You can buy a Tesla for £10k - would you?

Everyone's favourite EV cliche-maker is back in the headlines - but that needn't stop you buying one

By PH Staff / Monday, 24 August 2026 / Loading comments

Tesla, though it may have become a carmaker seemingly disinterested in the business of launching new models - or doing much of anything in a timely fashion - is never, ever far from the spotlight. Earlier this month, there was much discussion of its faltering sales in the UK (mostly blamed on the strength of new Chinese competition, but also surely a result of its ageing lineup), with no variant selling well enough to threaten the nation’s top ten. Then last week it confirmed an all-new Tesla would launch in Europe soon - but that turned out to be the much-delayed Semi, an all-electric 1,088hp HGV.

For those of us who prefer cars, we’ve learned this week that the firm does have something else up its sleeve - but not something for us to actually drive: on September 3rd it will introduce the new Cybercab at a dedicated event, a two-passenger, self-driving car expected to do without a steering wheel. Which is food for thought when you consider that China has today issued a recall for up to four million Teslas based on the suspicion that EVs without proper door handles might not be the ideal thing to have in an emergency.

Tesla isn’t the only company to be affected by that recall, and nor is it the only firm building autonomous taxis or electric HGVs - but it is the first among equals when it comes to headline writing. A victim of its own success, in part (and perhaps attributable to the outspoken behaviour of its founder and figurehead), but Tesla’s position as both lightning rod and bellwether isn’t rivalled by any other manufacturer of EVs - even those apparently doing a far better job of actually selling electric cars.

It helps, of course, that Tesla was there first. Or among the first to think big, at any rate, and not just about producing usable, upmarket electric cars on a truly global scale, but also to conceive of how they might be recharged in public, too. Short-lived Roadser aside, the Model S was the primary carrier for all this game-changing DNA - and change the world it did. For a time, it was the biggest-selling EV in the world, even if it was the cheaper Model 3 that became the first to shift a million units.

Its success, not to mention the sheer amount of time it was on sale, has led to a surfeit of options for the secondhand buyer. That a high-mile Model S can prove cheap to buy is hardly a revelation in 2026 - concerns about battery life and warranty limitations are certainly not exclusive to Tesla - though the prospect of acquiring a one-owner 2017 Dual Motor 75D, said to be capable of beyond 300 miles range when new, and endowed with more than 500hp, for less than £10k seems eye-opening even now. When we featured a 100k-old Model S in Brave Pill five years ago, it was £28k. Even a similarly leggy Model 3 spotted last year was £11,475.

Granted, we don’t know very much about this one save for its steady accumulation of miles and an MOT history that speaks mostly of worn-out consumables. The vendor suggests there is a service history, though whether that includes a changing of the battery or drive unit in that time isn’t clear. The degradation of the former depends upon several variables, though even with a 70 per cent charge capacity, it should still be (technically) capable of getting you around 200 miles. Paying to have Tesla change it yourself would likely prove prohibitively expensive, so you’d definitely want to see evidence of a Battery Health Test. But if you could live with the result - and the running costs thereafter - the Model S surely fits the lot-of-car-for-the-money cliche as well as any cut-price EV.

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