Tesla Model 3 Owners Club
Discussion
jamoor said:
I'm curious to know what are your expectations in the handover process?
Surely it's as simple as expecting Tesla to sort out issues that are "pretty bloody obvious from a few metres away" in advance of collection?There was a post in the model 3 facebook group this week, a new owner gushing about how impressed he was with Tesla because of how quickly they had fixed problems that he'd spotted when he'd gone to collect. Completely missing the point that such easy to spot and quick to repair issues really should be fixed before collection. Especially as some of the problems were things that have already been seen on plenty of other cars.
A couple of months of lurking in the facebook group has really made me start questioning whether I want to order a model 3. I'm not sure just 'putting up with it' like so many people seem happy to be doing is something I'd want to do.
Anyway, good write up T-bagger.
jamoor said:
T-bagger said:
Picked my Model 3 SR+ up from Heathrow on Monday last week and have covered approx. 600 miles since. I expected the ordering and pick-up experience to be poor and I wasn't disappointed, I'd read a lot of other owners experiences of this and so went in with my eyes wide open.
I currently work for my second high-end vehicle OEM, so I consider myself a fairly difficult customer...
In terms of the product though:
The Good
> Performance for day to day use is more than I need, it goes quicker than most stuff on the road
> Ride and handling are good, compliant enough but also decent fun on the twisty parts. It's no sports car, but it does as well as an M-Sport BMW 3 series
> Fit and finish inside and out are pretty decent, it certainly feels £40ks worth in most areas
> Software updates are awesome - +5% more power last week
> Interior space is excellent, frunk and boot very ueseable. 3 adults in the back are quite comfortable as there is foot room in the centre
> The panoramic roof is lovely - really lifts the interior.
The Less Good
> Damage to the paint on the front bumper at handover, that hadn't been noticed. It's a 2" scrape that has taken white paint off to show black plastic - pretty bloody obvious from a few metres away. It is logged and booked to be sorted in Jan.
> Range is ok, my 30 mile commute consumes around 40 miles of range, it's been down to -4 recently though so not really the car's fault
> The auto wipers are terrible, dim-witted and verging on dangerous at night in moderate rain. Not helped by the fact that the wiper blades smear the screen terribly. I need to fully clean the screen and blades at the weekend and hopefully Tesla release a software fix soon. A gripe shared by many owners.
> Climate control system works quite well, but seems to bake your feet and blow a cold breeze across your body even when set to 23 degrees on auto. the funky centre vent cannot be switched off, so you have to revert to manual mode and turn down the fan speed. Even diverting the airflow does not stop the feeling of temp imbalance by driver and front passenger
> The phone tray in the centre console rattles like a crab in a tumble drier. I will take a look at it this weekend and see if repositioning, addition of grease to hinges or adding some small rubber buffers helps the situation. I am quite sure that a service centre won't sort it successfully as it's a concept issue with the double hinge
>Ordering and handover process, as above, is not premium. In my opinion it's almost acceptable for a £40k model 3, but if I was spending £100k on a model X, I'd be feeling pretty sore. Go and buy a £100k new Porsche Panamera and see what premium feels like...
In summary, and although I've written more words in the "not so good" section, it's a very good car. if you're reading this thinking of getting one; go in with your eyes open in terms of the ordering and pick-up experience. Your car will be late and there will be an info vacuum. The handover will be delayed, rushed and impersonal - the staff are rushed off their feet and lack any process, but it's not really their fault.
This all evaporates when you drive the car away though (silently)
I'm curious to know what are your expectations in the handover process? I currently work for my second high-end vehicle OEM, so I consider myself a fairly difficult customer...
In terms of the product though:
The Good
> Performance for day to day use is more than I need, it goes quicker than most stuff on the road
> Ride and handling are good, compliant enough but also decent fun on the twisty parts. It's no sports car, but it does as well as an M-Sport BMW 3 series
> Fit and finish inside and out are pretty decent, it certainly feels £40ks worth in most areas
> Software updates are awesome - +5% more power last week
> Interior space is excellent, frunk and boot very ueseable. 3 adults in the back are quite comfortable as there is foot room in the centre
> The panoramic roof is lovely - really lifts the interior.
The Less Good
> Damage to the paint on the front bumper at handover, that hadn't been noticed. It's a 2" scrape that has taken white paint off to show black plastic - pretty bloody obvious from a few metres away. It is logged and booked to be sorted in Jan.
> Range is ok, my 30 mile commute consumes around 40 miles of range, it's been down to -4 recently though so not really the car's fault
> The auto wipers are terrible, dim-witted and verging on dangerous at night in moderate rain. Not helped by the fact that the wiper blades smear the screen terribly. I need to fully clean the screen and blades at the weekend and hopefully Tesla release a software fix soon. A gripe shared by many owners.
> Climate control system works quite well, but seems to bake your feet and blow a cold breeze across your body even when set to 23 degrees on auto. the funky centre vent cannot be switched off, so you have to revert to manual mode and turn down the fan speed. Even diverting the airflow does not stop the feeling of temp imbalance by driver and front passenger
> The phone tray in the centre console rattles like a crab in a tumble drier. I will take a look at it this weekend and see if repositioning, addition of grease to hinges or adding some small rubber buffers helps the situation. I am quite sure that a service centre won't sort it successfully as it's a concept issue with the double hinge
>Ordering and handover process, as above, is not premium. In my opinion it's almost acceptable for a £40k model 3, but if I was spending £100k on a model X, I'd be feeling pretty sore. Go and buy a £100k new Porsche Panamera and see what premium feels like...
In summary, and although I've written more words in the "not so good" section, it's a very good car. if you're reading this thinking of getting one; go in with your eyes open in terms of the ordering and pick-up experience. Your car will be late and there will be an info vacuum. The handover will be delayed, rushed and impersonal - the staff are rushed off their feet and lack any process, but it's not really their fault.
This all evaporates when you drive the car away though (silently)
> The car is ready for you when you arrive at the pre-arranged time. I arrived at 1400, the car wasn’t ready until 1530. Many had waited much longer.
> The car is complete (the aero wheel covers were nowhere to be found, I had to ask for them twice)
> The car is free of obvious damage - my car was not. The handover centre cannot rectify the issue so I have to make an appointment to take it to a service centre at my inconvenience
> The person I’m picking the car up from, walks me to the car and at least walks one lap around the car with me before asking me if I need to know anything. The rope barrier was lifted and I was told to go find my car - fortunately I knew the reg.
> The car has a little range (Tesla state that the cars should have at least 50% charge), mine had 20%, was parked next to a free charge last point but not plugged in
> Not to have to empty the drip tray myself for the coffee machine in the waiting area as there was no one around to assist and none of the other customers could make the coffee they had been offered.
To summarise; my expectation is that the above either did not occur or was at least minimised.
Having written retailer standards in the past, these are below the base level of operations.
The car is bloody awesome though 😃
Edited by T-bagger on Friday 22 November 21:01
We have a Model 3 LR AWD as a pool car, I picked it up brand new from Dartford earlier this week (I'm a lucky boy!) and have spent two to three hours driving it around on a variety of roads over a couple of days. Not as well placed to comment as owners who have it full time but I'm not letting that stop me.
The good-
I'd still consider one but the salary sacrifice deal would have to be mind blowingly cheap.
The good-
- The acceleration is addictive - great fun blasting away silently from the lights
- The integrated Spotify is nice
- I think it looks better in the flesh than the pictures
- Vegan leather actually feels quite nice, I was impressed at how nice it was to sit in. Even the wood finish is attractive.
- No rattles
- Handling is lovely
- Road noise is better than I expected and certainly less wind noise than the S I've driven
- Autopilot is BANGING on the motorway - love it - my car has adaptive but no auto-steering
- No physical dials for even basic functions, I've had to faff around with the climate to get the temperature right and it's a ballache compared to my Volvo - this is not progress - even the "auto wipers" had to be adjusted via the screen - and changing DAB station is not as easy as my car with steering wheel controls - I think they've stripped back the buttons too far
- Steering wheel and suspension feeds back more vibrations and bumps than my car - it's clearly not as refined nor as comfortable - it's regularly pitched as a luxury car but it's clearly not, it's more on par with a Focus or Astra for refinement - they're good cars, but they're not luxury.
- No place to rest your right foot on auto-pilot, serious oversight, there's enough room to keep it out the way when I'm driving the Volvo with adaptive cruise, but with my usual footwear (Air 90's) in the Model 3 I couldn't get comfortable as my ankle was at a funny angle digging into my trainer, maybe it's just me.
- Autopilot is not usable off the motorway, I used it on a 30mph local road and as I came to a curve it mistook some parked cars for a queue and slammed the brakes on fairly firmly, certainly enough that if anyone had been behind me I think the car would now be in the bodyshop. The Volvo has never done that.
- Build quality - one of the door cards doesn't fit properly and noticeably doesn't sit flush, the rear bumper is a different shade of white and one of the rear taillights has already failed and let in moisture
- Software is flaky - I've already had to reset the car after, during just one drive, experiencing failed audio altogether, followed by Spotify stopping altogether, and then the audio came back but the rear speakers and sub cut out repeatedly, not acceptable
- Key card only works on the driver's side - minor faff but my car key works better - I appreciate this is unique to our situation in using it as a pool car, any private user would no doubt use their phone as the key and I gather it then works like a regular keyless entry system
- No heated steering wheel! WTF?! Even our pool Leaf has that.
I'd still consider one but the salary sacrifice deal would have to be mind blowingly cheap.
RobDickinson said:
Temperature is easy to change, you dont need to tap the little buttons just press the temp and slide your finger side to side , same for volume etc
It's not as easy as a dial with physical feedback. In my car I can twist the dial and know precisely what temperature I've selected without ever taking my eyes off the road. Volume was fine because of the steering wheel control.Blue Oval84 said:
RobDickinson said:
Temperature is easy to change, you dont need to tap the little buttons just press the temp and slide your finger side to side , same for volume etc
It's not as easy as a dial with physical feedback. In my car I can twist the dial and know precisely what temperature I've selected without ever taking my eyes off the road. Volume was fine because of the steering wheel control.
There are screens with that getting built now.
RobDickinson said:
Blue Oval84 said:
RobDickinson said:
Temperature is easy to change, you dont need to tap the little buttons just press the temp and slide your finger side to side , same for volume etc
It's not as easy as a dial with physical feedback. In my car I can twist the dial and know precisely what temperature I've selected without ever taking my eyes off the road. Volume was fine because of the steering wheel control.There are screens with that getting built now.
Can anyone offer opinion on the boot and front storage space... how easy in real life is it to load the boot with a (example) bike or a buggy or golf clubs or a Christmas tree or a couple of dining room chairs, etc...? I’ve been solely considering estates as my current Alfa Guilia has a shallow boot opening which makes moving stuff like the above a bit of a pain - is the Tesla likely to give me the same frustrations?
Gassing Station | Tesla | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff