the 2019 MSLR?
3) The car is about 3.5 years old and from the old owners records, has been supercharged about 20-25 times. The battery at 80% yields about 274. Is this pretty normal degradation? At 100% that would mean about 342 miles at 100%. IIRC the rated range for the raven model S was in the 370s.

Other minor notes/issues I knew about prior to purchase
1) Oddly the frunk plastic covering hiding the battery/windshield washing fluid was missing. I didn't see any paintwork or damage, nor any replaced panels so this didn't concern me a bunch but did wonder why this was the case. Someone on Reddit noted that he drained his model S to 0% on accident and had a hard time starting back up/jumping and in his frenzy removed the cover once and forgot to put it back on. Perhaps it was a similar case.
2) The charge port is not perfectly flush when closed. It caves in very slightly - not sure if this is indicative of anything.
3) Some minor scratches on rear bumper and some curb rash on rear passenger side wheel. No biggie though.

Some surprises after purchase:
1) I should've checked (dumb of me not to) but one part of the drivers side daytime running light is not functioning (top part). I've read you have to replace the entire headlight assembly costing north of $1k so Ill probably leave it since part of the light still works but doesn't look great which is a bummer.
2) I saw the old owners tesla service records. The only issue that he seemed to have was the drivers side door handle had malfunctioned and he had it replaced a year or so ago. Is the door handle malfunction common with the Model S?
3) Electrochromatic mirrors (auto dimming) don't seem to darken that much? Not sure if this was common on this car. Both the rearview mirror and side mirrors seem to dim slightly but it doesn't "turn green" like all the other cars I've had in the past with this feature.

In any case, I think I got a solid deal and am happy with the car. Thanks again to everyone who chimed in and if anyone has any commnets or insight on the above issues, I'd again appreciate it greatly!

 

[vcor]

1) Normal
2) Depends on the battery temperature. If the temp is below a target, it should show "Preconditioning" when getting close to a Supercharger you are navigating to. It will not do it unless you have navigation set and it's navigating to that Supercharger. If you are far away, it will not start Precoditing.
3) Looks like 9% degradation, which seems normal to me. It's not always accurate to assume 80% or 90% SOC relates to 100%. The best is to charge 100% and see what it really is.

 

[vcor]

On Surprises:
1) This is a somewhat common problem. Later headlights seem to be holding up better, but there hasn't been as much time on them. My 2016 S never had the problem. A few people have had it multiple times, which suggests some environmental situation makes it more likely to occur (perhaps locations with high heat?).
2) Door handles have been problematic on older cars, especially before 2016. Tesla has gone through 3 major revisions, and the latest version, which started I think in 2016, seems more reliable, but it is a weak spot.
3) I agree, they don't darken that much. There is no green indicator to show that it is in dimming mode like some vehicles.

 

[vcor]

And congrats on joining the Tesla family! I think you'll really enjoy the car.

 

[Lyrical]

And congrats on joining the Tesla family! I think you'll really enjoy the car.

Thank you, especially for all your responses and insight! And so far it's been a blast!

 

[JimmyB]

Coming late to this thread but congrats! I went from a 2015 85D to 2020 LR+ a year ago and have been super happy with the Raven. It doesn't feel like a "legacy" car to me.

One thing to check for: raise the suspension to its highest setting and then floor it. Listen for the "death rattle" from your driveshafts ... I had mine replaced under warranty shortly before the car hit 50k miles - and then promptly bought xcare.

 

[Snerruc]

I had my Raven at service for alignment and the service manager asked me if I had noticed a small dark area in both eyebrows. He told me to go home and take a picture and ask for replacement. They did it in my garage and took half the front end apart to replace the lights. The price they showed for out warranty replacement was $1795.00 EACH.

 

[brainhouston]

3) Electrochromatic mirrors (auto dimming) don't seem to darken that much? Not sure if this was common on this car. Both the rearview mirror and side mirrors seem to dim slightly but it doesn't "turn green" like all the other cars I've had in the past with this feature.

mine is 2016 but i've noticed that it sometimes doesn't dim at all (mirrors stay white, no tint)..
not sure if it maybe depends on headlights color temp or something like that... led vs halogen??
sometimes i can clearly see dark green tint with non-dimmed white sliver around the mirror... not sure why...

 

[Lyrical]

Coming late to this thread but congrats! I went from a 2015 85D to 2020 LR+ a year ago and have been super happy with the Raven. It doesn't feel like a "legacy" car to me.

One thing to check for: raise the suspension to its highest setting and then floor it. Listen for the "death rattle" from your driveshafts ... I had mine replaced under warranty shortly before the car hit 50k miles - and then promptly bought xcare.

I tried this. I didn't notice anything or hear anything out of the ordinary, thankfully.

I had my Raven at service for alignment and the service manager asked me if I had noticed a small dark area in both eyebrows. He told me to go home and take a picture and ask for replacement. They did it in my garage and took half the front end apart to replace the lights. The price they showed for out warranty replacement was $1795.00 EACH.

Geez. Yea, I probably won't be replacing the lights until it completely goes out.

mine is 2016 but i've noticed that it sometimes doesn't dim at all (mirrors stay white, no tint)..
not sure if it maybe depends on headlights color temp or something like that... led vs halogen??
sometimes i can clearly see dark green tint with non-dimmed white sliver around the mirror... not sure why...

Yes, I noticed today that it does indeed tint, but not always. Strange.

 

[EXOTIC1]

….. bumping this up current pricing on cars with 20k on the dial
2021 plaid 68-70K
2020 Raven 50K
What’s the better deal for most?

 

[BuffaloMS]

I appreciate the insight into this. I might get this for the wife's M3. It's a good point, though, noting that some of my gripes could be remedied via 3rd party hardware.
Thank you to everyone for their comments/advice/insight/information. It's greatly appreciated.


This list is actually very good to know. These aren't huge hits for me but losing auto seat heaters and blind spot camera is kind of a bummer. Much appreciated for the information!


Minus the two I mentioned above, the other, more enterainment focused features are a non-issue for me, so I appreciate your insight on the Legacy S still being a good value proposition.


Good to know! Thank you for the insight. Having driven the M3 a lot (my wife's) and having limited time in the MS via test drives, I don't immediately notice huge differences in driving but I imagine (hope?) the MS is much nicer in ride quality and overall build. I also prefer the protrait orientation of the screen, though, I guess netflix suffers a little (haven't tried it, rarely used on M3, but still).


Interesting. Could be. Maybe I need to pull the trigger then to secure the deal haha.


I'm fairly certain I saw this option in the 2019 Raven MS...like 90% certain I saw this on the menu options yesterday when I looked at the car.

Yes, 2019 MS has this

 

[BuffaloMS]

I have a 2019 MSP built in September as well, it preconditions the battery when you remotely warm up the car or set your departure time when charging.

Overall been supremely happy with mine. It gets 90% of the updates, and we have unlimited miles warranty on our batteries and drive units. I had a tech out to add CCS to mine, he said the ravens have far fewer issues than other models.

The only thing that seems to be missing is boombox, because we don’t have the pedestrian warning system (PWS). We could still get it, the Feds may make Tesla retrofit it on all the cars built after 2018.