The vast, vast majority of luxury cars on sale in the U.S. score high in initial quality. Long-term quality, on the other hand, is a different matter, and it tends to be obscured by thick clouds of model year differences, transmission versions, repeat recalls and maintenance by owners.

At times it seems that it’s equally possible to find a problem-free example of any given model — and one that seems to have been assembled solely from parts rejected by quality control or from crash-tested cars. More odious is the mantra-like logic of EV owners who will point out at every opportunity that electric cars need far less maintenance because they don’t have internal combustion engines or transmissions, ignoring the small issue of battery replacement costs for high-mileage EVs that may not be worth all that much, or secondary systems shared with ICE cars.

The good news is that the electric powertrain has been described as “faultless,” with the 85-kWh battery only losing 10 miles of its initial full-charge rating of 240 miles. The only noticeable change over the 100,000 miles, Car notes, is a whine created by the motor of this rear-wheel-drive Model S … at least as far as the powertrain goes.

But what about the other items, the kind that tend to get up and leave long before any of the powertrain components do in a big luxury sedan?