Used Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor long-term test: as good as new but at a lower price

Verdict

Finding out just what a second-hand Tesla Model 3 is like a few years down the road is something we’ve wanted to explore for a long time –  and now we can. Our early impressions suggest that the Model 3 offers almost all of the technology and performance benefits that a brand-new one can, but at a significantly lower price. Over the next few months, we’ll be learning if its build quality and battery performance are equally resilient. 

• Mileage: 63,400
• Efficiency: TBC

How times change. It feels like only yesterday that people were climbing over barbed wire fences to get a hold of an electric car. But now, not only are waiting times coming down, but there’s also a knock-on effect of lowering prices in the rapidly growing used electric car market. 

With this in mind, the question of whether it’s a good idea to take the plunge on a second-hand example is becoming more relevant. But how can we find out? Well, as one of the biggest-selling EV brands in Europe over the last few years, Tesla is a great place to start, and with its Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicle service now operational, it’s a chance for us to see what sort of service the firm offers. 

Our 69-plate Model 3 will be with us for the next few months and over that time we’ll be answering the series of questions that you, and we, have been asking. This includes how build quality has held up and how well the battery and motors have lasted. 

Our example is a 2019 car with the top-spec high-output motors, but is not an official ‘Performance’ model, so doesn’t feature its chassis tweaks or bigger brakes. The only visual cue that our car is packing serious power is a red line under the dual-motor badge. Even its wheels are the basic 18-inch aero-spec rims found on the standard car. 

It has done some 63,000 miles, and comes with an ambitiously bright white interior. Yet on first glance, everything looks surprisingly good in terms of wear and tear. Of course, this may well have something to do with the fact that all of Tesla’s CPO models undergo a comprehensive checkover and refurbishment before reaching a new customer. 

To get a sense of what this entails, we were shown around one of Tesla’s CPO centres and ran through the process leading up to handover. The operation starts by selecting the car itself: it has to have less than 90,000 miles and be in good condition. 

Small bumps and scrapes are fine – these can be tidied in-house – but cars with any more than that won’t be accepted in the scheme, ensuring that a sales vehicle is up to standard and has no major damage. It also comes with an additional one-year or 10,000-mile warranty from the date of delivery, if it’s outside the four-year, 50,000-mile factory cover. Battery and drive units are covered for eight years or 150,000 miles, both of which are over the statutes for CPO vehicles. 

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Our car does have the usual stone chips, scratches and blemishes you’d expect of any five-year-old model with over 60,000 miles, but is in good order inside and has aged well. The minimalist interior means there’s very little in the cabin that looks or feels worn. Even the gloss centre console is blemish-free. 

There are other advantages to running a Tesla as a second-hand buy, and that’s got a lot to do with how the car was designed from the outset to adopt over-the-air updates. This also means that, where fitted, most of the latest autonomous driving functions are in play, such as Tesla’s Autopilot system. We also have full access to the Tesla app, which gives us a virtual key via the iPhone app, plus the ability to pre-plan trips and pre-condition the cabin – we’re particularly looking forward to that one as winter nights draw in.

There’s a final bonus in our pre-2023 car compared to newer versions, too, in that it has a traditional set of indicator stalks and a gear selector – unlike the latest Model 3. Arguably, though, the best part of owning a Tesla is access to the Supercharger network, which continues to be the best in the business in terms of charging rate, cost and ease of use.  

On the road, first impressions are good. The ride is firm and the steering a bit short on feel, but the car remains incredibly powerful after 63,000 miles, with an immense turn of speed. 

For the £21,500 value of our Model 3, you could instead find yourself in a slightly older BMW 340i or an Audi S4 with similar mileage, less performance and probably much higher running costs. But the question is, do either of those feel quite as modern as the Model 3?

There’s only one way to find out. And over the next few months, as we live with ours, we’ll be able to tell you for definite whether a used Tesla is likely to be the biggest boom – or bust – in the used-car market.