2018 MR vs 2022 RWD Model 3 - great progress

In April of this year I realized the resell value of my 2018 Mid-Range (MR) was through the roof. I ordered a new model 3 RWD while also looked at several other cars that did not match up. I put a deposit on an i4, but the end of the tax credit dulled my interest since it is about $10k more than the Tesla for similar features and it would take approximately forever to arrive.

That's ok, I really love this new Model 3 RWD. I still love the looks, the MSM paint is incredible, and I it still drives fabulous.

The price was great. The new car is only $990 higher in base price. I sold the old car for $44k. I upgraded to a new and improved car for $4490 plus delivery, taxes and fees. I went from 35k to 8 on the odometer and got a brand new warranty. Even better, the improvements and upgrades in the new car are incredible.

Some comparisons:

--2018 MR features over 2022 RWD

• premium audio -- new system still sounds pretty great.
• homelink -- I do miss that
• floor mats, frunk mat -- not that expensive.
• fog lights -- only used them a few times
• center console storage tray -- really ?
• one year premium connectivity
• one year supercharging
• mobile charger -- ( I did get a new one based on my April 8 OD, but newer orders do not get it. )
• faster 0-60 time (5.2 < 5.8) I don't notice it.

--2022 RWD features over 2018 MR

• Basic Autopilot included -- I had to pay $2000 back in 2018. This is a big win.
• Interior improvements -- console materals and design, door cards, window and lock switches, steel steering wheel rollers
• Inductive phone charging -- love love love it
• front side window glazing -- I have read this but have no way to confirm it
• Power trunk !!!-- that was unexpected.
• AMD Ryzen Media CPU -- another big win
• FSD computer + Tesla vision -- is this really better ? idk.
• Heated steering wheel
• Matrix lights
• Heatpump
• LFP power battery
• LI-ion 12V battery
• ? anything else ?

--undecided

• Easy entry profile settings for steering wheel and seat - I don't see them. This was really nice. ? Am I missing this somewhere ?

-- range

• 2018 MR: 264. This was achieved by a software update. I think I saw it once.
• 2022 RWD: 267.

--delivery time

• 2018 MR: 22 days
• 2022 RWD: 155 days

--prices

• 2018 MR : $46000 - $7500 tax credit
• 2022 RWD : $46990

--purchase

• final: $46990 (new RWD) + $1500 (wheels) - $44000 (sell 2018 MR) = $4490 + delivery, tax & fees !

Oh, and I had to buy floormats for $120 and new garage remote for $12. That's ok.

(Source: Jengtingchen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International — CC BY-SA 4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

 

[tm1v2]

Was your MR old enough to have leather upholstery? Or even just a leather wrapped steering wheel? I don't know when Tesla stopped using leather in the Model 3.

 

[BigNick]

They made rear heated seats standard on all trims after November 2021.
They also added heated wiper park for the 2022 trims.

Early 2022s (like my November 2021 build) do not have the heated wiper park. I have data on my USB-C ports and am still on the Atom MCU and conventional 12V battery.

I don't know if heated wiper park is tied to Ryzen MCU/Li-Ion 15V battery or not.

 

[pipestem]

Was your MR old enough to have leather upholstery? Or even just a leather wrapped steering wheel? I don't know when Tesla stopped using leather in the Model 3.

Just the steering wheel. The seats and interior overall held up very well, no cracks, stretch marks, fading. etc…. It had a pretty cushy life I admit.

 

[pipestem]

Early 2022s (like my November 2021 build) do not have the heated wiper park. I have data on my USB-C ports and am still on the Atom MCU and conventional 12V battery.

I don't know if heated wiper park is tied to Ryzen MCU/Li-Ion 15V battery or not.

Thanks. I wonder how that can be checked. Is there a climate control widget ?

My mfg date is 8/22. I should have noted that earlier.

 

[Randy-12]

I cannot edit the original post, so I am updating the comparison here ...

--2018 MR features over 2022 RWD

• premium audio -- new system still sounds pretty great.
• homelink -- I do miss that
• floor mats, frunk mat -- not that expensive.
• fog lights -- only used them a few times
• center console storage tray -- really ?
• one year premium connectivity
• one year supercharging
• mobile charger -- ( I did get a new one based on my April 8 OD, but newer orders do not get it. )
• faster 0-60 time (5.2 < 5.8) I don't notice it.
• more video games and use of USB custom game controllers

--2022 RWD features over 2018 MR

• Basic Autopilot included -- I had to pay $2000 back in 2018. This is a big win.
• Interior: better console materals and design, window and lock switches, steel steering wheel rollers
• Interior: wrap around dash into door cards with better materials
• Interior: no more piano black !!!
• Exterior: chrome delete -- looks great with MSM
• 128 GB stick for sentry and dashcam storage (found in the glovebox)
• USB-C outlets
• Inductive phone charging -- love love love it
• front side window glazing -- confirmed!
• Power trunk !!!-- that was unexpected.
• AMD Ryzen Media CPU -- another big win
• FSD computer + Tesla vision -- is this really better ? Idk, but it is Tesla's future!
• Heated steering wheel
• Matrix lights
• Heatpump
• LFP power battery
• LI-ion 12V battery
• Lightshow !
• ? anything else ?

You did forget 2 things that I can see
The car now has heated wiper park. Where the wipers sit is now heated
Seat heaters are all activated, no more of an add on.
Both nice features in cold climates

 

[Randy-12]

Simple to check:
- double glazing - open driver's doors and rear doors. Check the top edge of the window on both. Here's the difference (drove sone loaners which were 2019 buid before glazing, difference is huge)

When did the car start coming with the double laminated rear windows? I thought that it was just a rumour?
My April build only has the front with the double laminated glass but not the rear.

 

[Randy-12]

Early 2022s (like my November 2021 build) do not have the heated wiper park. I have data on my USB-C ports and am still on the Atom MCU and conventional 12V battery.

I don't know if heated wiper park is tied to Ryzen MCU/Li-Ion 15V battery or not.

See your climate display, if you have the icon you have the heated wiper park

See the section , icon # 7

Adjusting Climate Control Settings​

Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn how to operate and customize the interior climate.

www.tesla.com

 

[pipestem]

You did forget 2 things that I can see
The car now has heated wiper park. Where the wipers sit is now heated
Seat heaters are all activated, no more of an add on.
Both nice features in cold climates

Thanks. I added the wiper heater. My 2018 MR had all 4 seat heaters active ootb.

Heck, even my my base model 2015 Leaf S had 4 heated seats and steering wheel. I’m just now catching up on the wheel.

 

[Randy-12]

Thanks. I added the wiper heater. My 2018 MR had all 4 seat heaters active ootb.

Heck, even my my base model 2015 Leaf S had 4 heated seats and steering wheel. I’m just now catching up on the wheel.

They may have had the heaters in all 5 seats but in the rear you had to pay Tesla to activate it, now it is included in the price.

 

[pipestem]

They may have had the heaters in all 5 seats but in the rear you had to pay Tesla to activate it, now it is included in the price.

No no my friend. The MR had the ‘full prem’ interior. I got the car in December 2018 and the rear seats went into use immediately!!! No way my daughters would miss that. The SR+ might have been different.

 

[3Volts2aTes]

No no my friend. The MR had the ‘full prem’ interior. I got the car in December 2018 and the rear seats went into use immediately!!! No way my daughters would miss that. The SR+ might have been different.

SR+ had "partial premium" interior. It did not have the heated rear seats (but you could activate it later), did not have the footwell lighting activated, and did not have the premium sound (so missing subwoofer/rear amp, and some speakers were not wired / or present, depending on the year).

 

[pipestem]

In early 2019, for a brief period, there were several concurrent versions: SR, SR+, MR, LR, DMLR, DMLR-P. Then came a Perf-stealth, and the accel-boost option, iirc - maybe. The trims make a lot more sense now: RWD, AWD, Perf.

 

[yessuz]

When did the car start coming with the double laminated rear windows? I thought that it was just a rumour?
My April build only has the front with the double laminated glass but not the rear.

no.. intention is to see the difference between double and single windows front will be double, rear - single

 

[095179005]

Early 2022s (like my November 2021 build) do not have the heated wiper park. I have data on my USB-C ports and am still on the Atom MCU and conventional 12V battery.

I don't know if heated wiper park is tied to Ryzen MCU/Li-Ion 15V battery or not.

Thanks. I wonder how that can be checked. Is there a climate control widget ?

My mfg date is 8/22. I should have noted that earlier.

I have 15V Li-ion battery, Ryzen CPU, and heated wiper park.

Mfg date Feb 2022.

IIRC Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 was a bit of a mess as you had frankenteslas with different combinations of new/old hardware.

I didn't get heated wiper park until Tesla pushed out a mass software update a few months later.

When did the car start coming with the double laminated rear windows? I thought that it was just a rumour?
My April build only has the front with the double laminated glass but not the rear.

I forget which MIC teslas had the rear dual panes, but that's one of the things that haven't filtered over to US teslas.

@pipestem One more thing to note, CCS functionality is enabled on my car, which means I just need to buy a Tesla to CCS1 adapter to use DC fast chargers.

IIRC older teslas need to be retrofitted to be able to use CCS1 chargers.

 

[pipestem]

@095179005 -- good call on the CCS. I saw that on my 'additional information' screen but did not realize it was an actual possibility. Looks like adapters go for $300+ on ebay, but not found on Tesla shop. online. I do know some places that might be useful.

 

[Zcd1]

I have a 2018 M3 and my main question is do you find the 2022 quieter on the highway. The amount of road noise (and some wind noise) is pretty high in my car on anything other than freshly paved blacktop.

We own both an '18 M3P and a '22 M3P - the '22 is noticeably quieter in all situations.

 

[pipestem]

2 more things.... neither one of these is worth a new thread so here goes...

• EFFICIENCY !!!! In the old car, the reference line for consumption was 242 kw/mi and that is exactly what I got over my time with the car. The new car has a reference line at approximately 222 kw/mi and I am getting more like 215 so far. This is really good. Less consumption means less time spent recharging. I can't believe how efficient this thing is so far.
  
  
  
• Climate-controls. In the car, I *wish* I could enter the climate controls without turning them on. For instance I might just want to turn on the heated seats. I can do this on the app. This is not really a new thing I guess, but I have to voice it somewhere. @tesla - help me out here.

 

[pipestem]

Also, perhaps to wrap up the new car stuff... isn't she beautiful ?

 

[095179005]

2 more things.... neither one of these is worth a new thread so here goes...

• EFFICIENCY !!!! In the old car, the reference line for consumption was 242 kw/mi and that is exactly what I got over my time with the car. The new car has a reference line at approximately 222 kw/mi and I am getting more like 215 so far. This is really good. Less consumption means less time spent recharging. I can't believe how efficient this thing is so far.
  
  
  
• Climate-controls. In the car, I *wish* I could enter the climate controls without turning them on. For instance I might just want to turn on the heated seats. I can do this on the app. This is not really a new thing I guess, but I have to voice it somewhere. @tesla - help me out here.

You can do that - one of the updates a few months ago added more icons that could be put in the toolbar - wipers and heated seats included!

 

[Zcd1]

2 more things.... neither one of these is worth a new thread so here goes...

• EFFICIENCY !!!! In the old car, the reference line for consumption was 242 kw/mi and that is exactly what I got over my time with the car. The new car has a reference line at approximately 222 kw/mi and I am getting more like 215 so far. This is really good.

My experience is similar to yours, though the actual numbers are different.

Our 2022 is noticeably more efficient than our 2018.