Will a base Tesla model 3 be crap?

[ED209]

I see a brand new model 3 can now be had for £38k. This means they are starting to look a little bit tempting to me.

However will a base spec 3 be crap?

Will it be nice to drive?
Will it have plenty of kit?
Is the standard stereo decent?
Will the build quality be crap?
What will the true running and servicing costs be on 10-12k a year?

[manracer]

ED209 said:

I see a brand new model 3 can now be had for £38k. This means they are starting to look a little bit tempting to me.

However will a base spec 3 be crap?

Will it be nice to drive?
Will it have plenty of kit?
Is the standard stereo decent?
Will the build quality be crap?
What will the true running and servicing costs be on 10-12k a year?

Having owned a SR+ and currently owning a performance:

Will it be nice to drive? Subjective, can be fun, getting sideways is possible if you do choose. It's not offensive, has good steering etc. Depends on your definition of nice.

Will it have plenty of kit? Hell yes.

Is the standard stereo decent? I'm no audiophile but I can't stand crap audio, the sound is good for standard with decent bass. I don't think the addition of the sub in the performance makes that much improvement as the standard audio is decent enough.

Will the build quality be crap? I could write all day on this, its not bad and everything works, nothing falls apart. They have certainly gotten better since 2019 but it's still 'just good enough' imo.

What will the true running and servicing costs be on 10-12k a year? Pretty much nothing. Our disc pads look about 15% worn after 30k. Tyres for us last about 15k, needs a brake fluid change after a few years i think.

Ours covers about 1000 miles a month and costs around £50 in electric.

[WestyCarl]

manracer said:

Having owned a SR+ and currently owning a performance:

Will it be nice to drive? Subjective, can be fun, getting sideways is possible if you do choose.

Sideways? Despite alot of provacation the traction / stability control is far too effecient to for even a hint of a drift.

[GroundEffect]

I did 2000 miles in a base 3 over the winter for competitive benchmarking purposes. It did everything well.

The only problem really is that because it's so potent but RWD only, it can be squirrelly on greasy roads if you hoof it to overtake for example.

Would have one.

[manracer]

WestyCarl said:

manracer said:

Having owned a SR+ and currently owning a performance:

Will it be nice to drive? Subjective, can be fun, getting sideways is possible if you do choose.

Sideways? Despite alot of provacation the traction / stability control is far too effecient to for even a hint of a drift.

I must of been hallucinating then.

[TarquinMX5]

Yes.

[paradigital]

manracer said:

I must of been hallucinating then.

Quite.

Managed to get the SR+ to step out on my test drive and have (with track mode) got my Perf sideways more than once.

[Fastlane]

Model 3s are a bloody good car and cost peanuts to run.

I'm on my second one and have driven over 40k miles in them.

Build quality is good on the later ones too. I had a whistle from the rear door seal and a slight rattle from the glovebox on my Dec 2022 M3LR. A Tesla Ranger sorted both in about 40 minutes on my drive.

[SWoll]

TarquinMX5 said:

Yes.

Speaking from vast experience I imagine..

They're a good car OP. All the performance you'll ever really need with the RWD, plenty of kit, easy to live with (assuming you can charge at home) and despite the rise in electricity prices still cost peanuts to run as they're so efficient and need barely any maintenance.

We have 2 years and 20k miles in a 2019 Model 3 Performance with zero build or reliability issues and didn't even need to replace any tyres so the only cost was charging..

[off_again]

ED209 said:

However will a base spec 3 be crap?

Nope. Not a bad car at all. Will it be the pinnacle of automotive engineering for 35k? Of course not, but what you get is pretty damn good and just a shorter range. I keep saying it - swift, one of the most efficient EV power trains, safe in an accident and a proven technology package.

Just not white…. I really dont like white Tesla’s…. But thats just me.

[Olibol]

I’ve driven a Long Range for the last two years. I’ll probably replace it with the standard RWD version next time. Now it’s got a bigger battery there’s no strong argument to pay the extra £10k in my opinion.

[Jaguar99]

I am in the market for an EV and have been doing my homework recently

I don’t know how you were planning on paying for your Tesla but their PCP plans aren’t great as they are being pessimistic/careful with their GFVs

For example, a £38k M3 has a GFV after 4 years of £15k and a payment of nearly £600 with about £5k down. A Megane eTech is £41k with a GFV of £20k which means a payment of more like £450

So, Tesla have dropped their prices but, depending how you want to pay there is still a premium right now

[TheRainMaker]

Jaguar99 said:

For example, a £38k M3 has a GFV after 4 years of £15k

That is probably about right at the moment.

I can only see it getting worse with Tesla as there will be so many hitting the used car market over the next few years with still a fairly limited second hand market.

[ED209]

Jaguar99 said:

I am in the market for an EV and have been doing my homework recently

I don’t know how you were planning on paying for your Tesla but their PCP plans aren’t great as they are being pessimistic/careful with their GFVs

For example, a £38k M3 has a GFV after 4 years of £15k and a payment of nearly £600 with about £5k down. A Megane eTech is £41k with a GFV of £20k which means a payment of more like £450

So, Tesla have dropped their prices but, depending how you want to pay there is still a premium right now

I had read that their finance rates were crap. I would probably look at quite a hefty deposit and the rest on a personal loan.

I almost booked a test drive yesterday, got right to the last screen and then bottled it. I’m driving a 1.2 nissan juke at the moment and it’s basically a free car, it’s worth maybe 7500 as a trade in so spending another £30k just to have a shiny new electric car might be a daft move.

[LHRFlightman]

Just test drive it and then you'll know. I did and exactly one month later bought a 2021 SR+.

No regrets.

[Vanden Crash]

No less crap than the m3 I just got rid of

There are far better ev out there, pick a brand, any other brand and it will be a better experience

[CheesecakeRunner]

Vanden Crash said:

No less crap than the m3 I just got rid of

There are far better ev out there, pick a brand, any other brand and it will be a better experience

Whilst I’m not going to replace my Model 3 with another, at the 38k price point the Model 3 is pretty hard to beat.

I’m looking at buying something near 80 grand to get a an EV that is materially and technically better than my M3P.

[SWoll]

Vanden Crash said:

No less crap than the m3 I just got rid of

There are far better ev out there, pick a brand, any other brand and it will be a better experience

Absolute bobbins.

At £38k the obvious choice would be an ID3, which is a dreadful car in comparison. Polestar, Kia and Hyundai all ask £45k for their comparable EV's in base level spec which from an efficiency, performance and equipment perspective lag well behind the Model 3.

off_again said:

Just not white…. I really dont like white Tesla’s…. But thats just me.

You'll only get white for £38k unfortunately. Cheapest non white new car they have for sale at the minute is £41k in blue with 19" wheels.

Edited by SWoll on Sunday 26th March 10:23

[oldmanbm]

Can only respond from experience of one year's ownership. My M3 standard range replaced a much loved E-Golf. I wanted to buy an ID3/4 but last March they were unobtainable or in stock at silly money. Coincidentally bumped into an ex-colleague who has just got a new M3 and persuaded to try it. Good grief it was light years ahead of the E-Golf and had a range north of 250 miles - about double the E-Golf. It took a while to get used to it - mainly size and I found the technology intuitive and responsive. In that year I have done over 8500 miles efficiently and comfortably. Mostly home charged but occasionally Supercharger or free supermarket top up. On the one time I had slightly squeaky brakes I logged it on the Tesla app and a mobile ranger drove over a 100 miles and was with me for a couple of hours. Problem never recurred.

In short the M3 standard range is far from crap. It's been an excellent family car for me and is surprisingly versatile with the back seats folded. It's still bit big in car parks designed for Austin 1100s but if it was written off and I could replace it with another M3 - I would.

Range summer 290 miles. Winter 220 miles. Average electric consumption summer 4.5 - 4.8 and winter 2.8 -3.5

[SWoll]

oldmanbm said:

Can only respond from experience of one year's ownership. My M3 standard range replaced a much loved E-Golf. I wanted to buy an ID3/4 but last March they were unobtainable or in stock at silly money. Coincidentally bumped into an ex-colleague who has just got a new M3 and persuaded to try it. Good grief it was light years ahead of the E-Golf and had a range north of 250 miles - about double the E-Golf. It took a while to get used to it - mainly size and I found the technology intuitive and responsive. In that year I have done over 8500 miles efficiently and comfortably. Mostly home charged but occasionally Supercharger or free supermarket top up. On the one time I had slightly squeaky brakes I logged it on the Tesla app and a mobile ranger drove over a 100 miles and was with me for a couple of hours. Problem never recurred.

In short the M3 standard range is far from crap. It's been an excellent family car for me and is surprisingly versatile with the back seats folded. It's still bit big in car parks designed for Austin 1100s but if it was written off and I could replace it with another M3 - I would.

Range summer 290 miles. Winter 220 miles. Average electric consumption summer 4.5 - 4.8 and winter 2.8 -3.5

Big car.

All about point of refence I suppose. In the grand scheme of new cars in 2023 4.7m long and 1.8m wide really isn't all that big at all. The only issue we had parking ours was the rubbish turning circle, especially when coming from a BMW i3.

Our current Audi etron is rather more of a challenge, but still far from problematic.