Quote:
Originally Posted by John V
Seems like the drive unit failures for these cars are becoming pretty well publicized.
These cars are tempting new despite the high cost, but no way in hell would I own one out of warranty.
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The out-of-warranty service issue is one of the big question marks hovering around Tesla. It's one that they will have to solve. At this point, I am giving them the (limited) benefit of the doubt, because they have a lot of plates spinning and for a while they'll be able to fudge it--many of their cars are still under warranty, the drive units will all be warrantied for quite a while (or nearly all), and they can probably deal with most of the outlier cases on a case-by-case basis.
But.
They don't have service manuals. They don't sell access to any of the fancy electronic tools you need to diagnose the car. They don't sell those tools themselves. They don't even sell *parts* without a VIN, and forget about buying them wholesale. If you have a salvage car, they won't sell you parts.
There are some nuances here that I am not getting into, but the bottom line is that it would be impossible, at this point, to keep a Tesla on the road without using "dealer" service. And what that service will cost is very much open to question.
All of which is my way of saying, I agree with you, JV. I wouldn't own this car out of warranty, either.
As for the drive unit, mine is still set to be replaced at some point, but I don't have any idea when that will be.
EDIT: No 6.1 yet. Most of those features are kind of a yawn, but I do like the idea of range prediction with nav.
EDIT: One touch dialing in Calendar is nice, as is smart pre-conditioning.