Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

5k miles; first 10 weeks

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Here are my summary impressions after 5,000 miles...
- Road noise is my sole meaningful negative. I hope that Tesla will add some dampening around the wheel wells in future production, at least in the LR version of Model 3 since it is designed for long-haul driving. I'd pay for a retrofit. I am used to a Lexus RX450h, and prior to that a BMW535, both of which are cocoon-like in terms of eliminating road noise. While increased road noise does help differentiate Model 3 from Model S/X, I really do think Tesla could turn it into a win here by making enhanced dampening part of the LR option.
- Road trips from Atlanta to: Memphis, Miami, Hilton Head. Upcoming: Orlando, Boston.
- 256wh/mi overall thus far.
- Vampire drain is manageable/immaterial, but would take some planning if leaving the car unplugged for weeks at a time due to vacation/etc. If that's part of your use case, start planning.
- TACC and EAP are amazing, almost always, and have gotten markedly better since I took delivery (I believe my car has been improved four times already via OTA updates).
- Mobile Service swapped out my one We Owe item from delivery, quickly. Mobile Service is a major differentiator that gets little to no love in the media/press. Naturally I don't expect to need service often/ever, but it was super convenient.
- I am 6'2", my wife is 5'9", our son is 6'4", our daughters are 6'0" and 5'8". All are comfortable driving Model 3, and all of us fit comfortably in the front or back seats. We have not attempted to use it as a 5-seater (and won't).
- I wish the motor that elevates the driver seat was quieter. It's louder than the other seat motors and makes it sound cheap.
- My favorite feature is the all glass roof. Finally there is a perk to riding in the back seat!
- Superchargers have been 95% fantastic. Occasionally a broken single charger (Macon, GA). Disappointing to have called it in for repair, only to return a week later and see that it still had not been repaired. There is room for improvement w/r/t the superchargers...the car should be able to tell me which stall to use when I arrive, for max charge rate and to avoid parking at a non-operational stall.
- Phone key has been 99% fantastic. Very occasional, unpredictable, one-off episodes of the car not opening when I pull the door handle. I use an iPhone 6.
- The range of the LR has been incredibly satisfying. We have used a LEAF since 1/1/12, and to no longer be range-limited is a really liberating experience. Before getting Model 3, I spent a lot of time on ABRP planning trips. Now that we've taken a handful of road trips in Model 3, I can conclude there's just no need to plan. Hop in and go.
- It is satisfying to have an all-electric garage...my wife and I share the Model 3 and the LEAF. The LEAF will remain in the family until Model Y is available. I have no idea what gasoline prices are anymore; that is a problem solely for our kids, who remain ICE-dwellers for the foreseeable future.
- Projecting out a bit, I foresee 20k miles in our first year with the Model 3. This beats Year One of our LEAF, but only by 3k miles (I was a hard-core commuter when we first got the LEAF, plus it was the first car dispatched nights/weekends as well.). My LEAF will be fully paid by net energy savings once it hits 100k miles. I suspect it'll take about 200k miles for my Model 3 to be fully paid by net energy savings. Not sure we'll ever get there with Model 3, but it's also probably not reasonable for me to have free vehicles be a goal.

In short, the car is fantastic. Can't wait to place my Model Y deposit and would do so today if Elon would let me.
 
"the car should be able to tell me which stall to use when I arrive, for max charge rate and to avoid parking at a non-operational stall."

In Silicon Valley, there are often lines of 5-10 Teslas waiting for the supercharger. It wouldn't make sense to add guidance unless the system also knew there was a line and who was next. Anyway, in those situations there isn't a choice anyway. You take the 1 slot that is open.
 
Have you experienced phantom braking?
Once, as has my son. In both instances, it was the situation where the Model 3 is about to go under a highway overpass in bright sunlight. It lasted only long enough for me to have time to say to myself "oh *sugar*, there's that phantom braking I've read about" before it recovered. Neither my son nor I were being tailgated at the time, so no harm no foul. Both occurrences were two OTA updates ago, so I don't know whether the issue has been recently fixed, or if we've just not been in the situation lately which causes it.
 
Interesting about the noise. I find the M3 quieter than both my 85D and S75.
I have very little history with a Model S, which is why I mention that my baseline is a Lexus RX450h and a BMW535. I suspect we'll all have a different baseline. I have read recently somewhere here (I think) about someone who suspected that the road noise is actually largely due to the storage space below the formal trunk floor acting as a resonance of some sort, and installing aftermarket dampening material to resolve it or at least minimize it. I'm not inclined to change the OEM vehicle, though. Soon enough I'll forget about the Lexus cabin silence, and it is easy enough to cure via turning up the kickass stereo anyway!
 
"the car should be able to tell me which stall to use when I arrive, for max charge rate and to avoid parking at a non-operational stall."

In Silicon Valley, there are often lines of 5-10 Teslas waiting for the supercharger. It wouldn't make sense to add guidance unless the system also knew there was a line and who was next. Anyway, in those situations there isn't a choice anyway. You take the 1 slot that is open.
Yeah, I'll chalk my ask up to "East Coast Probs" since we really don't have SC congestion here (yet). Soooo much about owning and traveling with a Tesla is easy (so much so that, for example, it bugs me that opening and closing my garage door requires two touches of the screen rather than one or zero), that minor elements like a broken SC stall tend to loom larger than normal. I'm on heightened alert for such things particularly when traveling with my wife, who is skeptical about our ability to rely confidently on an EV for our travels. As a technophobe, she is representative of the eventual huge 'mass market' for Model 3/Y, so I take her impressions seriously (as a TSLA shareholder).