Thoughts after 6mo

Discussion in 'Model 3' started by Cypress, Mar 8, 2020.

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  1. Cypress

    Cypress Active Member

    PNW
    6mo likes/dislikes (2018 Dual Motor LR)

    Likes:

    1.) it’s electric, so all the things that come with that (instant torque, quiet, never having to buy gas, ease of at home charging, low operating costs, etc)


    2.) it’s pretty darn quick.


    3.) the AWD system has damn good traction control, and it’s great in the rain and snow.


    4.) the user interface and experience. The large screen is responsive, bright, and clear. The app is really useful. I like the charge and precondition scheduling, though it could be better. And I’m sure they will improve it with the OTA.


    5.) the backup camera is best I’ve seen in a car.


    6.) the exterior design. At first I was not a fan of the design from seeing it online. In person it really made a better impression. It’s not as good looking as the S, or other cars. But for a family sedan, it’s quite pretty.


    7.) safety. I’ve not needed, thank goddess, but one of the main reasons I chose the 3 was it’s high safety rating.


    8.) no range anxiety. I came from a low range EV, and it’s so nice to be able to use the heat and not worry at all about it.


    9.) ride quality is very smooth and comfortable.


    10.) good size trunk. And amount of storage. It’s impressive for a sedan.


    11.) I’m impressed with how fast the car heats up. And the heated seats are great.


    Dislikes:

    1.) no driver’s display. Having just the center screen is not as bad as I thought it would be, and I’ve gotten used to it, but it’s like having Stockholm Syndrome. A drivers cluster or HUD would be better. Especially for showing the car and surrounding traffic. And navigation.


    2.) memory seats that don’t really work. I tried the “Easy entry/exit” setting, but it kept screwing up my drivers setting profile, and I was constantly having to readjust my seat. I had to turn that off.


    3.) automatic garage door opener. Kind of cool, but only if you always park in your garage. I use my garage as a wood shop and for other projects, and sometimes have to park in my driveway. The car doesn’t have any idea about the open/close status of the garage door. So, when pulling away from the house it pings to close the door, but the door is already closed, so it opens. If I don’t notice my garage door is open all day. I turned that off.


    4.) rear seat belt latches. They are sunk into the seats and hard to get to if you have kids booster seats. My kids struggle to buckle their own belts. It wasn’t a problem in my Spark EV, and not an issue in the minivan.


    5.) no option to leave the charge port unlocked. I regularly use the J1772 adapter and it’s a pain to get the charge port to unlock. Also, I have to remember to bring my fob or phone out to the car to move the charging cable from my car to our van.


    6.) no button for the glove box. It’s stupid.


    7.) the windshield wipers need more granular speed control. And a physical control for changing the speed. The Automatic setting kind of works, but only if it’s a medium to heavy amount of rain. In mist and light rain, it just doesn’t work too well. Nor when it has finished raining but the roads are still wet and you are getting tire spray from the cars in front. I am constantly using the physical mist button on the front, or having to set it to a manual speed. They are apparently collecting data for machine learning to improve it, but haven’t rolled out an update for it yet, as far as I can tell. Not convinced they can get to where they should be, without a dedicated rain sensor. The cameras in my car were tricked into wiping the windshield when it was completely dry, by the patterns of a parking garage wall. Also, is it going to adjust it’s learning to my preferences specifically, and local climate, or a conglomerate from the fleet? What if I like rain cleared faster than other people? Or slower? Guess we’ll find out. It’s something you notice a lot when you live in a temperate rain forest (PNW).


    8.) Not as sporty as I had hoped. It’s been shown that, with some mods, the 3 can hold its own against other comparable “sports sedans” on the track. But for me the stock suspension setup could use improvement. Gets a lot of body roll in corners, even with the low CG. But the soft suspension does give a comfortable ride for day to day driving.


    9.) phone integration is not very good. Just add CarPlay and be done with it.


    10.) the high cost. It’s a good car, but not $50k good.

    If you stayed with me this long, I leave you with this:

    This is the nicest car I have ever bought. The good outweighs the bad, which are mostly nitpicks. I think if the car wasn’t so expensive, I wouldn’t even care. Do I love it? Some days. I want to love it more, but mostly it’s just a means of conveyance. Even if it does that job very, very well.
     
    interestedinEV likes this.
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  3. interestedinEV

    interestedinEV Well-Known Member

    A balanced review. Again, some may require physical changes (rain sensor, seat belt latches etc), some could be done by software quickly and some are not going to happen quickly i.e. the price. Even the fixable may not happen quickly. Tesla is selling well, and management has some big projects on hand that will need attention. What will put pressure on both price and impetus to make these small but important usability improvements is competition. i.e where Tesla has to fight for customers. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Tesla and its stakeholders) the competition is so far only howling in the distance. Taycan, Mustang Mach-E have shown promising pre-orders but at the end only the product will determine if they are true competitors to Tesla at the high end. At M3 end, there does not seem much competition coming in a big way.
     
  4. marshall

    marshall Well-Known Member

    Have you had to service the vehicle yet? If so, how was it? How is the paint holding up?
     
  5. Cypress

    Cypress Active Member

    PNW
    Someone put the wrong size bolts in the license plate and when I got my new plates, I couldn’t get the bolts out.

    mobile service came to my house and changed it out for me. No cost. Was fast and convenient.

    The previous owner did some 3M paint protection wrap. And I negotiated a ceramic coating done as part of the sale.
     
  6. Billdragon

    Billdragon New Member

    The seat belt latch for the driver was difficult due to it being so hard to grasp. I bought an "extension" that gives you about an extra 6" and it works great.
    I don't have an automatic garage door opener. I tap the screen where it says "garage door" and it either opens or closes.
     
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