Opinions on 2017 Model S P100D - battery life, reduction in performance based on age, etc...

[Magnified]

Hello all,

I have always been a gear head (among other things) and I'm going to have AVR surgery sometime soon - and don't know if I'll have the chance to go fast again. I got rid of my Hellcat a while back and am looking at a 2017 P100D for the acceleration. What has everyone experienced or heard about real world battery life based and performance based on the cars age, and mileage (will be either 20K or 32K)? Have you seen dramatic fall offs in range or 0-60 for example at this age? Also, any other tips from folks who had this model and year would be appreciated. I've read some complaints on the forum about poor construction quality in the mid-2010s and some bad experiences. I would consider going back to a ICE hot rod, but at mid-40s it seems this could be a lot of fun for a reasonable price. But, not knowing these cars I'm looking for some sage advice on what experience to expect.

Thanks very much your thoughts,

Magnified

 

[WallysRide]

This is not something you directly asked about, but a very low mileage P (performance) car like the ones you're considering can add some risk around the large rear drive unit. Sitting around being not driven is not good for the large rear drive unit of performance cars of that vintage. You can research the leaky seal issues on this forum - not easily addressed and can lead to catastrophic failure.

More generally, a car that has been driven that little may not have been as well maintained. For your budget, I would definitely recommend getting a higher mileage, newer car. A newer car will have better acceleration by virtue of being a few years newer and give you a few more years of battery warranty. Also keep in mind that battery degradation is as much a factor of calendar time (vehicle age) as it is of mileage.

 

[livesmith]

I have a 2015 S85D with 341K miles on what seems to be the original battery. Mine is not performance but will still whack my head into the seat if I forget and simply put it to the floor.
My battery is down and 20% in capacity from new.
I think the biggest thing to be aware of is that once you're out of battery warranty (I think you may have another year or two) then you've likely got a bill for as big as the car is worth.
To a lesser extent the rear motor will likely need a replacement by around 100K miles.

Other items I've found so far to not be too bad cost wise if you work on it yourself and/or a friendly local mechanic as much as possible. I've done a door handle, window regulator, speaker, headlight bulb, maybe half of the suspension arms...

If you're looking at a 6 year old car with only 30K miles on it, I'd like to think you wouldn't need as much done to it, but then cars don't always like just sitting around I've found and things sometimes start getting stiff. Including the battery I think. Not sure it's great for it to just be sitting for so long at static levels(assuming it was left plugged in at like 50% and not left for the battery to sit dead which would really be bad, or sitting at 100%)
But I don't know that for sure. I'm just used to putting that sort of mileage on in 6 months. Maybe the previous owner drove it every week and managed to healthily cycle the battery some...

Overall, I love the car but feel I'm pretty aware of the gamble I'm involved in. You don't necessarily need to worry about it but should be aware of it.

Levi

 

[Krash]

…You can research the leaky seal issues on this forum - not easily addressed and can lead to catastrophic failure…

Leaky seals are bad enough that there is a coolant delete mod for the large rear motor.

P85D LDU failure leak past rotor coolant delete by QCC

Wish I had noticed issues with large drive unit earlier, but now out of warranty issue. 2/15 P85D 70988 miles. $8022 to replace rear drive due to “moisture past RDU cover”. I am guessing it is the coolant past rotor seal failure. My questions: can I ask for my drive unit from Tesla once they...

teslamotorsclub.com

DIY Tesla Drive Unit Repair

So looking at these posts from QC Charge and the U-revision/manifold delete from Tesla, they seem to be narrowing in on the solution to the “when not if” LDU problem. I am still on my original LDU on my 12/2015 build P90D, but when I pulled my speed sensor there was moisture present (not rusty...

teslamotorsclub.com

COOLANT DELETE Tesla Large Drive Unit

Don’t let a leaking rotor seal in your Tesla motor cause expensive damage! All of the cars with the Tesla “Large Drive Unit” (formerly the “570A” motor) have the fatal flaw of leaking coolant (cars listed below). This leaking coolant issue will short out the stator (field windings), seize and...

qccharge.com

I’m still wrapping my head around how the original designers would design a fragile cooling system for a part that maybe could get by without cooling.

Unrelated to the cooling delete. If you are comparing multiple cars, ask the sellers to check the window jam for the manufacture month. Cars after June 2017 have a motor or inverter upgrade big enough to warrant its own option code: DU0x.

Personally, when I upgrade my DU0x non performance S, currently at 150,000 miles, I hope it lasts long enough for me to go without ever having motor repairs straight to the (by then hopefully highly depreciated) S plaid, with two smaller rear motors instead of the single large.

 

[dustinfl]

I have a July 2017 P100D with 63k. I get 293 miles at full charge, and I honestly haven't measured my 0-60 time.

Under warranty, I replaced:

• An A/C actuator door (huge job)
• The passenger's sun visor mirror - replaced with newer variant.
• Some worn parts in the passenger's door panel that were allowing it pop out whenever I shut the door.
• Weather strip in rear passenger's side was replaced because it was pinched somehow.

Out of warranty, I've encountered:

• Driver's side headlight DRL burnout -- 4 hundo for a brand new one, I just installed it myself.
• My driver's side sun visor mirror came apart right when the warranty expired. I haven't replaced that yet and I'm not sure I'm going to.
• The automatic liftgate will need to be replaced soon.

The build quality of my car's interior is mostly on par with the 2018-2020 model years. The non-vegan leather, premium sound system, and other bits have all held up nicely. The only thing I really don't like is the back seat, because I still have that weird, flat one lol. I've seen later 2017s with the newer ones though.

The cost of a new battery is truly weighing on me these days. I could get a new roof with that kind of money.

 

[Ostrichsak]

Having bought/sold and driven dozens and dozens of these Model S cars from the first year up to now, the P100D is one of the best values in the segment IMO. You get the newest battery chemistry and most of the major bells & whistles plus they are the beginning of when Tesla started focusing more on creature comforts and refinement. The made some significant leaps on the Raven models in the realm of suspension and then the newer Palladium marked another step forward. It also will still likely be under the Tesla warranty for battery and drive units. This will allow you to make sure there are truly no issues with the big ticket components and insulate you from massive expense out of the pocket.

That P100D though was the first to offer such a large # of improvements in terms of the little things that make the user experience so good. It's also a tremendous value today compared to the new price. Don't forget, that a P100D w/Ludicrous can blast from 0-60 in 2.21 seconds which was the fastest time Motor Trend ever tested from any car at that time. That's a big deal. It's also only a tenth or two lower than the Plaid in that same test. Sure the Plaid keeps pulling but you won't experience enough of this difference in upper-end acceleration for typical day-to-day use to justify the price tag for most people.

IMHO the P100D is the current sweet spot for most people in the market for their first used Model S. It's also going to retain it's value better as the cult following grows (now that their attainable by those in the tuner crowd who are looking for stupid fast w/o having to work as much on it) who tend to primary focus on the performance versions of vehicles more so than the base models like the 100D or even the previous versions w/smaller batter packs and more issues.

Make sure that you temper any negative items you read from those like myself who have become somewhat numb to just how incredible these cars are when compared to their ICE counterparts. It's like someone complaining about the little issues with their G4 compared to a G5 when others are talking about kites and paper airplanes as transportation. The P100D is a marvel of modern engineering (even with it's small flaws that every car has) for the price tag and nothing in the ICE segment comes even close for day-to-day use and overall experience.

 

[Magnified]

thank you all for your replies. This is exactly the information I was looking for. I will post a more extensive response later.

 

[Magnified]

Leaky seals are bad enough that there is a coolant delete mod for the large rear motor.

P85D LDU failure leak past rotor coolant delete by QCC

Wish I had noticed issues with large drive unit earlier, but now out of warranty issue. 2/15 P85D 70988 miles. $8022 to replace rear drive due to “moisture past RDU cover”. I am guessing it is the coolant past rotor seal failure. My questions: can I ask for my drive unit from Tesla once they...

teslamotorsclub.com

DIY Tesla Drive Unit Repair

So looking at these posts from QC Charge and the U-revision/manifold delete from Tesla, they seem to be narrowing in on the solution to the “when not if” LDU problem. I am still on my original LDU on my 12/2015 build P90D, but when I pulled my speed sensor there was moisture present (not rusty...

teslamotorsclub.com

COOLANT DELETE Tesla Large Drive Unit

Don’t let a leaking rotor seal in your Tesla motor cause expensive damage! All of the cars with the Tesla “Large Drive Unit” (formerly the “570A” motor) have the fatal flaw of leaking coolant (cars listed below). This leaking coolant issue will short out the stator (field windings), seize and...

qccharge.com

I’m still wrapping my head around how the original designers would design a fragile cooling system for a part that maybe could get by without cooling.

Unrelated to the cooling delete. If you are comparing multiple cars, ask the sellers to check the window jam for the manufacture month. Cars after June 2017 have a motor or inverter upgrade big enough to warrant its own option code: DU0x.

Personally, when I upgrade my DU0x non performance S, currently at 150,000 miles, I hope it lasts long enough for me to go without ever having motor repairs straight to the (by then hopefully highly depreciated) S plaid, with two smaller rear motors instead of the single large.

So, if I am reading this correctly, ALL 2017 LDUs in Performance model S's have this coolant fault? Is this a slow leak over time (so it could be damaged right now but still functional) or is this a "you're fine until catastrophic failure" thing?

If I recall correctly, the battery warranty is only 8 years on the S, so on these two cars I am considering, the warranty is already essentially over, correct? That would explain why the bottom falls out of the market at the 8 year mark (both of these cars are at $43K give or take). And the cost of the battery replacement is around 40K, right?

 

[livesmith]

So, if I am reading this correctly, ALL 2017 LDUs in Performance model S's have this coolant fault? Is this a slow leak over time (so it could be damaged right now but still functional) or is this a "you're fine until catastrophic failure" thing?

If I recall correctly, the battery warranty is only 8 years on the S, so on these two cars I am considering, the warranty is already essentially over, correct? That would explain why the bottom falls out of the market at the 8 year mark (both of these cars are at $43K give or take). And the cost of the battery replacement is around 40K, right?

As far as I've heard it is ALL LDUs, not just 2017. And it is a slow leak. The recommendation is to do a yearly pull of the speed sensor to check for moisture so you realize before it leaves you stranded.

I haven't heard 100 pack replacement costs, (other than about $20K for used upgrade to 100 on my 15' 85D from the old 057). Id be curious to know what those options are.