**The Tesla Model S: A Smart Purchase**

I've owned my Tesla Model S for a relatively short period of time, but I've noticed that it's really simple in principle. The car itself is incredibly efficient, and its battery has held up remarkably well. In fact, I've seen no battery degradation at all, other than normal seasonal changes. This is not surprising, as Tesla actually documents the lifespan of their batteries through charts showing the performance of early Model S owners. It seems that most of them have retained 90% or more of their battery life after even 166,000 miles, which is where my car's at – about to hit 112,000 miles.

I've also noticed a trend with Toyota Priuses, which have a different setup altogether. They're hybrids with a motor and nickel batteries rather than lithium-ion batteries. However, just like Tesla batteries, the battery in a Prius seems to hold up well over time. It's almost as if someone flips a switch around the 10-year mark, and suddenly the battery starts to degrade. I've seen this happen at dealer auctions for years, where cars are sold with high mileage and less-than-stellar performance.

I expect my Tesla to do better than that, of course, since it uses lithium-ion batteries. But only time will tell if it lives up to its promises. For now, the battery is still doing just fine, and I've been impressed by its smoothness and quiet operation – especially compared to other cars I've driven, like the Model 3.

One thing that's clear is that I won't be taking a new Model 3 over this used Model S anytime soon. The Model S is a much smoother ride, quieter, and more powerful than the Model 3. And when it comes down to it, it's also a better value – especially if you can find one with half the miles on it for around $40,000. Of course, that means I'll have higher-than-average insurance premiums, as well as a slightly higher electric bill at home every month. But overall, owning this car has cost me very little to maintain.

Interestingly, the Tesla Model S holds its value remarkably well. According to Autotrader.com, there are only a handful of larger battery 85 kilowatt models available for under $35,000. Out of the entire range of Teslas on sale, my Model S is one of the best investments I've ever made – and that's saying something.

But despite all its advantages, I have to admit that I'm starting to feel a little bored with this car. There's just not much soul in it for me. As an enthusiast, I crave cars that are truly special – like a sports car or even a quirky model like the Toyota Prius. And while I love the engineering and efficiency of the Model S, I have to admit that it's just missing that intangible "it" factor.

In fact, I've been thinking about selling my Tesla and upgrading to something else entirely. I'm eyeing a luxury car with four massage seats and a V12 engine – even if it means sacrificing some efficiency for performance. There are plenty of other options out there that offer the same level of comfort and refinement without the need for such an expensive car.

Speaking of which, I'll be at the Petersen Automotive Museum this Sunday, where they're hosting a celebration of 80s and 90s cars – including my beloved Model S. If you're on the West Coast and you're not as crazy about cars as I am, it's definitely worth checking out. And if you are a fellow Tesla enthusiast, be sure to come say hello!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow six months ago I bought the cheapest Tesla Model S in the USA and it's not because I'm a tree hugger or lover nor am I a part of Elon Musk is Colts Musk's Elon Musk is Musk his cult I really bought this thing there's a 2012 model s85 model with a hundred and six thousand miles for only thirty three thousand five hundred dollars because I wanted things to go wrong with it I wanted to see what it was like to own an old Tesla with a bunch of miles out of warranty and have all kinds of things go wrong with it and then rant about electric cars and how they're gonna fall apart and leave you stranded but unfortunately this thing has been totally flawless I haven't had a single real issue almost but I'm thinking about selling it because well I'm a now I create the previous owner with my Tesla's incredible reliability over these last six months because he had taken care of all the issues he was the original owner and he was the father of one of the Tesla engineers and every little hiccup this car had and all the common Tesla issues have been taken care of for the most part three out of four of these power retractable door handles have been replaced along with that giant touchscreen in the center console as well as the drive motor unit they have bearings that go out in them and apparently the latest version has ceramic bearings I don't know this all well but it has the latest version of it so I pretty much got a brand new Tesla from him but the car hasn't been entirely drama-free these last six months or so but that's mostly because of pilot error my fiance has been driving this car more than anybody else especially since he took a job recently that was a pretty long commute and this thing doesn't use gas but she's forgotten on a number of occasions to plug it in at night and then there's a giant fire drill the next day of what car is she going to drive not the rolls-royce and the rest of the cars in the garage are manual transmissions which she can't drive so it kind of turns into a mess and then also we've forgotten one time to plug in this car when we were going on vacation which just sitting parked in the Sun this thing uses electricity to keep all of the fragile electronics cool on the inside so you can lose 10 20 miles a day if it's sitting out in the heat and we were gone for a week at about a hundred miles left on the range and it almost ran on a battery I ended up calling my neighbor and asking him to plug it in for me because if this Tesla were to brick you have to tow it to the nearest Tesla facility for them to plug it into whatever they have and get it going again and the nearest Tesla facility from Wichita Kansas is almost 200 miles away also my fiancee she's you know an OK driver but she ran it up on a parking curb and she broke some brackets here in the front bumper and I need to get that fixed Tallyho Oh how's the Rising Sun the animals now I did have one big failure with this Tesla that battery failed and that's total clickbait the battery failed in the key fob little Tesla battery is able to pop out the bottom replace it it was only two dollars to fix and it never left me stranded the Tesla would warn me that the battery was getting a low on this thing for four weeks before I ended up replacing the battery so you know despite is dazzling technology the touchscreen you know it's kind of like an iPad that the car itself in principle is really simple now in the short time I've owned the car I've seen no battery degradation at all other than normal seasonal changes it's not as good in the cold as far as range but that's totally normal and it's totally normal for the Tesla batteries to hold up long-term no problem Tesla actually has a chart where they're documenting all of their early Model S's and it seems like most of them have 90% or more of their battery life left after even a hundred and sixty six hundred and seventy thousand miles and that's right where mine's at at 112 about to hit one hundred and twelve thousand miles now I sort of noticed this trend with Toyota Priuses as well they have a totally different setup it's a hybrid with a motor and a nickel battery rather than a lithium-ion bad but it doesn't seem to matter how many miles he put on a Toyota Prius the battery holds together what does kill the battery is age it seemed to happen all at once and it's almost like someone's flipped a switch and for the Prius it seems to be about the 10-year mark or at least that's what I've noticed from going to dealer auctions for years and years once the Prius it's about 10 years old good chance that battery's taking a dump now I expect this Tesla to do better because it's a lithium-ion battery so maybe that life will be longer but only time will tell yeah yeah that battery is still doing just fine it's kind of hard going back to other cars when you have that much torque instantly at your foot and it is really smooth and quiet that's one of the things I really like about this Tesla especially after I've driven the Model 3 there is no way in hell I'd take a new model 3 over a used Model S because this is so much smoother so much quieter and this giant stream I use Model S is a much better value especially when you consider how expensive them all three is though when I drove was pushing 60 grand I think when she can find one of these with half the miles all day long for around 40 she's treat so other than higher than average insurance premiums the keyfob battery and a few extra dollars of my electric bill at home every month this car has cost me really next to nothing to own it's also held its value pretty well as if you check on autotrader.com there's only a handful of these bigger battery 85 kilowatt models that are under 35 grand so out of the entire hoopty fleet this is my best investment my wisest purchase but because I'm an absolute I'm thinking about selling it and why you may ask well it's because I'm kind of bored with it this car I can't really find it soul and that's easy to say a car enthusiast you can find a soul in a sports car or even in a Miata but me I even find soul in the weird cars like a Toyota Prius I can find soul with it and this Tesla it's just lacking that intangible it factor for me that is just it's just so important I keep thinking about how I could sell this thing for a little over $30,000 again and then get in a really nice s-class again with four massage setting seats and a v12 even though it's probably slower than this it's just just that's just really what tickles me I I don't know there's also plenty of other more luxurious and efficient options as well that have more comfortable seat but I just have a weird fondness for German Mis engineering ruining my life for the average non deranged Tesla person especially if they live on the west coast where they don't have temperature extremes like you do here where it drains the battery in the summer and then it's less efficient in the winter because if the battery's too cold the regenerative braking shuts off to protect it and some other stuff there's also tons and tons of supercharger stations out on the west coast so it's really easy to keep your Tesla charge out here it's tough because there's one Tesla supercharger station and it's right next to an Applebee's and I'm the only kanzen that doesn't like Applebee's speaking of West Coast I'm going to be at rad wood this Sunday come and join me out there the Petersen Automotive Museum it's a celebration of 80s and 90s cars so hopefully I get to see you there but West Coasters if you're not a total nut like me the Tesla Model S a used one is a great buy it's one of the smartest purchases you can make it's brilliant it's just too bad that I'm not very smart thank you for watching I killed part of a tree sue menow six months ago I bought the cheapest Tesla Model S in the USA and it's not because I'm a tree hugger or lover nor am I a part of Elon Musk is Colts Musk's Elon Musk is Musk his cult I really bought this thing there's a 2012 model s85 model with a hundred and six thousand miles for only thirty three thousand five hundred dollars because I wanted things to go wrong with it I wanted to see what it was like to own an old Tesla with a bunch of miles out of warranty and have all kinds of things go wrong with it and then rant about electric cars and how they're gonna fall apart and leave you stranded but unfortunately this thing has been totally flawless I haven't had a single real issue almost but I'm thinking about selling it because well I'm a now I create the previous owner with my Tesla's incredible reliability over these last six months because he had taken care of all the issues he was the original owner and he was the father of one of the Tesla engineers and every little hiccup this car had and all the common Tesla issues have been taken care of for the most part three out of four of these power retractable door handles have been replaced along with that giant touchscreen in the center console as well as the drive motor unit they have bearings that go out in them and apparently the latest version has ceramic bearings I don't know this all well but it has the latest version of it so I pretty much got a brand new Tesla from him but the car hasn't been entirely drama-free these last six months or so but that's mostly because of pilot error my fiance has been driving this car more than anybody else especially since he took a job recently that was a pretty long commute and this thing doesn't use gas but she's forgotten on a number of occasions to plug it in at night and then there's a giant fire drill the next day of what car is she going to drive not the rolls-royce and the rest of the cars in the garage are manual transmissions which she can't drive so it kind of turns into a mess and then also we've forgotten one time to plug in this car when we were going on vacation which just sitting parked in the Sun this thing uses electricity to keep all of the fragile electronics cool on the inside so you can lose 10 20 miles a day if it's sitting out in the heat and we were gone for a week at about a hundred miles left on the range and it almost ran on a battery I ended up calling my neighbor and asking him to plug it in for me because if this Tesla were to brick you have to tow it to the nearest Tesla facility for them to plug it into whatever they have and get it going again and the nearest Tesla facility from Wichita Kansas is almost 200 miles away also my fiancee she's you know an OK driver but she ran it up on a parking curb and she broke some brackets here in the front bumper and I need to get that fixed Tallyho Oh how's the Rising Sun the animals now I did have one big failure with this Tesla that battery failed and that's total clickbait the battery failed in the key fob little Tesla battery is able to pop out the bottom replace it it was only two dollars to fix and it never left me stranded the Tesla would warn me that the battery was getting a low on this thing for four weeks before I ended up replacing the battery so you know despite is dazzling technology the touchscreen you know it's kind of like an iPad that the car itself in principle is really simple now in the short time I've owned the car I've seen no battery degradation at all other than normal seasonal changes it's not as good in the cold as far as range but that's totally normal and it's totally normal for the Tesla batteries to hold up long-term no problem Tesla actually has a chart where they're documenting all of their early Model S's and it seems like most of them have 90% or more of their battery life left after even a hundred and sixty six hundred and seventy thousand miles and that's right where mine's at at 112 about to hit one hundred and twelve thousand miles now I sort of noticed this trend with Toyota Priuses as well they have a totally different setup it's a hybrid with a motor and a nickel battery rather than a lithium-ion bad but it doesn't seem to matter how many miles he put on a Toyota Prius the battery holds together what does kill the battery is age it seemed to happen all at once and it's almost like someone's flipped a switch and for the Prius it seems to be about the 10-year mark or at least that's what I've noticed from going to dealer auctions for years and years once the Prius it's about 10 years old good chance that battery's taking a dump now I expect this Tesla to do better because it's a lithium-ion battery so maybe that life will be longer but only time will tell yeah yeah that battery is still doing just fine it's kind of hard going back to other cars when you have that much torque instantly at your foot and it is really smooth and quiet that's one of the things I really like about this Tesla especially after I've driven the Model 3 there is no way in hell I'd take a new model 3 over a used Model S because this is so much smoother so much quieter and this giant stream I use Model S is a much better value especially when you consider how expensive them all three is though when I drove was pushing 60 grand I think when she can find one of these with half the miles all day long for around 40 she's treat so other than higher than average insurance premiums the keyfob battery and a few extra dollars of my electric bill at home every month this car has cost me really next to nothing to own it's also held its value pretty well as if you check on autotrader.com there's only a handful of these bigger battery 85 kilowatt models that are under 35 grand so out of the entire hoopty fleet this is my best investment my wisest purchase but because I'm an absolute I'm thinking about selling it and why you may ask well it's because I'm kind of bored with it this car I can't really find it soul and that's easy to say a car enthusiast you can find a soul in a sports car or even in a Miata but me I even find soul in the weird cars like a Toyota Prius I can find soul with it and this Tesla it's just lacking that intangible it factor for me that is just it's just so important I keep thinking about how I could sell this thing for a little over $30,000 again and then get in a really nice s-class again with four massage setting seats and a v12 even though it's probably slower than this it's just just that's just really what tickles me I I don't know there's also plenty of other more luxurious and efficient options as well that have more comfortable seat but I just have a weird fondness for German Mis engineering ruining my life for the average non deranged Tesla person especially if they live on the west coast where they don't have temperature extremes like you do here where it drains the battery in the summer and then it's less efficient in the winter because if the battery's too cold the regenerative braking shuts off to protect it and some other stuff there's also tons and tons of supercharger stations out on the west coast so it's really easy to keep your Tesla charge out here it's tough because there's one Tesla supercharger station and it's right next to an Applebee's and I'm the only kanzen that doesn't like Applebee's speaking of West Coast I'm going to be at rad wood this Sunday come and join me out there the Petersen Automotive Museum it's a celebration of 80s and 90s cars so hopefully I get to see you there but West Coasters if you're not a total nut like me the Tesla Model S a used one is a great buy it's one of the smartest purchases you can make it's brilliant it's just too bad that I'm not very smart thank you for watching I killed part of a tree sue me\n"