Tesla buying advice - New? Used? Lease?

xsy77

DrEskimo said:

My Father-in-law bought a 2016 Model S a couple of years back from an auction and has minimal fuss with it. It was the FL model and he upgraded the software to enable a higher battery capacity (was a 60 model, which was just a software limited 75) and also enabled AP1.

Couple of items under warranty but nothing major, and had no issues getting Tesla to fix it. His has free super charging so regularly uses it to drive to Italy.

As you say, it's probably worth around £10-12k less given the miles he's driven. I imagine any lease on a brand new Model s will be prohibitively more expensive....You can always just buy a used model, keep it a few years whilst under warranty, save the lease payments you were going to pay and then sell/trade it in and buy another used model with warranty...exactly the same concept as leasing, but much cheaper and no punitive contract on mileage or how long you keep it.

I thought it was just the battery that had the warranty? Is there more???

DrEskimo

xsy77 said:

DrEskimo said:

My Father-in-law bought a 2016 Model S a couple of years back from an auction and has minimal fuss with it. It was the FL model and he upgraded the software to enable a higher battery capacity (was a 60 model, which was just a software limited 75) and also enabled AP1.

Couple of items under warranty but nothing major, and had no issues getting Tesla to fix it. His has free super charging so regularly uses it to drive to Italy.

As you say, it's probably worth around £10-12k less given the miles he's driven. I imagine any lease on a brand new Model s will be prohibitively more expensive....You can always just buy a used model, keep it a few years whilst under warranty, save the lease payments you were going to pay and then sell/trade it in and buy another used model with warranty...exactly the same concept as leasing, but much cheaper and no punitive contract on mileage or how long you keep it.

I thought it was just the battery that had the warranty? Is there more???

You get 4yrs/50k miles on the car from new as well. No different to any other car (although the mileage is stingy...).

I think if you buy from Tesla inventory it starts from the day you purchase it, rather than the date it was registered.
Older models may have come with different terms/mileages.

HHarry

xsy77 said:

HHarry said:

My brother bought a second hand Model S, which he absolutely loves.  The battery pack did fail at 60,250 miles, but was replaced under warranty.

Thanks for this. Do you know if it was painless or did they put up a fight for the replacement?

I don’t remember there bring any fight over it being a warranty issue, but there was a delay getting hold of a new battery pack. But he had a loaner car whilst he waited.

My Brother had said that the standard new Tesla warranty was 60k miles (at the time - it may have changed) and that it was only because they extend the warranty on used cars that it was covered.

BOWFER

xsy77 said:

I've leased a few Mercs in my past but they have all been over 2 years (to avoid the 3 year MOT issue). Great tip there and will remember that! Thank you sir.

Some examples:

C200 AMG Line Edition 2dr 9G-Tronic - A £40k car but can be had currently for £338 per month, 10k miles PA. I have seen them cheaper!

Hyundai Ioniq 100kW Premium 38kWh - A £33k car can be had for £210 per month, 8k miles PA. Only £309 upfront!

As far as I understand it, leasing is usually priced on the depreciation the car and since Tesla 's are claimed to be good for depreciation, leasing should, in theory, be more attractive than it is currently. 

I've heard of these Merc deals, but never looked into them as the cars have zero appeal to me.
I can only assume Merc are so hard pushed to sell any of these dinosaur cars that they are willing to subsidise leasing to at least get them out on the road?
It can't be because they depreciate slowly, you can't tell me an AMG Merc will be worth a lot in 2024/2025....!
As for the Ioniq, I would assume that is linked to slow depreciation as they are allegedly astonishingly good cars, hyper efficient, and they are in big demand used.
Ugly as sin though, unfortunately.

henry11vr

I wonder, if I would get a Tesla by a rent service, how should I test all the stuff in it, especially if we talk about software things, etc. For example, here is a pretty popular Tesla for rent website, and I want to rent Tesla S for couple of days, making some kind of test drive. Do you think is it worth it? I still wonder about all the steps, that I should do if I want to understand all the advantages against other Tesla models.

Grumpy_chap

henry11vr said:

I wonder, if I would get a Tesla by a rent service, how should I test all the stuff in it, especially if we talk about software things, etc.

I am not sure I understand the question.
Are you asking whether you can hire a TESLA?
Or are you asking whether test drives are possible?

facade

Have Tesla got over the bad press from the flash memory failing in pre-2018 cars then? (the later ones are supposed to be "fixed" but they aren't old enough to show significant failure yet)

The flash memory is a "wear & tear" item- and it wears out, bricking the dash and most of the cars systems, and costs ££££££££ to replace.

peter_the_piper

https://www.ladbible.com/news/man-blows-up-tesla-in-protest-at-having-to-get-replacement-battery-20211223

[Deleted User]

Avoid used Teslas. They are unreliable and expensive to fix. Tesla aren't interested in helping you unless you pay them.

If you want an electric vehicle there are much better ones available around your price range, like the Kia eNiro or maybe an EV6. You might be able to get a deal on a Polestar, which has a much better infotainment system and all-round quality.

Don't get caught up in the Tesla hype, they are not as special as people think and they can easily become money pits.

ontheroad1970

I've been driven in a model X and the first thing that struck me was how much hard plastics were all around the car.  It didn't feel at all premium in any way.  I also hate everything being on a touch screen.  It's positively dangerous.