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Have you been driving in reverse? I heard that reverts the odometer =D
Congratulations. Although I haven't tracked that carefully in a long time, I can say that compared to several vehicles I have driven before that cost for 150K is extremely cheap. Yes, you can minimize cost on other vehicles by performing some of the maintenance (fluids, plugs, brakes), but you still won't get to that for most vehicles, much less vehicles that overall are as nice to drive.Finally rolled over 150k miles in our Model 3 (LR AWD) yesterday.
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Total cost of ALL maintenance and repairs is $6287, including $3524 for the 3 sets of tires. Therefore I spent $2763 on items other than tires over the 150k miles driven. I have never tracked M&R this closely before, but this seems fairly low. In fact, when I think about my last car (Mazda CX-9) and top of head items, I know that was more. $100 every 10k miles for full synthetic oil change ($1500 if I had driven it to 150k miles), over $1k to flush and replace transmission fluid and spark plugs at 100k, almost $2k to replace shocks and struts, another $2k on brakes (~ $1k each time, done the last time shortly before we sold it with 125k miles on it). Plus tires of course, so yeah the maintenance definitely costs less on the Tesla. Oh, and $25 per year for an emissions test.
Finally rolled over 150k miles in our Model 3 (LR AWD) yesterday. The car is almost 4 years old (Oct 26th will be 4 years exactly). I put over 50k miles on it the first year but not as much since then (COVID and stuff). More recently I took a job with a new employer who gave me a company car where I previously got an allowance and drove the Tesla. So now my wife drives the Tesla and will do about 15k miles per year, therefore we expect to have this car for many, MANY more years.
The readers digest version is the car has been great, still runs great, still the best car I’ve ever owned. For those who care to stop here you can. Otherwise I’m going to go on with quite a bit more detail for any who may be interested.
First, the battery. It was rated at 310 miles although the most I ever saw at a full charge was 306. Now, I get 278 on a full charge, so roughly 90% of original capacity. Considering the mileage and the fact that I supercharged a bunch during my first 3 years of ownership, I’m satisfied with the battery. No drop in charge rate that I’m aware of as I still get 250 kW for a few minutes when at low SOC on a V3.
Now, the drivetrain. Dual motor of course and there is no noticeable decrease in power. I’m not a track guy so I’ve never timed my 0-60, but my perception is the car is still just as quick off the line as when it was brand new. I can still pin newbees to the seats and get the same “holy sh!t” reaction from them when I do. Car still handles great, at least as well as it did when new. Perhaps even better since I went away from the stock tires.
Speaking of which, the tires. My stock set lasted 40k miles and I replaced those with another set of stock tires which also lasted 40k miles. At that point I started researching alternatives and settled on the Michelin Cross Climate +. The set of 4 cost just over a grand (mounted and balanced) which was hundreds less than the stock tires (also Michelins I believe, the ones with the foam in them). The Cross Climates lasted 65k miles and overall seem like a much better tire. No noticeable increase in road noise per my wife (who would complain endlessly if there was any) and really seem to handle better than the stock tires, particularly in rain or on wet roads. Just feels better, which I know is completely subjective. From an energy consumption standpoint the Cross Climate + is just a tad more than the stock tires. In 80k miles on 2 sets of stock tires my lifetime consumption was 251 Wh/mile. After 65k miles on the Cross Climate + I was at 253 Wh/mile. Now, apparently Michelin has replaced the Cross Climate+ with the Cross Climate 2 and I just put a set of those on the car. Less than 5k miles on them and my consumption is 270 Wh/mile so far. Is it the tires? Is it that my wife is now driving the car instead of me and her style or her commute (very short, 8 miles each way, plus short trips to the grocery etc) is negatively impacting efficiency? Or maybe the car is finally starting to show its age? I don’t know, all I do know is my energy consumption is up roughly 7% with these new tires. I will continue to monitor.
Maintenance. There isn’t much, as most on this forum know. I rotate the tires every 10k miles. Sometimes I do this myself with a low profile jack I purchased (the cost of which is included in the figures below). Sometimes I go to the shop and let them do it (for free since I bought the tires there). Other than that, it’s wipers and washer fluid, I have replaced the 12V battery twice (first at 80k mikes when it died, then around 140k miles proactively since it’s my wife’s daily driver now). Have done the flush AC system (b/c of stinky smell) and replace air filters several times, replaced the front upper control arms out of warranty, and recently replaced the charge port door which still worked but was giving me some error message (likely would have failed if left unchecked). Total cost of ALL maintenance and repairs is $6287, including $3524 for the 3 sets of tires. Therefore I spent $2763 on items other than tires over the 150k miles driven. I have never tracked M&R this closely before, but this seems fairly low. In fact, when I think about my last car (Mazda CX-9) and top of head items, I know that was more. $100 every 10k miles for full synthetic oil change ($1500 if I had driven it to 150k miles), over $1k to flush and replace transmission fluid and spark plugs at 100k, almost $2k to replace shocks and struts, another $2k on brakes (~ $1k each time, done the last time shortly before we sold it with 125k miles on it). Plus tires of course, so yeah the maintenance definitely costs less on the Tesla. Oh, and $25 per year for an emissions test.
Then there’s fuel. The Mazda I replaced (V6 AWD) got 22 mpg over its lifetime. At say $3 gas average (sometimes higher, sometimes lower) that’s 13.6 cents per mile or $20,400 over 150k miles. My Tesla runs 4 cents per mile (closer to 3 with home charging but overall 4 b/c of the extensive supercharging) so $6k for 150k miles. So I have saved $14k in fuel so far and total savings gets close to $20k when you factor in maintenance.
Overall I am very pleased with this car. It was by far the most expensive car we had purchased at the time, but I did TCO calculations before pulling the trigger and was convinced the TCO would be the same or less than other cars I was considering. After 150k miles I believe the theory has been proven. Other cars we were looking at were around $40k brand new, and the Tesla was $60k at the time (I paid for Enhanced Autopilot but not FSD) less the $7500 tax credit so $52,500 to me. I have saved more than the $12,500 upfront cost differential in fuel alone, not to mention the maintenance savings. Plus my time is valuable, and waking up every day with a 90% charge is just wonderful. I definitely do not miss gas stations!
Now is the car perfect? No, of course not. As mentioned I have done the AC flush to get rid of the stinky socks smell. We live in the humid SEUS where this tends to be more of an issue than less humid climates. Still, it’s an issue. The interior is holding up really well (we keep the car in our garage and always use cabin overheat when parked in public) but there are some squeaks and rattles now that weren’t present when the car was new. Not unexpected after 150k miles but worth mentioning. Still, I’m thinking we can get another 100k miles or more out of this car before we really need to replace it. At that point the value may be so low that we decide to keep it forever. After all, there aren’t many 2018 Model 3s compared to the overall fleet now, and it was my first Tesla, so there’s some sentimental value.
That’s awesome Big E, congrats! I read this weekend about a guy in Canada who now has over 300k miles on his 3 with the original battery and drivetrain. These cars are super impressive.I have basically the same car but with FSD and Acceleration Boost. It turned 4 today or yesterday and has 166,000 miles. Full charge moves around between 270 and 280 miles. Similar experience to you in terms of maintenance, but I've gone through more tires and had to have the DC charging contactor replaced after it died in the middle of a trip. Cheers!
September 2021 AWD LR with 34k miles. I hit your current mileage at about 4 months of ownership.WOW!! Mine's 3 1/2 years old... I guess I need to drive mine more often
Fantastic write up !Finally rolled over 150k miles in our Model 3 (LR AWD) yesterday. The car is almost 4 years old (Oct 26th will be 4 years exactly). I put over 50k miles on it the first year but not as much since then (COVID and stuff). More recently I took a job with a new employer who gave me a company car where I previously got an allowance and drove the Tesla. So now my wife drives the Tesla and will do about 15k miles per year, therefore we expect to have this car for many, MANY more years.
The readers digest version is the car has been great, still runs great, still the best car I’ve ever owned. For those who care to stop here you can. Otherwise I’m going to go on with quite a bit more detail for any who may be interested.
First, the battery. It was rated at 310 miles although the most I ever saw at a full charge was 306. Now, I get 278 on a full charge, so roughly 90% of original capacity. Considering the mileage and the fact that I supercharged a bunch during my first 3 years of ownership, I’m satisfied with the battery. No drop in charge rate that I’m aware of as I still get 250 kW for a few minutes when at low SOC on a V3.
Now, the drivetrain. Dual motor of course and there is no noticeable decrease in power. I’m not a track guy so I’ve never timed my 0-60, but my perception is the car is still just as quick off the line as when it was brand new. I can still pin newbees to the seats and get the same “holy sh!t” reaction from them when I do. Car still handles great, at least as well as it did when new. Perhaps even better since I went away from the stock tires.
Speaking of which, the tires. My stock set lasted 40k miles and I replaced those with another set of stock tires which also lasted 40k miles. At that point I started researching alternatives and settled on the Michelin Cross Climate +. The set of 4 cost just over a grand (mounted and balanced) which was hundreds less than the stock tires (also Michelins I believe, the ones with the foam in them). The Cross Climates lasted 65k miles and overall seem like a much better tire. No noticeable increase in road noise per my wife (who would complain endlessly if there was any) and really seem to handle better than the stock tires, particularly in rain or on wet roads. Just feels better, which I know is completely subjective. From an energy consumption standpoint the Cross Climate + is just a tad more than the stock tires. In 80k miles on 2 sets of stock tires my lifetime consumption was 251 Wh/mile. After 65k miles on the Cross Climate + I was at 253 Wh/mile. Now, apparently Michelin has replaced the Cross Climate+ with the Cross Climate 2 and I just put a set of those on the car. Less than 5k miles on them and my consumption is 270 Wh/mile so far. Is it the tires? Is it that my wife is now driving the car instead of me and her style or her commute (very short, 8 miles each way, plus short trips to the grocery etc) is negatively impacting efficiency? Or maybe the car is finally starting to show its age? I don’t know, all I do know is my energy consumption is up roughly 7% with these new tires. I will continue to monitor.
Maintenance. There isn’t much, as most on this forum know. I rotate the tires every 10k miles. Sometimes I do this myself with a low profile jack I purchased (the cost of which is included in the figures below). Sometimes I go to the shop and let them do it (for free since I bought the tires there). Other than that, it’s wipers and washer fluid, I have replaced the 12V battery twice (first at 80k mikes when it died, then around 140k miles proactively since it’s my wife’s daily driver now). Have done the flush AC system (b/c of stinky smell) and replace air filters several times, replaced the front upper control arms out of warranty, and recently replaced the charge port door which still worked but was giving me some error message (likely would have failed if left unchecked). Total cost of ALL maintenance and repairs is $6287, including $3524 for the 3 sets of tires. Therefore I spent $2763 on items other than tires over the 150k miles driven. I have never tracked M&R this closely before, but this seems fairly low. In fact, when I think about my last car (Mazda CX-9) and top of head items, I know that was more. $100 every 10k miles for full synthetic oil change ($1500 if I had driven it to 150k miles), over $1k to flush and replace transmission fluid and spark plugs at 100k, almost $2k to replace shocks and struts, another $2k on brakes (~ $1k each time, done the last time shortly before we sold it with 125k miles on it). Plus tires of course, so yeah the maintenance definitely costs less on the Tesla. Oh, and $25 per year for an emissions test.
Then there’s fuel. The Mazda I replaced (V6 AWD) got 22 mpg over its lifetime. At say $3 gas average (sometimes higher, sometimes lower) that’s 13.6 cents per mile or $20,400 over 150k miles. My Tesla runs 4 cents per mile (closer to 3 with home charging but overall 4 b/c of the extensive supercharging) so $6k for 150k miles. So I have saved $14k in fuel so far and total savings gets close to $20k when you factor in maintenance.
Overall I am very pleased with this car. It was by far the most expensive car we had purchased at the time, but I did TCO calculations before pulling the trigger and was convinced the TCO would be the same or less than other cars I was considering. After 150k miles I believe the theory has been proven. Other cars we were looking at were around $40k brand new, and the Tesla was $60k at the time (I paid for Enhanced Autopilot but not FSD) less the $7500 tax credit so $52,500 to me. I have saved more than the $12,500 upfront cost differential in fuel alone, not to mention the maintenance savings. Plus my time is valuable, and waking up every day with a 90% charge is just wonderful. I definitely do not miss gas stations!
Now is the car perfect? No, of course not. As mentioned I have done the AC flush to get rid of the stinky socks smell. We live in the humid SEUS where this tends to be more of an issue than less humid climates. Still, it’s an issue. The interior is holding up really well (we keep the car in our garage and always use cabin overheat when parked in public) but there are some squeaks and rattles now that weren’t present when the car was new. Not unexpected after 150k miles but worth mentioning. Still, I’m thinking we can get another 100k miles or more out of this car before we really need to replace it. At that point the value may be so low that we decide to keep it forever. After all, there aren’t many 2018 Model 3s compared to the overall fleet now, and it was my first Tesla, so there’s some sentimental value.
275,000 miles lots of supercharging and Canadian winters still charges to 265 @100%View attachment 753368
We drive 50k/yr, so I have been wondering about the longevity of the Tesla battery. If the car is 70k (MYP), then running up the mileage in a few years would be too costly if it would need 50k of battery and drive units. I was wondering if putting this kind of mileage on a M3 at 45k or 50k would make more sense.
I have basically the same car but with FSD and Acceleration Boost. It turned 4 today or yesterday and has 166,000 miles. Full charge moves around between 270 and 280 miles. Similar experience to you in terms of maintenance, but I've gone through more tires and had to have the DC charging contactor replaced after it died in the middle of a trip. Cheers!
65k mi/yr for 1 person?I wish we had more high mileage examples. I ended up buying a MYP and will continue to put the 50k/yr on a Prius. I'm going to drive the Tesla 15k/yr so I am not out of warranty in two years with the battery.
There are not many examples of truly high mile model 3 or Y vehicles.
We're currently on a road trip including remote destinations in the Southwest USA in our 2018 M3LR (VIN low 3000's). It has 144K miles on it's odometer and charges to about 285 miles at 100% SoC.I wish we had more high mileage examples. I ended up buying a MYP and will continue to put the 50k/yr on a Prius. I'm going to drive the Tesla 15k/yr so I am not out of warranty in two years with the battery.
There are not many examples of truly high mile model 3 or Y vehicles.