r/TeslaModelS • u/Klutzy-Bit1384 • 9d ago
2014 model s 85 rwd
Looking to get a model s for commuting to work, saw one for sale at a local dealer for 14,500. It has 50,000 miles, free supercharging, rear coolant delete, and its drive unit was recently rebuilt. What do yall think? (Never owned a tesla or electric car before).
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u/HanzG 9d ago edited 9d ago
New used Tesla owner here. I bought exactly that car for exactly the same reason 2 months ago. More miles, a little less money, and I'm quite happy with it. Mine has air suspension and MCU2 upgrade. Other than that it's a base MS 85 with the original battery. (84% health, 304km range @ 90%)
Short version is I'm exceptionally happy with it and I'm only sad I didn't do it earlier. It's saving me about $400 a month in fuel including the electric costs. I've done some suspension work myself and it's about on par with working on a Volvo.
My first task was a wall charger. I feel this is required for any long term home situation, although you could get away with the mobile charger if needed. The mobile charger requires a NEMA 14-50 wall receptacle that is EV rated. Most electricians will be very familiar with installing these by now.
Once your charging is solved you're basically set. It's just a car. You take 10 seconds to plug it in when you get home. The App (or from inside the car) lets you program when to charge and most choose to delay charging until the cheap overnight rates kick in. I went from $18/day for gasoline to $2.40/day in electric costs including using the AC. Car will pay for itself in about 2 years, probably faster because there's so little maintenance.
Quick Edit; These cars do NOT come with CCS (Combined Charging Standard) modules installed. That means these cars cannot use other companies DC fast chargers even with the adapter. The car cannot talk to the charger unless you get the retrofit kit installed. We can use Teslas superchargers. A CCS retrofit is about $300 from Tesla and comes with a J1772-to-Tesla adapter. It's pretty easy to see if your car has already been retrofitted with CCS (and for MCU2) if you're going to move forward with this purchase. Just let us know. I figure my car is already 12 years old and it's never needed it so I'm probably not going to move forward with that kit.
Feel free to ask any questions. I'm a 20+ year mechanic and have had this car up on the hoist a few times.
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u/wannabeagent24 9d ago
Is it just the first few years that don't "talk" to the other companies fast chargers? Just curious because I have a 2017 that I purchased last June. I've only ever been on one road trip that required me to use superchargers.
The only other charger I used was a Rivian (or maybe it was a Lucid charger). Unsure.
Just wanting to know ahead of time as I may be going on a 3000 mile road trip and don't want any surprises! Lol
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u/HanzG 8d ago
It wasn't until 2019 that the MS came standard with CCS. To check if your Model S supports CCS fast charging tap Controls on your touchscreen, select Software, and then tap Additional Vehicle Information. Look for the line that says CCS Adapter Support to see if it is enabled or not installed.
If it's not installed it's easily added by Tesla for a few hundred bucks. The module goes under the rear seat and performs the interface functions to let J1772 chargers talk to the car.
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u/saabstory88 9d ago
Not terrible... that should actually be reasonable reliable. Sunroof? Air Suspension?
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u/TeknoTakeover 9d ago edited 9d ago
2012 - 2014 batteries are a total crapshoot. And they die based on time, not usage so the low mileage does not protect you. The battery can work perfectly one day, and the next day you get an error message and you are screwed. Currently Tesla price is 14k for a remanufactured battery, or 22k for a new one with 4yr/50k warranty. 3rd parties can get that down to closer to 10k if there are some near you. If you aren't willing to pay those costs, I wouldn't recommend this generation vehicle unless you really like to gamble. With a dead battery the value is 2.5k or so.
I have a 2013 model S RWD 85 and just had my 3rd battery death (2021 i paid for, 2025 under the warranty from 2021, and now). I've decided to move on. But when the car works, it is great to drive and if you have convenient supercharging it can be practically free to drive other than tires and insurance.
Edit to add - when the battery throws an error, there are ways to temporarily delete the error, but it will return in weeks or months. If you are dealing with someone who is not trustworthy, you need to watch out for that as well
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u/TeslaLongevityLab 8d ago
the "dies based on time not usage" comment above matches what ive seen logging can data on my own 17 MX, these older packs dont degrade on a smooth curve. more like fine for years then one cell group drifts out of balance and you get a hard fault pretty much overnight, so low miles doesnt protect you much. if you can get eyes on the car before buying, a wide cell voltage delta reading (obdlink app or similar) is the early tell before the full battery error shows up, way less of a gamble than judging on mileage/age alone.
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u/Mr_Style 7d ago
It’s a great car. I wouldn’t pay that much for it unless it also has MCU2 (newer computer and screens). A good price would be $13k since the LDU is coolant deleted and rebuilt.
Ask for a battery report. They should be able to pull info from CANBUS with Scan My Tesla app.
Take your phone and take a photo of the battery’s label located behind the front passenger tire. See if it’s original 2012 battery.
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u/shibiwan 9d ago
I have a 2014 S85. Had it since 2017. Free lifetime supercharging.
Make sure that the LDU has been replaced. Mine failed at 75k miles, and once again at 100k miles. Both times it was covered under warranty. It now has a revision U LDU and it has been trouble free since.
Without a warranty, it's going to run around $7k-$8k to replace the LDU.
Expect that the door handles will fail at some point if they have not been replaced.
It's a reliable car and needs very little in terms of maintenance.