Quality problems; "veteran members" tell us, how significant are they?

[bmanke]

Coming from someone who sat on the fence for over a year - buy it. We love the car! Is it perfect? No. Minor trim alignment issues our are biggest problems. The car has performed flawlessly and now has 11k miles in three months! The experience is second to none and we are comparing it against BMW 535, X5 and Porsche 911.

 

[lolachampcar]

One of my converts (friends that bought one after driving mine) drove by my hangar the other day and I noticed a noise from the rear. The Service Center has confirmed it is the drive unit and it will likely be scheduled for replacement in the near future. This was a mid to late 2013 build. The car has about 30K miles on it.

 

[muleferg]

Hey lolachampcar. Still flying the MX?

Mule

 

[lolachampcar]

Yep, yesterday and going out this morning as well.
Checking the wing and fuselage engine mounts before each flight now :0

Jens Van Dorpe on Twitter:
Nigel Hopkins practicing for worlds this last Sunday in France.

 

[stevezzzz]

My dad has a 2014 MS 85. I am looking at getting a CPO'd MS P85. The one I really like at the moment is a 2012 P85S and has around 14K miles on it. He was telling me about possible issues in early models. Should I be scared of this particular car given it has a VIN number in the hundreds? Should I be looking at a newer CPO?

That low a VIN implies it's a Signature S. My early Sig had 40K miles on it when I let it go, and was very reliable except for the 'dreaded clunk' I experienced once when the contactors opened on my A rev pack. Still on the original drive unit, and fit and finish were excellent. If you plan to keep the car for a long time, the Sigs will someday have value as collector cars.

 

[stevezzzz]

Yep, yesterday and going out this morning as well.
Checking the wing and fuselage engine mounts before each flight now :0

Jens Van Dorpe on Twitter:
Nigel Hopkins practicing for worlds this last Sunday in France.

Yikes! Thank goodness he was at altitude and got out safely.

I celebrated National Aviation Day yesterday by going flying, myself. It was a beautiful evening, with a tinge of fall in the air.

 

[lolachampcar]

Steve,

Heading to Tenn next week to pack up the glider and head your way (Buena Vista) for some Co soaring

 

[ljwobker]

I have an April 2014 S85. I intentionally avoided things like the pano roof, the air suspension, and the 21" wheels because I wanted something simpler and presumably with fewer bells and whistles to break, so maybe that's relevant and maybe it's not... I've had zero meaningful mechanical or other problems so far. The pinch sensor on the trunk was misaligned causing false positives, they fixed this for free. A cracked door seal (almost certainly my fault somewhere) that made wind noise, but was fixed when I asked (for free). A number of proactive things that the service center did for me without asking, without charging, and without drama. The sunshade over the instrument cluster was making a little bit of a creaking sound, they fixed this for free. I'd much rather have a car with a few tiny things that i can get fixed by pleasant, competent service people than most of the alternatives. ;-)

I'm an engineer by training, and given where my car was in the production cycle, I'm very happy with how few things have gone wrong. I would have to assume that 18 months later, there are even fewer of these little things running around.

 

[hobbes]

RobStark posted this data on reliability from consumerreports in another thread, though it would fit here well:

US Market Situation and Outlook - Page 4

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I have a "classic" 2013 P85. I had some initial issues when the car was delivered - bubbles in the alcantara, some detailing issues, etc. But outside of that, mechanically the car has been rock solid. I have had a few DU replacements over noise, but even recent cars are getting those, so not unique to older vehicles. I have not had any real issues with the car. Nothing has failed or broken at all in the last 2 years and 30,000 miles. Well, the magnet glue on the charge port door melted, but that's it. A free Ranger visit took care of that!

 

[neroden]

So, Veteran owners, what do you say to us on-the-fencers?

Quality problems have been quite significant. So far they've all been fixed at no cost. Almost all of them have been design problems which were fixed by improved designs, which were retrofitted. "Production" quality problems (as opposed to design problems) are quite rare, as you'd expect in a car mostly built by robots, and all of those have been fixed at no cost very quickly from what I've been told.

* If you're planning to own the car past the extended warranty period, it's probably something to worry about. Tesla is concealing repair information so the car may be unrepairable outside Tesla after 8 years, and who knows what Tesla will charge.
* If you live more than 200 miles from a Service Center, the warranty repairs will cost you an astronomical amount just for transportation, so don't buy the car.
* Otherwise, if you plan to sell the car before 8 years and live near enough to a Service Center, there's nothing to worry about, buy the car. It has a much, much better repair record than the Audis my parents typically buy.

 

[Larry Chanin]

So, Veteran owners, what do you say to us on-the-fencers?

Thanks

Hi Bruce,

I have a Signature P85 delivered to my home in December 2012. I say if you haven't already done so get off the fence and get one.

With 21500 miles I've had a few issues, but I've always had exceptional service at the Tampa Service Center and have never been inconvenienced. As you can see from recent posts, Tesla reliability has apparently improved with the newer models so my veteran experience may be less relevant.

I had an occasionally stuck handle. Tampa replaced all of them and I have never had a problem. Although I've never had a problem Tampa proactively replaced my 12 volt battery. Some wind noises were dealt with.

At 21500 miles I replaced my performance tires. On the way over to the service center I noticed a bubble in the 17" display and a low buzz-whine coming from the electric motor. Both the display and drive train were replaced under warranty while my tires were replaced. I had a loaner, the work took just a day. No fuss, no hassle.

I want to mention that some people may mistakenly think that replacing the drive train is a big deal. It of course is no where near the labor intense hassle of replacing an engine in a gasoline vehicle.

Larry

 

[MikeInFL]

I have a "classic" 2013 P85. I had some initial issues when the car was delivered - bubbles in the alcantara, some detailing issues, etc. But outside of that, mechanically the car has been rock solid. I have had a few DU replacements over noise, but even recent cars are getting those, so not unique to older vehicles. I have not had any real issues with the car. Nothing has failed or broken at all in the last 2 years and 30,000 miles. Well, the magnet glue on the charge port door melted, but that's it. A free Ranger visit took care of that!

A few DUs? While the warranty is awesome, I'm sorry to hear about that.

 

[jerry33]

At 2.5 years and 57,700 miles quality problems have been almost nonexistent. One charger and charge port replaced very early, one triangle window adjusted shortly after delivery, two 12V batteries, and the tire alignment problems that the earlier cars had. That's no more than the Prius, and way less than the TDI.

 

[dgpcolorado]

An independent look at Model S reliability:

truedelta