The car that launched Tesla as a serious automaker — genuinely groundbreaking when new, now old enough that both the MCU1 and early drive unit checklists on this site apply at full force.
This generation represents Tesla's first-generation hardware across the board — battery, drive unit, and infotainment computer all reflect the company's earliest production engineering, before the running revisions covered on several of this site's dedicated pages.
Unlike a conventional used car where the engine is the main concern, this car asks you to check three largely independent systems — battery health, drive unit noise, and MCU1 status — each of which can be fine or problematic independent of the others.
This is about the car itself — for engine-specific failure points, see the dedicated engine page below.
This Model S is the defining application of both the early drive unit and MCU1 covered on their own dedicated pages — both checklists should be treated as essential before buying.
FULL ENGINE BREAKDOWNTesla MCU1 eMMC Failure — Reliable or Not →This car's drive unit has its own, separately documented set of concerns worth checking alongside the MCU.
Run a battery health check comparing current range to the original EPA rating for this specific configuration, per the guidance on the battery page.
Ask whether the MCU has been upgraded, and test the touchscreen thoroughly for responsiveness and app performance.
Listen for drive unit whine under both acceleration and regenerative braking during the test drive.