Sylvie Is Back — And Tesla Quietly Zeroed the $300 Invoice

Short version: Sylvie is back on the road. The 12V battery invoice that sat at roughly $300 came back at $0 — Tesla never replied to my request, they just quietly changed the number on the invoice. FSD v14.3 Lite is smoother than it has ever been but still hesitates at unprotected left turns. My warranty expires December 24th. And there’s now a 2026 Model 3 on order. Keep her or trade? I still don’t know.

She’s home

Sylvie is back in the garage and driving. After the flatbed ride and the shop visit that followed the battery work, that’s the news worth leading with. An eight-year-old Model S that keeps coming home under its own power is a win in my book, and this one came home with a better outcome than I was expecting.

If you’ve been following along, you know the shape of this story: a battery replacement under warranty earlier this month, a car that drove beautifully on Monday with FSD v14.3 Lite, and then a hard stop on Tuesday that put her on a flatbed for round two. What came next was a service estimate I did not love.

The $300 that became $0

When the shop flagged the 12V battery, the number on the estimate was around $300. For a 12V battery. On a car that had just been through major pack service. I pushed back and asked for it to be reviewed.

Then something odd happened: Tesla never actually replied to me. No email, no call, no explanation. They just changed the invoice. The ~$300 line item came back at $0.

I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, correct outcome — I shouldn’t be paying $300 for a 12V battery on a car that’s been in and out of service this much, especially with a warranty still active. On the other hand, “we quietly zeroed the invoice and never said anything” is a strange way to handle a customer request. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wonder how many people don’t ask and just pay.

The practical takeaway: if a line item feels wrong, ask. It costs nothing and, in this case, it saved $300.

FSD v14.3 Lite — smoother, still needs a human at lefts

The other reason I wanted her back is software. FSD v14.3 Lite is running on this 2018 Model S 100D, and it’s the best this car has ever driven itself. Steering and lane behavior are noticeably smoother than the earlier build I documented — fewer of the little corrections that made the older stack feel twitchy.

The honest caveat: it still needs help at unprotected left turns. That specific scenario — no light, no stop sign, just traffic and a judgment call — is where v14.3 Lite gets tentative. It will wait too long, or commit slightly late, and I end up nudging it more often than I’d like. It’s better than it was. It is not finished. Anyone claiming a legacy HW3 car is now “solved” hasn’t driven one at a busy unprotected left.

The warranty clock: December 24th

Here’s the part that’s actually driving my decision. Sylvie’s warranty expires December 24th, 2026. That’s the backdrop to everything else in this video. Battery service, BMS work, the flatbed rides — that coverage is the reason I’ve been able to absorb this stretch of ownership without real financial pain. When that clock runs out, all of it becomes my invoice.

So the calendar is doing the deciding for me whether I like it or not.

Keep her, or take the 2026 Model 3?

And that brings me to the fork in the road. I have a 2026 Model 3 on order. That means a real choice is coming, and it’s coming soon:

• Keep Sylvie. She’s paid off, she’s got a fresh battery under warranty, FSD v14.3 Lite actually works on her, and she’s the car this channel is built around. But she’s eight years old, out of warranty in December, and any big-ticket failure after that is on me.
• Take the Model 3. Newer hardware, full warranty, and a clean slate for FSD on current silicon. But it’s a payment, it’s a different car, and Sylvie has earned a lot of loyalty around here.

I genuinely don’t know yet. Part of me thinks the smart move with an aging, complex car is to stop paying for surprises and start fresh. Another part of me looks at a Model S that just survived major surgery, drives beautifully, and runs the newest FSD branch available to it — and can’t quite let go.

Bottom line: Sylvie is back, the ~$300 12V invoice came back at $0, and FSD v14.3 Lite is the smoothest it’s ever been while still needing help at unprotected lefts. With warranty ending December 24th and a 2026 Model 3 on order, I’ve got a real keep-or-trade decision to make — and I’ll make it on camera. If you own an older Tesla staring down the end of warranty, you know exactly the crossroads I’m standing at. Subscribe if you want to see which way I go.