Tesla M3 decisions

[ScoobyChris]

Today was an emotional day in the Scooby household as we waved farewell to the trusty M140i. Didn’t do anything wrong and still great to drive, but a few big bills on the horizon, big hike in insurance cost and not helping bring down my tax bill meant a head over heart decision! Which now leaves a gap on the drive.

Crunching the numbers on our SS scheme and the Tesla M3 looks an interesting proposition and wanted to pick the collective PH brain on some questions.

- Are the non-stalk controls in the latest incarnation easy to adapt to?
- The Performance has a few things over the LR AWD - faster, higher top speed , adaptive suspension, track mode, better seats, etc. are they gimmicks in the real world?
- Enhanced autopilot sounds an interesting option - does it live up to the hype? Guessing the full autopilot isn’t worth it, even though they are constantly pushing updates.

Anything else I should be wary of or be asking?

Thanks, Chris

[TheRainMaker]

ScoobyChris said:

- Enhanced autopilot sounds an interesting option - does it live up to the hype?

From what I've been told, it keeps you quite far to the right

[JonnyVTEC]

It’s a model 3.

CMTMB

[SWoll]

Why would better seats, adaptive suspension and more performance be gimmicks?

I'd suggest that with the changes its the first time that the performance actually justifies the price bike over the LR personally

[P675]

ScoobyChris said:

Today was an emotional day in the Scooby household as we waved farewell to the trusty M140i. Didn’t do anything wrong and still great to drive, but a few big bills on the horizon, big hike in insurance cost and not helping bring down my tax bill meant a head over heart decision! Which now leaves a gap on the drive.

Crunching the numbers on our SS scheme and the Tesla M3 looks an interesting proposition and wanted to pick the collective PH brain on some questions.

- Are the non-stalk controls in the latest incarnation easy to adapt to?
- The Performance has a few things over the LR AWD - faster, higher top speed , adaptive suspension, track mode, better seats, etc. are they gimmicks in the real world?
- Enhanced autopilot sounds an interesting option - does it live up to the hype? Guessing the full autopilot isn’t worth it, even though they are constantly pushing updates.

Anything else I should be wary of or be asking?

Thanks, Chris

Here's a long post I made one another forum about the indicators.

me said:

For me, most of my driving is motorway, and usual 90 degree junctions in towns. For this, the buttons are fine.

Tight roundabouts or god forbid a double mini roundabout, the problems become clear. Twisting the wheel all the way to the right means I have to press the right button while the wheel is straight approaching the roundabout, then keep my thumb on the left button, ready to press it, as the wheel goes around, which can be more than 180 degrees and is bad steering technique.

The other option here is 'catching' the left button with my right hand while the wheel is turned. This works better on roundabouts I'm familiar with, as the steering wheel angle is going to be the same as last time.

With both options I have to plan ahead and when I'm not really on my a-game and forget about this button maneuver, the chance of me quickly finding the left indicator button while the wheel is upside down is low. Many times I've had to continue indicating right when exiting the roundabout, or just decided not to indicate at all when approaching.

The buttons to not encourage muscle memory as they are flat. Several times I have tried to press the indicators or flash the lights without looking at the button, nothing happens because my thumb is not on the exact spot but I still felt like the button moved downwards.

Like I say most of the time it is not an issue, but I never had this problem with previous cars and those were all old bangers.

Can't tell you about the Performance, I've got a RWD, it has everything I need, subwoofer the AWD has would have been nice.

Enhanced Autopilot all you're really getting is autopark which I don't think is worth £3,500. Full self driving is years from the UK allowing it and is a waste of money at this point. Standard autopilot as cruise control is very good, I use it a lot.

I really like mine, just makes driving effortless.

[W12GT]

TheRainMaker said:

ScoobyChris said:

- Enhanced autopilot sounds an interesting option - does it live up to the hype?

From what I've been told, it keeps you quite far to the right

I think they’ve started to free issue a leather trench coat and flat cap with them too.

I hear the walk can get tiring to and strenuous on the right shoulder joint….

[ScoobyChris]

Thanks for the replies! Yeah maybe gimmick was the wrong word - I have come from a car with these “gimmicks” and I justified them … and in my eyes they probably are … worth it

The comment on the indicator buttons does align with what I wondered and I guess you need to be a bit more conscious about where the button is at any point you are steering in time to be able to set/cancel it.

I think the enhanced autopilot also includes the highway driving so following lanes, following traffic, lane changes, etc.

Chris

[ZesPak]

TheRainMaker said:

From what I've been told, it keeps you quite far to the right

<tg> As long as the GPS doesn't only point to Poland and tell you to take the third reich, you'll be good </tg>

On topic:

1. The indicators: I hated them when I drove one but only did so briefly. I have a hate for capacitive buttons (worst of both worlds imho) and to make them into indicators is just to me. The drive selector seemed fine. I'm a big fan of the stalk next to the wheel, esp for parallel parking, but didn't find the drive selector on the screen more bothersome than the rotary dial I had on the Jag.
2. The Performance is blisteringly fast. It's not really any more expensive to run and it's addictive. It's your own choice and I don't know what the cost involved in your SS is, but it's a great car. The acceleration, if you have kids, they'll absolutely love it.
3. Presuming you live in the UK, or even anywhere in Europe, it's not really worth it. The system is nerfed massively here so you're essentially paying for something you can't use.

If the choice is between a LR with AAP or a Performance without, it's a no brainer. Go for the performance one.

[Martyn76]

Just to add from a more basic Tesla POV, your kids will love the screen, being able to watch Netflix, YouTube, Disney and play video games ,etc was a big win with my kids.

I would recommend booking a test drive, the Tesla sales experience is very low pressure.

[page3]

TheRainMaker said:

ScoobyChris said:

- Enhanced autopilot sounds an interesting option - does it live up to the hype?

From what I've been told, it keeps you quite far to the right

Actually quite the opposite, but then your (cliched) joke wouldn't work. It keeps quite far to the left, making it too scary. We disabled it.

[phil4]

Don't bother with Enhanced autopilot, is in my opinion entirely overpriced. Worth about £100 tops. Most of the list of features are buggy, flawed or just don't work. The "navigate on autopilot" where it overtakes etc, only works on some roads, and the overake bit is awkward (you have to confirm you want it to). The free built in Autopilot really isn't much worse, it just won't overtake.

The seats and suspension are good and worth getting the P for. The indicators didn't take me long to get used to (but then I also ride a motorbike, and had indicators on the dash as a toggle switch). YMMV.

[SWoll]

phil4 said:

The seats and suspension are good and worth getting the P for.

This is my take. Having had the previous P for 2 years back in 2019 those were the main areas it really did need to improve.

[carinatauk]

The aftermarket stalks are fine, I think the ones below add the benefit of standard stalks with the ability to move the stalks towards and away from you ie flashing over cars and fullbeam

https://veekys.com/products/new-plus_-tesla-2024-m...

[gmaz]

EAP is not worth the price. The summon (ASS) only works if you're standing next to the car. Self parking is a neat gimmick, but it takes much longer than parking it yourself.

[ashenfie]

ScoobyChris said:

Thanks for the replies! Yeah maybe gimmick was the wrong word - I have come from a car with these “gimmicks” and I justified them … and in my eyes they probably are … worth it

The comment on the indicator buttons does align with what I wondered and I guess you need to be a bit more conscious about where the button is at any point you are steering in time to be able to set/cancel it.

I think the enhanced autopilot also includes the highway driving so following lanes, following traffic, lane changes, etc.

Chris

Yes, but if you need the car to change lanes and follow the traffic etc should you really be driving at all. It just seams a waste of money when doing it yourself keeps you engaged with the driving.

The issue Tesla seam to have apart from Musk is the Standard model and Performance look almost alike, surely a trophy car should look the part. Then there little difference in spec. The advantages the LR has over the Standard in terms of practicality is lost when you move to the performance.

[phil4]

Beware of people posting about the pre-refresh model 3. They may often say things that aren't true about the new model 3, and that's the one you're buying.

[napistonheads]

Picked up a Highland Model 3 Performance 3 weeks ago and have put 1,000 miles on it. First EV I’ve owned so not an authority at all just sharing my experience in case useful for the OP. Have driven a few EVs before including the previous model 3 performance, model Y dual motor and also the highland model 3 dual motor. Went with the performance over the dual motor for the seats, suspension, extra performance, different looks (wheels, boot spoiler, front splitter) which for me are worth it. Indicator stalks were actually a nice novelty at first and in the main are completely fine but discovered I do probably slightly prefer stalks. On balance I miss physical buttons for heating controls more than stalks for indicators but knew about everything in the screen. Still find myself swiping for a stalk on the odd occasion but other than roundabouts or sharp left then right (or visa versa) turns where you have to try to locate the opposite turn signal whilst the wheel is turned it’s been fine. Don’t have enhanced auto pilot and don’t use the basic one either tbh. Suspension is firm but not as firm as the M4 competition I was comparing it to, stereo is pretty good, superchargers worked every time and seem half the price of non tesla public chargers, insurance not bad (usual caveat that obviously relates to personal circumstances etc but again cheaper than m4 competition) all the usual low(er) running costs (again compared to the M4) people associate with EVs although that seems to have changed a lot in the last few years. Obviously it’s pretty quick, traction is excellent but did break traction a little at the rear on a wet road at what I thought was half throttle (possibly the tyres or my heavy foot). One pedal driving is just lovely in traffic or for getting from A-B and Tesla’s implementation of it is IMHO really precise. Highland Model 3 Performance noticeably visually different to the other model 3s now which wasn’t as much the case previously where it was just wheels (and a red line under dual motor?). Hope that helps.

[ScoobyChris]

Really useful feedback! Thanks all. General consensus seems to be the Performance is worth the extra cost over the LR so time to crunch the numbers.

Interestingly at the Performance price point the 5N also might come into contention.

Decisions decisions!

Chris

[napistonheads]

If you haven’t already and want similar performance it might be worth checking out Polestar 4 dual motor (lovely interior, more rear seat space), Genesis GV60 dual motor (again lovely interior but more limited range and few dealers). If I were chosing again now it wouldn’t be any Tesla but have this for a few years now so will live with it. Good luck hope you find something that suits your needs.

[NDNDNDND]

Do you really want to be associated with these gurning Nazitards?