How reliable is your Model S?

[RossBrindleyAU]

I was a BMW man for almost 30 years. Started with an e34 535is, moved on to an e34 M5 then to 2 e36 M3s and my last new BMW was an extremely limited edition e36 M3R.Craving more power I purchased an already modified e39 M5 with a supercharger developing approx 370kw (500hp) at the rear wheels. I loved my BMW's particularly because I loved doing performance driving. Many track days and 3 Targa Tasmania and 1 Targa New Zealand were the biggest events I did and I placed 3rd, DNF, 10th and 4th outright in the 4 events, so I am a fairly good driver and was a dedicated petrolhead.

Then I foolishly took a MS P100D for a test drive from the local Tesla outlet and lost my mind. A new car was so far outside of my budget as to be not even a faint thought but the dealer had a pre-loved 2015 MS P85D for only 20k or so more than my budget. That was 21 months ago.

I sold the M3R AND the M5 to fund the purchase and I have not regretted doing so for a second.

Problems:

Charge flap refuses to open unless I use the main screen and the SC has been unable to fix it.
Drivers door handle has just recently began refusing to open the door after the car is washed. Comes back after a few tries though and has not been a big enough issue to go to the SC.
Randomly fails to connect to the phone/3G network but a quick reboot has resolved the issue without problems. I even rebooted both displays recently while I was driving and it had no impact on the car's ability to drive.
12v battery warning came up and it was replaced while I waited at the local SC without charge in less than an hour. I had one of my grandchildren with me and they gave him a model S toy car. The staff were so friendly and helpful it was a joy to be there.

Mistakes:
Ran out of battery completely about 2km from a SC station and used 2 extension leads to plug into the house I stopped in front of and sat for an hour waiting to get 2km on the available charge. (very kind house owner) Got 200km range at the SC in the next 20 minutes.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I get in the car and move off I fall in love with this car again. The grand kids favourite saying when at the lights is "Blow them away Poppa" and to do so all I need is less than 1/2 throttle.

If someone offered to give me a brand new M5 or M6 I would take it!!! and then sell it and use the money to get a MS P100D.

This is the most brilliant car and loved car I have ever had and I have absolutely no desire to change it unless I come in to enough money to afford a P100D.

 

[rcarpen22]

Just another data point... November 2015 build. 75k miles. No issues. Well, just last week one of the passenger side door panel fasteners came loose. Will take it in to get that fixed one of these days.

 

[Ciaopec]

June 2016 Refresh with 100,000 miles. As someone here said (paraphrase): overtime I get in it has taken me with out problem. Replace both front headlamps due to DRL fade (about to do it again before 100,000 mile extended warranty expires) and replaced the passenger door handle for lack of auto present. Otherwise it is one heck of a car!

 

[scottm]

I'm sticking with my intuitive definition of reliability... "Can I rely on my car to get me from A to B, each time I get in at A and drive in a normal way, do I arrive at B?"

for me: yes, I can reliably depend on my car for this. Do I even worry about this at all? No

The car has never failed to start, or broke down roadside, or stopped short of arriving at B each time I drive it. Not even a flat tire. Never hit 0% on the battery enroute.
... 148K km and counting.

Each time I have had service, for whatever reason, it's been while-you-wait, or scheduled for the day.. or whatever. And it has never run long or caused me to rent.

I even drove the car 1700km with a motor bearing defect (whine) to the nearest service centre and got the WHOLE DRIVE TRAIN replaced... in an afternoon. Drove home with a new silent motor again. Just try that in any car other than a Tesla!?

I'm even starting to do normal kinds of maintenance myself on the car... because it's off warranty. And I'm finding new genuine parts are relatively cheap from Tesla, which is kind of shocking ... compared to other luxo brands

I think a repeat buyer of the brand is a huge indicator of reliability, when it all boils down. For example, I will NEVER buy another VW again and I don't care what that company tries or does with electric... My VW gas car left me in a lurch, died on the highway, and cost me way more than my Tesla in keeping it running over the same period of time. I would buy another Subaru... great build, hugely reliable too, if only they had an electric.... And I did buy another Tesla.

 

[GreenT]

Had you bought in 5 years ago, you would have discovered the "private club" Tesla where everything was incredible.

Today ... I love my car ... WHEN it's not in the "service center", if you can find one ... that's competent. When they don't lie to you.
Would never trust it to get me anywhere > 300 miles.
There are too few SC's globally.
You only need to use Google or read here to see just how sad it's become.
I WISH they could fix their problems but the company seems unscalable.

 

[Canuck]

Coming up to 5 years here and I've never had a more reliable vehicle. I was happy to replace my wife's BMW with a second Tesla recently but I still have my rock solid early 2014 S from new. It's a workhorse!

Don't believe the haters. ICE vehicles are far more unreliable -- there's so much more to go wrong. Saying to "google" to see problems is laughable. That's not how we research objectively. Look here:

Car Brands Ranked by Owner Satisfaction

 

[whitex]

This thread sounds like Hyundai car owners in the 90's. Some swore how they put thousands of miles and get years without any issues, others complain how their car spent more time in the shop than their garage. Consumer reports even found a correlation on reliability to day of the week the Hyundai car was produced, similar to how people here claim cars made during the end of quarter push fare worse than those produced during calmer times. Hyundai learned, and now 20+ years later they got their quality to be consistent. How long will it take Tesla?

 

[Raechris]

My Kia was rock solid, my many VWs were hit or miss (traded a Friday car in short order). At 1 yr/11k MS75D with my first Tesla and the whole family loves it. The car has been 100% reliable and gets better every day. It is funny how I still stare at her gratuitously and look forward to driving at every opportunity. Heck I even still like washing and detailing her, which has not gone on this long with the 15 other new cars I have bought in the past.

 

[Mediocrates]

Saying to "google" to see problems is laughable. That's not how we research objectively. Look here:

Car Brands Ranked by Owner Satisfaction

Owner satisfaction is not synonymous with reliability. The incongruency is clear when research is comprehensive.

Tesla slips several spots in Consumer Reports reliability ranking

Consumer Reports: Guide to Car Reliability - Consumer Reports

 

[Dax279]

My 2015 85d has been great with very few issues. I have about 35,000 KM on it now, and have no concerns. It has been a great reliable car and I’m coming from an LS460 which was rock solid.

 

[Canuck]

Owner satisfaction is not synonymous with reliability. The incongruency is clear when research is comprehensive.
Tesla slips several spots in Consumer Reports reliability ranking
Consumer Reports: Guide to Car Reliability - Consumer Reports

Point taken but my reply was to someone who used research by anecdotal evidence to bash Tesla, which really means nothing. You're refined the search and that's great. I was always surprised when Tesla ranked so high in reliability, so dropping from the top didn't surprise me. But taking your car in for an oil change, or to have a first generation door handle replaced (issue now solved) doesn't show up as reliability for one vehicle, but it does for the other, and I could go on and on such as no new brakes for me coming up to 5 years... never before has that happened in my life... but again not a "reliability" issue when I take my ICE in for new brakes. We used to think that was just normal ! (as surveys still do).

So perhaps that's why my reference to the owner satisfaction survey may, in reality, be better than reliability? And no one compares to Tesla when it comes to the most important question: Would you buy the brand again? I thought the OP might want to know the answer in his deliberations.

 

[Max*]

Have I had problems that leave me stranded? No.

Have I had problems that are annoying as @#$%? Yes.
-7 door handles broken
-AC condensor
-parking sensors failed
-sunroof leaking
-nav would drift (this took 2 service visits and the help of the forum with someone else having the same problem to fix. service center was clueless)
-universal joint in the steering went bad
-steering rack was clicking
-both of my side mirrors stopped dimming (different times)
-HV battery pack crapped out
-fogging headlights
-one louver stopped working

All above are hardware malfunctions (not to mention a bunch of software annoyances which were mostly fixed via firmware eventually)

This is the least reliable car I've owned. 65k miles so far.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Have I had problems that leave me stranded? No.

Have I had problems that are annoying as @#$%? Yes.
-7 door handles broken
-AC condensor
-parking sensors failed
-sunroof leaking
-nav would drift (this took 2 service visits and the help of the forum with someone else having the same problem to fix. service center was clueless)
-universal joint in the steering went bad
-steering rack was clicking
-both of my side mirrors stopped dimming (different times)
-HV battery pack crapped out
-fogging headlights
-one louver stopped working

All above are hardware malfunctions (not to mention a bunch of software annoyances which were mostly fixed via firmware eventually)

This is the least reliable car I've owned. 65k miles so far.

And you still bought a Model 3. That speaks volumes. If all that goes wrong before I reach 65,000 miles I sure hope there's a decent Toyota electric to replace it with. That will be in about three years, so probably not. What month and year was your Tesla manufactured?

 

[Max*]

And you still bought a Model 3. That speaks volumes. If all that goes wrong before I reach 65,000 miles I sure hope there's a decent Toyota electric to replace it with. That will be in about three years, so probably not. What month and year was your Tesla manufactured?

The 3 is my wife's DD. We thought long and hard about it, mainly due to the reliability of *my* Tesla. Unfortunately right now Tesla is the only long-range EV with a charging network and AP. Once either of us is ready to get a new car, I'll see if any other manufacturer checks those 3 boxes (I think by then they will).

June-ish 2015 70D

 

[Canuck]

And you still bought a Model 3.

My thoughts exactly but I didn't want to hear the excuses. Sorry that you made us hear them, but fortunately I've pulled my rolled eyes back into place.

You would never get me (or my wife *cough*excuse*) to buy a brand again after having such a thoroughly unreliable car -- the worst of the worst -- according to the post. Yet there's just no other vehicles to buy, not even hybrids, that are better.

Okay, got it.

 

[Max*]

My thoughts exactly but I didn't want to hear the excuses. Sorry that you made us hear them, but fortunately I've pulled my rolled eyes back into place.

You would never get me (or my wife *cough*excuse*) to buy a brand again after having such a thoroughly unreliable car -- the worst of the worst -- according to the post. Yet there's just no other vehicles to buy, not even hybrids, that are better.

Okay, got it.

And yet, not only did you voice your opinion, you added spin to my words. Holy strawman batman!

 

[wdolson]

The 3 is my wife's DD. We thought long and hard about it, mainly due to the reliability of *my* Tesla. Unfortunately right now Tesla is the only long-range EV with a charging network and AP. Once either of us is ready to get a new car, I'll see if any other manufacturer checks those 3 boxes (I think by then they will).

June-ish 2015 70D

Was your car an end of quarter car? My car was made the last week of May 2016 and it's been very reliable.

 

[Max*]

Was your car an end of quarter car? My car was made the last week of May 2016 and it's been very reliable.

Nope, got it around fathers day.

Sticker on the door frame says 6/15, dunno which week, guessing first?

 

[BrokerDon]

Our Ludicrous 2015 P85D+ has been incredibly reliable with just a few minor issues... Especially since it gets INCREDIBLE Smiles per Electron from it's Ludicrous performance, tight Plus Suspension, incredible Next Gen "Recaro" seats in front AND back... and ~ 80 MPGe. It replaced BOTH my 505 hp 2006 Corvette Z06 "street legal track car" AND our 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV while lowering our "fuel" cost per mile 4X (80 MPGe vs. 20 MPG). INCREDIBLE !!!

 

[dark cloud]

Have I had problems that leave me stranded? No.

Have I had problems that are annoying as @#$%? Yes.
-7 door handles broken
-AC condensor
-parking sensors failed
-sunroof leaking
-nav would drift (this took 2 service visits and the help of the forum with someone else having the same problem to fix. service center was clueless)
-universal joint in the steering went bad
-steering rack was clicking
-both of my side mirrors stopped dimming (different times)
-HV battery pack crapped out
-fogging headlights
-one louver stopped working

All above are hardware malfunctions (not to mention a bunch of software annoyances which were mostly fixed via firmware eventually)

This is the least reliable car I've owned. 65k miles so far.

I wish my side mirrors would stop dimming; I hate those; can't see anything when they are activated. I want to know if that is a cop behind me or not. Any way to turn them off?