Ok, I just about have Leslie talked into this. She really wants one (a Tesla) but is hesitant to sell her BMW.
But,
Which one? I am thinking about maybe buying used for a change. Tesla has a reputation for updating older cars with newer technologies, but I recently heard there will be no "refresh" for older Teslas.
Which Tesla's can be upgraded to autopilot? Does that have to be a new one?
Model S or Model X. How many corners were cut to make the less expensive model?
What is the best way to find a good used Tesla? I once heard there were brokers that specialized in this.
Hi John,
Autopilot is so integrated into the car that, according to Elon Musk (and I believe him on this one), it is easier to build an entire new car than it is to retrofit all the hardware and wiring required to outfit an existing one.
There are two main iterations of Autopilot: The original "Autopilot hardware 1" was added to the Model S in 2014. This was when Tesla was working with a third party (Mobileye). It is somewhat limited, it's basically a combination of Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control (which is starting to become common on other cars). It is good for highway driving and that's about it, it will not be updated further.
The newer "Autopilot Hardware 2" has eight cameras and needs only a computer upgrade (which will be available soon) to be able to do full self-driving when the software and regulatory approvals are available - Later this year and who knows, respectively. The Model S and Model X started having Hardware 2 in about September of 2016. The easiest way to spot whether a car has this is to look at the little side light right in front of the driver's door, behind and above the front wheel. If there's a camera there, it's a Hardware 2 car.
The Tesla Model 3s all have at least "Hardware 2.5"; The very newest cars shipping now I think have Hardware 3 which contains the Tesla-designed chip that will be required to enable full self driving features. All Hardware 2 and Hardware 2.5 cars can be upgraded to Hardware 3; the important part is just having all the cameras and wiring present.
I think you're confusing something with regards to Model S and X. Neither of those is the "less expensive model". The S is a full-size sedan, the X is a mid-size SUV. They're similar in dimensions except height. The X is the one with the falcon wing doors.
The "less expensive model" is the Model 3, a mid-size sedan. The main differences there are:
* S has a hatchback while 3 has a trunk
* S is physically larger
* S is all aluminum while 3 has some steel components like a normal car.
* 3 was designed for extreme aerodynamic efficiency so that it can use a smaller battery than the S. The long range S has a 100kWh battery, while the long range 3's battery is about 80kWh. That allows the 3 to have nearly the same range as the S (310 vs. 335 miles) while having a 20% smaller battery, since the battery is the most expensive part of building the car that is the major thing enabling the lower price.
* S has two screens: LCD "dashboard" as well as center 17" portrait LCD display for infotainment and various car control functions (heat, stereo, etc). The 3 has a single, center-mounted 15" landscape display for all of the above. This is one thing that people think is weird after looking at pictures, but I found to be quite natural almost right away.
The S and X have also been given options that aren't available on the 3, like a driver-controllable smart air suspension, "Bioweapon Defense Mode", and some others like the self-presenting door handles on the S and the self-opening doors on the X. So overall, I wouldn't say that Tesla "cut any corners" with the 3, but they're clearly trying to maintain the differentiation with the S and X to justify the higher price.
For used ones, I would recommend that you just go with one straight from Tesla for your first one. Any other dealer will not only not know exactly what they're selling you in most cases, they will be unable to support it after purchase and they will not have been able to fix any squawks before selling it to you. In addition, Tesla's customer retention is stellar - Somewhere in the 90%+ range - so most of the ones that they don't have are ones that people didn't like for some reason (red flag #1) and/or have been shuffled around between dealers/auctioneers and sat unplugged for who knows how long. Once you've had your first Tesla and know better what to look for, then it'd be OK to look at those being sold elsewhere.
Start here:
https://www.tesla.com/inventory/used
Or, if you want more search options and/or alerts when new ones that meet your parameters pop up:
https://ev-cpo.com/hunter/
