Tesla Model 3 - V3.0

Pulled into the driveway, parked up, and within minutes I got a notification from Tesla app - the charge is at 27%, do you want to plug in the car?

It's simple things like this that makes the experience to nice with Tesla (despite Elon etc).

However these issues aren't faults or problems, they're just wear and tear items, so whether you had a service or not makes no difference as they are not "unusual items" to be proactively checked for. They all go at some point and servicing has no bearing on it, except perhaps where a service might recommend changing out parts sooner and bringing that cost to you earlier in the ownership sequence.

One thing I will say is the parts seem wear out much quicker on the Tesla. After 103,000km mine already needs it's 3rd set of lateral links and upper control arms, and 2nd set of rear bushings..

I bought my 3 Series BMW with around 150,000km on the clock, and in the 160,000km I've driven it (from 150,000km to 312,000km), it's only needed rear bushings in that time.

The Tesla is only 50kg heavier than the BMW (BMW was weighed with the tank only 1/4 full).

If you check daily on the app, you might find cancellation slots at short notice. I pushed mine forward this way in Dublin for the last job. Quicker than calling agents.

yep, just tried it and got the Belfast slot in the 17th….

now I'm wondering if it just wouldn't let the guy assign that slot to me because maybe parts might not be available on that date? Surely though between the U.K./Europe they could have the parts in hand within a few days??

These problems will rear its ugly head come trading in, minus cost of repair on top of condition etc.

That's pretty poor tbh. In 25 years of car ownership I've never owned a car that needed suspension work before hitting 100k km. The closest was the Leaf at approx 140k km and before that the previous smax needed suspension work for 1st time with over 200k km on the clock.

There is something wrong when a car needs a 3rd set of control arms after 100k kms.

Have a 222 Model 3 RWD. Love it. Has been super reliable. Less than 70k on the clock.

Toying with the idea of ordering a new Highland RWD, or LR RWD, or maybe even the new MY RWD.

I've never traded a car with finance outstanding. I calculate there is just shy of €22k of payments left on the car over the next 2 years if I were to keep the car. I'm shelling €800p/m. Tesla trade-in would maybe cover this considering age, mileage and condition. Not sure about bothering to privately sell. The 1% finance offer is tempting, as my payments would be lower by up to €230p/m (yes I know I would be tacking on 3 years, plus a deposit).

We have the M3 and a Leaf 40 as our cars. The M3 is my main car to commute to work. Would love a 7 seater, but that hasn't happened because of EV price, availability etc. A 7 seater MY would be great, but not available in RHD 😔

Back of the envelope on a simple Highland RWD and assuming trade-in writes off the existing loan, the cost to change would be about:

((sum of monthly payments + 10k deposit) - (22k assumed trade-in))

M3 RWD = €16k (lowest cost to change, but no significant change from what I have now).

M3 RWD LR = €23k (faster off the line and quite a bit more range…but different chemistry prefers 80% charge).

MY RWD = €23k (the extra space and hatch is a big winner here for the family, but it's also my main car).

We have a Leaf 40 as the second family car.

So, any thoughts on the above? Should I just hold tight, or make what is honestly an unnecessary upgrade for the sake of moving up a few years, or getting some extra space?

Also what's the process of trading in a financed car with Tesla? I just submitted a trade-in valuation and they text and called me in less than 2 minutes 😀