Tesla 3 owners - What do you wish you knew

[anonymous-user]

stabilio said:

Tesla maybe undersold the feature such as pre-heating/de-icing the cabin/front screen on cold and icy mornings from your phone without even having to go outside. I nearly didn't buy one because it had no heated screen but it is a fantastic feature and never knew about it until a few days after collection.
I imagine this would be quite a pricey 'optional extra' on traditional ICE cars.

Lots of ICE cars have heated front screens as a cheap option or standard. Lots of Fords eg above the very basic models have them, even Transit vans.

I honestly can’t remember the last car I had without one.

[Dave Hedgehog]

p1stonhead said:

That’s a shame. I think CarPlay is fantastic and hoped functionality would be at least as good if not better.

Musk is very belligerent like Jobs was "this is what i like, so this is how we will do it" so no car play in the same way jobs refused to make more than one size of iphone

I will probably move over to a Mach-E GT performance when they come out as they have carplay and buttons / dials for the commonly used features of the car

[Dave Hedgehog]

REALIST123 said:

stabilio said:

Tesla maybe undersold the feature such as pre-heating/de-icing the cabin/front screen on cold and icy mornings from your phone without even having to go outside. I nearly didn't buy one because it had no heated screen but it is a fantastic feature and never knew about it until a few days after collection.
I imagine this would be quite a pricey 'optional extra' on traditional ICE cars.

Lots of ICE cars have heated front screens as a cheap option or standard. Lots of Fords eg above the very basic models have them, even Transit vans.

I honestly can’t remember the last car I had without one.

preheating is brilliant, it also heats the battery so regen is available when you leave, no more cold car. 15 mins has the car to temp and costs 3% battery

its a top feature, one i use daily that i had initially dismissed as a gimmick

Bjorn just ran the stats on preheating

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1jDOLX3dW8

[springfan62]

SWoll said:

I've come from an Audi with full LED Matrix lights and in comparison find the Tesla lights very disappointing and the auto high beam absolutely useless. Agree they could probably do with an adjust though as the edge of the throw on low beam is very poorly defined whereas on our i3 it's a razor sharp.

I came from an Audi with Matrix Led lights and I find this the biggest area of disappointment, the Tesla lights are not a patch on the Audi, but its a minor blemish on an otherwise brilliant car.

[gangzoom]

springfan62 said:

I came from an Audi with Matrix Led lights and I find this the biggest area of disappointment, the Tesla lights are not a patch on the Audi, but its a minor blemish on an otherwise brilliant car.

I believe Tesla had to limit the light out put on all their cars due to EU rules regarding the need for headlight washers for higher outputs.

No Tesla sold today have headlight washers, and I doubt Tesla will bother ever fitting them.

[stabilio]

REALIST123 said:

Lots of ICE cars have heated front screens as a cheap option or standard. Lots of Fords eg above the very basic models have them, even Transit vans.

I honestly can’t remember the last car I had without one.

Thats true but with most, you have to actually have to go out, start the engine and press a button then wait in the cold for things to heat up/defrost.
You can do it while still in bed on a Tesla using your phone. Was just surprised Tesla don't mention it more.

[anonymous-user]

stabilio said:

REALIST123 said:

Lots of ICE cars have heated front screens as a cheap option or standard. Lots of Fords eg above the very basic models have them, even Transit vans.

I honestly can’t remember the last car I had without one.

Thats true but with most, you have to actually have to go out, start the engine and press a button then wait in the cold for things to heat up/defrost.
You can do it while still in bed on a Tesla using your phone. Was just surprised Tesla don't mention it more.

I think most of the pre-heating systems run on a diesel heater (quite old fashioned tech and no doubt bulky and just something else to go wrong). Our VW does anyway. It's app controlled. Definitely think that the pre-heating in the tesla looks great though.

[anonymous-user]

stabilio said:

REALIST123 said:

Lots of ICE cars have heated front screens as a cheap option or standard. Lots of Fords eg above the very basic models have them, even Transit vans.

I honestly can’t remember the last car I had without one.

Thats true but with most, you have to actually have to go out, start the engine and press a button then wait in the cold for things to heat up/defrost.
You can do it while still in bed on a Tesla using your phone. Was just surprised Tesla don't mention it more.

That’s true but most EVs can be programmed to preheat, most from a mobile can’t they? It’s not unique at all to Tesla is it? All the Renaults do it, the Kia, the Leafas far as I can see.

Not something I’m that fussed about as my cars are garaged most of the time, but it’s obviously an advantage if you have to leave the car outside.

[SWoll]

REALIST123 said:

Not something I’m that fussed about as my cars are garaged most of the time, but it’s obviously an advantage if you have to leave the car outside.

So you heat your garage overnight? Assuming not I'd rather get into a car at 20 degrees on a cold morning than at 5 degrees personally, frost or no frost.

[anonymous-user]

SWoll said:

REALIST123 said:

Not something I’m that fussed about as my cars are garaged most of the time, but it’s obviously an advantage if you have to leave the car outside.

So you heat your garage overnight? Assuming not I'd rather get into a car at 20 degrees on a cold morning than at 5 degrees personally, frost or no frost.

Wuss.

I’m sure when our e Niro arrives we’ll preheat that occasionally but otherwise we’ll manage.

By choice of course; I could preheat the XF easily enough, open garage remotely and start with app, but I’m not interested in that for many reasons.

Either way I don’t see it as a problem.

[David87]

Yep, my car is garaged and I love the preheating. Maybe I’m just soft.

[RobDickinson]

gangzoom said:

springfan62 said:

I came from an Audi with Matrix Led lights and I find this the biggest area of disappointment, the Tesla lights are not a patch on the Audi, but its a minor blemish on an otherwise brilliant car.

I believe Tesla had to limit the light out put on all their cars due to EU rules regarding the need for headlight washers for higher outputs.

No Tesla sold today have headlight washers, and I doubt Tesla will bother ever fitting them.

I've not used the lights too much (summer here) but they seem very good, though I am outside the EU

I also dont have the boot lid water issue, just runs down the rear screen and around the seal rather than into the boot.

I was surprised at the combo of relativity low sill and long wheelbase grounds a little on my drive exit (which has a serious hump), where I could manage in the mx5.

IMo most of the things 'wrong' with the 3 can easily be fixed with aftermarket stuff.

it should have wireless phone charging - $50 from taptes, it should have electric boot ($500 3rd party option) etc

And now they dont install the bag clips in the frunk ? Thats just weird.

Edited by RobDickinson on Thursday 13th February 19:57

[anonymous-user]

David87 said:

Yep, my car is garaged and I love the preheating. Maybe I’m just soft.

Where are you? Essex? More than likely then.

[RobDickinson]

Oh and make sure you order via a referral link.


Things I love..

The whole phone as key process. Just walk up open door, drive off, stop, get out and walk away. Knows who you are from your phone and the whole car is already setup for you + easy entry. No unlocking, no switching things on or off.
Pre heat / cool + cabin overheat protection. I can cool my car from ~40c to 21c in the time it takes me to pack up at my desk and walk out to the car.
Netflix/youtube in the car whenever you are stuck somewhere for a bit just watch some video
The Instant power when you need it
So many little usable touches
FULL ONE PEDAL DRIVING, fk me hold mode as a free new feature is amazing.

Things not working well at the moment
Voice commands - they 'improved' them which is great when they work, which is at best 50/50
Spotify/tunein flakes out often, switching between them or something fixes it.

[Blue Oval84]

bulldong said:

stabilio said:

REALIST123 said:

Lots of ICE cars have heated front screens as a cheap option or standard. Lots of Fords eg above the very basic models have them, even Transit vans.

I honestly can’t remember the last car I had without one.

Thats true but with most, you have to actually have to go out, start the engine and press a button then wait in the cold for things to heat up/defrost.
You can do it while still in bed on a Tesla using your phone. Was just surprised Tesla don't mention it more.

I think most of the pre-heating systems run on a diesel heater (quite old fashioned tech and no doubt bulky and just something else to go wrong). Our VW does anyway. It's app controlled. Definitely think that the pre-heating in the tesla looks great though.

My ICE car will start the engine remotely rather than run a diesel heater, if the temperature is below 6 degrees it automatically turns on the heated seats and the heated screens. The dealership didn't even know that it did it, in fact they specifically told me it didn't.

It's probably my favourite feature behind the adaptive cruise

[SWoll]

David87 said:

Yep, my car is garaged and I love the preheating. Maybe I’m just soft.

Why wouldn't you, especially if it's plugged in and on charge? Just takes battery charge to warm it up whilst you're driving otherwise.

I'll do the opposite in the summer when the temps get up as imagine it's going to get quite warm in there with all that glass and a black interior.

Probably the function I use most on both EV's. Be difficult to live without now.

Blue Oval84 said:

My ICE car will start the engine remotely rather than run a diesel heater, if the temperature is below 6 degrees it automatically turns on the heated seats and the heated screens. The dealership didn't even know that it did it, in fact they specifically told me it didn't.

Disgusting, all those noxious fumes being spewed everywhere. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Edited by SWoll on Thursday 13th February 20:27

[RobDickinson]

According to tesla bjorn the 3 can use up to 12kw pre heating the pack and cabin so best to have it plugged in.

Says 30min is plenty so up to 6kwh used

[Blue Oval84]

SWoll said:

Disgusting, all those noxious fumes being spewed everywhere. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Edited by SWoll on Thursday 13th February 20:27

Someone on the owners forum actually did suggest that lol

[ThisInJapanese]

Thanks for all the replies, lots of decent info. It seems that mostly people are happy, but there are a few niggles, which I guess are to be expected with such a car. I'm shocked at the lack of android auto etc

[RobDickinson]

and no one has mentioned panel gaps???