Like all things, the older the car the more likely to have gremlins through use. My knees are another example
You get good and bad examples of everything, there were more reported issues in the past, but that doesn;t make them all bad, or the newer ones all good
On the flip side, early cars may have had problems for the first owner, but they should have had them sorted. If you buy on condition of the car then you can sort of check this for yourself.
Check the spec of the car though. They constantly change and don't assume any dealer knows what they're talking about. Even the youtube famous ones make plenty of mistakes (like not knowing battery capacity or how many speakers there are in a Model Y). it's not too difficult to work stuff out though if you have access to the car (and there are guides on line)
I wouldn;t ignore the older cars, just be mindful of how much warranty is left and look at the condition of the car, which does unfortunately make buying a car from Tesla a difficult proposition as you're unlikely to be able to see it, at best you might get some pictures
Last cliche... everything has a price.
I'd personally avoid later cars without parking sensors, and if I could I'd get the heatpump as wnter efficiency is better if the budget can stretch that far
