Tesla Model 3 Owners Club
Discussion
I've had exactly zero issues from collecting it to where I am now 1800miles/8 weeks into ownership.
Maybe I'm just lucky, but even when I was at Heathrow getting mine there were a couple of new owners who just seemed to be looking as hard as they could at the car to try and find something wrong. I'm sure given more time I might have found a tiny paint defect or panel gap somewhere, but at normal viewing distances I'm completely happy with build quality.
I also think there are quite a few new owners complaining about various things but don't bother to do any research to try and find an easy solution. They would rather book a service appointment and then moan when they can't speak to anyone on the phone about it.
Checking your tyre pressures manually used to be a thing, but it seems these days if you get a warning message from your TPMS system, the best thing to do is post on FB about it and tell everyone how you don't expect a £50k car to have low tyre pressures when it gets a bit chilly.
Maybe I'm just lucky, but even when I was at Heathrow getting mine there were a couple of new owners who just seemed to be looking as hard as they could at the car to try and find something wrong. I'm sure given more time I might have found a tiny paint defect or panel gap somewhere, but at normal viewing distances I'm completely happy with build quality.
I also think there are quite a few new owners complaining about various things but don't bother to do any research to try and find an easy solution. They would rather book a service appointment and then moan when they can't speak to anyone on the phone about it.
Checking your tyre pressures manually used to be a thing, but it seems these days if you get a warning message from your TPMS system, the best thing to do is post on FB about it and tell everyone how you don't expect a £50k car to have low tyre pressures when it gets a bit chilly.
7 weeks and 3500 miles in, and I'm loving it so far. The driving experience is fantastic, the tech is decent, as is the stereo and I find the seats very comfortable. The performance is hugely in excess to anything I've experienced before and the ride/handling balance is lovely (although I have just purchased a set of KW coilovers to get rid of a bit of the arch gap).
I was a little disappointed by its cruising efficiency, with my 140 mile drive to work (in the dark, with the stereo, heating and heated seat blazing, at 'motorway' speeds) using about 200 miles of indicated range - so I'm glad I bought the performance version with the larger battery.
Issues so far have been minor. There is a very slightly inconsistent gap around the bonnet, a piece of the chrome trim on a rear door isn't quite seated correctly and a slight rattle from the driver's door. Hopefully all of which will be sorted in a couple of weeks time.
Is there anything specific I'd like to be better? Yeah! I'd like a bit less road noise at motorway speeds, the car would benefit from some better quality dampers and the auto wipers need (a fair bit of) further development.
But all in all, I'm very pleased with the purchase and the OTA updates are brilliant.
I was a little disappointed by its cruising efficiency, with my 140 mile drive to work (in the dark, with the stereo, heating and heated seat blazing, at 'motorway' speeds) using about 200 miles of indicated range - so I'm glad I bought the performance version with the larger battery.
Issues so far have been minor. There is a very slightly inconsistent gap around the bonnet, a piece of the chrome trim on a rear door isn't quite seated correctly and a slight rattle from the driver's door. Hopefully all of which will be sorted in a couple of weeks time.
Is there anything specific I'd like to be better? Yeah! I'd like a bit less road noise at motorway speeds, the car would benefit from some better quality dampers and the auto wipers need (a fair bit of) further development.
But all in all, I'm very pleased with the purchase and the OTA updates are brilliant.
Edited by UnderSteerD on Thursday 14th November 15:50
Edited by UnderSteerD on Thursday 14th November 16:04
I posted in another thread as well.
What is the range like?
I have 140 mile commute. Tesla 3 makes a lot of sense. PCP deal £630 a month. 20k miles.
I spend £500 in fuel a month so this deal is so tempting.
Negatives. I can’t charge at home but can charge at work at fleet have fast charge.
What is the range like?
I have 140 mile commute. Tesla 3 makes a lot of sense. PCP deal £630 a month. 20k miles.
I spend £500 in fuel a month so this deal is so tempting.
Negatives. I can’t charge at home but can charge at work at fleet have fast charge.
I'd say in your case, it's borderline.
This site seems fairly accurate in my limited experience.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1139/Tesla-Model-3-Long...
I would assume 50% of WLTP in winter to be safe. If you get more it's a bonus. In practice you need to treat the bottom 20% and top 10% of the battery as emergency reserve.
I've averaged about 295 wh/mi which is about 10 or 15% under WLTP or 265 miles on a full tank, rated as 310 miles. But I drive like a loon.
This site seems fairly accurate in my limited experience.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1139/Tesla-Model-3-Long...
I would assume 50% of WLTP in winter to be safe. If you get more it's a bonus. In practice you need to treat the bottom 20% and top 10% of the battery as emergency reserve.
I've averaged about 295 wh/mi which is about 10 or 15% under WLTP or 265 miles on a full tank, rated as 310 miles. But I drive like a loon.
Aiminghigh123 said:
Thanks for that. Most of the time I sit at 65mph on the motorway cruise engaged. 300mile real range would give more confidence.
300 miles will be difficult in these temperatures.Personally, I'd also want some overhead to pre-warm the car before I set off and if you can't plug in at home that's out too.
Don't forget also that Fleet services superchargers are only Northbound for the time being.
If your commute is a 140 mile round trip and you have the ability to charge at work, then you should be okay. Your 70 each way trip will use about 100 miles of indicated range in this weather.
If it's 140 each way, then you'll struggle without being able to charge at home.
I charge my car to 90%, which shows an indicated range of 274 miles in this weather. I preheat the car before I leave, and arrive at work (a 138 mile trip) with about 80 miles remaining.
I then plug in to a domestic supply, gaining about 80 miles of range in 10 hours and then have a quick 10 minute stop at a Supercharger on my way home.
If it's 140 each way, then you'll struggle without being able to charge at home.
I charge my car to 90%, which shows an indicated range of 274 miles in this weather. I preheat the car before I leave, and arrive at work (a 138 mile trip) with about 80 miles remaining.
I then plug in to a domestic supply, gaining about 80 miles of range in 10 hours and then have a quick 10 minute stop at a Supercharger on my way home.
Edited by UnderSteerD on Tuesday 19th November 16:39
Sambucket said:
I'd say in your case, it's borderline.
This site seems fairly accurate in my limited experience.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1139/Tesla-Model-3-Long...
I would assume 50% of WLTP in winter to be safe. If you get more it's a bonus. In practice you need to treat the bottom 20% and top 10% of the battery as emergency reserve.
I've averaged about 295 wh/mi which is about 10 or 15% under WLTP or 265 miles on a full tank, rated as 310 miles. But I drive like a loon.
when does winter start to affect the car? when i got the car i was avg 310KWh/m (250 when i hyper mile it), this mornings commute starting at -2c avg'd 330KWh/m, the biggest hit i have had is the 10-15 mins to warm the car before i get in it.This site seems fairly accurate in my limited experience.
https://ev-database.uk/car/1139/Tesla-Model-3-Long...
I would assume 50% of WLTP in winter to be safe. If you get more it's a bonus. In practice you need to treat the bottom 20% and top 10% of the battery as emergency reserve.
I've averaged about 295 wh/mi which is about 10 or 15% under WLTP or 265 miles on a full tank, rated as 310 miles. But I drive like a loon.
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Tuesday 19th November 16:44
Mine is 70miles one way charge at work 70 miles home. There are some lampposts round our way that you can charge off for free but hard to gurantee.
I could look around see if anywhere else I could charge. Living in London must be more options but obviously don’t want to walk more than 10 mins. My commute is bad enough.
I could look around see if anywhere else I could charge. Living in London must be more options but obviously don’t want to walk more than 10 mins. My commute is bad enough.
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Tuesday 19th November 16:53
Aiminghigh123 said:
Mine is 70miles one way charge at work 70 miles home. There are some lampposts round our way that you can charge off for free but hard to gurantee.
I could look around see if anywhere else I could charge. Living in London must be more options but obviously don’t want to walk more than 10 mins. My commute is bad enough.
In which case you should be fine, as long as you're okay with Supercharging the car at the weekend. I imagine the Sunday evening ritual of being sat in the car for up to half an hour may getting irritating quite quickly. I could look around see if anywhere else I could charge. Living in London must be more options but obviously don’t want to walk more than 10 mins. My commute is bad enough.
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Tuesday 19th November 16:53
Something else to consider is 'phantom' drain, where the parked car consumes a little bit of range just being sat about, as does the Sentry Mode. Quite often this reduces the range by about one mile for each hour it's parked.
Edited by UnderSteerD on Tuesday 19th November 17:02
Sambucket said:
How are you finding the model 3 ownership experience so far?
Awesome.Had some delivery paint damage that was fixed with no problems.
Car is fast, quiet, efficient comfy, getting better literally every month.
So far not charged to 100% (been on holiday and in hospital, so no road trips yet, just charged at home at 8amps.
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 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)
mickeyredeyes said:
Seventh day of ownership and the rear camera has gone awry. Yellow, magenta and cyan stripes all down the screen.
I am assuming it is just the camera, `i'll extract the SSD and view all cameras later
Usually software rather than hardware related from posts I've seen in the past for that exact fault. Try a reset but a lot of times seems to sort itself out overnight apparently.I am assuming it is just the camera, `i'll extract the SSD and view all cameras later
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)
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