Tesla 2016 FaceLift with AP1 MCU2 upgrade question

[dorwin6]

Hi Guys,

I am about to put an offer down a second hand 1 owner to a November 2016 Reg Vehicle with Air Suspension, 21s Alloy and Eletric Tail gate Model S. However, It only comes with AP1. Does anyone know whether AP1 is ok to be upgrade to MCU2 in the future? Or should I just get a slightly older vsion AP2 without free super charging?

How much does it cost to top up from nearly empty to 80%?

Thank you in advance.

 

[HKP_Tom]

HW 2+ will be FSD capable and also allow for things like sentry mode.

I don't know what you're paying for the late 2017 car - but 2018s with HW2.5 and MCU2 are getting pretty cheap now (mid 40s) and will not require upgrades and be more future proof.

 

[dorwin6]

HW 2+ will be FSD capable and also allow for things like sentry mode.

I don't know what you're paying for the late 2017 car - but 2018s with HW2.5 and MCU2 are getting pretty cheap now (mid 40s) and will not require upgrades and be more future proof.

Thank you so much for the promp reply, the seller would like to charge about £39,000 with transferable super charging. It's reg as 66, late 2016 vehicle. The 2018s we can get it as £45k or below but it doesnt come with free super charge. I don't drive much, probably 10,000 miles a year max.

My concern is that the vehicle might not be able to upgrade to MCU 2 due to only having AP1 hence hestate to put the offer down.

 

[DrJFoster]

I believe you can upgrade AP1 cars to MCU2, but be aware that if you listen to the radio it will cost you an extra £400 or so to have the radio upgraded as well making it nearly 3k to upgrade, plus a 2016 car will be out of general warranty now with Tesla so all together its adding up. Like all these things, and stating the obvious, stretching budgets gets you more, but not sure its sensible to buy the cheapest car and then spend 2-3k upgrading it makes a lot of sense. I'm guessing if you're paying mid 30's the prospect of paying a bit more and then 8k on top for FSD isn't going to factor especially given how good AP1 is so thats less of an issue. Take a look at Tesla-info website as they list all the cars and give a value assessment and tell you how long the cars been for sale, plus there are detailed guides covering the differences between versions, how to find the hardware on the car etc so you know what you're getting for your money.

As for 2018 cars, not all with have MCU2. It came out in 2018 sp early cars won't have it.

The cost of charging - from home factor in about 1/3 of your kwh price per mile (so if you pay 15p a kwh, its about 5p per mile). Public charging tends to be either free or about double that. You need to try and shake off the "how much is a full charge" thinking because the "tank" is a fair bit smaller than a petrol or diesel car so doesn't go as far, and you top up much more regularly.

 

[dorwin6]

I believe you can upgrade AP1 cars to MCU2, but be aware that if you listen to the radio it will cost you an extra £400 or so to have the radio upgraded as well making it nearly 3k to upgrade, plus a 2016 car will be out of general warranty now with Tesla so all together its adding up. Like all these things, and stating the obvious, stretching budgets gets you more, but not sure its sensible to buy the cheapest car and then spend 2-3k upgrading it makes a lot of sense. I'm guessing if you're paying mid 30's the prospect of paying a bit more and then 8k on top for FSD isn't going to factor especially given how good AP1 is so thats less of an issue. Take a look at Tesla-info website as they list all the cars and give a value assessment and tell you how long the cars been for sale, plus there are detailed guides covering the differences between versions, how to find the hardware on the car etc so you know what you're getting for your money.

As for 2018 cars, not all with have MCU2. It came out in 2018 sp early cars won't have it.

The cost of charging - from home factor in about 1/3 of your kwh price per mile (so if you pay 15p a kwh, its about 5p per mile). Public charging tends to be either free or about double that. You need to try and shake off the "how much is a full charge" thinking because the "tank" is a fair bit smaller than a petrol or diesel car so doesn't go as far, and you top up much more regularly.

Thank you, just want to compare whether is it worth getting the free super charging without MCU2 and AP2.

The one that I really like is the air suspension and 21 inch for the 75D. Unfortunately without the AP2 slightly affected the decision that I am going to offer. The millage is about 38,000 for that 2016 facelift model. I have seen some december 2016 model comes with AP2 but it's coil suspension instead of Air selling for very similar price.

 

[dorwin6]

I did some calculation, both vehicle options are VAT Q. Both Model S 75D

Option 1: 66 plate which has AP1 with 21inch alloys, with 38k miles, Pano, Free Super Charge, AS, No Enhance Auto Pilot: MCU1 Price £38500 - Out of Warranty
Option 2: 18 plate which has AP2.5 with 19 inch alloys, 42k miles, Glass Roof, No Free Super Charge, AS, Enchance Auto Pilot: MCU2 Price £44950 - Almost to Warranty up to 50k miles.

The difference between both are £6400.

If I would upgrade the 66 plate to MCU2 + Radio = around £3k, still with AP1. Adding towards total cost of £41500
So the difference between both of these vehicle = £3450.

I am thinking paying £3000 more to get an 18 plate would be better in this case. Anyone has any suggestion?

 

[dorwin6]

I did some calculation, both vehicle options are VAT Q. Both Model S 75D

Option 1: 66 plate which has AP1 with 21inch alloys, with 38k miles, Pano, Free Super Charge, AS, No Enhance Auto Pilot: MCU1 Price £38500 - Out of Warranty
Option 2: 18 plate which has AP2.5 with 19 inch alloys, 34k miles, Glass Roof, No Free Super Charge, AS, Enchance Auto Pilot: MCU2 Price £44950 - Almost to Warranty up to 50k miles.

The difference between both are £6400.

If I would upgrade the 66 plate to MCU2 + Radio = around £3k, still with AP1. Adding towards total cost of £41500
So the difference between both of these vehicle = £3450.

I am thinking paying £3000 more to get an 18 plate would be better in this case. Anyone has any suggestion?

Correction* the 2018 has 34,000 miles

 

[MrBadger]

Assuming service records and bodywork comparable, if it was me, it would be no brainer - option 2.

 

[HenryT]

Assuming service records and bodywork comparable, if it was me, it would be no brainer - option 2.

Ditto - warranty is a definite benefit plus newer car/newer technology and a better resale prospect too.

 

[Garry TheBiz]

Such a small difference in price for an 18 plate over a 66 plate makes it an easy choice. Also the 19" wheels are more efficient than the 21" as well as giving a smoother ride.
Considering your not doing particularly high mileage in it, and assuming the bulk of your charging will be at home, you've got to ask yourself how much your're likely to spend on supercharging when you have to pay for it.
Also, just to throw in another thought, if you've got a nearby supercharger and were planning on using that for most of your charging, bear in mind that after a fixed number of supercharges your charge rate will be limited for all future supercharging. You really don't wan to be getting to this point too early in the cars life, as it will add unnecessary wait times on the occasions you're travelling further afield and need to supercharge

 

[dorwin6]

Thank you all for answering my questions. I have put the VIN number on the tesla website VIN Recall Search | Tesla Service. It comes out as recall incomplete. What does it mean? Would tesla able to upgrade the MCU 1 to MCU 2? How much would MCU 2 cost now?

 

[gangzoom]

ALL cars can be upgraded to MCU2, the cost has come down to £1500 and well woth it.

But I really would get a AP2.0 car rather than AP1.0. Elon likes to boast but if you watch the FSD beta videos you will see what a massive leap in performance is coming, and presuming you will be keeping the car just the potential for FSD will help it retain value.

I've driven plenty of AP1 cars, I have no idea why people think its even close to the latest AP code that runs on AP2+ cars. The AP1 software is running off a very basic CPU with vision feed running at sub VGA resolution at something like 15FPS, where as AP3 is now starting to be able to process 720P at 30FPS from all 8 cameras.

I would put AP2.0 above free for life supercharging or air suspension.

 

[DrJFoster]

The recall is for the memory component only, and Tesla will only replace it when it reaches a level of poor health, they can measure it somehow. After they fix the memory its pretty much like it was when new, so a touch faster (because the memory slows down a little as it fails), but nothing to get excited about.

If you do the MCU upgrade you still have to pay irrespective of the recall, and on an AP1 car you get little new functionality other than its quicker and netflix etc (for which you need your own subscription). It can most certainly be done on a AP1 car. As others have said, DAB and FM radio disappear unless you also buy the radio module so you're into about £2k for essentially a more responsive display and functionally very little. You can buy a ipad for 1/5 of the price and watch netflix on that.

 

[eight]

MCU2 is easy to confirm as it'll have Netflix and youtube I think - from 68 plate or thereabouts.
Of those two cars I'd go for the newer car too.
You'd expect a newer factory MCU2 car to hold it's value better as any trade/computer valuation on older cars would assume AP1/MCU1 etc - that was my reasoning anyway (68 plate here).

 

[dorwin6]

Thanks, DrJFoster, the recall doesn't cover the MCU2 update, in that case, the car is registered on March 18 which have AP2.5, I have put the deposit down but have not confirmed the purchases yet. Would it be better to purchase a cheaper 67 plate and then upgrade the MCU2 instead? this March 2018 car is about 43k. It is still under Tesla 4 years warranty.

 

[dorwin6]

Hey Guys,

I have just done a deal to purchase the 2018 version of Model S 75D, registered in March 2018. The miles are about 33k miles. The vehicle belonged to ex "Enterprise Car", only has one full-service history, not by Tesla but Enterprise themselves. My concern if it is an ex-car rental company, should I be concern about its reliability and whether Enterprise Car Service history itself is sufficient? The dealer recently gets it checked by a Tesla technician to replace the door handle issue which was covered under warranty. They also check the battery and says that the charge left is still 100%. The dealership says Tesla doesn't need to be serviced annually.

 

[dorwin6]

I have received the 2018 MS (18 regs) today, distance ordering and have not seen the vehicle before. I have heard of un-alignment before but not for headlights and interior. I saw these when I received the vehicle today. The right side of the headlight is popping out and seem to have a huge gap within the headlights. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
right headlight

vs left light

Driver door

passenger door

Lastly, is there a service that I can pay Tesla for Vehicle Inspection?

 

[SR-Plus]

You can book a service via the app.
It appears the headlining can be pushed back into place?
Most Tesla’s have alignment issues but whether your vehicle has had a small frontal crash before given both headlights are out? Maybe one of the headlights have been replaced?
I wouldn’t worry too much that the car is ex-rental. You can’t burn out a clutch or over Rev and engine on an EV!

 

[MrBadger]

I wouldn’t worry too much that the car is ex-rental. You can’t burn out a clutch or over Rev and engine on an EV!

Half shafts on Model S seem to be a weakness. Worth getting those checked. iirc there is even a recall for some defects although heavy right foot is unlikely to be covered.

 

[dorwin6]

You can book a service via the app.
It appears the headlining can be pushed back into place?
Most Tesla’s have alignment issues but whether your vehicle has had a small frontal crash before given both headlights are out? Maybe one of the headlights have been replaced?
I wouldn’t worry too much that the car is ex-rental. You can’t burn out a clutch or over Rev and engine on an EV!

I am awaiting the V5C form back as the dealer does not have the app registered. It is set limit to charge at 70%, the range shown as 190miles.

The dealer confirms that Tesla mobile technical who came to fix the vehicle door handle state that the battery life is still 100%.