Tesla Model 3 "things to know"?

[butchstewie]

Sorely tempted by the £249/month PCH so I'm doing a crash course in stuff I need to know about a Tesla Model 3.

My needs are basic. I get in the car I drive it. It's usually just me.

I can't see a single reason I need any more than the "base" as it's just a means of getting from A to B in relative comfort.

The commute is around 20 miles each direction and I could probably put in a home charger but don't have one right now. I do have a drive. Pretty much all my workplaces have chargers and I'm about 7 miles from a "Super Charger".

My current car is cheap reliable and mine and does around 60mpg and I wasn't really thinking of changing it but this is seriously tempting as I LOVE lots of glass and the ease of automatic etc.

As I understand it build quality is now much much better as most of the UK cars are made in China? I've done an insurance quote and that's sensible.

What things should I be thinking about when it comes to the "base" 3 that I might not have considered please?

[F355GTS]

Check to see if you can get one on that deal, my understanding is delivery needs to be by end of June and many people are hearing of delivery delays on Teslas

[Tesla Fanboy]

Just test drive the base model and a premium model to see for yourself. It’s dead easy to arrange Tesla test drives. I would also get a home charger for convenience. It’s a one-off cost which will get daily use for years.

[butchstewie]

F355GTS said:

Check to see if you can get one on that deal, my understanding is delivery needs to be by end of June and many people are hearing of delivery delays on Teslas

This is literally on Tesla.com so I'm assuming given they are quoting August/September themselves they wouldn't be offering that pricing?

Might be being a bit naïve there.

Agree on the test drive point - stunned how simple that looks to arrange. Simple reality is no way on earth would I consider anything other than the base model as the offer just looks insane.

[Dave.]

You’d be fine with a 3 pin charger, having a charger fitted for a two year lease is a bit of a false economy.

Unless of course you’re planning on another one after that one runs out, etc, etc.

[butchstewie]

Dave. said:

You d be fine with a 3 pin charger, having a charger fitted for a two year lease is a bit of a false economy.

Unless of course you re planning on another one after that one runs out, etc, etc.

This is all part of the learning curve.

I'm checking rates for public chargers and as you say comparing to the cost of having a charger fitted when as you say right now I have no plan.

Just saw what looks like a ridiculous priced deal on something I wasn't really planning on looking at

[F355GTS]

butchstewie said:

F355GTS said:

Check to see if you can get one on that deal, my understanding is delivery needs to be by end of June and many people are hearing of delivery delays on Teslas

This is literally on Tesla.com so I'm assuming given they are quoting August/September themselves they wouldn't be offering that pricing?

Might be being a bit naïve there.

Agree on the test drive point - stunned how simple that looks to arrange. Simple reality is no way on earth would I consider anything other than the base model as the offer just looks insane.

You'd think so wouldn't you you but the Sales guy at Tesla Winchester said if they couldn't deliver before end of June the deal would be cancelled, worth asking the question

[Dave.]

butchstewie said:

This is all part of the learning curve.

I'm checking rates for public chargers and as you say comparing to the cost of having a charger fitted when as you say right now I have no plan.

Just saw what looks like a ridiculous priced deal on something I wasn't really planning on looking at

Superchargers work out quite reasonable, probably 12p/mile (ish, depending on how/where you drive, obviously).

Other public chargers will be around double that, so more expensive than your current 60mpg.

[butchstewie]

F355GTS said:

You'd think so wouldn't you you but the Sales guy at Tesla Winchester said if they couldn't deliver before end of June the deal would be cancelled, worth asking the question

Ahhh I think you might be referring to the "trade in bonus". Not straight PCH with no trade in etc.

I've seen June mentioned in reference to that.

[Tesla Fanboy]

butchstewie said:

Dave. said:

You d be fine with a 3 pin charger, having a charger fitted for a two year lease is a bit of a false economy.

Unless of course you re planning on another one after that one runs out, etc, etc.

This is all part of the learning curve.

I'm checking rates for public chargers and as you say comparing to the cost of having a charger fitted when as you say right now I have no plan.

Just saw what looks like a ridiculous priced deal on something I wasn't really planning on looking at

Don’t bother looking at public charging costs. Home charging is miles cheaper and you could start off by just using a normal plug socket. Although you don’t get a free granny charger with a Tesla any more, so there is a small cost to that. But a proper 7kW home charger is the way to go for the long haul. For any long trips just use the Tesla Supercharging network. It doesn’t require any thought.

[butchstewie]

Tesla Fanboy said:

Don t bother looking at public charging costs. Home charging is miles cheaper and you could start off by just using a normal plug socket. Although you don t get a free granny charger with a Tesla any more, so there is a small cost to that. But a proper 7kW home charger is the way to go for the long haul. For any long trips just use the Tesla Supercharging network. It doesn t require any thought.

OK thanks.

Thread was probably more about the car specifically than anything else. I usually take my time but might not be able to do so here.

As people have said a test drive is easy enough but I guess I'm trying to condense a ton of YouTube videos and threads on here into whether there are any real gotcha points to be wary/aware of.

[croyde]

I took a base model on a test-drive on Sunday. Always been pretty meh about electric cars and Tesla but I came away seriously impressed.

What extras does a premium model have?

[Tesla Fanboy]

croyde said:

I took a base model on a test-drive on Sunday. Always been pretty meh about electric cars and Tesla but I came away seriously impressed.

What extras does a premium model have?

Better audio system, ventilated seats and a few more bells and whistles. It may or may not matter to you. That’s why you have to test drive them really. It’s only when you get to the AWD and Performance models where it really becomes something else.

[Quattr04.]

There is nothing you will miss in the standard if you’ve never driven a premium. It’s all stuff you won’t notice day to day unless you where driving the back to back

The only thing I would miss would be the ambient lighting but hardly a deal breaker

I’ve had a premium for 4 months, best car I’ve ever driven, just so smooth and perfect for commuting 25k a year.

Things I don’t like - the camera based cruise control can phantom brake, the auto wipers are st and sometimes I find the seat needs more thigh support

[F355GTS]

butchstewie said:

F355GTS said:

You'd think so wouldn't you you but the Sales guy at Tesla Winchester said if they couldn't deliver before end of June the deal would be cancelled, worth asking the question

Ahhh I think you might be referring to the "trade in bonus". Not straight PCH with no trade in etc.

I've seen June mentioned in reference to that.

Salesman definitely said the PCH deal but he may have been wrong of course

Moderator edit: no referrals

[butchstewie]

Quattr04. said:

There is nothing you will miss in the standard if you ve never driven a premium. It s all stuff you won t notice day to day unless you where driving the back to back

The only thing I would miss would be the ambient lighting but hardly a deal breaker

I ve had a premium for 4 months, best car I ve ever driven, just so smooth and perfect for commuting 25k a year.

Things I don t like - the camera based cruise control can phantom brake, the auto wipers are st and sometimes I find the seat needs more thigh support

I wouldn't plan on driving a premium as I've no intention of buying one. Though that said I had no intention of buying a Tesla at all until two days ago.

I thought I read ambient lighting was removed from the MY26 anyway but like you say it's not a thing for me and it's not like it's something being taken away that I have now.

[Tesla Fanboy]

butchstewie said:

I wouldn't plan on driving a premium as I've no intention of buying one. Though that said I had no intention of buying a Tesla at all until two days ago.

I thought I read ambient lighting was removed from the MY26 anyway but like you say it's not a thing for me and it's not like it's something being taken away that I have now.

Pretty sure that’s not true about the ambient lighting in the Premium cars.

But the one thing I would check on the base model is that you are happy with the downgraded sound system. I haven’t experienced it personally, so can’t really comment on it. But the Tesla premium sound system is top notch. Something I wouldn’t want to lose. But you may not care if you don’t listen to much music in the car. Or you might find it good enough anyway.

[BuyaDuster]

The base car is more than most people need, a 3 pin will do for now.

Things to know (that no one tells you) about the base M3
1-The base car is quick and 100kg lighter than the Premium.
2-Grok is amazing, so use it.
3-You can charge to 100% everyday on the base car as the battery chemistry is different to the other cars, So you can keep it topped up with the 3 pin.
4-The Supercharger network is incredible
5-The stereo is pretty good actually.
6-The road holding and handling is very good
7- It drives as well, if not better than just about anything else at any price.
8)-In 250,000 miles I have never had a garage bill for a Tesla, except a couple of cabin filters, tyres and wiper blades. No annual service costs!

I am at the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring next weekend. My decision was the drive the Porsche 992 or take the Tesla Model 3.

The return trip in the 992 is 4 tanks of petrol at an average cost of £2/liter, that is £500 in the 911.

In the Model 3, I charge at the Tunnel when I have a burger, then in Belgium and Germany Superchargers are everywhere, even at The Ring.

I will start at 100%. Thats is about £15 at home, then 3 charges to get there and back =£120.

I will have no problem at 70-80 mph all the way.

Sorry 992. I still like you though. I suppose you are cooler.

Happy Tesla Days.

Edited by BuyaDuster on Thursday 7th May 13:56

[butchstewie]

BuyaDuster said:

The base car is more than most people need, a 3 pin will do for now.

Things to know (that no one tells you) about the base M3
1-The base car is quick and 100kg lighter than the Premium.
2-Grok is amazing, so use it.
3-You can charge to 100% everyday on the base car as the battery chemistry is different to the other cars, So you can keep it topped up with the 3 pin.
4-The Supercharger network is incredible
5-The stereo is pretty good actually.
6-The road holding and handling is very good
7- It drives as well, if not better than just about anything else at any price.
8)-In 250,000 miles I have never had a garage bill for a Tesla, except a couple of cabin filters, tyres and wiper blades. No annual service costs!

That's the kind of stuff I was interested in thank you

Not quite sure about Grok on a car but it's the way the world is going I suppose.

What's real world range like please? I've only ever driven a works van and it does that weird thing where you get in with a 200 miles range drive 20 miles and have 130 miles range left and you don't think you've done anything unusual other than have the radio and normal climate controls etc.

Oddly the thing that might have been holding me back was the "hassle" (I know it's not massive) of having a home charger installed - but I think there's some maths to be done over whether it's actually necessary and cheaper if I'm only doing around 10K a year and I don't know if I'm in a position to commit to an EV longer term.

[butchstewie]

Tesla Fanboy said:

Pretty sure that s not true about the ambient lighting in the Premium cars.

But the one thing I would check on the base model is that you are happy with the downgraded sound system. I haven t experienced it personally, so can t really comment on it. But the Tesla premium sound system is top notch. Something I wouldn t want to lose. But you may not care if you don t listen to much music in the car. Or you might find it good enough anyway.

You're probably right I've watched a lot of videos and it would make sense Premium has extra stuff so maybe the new Base doesn't have ambient and the previous one did but either way no big deal.

Sound system is something where personally I've found whenever I change cars there's a period where it always sounds "weird" then you get used to it.

Right now I'm driving a Mazda 2 which for what it is is a really nice car but it's not like I'm looking at this from driving a Lexus with Mark Levinson audio if you get me