2026 Tesla Model 3 RWD Premium Long Range
Discussion
Ordered late January 2026 and the delivery date pushed out from March to April, then May, then June then July at one point, but finally ready for pickup today.
This is the latest 2026 model, and my wife went for the optional Quicksilver metallic paint and the 19 inch wheels.
This is our first EV, got via Salary Sacrifice through my wifes work.
I'll post our thoughts and findings as we go along.
This is the latest 2026 model, and my wife went for the optional Quicksilver metallic paint and the 19 inch wheels.
This is our first EV, got via Salary Sacrifice through my wifes work.
I'll post our thoughts and findings as we go along.
Edited by Deep Thought on Saturday 27th June 17:46
The buying experience.....
Tesla very much drive (ha!) everything through the app so as soon as you buy / agree to lease your car, progress is recorded via the app. This works very well however i would say that that sort of process all works very well if you've ordered something via Amazon and you're getting the item 2 days later. There was really radio silence for months other than the delivery date being pushed out. No build stage info, no shipping info, arrival in the country info, nothing.
Then yesterday PM the app updated to "Pickup Saturday at 11:00".
Now, i think as the car was with Octopus Energy we could have had it delivered but that would have delayed things so we got a Taxi down to Belfast to pick it up together.
Tesla very much drive (ha!) everything through the app so as soon as you buy / agree to lease your car, progress is recorded via the app. This works very well however i would say that that sort of process all works very well if you've ordered something via Amazon and you're getting the item 2 days later. There was really radio silence for months other than the delivery date being pushed out. No build stage info, no shipping info, arrival in the country info, nothing.
Then yesterday PM the app updated to "Pickup Saturday at 11:00".
Now, i think as the car was with Octopus Energy we could have had it delivered but that would have delayed things so we got a Taxi down to Belfast to pick it up together.
Handover...
I think some of the big handover sites are in large warehouses whereas in Belfast its just from the main showroom.
Ours was parked outside. Most - if not all - the others seemed to be the standard dark metallic grey on black 18 inch wheels. That definitely seems to be where the value lies in terms of pricing.
The handover person (?) was telling us there were 15 cars being handed over today. I wouldnt call them sales people. They're more like facilitators. Theres never been a hard sell.
Handover took a matter of minutes. They set your phone up to the car and thats it. Gone are the days of a salesman sitting beside you explaining how everything works. There was a welcome setup on the display to go through that explains everything. We watched that and set off.
Battery was charged to 90%. I'd heard some stories of people getting their cars with 20% charge from other sites, but it wasnt an issue. Wouldnt want the first thing we'd to have to do when we got to be charging the car.
I think some of the big handover sites are in large warehouses whereas in Belfast its just from the main showroom.
Ours was parked outside. Most - if not all - the others seemed to be the standard dark metallic grey on black 18 inch wheels. That definitely seems to be where the value lies in terms of pricing.
The handover person (?) was telling us there were 15 cars being handed over today. I wouldnt call them sales people. They're more like facilitators. Theres never been a hard sell.
Handover took a matter of minutes. They set your phone up to the car and thats it. Gone are the days of a salesman sitting beside you explaining how everything works. There was a welcome setup on the display to go through that explains everything. We watched that and set off.
Battery was charged to 90%. I'd heard some stories of people getting their cars with 20% charge from other sites, but it wasnt an issue. Wouldnt want the first thing we'd to have to do when we got to be charging the car.
Initial thoughts now that we have it home -
We probably need to play with the options and settings in the car for an hour or so. Theres a lot we could / should be doing that we're not. Grok for example.
Performance is exceptional. Instant torque always there, no gearchanges, always ready to go. It feels genuinely rapid.
You can do one foot driving. I think the cars been set up for that. You basically dont need to brake at all if you use the accelerator to slow down (ie, slacken off), you can then chose how quickly the car slows to a stop.
Very impressed so far.
We probably need to play with the options and settings in the car for an hour or so. Theres a lot we could / should be doing that we're not. Grok for example.
Performance is exceptional. Instant torque always there, no gearchanges, always ready to go. It feels genuinely rapid.
You can do one foot driving. I think the cars been set up for that. You basically dont need to brake at all if you use the accelerator to slow down (ie, slacken off), you can then chose how quickly the car slows to a stop.
Very impressed so far.
Glad you like it, I’m 6 months 11,000 miles in to mine and really do think it’s excellent, the only faults I hate with mine are the auto wipers and the adaptive cruise control
It just fits in with life so well, originally I wanted quicksilver but I would have had to pay the £2000 myself, so went with blue as it’s a company car.
Favourite things are definitely pre cooling and grok is handy for finding stuff like coffee shops on route
It just fits in with life so well, originally I wanted quicksilver but I would have had to pay the £2000 myself, so went with blue as it’s a company car.
Favourite things are definitely pre cooling and grok is handy for finding stuff like coffee shops on route
Quattr04. said:
Glad you like it, I m 6 months 11,000 miles in to mine and really do think it s excellent, the only faults I hate with mine are the auto wipers and the adaptive cruise control
It just fits in with life so well, originally I wanted quicksilver but I would have had to pay the £2000 myself, so went with blue as it s a company car.
Favourite things are definitely pre cooling and grok is handy for finding stuff like coffee shops on route
Yes, WHOLLY picked up on both of those already. No sensitivity setting on the auto wipers is irksome. They just dont wipe on light rain at speed. It just fits in with life so well, originally I wanted quicksilver but I would have had to pay the £2000 myself, so went with blue as it s a company car.
Favourite things are definitely pre cooling and grok is handy for finding stuff like coffee shops on route
And yes the adaptive cruise control. Overly sensitive to cars in front and just the one sensitivity setting. I'd a Lexus IS300h recently and although theirs isnt perfect you could set the distance with it which was good.
Yes, the Quicksilver is silly expensive, as are the alloy wheels. They added notably to the monthlies for the lease, but they were options the Mrs wants and that was that.
Have to have a play around with grok and all the options. Today was just about driving. Tonight will be about its first charge and tomorrow we'll play with the settings.
But great overall so far.
Deep Thought said:
Yes, WHOLLY picked up on both of those already. No sensitivity setting on the auto wipers is irksome. They just dont wipe on light rain at speed.
And yes the adaptive cruise control. Overly sensitive to cars in front and just the one sensitivity setting. I'd a Lexus IS300h recently and although theirs isnt perfect you could set the distance with it which was good.
Yes, the Quicksilver is silly expensive, as are the alloy wheels. They added notably to the monthlies for the lease, but they were options the Mrs wants and that was that.
Have to have a play around with grok and all the options. Today was just about driving. Tonight will be about its first charge and tomorrow we'll play with the settings.
But great overall so far.
There is distances on the cruise control, you press the ball on the right of the wheel left and right, I hate it when your on a dual carriageway and picks up a car on the slip roads and slams on And yes the adaptive cruise control. Overly sensitive to cars in front and just the one sensitivity setting. I'd a Lexus IS300h recently and although theirs isnt perfect you could set the distance with it which was good.
Yes, the Quicksilver is silly expensive, as are the alloy wheels. They added notably to the monthlies for the lease, but they were options the Mrs wants and that was that.
Have to have a play around with grok and all the options. Today was just about driving. Tonight will be about its first charge and tomorrow we'll play with the settings.
But great overall so far.
Quattr04. said:
There is distances on the cruise control, you press the ball on the right of the wheel left and right, I hate it when your on a dual carriageway and picks up a car on the slip roads and slams on
Oh! Good to know! That was something i wont have to learn tomorrow!Yes, had the slip road situation today.
Nice colour and wheel combo. Agree on the comments on auto wipers and adaptive cruise control. Adaptive particularly has phantom braked enough times that I no longer use cruise at all unless the road in front is clear as I find I’m constantly scanning ahead for situations that might spook it which just becomes tiring/irritating. How does the performance compare with your previous C43?
napistonheads said:
Nice colour and wheel combo. Agree on the comments on auto wipers and adaptive cruise control. Adaptive particularly has phantom braked enough times that I no longer use cruise at all unless the road in front is clear as I find I m constantly scanning ahead for situations that might spook it which just becomes tiring/irritating. How does the performance compare with your previous C43?
Its got a 0-60 of 4.9s which IIRC is the same as the C43. Difference is the power is instant in the Tesla compared to being required to be on the rev band, turbos spun up, in the right gear in the C43. All of which the C43 would do in an instant but it was still an element of time.Handlings not as sharp as the C43 but its still run to drive on the roads in to town.
Yes, even in the Lexus i had for a short time the adaptive cruise was a little irksome. It worked best on motorways etc. In fairness, the Teslas primary purpose is a 180 mile twice a week return commute to one of my wifes company's sites which is 90% motorway so she might get good use out of it for that.
Charging for the first time...
An amazing simple affair, though we were worried about it.
Plugged the car in. We went for a charging cable with a 'Tesla Button' on it that opens the flap, which works great.
It all comes up on the app as to charging rate etc. We - probably like most people - are going to charge via the car, rather than through the charger app.
Genuinely very easy to set up - for those reading this ahead of their EV delivery.
An amazing simple affair, though we were worried about it.
Plugged the car in. We went for a charging cable with a 'Tesla Button' on it that opens the flap, which works great.
It all comes up on the app as to charging rate etc. We - probably like most people - are going to charge via the car, rather than through the charger app.
Genuinely very easy to set up - for those reading this ahead of their EV delivery.
_Rodders_ said:
I wonder what the ratio is compared to standard range models.
I'd hazard a guess at 30-40 to 1.
I think they look pretty good. The fact they're ubiquitous does them a disfavour.
The standard range would have been problematic for us, i think, in the worst of winter, at motorway speeds. I'd hazard a guess at 30-40 to 1.
I think they look pretty good. The fact they're ubiquitous does them a disfavour.
Maybe we were overly cautious but the long range variant gave us a bit of a buffer for that 180 mile return commute, even in the depths of winter, at night and at motorway speeds.
Only for that, the standard range would have been fine.
Deep Thought said:
Its got a 0-60 of 4.9s which IIRC is the same as the C43. Difference is the power is instant in the Tesla compared to being required to be on the rev band, turbos spun up, in the right gear in the C43. All of which the C43 would do in an instant but it was still an element of time.
Handlings not as sharp as the C43 but its still run to drive on the roads in to town.
Yes, even in the Lexus i had for a short time the adaptive cruise was a little irksome. It worked best on motorways etc. In fairness, the Teslas primary purpose is a 180 mile twice a week return commute to one of my wifes company's sites which is 90% motorway so she might get good use out of it for that.
The accessibility of the torque and power in EVs just make the car feel much more responsive for me. Interested to see how you get on with range. We use our M3P for 240 mile motorway trips every few months which it’s completely fine for but means we do have to stop for a quick charge to ensure we arrive with enough to pootle around with as there’s no home charger at one end. Handlings not as sharp as the C43 but its still run to drive on the roads in to town.
Yes, even in the Lexus i had for a short time the adaptive cruise was a little irksome. It worked best on motorways etc. In fairness, the Teslas primary purpose is a 180 mile twice a week return commute to one of my wifes company's sites which is 90% motorway so she might get good use out of it for that.
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