Should I buy a Tesla Model 3?

[mthbb]

My partner is looking for a new car and not sure if a Tesla would be suitable. She does a 480 mile round trip weekly for work, I have seen a long range model 3 advertised at a great price and with the journey being 240 miles one way could be done on a full charge without stopping. The car is 3 years old and has 111,000 miles on clock.

While she is home would be using home charging but whilst away would be charging out, I read somewhere that the fast chargers degrade the batteries?

Would you consider buying a 3 year old with 111,000 miles on clock if at a decent price?

Would it be suitable for someone driving 500 miles per week or would you buy a diesel car instead?

Thoughts?

 

[EVRider-FL]

The Model 3 long range would be fine for that trip, and fast charging once a week isn’t going to be a problem.

 

[mthbb]

The Model 3 long range would be fine for that trip, and fast charging once a week isn’t going to be a problem.

Okay thank you for your reply, sowould you have any concerns buying one with 111,000 miles if it looked and good condition and offered at a decent price?

Is there any way to check condition of battery before purchasing? Like if I used an iPhone for example you could go into settings and check maximum capacity?

 

[Technokrat]

480 miles is quite a lot for every week, have you checked if there are any fast chargers on her way as in she doesn’t have to go out of her way? Based on weather conditions she may need to recharge on the way.

 

[ewoodrick]

My partner is looking for a new car and not sure if a Tesla would be suitable. She does a 480 mile round trip weekly for work, I have seen a long range model 3 advertised at a great price and with the journey being 240 miles one way could be done on a full charge without stopping. The car is 3 years old and has 111,000 miles on clock.

While she is home would be using home charging but whilst away would be charging out, I read somewhere that the fast chargers degrade the batteries?

Would you consider buying a 3 year old with 111,000 miles on clock if at a decent price?

Would it be suitable for someone driving 500 miles per week or would you buy a diesel car instead?

Thoughts?

Since you know the numbers specifically, I assume that you know the route. I'd suggest looking at tesla.com/supercharger and seeing what charging options are along the way. Hopefully there are at least 2-3 on her trip.

Supercharging does no harm . That car probably has seen it's fair share of them.
I've got a 6 year old Model 3 with half that many miles, but it is still going strong.

 

[mthbb]

Just checked and seems to be plenty around on her route. Just struggling to think whether buying a 3 year old model 3 tesla v buying another diesel car

 

[ewoodrick]

Just checked and seems to be plenty around on her route. Just struggling to think whether buying a 3 year old model 3 tesla v buying another diesel car

Oh, that one is extremely easy.

 

[mthbb]

Thanks for your advise think I will get her the Tesla long range then!

 

[Yelobird]

Your question has very little detail which is confusing to answer. If the math is a weekly work commute is 480 miles that would translate to a 96 mile daily allowance which would be easy in Any Tesla.

 

[mthbb]

Your question has very little detail which is confusing to answer. If the math is a weekly work commute is 480 miles that would translate to a 96 mile daily allowance which would be easy in Any Tesla.

Sorry, her place of work is 240 miles away, she will drive up there, stay there for around 5 days with some short journeys from airbnb to work, then the 240 mile drive home. So I am guessing she will be doing around 500 miles ish every week. There seems to be fast chargers on route so that shouldn't be an issue.

I just didn't know whether 1) an EV would be a better option for her than a diesel car and 2) would you consider a 3 year old Tesla model 3 (long range) with 111,000 miles on the clock?

 

[PianoAl]

So, would you have any concerns buying one with 111,000 miles if it looked and good condition and offered at a decent price?

I would buy that car as long as I had some way to check it out. Nick (see sig) has about 90K miles and drives like new. Looks almost like new also.

I regularly drive 110 miles round trip (55 mph country roads), starting at 80% and ending at 25% when I get home.

 

[124SpiderM3]

That is a great reason to buy a Model 3 LR. Good that you checked that there are plenty of Super Chargers on the route.

I personally would not buy a M3 with 111,000 miles on it (or any used car) but if you do is it still under warranty and what is it's current range when fully charged?

 

[brkaus]

240 miles one way will likely require a charge stop, even if very brief. Especially if it’s cold or the weather is bad. Unless there superchargers are very distributed along the route and you can tolerate more risk.

I personally would do the Tesla over a diesel. But expectations should be set properly.

If you want to try a specific route, you can try “a better route planner” (google).

 

[mthbb]

Thanks guys, think I will go for a Tesla Model 3 LR but maybe spend a bit more and look for one with less miles on the clock.

 

[RayK]

Is there any way to check condition of battery before purchasing? Like if I used an iPhone for example you could go into settings and check maximum capacity?

One thing you can do is toggle the battery charge level/estimated range display and note both figures. That requires physical access to the vehicle. If that's not possible for you prior to purchase, you might be able to have the seller send you a short video which shows them alternating the display between the percent state of charge and estimated range (simply tap the number on the car's screen and it will change modes).

Do some math and you can figure out what the full range currently is. Note that it's an estimate and typically assumes that you'll be doing some city driving (which conversely, is better for "gas mileage" than highway driving for EVs) and best case environmental conditions (limited use of heater or A/C). As you said that your partner will be commuting 240 miles one way, I'm guessing that most of that will be on highways with limited slowdowns. Also, for colder climates, <50F or so, your range will decrease.

Take the current range and divide by the state of charge (SoC) to determine what the full range (100% battery) is. For example, if the current SoC is 70% and the indicated mileage is 210 miles, then 210 / 0.70 = 300 miles. Compare that to what the car was supposed to get when new and you can figure out how much the battery's capacity has degraded. My own 2018 LR RWD was rated to get 310 miles. It's now estimated to get 300 miles full range. 1 - (300 / 310) = 1 - 0.9677 or 0.0323, which is 3.23% degradation over the 6 years and 30K miles I've owned the car.

The other thing that's possible is to enter Service Mode and perform the battery health test. It's more involved (takes hours to do from what I understand) but should give you the best answer.

 

[DuncanM]

My partner is looking for a new car and not sure if a Tesla would be suitable. She does a 480 mile round trip weekly for work, I have seen a long range model 3 advertised at a great price and with the journey being 240 miles one way could be done on a full charge without stopping. The car is 3 years old and has 111,000 miles on clock.

While she is home would be using home charging but whilst away would be charging out, I read somewhere that the fast chargers degrade the batteries?

Would you consider buying a 3 year old with 111,000 miles on clock if at a decent price?

Would it be suitable for someone driving 500 miles per week or would you buy a diesel car instead?

Thoughts?

She could, potentially, charge on an exterior 230v/13A outlet whilst away via a portable charger; there may be one at her residence or place of work. This would allow her to charge partially overnight after arrival and then fully on the day of departure. If this is possible it could save a lot of money.

The in-car displayed range is approximately correct when doing ~60mph on level ground at ~20C/68F. Driving on an M-way at 70mph will drop this by about 15% and at 80mph by about 25-30%.

The Tesla M3 LR battery warranty is 8 years and 120K miles, IIRC.

 

[Skavatar]

that's a lot of miles for a 3 yr old car. does it have extended warranty?

 

[ewoodrick]

that's a lot of miles for a 3 yr old car. does it have extended warranty?

That's generally the best car to put a lot more miles on. It's often called a "beater", a car that is cheap and meant for getting from a to b and back.

Model 3s are still on target for 300,000 miles.