10k review (M3LR).

my initial impressions review: 1 week review (M3LR).

just hit 10k miles and wanted to give an update on my thought thus far.

1. autopilot
this is probably the biggest surprise for me. when i initially tried AP i had significant phantom braking on the highway and it was terrible (nausea inducing) in stop and go traffic. the phantom braking alone was enough to not trust the system and i stopped using AP altogether for a while. both of these have changed to an unbelievable degree over the course of the various updates. i have now done ~100 mile trips with AP engaged without issues, no nausea inducing hard accerleration and braking in stop and go / slow traffic. it really has become a huge positive for the driving experience on longer trips for me.

2. driving experience
still love getting in the car and still making excuses to go on a drive. with the lack of standard gears the car just feels ridiculously smooth and really makes driving an ICE car jarring in comparison. ended up getting acceleration boost within the first week of ownership. car feels very planted in corners. hardly use the physical brakes. cabin is quiet enough and on par with my previous cars. visibility overall is great.

3. interior
this also surprised me -- coming from audi's i was a bit worried/skeptical about the interior but have grown to really enjoy the minimalism. don't miss the physical buttons at all.

4. touchscreen / OS
didn't take long to get used to the touch screen controls and OS and don't have any major complaints. the constant updates are welcomed.

5. charging
i have yet to use the supercharging network. tesla charger at home and 50 mile round trip commute to work. scheduling works great.

6. efficiency
surprised at how much weather and speed play into "tesla" miles. i also was pretty shocked when i carried two road bikes on my 1up hitch rack -- charged the tesla to 280 "tesla" miles. actual miles for the roundtrip was 120 miles and ended the trip with 90 "tesla" miles.

7. sound system / audio interface
i was initially dissappointed in the audio interface and lack of seamless connection with a mobile device (iphone). i ended up getting a tidal subscription and either downloading my playlist in hifi in my garage over wifi before departing or connecting my phone as a hotspot to allow hifi playback on the go. i would say the overall sound is on par with what i have had as premium sound systems in my past cars. the tidal app is a bit clunky and lacking features but it gets the job done.

8. maintenance
none. no issues whatsoever (hopefully i'm not jinxing myself). will get a tire rotation soon but other than that, very happy.

all in all love the car and would purchase again -- it is crazy to know that the price has gone up ~10k since when i took delivery!

 

[DrChaos]

The 80% DoD I was replying to is definitely not so great. But your 40% looks to be even better than my 10-20%, optimal is even higher DoD - 55% according to this chart. I am not a battery expect, I just read many articles in the past years. After all such small differences should not matter much - just some 2% capacity difference in 10 years (if you filter the degradation by "Daily charge level ?").

That chart is interesting but I think it doesn't quite get at the real issue with calendar aging. The depth of discharge is an indirect proxy for what really matters: minimize time spent at higher state of charge. Following the discussions on the battery forum here, I set my charge limit to 50% (the minimum) for every day driving so that typical SoC is <= 50% for me almost all the time.

 

[DocHolliday]

I had a HK sound in a BMW i3---I prefer the Tesla Premium. Most prominently I love using Tunein for international internet radio---I listen to classical and the far wider availablility of diverse music in decent enough fidelity (depending on station) is a major improvement.

I just cranked some Linkin Park on the way home at about 80% volume with the windows down and was pleasantly surprised at the volume and bass response. I hadn't really cranked it before and pretty happy with the overall audio experience.

 

[SteveM3Perf]

That chart is interesting but I think it doesn't quite get at the real issue with calendar aging. The depth of discharge is an indirect proxy for what really matters: minimize time spent at higher state of charge. Following the discussions on the battery forum here, I set my charge limit to 50% (the minimum) for every day driving so that typical SoC is <= 50% for me almost all the time.

Hi,
We are awaiting delivery of a new M3P and I am keenly reading great reviews - such as this one! - along with discussions on charging strategy and battery life.
We tend to buy our cars new and keep then for 3 to 4 years and within the manufacturers warranty.
For this reason and because we live in a very hot climate country - we intend to set our charge limit at 100% at all times and to sell the car before the battery warranty runs out!
Any downside to this as the first owner?
Cheers
Steve

 

[jankratochvil]

We tend to buy our cars new and keep then for 3 to 4 years and within the manufacturers warranty.
For this reason and because we live in a very hot climate country - we intend to set our charge limit at 100% at all times and to sell the car before the battery warranty runs out!
Any downside to this as the first owner?

IIRC from this forum (but I failed to Google it now) with 100% charge for multiple days Tesla car will display a warning you should not do that and that you will lose your battery warranty. Also the usable capacity of 100% vs. 90% is not a big difference (rather like 5% instead of 10%) as with such high SoC you will get disabled brake regeneration and so the first few percents will disappear very quickly; unless you really just start driving on a freeway from the very beginning.

 

[jankratochvil]

minimize time spent at higher state of charge. Following the discussions on the battery forum here, I set my charge limit to 50% (the minimum) for every day driving so that typical SoC is <= 50% for me almost all the time.

I just charge my today's expected driving consumption to 50% (so typically charge to about 60%) right before I leave and then it gets discharged back to 50%. As then I have slightly better performance (only a little) and slightly better spare energy for an unexpected drive somewhere far. Commonly I discharge it slightly under 50% which is AFAIK the optimal SoC above+below 50% (not just below 50% or just above 50%). But I agree it all does not matter much for the battery lifetime.

 

[ForestGump]

20k miles update..... I STILL HATE Tesla navigation.... ugh.... smh

 

[Zcd1]

20k miles update..... I STILL HATE Tesla navigation.... ugh.... smh

Because??

I prefer Tesla's Navigation and interface to anything else I've tried, so I'm curious what you hate about it?

Now that traffic is more prominently displayed and waypoints and weather condition considerations have been added, it works really well for me.

 

[tm1v2]

Because??

I prefer Tesla's Navigation and interface to anything else I've tried, so I'm curious what you hate about it?

Now that traffic is more prominently displayed and waypoints and weather condition considerations have been added, it works really well for me.

Google Maps navigation is better, and it's built-in on some cars now such as the Polestar 2 (direct EV competitor).

I don't doubt that Tesla nav is better than most built-in nav implementations, but that's a low bar.

For example, Tesla nav has told me to take unnecessary loops of turns, and sent me on closed sections of road, and each time I've compared with Google Maps and GMaps got it right. Not that GMaps is perfect either, nothing is, but it's better in my experience.

(The Model 3 as a whole is still an awesome car in my book, I just wouldn't call the nav a strength, it's adequate but not the best.)

 

[Zcd1]

Google Maps navigation is better, and it's built-in on some cars now such as the Polestar 2 (direct EV competitor).

I don't doubt that Tesla nav is better than most built-in nav implementations, but that's a low bar.

Every navigation system I’ve used, whether Google Maps, Apple Maps, any OEM nav or whatever has made some poor suggestions at times.

I prefer Tesla’s Nav for its integration with the car’s systems and charging options on road trips.

YMMV, in other words…

 

[tm1v2]

Every navigation system I’ve used, whether Google Maps, Apple Maps, any OEM nav or whatever has made some poor suggestions at times.

I prefer Tesla’s Nav for its integration with the car’s systems and charging options on road trips.

YMMV, in other words…

Google Maps in to the Polestar has that too. I agree it's a benefit over using Google Maps from your phone though!

 

[DrChaos]

I just charge my today's expected driving consumption to 50% (so typically charge to about 60%) right before I leave and then it gets discharged back to 50%. As then I have slightly better performance (only a little) and slightly better spare energy for an unexpected drive somewhere far. Commonly I discharge it slightly under 50% which is AFAIK the optimal SoC above+below 50% (not just below 50% or just above 50%). But I agree it all does not matter much for the battery lifetime.

One thing to note is that the 'scientific' SoC is not the same as the displayed state of charge. So to get scientific optimum the displayed SoC might have to be a little bit lower and that's why I personally use 50% as my day to day maximum.

There is a 4.5% buffer on the low end on the Tesla (i.e. 0 displayed Tesla is 4.5% scientific I think). It's not clear though what it means exactly for intermediate state of charges, like is 50% Tesla really 54.5% scientific SoC? Or 52.25%?

 

[jankratochvil]

There is a 4.5% buffer on the low end on the Tesla (i.e. 0 displayed Tesla is 4.5% scientific I think). It's not clear though what it means exactly for intermediate state of charges, like is 50% Tesla really 54.5% scientific SoC? Or 52.25%?

True. On the other hand we also do not know the real "100%" of the battery. I heard BMW's 100% is what Tesla calls 90% as Tesla's 100% is already a bit too much charged battery.

 

[DrChaos]

True. On the other hand we also do not know the real "100%" of the battery. I heard BMW's 100% is what Tesla calls 90% as Tesla's 100% is already a bit too much charged battery.

I read in the battery thread from the guru AKKEE (?) that Tesla 100% is a real 100%, which can be found by the instrumentation of the actual physical voltages.

BMW i3 (my previous car) definitely, their 100% isn't a true 100%. The i3 didn't even have a setting to lower the maximum charge level, it was always 100%.

 

[Ashhong]

I had a HK sound in a BMW i3---I prefer the Tesla Premium. Most prominently I love using Tunein for international internet radio---I listen to classical and the far wider availablility of diverse music in decent enough fidelity (depending on station) is a major improvement.

Had my Model 3 with Premium for about a month now and its pretty much identical from my HK BMW system, at least as far as I can remember. I'm definitely not wowed in any way, which is a little disappointing. Maybe the people that are more impressed are coming from crappy sound systems? Not exactly sure what advantage you are speaking about with Tunein though. I just use Apple Music for all the diversity I need

 

[ForestGump]

Because??

I prefer Tesla's Navigation and interface to anything else I've tried, so I'm curious what you hate about it?

Now that traffic is more prominently displayed and waypoints and weather condition considerations have been added, it works really well for me.

Many many many many many times of tesla wanting to take me down streets that are closed for construction... Im not talking about streets that just shut down last week, i mean streets that have been closed for nearly 8-10 months.... Apple maps (my old nav system pre Tesla) never led me wrong.

True the navi is getting better and now live traffic is doing better, its still not even catching the most basic road closures... One of the biggest road closures it missed for me at a crucial time when my battery was very low trying to get to the cambridge ohio supercharger and the off ramp from the main highway was closed... ended up going in a 5 mile loop to get back. If nothing else it should see that every Tesla that had that supercharger plugged in to the destination and noticed every car just had to keep driving by.. why would it not detect that... smh..

Unfortunately like some have said it is still my preferred but only because its convenience. I double check alot of my trips with apple maps now before heading off to an unknown area.

 

[Johnsson90]

Thanks for the review! Glad it's working out. I took delivery on June 14, 2022. I only let the battery below 20% once. I have 6k miles in essentially three months and have noticed some battery degradation. Instead of getting 323 miles at 90%, I'm now getting 313 at 90%. Is there a fix for this or should I take it in for service?

 

[Zcd1]

Thanks for the review! Glad it's working out. I took delivery on June 14, 2022. I only let the battery below 20% once. I have 6k miles in essentially three months and have noticed some battery degradation. Instead of getting 323 miles at 90%, I'm now getting 313 at 90%. Is there a fix for this or should I take it in for service?

That change isn't likely "degradation" - it's likely the normal variance of range that you'd see with any car fill-up to fill-up.

 

[Johnsson90]

That change isn't likely "degradation" - it's likely the normal variance of range that you'd see with any car fill-up to fill-up.

Phew... ha, thank you.

 

[Zcd1]

Apple maps (my old nav system pre Tesla) never led me wrong.

True the navi is getting better and now live traffic is doing better, its still not even catching the most basic road closures...

And this is a perfect example of "YMMV":

Apple Maps has mis-directed me more than any other mapping service I've used, but they all do it from time to time.

In my experience, your favorite will be whatever you use the most and become most accustomed to...

All of that said, it never hurts to have a backup.