Tesla 3 owners - What do you wish you knew

[ThisInJapanese]

RobDickinson said:

and no one has mentioned panel gaps???

Are they shonky?

[RobDickinson]

Not really...

[gangzoom]

ThisInJapanese said:

It seems that mostly people are happy

Nearly all the hate press on Tesla is from non owners, and despite all of the companies issues poll after poll shows owner satisfaction is better than virtually every other brand.

The company is still learning how to build cars properly, and the boss is a power mad pathological liar (though that trait seems to position you well in life), but despite everything the final product is some of the best cars around, which for most people on this forum is the important bit.

The Porsche Taycan looks fab, but when we get to a point in life when we have £150k+ to drop on a 2+2 coupe I suspect it would be hard for us to look past the Roadster 2.0, despite all the reliability issues we have had with our Tesla, and in the past I have had no brand loyalt. Ultimately Tesla is doing something right to keep most owners very happy.

[RobDickinson]

Bloomberg carried out probably the most extensive survey into any car ownership ever recently on the model 3.

Its hard to use the data in comparison to the competition as there isnt similar data but its well worth a look

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-tesla-mode...

[SWoll]

My 'frunk' lid is a little high on one side but not something that bothers me. Will get it sorted at some point but no other panel gap issues.

I've got a loose piece of interior trim on the drivers A pillar also but again nothing major. I expected a lot worse based on the online naysayers TBH.

It's no worse than the numerous little issues we had with my wife's last Mercedes C-Class from new anyway.

gangzoom said:

Nearly all the hate press on Tesla is from non owners, and despite all of the companies issues poll after poll shows owner satisfaction is better than virtually every other brand.

The company is still learning how to build cars properly, and the boss is a power mad pathological liar (though that trait seems to position you well in life), but despite everything the final product is some of the best cars around, which for most people on this forum is the important bit.

The Porsche Taycan looks fab, but when we get to a point in life when we have £150k+ to drop on a 2+2 coupe I suspect it would be hard for us to look past the Roadster 2.0, despite all the reliability issues we have had with our Tesla, and in the past I have had no brand loyalt. Ultimately Tesla is doing something right to keep most owners very happy.

The Taycan 4S starts at £83k and will be plenty quick enough for UK roads (< 4 seconds 0-60). The quality of the engineering and overall product would really tempt me but not practical enough and no dedicated public charging.

I know it would also need about £10k of options adding to get a decent spec but even so you don't have to spend £150k+ to get in one.

Edited by SWoll on Thursday 13th February 22:42

[gangzoom]

SWoll said:

I know it would also need about £10k of options adding to get a decent spec but even so you don't have to spend £150k+ to get in one.

I had a play on the configrator, you need about £100k to get a decent spec base Taycan. That's brand new 6 seater LR Model X money, the difference been the X is a fantastic family car with access to SC, the Taycan is essentially a weekend toy. Given even a £40K Model 3 is too much for us to justify as a second car, there is 0% chance we will be able to afford any Taycan till atleast 2030 .

[Frimley111R]

springfan62 said:

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.

This might seem a small issue but my eyes are not getting any better (I'm 49) and at night excellent headlights are invaluable. Our 1 Series' lights are superb (while the ones on my R26 are like candles! ). I think I'd need to be very sure they are ok before purchasing (which is looking very likely now).

[SWoll]

Frimley111R said:

springfan62 said:

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.

This might seem a small issue but my eyes are not getting any better (I'm 49) and at night excellent headlights are invaluable. Our 1 Series' lights are superb (while the ones on my R26 are like candles! ). I think I'd need to be very sure they are ok before purchasing (which is looking very likely now).

I think the issue here is frame of reference. Coming from probably the best lights in the business we've not been overly impressed (and I do think the auto-high beam is as good as useless) but they still do a decent job and are far better than old school halogen bulbs.

[Zcd1]

SWoll said:

I think the issue here is frame of reference.

Exactly. This is the only forum where I've seen complaints about the Model 3's headlights.

Not saying there aren't better headlights out there on some cars, but in the US at least, the Model 3's headlights are among the minority that get a "Good" (the best possible rating) from the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).

[kusuka]

kuro68k said:

It's a very low down car which can be awkward to get into. I'd try it out first, you may find it's too small for you.

You wouldn't believe but even Model S is very awkward to get into. Very tick floor caused by batteries is not helping.
I think Porsche did a good job in Taycan by cutting holes in the battery for the footrest.

[squirdan]

other things:

- the white leather is very light coloured as the name suggests. if usually wearing dark jeans or kids / dog, worth considering the black instead
- wireless phone charging mat is as stated a no brainer
- log in using your own Spotify account if you have one - then all your playlists are there ...genius
- when you pick it up check the correct cables are in the boot

[ThisInJapanese]

Thanks for all the input, I'm not going ahead with the 3 now, as the pricing on the website wasn't 100% clear. The monthly cost 'after savings' had nothing to do with the government rebate, but an estimated saving on fuel spend. Really not very clear at all.

Hopefully this thread will be useful for somebody else who's considering, lots of decent info in here.

[Moley RUFC]

Save me starting a new thread.....

I collect my M3P later this month and whilst I’ve ordered a wireless phone charger pad I’ve yet to order a SSD/USD for sentry storage. Can anyone recommend a decent option?

[MOBB]

I went for a 500gb Samsung SSD T5

I tried a stick first but kept getting error messages, not had any issues with the ssd

[Moley RUFC]

Thanks.

I guess that just lives in the car and should you get an alert you can watch it via the computer or via the car screen after the recent update?

[Zcd1]

Moley RUFC said:

Save me starting a new thread.....

I collect my M3P later this month and whilst I’ve ordered a wireless phone charger pad I’ve yet to order a SSD/USD for sentry storage. Can anyone recommend a decent option?

I got this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D7Q41PM/ref=p...

Works fine, no problems, tiny and convenient.

[RobDickinson]

Yep the in car viewer is OK.

I just use a 1.5tb spinney hdd I had hanging round

[Rich135]

Moley RUFC said:

Thanks.

I guess that just lives in the car and should you get an alert you can watch it via the computer or via the car screen after the recent update?

I have used an old 256gb SSD out of a laptop and put it inside a holder I got from Amazon for £7. I then partitioned the drive to have 150gb for music and the rest for TelsaCam so I can access all of my itunes mp3 files which I have transferred onto the drive. You can just go to Music and pick "USD" and it's all there.

Works a treat, and I say that after faffing about with a decent USB, followed by an SD card then gave up and did it properly! Not sure I am allowed to post links to youtube but just google Setting up an SSD for your model 3 and you will find a really good "how to".

The whole thing then just plugs in the big cubby under the dash and you just leave it on, then review any footage on the onscreen viewer.

Have fun when you get your M3!!

Rich

[Moley RUFC]

Excellent, thanks.

[unpeople]

I wish I'd known how noisy the 3 is at high speeds, especially on lower quality roads. I believe this is an issue that is continually worked on, so might not apply to later batches.

Driving up to 45mph on a smooth road, is like sliding on ice. Super quiet and relaxing. However as you head faster, on worse roads, there is loads of wind noise, and you can hear every little imperfection in the road.

This might be a subjective problem, with no engine noise to mask the road noise. I sleep with white noise for the same reason.

This aside, I do find the car a very premium experience.