8 Years with a Tesla Model 3 (at 15k/yr, at least)

[Shogunkts]

Would you recommend a 2018 preowned Model 3, long range with FSD that has 68,000 miles. Tesla selling pre-owned for $48,100.00. The price fits my range and has the options that I really want. I’m on the fence though I gave them a $500 deposit which is non-refundable. Would love to hear your opinion this, especially given your experience with a wide range of vehicles.

Thank you much and great article and video at the 68,000 mile mark.

Regards,

 

[BigNick]

Would you recommend a 2018 preowned Model 3, long range with FSD that has 68,000 miles. Tesla selling pre-owned for $48,100.00. The price fits my range and has the options that I really want. I’m on the fence though I gave them a $500 deposit which is non-refundable. Would love to hear your opinion this, especially given your experience with a wide range of vehicles.

Thank you much and great article and video at the 68,000 mile mark.

Regards,

Why not just buy a new LR for $50990? You will have several improvements and a full warranty instead of a four-year-old car with no warranty other than the used warranty and roughly half of its 8-year battery/DU warranty? The additional ~$3K shouldn't be that much of a stretch if you're looking at a $48K used car.

FSD isn't worth the $12K they're charging for it on a new car. Subscribe for a month for $200 on a new 3, and realize you've then saved yourself $11800.

 

[Shogunkts]

Why not just buy a new LR for $50990? You will have several improvements and a full warranty instead of a four-year-old car with no warranty other than the used warranty and roughly half of its 8-year battery/DU warranty? The additional ~$3K shouldn't be that much of a stretch if you're looking at a $48K used car.

FSD isn't worth the $12K they're charging for it on a new car. Subscribe for a month for $200 on a new 3, and realize you've then saved yourself $11800.

Thanks. I’ve been hearing a lot of that sound reasoning now. I’m trying to get out of my office shortly and head over to one of their showrooms. Since I have a trade I was forced to make a $500 deposit which they are now telling me online I cannot transfer to another one of their vehicles. $500 isn’t the end of the world but it’s the principle. Let’s see if being face to face with them does anything. Otherwise I’ll be scrapping the EV with Tesla and picking up a 540i xdrive. Can’t believe I’m about to say this but I miss the old way of doing business at a car dealership. Buying Nike sneakers online is one thing, but a $50,000 vehicle, I’d like it slightly more personal.

 

[shrspeedblade]

Would you recommend a 2018 preowned Model 3, long range with FSD that has 68,000 miles. Tesla selling pre-owned for $48,100.00. The price fits my range and has the options that I really want. I’m on the fence though I gave them a $500 deposit which is non-refundable. Would love to hear your opinion this, especially given your experience with a wide range of vehicles.

Thank you much and great article and video at the 68,000 mile mark.

Regards,

Wow, those were the 'good ol days' LOL!

I'm at 185,000 now. Car is still running great. Finally just had the 12V battery replaced a month ago, had the rear wiring recall issue, but not much beyond that.

The biggest issue with buying a used Tesla with some miles on it is how the previous owner treated the battery. I would want to know what its "100%" is as that's a somewhat good indicator. I usually charge to 90%, almost never let it get below 20%, supercharge a lot, and am around 9% degradation now. Keep in mind, the rated range will fluctuate a bit, some people get their underwear in a wad over it a little too much. For most people just try to stay between 30 and 80% most of the time unless you need more and don't worry about it.

I couldn't imagine buying a BMW now, and I used to own an M3. The biggest advantage with used is you don't have to wait. In your situation I would just do a short term lease on something or buy a clunker and order exactly the Tesla I wanted new. But that's me.

EDIT- I guess I'm at "12 years with a Tesla Model 3" now!

 

[ODWms]

Keep in mind there are ‘inventory’ cars on the Tesla website that are immediately available. Makes sense to look and see if they have something that would suit your needs, to purchase now.

 

[Shogunkts]

Keep in mind there are ‘inventory’ cars on the Tesla website that are immediately available. Makes sense to look and see if they have something that would suit your needs, to purchase now.

So the more I dwell on this, because they have $500 of my money in purgatory, I’ve come up with the following reasons to proceed with the 2018 with 68,000 miles. First, they say the darn thing should go 1 million miles, most boards I read say the battery is good for 300k-500k. That car will not be in my possession anywhere close to this. Second, this car still has the FSD which is a $12,000 add no matter how you cut it, if you want that feature and acceleration boost which I believe is a $2,000 add. Third, I still have the extended warranty which gets me another year along with 4 years of battery and drive train coverage. So, this same vehicle new, with these features would be about $66,000. I’m saving $17,900 with the 2018 that I read everywhere people love and have seen little to no issues.

Believe me, any other time and place new always wins if money isn’t a factor. With four kids, college, etc…. I have to penny pinch a little until the last one is out!!

Also, the rep at the Tesla dealership debated me on FSD as being a real option saying he can get in his car and have it take him right home with only holding the steering wheel, it’s that good right now. He even showed me a video he did while using it. He also mentioned he’s a beta tester, so I’m sure that means it works for him but those features wont be available to me. I haven’t signed the papers yet but I’m getting the emails now that I need to schedule my delivery date. Based on the other response I received, I have asked them to give me the current battery life, lets see if that do that for me as that will also seriously play into the final result.

Not sure which one is winning right now, the little devil on my left shoulder or the angel on the right. Someone needs to clearly knock the other out so I can move on with my life.

 

[BGaffigan]

So the more I dwell on this, because they have $500 of my money in purgatory, I’ve come up with the following reasons to proceed with the 2018 with 68,000 miles. First, they say the darn thing should go 1 million miles, most boards I read say the battery is good for 300k-500k. That car will not be in my possession anywhere close to this. Second, this car still has the FSD which is a $12,000 add no matter how you cut it, if you want that feature and acceleration boost which I believe is a $2,000 add. Third, I still have the extended warranty which gets me another year along with 4 years of battery and drive train coverage. So, this same vehicle new, with these features would be about $66,000. I’m saving $17,900 with the 2018 that I read everywhere people love and have seen little to no issues.

Believe me, any other time and place new always wins if money isn’t a factor. With four kids, college, etc…. I have to penny pinch a little until the last one is out!!

Also, the rep at the Tesla dealership debated me on FSD as being a real option saying he can get in his car and have it take him right home with only holding the steering wheel, it’s that good right now. He even showed me a video he did while using it. He also mentioned he’s a beta tester, so I’m sure that means it works for him but those features wont be available to me. I haven’t signed the papers yet but I’m getting the emails now that I need to schedule my delivery date. Based on the other response I received, I have asked them to give me the current battery life, lets see if that do that for me as that will also seriously play into the final result.

Not sure which one is winning right now, the little devil on my left shoulder or the angel on the right. Someone needs to clearly knock the other out so I can move on with my life.

FSD is 200 a month, would take 60 months to reach 12k. If you even keep it. Not really worth it from everything I read. Get the new car. Winter efficiency alone would be worth it for you in NJ. Add in the couple hundred other small improvements that have been made to the newer car(quieter ride is a big one). You also could get rocked with depreciation when used car prices settle. This used car have brand new LVB and tires? These kinda things add up. You also dont know if the previous owner abused this car. Go new. This market is one of the few times ever it really makes sense to buy new

 

[Shogunkts]

FSD is 200 a month, would take 60 months to reach 12k. If you even keep it. Not really worth it from everything I read. Get the new car. Winter efficiency alone would be worth it for you in NJ. Add in the couple hundred other small improvements that have been made to the newer car(quieter ride is a big one). You also could get rocked with depreciation when used car prices settle. This used car have brand new LVB and tires? These kinda things add up. You also dont know if the previous owner abused this car. Go new. This market is one of the few times ever it really makes sense to buy new

And there was just an article released about a recall of FSD due to stopping issues.
Is anyone a proponent of FSD?

 

[android04]

And there was just an article released about a recall of FSD due to stopping issues.
Is anyone a proponent of FSD?

It's not really a traditional recall. One of the options you can turn on and off if you have the FSD Beta (not regular FSD) is to allow rolling California "stops" at 4-ways where the car is driving under 5.6 MPH and it doesn't see any cross traffic or pedestrians. Apparently that was determined to be unacceptable to regulators, so Tesla will be removing that option with an over-the-air software update.

Here are more specifics from the NHTSA recall notice:

FSD Beta is currently on 53,822 cars and performs rolling stops at up to 5.6mph if all of these conditions are met:

• must be approaching an all-way stop intersection
• no relevant cars, pedestrians, or bicyclists are detected near the intersection
• there is sufficient visibility for the vehicle while approaching the intersection
• all roads entering the intersection have a speed limit of 30mph or less

Starting with software version 2021.44.30.15, which rolls out early February, rolling stops will be completely disabled.

 

[BGaffigan]

And there was just an article released about a recall of FSD due to stopping issues.
Is anyone a proponent of FSD?

Not for 12k. Worth a few grand tops.

 

[ODWms]

I agree the subscription approach is the way to go for now. There are quite a few folks who paid full price and are regretting it now. Not the least to mention when you buy, if anything happens and you no longer have the car, you have to pay another $12,000 to get it on the next car.

 

[Shogunkts]

I agree the subscription approach is the way to go for now. There are quite a few folks who paid full price and are regretting it now. Not the least to mention when you buy, if anything happens and you no longer have the car, you have to pay another $12,000 to get it on the next car.

Thank you. The concern I have with that is the price for FSD keeps going up and will continue to, that’s out of mouth of Elon Musk. The $200 month subscription on top of my car nut puts me waaaaaay over my budget. I’m expecting to his car for around 5-6 years. I only put on about 7,000 miles a year on average.

The crazy thing I can’t get over is that I haven't been able to really find people complaining about major issues on their Model 3, even at 100,000 miles. So why is the 4 year warranty so critical. From what I have seen, the items that have gone wrong in that time period would have been very inexpensive to fix If they weren’t covered. I know there is always a chance when buying used, but since it’s coming from Tesla direct, they do their full inspections, etc….

I’ve been watching so many YouTube videos from owners along with reading blogs. Unless Tesla is washing out the bad, at least as it pertains to the Model 3, most of what’s out there is good if not amazing, on the Model 3.

Seems like the debate keeps coming down to whether FSD is worth it. I read that they are targeting a 2022 full release, but I also know that has been said in the past. To lock that in now at a price I can live with until my last kid is out of college seems to make sense to me.

My wife would have pulled the trigger within minutes. I debate myself until I kill the deal totally and do nothing.

 

[shrspeedblade]

If you only drive about 7k miles a year I say go for it!

 

[Shogunkts]

If you only drive about 7k miles a year I say go for it!

Thats been my average for the last 10 years.