Used Model X 90D/100D - real world range and reliability

Used Model X 90D/100D - real world range and reliability

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kmpowell

Original Poster:

2,926 posts

228 months

Monday 19th October 2020
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After what feels like months deliberating which 6/7 seater to buy, I keep coming back to a 6/7 seater MX (preferably a 6 seater), if it does what it says on paper. Whilst a SQ7/XC90 would be good, I fear the value of a big heavy Diesel will tank pretty badly in a few years and I'd be better off putting my eggs into a Tesla.

Budget only allows me to go 'used' which puts me right on the cusp of 90/100 cars with avg 25k on the clock. Dropping £60-70k on a car wouldn't normally cause me such sleepless nights, but I need reliability and range, and the internet appears to bar full of horror when it comes to these. So my questions, directed to actual owners:

1. The car will spend the vast majority of its time going up and down the motorway on either weekly 200 mile trips (sometimes 400 mile round trips). Luckily I can use the S/C network which is plentiful along the M40, but I'd prefer to not have to stop on route and just do destination recharging if possible. With that in mind what are your real world ranges of motorway journeys for a 90D or 100D, and how does it look in the depths of winter? I can charge at home off-road (I'll have a charger put in), so I can be fully charged when I leave.

2. 22's look great, but am I right in thinking it's -10% range for 22" equipped cars?

3. Buying used from Tesla seems very expensive (versus buying from another dealer), but I'm assuming (maybe wrongly) that if you buy from Tesla you have full cover/back-up for anything that may go wrong?

Also real-life pictures of this car shows it has marks, scratches, and scuffs all over it, do Tesla put these right, or are you buying as seen?!?

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/used/5YJXDCE25HF051425

4. Battery degradation - I think that the 90D in reality will be touch & go as to what I need to achieve, so are there any battery checks I can perform on any used cars I go to view, to see condition and life expectancy?

5. 2017 AP2/AP2.5 - are all AP2 cars upgradable to AP2.5, or is there a cut off in 2017?

I'm sure I'll have more questions and apologies if these questions are basic, but everybody has to start somewhere.

TIA smile


DrJFoster

90 posts

47 months

Monday 19th October 2020
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kmpowell said:
After what feels like months deliberating which 6/7 seater to buy, I keep coming back to a 6/7 seater MX (preferably a 6 seater), if it does what it says on paper. Whilst a SQ7/XC90 would be good, I fear the value of a big heavy Diesel will tank pretty badly in a few years and I'd be better off putting my eggs into a Tesla.

Budget only allows me to go 'used' which puts me right on the cusp of 90/100 cars with avg 25k on the clock. Dropping £60-70k on a car wouldn't normally cause me such sleepless nights, but I need reliability and range, and the internet appears to bar full of horror when it comes to these. So my questions, directed to actual owners:

1. The car will spend the vast majority of its time going up and down the motorway on either weekly 200 mile trips (sometimes 400 mile round trips). Luckily I can use the S/C network which is plentiful along the M40, but I'd prefer to not have to stop on route and just do destination recharging if possible. With that in mind what are your real world ranges of motorway journeys for a 90D or 100D, and how does it look in the depths of winter? I can charge at home off-road (I'll have a charger put in), so I can be fully charged when I leave.

2. 22's look great, but am I right in thinking it's -10% range for 22" equipped cars?

3. Buying used from Tesla seems very expensive (versus buying from another dealer), but I'm assuming (maybe wrongly) that if you buy from Tesla you have full cover/back-up for anything that may go wrong?

Also real-life pictures of this car shows it has marks, scratches, and scuffs all over it, do Tesla put these right, or are you buying as seen?!?

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/used/5YJXDCE25HF051425

4. Battery degradation - I think that the 90D in reality will be touch & go as to what I need to achieve, so are there any battery checks I can perform on any used cars I go to view, to see condition and life expectancy?

5. 2017 AP2/AP2.5 - are all AP2 cars upgradable to AP2.5, or is there a cut off in 2017?

I'm sure I'll have more questions and apologies if these questions are basic, but everybody has to start somewhere.

TIA smile
1: The 100D isn't 10% bigger, its more like 20% bigger battery and I think you'd struggle to do 200 miles in winter in a 90D but it would be a fairly short stop to make up the short fall. The 100 is the better car but you pay for that..

2, Yes 22" wheels kill some of the range and are expensive tyres to replace but they do look good.

3, Tesla have just changed the warranty but I think that particular car would still get until June 2022 or 60k miles warranty and you should be covered for the important stuff. Tesla won't correct cosmetic issues like the ones you have pictures on. That car has also been for sale for a while and the price is dropping daily - lots more details on it here https://tesla-info.com/car/GB-5YJXDCE25HF051425 - there are also guides on there about buying used from Tesla as things like premium connectivity becomes subscription.

4: 90 batteries suffered a little early on but then levelled off. 100D are fairly good in general. As point 1 I'd try and get a 100D if you can afford it although they are generally a fair bit more expensive.

5 The question doesn't make much sense. That car is AP2 (I would call it HW2) based on the details in the above link and so limited on some features however it is showing as having FSD so Tesla will at some point upgrade it to HW3. The more relevant hardware it does not have is the MCU (big screen) which will be version 1 and some of the visualisations and sentry mode etc need MCU2. That can be upgraded for around £2,500

Hope that helps

gangzoom

6,297 posts

215 months

Monday 19th October 2020
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The 6/7 seater X is fantastic family cars, the extra ultitly/space is quite amazing, at 3 years old ours is wearing very well.

1) Range at 70mph will be roughly 3 miles per kWh in summer and down to sub 2.5 miles per kWh in winter, occasionally this will drop to 2 miles per kWh in torrential rain.

75Ds will have 68kWh, 90Ds 76kWh usable, 100Ds 90kWh usable when you factor in degredation. You than need to take about 5% future off as you really don't want to be getting to your destination with 0% on show.

We do a regular 150 mile M trip in our 75D, the only time I have needed to charge mid trip was in a torrential down pour. For 200 miles non stop 100D is the way to go.

2) 22s do look fab, range loss at M way speeds is actually not that bad about 5%, but they really do effect ride and are really noisy. Mine is staying on 20s now.

3) Cannot comment apart from stay away from any loaners, they are the worst abused cars I've been in, even Enterprise hire cars are in better state.

I would also you ensure you know the DC versus AC charge break down. An abused 100D pack which has only ever been DC supercharged will charge slower than our 75D pack which has only been DC Superchargered less than 5% of its total life.

4) Just avoid 90Ds and stick to 100D packs. Price difference in used cars makes 100D the no brainer choice.

5) All Xs have AP2.0+ hardware so all are upgradeable to FSD

Have fun car shopping, hard to think of a more interesting family wagon smile.


aestetix1

868 posts

51 months

Monday 19th October 2020
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Avoid the 90D, lots of duff batteries. They tend to fail around 90-130k miles. Also check how much it has been rapid charged - after a certain point they can't supercharge any more and it sounds like you really need that.

The car has only been out for 4 years but the older ones had a lot of problems so make sure they have all been fixed, or be prepared to have a lot of warranty work done. The drivetrains were notoriously bad, they developed faults like excessive vibration when accelerating and needed extensive, expensive repairs.

The rear doors another common point of failure. Check that they open and close properly, no funny noises, go flush every time. Check the rubber seals as they often get snagged or damaged. Also check the inside of the door frames as the paint used to get damaged by the door closing, and the fix was only to stick on a plastic bumper to delay the problem until out of warranty.

The screen is another very common point of failure. There are two major problems with it. First the screen itself goes yellow around the edges. Tesla is currently refusing to fix it under warranty, claiming it is "normal". Second the memory in the car's computer wears out after some time due to software flaws shortening its lifespan, and the only fix is to have the whole thing replaced at great cost. Ideally you want to be sure it's been upgraded to the new one which supposedly fixes the issue, or it's just a ticking time bomb. The new one is a lot more responsive too.

gangzoom

6,297 posts

215 months

Monday 19th October 2020
quotequote all
aestetix1 said:
The drivetrains were notoriously bad, they developed faults like excessive vibration when accelerating and needed extensive, expensive repairs.

The rear doors another common point of failure.

The screen is another very common point of failure. There are two major problems with it. First the screen itself goes yellow around the edges.
The 'vibration' issue is all but fixed with a revised motor mount that Tesla deployed about 12 months, at 25k the cars OP is looking at they are all still under warranty and its simply a case of booking in if its not been done.

The rear FWDs are actually the most reliable part of the car, I've read about very few 'failures'. The drivers door actuator is more likely to fail than the rear doors. I've had both drivers door actuator and motor on the passenger side replaced. The FWDs have been faultless.

The MCU screen issues are common to all S/Xs made up to 2019 I believe. The memory issue can be fixed third party for £600, or you can just get a new MCU 2 for £2500.

There is a new/revised front suspension link that will be needed on all older cars if it the original hasn't failed already.

Aircon/heater units are also a 'known' issue, but its unclear if its a design fault or a batch of bad QC.

Both drivers and 2nd row seats have varying QC issues with sear rails. I had a new drivers seat fitted after Tesla repeatedly failed to secure it properly to the seat rails. Others have seen similar issues with 2nd row seats.

Air suspension is also a 'when' will it fail rather than 'if'. Most seem to go after 5 years and 100k+ so well past any factory warranty, repair costs aren't terrible.

Our X is the most unreliable car I have ever owned, buy one knowing it'll likely need repair work and your be fine. Buy one expecting Toyota reliability and your hate it very quickly.

kmpowell

Original Poster:

2,926 posts

228 months

Monday 19th October 2020
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies guys - lots of great info and advice that really has opened my eyes a bit more, but sadly made MX ownership a more distant possibility.

You've pretty much nailed my suspicious that a 90D wouldn't suit (for range reasons) so I'll strike that out. The problem is it then puts me at the bottom end of the 100D market, where it's VERY slim pickings. It appears there are very few 100D's out there, and what there is are either high milage and/or 5seaters all with large price tags. If you move up a bit you are at 19/69 plates for only 5k or so less than brand new which makes no sense.

I was hoping some might pop up on the Tesla website, but apart from the red 90D that's been on there for weeks/months, not a bean to be seen. And now I know cosmetic damage isn't repaired, it seems the only security is for a warranty, and the PITA is you can't view the car until it's delivered.

There was this one at HRO: https://www.hrowen.co.uk/used-car-details/used-tes...

But at nearly £70k for a 17 plate car, I thought it was a tad expensive, yet ringing up I found it sold this morning, just a few days after appearing.

Oh well I'll keep looking.

Thanks again for the replies, it's much appreciated.

Itsallicanafford

2,769 posts

159 months

Monday 19th October 2020
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With the greatest of respect to the owners of these cars, is this amount of faults in such an expensive car acceptable? My Lexus cost half as much and if it develops a single fault before 100k miles I will eat my hat...

kent_phil

299 posts

243 months

Monday 19th October 2020
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View from a 90D owner here - so no experience of a 100 pack - but I don't really worry about it.

Whilst it has lost a few indicated miles from new over the 4 years we have owned it, I am convinced real world range has actually gone up as various software updates have processed through.

We regularly do a 320 mile trip as a family and the percentage remaining when we get to the mid-way supercharging point has gone up by about 10% over the that time.

The 22 inch wheels are a definite killer, at least 5% range reduction I would say - I usually put them on for the summer as they do look great but can see the efficiency gain the moment the winter 20 inches go back on.

Weather conditions are the other big killer - a headwind and rain will chew the power and you really notice it.

Supercharging still peaks at 130kw, I'm pretty sure the packs throttle supercharging rather than stopping all together but not experienced it. Majority of charging is at home so doubt I will hit this soon.

Did a 190 mile round-trip to drop middle daughter off at university a couple of weeks ago and didn't need a mid-charge, still had 10% of battery left on getting home. That was mainly motorway driving. Have also taken it down to Le Mans, and Holland, with no range issues and plenty of supercharging.

I've recently been wondering about upgrading given the car is 4 years old and that is longer than my usual car ownership, but going to the new one will be a lot of cash to save maybe 20 mins on a supercharger once a month and have a bit faster display. Probably going to stick for at least another year, and will go through the same decision process again!

The 6 seat configuration has been a game changer as a family car, dogs sit in the centre gap and the 3 kids all have decent sized seats - no more complaining about who is in the back or elbows in ribs...

Heres Johnny

7,226 posts

124 months

Monday 19th October 2020
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The 90 battery got bad press when it was launched in the pre facelift MS. By the time the later cars were built like this MX they were on version 3 of the battery and the issues were resolved. I don’t see it as an issue in an MX. The 90 also charges faster than a 75 due to being a higher voltage pack. 100 would be near perfect but as said, it’s more expensive

The MCU1 would be under warranty on this car but the fix is now £300 from Tesla it it wasn’t

Heater failures is a good shout, but again it’s under warranty.



jason61c

5,978 posts

174 months

Monday 19th October 2020
quotequote all
Itsallicanafford said:
With the greatest of respect to the owners of these cars, is this amount of faults in such an expensive car acceptable? My Lexus cost half as much and if it develops a single fault before 100k miles I will eat my hat...
A lexus is a premium product. 90d/100d is a premium price on an emerging product.

gangzoom

6,297 posts

215 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
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Itsallicanafford said:
My Lexus cost half as much and if it develops a single fault before 100k miles I will eat my hat...
Here are my last three cars...

335i been towed after dumping its coolant all over the road.



Our Tesla been towed after suspension failure at 30k.



My old Leaf been towed away by RCI finance 1 months earier than PCP end date dispite me having paid the full amount for the entire term of the PCP agreement.



Interms of cost and reliability the Leaf was the cheapest/most reliable car I have ever owned. Excluding insurance it cost about the same to run per mile as getting a monthly bus pass. The BMW and Tesla, well pictures speak louder than words. Yet I literally paid someone to take the Leaf away from my life early!!

If you want cheap/reliable motoring don't buy a Model X (or any Tesla). But if you want cheap reliable motoring why are you even on a this forum, there are much more sensible ways to waste money than on car smile.

Incidentally our other car is a Lexus, its barely 12 months older, cost half the price of the Tesla, but its about exciting as a car as watching paint drying. It literally is the total opposite ownership experience of our Tesla.

I woudlnt say I hate it, but I am glad I rarely have to drive it, as it turns out reliability doesn't press any buttons for me interms of bringing enjoyment to car ownership, which is a surprise even to me.



My next car purchase is likely to be a Porsche, I hear they have excellent reliability and offer fantastic value for money. Could be worse I suppose, atleast am not interest in owing a RR smile.

https://www.carwow.co.uk/blog/most-and-least-relia...

Edited by gangzoom on Tuesday 20th October 05:24

wisbech

2,975 posts

121 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
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Gangzoom - that is an adorable photo of your kid!

aestetix1

868 posts

51 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
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Heres Johnny said:
The 90 battery got bad press when it was launched in the pre facelift MS. By the time the later cars were built like this MX they were on version 3 of the battery and the issues were resolved. I don’t see it as an issue in an MX. The 90 also charges faster than a 75 due to being a higher voltage pack. 100 would be near perfect but as said, it’s more expensive
Bjorn Nyland and several other prominent owners had their Model X 90 packs fail at around 120,000 km. Clearly some design flaw with the pack to have them all die around the same time.

Even with the new packs throttling of supercharging is very aggressive on the 90s.

gangzoom

6,297 posts

215 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
quotequote all
wisbech said:
Gangzoom - that is an adorable photo of your kid!
Hard to believe she couldn't even sit up by her self when we ordered our X!!


aestetix1

868 posts

51 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
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Double check the warranty, apparently it's been slashed to 1 year or 10k miles:

https://electrek.co/2020/10/19/tesla-slashes-used-...

Itsallicanafford

2,769 posts

159 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
quotequote all
^ lovely picture!

Re: the car. Chaps, I don't want to rain on your parade, it just always amazes me that modern cars can still be unreliable, especially expensive ones. I will stay away!

andy43

9,717 posts

254 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
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I just got a 68 plate S. Long post alert.

Supercharging initially is ridiculously fast, for the first five minutes or so it’s taking 130-140 kw or what, 400-500 mph? If you’re on the M40 and need a top up to get home it honestly would be as fast as a petrol stop plus you don’t have to go anywhere to queue to pay. It’s been an eye opener for me after home charging a leaf and a soul. That initial charge speed is incredible.

Immense buyers resource is Tesla-info https://tesla-info.com/ - you can get specs, prices, value, vin decode, everything on there. That way you can guesstimate exact age and likely computer specs etc.

I found Tesla approved to be overpriced compared to others, and the condition in pics was a real turnoff for me - buying cars with scuffed bumpers and dents at this sort of money isn’t my thing. As I understood it those scratches are generously included in the deal. Stock changes very quickly too - which must mean others aren’t bothered.

Do check the exact spec physically via the screen in the car. I did read that cars previously equipped with FSD and free supercharging have those removed when passing through Tesla’s used network, so they can charge you again for the privilege of FSD. Don’t know how true that is but do be aware - don’t assume anything. FSD also seems to get you priority software updates. It’s bloody clever on major roads. Long trips on nav it will change lanes, change motorways, use exits. Very impressive but it will phantom brake occasionally, heavy British mway traffic does make it nervous, and there is no way on this earth it will ever be able to do roundabouts safely or navigate centuries-old British villages on autopilot. No chance at all.

Warranty via Tesla approved when I was looking was either two years or four years - I discounted the two year cars straight off as buying a 17/18 car elsewhere you’d be getting the remainder of the original four year warranty anyway. If as above the Tesla used warranty is now just twelve months over the original 4 years I ’d be staying well away from Tesla and buying third party.

Already replaced a door handle at Tesla Manchester on mine with no problems BUT you have to be registered to the car on the Tesla app - without that your credit card isn’t linked to the car, so NO supercharging, no warranty claims or assistance, and Tesla literally won’t speak to you even if you rock up at their site with the car, V5 and car keys - be warned!!
If you and previous owner are face to face he can transfer the car to your Tesla account there and then I believe. Via a (very helpful but ultimately clueless Citroen) dealer purchase like mine where the car had been brought in from elsewhere it’s something I wasn’t aware of at all. Fortunately I had it delivered by truck. No supercharging could have been interesting...
Buying direct from Tesla I’d expect instant app access.
I was told face to face by Tesla Manchester to link my car to my app could be a wait of two weeks plus, via tesla website request to Tesla USA with licence and V5 scans uploaded, sometimes even longer (!) but I spent hours holding on the phone and got it linked to me within a day via the uk customer services - eventually. Bear that in mind if you want to supercharge straight after purchase!

HW is the autopilot computer. Mines late 2018 and has HW2.5 but as it’s also got FSD included it’s eligible for a free HW3 upgrade at some point. I read HW2.5 does 100 processes per second, HW3 does 2000 iirc so it sounds worthwhile.

Big change was mid-early 2018 where the dash screen/computer went from MCU1 to MCU2. Well worth aiming at MCU2 as they don’t break(yet) - easy way to tell its MCU2 is if it’s got Netflix I think?

Yellowing screens are fixed with UV light from what I’ve read. Mine is yellowed. Tesla can do it but I have seen videos using UV nail varnish dryers and a cardboard ‘light’ box to fix it. I’ll try that at some point.

I’d definitely try for a 100 over the 90 purely for resale. Mine is an S but I think the tech is identical on the X. The 100 is still the current battery. The newer the better too - ideally late 18 with the MCU2. I was at 17 plates initially but a cheap 68 car came up which we grabbed within hours. There are a lot of 17/67 plate S for sale that seem to stick around. Anything newer seems to move quicker which suggests the newer cars with 100 battery, MCU2 etc are more saleable. Again I’m talking about the S, but I’d imagine the X market to be the same.
Battery checks I dunno, have a look on Teslamotorclubs - maybe teslafi may be able to do it.

These aren’t enthusiasts cars but they’re special. Conversation starters certainly. Might not be as reliable as the Japanese but they’re literally years ahead on tech. And who else has a fart generator?


Edited by andy43 on Tuesday 20th October 13:27


Edited by andy43 on Tuesday 20th October 13:31

SWoll

18,373 posts

258 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
quotequote all
Itsallicanafford said:
^ lovely picture!

Re: the car. Chaps, I don't want to rain on your parade, it just always amazes me that modern cars can still be unreliable, especially expensive ones. I will stay away!
modern cars are far more complicated than they have ever been in any ways, so not sure why the fact that they can be unreliable is a surprise?

Have a look at the reliability ratings for JLR vehicles over the past decade, and they're using well established technology and have been building cars for donkeys years unlike Tesla.

MOBB

3,610 posts

127 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
quotequote all
aestetix1 said:
Double check the warranty, apparently it's been slashed to 1 year or 10k miles:

https://electrek.co/2020/10/19/tesla-slashes-used-...
The main attraction of buying a used car from Tesla has now 100% gone. Perhaps they don't want to sell used cars.

I was toying with replacing my Model 3 Performance with a used Model S Performance next year, I think I'll stick to new.

SWoll

18,373 posts

258 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
quotequote all
MOBB said:
aestetix1 said:
Double check the warranty, apparently it's been slashed to 1 year or 10k miles:

https://electrek.co/2020/10/19/tesla-slashes-used-...
The main attraction of buying a used car from Tesla has now 100% gone. Perhaps they don't want to sell used cars.

I was toying with replacing my Model 3 Performance with a used Model S Performance next year, I think I'll stick to new.
Pretty much inline with used car warranties from most manufacturers once the vehicle is outside of initial coverage isn't it? Can you not pay to extend it further as is the also the case with other manufacturers?

ETA

electrek article said:
To be fair, those confidence builder initiatives put them ahead of the competition, and now removing them puts them on par, which is not bad in perspective, but it’s still noteworthy.
Edited by SWoll on Tuesday 20th October 15:06