Recall vs MCU1 upgrade or LTE upgrade

[tm1v2]

@Lasttoy Your car came with Nav, right? I see the tech package listed in your sig. @hingisfan and I are wondering if cars without Nav would automatically get it with MCU2 upgrade, e.g. if MCU2 doesn't even have a "no nav" setting/mode. We obviously got different answers on this from our local service centers.

As for needing the LTE upgrade, yes we very much needed it to retain cellular connectivity. Our car only came with 3G and that is going away. Plus 3G always felt slow. I know that MCU2 upgrade includes LTE, we chose not to do MCU2 because it didn't seem worth the $2000 to us when many of the latest UI enhancements don't even apply to our car (no autopilot, no nav, etc).

If we knew for sure MCU2 upgrade would give us nav, we might have gone that route. Still questionable for $2k on an old car, plus Google Maps nav is and has always been better, but maybe we would've done it. I will be a little upset with our service center if they gave us wrong info there. I will only truly believe that MCU2 gives nav to non-nav cars when I read about it actually working out that way for someone though.

 

[tm1v2]

@Lasttoy And yes, like many old S, our car has had roof, drive unit, battery, door handles, visors, wheel, touchscreen, eMMC, charger, mirror, and plenty more that I'm not even remembering replaced under warranty over the years. It's like a new-old car!

 

[hingisfan]

We were told the opposite for our 2013 S, that upgrading to MCU2 would NOT give us nav.

If you do the upgrade let us know what features you actually end up with!

Got the mcu2 upgrade today and now I have nav, turn by turn, trip planning, new UI, LTE, netflix, etc..... Sweet!

 

[tm1v2]

Got the mcu2 upgrade today and now I have nav, turn by turn, trip planning, new UI, LTE, netflix, etc..... Sweet!

@hingisfan Glad that worked out for you! But now I'm kind of regretting not going for MCU2. With Nav will your car preheat the battery for supercharging now?

Did your service center staff clarify if they went out of their way to enable Nav for you, vs MCU2 always having Nav enabled i.e. no such thing as MCU2 without Nav?

Most important question : How's your backup camera view with MCU2? Any signs of it dropping frames or lagging? In my MCU2 Model 3 it's...choppy. Like dropped frames or delayed frames. Apparently that's normal with MCU2 in the Model 3. Everything else about Model 3 MCU2 feels faster, but the backup camera view is clearly worse than my MCU1 Model S. (I don't think I've had any Model S loaners with MCU2 yet.)

 

[tm1v2]

@hingisfan Also are your front USB-A ports connected to MCU2 now? E.g. do USB drives with music or USB game controllers work?

 

[hingisfan]

Ill test this stuff in the next day or 2 guys....
To enable nav they just had to change my region from USA-0 to USA-USA after mcu2 installed. I probably wouldnt have done the upgrade without nav being part of it.

 

[hingisfan]

Backup cam seems the same to me and works well.... Haven't tried usb music yet as I use Spotify and that runs much better now... I like the assignable spots on the bottom of the main screen, but i wish i could assign climate commands or trunk open.... I use those a lot more than any apps, especially while driving, when one button commands come in handy.

 

[hingisfan]

Voice commands work exponentially better.

 

[cpf01]

Backup cam seems the same to me and works well.... Haven't tried usb music yet as I use Spotify and that runs much better now... I like the assignable spots on the bottom of the main screen, but i wish i could assign climate commands or trunk open.... I use those a lot more than any apps, especially while driving, when one button commands come in handy.

The upgrade to the MCU2 will eliminate the need for the recall. MCU2 is a total replacement, including any need for separate eMMC.

I just had this done yesterday for my mid-2016, AP1 vintage MS90D. Cost was $1500 for the base MCU1 to MCU2 upgrade. I did decide to also do the additional radio tuner so I preserve FM (drive in some areas where no AT&T cellular) which is an additional $500, for a total of $2000 plus local sales tax.

Unclear if for some reason your older, pre AP1 is more expensive, but for me it was only total of $2000 including the tuner.

Also, to you question of mobile, my original appointment went in for mobile service but Tesla contacted me and to make it an in-person visit. A significant portion of the time is reloading various firmware and which is the reason that I believe they want it in the shop so they are on Tesla service wifi to be pulling files down from the cloud.

Brought my 6/2017 75D in today for the MCU2 upgrade. I was told the price is $2,000, not $1,500. The $2,000 does not include the radio. They confirmed with the Parts dept. They said 2017 and newer are $2,000. Are they correct?? Thanks

 

[hingisfan]

Brought my 6/2017 75D in today for the MCU2 upgrade. I was told the price is $2,000, not $1,500. The $2,000 does not include the radio. They confirmed with the Parts dept. They said 2017 and newer are $2,000. Are they correct?? Thanks

My 2014 was $2000....I didnt do yhe radio or xm upgrades

 

[PCMc]

Direct from Tesla website. You can easily find it by googling Tesla infotainment upgrade, or link I've inserted below.

Owners of compatible vehicles can schedule an appointment through the Tesla app for purchase and installation. This upgrade is available for $2,000 plus applicable tax, including installation, for vehicles equipped with Autopilot Computer 2.0 or 2.5 and for $1,500 plus applicable tax, including installation, for all other vehicles. Owners may confirm Autopilot Computer type by selecting ‘Controls’ > ‘Software’ > ‘Additional Vehicle Information’ on the touchscreen.

Infotainment Upgrade | Tesla Support

Upgrade your Infotainment system to access new features, and for a more advanced and smoother user experience.

www.tesla.com

Note: the $1500 reference is pricing in USD and stated for all vehicles prior to Autopilot computer 2 or 2.5.

@hingisfan - your location shows as Ontario, Canada in your account profile information. I just did a quick google search to look for Canada pricing and it shows the $1500 USD pricing in US is $2000 CAD in Canada.

 

[llaforest]

My 2015 85D AP1 is scheduled for eMMC repair on June 1. MCU1 could not boot anymore last week so better do it while I do not have a trip planned. It came back after 8 attempts to reboot but it's time. 100K km on the car.

True MCU1 is slow sometime but there is no degradation of my screens, I have LTE already, FM Radio that I would loose. It does the job I would say. Now that there is no more update it will not get slower I assume. So instead of paying 2K CAD we decided to keep it... Any comments are welcome on our choice...

One thing I do not understand from the thread, what nav update are you guys talking about? I have the map, the traffic, I can plan trips and it will give me the supercharging stops... So how nav is different in MCU2? Waypoints yes I get it, but what else?

There is a lot of things that break on this car, we thought that spending 2K +tx to get new computer was not necessary...

 

[AustinP]

Any comments are welcome on our choice...

You probably made a wise choice.
I was torn for a long time, as indeed MCU1 worked ok for me too.
Aside from being slow and a useless browser: radio, streaming, nav worked. It was a difficult choice also because one year before, I had to pay for a new MCU1 (MCU2 upgrade was not an option yet). But then the eMMC refund campaign actually refunded fully that new MCU1.
That money added to the decision to keep the car for the long run so I went ahead with the upgrade.
Not regretting it a minute though: it was a daily frustration to patiently wait on the MCU to react. I use TuneIn every day, and changing stations was so slow it got used to not do it when people where in the car. Nav route calculation was so slow I did not dare modify it once set up. Voice command was 90% failing, so almost not using it.
Now that I've the MCU2, I realise how much I accepted to live with. It's indeed comfort, we all make compromises.

One thing I do not understand from the thread, what nav update are you guys talking about? I have the map, the traffic, I can plan trips and it will give me the supercharging stops... So how nav is different in MCU2? Waypoints yes I get it, but what else?

There is a lot of things that break on this car, we thought that spending 2K +tx to get new computer was not necessary...

About the nav indeed the waypoints is the main one. There seems to be change in calculations of arrival %, but not always for the best.
Anyway, I guess this page is a good reference to see all that was added since the version you have: Tesla Software Update History and Latest Tesla Features

 

[llaforest]

Thanks @AustinP for your thoughts!! You see in my case it is far from what you describe. My voice commands in French Canadian work almost all the time. Including SMS replies that are usually fine unless I have a bad choice of words or unwanted pause. The radio is fine but the tuneIn often skips 3-4 seconds but I always use the analog radio that I would loose... We use a lot of slacker channels and go through all of them as the kids ask stuff without delays. Everytime I go somewhere, I say it and it takes few seconds (Sometime 30 when the car has been unused for a while) to give me an itinerary and the estimated % is always super good. I would even say it is better then my sister and parents that have 2021 model 3 and model y. I would love the waypoints though. It's good to see what points annoyed you so I can compare with my own situation!

Ok if anyone else has interesting points do not hesitate!

 

[vcor]

...Any chance it gets cheaper?

Unlikely. I paid $2700 (with taxes) for the MCU2 retrofit without the radio upgrade. Then they dropped the price dramatically. Still, I felt it was a good deal. Price anyone else's cheapo 10" nav system replacement, and you'll find they are typically $4K to $8K. I priced out a Lexus 8" display head end (which doesn't have half of what Tesla has in MCU2) and it was $4200 just for the part without labor and no new features! For Tesla to include installation labor, two screens, a much faster CPU, more memory, LTE, an improved GPS, 5G WiFi, Immersive audio, and a lot of new software features, this is really a great deal.

 

[tm1v2]

I didn't do the MCU2 upgrade, didn't feel it was worthwhile for our old no-nav S, just did the LTE radio upgrade instead, but I absolutely agree it's a good deal for what it is. I have trouble imagining any "legacy" car maker even offering such an upgrade, let alone at Tesla's price.

Whether it's worthwhile is a really personal decision on its usefulness to you.

 

[SneepeZ]

Any idea if the price for the mcu 2 upgrade is projected to go up or down? Might be a good bday present to myself to upgrade!

 

[AustinP]

Any idea if the price for the mcu 2 upgrade is projected to go up or down? Might be a good bday present to myself to upgrade!

Are you actually reading this thread? See Recall vs MCU1 upgrade or LTE upgrade

 

[wchang3t]

I upgraded to MCU2 a couple years ago on my 2015 70D. I think it's worth it. Everything works much faster and it makes it much more pleasant to use. You do lose radio and the back up camera is dim at night. I did find that I used the entertainment (Netflix, etc) quite a bit during supercharging sessions. I stopped having issues where my screen would reboot.

 

[tm1v2]

@SneepeZ Given current inflation, it's hard to imagine MCU2 upgrade ever getting cheaper in nominal terms. Then again, thanks to inflation it's arguably the cheapest right now that it's ever been, and will keep getting cheaper in real cost unless/until they raise the nominal price!

@wchang3t Thanks for the note about the backup camera! That was actually a major concern of mine. We heavily rely on the backup camera in our S, as parking sensors weren't even an option when it was built. MCU2 3/Y backup camera is straight up worse than our MCU1 2013 S backup cam. The 3 camera is laggy, drops frames, and the colors are worse. I wasn't sure how much of the issue is MCU2 itself, but now I know MCU2 really is the issue, as apparently MCU3 3/Y have much better backup camera feeds (with no change to camera module AFAIK).

Getting the entertainment features in our chargegated S would've been nice though. Our 2021 3 has MCU2 with its the entertainment features but it supercharges so quick there's little time to use them!