What is the true cost of ownership?

[camalaio]

I've had my M3 for a month. I absolutely love it, but it is a car. Find me a car that goes 120,000 miles without any issues. The battery warranty is excellent.
I plan on having this car for a long time. Isn't that what everyone says when they buy a new car? lol.
That being said, I find it hard to believe that I'll own this car at the 120,000 mark. Can you imagine what will be on the market in 5-8 years? I don't see myself driving an outdated M3 LR in 2025. I don't know what will be out there, but I predict that I'll have replaced this car by then but will be extremely thankful for how amazing the car was.
We can all stress about the warranty and what will go wrong, but none of us will have this car in 8 years. Let teenage kids buy used ones and have the batteries die on them lol.

120,000 miles without issues? My wife's (now mine) 2009 Honda Fit. Not a single issue, not even a warranty issue. Early warranty days of my Honda Crosstour weren't great, but it's hitting 104,000 miles now without any further issues and runs great.

Even if the original owners don't have the car in 8 years, someone else will. If Model 3 isn't attractive in the used market at 8 years due to failing components, Model 3 depreciation is going to be extremely bad. Especially with governments requiring only EV sales by 2040 (some 2030) like in Canada, there will be riots in the street if an 8 year old EV cannot be cheaply maintained. The original owners also won't be happy that their value drops so fast either.

Anyone had their chargeport replaced out of warranty and what the cost is? Ive had mine replaced twice and just confirmed with the advisor that it falls under basic warranty, not battery.

I saw this on the forum at some point. The cost was $40 if I recall correctly, but I don't know exactly what parts were involved. The whole port + cable assembly from this salvage part is just over $300: https://www.pacificmotors.com/auto-...re-harness-1093010-00-e-tesla-model-3-2018-2/

 

[Knightshade]

I've had my M3 for a month. I absolutely love it, but it is a car. Find me a car that goes 120,000 miles without any issues. .

Well, here's a Model 3 that's gone 100,000 with no issues (other than 2 caused by physical abuse/damage)

Tesla owner becomes first to push Model 3 to 100,000 miles, here's how it's doing - Electrek

Other than tires he's only had to do 2 things-replace a control arm when he drove through a stream, and replace a door hinge part when he was on the Bonneville Salt Flats and it got slammed in very high winds. Under $500 total for both fixes.

Battery went from 310 miles of rated range to 302-308 miles. And that's with 100% supercharging which is terrible for the battery.


So I don't think 120k no issues is much of a stretch at all.

 

[KiengKoopa]

Thanks a lot for all your feedback! If I had to be specific, I'm mostly concerned about the durability of the battery and less about the slight degradation as I expect that to happen. My brother and I both had an older Chevy Volt and right around the 115-135K mile mark both of our car's battery had to be replaced. It was out of warranty and ended up costing us more than what the car was worth. I'm going to chalk this up to old technology and hope the batteries have advanced significantly since. Albeit it did leave us with a bit of a concern with EVs in general.

I know 8 years sounds far away, but 100K miles is not for some folks. I believe a typical owner holds on to their car anywhere from 7-10 years. Given that Teslas get software updates and the car "gets better over time", I expect to have it beyond the average owner and am likely to exceed the warranty. I'm just likely paranoid because of my previous experience with an EV and see the warrany as a death date.

 

[Knightshade]

Thanks a lot for all your feedback! If I had to be specific, I'm mostly concerned about the durability of the battery and less about the slight degradation as I expect that to happen. My brother and I both had an older Chevy Volt and right around the 115-135K mile mark both of our car's battery had to be replaced. It was out of warranty and ended up costing us more than what the car was worth. I'm going to chalk this up to old technology and hope the batteries have advanced significantly since. Albeit it did leave us with a bit of a concern with EVs in general.

I know 8 years sounds far away, but 100K miles is not for some folks. I believe a typical owner holds on to their car anywhere from 7-10 years. Given that Teslas get software updates and the car "gets better over time", I expect to have it beyond the average owner and am likely to exceed the warranty. I'm just likely paranoid because of my previous experience with an EV and see the warrany as a death date.

There's many Model S cars well over 100-150k miles (some over 300k) with generally pretty solid results.

And the Model 3 battery/cooling is more advanced than the original S setup.

And either Tesla has vastly superior battery tech/cooling/management compared to Chevy.

 

[Daniel in SD]

My brother and I both had an older Chevy Volt and right around the 115-135K mile mark both of our car's battery had to be replaced. It was out of warranty and ended up costing us more than what the car was worth. I'm going to chalk this up to old technology and hope the batteries have advanced significantly since. Albeit it did leave us with a bit of a concern with EVs in general.

The Volt battery is about one quarter the size of the Model 3 battery. If Tesla achieves the same number of charge/discharge cycles it should last 4 times as long or about 500k miles.

Battery went from 310 miles of rated range to 302-308 miles. And that's with 100% supercharging which is terrible for the battery.

Battery went from 310 miles -> 325 miles -> 302-308 miles
My battery seems to have gone from 310 miles to 290 miles at 15k miles . They can't all be gems! I think those Q2 2018 Model 3 were the best Model 3.

 

[Nixx]

The thing that worries me most is the amount of cameras and their critical importance to the system. I've got one of my B pillar ones that I'm waiting on mobile service to fix because it's got condensation in front of the lense and gives me lane departure errors all the time. Car only has 5000kms so maybe it was just a dud but I've also seen many fogged up headlights and taillights. Makes me worried Tesla isn't so great at sealing things up. Im confident in the hardware itself but the cameras got to be able to see to work. I can forsee this being an ongoing thing but hopefully not.

That's funny, I have mobile coming out adjust my rear windows... and yesterday I noticed I have the same issue with the driver's B pillar camera @4600 kms.

 

[boiler81]

My battery seems to have gone from 310 miles to 290 miles at 15k miles .

Yeah my 3D went from 308 to 285 at 22K mi. but I'm hoping rebalancing helps.

 

[Big Dog]

I paid $70 to rotate the tires after 15 months.

 

[mac9899]

Yes. An issue recently reported in the news.

Aside from the battery, one of the most potential concerning out-of-warranty repairs would be MCU/screen replacement. I think that's around $2500?

For the 3, MCU and display are different parts. This lower replacement/repair costs. Th screen is still expensive but no where near $2500. Also the S issue it’s MCU is $1800 currently for a replacement and much lower if you use a third party that can replace that chip, which btw is a S, X issue not a 3.

 

[mac9899]

Anyone had their chargeport replaced out of warranty and what the cost is? Ive had mine replaced twice and just confirmed with the advisor that it falls under basic warranty, not battery.

I think it’s around $500 plus labor. If you’re a DYI mechanic eBay has plenty of them and other parts from crashed donor cars, about half that price. This car will have plenty of parts available either new or from secondary markets, due to the sheer number of units produced.