What are your thoughts on the 2012 P85? Headache of a purchase? What to look for?

[electricfrank]

Hey everyone,

I've done a TON of reading over the last several weeks as I narrow down the used P85 I'd like to purchase. On Reddit, I've read people say to avoid the early models as they were notorious for having issues. But I figured if I check the service history, I should be able to verify if, and when, these problems were repaired. Unfortunately, one of the two vehicles I've come across does NOT have the service records and, as far as I understand, you cannot get them from Tesla (is this correct?)

So I'm looking at a Signature P85, one that has the vin number in the low 1000's, and one that is a vin number less than 1000.

I specifically like this model because I've read that the seats are more comfortable (if this is even true), it has the air suspension I want, and, well, it's within my budget (don't want to be over $35K).

I just wanted to ask you all - is this a dangerous decision? Should I just completely steer clear of this year and jump to a 2014? What are some dreaded things to look at for? So far I'm aware of: Drive Unit, MCU, Window Regulators, and the Door Handles sometimes not functioning. Is there anything else? Or would you just say NO to them?

 

[Lasttoy]

I'm here in st Augustine, let's get a beer. PM me. I bought mone from private.

 

[Evoforce]

First off, why can't the owner get you the service records? Not private party? 2012 is a great car and probably has had the usual things fixed under warranty. You can get records if you have some luck and perseverance. Check the car saved info such as where home is. Go to a SC and beg them to print out the info and black out identifying information. Try to find previous owner through registration trail. I have successfully used these techniques listed.

 

[dannycamps]

This is a hard question to answer. There is a local used car dealer in my area (which I have no experience or affiliation with) selling a 2012 P85 for $39.5. The catch is that the car only has 25k miles on it so it's possible it was never driven enough to experience things like drive motor or door handle failures.

Without the service history, it's difficult to tell based on the age of the car alone.

 

[electricfrank]

I'm here in st Augustine, let's get a beer. PM me. I bought mone from private.

Dude, no way! That's awesome. Yeah we totally should. Is yours dark grey? I saw a dark grey one the other day when I was driving down US1 (intersection of US1 and 16). Whoever it was made a right on 16. My wife was with me and I was like "HONEY ITS A SIGN" as we were approaching from behind lol. Not sure if that was you, but you don't see many Model S's in our area.

 

[electricfrank]

First off, why can't the owner get you the service records? Not private party? 2012 is a great car and probably has had the usual things fixed under warranty. You can get records if you have some luck and perseverance. Check the car saved info such as where home is. Go to a SC and beg them to print out the info and black out identifying information. Try to find previous owner through registration trail. I have successfully used these techniques listed.

They probably can, I suppose it's just a matter if the dealer wants to hassle the original owner for them. Unless you're saying that the current owner (the dealer) would already have access?

And thanks for those tips

 

[electricfrank]

This is a hard question to answer. There is a local used car dealer in my area (which I have no experience or affiliation with) selling a 2012 P85 for $39.5. The catch is that the car only has 25k miles on it so it's possible it was never driven enough to experience things like drive motor or door handle failures.

Without the service history, it's difficult to tell based on the age of the car alone.

This is a really interesting point. It actually seems like it makes sense to do the opposite of what you'd do in a non-electric car. Example being you SHOULD want one with plenty of miles vs one with low miles.

 

[Iceh8r]

Use the 3rd party sites like ev cpo to score a car direct from Tesla. I’d only go for 2012 if it was below 25k and had motor replaced already and strong battery.

 

[Evoforce]

They probably can, I suppose it's just a matter if the dealer wants to hassle the original owner for them. Unless you're saying that the current owner (the dealer) would already have access?

And thanks for those tips

The Dealer may give you the info but there was an actress murdered in California using vehicle information and regulators have made it hard to get the info for that reason. The Dealer may be the owner but probably has not registered or titled it and it will pass through the dealer from the previous owner. I look at the transfer of ownership document to find the former registered owner. The car computer may still have the Home setting stored. Then you put name and location together. You may get some of this information from the dealer. Example of a question to dealer: Is the car from the local/nearby area?

 

[Evoforce]

The A pack HV battery had a problem with faulty contactors so you hope for that to be fixed already. The battery sticker can be seen below the front passenger side wheel well on the battery. The policy at the time was to put in a loaner pack and then repair the original and put it back in. So it is hard to tell without a record... Many cars have battery packs in them that are not the original in spite of said policy.

 

[aerodyne]

First off, why can't the owner get you the service records? Not private party? 2012 is a great car and probably has had the usual things fixed under warranty. You can get records if you have some luck and perseverance. Check the car saved info such as where home is. Go to a SC and beg them to print out the info and black out identifying information. Try to find previous owner through registration trail. I have successfully used these techniques listed.

I can second this, worked for me.

 

[alloverx]

Does yellow screen plus batterygate & chargegate apply?
Be nice if you could supercharge it to 100% to see rate & max range.

 

[Evoforce]

Does yellow screen plus batterygate & chargegate apply?
Be nice if you could supercharge it to 100% to see rate & max range.

Agreed! And more like bubbles and a leaking center screen unless it has been replaced then a yellow border could happen but that is a easy DIY if needed. Listen for milling motor sound also. See if it has been updated to LTE. LTE is not necessary but it will give you some clue to upgrades of MCU.

 

[aerodyne]

No need to charge to 100 percent to get estimated rated range. Only need 3rd grade math skills....or teslafi

 

[aerodyne]

And now we have regengate to add to the list. What I would not give to be back on V9. Ya don't know what ya got till it's gone...

 

[Lasttoy]

I have a buddy with an early Signature, it had tiny frig in trunk. Really nice red trim on seats. They had special paint jobs, cool colors.
It's a good buy no matter what. It's still under warranty for motor and battery pack. One can see it's a real signature by the trim.
The 4 yr warranty is up, so there will be issues. I fix most of my problems. Il help u if we can meet up.

 

[shrink]

They're fantastic cars. My Signature Red still gets a lot of compliments and I love driving it every day, although as your research indicates, I did just have a window regulator replaced.

Only thing I'd want on mine are folding mirrors. Join us in this thread:

2012 Model S Signature Cars

 

[electricfrank]

I have a buddy with an early Signature, it had tiny frig in trunk. Really nice red trim on seats. They had special paint jobs, cool colors.
It's a good buy no matter what. It's still under warranty for motor and battery pack. One can see it's a real signature by the trim.
The 4 yr warranty is up, so there will be issues. I fix most of my problems. Il help u if we can meet up.

I appreciate that man. Yeah we definitely will, lets figure something out for sure

 

[electricfrank]

Does yellow screen plus batterygate & chargegate apply?
Be nice if you could supercharge it to 100% to see rate & max range.

Yeah... these things kind of made me consider just getting a new Model 3. But, as a family of four, and often driving our kids friends around, it's hard to justify a smaller car. We need the space. And the X is just way too out of budget right now.

I'm not *too concerned* on the 'chargegate' ordeal, however, as I don't really do much long-distance. I'd say 98% of our trips are within 20 miles, so 40-50 miles, max, round trip. Occasionally (like once every two months?) we make a 300 mile roundtrip drive.

 

[electricfrank]

They're fantastic cars. My Signature Red still gets a lot of compliments and I love driving it every day, although as your research indicates, I did just have a window regulator replaced.

Only thing I'd want on mine are folding mirrors. Join us in this thread:

2012 Model S Signature Cars

Awesome to hear. One of them I'm considering is the signature red . I'll join over there, thanks for the link!