Waffling on used 2016 P100D through Tesla (long, but pics!)

[captjoemcd]

Hey All!

I need some opinions. Long post but I'm really waffling on this, so I appreciate you reading.

In October of last year, we bought my wife a 2016 X through Tesla with 16k miles (90D, Deep Blue Metallic, 6 seats, tan interior) and everything about the experience was great. The only slightly unsettling part of the experience is you put down $100 (NBD), then arrange financing and insurance and then show up to pick it up sight unseen other than pictures. You can back out of course, but there's quite a bit of momentum at that point. Fortunately for us, her X was spotless when we picked it up. We tend to buy cars CPO (I know, Tesla doesn't do CPO anymore, but this is close) and keep them for another ~100k miles, although we may keep these Teslas longer, our BMWs started falling apart at the 110-120k mile mark.

Now it's my turn. Back in early January, I found a 2016 P100D, Deep Blue Metallic, Ultra White interior/Carbon Fiber interior and spoiler, FSD, Free supercharging (non transferrable), 21" turbine wheels with not a scratch, red calipers, 4 year/50k mile warranty, basically everything I'm looking for except for rear facing seats which I'll add. Originally listed on the Tesla website for $83,600

The downsides: 33k miles, which is 10-15k more miles than I was looking for, a little wear on the driver's side B pillar white trim (either from seatbelt or sliding in), a scratch on aluminum driver's door interior panel trim, a little dirt/dye transfer on the driver's set (I can probably clean, if not I'll either live with it or buy a new seat) and a rock chip through the paint at the bottom of the fascia. There weren't as many pics as usual, which was probably an oversight - missing direct front hood shot, rear, and 3/4 shots.

I pulled the trigger when the price reached $82,700. Price out the door was $90,400 (tax/title/tags). They sent me a link with the full condition pics, here: 2016 Tesla Model S 5YJSA1E40GF160060, which are mostly gorgeous.

There was one picture that wasn't included that showed a rock chip through the paint and a likely dent. The rock chip on the fascia was something I could live with, but this was on the sheet metal. It wasn't clear where the chip actually was since it was super zoomed in. After looking for hours at the pics, I was able to determine that it's on the passenger front fender behind the wheel (weird spot for a chip like this). After lots of hemming and hawing, I cancelled the order.

I told myself the rock chip was worth about $5k to me (i'm estimating $3-4k to fix, plus hassle), so if the price dropped to $77,700, i'd go for it again. I waited, and the price dropped to $76,900, and I pulled the trigger again. Price out the door is $84,000 (tax/title/tags), a full $6400 less than I originally was going to pay. I'm waiting on the delivery appointment, which will probably be next week.

I'm still going back and forth. Is 33k miles too much for a used P100D? Does this odd chip indicate this car was abused? Is this a good deal for a great car and I should stop worrying?

Thanks!!

 

[BUSMAN]

Short response to well constructed explanation but wouldn't a new S100D for 83k do the trick?

 

[captjoemcd]

Short response to well constructed explanation but wouldn't a new S100D for 83k do the trick?

Unfortunately not. I have 3 kids (6, 3, 1) and from time to time need to be able to pick them all up from school/daycare, so the rear facing seats are a must, which means the latest I could go is mid 2018. So new isn't an option, which means the next best option imho is used from Tesla, which means late 2016/early 2017 (a few 2017s were on 2 year leases but not many). And if it's going to be a 2016/2017, I want ludicrous

 

[BUSMAN]

Unfortunately not. I have 3 kids (6, 3, 1) and from time to time need to be able to pick them all up from school/daycare, so the rear facing seats are a must, which means the latest I could go is mid 2018. So new isn't an option, which means the next best option imho is used from Tesla, which means late 2016/early 2017 (a few 2017s were on 2 year leases but not many). And if it's going to be a 2016/2017, I want ludicrous

Kinda thought the Ludicrous was a must have I'd hate to spend over 70k for a chipped up car.

 

[2101Guy]

Question about ludicrous. Do owners use that function all that much? Before I bought my 90D, I did have a borrowed X with ludicrous for a weekend. Ludicrous acceleration was great but I found that the prep (waiting for battery to warm, going into menu to activate launch, warnings about stressing drivetrain etc) were deterrence for me to use it regularly. Didn’t see myself using it much. Wondering if others use it much

 

[SilverGS]

Obviously I cannot relate to the requirement of having the rear facing seats, so paying roughly the same amount for a brand spanking new S vs a 3 year old S with 33k miles makes no sense to me at all.

 

[captjoemcd]

Obviously I cannot relate to the requirement of having the rear facing seats, so paying roughly the same amount for a brand spanking new S vs a 3 year old S with 33k miles makes no sense to me at all.

A similarly equipped new S is $115k, so this is about $40k cheaper

 

[SilverGS]

A similarly equipped new S is $115k, so this is about $40k cheaper

I would go with a standard range non performance as it's pretty fast unless you really want the P100D. I just can't see the value in getting a 3 year old car with 33K miles and cosmetic damage vs an almost same price brand new car.

Anyway that's just me.

 

[captjoemcd]

I would go with a standard range non performance as it's pretty fast unless you really want the P100D. I just can't see the value in getting a 3 year old car with 33K miles and cosmetic damage vs an almost same price brand new car.

Anyway that's just me.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Question about ludicrous. Do owners use that function all that much? Before I bought my 90D, I did have a borrowed X with ludicrous for a weekend. Ludicrous acceleration was great but I found that the prep (waiting for battery to warm, going into menu to activate launch, warnings about stressing drivetrain etc) were deterrence for me to use it regularly. Didn’t see myself using it much. Wondering if others use it much

I use it a lot, but gently. Unless there's a Charger, Mustang or Camaro nearby in need of a spanking.

 

[Akikiki]

@Cptjoe, I have a '17 90D. I one of a few thousand of the last 90D's before Feb/Mar 2017 when 100 batteries were available.

So how could your car be a 2016 with a 100 battery or how could your 100D be a 2016?

 

[Rogue Synapse]

@Cptjoe, I have a '17 90D. I one of a few thousand of the last 90D's before Feb/Mar 2017 when 100 batteries were available.

So how could your car be a 2016 with a 100 battery or how could your 100D be a 2016?

He’s looking at a P100D, not a 100D. The P100D was made starting in August 2016. The 90D was the top non-performance trim until the 100D started manufacture in Jan 2017:
Tesla Model S - Wikipedia

 

[voltage]

I thought there was a way to retrofit rear facing seats in a new Model S. May want to at least check it out before making a decision.

 

[Rogue Synapse]

Question about ludicrous. Do owners use that function all that much? Before I bought my 90D, I did have a borrowed X with ludicrous for a weekend. Ludicrous acceleration was great but I found that the prep (waiting for battery to warm, going into menu to activate launch, warnings about stressing drivetrain etc) were deterrence for me to use it regularly. Didn’t see myself using it much. Wondering if others use it much

The mode where Launch Control is available and where you have to warm up the battery is “Ludicrous+”. Many people drive around all the time in plain old “Ludicrous” which gives you the vast majority of the acceleration without preheating the battery. I drive around all the time in “Insane” (the immediate precursor to Ludicrous) and have learned to feather the pedal and drive gently most of the time, but it’s nice to have that lightning on tap at a moment’s notice if I need it to overtake someone or to embarrass a muscle car. I save “Insane+” for showing off the car to friends and family basically, because it enables Launch Control and ekes out that extra few tenths of a second (at notable cost in time and energy for waiting for the battery to heat).

 

[Akikiki]

RFS? There is. There's even an existing TSB on how to do it.

 

[captjoemcd]

RFS? There is. There's even an existing TSB on how to do it.

I think the question is whether they can be retrofitted into cars made after late 2018 when RFS ceased to be an option - I don't know if they stopped putting studs required to add the rear bumper support into the new builds at that point (I would assume they did)

 

[dk10438]

is this really such a great deal? I haven't been in the market for a while so I don't know prices. However, I purchased my 2018 inventory P100DL (with 600 miles) in May 2019 for $83,500 AND I got the federal tax credit of $3750 on top of that. So my cost was about $80k plus taxes

 

[Alysashley79]

Just my two cents. My Tesla has RFS and when we first got it my kids were all over them. Now they’d prefer to sit in the main cabin unless we have extra people in the car. You can easily fit three kids in the back seat even in car seats. Have your kids ever ridden in RFS?

it’s only $100 you’d lose if the car actually sucks! Again just my opinion.

 

[captjoemcd]

Just my two cents. My Tesla has RFS and when we first got it my kids were all over them. Now they’d prefer to sit in the main cabin unless we have extra people in the car. You can easily fit three kids in the back seat even in car seats. Have your kids ever ridden in RFS?

it’s only $100 you’d lose if the car actually sucks! Again just my opinion.

For sure - my father in law has them in his S and my kids love them. My wife has an X that we'll use whenever we're all together, these are really primarily for when I need to pick up all 3 and I don't want to have 2 dionos plus a Keyfit 30 rear facing infant seat always installed

 

[captjoemcd]

To close the loop, I picked up the car yesterday. In person I decided I could live with the paint chips until spending the money to have them fixed and took delivery. I absolutely love the car and Ludicrous+ is like nothing I've ever driven/ridden in (closest feeling I’ve felt in a car to lighting the afterburners on T-38 jets )

The clearcoat on the car seemed like it wasn't really fully cured - it seemed almost gooey in some spots, especially around the chip I showed at the beginning of the thread. Surprise! the entire car is wrapped in clear film, and they did an exceptional job. The paint under these two “chips” is actually perfect, there was just some adhesive from the film still on it. A little goo gone took care of the adhesive. The "chip" on the front fascia will be fixed just by removing and rewrapping the center bottom of the fascia. The one on the fender is a slight dent so PDR should take care of it, but no paint work will be needed. I should be under $500 to have it look brand new. Also picked up rear facing seats from a member today, my kids have been sitting in the front seats the whole day as I've been installing them.

 

[captjoemcd]

Here’s closeups of the fender “chip”, before and after goo gone.