Topic: Tesla Model 3 SR+ RWD reviews etc

[bye]

800km round trip (400km each way) trip to Michigan. 3 adults and 2 kids. Reference energy consumption is 130Wh/km. In winters its usuually 160-180. This trip was close to 220wh/km.
Left with 100% charge and had to charge twice on my way there and three times on my way back. Added almost an hour each way to my trip. 

Yes, an example Toronto to Ann Arbor route has reasonable superchargers, and $8 total cost to supercharge for 400 km vs ~$40 in gas when driving 130 km/h on average on the 401.

03:41 driving, 425 km 00:48 charging for the SR+

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=01b2dd63-5158-4adc-aebf-724145c97cb7

Whereas my ancient 7 year old Model S would be 6 more minutes of charging (same time on the road obviously) even with a much larger battery pack.
The Model 3 SR+ supercharges significantly faster than the original Tesla S, 140 kW peak vs 90 kW peak.

The Model 3 LR requires only 18 minutes (30 minutes faster!) of charging for the same route, obviously the SR+ is a great car, but the LR has a much bigger pack and charges faster.

[rrocket]

Model S is the better car though....worth the trade off.

[CSH]

The 3 is more technologically advanced (Electronics, battery etc). The S has a bigger battery pack. The LR is a very good vehicle.
April is they battery day announcement.. some rumors suggest that they are going to reveal the million mile warranty battery pack..

[CSH]

There is no way to disengage traction control (or atleast i don't know)
There is no parking brake
I don't think the steering wheels controls are assignable per se, they do different things depending on where your screen is. either change volume or adjust mirrors etc.

Again, very strange, when we test drove the vehicle (with wife and kids), the dealer still wanted us to go with us.  I would be totally lost without him, so i understand your questions. I was asking questions for 20+ mins during delivery to make sure i understand the vehicle controls. The touch screen is the best part of the vehicle (outside the fact that its and EV). You will not miss or want regular buttons after using it for a few weeks.

The trunk entrance is narrow but it can eat a lot of stuff (there are two compartments in the trunk and the frunk is big enough for one carry on bag. If you want hatch kind of space you have to look at Model Y.

The radio is good but there is no AM satellite radio or car play or andriod auto. Telsa has its native  audio which has FM, Streaming (i think its slacker), TuneIn and Sportify. There is also youtube and netflix which work only when parked. The plus is it works across the border and you dont have to pay for data.

They have 11 speakers in the vehicle and only 7 are enabled. The sound system is ok. When the weather gets better my plan is to wire the remaining speakers.
Again, Telsa has promised an app store for the operating system running in the cars where there will be something like a google play store (developers can build apps not only for audio but for anything that they will make available via api. I will believe that when i see it.) Right now you can use 3rd party apps on your phone (not in the car) and use these API's for example to connect the car to google home or monitor battery condition or control lights, locks, seat heaters etc. So right now i can say, OK google start charging my tesla and the system understands.

I just returned from a 800km round trip (400km each way) trip to Michigan. 3 adults and 2 kids. Reference energy consumption is 130Wh/km. In winters its usuually 160-180. This trip was close to 220wh/km.
Left with 100% charge and had to charge twice on my way there and three times on my way back. Added almost an hour each way to my trip. If i was driving a gas car i would probably have saved an hour and an half of that.
This will get better in summer but on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 was not inconvenient at all and 10 was unbearable, i would rate this at 7.
While going things were ok, there was restaurants and shops close to charging stops, but while coming back (midnight to 5:50am) most of the stores around the superchargers were closed. With everyone else sleeping in the car, i was just watching netflix and waiting for the battery to charge up.

I think if you have the $ or make frequent long trips buy the long range model. For me, we make these trips max 5 times a year so it i am ok with dealing with this. (Its the same as do you need to own a F150 if think you will need it for your run to homedepot 5 times a year when you buy something that needs a truck.)

As much frustrating the waiting for charging was (believe me it is irritating being alone at the woodstock supercharger at 3am), the autopilot help reduce the frustration and i would still not use my ICE car if i had to make the trip again.

great post.  you've answered a lot of my questions.  thanks! here's the awkward thing, if you go for the longer range & awd you don't get the 5k rebate from the feds.  that makes the jump up 16k bucks more. 

i just visited the canadian autoshow and test drove the leaf, kona, and etron.  the etron was by far the best of the lot obviously, but then again it starts at 90k.  they showed the q4 etron but won't be available until late next yr..... maybe.  i'd say the q4 will be around 70k close to where the model y starts, at 73k.

the mustang mach e looked great in person & it's very competitively priced.  50k select, 59k premium but non refundable deposits?  no thanks. 

the polestar 2 wasn't there.  actually volvo wasn't there and neither was mercedes i.e. eqc. 

bmw ix3 wasn't there and nobody knew anything about it. 

vw id4 was not there.  i think this could be big if they price it right.  but my god vw, get this your act together.

Yes, I had to decide if its worth paying 16K for saving maybe 10 hours in a year during road trips. For me it was not. Plus the SR+ is more efficient than a LR

My daily commute is 150km + swimming lessons, skating groceries etc and i only charge to 80% in the morning and rarely end below 30% (maybe 25% if its super cold outside which has not been a lot this year), so the SR+ is more than sufficient  98% of the time.

[bye]

The 3 is more technologically advanced (Electronics, battery etc). The S has a bigger battery pack

Agree, the 3 is absolutely more advanced than my old S, but a new 2020 Tesla S has the same electronics (autopilot hardware and central CPU aka MCU2) and a competitive battery pack (and better charging speeds).

My wife won't consider a 3, so that's not even an option, unless I trade my Smart ED for one, but I don't have a need for a long range second car, my small and cheap Smart allows me to spend money on solar panels, home battery, heat pump and other items I'm focusing on in 2020.

[rrocket]

In the grand scheme of things, the 3 can't really do anything a 7 year old Model S can't...I mean it's still a car.

Plus the S is better looking with a better interior.

[CSH]

 I agree that it looks better than a 3.

Usually manufacturers trickle down technology from their higher end model. So for e.g. Lexus would typically introduce features in higher end models and then trickle them down as price/reliability improves. So Lexus it would be LS-GS-ES.

However in the case of Telsa the 2170 battery pack was first introduced in the 3 and is now making way/or has made way into the S. Also the motor from the performance Model 3 is now making its way into the S's drive train.

The interior, wiring harness, ECU architecture etc from the 3 will be making its way to the Y and the Cybertruck.

Having said that, If my budget was 2X than what i had  i would consider a S.

[carcrazed]

My friend picked up his Model 3 SR+ RWD last Saturday and I went along so he could go home with the car he drove there in. 
The Tesla 'dealership' on Lawrence Ave. east of the DVP was very busy with people shopping and there to pick up there cars.  We waited around for two hours because of their paperwork error. 
It gave us plenty of time to sit in his car in the delivery area and play around with the screen, find any crazy panel gaps, paint imperfections, etc.  To be honest, I wasn't a fan of the touchscreen-only interface, but after going through all the menus, it wasn't as bad as I thought.  I was able to do most things with one or two taps on the screen. I can see an owner getting used to it after a week at most.

I can see the frunk being handy in certain situations and the extra under-floor storage in the trunk was surprisingly big.  The rear seat was tight in both head and legroom, but it wasn't a terrible place to be with the glass roof.  Being 6'2", I would be okay for a 10 minute ride in the back, nothing more.

He offered me to drive the Model 3 back home for a 40 minute drive.  I declined twice, but he insisted so I 'reluctantly' accepted.  It was pretty composed over broken pavements and highway expansion joints.  There was more road noise present probably due to the lack of engine noise.  Wind noise was kept pretty low for a relatively windy day.  Acceleration was very strong and linear.  Brake regen was interesting, but I got used to it after a while.  I used the regen as much as possible when stopping at lights and stop signs.  My friend didn't get autonomous driving option, but the adaptive cruise worked very smoothly on the highway. It felt more smooth than my Forester's eyesight system.

I can see myself getting a model Y when it comes out and if I can afford it at the time.  It would be a great commuting car.
 

[quadzilla]

I've been liking these videos from Harry's Garage lately and he just did a Model 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLcCPsnLlaE

[CSH]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

[Hannibalsmith]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

[Ex-airbalancer]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

AM ?

[Hannibalsmith]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

AM ?

Yes. AM. Home of news and FAN590

[Ex-airbalancer]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

AM ?

Yes. AM. Home of news and FAN590

You get the best info here , all the rest are just fake news 

[Hannibalsmith]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

AM ?

Yes. AM. Home of news and FAN590

You get the best info here , all the rest are just fake news 

Yah, but no sports talk

[CSH]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

Tune In app

[Hannibalsmith]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

Tune In app

Ok thanks

[Fobroader]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

You get a Mr fusion, go back to 1973, and buy one of those 8 track/am radio/bar entertainment stands 

[Ex-airbalancer]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

You get a Mr fusion, go back to 1973, and buy one of those 8 track/am radio/bar entertainment stands 

That looks like my moms 

[Gurgie]

Its nice to see a mostly positive review from a non Tesla owner :-)

How do you get AM radio in the car? Serious question...

You get a Mr fusion, go back to 1973, and buy one of those 8 track/am radio/bar entertainment stands 

That looks like my moms 

I call BS, that's what you use daily...