Potentially 1st Tesla

[samuelffrancis]

Hi, everyone! Kind of new to this, so I appreciate the patience. To cut to the chase, I'm a 25 yr old mechanical engineering student that LOVES these cars. My dad got one of the first 100 Model S's in Vegas (where I grew up) and on top of my already oozing love for good engineering I was in love. I was hooked.

Now I'm finally in a place to potentially pick up my first one. There is a used one about 30 minutes from me. 2016 70D with 142,000 miles on the odometer. It still gets around 241 miles on a full charge. Clean title (see CarFax below), autopilot, premium connectivity, etc. It has a couple of dents (something that 1. I think could be popped or fixed easily and 2. At this point, I don't care that much haha) but other than that, it looks pretty good/nice (see pictures below).

My wife and I live in an apartment complex, but there is a destination charger and 4 charge points across the street. However, we will most likely move halfway across the country a year from now and even live in an apartment for another year after that or so. POINT IS: I'm very nervous that even after getting into my first one (barely), I'd be hit with a motor or battery failure or HUGE repair that I simply can't afford. It doesn't have the lowest mileage, and even though I know that there is extremely confident data/studies of high mileage Model S builds, I still get really scared that mine might be...... "the one".

I would really appreciate any wisdom or insight from anyone who has a 2016 with similar or even more miles. Or even have had experience with some heavy or more expensive repairs. Please lemme know if you think it's worth it or if I'm being young, dumb, and setting myself up for failure in just a few years haha.

Cheers, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read/help!

https://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory/ar20/Z1yDOH-QYNtcSAq-X_3oO1kRoCRGel43RQdyVo9NeO7zIF09NcohQ8PaZrkdcmwvx0q1jyVyq5zIA-43a-WpHloNlmWnUdON6j4

 

[Ami-Sven]

To good to be true? It probably is.

 

[samuelffrancis]

To good to be true? It probably is.

Most likely

 

[KalJoMoS]

Well the front nearest to the whees sensors might not be missing. I think they are unattached and are hanging on their cord behind the wheel liner. They are very prone to get detached and if not taken care of will eventually fall behind the bumper. If the sensors would be missing then the car is not able to do auto-parking, to assist in reversing or to follow the paved lines under Autosteer. Also no Summon. So the IC would be full of warnings.
To fix the middle sensors you need to get the bumper off, but the side ones are easily reachable by removing the wheel. I had one rear sensor, the middle one at right hand slowly moved inward (with the bracket) and only possibility to fix was to get the rear bumper off. So we never know before someone will get closer look.

 

[Creeble]

Let me give you my experience with a 2014 S 85 that I bought in Apriil 2020. It had 340k miles on it (now 360k), original battery, drive unit replaced early on.

It has been the most expensive car I've ever had to maintain, and that after owning 5 Audis and a BMW 7-car. My previous car was a 2007 Audi A8, and it was cheap to maintain compared to this Tesla.

Some of this is "optional" upgrades, like going to the MCU2 from an MCU1 for $2500. But I really only did that because both screens had failed (orange ring around the main screen, globby gook all of the instrument display), and being out of warranty, thoser would have cost more to replace. And the new screens only have 90-day warranties.

A new 12v battery required a new negative terminal block on the battery, so it came in at almost $1k. Rear door handle modules (broken when I bought the car) were $400 ea, and now one of them is already acting intermittently. I was able to replace the broken USB jack in the center console myself (not simple), with a part from a wreck on eBay.

But the expense isn't the worst part. The worst part is dealing with Tesla, the company, from a service perspective.

The only way to communicate with Tesla is from the app -- no phone calls, no friendly questions, no voice communications with them at all. You fill out the app with a service request, they send you an immediate estimate, you approve it (regardless of what it says, or no service), and then you have the privilege of being able to communicate with them -- via text, through the app.

I think I've been unlucky with the total a**-clowns that run and work for the local Service Center. When they replaced the MCU, the first thing I did was to check the FM radio (that cost $500 extra just to maintain that feature), because I read that it was frequently broken. Sure enough, before I paid the bill (fortunately), I got in the car and turned on FM, and no sound. That's the kind of quality work they do. Then, on my way home, I noticed that the TuneIn app was completely missing from the UI -- just gone. I was still able to communicate via text (they give you three days after a repair job to continue communicating with them, then you're cut off and have to schedule another appointment), and they had me bring it back.

This is where the head technician of the Service Center told me that TuneIn wasn't included in the upgrade, that it is a separate piece of hardware that had to be installed separately. He even pointed to an area under the dash where it's "installed"! I knew damn well that it was just software, and that they had screwed something up during the upgrade, but it took some unkind and regrettable words to get that across. Sure enough, a day later they found how they hadn't installed all the security certificates during the upgrade, and that prevented TuneIn from showing up. It's not like mine was the first Model S that got an MCU2 upgrade at that Service Center. Oh, and the $500 FM module works like crap, with little cut-outs constantly that make it almost unlistenable. I honestly think that Tesla is looking for ways to get the older Model S's to die so they don't have to service them any more; that's what it feels like at my Service Center.

The car itself I generally like. Battery still gets 208mi when I charge it all the way, and most of the other car bits have held up decently. Needed an A/C recharge at one point, and I suspect that it's leaking somewhere (front condenser unit is somewhat notorious), so the problem will, I'm sure, continue. Have you read about the seals on the drive unit's cooling system that fail without warning? Check out the price of a new drive unit.

I'm really in a quandary about it at this point. I paid less than $20k for it, so it's not like I didn't get a great deal. But I fear that going forward, this thing is going to continue to have Tesla-repair-only problems that are going to bankrupt me, so I'm looking at other (electric) cars, like KIA, VW, and maybe BMW.

So no, don't buy that Tesla.

 

[WyoDude]

She's currently in a 2014 Range Rover Evoque. We'll probably put the baby in there most of the time as it'll be safer with the higher ride height.

How long do you plan to keep this?

 

[WyoDude]

Let me give you my experience with a 2014 S 85 that I bought in Apriil 2020. It had 340k miles on it (now 360k), original battery, drive unit replaced early on.

How many of your previous vehicles had 340k miles on them already when you purchased them?

 

[samuelffrancis]

How long do you plan to keep this?

Only as long as we have to. It's a nice car and a great ride, but we're not head over heels about it or anything. We are planning to (hopefully) have more than three kids down the road (pun unintended ) so we'll need a third row. Honestly after what I've read and learned from everyone on here, I think the plan at this point would be to run my PHEV into the ground while we save and grow and then get the Mrs. into a used 7 seater Model Y or something like that when the time is right! But we'll definitely do that cautiously and when find the right one.

 

[WyoDude]

Man, this thread escalated quickly…

 

[WyoDude]

Only as long as we have to. It's a nice car and a great ride, but we're not head over heels about it or anything. We are planning to (hopefully) have more than three kids down the road (pun unintended ) so we'll need a third row. Honestly after what I've read and learned from everyone on here, I think the plan at this point would be to run my PHEV into the ground while we save and grow and then get the Mrs. into a used 7 seater Model Y or something like that when the time is right! But we'll definitely do that cautiously and when find the right one.

Yeah, at 9 years old, you probably need plan to replace her vehicle first. I would agree with that plan. Run you PHEV for awhile and get other stuff taken care of (debt, retirement foundation, housing, wife’s car, etc).

The Y is a nice family car from my experience.

 

[samuelffrancis]

Yeah, at 9 years old, you probably need plan to replace her vehicle first. I would agree with that plan. Run you PHEV for awhile and get other stuff taken care of (debt, retirement foundation, housing, wife’s car, etc).

The Y is a nice family car from my experience.

Ahhh lovely. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. My ex-step-mom used to have one and she was nice enough to let us take it out a few times and even once on a modest roadtrip. I'm also looking forward to regularly plugging in the Ford once we finally have a home. I think that'll add to the "EV effect" and help temper my impatience .
That's really good to hear. I think if we work hard (and smart) as well as save up, we'll get there. If you have kids (not that it's any of my business) I'm sure they think it's pretty cool/nice too!

 

[samuelffrancis]

Hey, everyone! I thought I'd provide an update as well as a sort of "conclusion" to this whole thing. I'd like to first off thank everyone for their advice and opinions. Like I mentioned before, I'm new to this and your patience was much appreciated. Whether you advised me to roll the dice and do it, or cautiously wait on something this big and pump the brakes a bit, I am grateful for it all! With that being said, I've decided to hold off on moving forward with this one. And there were a few reasons for this:

• The more investigating (you all did) the more issues and red flags were found. From the missing parking sensors, to the fast and seemly random 10K price drop, it just didn't feel right. On top of this, the charging cables/adapters weren't with the car, the salesman did not answer or address almost half of the things I (you all) mentioned, and would only respond or text back if I initiated the conversation. Even when asking for a good time to potentially come out to take a look. No response. (Still actually haven't heard from him since Monday)
• Plain ole, logic. As many of you wisely pointed out, in the long run this is not the best idea. We are planning a hefty move in a year from now as well as our first kid. On top of that, if I'm offered a decent gig out in Texas, we'd love to get into our first home ideally sooner than later. So if this were to be a bit of a trick from those pesky dealers, I'd be in the hole big time. Even after the year of warranty runs out. Y'all helped me realize there are so many other things that could need repairing besides the big ticket items that are also not cheap at all and add up extremely quickly.
• Public Charging: For my last year of school as well as our child's first year of life, an inconvenient hour or two a week wouldn't be the end of the world, but definitely not ideal. I always thought I'd be willing to do it (and honestly, I bet I could) but it will just be that much more convenient from the comfort of our home/garage/driveway someday.
• Happy wife = happy life
• I currently have a working and well running PHEV that probably still has a good number of years in it, and I should be humble and grateful for what I have while I'm still in school and starting life.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to hop on here and share some wisdom/help me see it from all sorts of different perspectives. If you wanna keep sharing relevant experiences and advice feel free, but I probably won't be on this thread anymore. In fact, maybe not even be back on the club's page until we can get the Mrs. into a used Y or something. Until then, thanks and have a good one!

Cheers

 

[goodbadboys9]

Hey, everyone! I thought I'd provide an update as well as a sort of "conclusion" to this whole thing. I'd like to first off thank everyone for their advice and opinions. Like I mentioned before, I'm new to this and your patience was much appreciated. Whether you advised me to roll the dice and do it, or cautiously wait on something this big and pump the brakes a bit, I am grateful for it all! With that being said, I've decided to hold off on moving forward with this one. And there were a few reasons for this:

• The more investigating (you all did) the more issues and red flags were found. From the missing parking sensors, to the fast and seemly random 10K price drop, it just didn't feel right. On top of this, the charging cables/adapters weren't with the car, the salesman did not answer or address almost half of the things I (you all) mentioned, and would only respond or text back if I initiated the conversation. Even when asking for a good time to potentially come out to take a look. No response. (Still actually haven't heard from him since Monday)
• Plain ole, logic. As many of you wisely pointed out, in the long run this is not the best idea. We are planning a hefty move in a year from now as well as our first kid. On top of that, if I'm offered a decent gig out in Texas, we'd love to get into our first home ideally sooner than later. So if this were to be a bit of a trick from those pesky dealers, I'd be in the hole big time. Even after the year of warranty runs out. Y'all helped me realize there are so many other things that could need repairing besides the big ticket items that are also not cheap at all and add up extremely quickly.
• Public Charging: For my last year of school as well as our child's first year of life, an inconvenient hour or two a week wouldn't be the end of the world, but definitely not ideal. I always thought I'd be willing to do it (and honestly, I bet I could) but it will just be that much more convenient from the comfort of our home/garage/driveway someday.
• Happy wife = happy life
• I currently have a working and well running PHEV that probably still has a good number of years in it, and I should be humble and grateful for what I have while I'm still in school and starting life.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to hop on here and share some wisdom/help me see it from all sorts of different perspectives. If you wanna keep sharing relevant experiences and advice feel free, but I probably won't be on this thread anymore. In fact, maybe not even be back on the club's page until we can get the Mrs. into a used Y or something. Until then, thanks and have a good one!

Cheers

Smart move.If dealer dropped 10k on the price they definetly know something regarding the car which we aren’t.They are betting on some enthusiast to jump on the deal without proper research.

 

[WyoDude]

Do your own googles and decide. I am not going to try to convince you of anything.

Classic…