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I've used mobile service multiple times for trim and warranty work. The Lexus and MB dealers near me don't offer pickup, and the MB dealer has been starting to limit loaner vehicles to repairs and B service. This was even before the pandemic, I remember being surprised that the lounge area was actually being used and was even sort of full when I walked in the first time since the policy changed. By comparison Tesla mobile service has been worlds better.
You do not have to be present when they are there. I've locked the keycard inside the vehicle and had them text me to lock/unlock the car remotely when they arrive and leave.
That is awesome. Was that extended warranty because you bought the car through Tesla, and does everyone get that?
Yes i did have 'concierge' service on the Genesis and it was very nice. But then, I wouldn't want an oil change done in my driveway. but mechanical things like a door handle, sure, why not. Unless you're concerned about being embarrassed in front of the neighbors.
tesla issues seem mostly mechanical / trim.
There is no oil in a Tesla.
I don't know why having your car being repaired in your driveway has to be embarrassing in front of neighbors, it seems convenient and time saving. No different than washing it.
Ir.
You do not have to be present when they are there. I've locked the keycard inside the vehicle and had them text me to lock/unlock the car remotely when they arrive and leave.
that’s pretty neat. Can you follow on your app in real time what is being achieved?
That is really cool they came to you to repair this item. Those door handles are a cool feature._until they break. But nice to seem them get it done. Were you able to find out the cost out of warranty?
The door handles on a Model S are unnecessarily complex for the function - they retract completely - main point to reduce drag. Just like the Falcon wing doors on the Model X, over complicated and not really required.
Needlessly complex but sooo cool! When you come close to the car and you have the key fob on your person, the door handles come out - you feel like royalty as the car welcomes you
No idea how much it costs - probably not less than at least $500 as it's not just the mechanical bits, but wiring, some computer control module etc. The service bill for the door is pretty long for "one" part.
Originally Posted by LexsCTJill
It’s a door handle. Any luxury brand with a courtesy system would pick up the car and take it to the shop. In fact, pretty shoddy to have Tesla work on this in your drive way. Should be behind closed doors. I think Bits Genesis G90 was picked up for warranty work and then returned. That said, I have seen a Tesla have to be flat bed towed as it wouldn’t start at my office.
It's anything but "shoddy". Not sure how you can come to that conclusion.
First of all when you book the service call through the app, you have a choice to pick a mobile ranger or a visit to a nearby Service center. Since I work from home, it's absolutely a huge benefit to me to request a Mobile ranger as it's a huge savings of time for me not having to go the Service Center (even though it's only 15 mins away from me) and it's very convenient.
When your request gets reviewed, (you can see the workflow process in the app - Service request review, Estimate, Approve Estimate, Schedule day and time) it will be triaged appropriately - meaning that if the repair can be done on your driveway (it's not a complex repair), then the service request will be marked as such. If the repair cannot be done at your home, the request will be updated and you will then need to choose a service center near you. It's very simple, organized and very effective.
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
That is awesome. Was that extended warranty because you bought the car through Tesla, and does everyone get that?
Yes i did have 'concierge' service on the Genesis and it was very nice. But then, I wouldn't want an oil change done in my driveway. but mechanical things like a door handle, sure, why not. Unless you're concerned about being embarrassed in front of the neighbors.
tesla issues seem mostly mechanical / trim.
When I bought the car in 2019, Tesla Canada was offering a 4 year/80k km/50k mile warranty on low mileage cars. On higher mileage cars the warranty was half of the number /period I got. I got lucky as 6 - 8 months later - Tesla stopped offering that warranty and reduced it to 1 year/20K KM. Cost cutting clearly.
I personally couldn't care less what my neighbors think and definitely don't get embarrassed to have a Service car outside my house
Originally Posted by LexsCTJill
Google ‘Tesla Mobile Service Nighhtmare” I dare you. All kidding aside, All the brands can have crappy service. Telsa is no exception . Problem with them coming to your home is that you may have wait for them…and then if they can repair it…car has to go to the dealer..so you just waste time . Every Toyota or Lexus warranty issue I have ever owned, I take it to the dealer usually for routine service, in the service if the warranty repair can be made and if not, I come back when ready. Shuttle home….I used to be offered a car but it doesn’t matter to me as I can just do whatever I wanted as I was self employed for 30+ years I do agree that coming to my driveway to repair a door handle would be great…but I also learned 40 years ago that waiting for contractors to show up to repair something in the home can be a total waste of my time if I think they will be here for 9am
Depends on your use case - if you don't work from home, then when you request service, you indicate your preference to take your car in to a service center.
Originally Posted by LexsCTJill
that’s pretty neat. Can you follow on your app in real time what is being achieved?
Yes, you can actually see exactly where your car physically is at all times (unless you're in the boonies with no cell service - the car is always connected otherwise). In fact the GPS signal in the car is so accurate that it even shows you the direction the car is facing. You can also follow the service in real time in the app in the various stages of the work. It's all digital and I absolutely LOVE it!!!
Look at some screenshots below when I had the car at a collision repair shop to get a ding in one of the doors fixed (some guy opened his truck's door beside me in a parking lot and the wind slammed his door into mine)
I don't know why having your car being repaired in your driveway has to be embarrassing in front of neighbors, it seems convenient and time saving. No different than washing it.
Yup no Tesla oil change I meant ice car mobile service doesn't work too well for regular maintenance.
About getting embarrassed, I meant some 'proud' owners might be self conscious about it. I think mobile service is awesome.
Mobile service is definitely really convenient. My wife's 2018 3 had the older MCU and she needed to have it updated to take advantage of the latest FSD features (let's not get into a discussion about FSD not really being full self driving). The mobile service guy came in, installed it in my garage, and was out faster than it would've taken me to drive to a service center and back. Also rotated her tires for her too.
Yes, you can actually see exactly where your car physically is at all times (unless you're in the boonies with no cell service - the car is always connected otherwise). In fact the GPS signal in the car is so accurate that it even shows you the direction the car is facing. You can also follow the service in real time in the app in the various stages of the work. It's all digital and I absolutely LOVE it!!!
Look at some screenshots below when I had the car at a collision repair shop to get a ding in one of the doors fixed (some guy opened his truck's door beside me in a parking lot and the wind slammed his door into mine)
This stuff is pretty cool. I was wondering if in real time if door handle once removed from the car during the repair actually come off on the app...if that makes sense...super cool future stuff like in a kids video game.
Originally Posted by Hameed
The door handles on a Model S are unnecessarily complex for the function - they retract completely - main point to reduce drag. Just like the Falcon wing doors on the Model X, over complicated and not really required.
Needlessly complex but sooo cool! When you come close to the car and you have the key fob on your person, the door handles come out - you feel like royalty as the car welcomes you
Yes...this stuff is needlessly complex but indeed totally cool I agree. I have a useless motorized rear door closure on my 04 Runner that is soft touch....my new 21 doesn't have it....I also have a motorized wind defector bufferer when the roof is open that goes up and down based on speed....you hear a little motor working....hopefully my rear hatch will close if the motor ever wears out and breaks. I like how the door handles come out on a Tesla...I am not sure if Tesla's can currently do it, I wish one day there was auto sunroof closure where as you enter the freeway the sunroof closes based on GPS or speed....
This stuff is pretty cool. I was wondering if in real time if door handle once removed from the car during the repair actually come off on the app...if that makes sense...super cool future stuff like in a kids video game.
The work order visible in the app gets updated when the work has been completed and the status shows completed or whatever the status is.
Don't know anything about kids's video games. All I know is that this is stuff that tech geeks/nerds like me appreciate.
Yes...this stuff is needlessly complex but indeed totally cool I agree. I have a useless motorized rear door closure on my 04 Runner that is soft touch....my new 21 doesn't have it....I also have a motorized wind defector bufferer when the roof is open that goes up and down based on speed....you hear a little motor working....hopefully my rear hatch will close if the motor ever wears out and breaks. I like how the door handles come out on a Tesla...I am not sure if Tesla's can currently do it, I wish one day there was auto sunroof closure where as you enter the freeway the sunroof closes based on GPS or speed....
It doesn't do that yet, but that would be easy to program as my mirrors automatically fold when I get on my driveway to ease entry into my garage and automatically unfold when I am not close to the garage - this is based on a gps setting that you can set. It can also raise the suspension at any location that you set based on GPS in case you have a steep driveway or at any other place you want the car to be raised. It will then lower itself (to whatever height you have set the car to) when it detects it is no longer at the gps location you have set.
2-year ownership experience with a now 5-year-old 2016 Tesla Model S 75D
2-year ownership experience with a now 5-year-old 2016 Tesla Model S 75D
Background/context
I bought my 2016 Tesla Model S 75D at the end of June 2019. It had just been returned by the previous owner to the local Tesla Service Center in Oakville, Ontario, Canada at the end of a 3-year lease. The car had 26.8k km/16.75k miles and was in almost new condition cosmetically. It had a couple of light scratches on the paint, but the interior was flawless.
I had driven a 2016 Model S75D shortly after they came out in 2016 and I was smitten after the 10 min test drive. I knew I would be replacing my GS400 eventually to get one. This is coming from a die-hard ICE car owner that is a hard core enthusiast. I am not some greenie that is trying to save the planet. It just felt so much better than my Lexus and my view did not change in the least bit 3 years later when I was finally able to get a used one in 2019. It felt better in virtually every single aspect (performance, throttle responsiveness, 1 pedal driving (regen brakes), etc.
At the time I bought it, Tesla was providing a full 4-year/80k km/50k miles bumper-to-bumper warranty starting the day you bought it, so basically the car is under warranty till June 2023/106.8k km/66.75k miles (note this warranty was not in addition to the original warranty which was a year left when I bought it – not including the battery and drive units which have a longer warranty – 8 years/160k km/100k miles). Tesla Canada have since dropped that perk and now only offer a 1 year/20k km/12.5k miles warranty on top of any existing original warranty. I’ll be the first to admit that one of the main factors in my decision to purchase the car was the 4-year additional warranty.
Warranty claims
I have had 3 warranty claims in the 2 years and 39.7k km/24.8k miles I’ve driven it so far (current mileage is now – 66.5k km/41.6k miles).
Sep 30, 2019 – (35.8k km/22.4k miles) - Front left and right Adaptive Air spring modules replaced. These were replaced to get rid of a very faint click/rattle sound coming from the front of the car. I am a tad OCD about cars and doubt that a lot of folks would have noticed the sound.
June 3, 2021 – (64.8k km/40.55k miles) – Rear passenger side door handle replaced. It didn’t actually stop working, but again was making a faint strange sound while retracting. I had a Tesla “ranger” (mobile technician) come to my house and replace it.
June 3, 2021 – (64.8k km/40.55k miles) – Glove box broke and would not close properly. I had a Tesla “ranger” (mobile technician) come to my house and replace it, the same time as the door handle above.
Overall Reliability
So all in all, the car has been very reliable. The quality of the fit and finish on my specific car was excellent to begin with, no rattles, loose trim or other interior problems when I bought it. The quality of the leather (leather was discontinued in 2018) is clearly not as good as other luxury cars, however it doesn’t bother me in the slightest as I am more about how a car drives (instantaneous throttle responsiveness (as in you think and the car immediately reacts), buttery smooth power delivery, steering sharpness, handling for a big sedan, etc).
OTA
Over-the-Air updates (OTA) – I only noted the important updates/upgrades below (there have been 26 software updates to the car in the 2 years I’ve had the car. The Software OS went from 2019.20.4.2 to 2020.48.37.2).
Sketchpad, Media volume and owner’s manual improvements
Key fob security update
Improvements to Auto Pilot and Maps.
Spotify app added
Scheduled departure added to schedule for home charging. This simply means that setup a schedule when you leave home and the car will be charged and warmed up (or cooled down) to coincide with your departure from home
Automatic navigation – the car will automatically setup the navigation to your work address on weekdays when you leave around the time of your scheduled departure (noted in point above).
Automatic wiper improvements – now uses one of the autopilot cameras to detect water drops on the windshield and adjusts the speed of the wipers according to your driving speed/and or intensity of rain/snow falling.
Added a whole bunch of new voice commands and now reads out SMS
Improved BT support
Added nearby charging stations sorted by max charging power to the map
Added number of available charging stations at superchargers in your vicinity. So if a charging station as 16 chargers and 10 are busy charging other Tesla’s you would see 6 as being available at that location.
Added notifications that show up on your phone if any of the doors/windows was left open/not closed completely.
Driving visualization improvements in the instrument cluster
Uncorking Procedure
One major software upgrade done to my car was the “uncorking” procedure when I had the car for less than a year (April 2020). This was basically a software unlock that increased the horsepower/torque by over 20%. That increased the horsepower to 476 Hp and dropped the 0-60 time from 5.2 seconds to 4.1 seconds. This was done for free by Tesla as soon as I found out that my car was upgradable. A mobile tech came to my house and connected his laptop to my car via the OBD2 port and an hour later, my car basically felt like a brand new completely different car. Not all 75D’s were upgradeable. I got lucky that mine already had the necessary hardware (some high power fuse).
Maintenance and other expenses
April 2020 – Clean and lube brakes $150 CAD – this is a required annual maintenance item as the physical brakes don’t see much use (motor regen slows the car down 90% of the time) and especially in winter climates such as mine where salt and mud is dumped on the roads in the winter, it’s advisable to get the brakes cleaned as their life span gets reduced from all the muck that doesn’t always come off due to very little brake use. You can change a setting to reduce the regen, however once you are used to 1 pedal driving, having less regen kills some of the fun of the driving, so I always leave it at full regen.
April 2021 – Clean and lube brakes - $150 CAD
April 2021 – Cabin air filter replacement
Total cost for electricity for driving 39.7k km/24.8k miles has been approximately $800 CAD
I have deliberately not included the cost of a spare set of rims/tires for the winter as that has nothing to do with a Tesla specifically. Rough cost was $1500 CAD.
Summary
Pros
Tesla’s mastery of the EV drivetrain does need any more praise from me. Whenever I drive the car, I have this huge grin on my face and I don’t even have to be accelerating hard or anything like that – its just the amazingly smooth power delivery right-now-forward-motion (no fuel mixture to burn, no gears to change etc)
The Tesla supercharger network of course
The spaciousness of the hatchback Model S is just mind boggling. With the second row seats folded down, I can easily fit a twin sized mattress in the back (6.5 feet long by 35 inches wide space between the wheel wells)
Very low cost for maintenance and use (cheap electricity). I can’t help comparing it the cost of premium fuel for the GS400 that was easily $400/month vs $400/year now with the S
Excellent driving position (very comfortable/firm seats with excellent lumbar support)
Overall very good visibility with big windows other than the rear window (which is not such a big deal once you’ve had the car for a week or two)
Cons
Quality of fit and finish - any “review” of a Tesla is not complete without mentioning something about the quality of fit and finish as that seems to get a lot of folks emotions and feelings all over the place – my car has no loose trim or misalignment of any panels or uneven gaps except for some minor unevenness in the chrome trim around 2 of the doors.
Range - I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as a con, but it also gets a lot of folks up in arms – if I drive at a reasonable speed – 75 mph – I lose about 20% of the stated range as Tesla states their EPA at a steady 55 to 60 mph which understandably upsets a lot of people. It doesn’t bother me one bit as I know exactly how much range I will actually get and in the 2 years I’ve had it, I have never ever run out electrons nor has it ever caused me any inconvenience as my car is usually charged to 80% every day and range is a total non-issue as far as I am concerned. I get about 400 km (250 miles) on a full charge and I can hit that mileage without any issues if I drive at 110 kph (just under 70 mph)
Closing remarks
In short, if I could go back in time and buy the car all over again, I would do so without any hesitation whatsoever. The car is simply a blast to drive and costs almost zero $ to run – it’s such a no brainer to own one assuming you want and it makes financial sense to you. I paid about 50% off the MSRP for my used S which is about the average in depreciation for most “luxury” cars.
How do you not miss the V8 rumble of GS400 or shifting of gears etc.
Its really different driving experience imo. Every time i turn on my cars and get the start up roar - it just brings smile to my face and feels like the car is alive.
BTW I checked out the new LUCID car at their boutique in NYC - the car is hideous imo and has nothing over Tesla. Storage space was also very compromised.
Great! Always good to hear of people having positive ownership experiences. Thanks for the solid write up.
Thanks! The car has also been very solid
Originally Posted by RNM GS3
Nice review and im sure its a fantastic car.
How do you not miss the V8 rumble of GS400 or shifting of gears etc.
Its really different driving experience imo. Every time i turn on my cars and get the start up roar - it just brings smile to my face and feels like the car is alive.
BTW I checked out the new LUCID car at their boutique in NYC - the car is hideous imo and has nothing over Tesla. Storage space was also very compromised.
Very good question regarding the sound of a great V8 engine. I've driven a 2017 G63 AMG a couple of times late last year and that truck is a very good example of a great sounding V8 engine and it was a ton of fun and does make driving the truck very enjoyable. I had just as much fun driving my heavily modded GS400 - it always brought a smile to my face to floor the throttle and hear that exhaust sound track.
However when I drive the Model S, honestly I don't miss the V8 sound even the slightest bit. In other words, I enjoy the V8 sound in an ICE car and don't miss it at all when I drive my S. The S just drives/feels on a completely different level - the right now throttle response, the stealth no sound crazy acceleration, the rubber band linear throttle response with no shifting, etc. I know this sounds strange, but trust me, if you get a chance to drive an S, you will know exactly what I am talking about. Both types of cars are very enjoyable. I have a permanent "Tesla grin" on my face whenever I'm driving the car.
Here is what my GS400 sounds like - its no longer mine of course. Sold it to a very young enthusiast last year.
06-03-21, 07:42 PM
but mechanical things like a door handle, sure, why not. Unless you're concerned about being embarrassed in front of the neighbors. 
I meant ice car mobile service doesn't work too well for regular maintenance.
