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Used Car Model Guide | Tesla Model S (2013 - 2021)

AN S THAT IMPRESSED

By Jonathan Crouch

Launched in the UK in 2019, the Model 3 was Tesla's more significant car to date, mainly because it was the company's most affordable product. It's all-electric of course and in Dual Motor form offered industry-leading EV driving range. It was also the company's first four-door design. Here we look at the pre-facelift 2019-2023 versions of this car.

History

Would it be too much to call Tesla's Model S a 'game changer'? We don't think so. Back in 2012, this car launched what is now the world's best known automotive EV brand on an unsuspecting world. It shocked the established brands into getting on with the electric era. And it was a luxury executive EV benchmark that others aspired to for nearly a decade, originally engineered with a goal of creating the best car in the world.

Top European saw this car and had to quickly follow suit to properly challenge what was the most important car America had brought us since Henry Ford's original Model T. In this Review, we're going to look in detail at just why this Tesla was so significant. Offered typically with up to 300 miles of driving range, it more than trebled the distance that, until 2013, full-EV vehicles had been able to travel between charges. Yet it did so with a turn of speed that embarrassed all but the fastest petrol super-saloons in its era. While operating in a level of silence that'll made a Rolls Royce seem hopelessly unrefined.

This was, in short, a car that thought way beyond the box. Like Elon Musk, Tesla brand co-creator and co-founder of a Pay Pal organisation that gave him such reserves of operating capital that he could afford to spend as much as was necessary to create a sustainable automotive future that started with this car.

As the century's second decade wore on, Tesla introduced a confusingly large number of Model S variants with number to identify them. These included 60, 60D, 70, 70D, 75, 75D, 85, 85D, P85+, P85D, 90, 90D, P90, 100D and P100D versions. The numbers signified the kWh (kilowatt-hour) rating of the lithium-ion battery pack, with a larger number signifying extra power and longer range. The D identifier meant Dual Motor, so was applied to the four-wheel-drive variants. The range-topper was the 'Performance' version. The Model S was lightly facelifted in 2016 (the main change being the deletion of the fake front grille).

Here, we look at the earlier 2013-2020 Model S variants, cars which sold until 2021, right hand drive production having ceased the year before. The car then left sale in the UK until 2022, when Tesla introduced a heavily updated version of the same design which was only offered with left hand drive. It's the earlier 2013-2020 version of the Model S we look at here.

What You Get

If you're of the opinion that futuristic technology should come in futuristic packaging, then you might find the styling of this Model S to be surprising conventional. It's certainly the kind of look that a buyer in the luxury segment would be used to, but only because Tesla wisely chose to follow customer expectations in making it so. It's quite handsome though, the exterior shape being the work of ex-Mazda designer Franz von Holzhausen, who previously worked on the New Beetle and the Pontiac Solstice sports car. It's hard to see those influences here, but there are certainly plenty of others - from different angles, you might be reminded of anything from an Aston Martin Rapide or a Jaguar XJ to an Audi Q7. What matters is that, as a total package, there's probably something to please almost everyone.

Drop inside and the surprises keep on coming throughout a beautifully-trimmed interior in which the designers clearly felt free to be a little more futuristic. Look around the dash and you'll spot only a couple of buttons - one for the glovebox, the other for the hazard flashers. Otherwise, just about everything is controlled by a huge 17-inch colour touchscreen that dominates the fascia. It's just as well then, that the interface it offers is brilliant, dealing effectively with everything from the air conditioning controls to stereo functions and the various settings for things like the car's suspension settings and the regenerative braking modes. Primarily though, you'll probably mostly be leaving this middle screen in its 'Navigation' display setting - in which form it really is clever. Thanks to a 3G (later 4G) Google Maps connection, it can show you traffic build-up points and Google Earth images. Plus of course, it's the point from which you'll be planning your journeys, with displays predicting the percentage of battery charge that'll remain at your required destination - and the amount you'll be left with upon returning home.

As for rear seat accommodation, well the standards of head and legroom on offer are unremarkable for a car in this class, but what is impressive is this car's ability to comfortably look after three fully-sized adults in a way that no other rival in this class can. The lack of the usual centrally-placed rear transmission tunnel helps in this, as does the shaping of a rear bench that's properly formed for a middle occupant, rather than confining them to a perch on an uncomfortably raised cushion.

And cargo space? Well there's plenty of it. The lack of an engine means that the pointy end gets what Tesla calls a 'frunk'(American for 'front trunk', you see). Flip the bonnet and there's 150-litres on offer - or at least there is in this rear wheel drive model. Go for the 'All-Wheel Drive Dual Motor' version and this space behind the cargo net is taken care of by the front-mounted motor.

The 4WD drivetrain requires a slight compromise in rear boot space too, but it's not hugely significant and in any case, there's plenty of room to play with. This rear-driven version offers 744-litres, which is about 50% more than you'd get in a rival Mercedes S-Class of this era, or even something like a Volvo V70 estate with all the seats in use. There's so much space in fact that Tesla offered a pair of occasional-use rearward-facing child seats as an option, neatly folding out from the boot floor; almost nobody in the UK took this option up. Fold forward the 60/40 split-folding rear bench and there's 1,645-litres of space to play with.

What You Pay

Prices for this Model S in base rear-driven 60kWh form start at around £12,700 (around £15,100 retail) for a typical early car on an early '13-plate. Prices for this Model S in 85kWh rear-driven form start at around £14,000 (around £16,400 retail) for a typical early car on an early '13-plate. If you're looking for a Dual Motor Model S, a '15-plate 70kWh version prices from around £16,400 (around £18,800 retail). For the 'Performance' Dual Motor, prices for a pre-facelift car on a '13-plate start from around £15,300 (around £17,700 retail). Prices for the post-'16-era facelifted version start with a 75kWh rear-driven variant from around £16,500 (around £18,900 retail), with a 75kWh Dual Motor from around £17,800 (around £20,250 retail). The facelifted 'Performance' model start from around £23,200 (around £25,500 retail). One of the last 'Performance Ludicrous' right hand drive models on a '19-plate would value from around £44,000 (around £48,000 retail). All quoted values are sourced through industry experts cap hpi. Click here for a free valuation.

What to Look For

Lots to look for here: the Model S reliability record isn't anything like as good as the smaller Model 3. We've heard of broken exterior door handles (they're retractable and sometimes get stuck), various body work problems and issues with the exterior lights (the auto high dip sometimes stops working). There have also been reported suspension problems on some earlier models, issues which are costly to fix. You shouldn't have any problems with the drive battery, but with early '13 or '14-plate cars, it will be starting to lose some of its charge capability by now. For instance, on a '90D' variant with a '16-plate, the '90'kWh battery will by now typically only be holding about 68-70kWh of energy, so won't usually take you much more than around 190 miles (well down on the advertised 285 mile figure). Check the charging system thoroughly - and that the charging lead locks and unlocks properly.

Obviously, you need to thoroughly check the workings of the big centre touchscreen as it's the 'brain' of the car. For this display, you might have to fork out for an MCU upgrade that gets you a replacement of both screen displays and the controlling electronics. What else? Well Tesla's own (recommended) windscreen washer fluid is expensive. And quite a few owners complain that the tyre life isn't as long as it should be (they often need replacing every 20,000 miles), which is a problem because replacements are expensive. Check the rubber on the car you're looking at and if it's worn, try and get the seller to deal with it before you buy. Some owners have had to replace the boot lid motor and latch assembly; others have had to replace both front drive shafts and CV joints. Others have had water leak issues. What you might not have to replaced is the brake pads; cars with nearly 100,000 miles covered on original pads aren't uncommon. Otherwise, it's just the usual things to look for: parking knocks and scrapes and any damage to the interior caused by kids. And of course insist on fully stamped-up service history.

Replacement Parts

(approx based on a 2019 Model S Dual Motor - Ex Vat - see autopartspro.co.uk) Rear brake pads sit in the £18-£28 bracket. Front brake pads are in the £25-£30 bracket. Front brake discs sit in the £72-£79 bracket; rear discs are in the £41-£80 bracket. An air filter is around £19-£60. A pollen filter's in the £5-£16 bracket. An ABS sensor is around £22-£29. A rear shock absorber can be anywhere in the £25-£68 bracket. Wiper blades sit in the £5-£8 bracket.

On the Road

Take a seat inside and, well, it's not really like anything you'll have tried before, the cabin dominated by an enormous colour touchscreen that sits in the middle of the fascia and can be used to control everything from the selectable height of the air suspension to the workings of the climate control system. Much else is different too, with almost everything you expect a luxury vehicle to deliver having either been changed or become configurable. So, there's no start button - and certainly no ignition slot. There's no handbrake either. These things aren't necessary for the Tesla knows the key is on board, poising itself for the gradient you're on and readying itself for progress.

The throttle pedal requires quite a flex from your right foot, but brush your brogues against it with any kind of purpose and this thing hurls itself forward with acceleration that's, well, electric. But then you'd expect it to be. In a combustion engine, the pulling power would, after all, have to build. Here, everything's there for you right from the get-go. In the case of a typical standard 85kWh Model S variant, 'everything' means a prodigious 600Nm of torque from the 380bhp electric motor, enough to fire you up the road even more quickly than the 0-60mph sprint time of 5.4s would suggest.

The next model up in the range was the 'Model S 85D'. Here, the 'D' in question doesn't stand for a smoky oil burner but instead designates the addition of the 'Dual Motor' option - Tesla's way of describing 4WD. The 'All Wheel Drive Dual Motor' set-up, to give the system its full name, changes this car's mechanical configuration. So you move from the simple layout of the base variants - that of having a single electric motor slung out over the rear axle driving the back wheels - to one that, as the terminology suggests, offers two electric motors, one sitting on the front axle, the other driving from the rear. Both of these develop 188bhp and, with the power spread around the drivetrain, you've of course got the perfect recipe for AWD traction.

What about operating range? You'll be wanting to know about that. Back in 2013 when this car arrived on the UK market, we were used to fully-charged pure EV models struggling to deliver a real world range of much more than about 70 miles. But this Tesla brought a much bigger battery into the equation, one nearly four times more powerful than that in, say, a Nissan LEAF of this period. As a result, a Model S with an 85 kWh battery was when new rated as being able to complete 310 miles on the then-official NEDC test cycle. Even in real-world driving, when new Tesla claimed a 250-mile range for a Model S 85 - which back in 2013 was astonishing for a pure electric car.

As with any EV, you'll mainly be plugging in and replenishing the car overnight using the garage-mounted wallbox you'll need. The Tesla brand though, gives you a much wider range of options for public charging when you're out and about, thanks to 1,000 UK 'Supercharger' locations exclusive to Tesla owners which allow you to charge the battery up to 80% capacity in as little as 30 minutes. Plus there are a further 550 less powerful but still very useful so-called 'Destination chargers' in clubs, hotels and other public locations around the country. Both these figures were as at 2023. A typical 7.4kW wallbox should give you up to 30 miles for each hour of charge, with a full 'from-empty' charge time of around 10 hours: in other words, you should easily be able to get it done overnight. If your property or place of business is able to accept a more powerful industrial-strength 22kW electricity three-phase supply, then obviously, your charging time could be quicker still.

Out and about, as you probably know, there are various different types of charging points your Tesla's sat nav system can guide you to. Assuming that you've got a car whose original owner specified it with the optional second onboard charger, you'll be able to replenish your battery at the rate of up to 68 miles for every hour, with an overall 'empty-to-full' battery charge time of less than 4.5 hours. Find a 50kW DC charging station and assuming you have the right socket attachment, in a 30 minute period, you'll be able to get up to 85 miles of charge.

Overall

Some cars are important. Others are significant. But only a very few are game-changing. The Model S was one of those - for so many reasons. It proved America capable of world-leading automotive design. It made luxury motoring credible in an eco-friendly world. And, most significantly of all, it marked the point from which the market's perception of battery-charged cars began to change. It was a design that could probably only have come from Silicon Valley. A car that could perhaps only have been developed by a company also specialising in advanced rockets and spacecraft. A brand that could certainly only have been founded by an entrepreneur who refused to be constrained by the bounds of convention.

Of course, that's not to suggest this car to be perfect. No one gets everything right first time. Build quality was a bit patchy to start with and you'll need to shop carefully for an earlier Model S on the used market. Plus at the time of early Model S development, this American brand's handling and chassis-tuning development still had a way to go and, less significantly, there were improvements needed in cabin quality too. Find the right car though and you might find relatively little else to fault. Potential Model S customers are people who realise that they won't find inspiration in the places they've already been. They understand that to move forward, you have to do something different - you have to go somewhere new. That's what Tesla did here, while the rest of the motor industry watched and hedged its bets. In doing so, they created a car that did nothing less than re-write the rulebook.

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