used 2017 Model S

[CoolTech]

Hello, I decided to buy used Model S90D instead of buying a new model 3. I found the 2017 with enhanced autopilot.
Question1: does it matter whether or not I buy a 2017 Model S with 22,000 miles or 50,000 miles? How is the average longevity of the model s?

Question2: if I find a really nice 2017 90d am I better off waiting and being patient to find a 100d even if the 100d is 5000 more?

Question3: how much better is autopilot and self-driving on compared to 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Question4: how important is it that I have the Model S that I found at a Mercedes dealership inspected by an official Tesla Service station?

 

[KalJoMoS]

A Q1: Obviously that 22k will last 28k miles longer, but overall both will hold good. It all depends at what conditions each are? And why the 22k car has that low mileage?
A Q2: Will that waiting be balanced with your budget?
A Q3: You mentioned Enhanced Autopilot, so it’s version 2,5 (or 3 if upgraded) and there is no FSD subscription then it will be fine for highway driving and single lane country roads. That FSD is not yet out of beta so not worth to spend any money on that. It all comes to the fact that is the EA activated on any of the cars?
A Q4: How did that happened? Did they take the car to Tesla for evaluation? But if true then I would accept the result.

 

[ChooseFreedom]

1) Battery age and how it was treated is more important than mileage.

2) This is a personal choice. What fits your budget? How important is range to you?

3) I think most 2017's are going to have cameras, which can be upgraded. I agree with KalJoMoS, FSD is not worth paying extra.

4) I bought my '15 70D from a Toyota dealership. They took it as a trade in. It's a risk because they do not have access to the history, and Tesla will not even look at the car unless you are the owner. Even then, after you buy and get it transferred to you, as I found out, they will still not give you previous owner's history. The best you can do is, before you buy, put it in service mode and see if there are any current error codes.

 

[PCMc]

One factor you might want to confirm on a 2017 or early 2018 is if it has MCU2 versus MCU1. That doesn't directly impact EAP capability per my understanding, but will give you increased capability for Sentry/Dashcam as well as games/theater modes if any of those items are important to you.

 

[CoolTech]

A Q1: Obviously that 22k will last 28k miles longer, but overall both will hold good. It all depends at what conditions each are? And why the 22k car has that low mileage?
A Q2: Will that waiting be balanced with your budget?
A Q3: You mentioned Enhanced Autopilot, so it’s version 2,5 (or 3 if upgraded) and there is no FSD subscription then it will be fine for highway driving and single lane country roads. That FSD is not yet out of beta so not worth to spend any money on that. It all comes to the fact that is the EA activated on any of the cars?
A Q4: How did that happened? Did they take the car to Tesla for evaluation? But if true then I would accept the result.

Good evening, thank you so much for answering. It's not a matter of budget. I test drove the car. It did have self-driving capability. I pulled twice forward on the left side steering wheel column control arm and the vehicle did stop at a red light and proceed driving forward once the light turned green and it also proceeded off the highway. It also stopped and made a right turn for me. I was pretty happy with it. It is 2.0 though. Does that sound right? Here is some pictures of the

If the car appears to be really clean and there's no noises is it worth buying even though the one front headlight has it burned out LED on the top? The actual miles in this car is 37,000 mi.


Most important question do you think I should go through the trouble of having it inspected at a Tesla Service center?

Do you know what number I would call at Tesla to check the VIN number? Would that be the service center?

A Q1: Obviously that 22k will last 28k miles longer, but overall both will hold good. It all depends at what conditions each are? And why the 22k car has that low mileage?
A Q2: Will that waiting be balanced with your budget?
A Q3: You mentioned Enhanced Autopilot, so it’s version 2,5 (or 3 if upgraded) and there is no FSD subscription then it will be fine for highway driving and single lane country roads. That FSD is not yet out of beta so not worth to spend any money on that. It all comes to the fact that is the EA activated on any of the cars?
A Q4: How did that happened? Did they take the car to Tesla for evaluation? But if true then I would accept the result.

No, it's actually 2.0 but it is full self-driving. When I pulled twice on the left side of the steering wheel column control arm the car stopped at a red light and then proceeded forward at green. It also made a right turn and proceeded off exit off highway. Do you know a phone number to call for Tesla to check a vin number? Would that be the service center? Thank you for answering my questions. I am super excited, but it does seem like there's a lot of Model s's out there somewhere between 25,000 and 35,000.

 

[CoolTech]

1) Battery age and how it was treated is more important than mileage.

2) This is a personal choice. What fits your budget? How important is range to you?

3) I think most 2017's are going to have cameras, which can be upgraded. I agree with KalJoMoS, FSD is not worth paying extra.

4) I bought my '15 70D from a Toyota dealership. They took it as a trade in. It's a risk because they do not have access to the history, and Tesla will not even look at the car unless you are the owner. Even then, after you buy and get it transferred to you, as I found out, they will still not give you previous owner's history. The best you can do is, before you buy, put it in service mode and see if there are any current error codes.

This of great information. Is there an 800 number to call or service center for Tesla to have them check the VIN and verify what the car came with? For example, it says on one part of the Carfax that the battery warranty is good for another 21 months or $85,000 miles

 

[CoolTech]

One factor you might want to confirm on a 2017 or early 2018 is if it has MCU2 versus MCU1. That doesn't directly impact EAP capability per my understanding, but will give you increased capability for Sentry/Dashcam as well as games/theater modes if any of those items are important to you.

Great idea thank you

 

[CoolTech]

One factor you might want to confirm on a 2017 or early 2018 is if it has MCU2 versus MCU1. That doesn't directly impact EAP capability per my understanding, but will give you increased capability for Sentry/Dashcam as well as games/theater modes if any of those items are important to you.

Question, how do you check the MCU?

 

[PCMc]

Question, how do you check the MCU?

If you have access to the car, go into Controls > Software > and then you should see a blue link that says something Additional Vehicle Information. Click on that link and there will be a pop-up screen that shows you details like type of drive motors, if CCS charging is supported, etc. One of the items should show you the type of Infotainment Processor. If it says NVIDIA Tegra, then it is MCU1. If it says Intel Atom, then it is MCU2.

Another way to check is by how the screen reset works. If pushing in both scroll wheels resets both the main screen and the instrument panel, then it iss MCU2 (with MCU2, the IP is a slave display off the main MCU processor). If it is MCU1, then if you push just the two buttons above the scroll wheels, the IP will reset by itself. That's another way to check, but the Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Info screen is a bit more direct.

 

[SoCal Buzz]

Question, how do you check the MCU?

Also, MCU2 was released in March 2018 and beyond manufacture date.

 

[KalJoMoS]

Well, basically all Tesla cars with activated AP hardware are capable for self-driving. Even the very first version AP1, some say it far better that the next generation as EM has intervened with the evolution too much and the later versions started to get more driver annoyance than before. I have knowledge of only the first version which is very good in my opinion. Why I emphasise the activation is because if the car is just pre fitted with the hardware then to be able to use it you need to pay Tesla. What I think of you description is the car has EAP activated. If you liked this, then it‘s good.
About that burned out headlight (LED eyebrows especially) is the weak point of the facelift that the car had in 2016. Some say newer produced lights does not have it any longer. I can’t be sure, mine is with Xenon discharge version lights which have far better reliability.
You did asked how to contact Tesla, well basically you can only walk in the service and ask questions. You might get some answers but they will never give you any data of the car you are interested of. Does your state require vehicle safety inspection? If so take the car for the inspection and make your decision according to this. When I purchased mine I used MOT service (the one here in EU) to get clear picture of what state the car was. Mine had no issues, all checked green.
For the MCU version you need to be in car and select “Additional vehicle Information“ on the screen to see if its Intel Atom or NVIDIA Tegra - first is MCU2 and second is MCU1 version. You car should look like this:

p.s. your photos seems to be not attached..

 

[CoolTech]

Also, MCU2 was released in March 2018 and beyond manufacture date.

In this case am I correct if my car was purchased September of 2017 that it's going to be the MCU1?

 

[CoolTech]

If you have access to the car, go into Controls > Software > and then you should see a blue link that says something Additional Vehicle Information. Click on that link and there will be a pop-up screen that shows you details like type of drive motors, if CCS charging is supported, etc. One of the items should show you the type of Infotainment Processor. If it says NVIDIA Tegra, then it is MCU1. If it says Intel Atom, then it is MCU2.

Another way to check is by how the screen reset works. If pushing in both scroll wheels resets both the main screen and the instrument panel, then it iss MCU2 (with MCU2, the IP is a slave display off the main MCU processor). If it is MCU1, then if you push just the two buttons above the scroll wheels, the IP will reset by itself. That's another way to check, but the Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Info screen is a bit more direct.

Here's a picture I took showing the hardware and software information does this help at all? I'm going to go back and look at the car again today to investigate but I'm pretty sure based on the year and the fact that it was bought September 2017 that it's going to be MCU l1. This car comes with self-driving and the interconnectivity package

 

[SoCal Buzz]

In this case am I correct if my car was purchased September of 2017 that it's going to be the MCU1?

Yes, unless someone paid $1500 to upgrade. Regarding the screen picture, you need to click on Additional Vehicle Info blue text for more details.

 

[BuffaloMS]

The EAP upgrade is $6k while MCU / HW3 upgrade is around $2k. You do lose FM/XM unless you pay $500 to get the tuners put back in. That car has unlimited premium connectivity, the newer ones you have to pay $100/ year for it.

Upgrading MCU2/HW3 would give you the same hardware as the 2020 ravens, which would get you the best legacy support. Seems to me you are looking at a very good scenario.

 

[CoolTech]

Also, MCU2 was released in March 2018 and beyond manufacture date.

This one has the infotainment center with YouTube and all those other apps, I understand that it has to be mcu-2 to be able to do that is that correct?

 

[BuffaloMS]

the only way to be sure is to get into the additional information screeen and see if it says nvidia or atom.

The mcu1 could do most of the tasks, it just isn’t as fast as mcu2. If the prior owner updated to mcu2, Tesla likely would have installed hw3 at the same time since the car has EAP. It’s possible that they didn’t because HW3 was a $1k option on the upgrade for the first couple of months. Eventually they started doing hw3 for free when you updated MCU2.

 

[SoCal Buzz]

This one has the infotainment center with YouTube and all those other apps, I understand that it has to be mcu-2 to be able to do that is that correct?

Tesla MCU1 vs. MCU2 Explained

Comparing Tesla's MCU1 vs. MCU2? Wondering if you should buy a used Tesla with MCU1? We answer those questions and more here!

www.findmyelectric.com

 

[CoolTech]

Hello everyone and happy weekend! I spent the last 3 days looking at a 2017 Tesla Model S 90d. It shows a cream puff. Auto Drive works, no driving noise except when braking there is a vibration on the left drivers side front which could be rust on the rotors as it only has been driven 50 miles in the last year, I need to check that out further though. The body alignment seems perfect, sunroof, windows, doors, no smell from sitting water in cockpit, frunk, trunk, and no signs of sitting water. I am having the dealership run a battery test in the service section of the user interface by charging it all the way up to full capacity. Since this is not a Tesla dealership I had to provide instructions on how to test the battery and explained that the battery has to be less then 50% charge for test to work.

I had the dealership put the car on the life. It is said that there should be no scratches in the Battery of more then 5mm..

Questions:

1. I read that if a scratch of the battery (viewing undercarriage) is 5mm the Battery has to be replaced: is that 5mm long or 5mm deep? Please see he pictures of the battery and under carriage.

2. Do you know how much it would cost to replace and upgrade from MCU1 to mcu2?

3. What's the cheapest way to replace the front headlamp. I found the guy that showed you how to do it online if there's anyone here done it?

4. How to distinguish between the older battery and the newer battery in the Tesla Model S from 2017? How to find out what battery is in the car?

5. Ultimate Question: If the dealership is willing to mark down the fair market value and deducting the headlamp replacement (2500) and MCU upgrade (1500?) is it relatively safe to move forward instead of waiting for the next available Tesla service center apportionment on Janu
ary 17?

 

[SoCal Buzz]

Hello everyone and happy weekend! I spent the last 3 days looking at a 2017 Tesla Model S 90d. It shows a cream puff. Auto Drive works, no driving noise except when braking there is a vibration on the left drivers side front which could be rust on the rotors as it only has been driven 50 miles in the last year, I need to check that out further though. The body alignment seems perfect, sunroof, windows, doors, no smell from sitting water in cockpit, frunk, trunk, and no signs of sitting water. I am having the dealership run a battery test in the service section of the user interface by charging it all the way up to full capacity. Since this is not a Tesla dealership I had to provide instructions on how to test the battery and explained that the battery has to be less then 50% charge for test to work.

I had the dealership put the car on the life. It is said that there should be no scratches in the Battery of more then 5mm..

Questions:

1. I read that if a scratch of the battery (viewing undercarriage) is 5mm the Battery has to be replaced: is that 5mm long or 5mm deep? Please see he pictures of the battery and under carriage.

2. Do you know how much it would cost to replace and upgrade from MCU1 to mcu2?

3. What's the cheapest way to replace the front headlamp. I found the guy that showed you how to do it online if there's anyone here done it?

4. How to distinguish between the older battery and the newer battery in the Tesla Model S from 2017? How to find out what battery is in the car?

5. Ultimate Question: If the dealership is willing to mark down the fair market value and deducting the headlamp replacement (2500) and MCU upgrade (1500?) is it relatively safe to move forward instead of waiting for the next available Tesla service center apportionment on Janu
ary 17?

I don’t see anything of concern on battery tray, and if you did read something about 5mm it would certainly be depth. Scratches are no big deal so long as tray isn’t punctured or significantly dented. I’m more interested to know 100% charge range.

You already noted cost of MCU upgrade. Also, I would think you could find decent headlight on eBay for much less.

With any used, out of warranty Tesla and assuming battery is in good shape, I would factor in $5-7 K buffer for potential repairs of various electronics that can fail.