liveforphysics said:
I've got friends who bought older Model S and drive them everywhere with no issues. I think you want to to be newer than 2014-2015 for best reliability, but I'm not a model S expert.
Used Model 3 is another awesome car. We put 70,000miles on ours and its only needed 1 set of tires and a 1 cabin air filter. Nothing is showing any signs of wearing or working worse than it did when new in 2018.
I actually just did the same thing. Stars aligned and I was able to get a used Performance 3 for ~$38K and it's a ripper. I was originally gonna buy a Model S that was a ~2014 model with some 220,000+ miles on it for like, 6 grand cheaper but the 3 wasn't a full road trip away.
There are, from my own research, 3 things a prospective S buyer needs to make sure of before going ahead with any purchase; Was the motor replaced? What's the battery health? And is it prior to 2016? The S's major issues basically track to poor bearings they used in the motors (they allow electricity to "leak" through the coolant, through the bearing and ground to the aluminum case- it won't hurt you, but it'll steadily destroy the bearings) and some random packs that had poor lifespans due to early S's being a step up from a
really good kit car in the first few years. 2016 saw a massive refresh and general quality improvement across the board, and serial numbers on the motors can be tracked for proper "Performance" and updated parts, so it really only takes some searching.
The final bit I would say, is
never buy a Tesla from Carvanna/Carmax unless you know what to look for, and if you buy something as old as a 60S be sure to check if you can supercharge it. You could totally have a life where you don't need to (like mine
), but still something to note.
As for deeper repairs- Many states are adopting Right to Repair rules, so I think it's only a matter of time for Tesla's attitude especially when Rockauto is stocking parts now. They're also
not difficult to service or troubleshoot as Rich Rebuilds shows- and since Model S's use Linux Redhat as an operating system, I think their hacking is only a matter of time.