I understand all that. It just seems like openness is not Tesla's forte (so far) and experiences with the new program have been mixed. I need to move to SoCal! The Service Advisor I dealt with (the "Dedicated Roadster SA" at Dublin SC) admitted she didn't know much about the car.
After sending another email to RSNA I got a response the same day, and a phone call by 9 am the next morning. I now have an appointment to have my tire pressure fault looked at by a mobile tech. Tesla is definitely going out of their way to take care of original owners.
I've had 4 or 5 missed phone calls and just as many emails from the guy that gave me my original buy out offer. I've expressed almost no interest in actually selling. I'm becoming more and more convinced that it's actually easier and cheaper for Tesla to just buy back as many roadsters as they can vs servicing them another 10 years.
I'm updating this in case the information is helpful to other Roadster owners. I received the check from Tesla 4.5 weeks after signing over the title and giving them possession of the vehicle. Tesla sent it by fedex. In hopes of being helpful, I could briefly explain why I decided to sell back to Tesla. I'm not an engineer or even a car guy, but I have some experience with business and quantitative decisionmaking. The car was still on the original battery, with an ideal range that had fallen to about 105 miles. If I did not sell, I would probably need to upgrade the battery in the next 1-3 years. So it was a sell-or-replace decision, with the investment likely requiring a 6-12 month delay for battery construction and installation. I have noticed a severe degradation in service availability and quality over the past few years. Appointments were hard to get and wait times got much longer. For example, Tesla used to recommend replacing the tires every 2 years or so, but it has now been five years since the last time they recommended that. I don't know how to account for the difference. As another example, simple questions about expected service times would receive non-answers, for example, "these cars are so rare." It seemed that service center employees were repeating company talking points. In San Diego we still have one original roadster tech at the local service branch. But, branch personnel said they may stop servicing roadsters locally, in which case I would have to start taking the car to LA for service. So, I have to forecast substantially higher service costs in the future. I separately listed the car on cars.com at a price similar to what tesla quoted me. I did not receive any credible inquiries. Factoring in time and nuisance cost, the decision to sell became easy math. The offer seemed to approximate market value, and keeping the car would have required significant expense, hassle, uncertainty and downside risk. In retrospect, I paid a premium of about $25 per workday from 2011-2019 to drive to work in a Tesla Roadster rather than Generic Car X. It was a great car to drive, I had a smile at work every morning. I wish that Tesla was willing to maintain the car as it did in the beginning, but all good things come to an end. I'm grateful for the experience.
If I was in your shoes I would have made the same decision. I feel the same about the premium I paid to drive such a thrilling car every day for almost 9 years. I have a friend who has owned several high-end sports cars but only drives them once or twice a week "to protect them." He often chides me for exposing my Roadster to everyday elements on the road. One thing I won't do that he will. When I get too old to drive I won't have any regrets. He will. Sadly.
Even though my Model 3 is faster, stiffer, more range, sticking to the road like on rails (like the Lancia Delta HF integrale my brother used to have around 1990s...) I don't think I would sell my Roadster. When I sit down in it I always get reminded on all the flaws it had already (PEM insulation, Molex connector, HVAC troubles... this could go on for... ) I still smile because I'm able to drive a part of BEV history which made Tesla the company it is today. And if newer Tesla drivers don't even recognize it anymore or know about the history of the Roadster and even the guy at the SEC doesn't know much about it, still for me it is something special which I'm grateful to have been able to buy and drive. And hell yeah... the battery might come one day (CAC 140.30 @ 63.000KM..). solve problems when they occur.... and yeah call me hopeless romantic about this car, I still remember the first time was sitting in it, driving it and my heart was going at a medical unhealthy high rate....I would do this purchase again at a heartbeat.
I think part of the problem is many of you are longer-term owners and you are transitioning from full mfg support to limited/classic status. I think this happens with many low production cars as parts start to become scarce. I just sold my NSX 2 days ago and even that maintenance items are becoming scarce. They no longer offer original tires, have to use the wrong oil filter, can't find things that commonly break/fail, recycling crashed cars starts a parts feeding frenzy, etc. I am picking up my Tesla Roadster Saturday in Seattle (9k mile 2008 basically new car with standard range = 188 and spent most of it's life in Alaska and has a reman Tesla PEM from 3 years ago). Even with that I am driving it right over to Carl Medlock's shop for the annual, once over and am considering his PEM updates/upgrades and some of his other package upgrades to keep it on the road as long as possible. I have a feeling as the only owner in St. Louis (and perhaps Missouri) that I need to do as much as I can before shipping it home. Once home - I plan to show it off, drive it often, and enjoy it not knowing what the future will hold (but knowing I will love driving to get there!).
I moved to Colorado two years ago. I hate to say it, but owning a Roadster without the R80 battery upgrade is a bit of a challenge. Before I got the battery upgrade my car felt kind of like a toy. I couldn't drive it any reasonable distance at all without experiencing severe range anxiety. With the R80 upgrade the Roadster is actually a real usable car that you can drive almost all day long.
I had read your original blog and saw some of your pictures so I knew you had moved which is a shame it would have been nice to have someone else here in town to hang out with. I was on the fence to buy and your reasoned blog about the pros and cons really helped me and I want to thank you for that. I believe the r80 upgrade is the same as the 3.0? I read all 30 pages or so of the sticky thread and it seems like with degradation many people are getting less standard range or about the same as this car? We currently own the only other Tesla glider install. The MB B250e. It only has about 85 miles on the standard charge and a hundred on an extended. We love it. Best commuter car ever had and some pro YouTube reviews prefer ride and package to Model 3. We have ICE for vacation cross country long distance trips. With over 240 miles of extended range we can go a lot of places especially when you consider stopping for an hour or two at one of the many destination chargers. My daily commute is about 6 miles so I don't see any issues with range for daily or even regional trips. Time will tell but I'm hopeful that Tesla will step up and improve support or we will continue to have third-party options. Worst case as long as they are buying back cars there's a floor and escape for the current owners. I sold my NSX and am buying this car for almost the exact same amount. It will be interesting to see which appreciates more and requires more maintenance and fuel costs over the next five years.
I have had my new battery for two years. And I put like 5k miles a year on the car. I have had virtually no degradation in range. When I got the battery first installed it reported 320 mile range on a full charge. Today it's pretty much the same, maybe a few miles less. When I lived in St. Louis before the battery upgrade I got range anxiety just driving around the area.
Even better would be to contribute logs from your car to @bolosky for the 3.0 Battery Longevity thread (if you haven't already done so).
I'm doing a full range charge today and will report what it shows. I haven't actually done a full range charge in a while, but the normal range charge hasn't really changed.
From the thread people found 25% (on average) degradation of the 3.0 pack in about a year. You are a very very lucky person if your battery has held up to 2 years, 10k miles, and you have only lost a mile or two. When you look at the charts you will see only one other 3.0 pack held up as well (and it was NEVER driven so the data was suspect as the CAC wasn't updated with so few miles). From reading between the lines when Tesla found out from the field and the group letter signed by a large percent of 3.0 owners how poorly the 3.0 packs were holding up - they pulled the 3.0 upgrade from the website. I have never heard any compensation or official response but some 3.0 packs are worse then the previous packs the owners replaced (imagine paying $29k and getting worse millage). Hopefully, Tesla will do the right thing for the people who spent so much money for a battery chemistry that was much worse (on average) than the original batteries.
None that I have data for are worse than a new original battery (not to mention whatever state it was in when it was replaced). The lowest CAC in my dataset is mine at 174 (as of October, but it hasn't changed much since). New original batteries were 156, so if it takes as long to lose the next 20 Ah as it did the last 20 Ah, then it will be about 2 more years (and 30K miles) before it's down to an original battery. If you know of someone with a 3.0 with a CAC at or below 156, PLEASE have them send me their log!