MCU Retrofit

[mknox]

It was certainly not necessary, and I think its debatable if it was worth the money. I've got a 3G and a LTE car and have never gotten in the 3G car and thought it was unbearable or difficult to use because of it.

I agree. My 2103 S had 3G and my new X has LTE (and the new MCU). I can't tell the difference. Maybe I've got really good 3G coverage in my area, but maps always loaded fine and songs would be fully buffered in a second or two meaning that they played just fine. Now I'm sure if you used some scientific benchmarking tool there would be a difference, but in normal day to day driving, I'm not seeing much.

 

[bob_p]

We have two Model S cars - one with 3G and the other with LTE, and really can't tell the difference.

We'll soon have a new Model X (June?) and be able to do a side-by-side comparison of the new and old MCUs. And if there is a huge difference, might consider doing an upgrade to the new MCU for our S 100D.

As long as there isn't any new functionality with the new MCU and the performance difference is small, don't see any reason to do the upgrade.

 

[mknox]

As long as there isn't any new functionality with the new MCU and the performance difference is small, don't see any reason to do the upgrade.

Right now, there is less functionality with the new MCU: FM-HD radio not working properly (unless I am the only one!), Energy Savings controls gone, Commute Advice option gone (although that might be a function of the new NAV system). Possibly others.

 

[oklona]

I believe the 3G to LTE swap has very different significance to different people. Here in Norway, the operators want to "turn off" 3G, to make room for more 4G and 5G, but are unable to, as "quite a few newer cars use 3G, such as Audi and Tesla". You can read this as "oh, so 3G is still just fine, then", but the reality is that maintenance of the 3G network is no longer a priority, and the bandwidth available makes it seem slower than 2G.

 

[evster]

Haven't been much discussion about this lately. If I remember correctly the "talk" was about starting to offer a paid retrofit route to the new MCU for older cars. Not sure, but if I remember correctly the timeline should be september... And now it is september

Anyone got an update on this?

 

[brkaus]

Haven't been much discussion about this lately. If I remember correctly the "talk" was about starting to offer a paid retrofit route to the new MCU for older cars. Not sure, but if I remember correctly the timeline should be september... And now it is september

Anyone got an update on this?

If September was actually mentioned, I’m sure year was not specified.

I don’t see this happening at a price point anyone is going to be willing to pay. Just my opinion of course, and hope to be wrong.

 

[Tozz]

I don’t see this happening at a price point anyone is going to be willing to pay. Just my opinion of course, and hope to be wrong.

I agree, I estimate an upgrade to be around $8k to $10k in parts and labor.

 

[Krash]

Plus almost certainly you would lose you diagnostic port access when you upgrade to the new MCU.

 

[Ted209]

It's getting to the end of 2018, wondering if anybody has seen any news or chatter about the retrofit?

 

[zanary]

It's getting to the end of 2018, wondering if anybody has seen any news or chatter about the retrofit?

The last update I have from Tesla, was expect it around the same time as the AP3 computer (so late spring to mid summer timeframe). I'm guessing they are still working on the harness and the new WWAN/Wifi/Bluetooth antennas in the mirrors...