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Not at all. Even when I drove our gasoline cars we usually made two stops, one restroom and leg stretch (15 to 20 minutes), and one gas stop, bathroom and snack/leg stretch stop (20 to 25 minutes). The only inconvenience here I see is paying $100 for the fuel fill-up's when driving ICE vehicles
Yesterday I spent a few hours with my brother in law's new Model 3, a full write up on it will be coming soon
Whatever people think of Elon Musk (positive or negative), it doesn't take away from the fact that Tesla knows how to build amazing cars. If Elon wants to play around with a social media company that was failing way before he bought it, so be it. Billionaires deserve their toys
I charge at home with electricity from solar panels; I spend far less time fueling than any ICE vehicle. I have to drive 12 miles each way to Costco to get decent gas prices.
That's inconvient.
I've never stopped at a gas station for 20-25 minutes unless my previous stop was at Taco Bell.
When I travel I like to stop at least once to stretch my legs, eat a snack, it doesn't matter what I'm driving. And I would never do number 2 at any gas station or rest stop bathroom, unless I was totally desperate, thus no Taco Bell
Charging is a key issue - Tesla to their credit has done an unbelievable job adding supercharger locations. But still, charging at home is the key to broader ownership of an EV - to include better charging performance at 110V, because not that many people want to hire electricians and perhaps expand their panels to charge at 220/50. I wouldn't want to have to install that at my house for example. Charge rates at 110 are currently anemic, like 4 miles range per hour with a 110/20. I think a lot of "novice" people who now buy EVs don't realize how poorly the current 110 wiring in their garage is going to perform.
After spending almost an hour driving the Model 3 on Wednesday, and spending a few hours Thursday going over the car and driving it again, I can pretty confidently review the Model 3 RWD. I have a lot to say, but I'll try and summarize as best I can. If I had only a few words to describe it, it would be that it is Simple, and Amazing. Simple in the fact that it has the cleanest, most efficient cabin of any car I've ever sat in with no wasted space. Amazing because it has the smoothest, most efficient drivetrain of any car I've ever driven, coupled with technology (optical sensors that see everything around the car, self driving capabilities that make it nearly autonomous) and an amazing charging infrastructure that is not only well thought out, but is 10 years ahead of any other company like Electrify America. But let me start with my first observations.
Build quality
There is a joke among Tesla owners...you are hoping to get the Monday car, not the Friday car. This must be a Monday car, because full inspection of it found no quality issues. No panel gaps, no paint being off, no trim pieces falling off, rattling etc. But jokes aside, Tesla has been increasing the quality of their cars. There has been a huge quality upshift from 2021 to 2022, quality has not been an issue, five of my co-workers took delivery of their Model 3's and Y, and they have had zero issues with quality. My brother in laws car already has been driven over 200 miles since taking delivery, and everything is working as it should be.
Infotainment Screen
The way I would describe it, simple and intuitive. It took less than 10 minutes to figure it out. Tesla took a cue from Apple, and made it dumb proof. There is almost no physical buttons in the Tesla, so it better be. They also spared no expense in designing the software as well as the screen itself, so it's not some cheap tablet afterthought. But by no means is it perfect, it's going to take someone who was used to physical buttons and dials a few days to adjust. My brother in law has been driving a 2016 Avalon XLE hybrid and 2012 Honda Odyssey for the last 10 years and has already adjusted perfectly to most controls being in the screen.
Seats and Interior
The seats are not the best in the world, but they good, and they are comfortable. The "Vegan Leather" materials are very high quality. For daily commutes or long trips, they work very well. All front and rear seats are heated, so they can be made comfortable on the coldest of days
Overall cabin design
The cabin is very comfortable, there is almost no wind noise due to the aero design, and road noise is minimal, only hearing it when driving on bad roads. In fact my IS350 let in way more road noise and NVH. You really can't tell the difference between going 10 mph or 80 mph. The cabin heating and cooling is amazing, On cold days it heats the cabin within a minute, as it utilizes a heat pump. The dash is so clean and clutter free, and all materials used in the cabin are premium.
Driving dynamics
This is where the Model 3 shines and where you fall instantly in love with it. Sit in the driver's seat and it's ready to go. The gear selection is on a stock on the right hand of the steering wheel. There are different modes you can set, like creep mode where the car acts like a regular car when you let go the brake, you can set different regen levels etc. It also has different performance modes you can set. The car is buttery smooth, put your foot down, and the instant torque gets you going quickly. The accelerator pedal is perfectly calibrated. The smoothest car I've ever driven is an LS460...this is way smoother. This is not the Performance model with the dual motors, so it's fast, but it's aim is more smooth efficiency. But don't get me wrong...it's fast. Tesla spent years tuning the chassis and suspension, and it shows. The car responds instantly in turns and feels well balanced. I have no idea what it weighs, but you would never know its a heavy car driving it, even on winding roads. The brakes. They are amazing. If you have regen set, most of the braking is done by the motor, it's done very well where there is very little jerking, and once you get used to it (takes about 5 minutes) there is no jerking at all. And the last thing is the steering. There are 3 levels you can set, the steering is very precise and you feel 100 percent sure at any speed. Again, Tesla spent years tuning it and it shows. Lastly, the suspension. It's tuned very well, not to stiff, and not too soft. Yesterday we drove it over some of the worst roads in the Central Valley, and it handled them with no issues.
Things I didn't like
The way I will describe this is, Blackberry users loved the keyboard and track mouse on their phones, including myself. When Apple came out with the iPhone in 2006 and built in a software keyboard refusing to put in a clunky physical one, people like myself said "Hell no", I'm not giving up my keyboard! I held out until 2010 when I was finally forced to move to a smartphone with a virtual keyboard, because nobody wanted them anymore. I came to realize that the virtual keyboard ended up being so much better. Sure I had to get used to it, but once I did I realized how much better it was. Tesla getting rid of most physical buttons is the same...at first it seems like it's a big deal until we get use it and realize that its actually more efficient, makes the dash cleaner, and allows more features to be added in. That said, there 2 things I dislike about the Model 3:
1) Lack of gauge cluster (It's on the infotainment screen)
2) No physical button to open the Glove Box (that I know of). C'mon Elon, why do I have to go into the infotainment screen to open it....WHY?
How does it compare to my Polestar 2? As much as I love my Polestar even with it's extra motor and 137 more HP, the Model 3 is the way better car. One of the reasons is the Polestar 2 shares a platform with it's ICE counterpart, plus Polestar as an EV spinoff has only been doing electric vehicles for 2.5 years while Tesla has been building them since 2008. Tesla has such a big lead over other automakers, but to be fair, the only EV's I've driven other than the Polestar are the 2020 Ioniq, a 2020 Chevy Bolt, and a Nissan Leaf, so I cannot really compare the Model 3 to any other EV, I've only heard word of mouth from owners of the F-150 Lightning, Mach-E, Ioniq 5 & Kia EV6, EQS, Rivian Truck and Porsche Taycan. But what I can say is it drives better than any ICE I've ever driven (and I've driven a lot of ICE over 30 years) ACCEPT a Huracan I drove in 2017 that I almost totaled being an ***. That's a pretty high bar!
In summary, it's not a car for everyone. It doesn't offer the Luxury some may want, most of the options are software like Enhanced Autopilot, there are only 5 exterior colors and two interior colors. Some people love the way it looks while others hate it. It has the simplest of cabin interiors. Some people won't buy it because of political reasons and some because they just hate Elon. All fine by me as people should make their own choices, which I'm all for. For me, this will 100 percent be my next car purchase when our 2020 Ioniq's lease expires next year
Charging is a key issue - Tesla to their credit has done an unbelievable job adding supercharger locations. But still, charging at home is the key to broader ownership of an EV - to include better charging performance at 110V, because not that many people want to hire electricians and perhaps expand their panels to charge at 220/50. I wouldn't want to have to install that at my house for example. Charge rates at 110 are currently anemic, like 4 miles range per hour with a 110/20. I think a lot of "novice" people who now buy EVs don't realize how poorly the current 110 wiring in their garage is going to perform.
I installed a 240v dedicated circuit, it didn't cost that much, and I have pretty poor wiring (my house was built in 1950). But I will agree with you 100 percent that without the proper charging infrastructure, EV's adoption is more difficult. But it can be done, Tesla has proven it, and in Europe they have Public Level 2 chargers everywhere where people plug in when they shopping, to the gym, restaurants etc. Automakers will have to invest in infrastructure just like Tesla did or fail. In the end, the market will decide like it always does
Excellent write-up, tip of the hat. Tesla has been very slow rolling out new colours they have a new silver tone in Germany (looks incredible) otherwise AFAIK you're stuck with white, blue, silver red and black no matter where you live.
Excellent write-up, tip of the hat. Tesla has been very slow rolling out new colours they have a new silver tone in Germany (looks incredible) otherwise AFAIK you're stuck with white, blue, silver red and black no matter where you live.
I personally don't care about colors...for me it's Black or Grey. For interior, Black. The lack of a thousand choices actually makes it easier, you don't have to buy all these unnecessary add-on's that end up adding another $20K to the price
I personally don't care about colors...for me it's Black or Grey. For interior, Black. The lack of a thousand choices actually makes it easier, you don't have to buy all these unnecessary add-on's that end up adding another $20K to the price
Im wondering why Europe has more colors than the US, which is Tesla's biggest market. Europe is number 3, not even number 2
New factory with new paint booth. Those colours will eventually be shipped around the world or at least to most places. Remember Berlin has only been making cars since the beginning of this year.
Texas will probably end up with the same paint booth or maybe it's already there.
AMIRZA786 great write up. You did make one error regarding Info screen use. I rarely use it. Voice commands baby!
"Set the temp to 72." "My butt is cold." "Passenger's butt is hot." "Open glovebox." "Blow me." "Play Paul Butterfield." "Navigate to 1701 page Mill Road." (That's Theranos, FYI...)
AMIRZA786 great write up. You did make one error regarding Info screen use. I rarely use it. Voice commands baby!
"Set the temp to 72." "My butt is cold." "Passenger's butt is hot." "Open glovebox." "Blow me." "Play Paul Butterfield." "Navigate to 1701 page Mill Road." (That's Theranos, FYI...)
Thanks for mentioning that! I did tell my brother in law about voice commands, he said told me he would look into them once he gets fully acquainted with the car. Can you imagine if that building could talk? My brother in law met Elizabeth Holmes when she was working her way up to the top of her game when he worked for Glaxo, she was pitching her blood machine to them trying to secure funding. He said it looked like a contraption put together by high school kids and failed miserably, she blamed it on a software glitch. He said he told her when they get it working, she can come back for another demonstration. Of course she never returned, and he said he knew she was a fraud then and there
11-25-22, 11:15 AM
