What's gone wrong with your Roadster?

[Ben W]

My Roadster 1.5 originally showed Range-mode charges up to 247mi, but now in its old age (3.5 years old, 32k miles) typically shows 226mi after a full Range charge. That's about a 2.5% drop per year, which seems about right.

[SByer]

Maybe. Don't forget that the firmware updates have affected how the range is calculated, and generally in more conservative direction.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[wiztecy]

My 1.5 roadster that has 6k gets 236 miles in range mode and 186 in standard mode. Car went live on the road in April 2009. I just did the range mode charge and allowed it to sit overnight to help equalize the battery pack. Curious to see if the balancing bought me more standard mode miles although I feel I should have left it sitting there for 1 or 2 more days equalizing in range mode to get the best results.

[W8MM]

Our Roadster 1.5 was delivered in March, 2009.

1) The door latch hardware backed off and the latch bits got scrunched between the door and the jam -- body shop repaint time. Tesla paid for the body shop. Ranger said not enough Loctite on the fastner threads.

2) The HVAC control knobs break like crazy with gentle handling. The way they were designed wasn't the best. I sourced my own alternates from military radio hardware. Looks nice, silver colored, but no back-lit pointers, now.

3) The air conditioning didn't break, it just wasn't designed for Ohio summers. So it acts broken. No fix available at any price.

4) The ABS system didn't break, it just doesn't do well in Ohio winter road conditions. I had a minor accident when the ABS wouldn't let me slow down at the accustomed rate in winter stop and go driving. So, sometimes in the winter, the brakes act broken, but they're working as designed. No fix is contemplated.

5) There were minor things that the Ranger fixed as a surprise update by calling out of the blue and asking to update the car. Very nicely done. The yearly services always included a general freshening, as well. Good job, Tesla.

6) A few weeks ago, the message panel said "Battery Service Required" and the red "fault" light came on in the instrument cluster. After downloading and sending a service log, it was determined that the Roadster needed a trip to a service center to have its battery pack replaced. This was the cause of some anxiety, but they made every effort to reduce any inconvenience to us and vectored a Plycar transporter to our home to pick up the car within a few days.

While it's in New York, I am having them add Xenon headlights and the sound damping kit. It should be on its way back later this week.

[jordanthompson]

After downloading and sending a service log, it was determined that the Roadster needed a trip to a service center to have its battery pack replaced. This was the cause of some anxiety, but they made every effort to reduce any inconvenience to us and vectored a Plycar transporter to our home to pick up the car within a few days.

OUCH! From your calm demeanor, I assume that the car is still under warranty?

[smoothoperator]

Our Roadster 1.5 was delivered in March, 2009.

1) The door latch hardware backed off and the latch bits got scrunched between the door and the jam -- body shop repaint time. Tesla paid for the body shop. Ranger said not enough Loctite on the fastner threads.

2) The HVAC control knobs break like crazy with gentle handling. The way they were designed wasn't the best. I sourced my own alternates from military radio hardware. Looks nice, silver colored, but no back-lit pointers, now.

3) The air conditioning didn't break, it just wasn't designed for Ohio summers. So it acts broken. No fix available at any price.

4) The ABS system didn't break, it just doesn't do well in Ohio winter road conditions. I had a minor accident when the ABS wouldn't let me slow down at the accustomed rate in winter stop and go driving. So, sometimes in the winter, the brakes act broken, but they're working as designed. No fix is contemplated.

5) There were minor things that the Ranger fixed as a surprise update by calling out of the blue and asking to update the car. Very nicely done. The yearly services always included a general freshening, as well. Good job, Tesla.

6) A few weeks ago, the message panel said "Battery Service Required" and the red "fault" light came on in the instrument cluster. After downloading and sending a service log, it was determined that the Roadster needed a trip to a service center to have its battery pack replaced. This was the cause of some anxiety, but they made every effort to reduce any inconvenience to us and vectored a Plycar transporter to our home to pick up the car within a few days.

While it's in New York, I am having them add Xenon headlights and the sound damping kit. It should be on its way back later this week.

Why not sell it and get a late model roadster?

[W8MM]

OUCH! From your calm demeanor, I assume that the car is still under warranty?

Fortunately, yes!

[W8MM]

Why not sell it and get a late model roadster?

That wouldn't fix the ABS weird brakes, since they're all the same -- as I've been told.

Since I'm an off-the-scale-affluent SOB, and can do what I wish, I've decided that two successive depreciations are a penalty too far for being a Tesla early adopter.

I've adjusted to the Roadster being a Spring- and Fall-only car in this climate. Winter and Summer belong to other of our autos.

[ElSupreme]

... I'm an off-the-scale-affluent SOB, and can do what I wish ...

I would like to join your club!

[daniel]

I would like to join your club!

Trap a few of those velociraptors, open a dinosaur park, take out a hundred million dollars of insurance on it, and stay the hell away. When the angry little things go berserk, collect the insurance money, and voila, you're in the club.

Sorry for the OT. I couldn't resist.