After 6 months or more of ownership (Model M3) - Poll

[StealthP3D]

I voted "better" for three primary reasons (and a whole quiver full of secondary reasons that I'm not going to detail):

1) The improvement in AutoPilot in the first 12 months since taking delivery has been nothing short of astounding! I would not have expected it to get so much better, so quickly. It makes me think there are very good things coming more quickly than expected.

2) I had no idea how transformative instant torque and one-pedal driving would actually be. Now my car feels like a real extension of my mind. At their best, other cars only feel like an extension of my body. An extension of the mind is much better. Very Zen-like.

3) Convenience. I don't think I totally understood how nice it would be to start every day with a "full tank". No more gas station stops on the way home, yea!

 

[Dana1]

I’m “better”. Ordered the car during a commercial break on my iPad. Delivered Jul 3, 2018. Super easy. Delivery earlier than expected. I’m mostly ok with glitchy updates. I’ve pretty much traded cars every two years due to tech FOMO despite the financial idiocy of that. At a year in I’m surveying roads for the next ride. Lucy, though, makes me feel like I get a new car every three months and at a year I’m not surveying. Autopilot is fantastic even with its imperfections. The farting seats are funny. I’ve put more miles on in a year than I had the previous car, X6, in two years. The minimalist dash is serene, Bloomberg radio is free, and I like plugging in.

 

[MTSN]

Better for sure. The reasons are too many to list, but I love this car more than any I've owned which is a long list of all types of stuff. I like it so much, I ordered an M3P- after owning my MR car for ~4 months.

 

[P-Lo801]

My only regret so far is not waiting for prices to come down so that I could get the AWD or P3. Otherwise, I still love my LR RWD after four months and look forward to driving it every chance I get.

 

[jkoya]

I still like driving it, I'm just concerned about parking it. With all the broken windows and vandalism caught by Sentry Mode, I'm nervous when I walk back to my car. The car will be parked in the Presidio of San Francisco for a week and I'm seriously considering driving the Volt instead of the Model 3.

 

[TMThree]

My only regret so far is not waiting for prices to come down so that I could get the AWD or P3. Otherwise, I still love my LR RWD after four months and look forward to driving it every chance I get.

I paid 47,500 for my LR RWD in March in MSM and AP. Subtract $3800 for Fed rebate = $43,750.

It was $4000 more for AWD.

Currently I can order an AWD in MSM for $48,990, subtract $1875 for fed rebate = $47,115.

Thus it currently costs $3,365 more than I paid to get AWD vs $4,000 for AWD when I originally purchased.

So while prices appear to have come down significantly, it's only 15% less to upgrade to AWD, which isn't enough for it to have changed my mind.

My coworker bought one of the early models. He got his M3 in silver... had to pay $5000 extra for the premium interior and glass roof (cost we don't have now), yet if you factor in the massive fed rebate at the time, his actual cost isn't very far from where I bought.

Basically Tesla has given up profit to make the vehicle cost about the same despite fed tax rebate dropping significantly.

You did however lose a lot if you bought P in white due to that being cut in half and white becoming free.

 

[Dana1]

I paid 47,500 for my LR RWD in March in MSM and AP. Subtract $3800 for Fed rebate = $43,750.

It was $4000 more for AWD.

Currently I can order an AWD in MSM for $48,990, subtract $1875 for fed rebate = $47,115.

Thus it currently costs $3,365 more than I paid to get AWD vs $4,000 for AWD when I originally purchased.

So while prices appear to have come down significantly, it's only 15% less to upgrade to AWD, which isn't enough for it to have changed my mind.

My coworker bought one of the early models. He got his M3 in silver... had to pay $5000 extra for the premium interior and glass roof (cost we don't have now), yet if you factor in the massive fed rebate at the time, his actual cost isn't very far from where I bought.

Basically Tesla has given up profit to make the vehicle cost about the same despite fed tax rebate dropping significantly.

You did however lose a lot if you bought P in white due to that being cut in half and white becoming free.

They’ve always came with glass roofs. Originally there was no other interior than premium either. The paint was a cost as was EAP and FSD.

 

[TMThree]

They’ve always came with glass roofs. Originally there was no other interior than premium either. The paint was a cost as was EAP and FSD.

Yes, and it was $5000 more for it. SR was supposed to get cloth and metal roof. All tesla did was drop the $5000 fee and everyone got the same upgrades as standard.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Voted "hype wore off". I still like the car, and still think it's better than any other vehicle on the road overall. I still would have made the choice to buy both of my Model 3's.

But I'm disappointed over the ongoing constant flaws in the vehicle that aren't being addressed.

1. NoA is just about useless. It can't change lanes worth a damn and cannot plan it's maneuvers. It constantly pisses other drivers off because it drives so odd. The car constantly does not know where it is (frequently thinks it's on the service road when it's actually on the freeway, or thinks it's on the freeway when it's actually in the HOV lanes, or thinks it's in a right-hand lane when it's actually in a left-hand lane). The maps are constantly incorrect (incorrect number of lanes available, incorrect exit/entrance ramp position), all of which ruin any possible chance that NoA would be able to navigate on its own.
2. Speed limits are constantly wrong, and the car constantly changes my set speed. If driving in the right lane of the freeway where the speed limit is 65 and set speed is 70, it will all of a sudden think I'm on the service road instead of the freeway, think the speed limit is now 45, and bump my set speed down to 50, braking suddenly and scaring the driver behind me. Even just driving with only TACC engaged is vulnerable to this problem.
3. Does not know the difference between a toll lane and an HOV lane, and will recommend routes that I cannot take.
4. Vastly inferior traffic-aware routing in comparison to Waze.
5. Auto windshield wipers still don't work worth a damn, I constantly have to switch them to manual to get them to wipe the windshield enough so I can see.
6. My P3D is nearly 1 year old, I STILL do not have a spoiler.
7. Slacker music playback easily gets contaminated by inadvertent thumbs-up or thumbs-down presses. If you accidentally press thumbs up when you didn't mean to, that song will now get played more frequently and other songs similar to it will be given priority over other songs on the default playlist for that channel, making them play less often. If you accidentally press thumbs down when you didn't mean to, that song never will play again. Both of these selections are irreversible and cannot be cleared. Eventually you will not end up listening to the desired playlist that you want and there is no recourse. This is componded by the poor UI choice to place both of these buttons next to the play/pause control.
8. Air conditioner design flaw that causes the mold growth and subsequent foul smell is ridiculous, and it's more ridiculous that they're charging people to fix it.
9. Auto-positioning mirrors for reverse STILL doesn't work right (problem since day one). Mirrors will position themselves upon reverse, but won't return to driving position when shifting to drive.
10. Charge port still can't be opened by handle button press when the car is asleep.
11. Still can't set TACC speed below the speed limit + offset.

By the way, none of these items have anything to do with the hardware in my car. I have two Model 3's, these issues appear identically on both of them.

Just about every time I drive the car, one or more of these items reminds me that the car software is still full of bugs. And Elon thinks he's going to do FSD soon. The man literally has to be drunker than Cooter Brown to think that.

 

[jebinc]

Voted "hype wore off". I still like the car, and still think it's better than any other vehicle on the road overall. I still would have made the choice to buy both of my Model 3's.

But I'm disappointed over the ongoing constant flaws in the vehicle that aren't being addressed.

1. NoA is just about useless. It can't change lanes worth a damn and cannot plan it's maneuvers. It constantly pisses other drivers off because it drives so odd. The car constantly does not know where it is (frequently thinks it's on the service road when it's actually on the freeway, or thinks it's on the freeway when it's actually in the HOV lanes, or thinks it's in a right-hand lane when it's actually in a left-hand lane). The maps are constantly incorrect (incorrect number of lanes available, incorrect exit/entrance ramp position), all of which ruin any possible chance that NoA would be able to navigate on its own.
2. Speed limits are constantly wrong, and the car constantly changes my set speed. If driving in the right lane of the freeway where the speed limit is 65 and set speed is 70, it will all of a sudden think I'm on the service road instead of the freeway, think the speed limit is now 45, and bump my set speed down to 50, braking suddenly and scaring the driver behind me. Even just driving with only TACC engaged is vulnerable to this problem.
3. Does not know the difference between a toll lane and an HOV lane, and will recommend routes that I cannot take.
4. Vastly inferior traffic-aware routing in comparison to Waze.
5. Auto windshield wipers still don't work worth a damn, I constantly have to switch them to manual to get them to wipe the windshield enough so I can see.
6. My P3D is nearly 1 year old, I STILL do not have a spoiler.
7. Slacker music playback easily gets contaminated by inadvertent thumbs-up or thumbs-down presses. If you accidentally press thumbs up when you didn't mean to, that song will now get played more frequently and other songs similar to it will be given priority over other songs on the default playlist for that channel, making them play less often. If you accidentally press thumbs down when you didn't mean to, that song never will play again. Both of these selections are irreversible and cannot be cleared. Eventually you will not end up listening to the desired playlist that you want and there is no recourse. This is componded by the poor UI choice to place both of these buttons next to the play/pause control.
8. Air conditioner design flaw that causes the mold growth and subsequent foul smell is ridiculous, and it's more ridiculous that they're charging people to fix it.
9. Auto-positioning mirrors for reverse STILL doesn't work right (problem since day one). Mirrors will position themselves upon reverse, but won't return to driving position when shifting to drive.
10. Charge port still can't be opened by handle button press when the car is asleep.
11. Still can't set TACC speed below the speed limit + offset.

By the way, none of these items have anything to do with the hardware in my car. I have two Model 3's, these issues appear identically on both of them.

Just about every time I drive the car, one or more of these items reminds me that the car software is still full of bugs. And Elon thinks he's going to do FSD soon. The man literally has to be drunker than Cooter Brown to think that.

Thanks for the detailed reply. While I've only had mine for five weeks, I share some of your sentiment.

 

[roguenode]

I voted hype worn off. Still love the car, but having an aero cover under the car come off on the highway and a small line where paint wore right down to metal on the edge towards the bottom of one of my doors from occasional dirt road driving are things I would not expect 6-8 months into ownership and under 10k miles. Poor customer service/communication since ownership also a disappointment.

 

[TMThree]

Built in waze would be amazing.

#5, I find auto wipers pretty good. I generally don't mess with it, but I do wax my windshield, so water sheets off.

#9, I don't have this issue. Reverse rotates down the mirrors, and I can adjust those so it rotates to a specific position, just like I can save the drive position mirrors.

#10, yeah, but you can wake it by tapping the rear door handle partially. Then charge port opens.

My issue is that it doesn't accelerate fast in autopilot, so sometimes you're way behind the group because of how slow it accelerates. That makes me feel like i'm being a bad driver.

I also find bt key doesn't work and I have to disable/enable bt for it to function. This despite the fact that the phone is connected to the car the entire time.

Voted "hype wore off". I still like the car, and still think it's better than any other vehicle on the road overall. I still would have made the choice to buy both of my Model 3's.

But I'm disappointed over the ongoing constant flaws in the vehicle that aren't being addressed.

1. NoA is just about useless. It can't change lanes worth a damn and cannot plan it's maneuvers. It constantly pisses other drivers off because it drives so odd. The car constantly does not know where it is (frequently thinks it's on the service road when it's actually on the freeway, or thinks it's on the freeway when it's actually in the HOV lanes, or thinks it's in a right-hand lane when it's actually in a left-hand lane). The maps are constantly incorrect (incorrect number of lanes available, incorrect exit/entrance ramp position), all of which ruin any possible chance that NoA would be able to navigate on its own.
2. Speed limits are constantly wrong, and the car constantly changes my set speed. If driving in the right lane of the freeway where the speed limit is 65 and set speed is 70, it will all of a sudden think I'm on the service road instead of the freeway, think the speed limit is now 45, and bump my set speed down to 50, braking suddenly and scaring the driver behind me. Even just driving with only TACC engaged is vulnerable to this problem.
3. Does not know the difference between a toll lane and an HOV lane, and will recommend routes that I cannot take.
4. Vastly inferior traffic-aware routing in comparison to Waze.
5. Auto windshield wipers still don't work worth a damn, I constantly have to switch them to manual to get them to wipe the windshield enough so I can see.
6. My P3D is nearly 1 year old, I STILL do not have a spoiler.
7. Slacker music playback easily gets contaminated by inadvertent thumbs-up or thumbs-down presses. If you accidentally press thumbs up when you didn't mean to, that song will now get played more frequently and other songs similar to it will be given priority over other songs on the default playlist for that channel, making them play less often. If you accidentally press thumbs down when you didn't mean to, that song never will play again. Both of these selections are irreversible and cannot be cleared. Eventually you will not end up listening to the desired playlist that you want and there is no recourse. This is componded by the poor UI choice to place both of these buttons next to the play/pause control.
8. Air conditioner design flaw that causes the mold growth and subsequent foul smell is ridiculous, and it's more ridiculous that they're charging people to fix it.
9. Auto-positioning mirrors for reverse STILL doesn't work right (problem since day one). Mirrors will position themselves upon reverse, but won't return to driving position when shifting to drive.
10. Charge port still can't be opened by handle button press when the car is asleep.
11. Still can't set TACC speed below the speed limit + offset.

By the way, none of these items have anything to do with the hardware in my car. I have two Model 3's, these issues appear identically on both of them.

Just about every time I drive the car, one or more of these items reminds me that the car software is still full of bugs. And Elon thinks he's going to do FSD soon. The man literally has to be drunker than Cooter Brown to think that.

 

[asujosh1]

For me it's definitely better.

• Drove the car for nearly a year with only a 15A outlet to charge from - installing the Tesla charger completely changed the way I think about driving distances (hint: I don't)
• 3k mile roadtrip was seamless and not tiring at all, supercharging is Tesla's (currently) unassailable competitive advantage.
• Over the air updates - the car is literally better now than it was when I got it
• I continue to explore the capabilities of the car - recently had an opportunity to really push it and was amazed at how well it responded and how 'off' my timing is for applying throttle mid-turn to accommodate the ICE spooling up
• My kids have really taken to it. With my 335 the kids would often opt for the other car. Now it's always the Tesla
• I've completely stopped thinking about miles driven. I honestly don't even know how many miles I have on the car
• What's a key?
• You have to turn your car on/off?

And finally: I've always been a lover of the 911, that's always been my halo car. I recently had an opportunity to get one, and I honestly can't imagine getting an ICE car again. I drive any other car and just get annoyed with the laggy acceleration and terrible electronics.

 

[asujosh1]

Speed limits are constantly wrong, and the car constantly changes my set speed. If driving in the right lane of the freeway where the speed limit is 65 and set speed is 70, it will all of a sudden think I'm on the service road instead of the freeway, think the speed limit is now 45, and bump my set speed down to 50, braking suddenly and scaring the driver behind me. Even just driving with only TACC engaged is vulnerable to this problem.

I have this problem at EXACTLY one exit! It's so strange! I really wish they crowdsourced the map updates like Waze does. It would make it so much better (or just used Waze as default...)

 

[jbcarioca]

My only issue are with the 20" wheels - I've had 5 flats and 3 bent rims

That is exactly why I bought TSportline 18" with MXM tires! Luckily I sold my 20" wheels and tires

 

[cbutters]

P3D Took delivery Sep 2018; Voted Better than when I took delivery.

-I now have NOA
-Tesla sent me a 5K refund check for free SC
-I now have CHADEMO charging (which is free to me in my area, so I no longer regret giving up my free supercharging)
-Car charges faster than when I took delivery 120kw->150kw on V2 and 250 on V3
-I got a free dash cam
-This is an aside since it should have been there at delivery; but I now have a spoiler.
-Updated Games and gamepad support

Now if I could just source some of those Chinese Power Sport wheels; I would be 100% Satisfied.

 

[raptor5244]

Voted "hype wore off". I still like the car, and still think it's better than any other vehicle on the road overall. I still would have made the choice to buy both of my Model 3's.

But I'm disappointed over the ongoing constant flaws in the vehicle that aren't being addressed.

1. NoA is just about useless. It can't change lanes worth a damn and cannot plan it's maneuvers. It constantly pisses other drivers off because it drives so odd. The car constantly does not know where it is (frequently thinks it's on the service road when it's actually on the freeway, or thinks it's on the freeway when it's actually in the HOV lanes, or thinks it's in a right-hand lane when it's actually in a left-hand lane). The maps are constantly incorrect (incorrect number of lanes available, incorrect exit/entrance ramp position), all of which ruin any possible chance that NoA would be able to navigate on its own.
2. Speed limits are constantly wrong, and the car constantly changes my set speed. If driving in the right lane of the freeway where the speed limit is 65 and set speed is 70, it will all of a sudden think I'm on the service road instead of the freeway, think the speed limit is now 45, and bump my set speed down to 50, braking suddenly and scaring the driver behind me. Even just driving with only TACC engaged is vulnerable to this problem.
3. Does not know the difference between a toll lane and an HOV lane, and will recommend routes that I cannot take.
4. Vastly inferior traffic-aware routing in comparison to Waze.
5. Auto windshield wipers still don't work worth a damn, I constantly have to switch them to manual to get them to wipe the windshield enough so I can see.
6. My P3D is nearly 1 year old, I STILL do not have a spoiler.
7. Slacker music playback easily gets contaminated by inadvertent thumbs-up or thumbs-down presses. If you accidentally press thumbs up when you didn't mean to, that song will now get played more frequently and other songs similar to it will be given priority over other songs on the default playlist for that channel, making them play less often. If you accidentally press thumbs down when you didn't mean to, that song never will play again. Both of these selections are irreversible and cannot be cleared. Eventually you will not end up listening to the desired playlist that you want and there is no recourse. This is componded by the poor UI choice to place both of these buttons next to the play/pause control.
8. Air conditioner design flaw that causes the mold growth and subsequent foul smell is ridiculous, and it's more ridiculous that they're charging people to fix it.
9. Auto-positioning mirrors for reverse STILL doesn't work right (problem since day one). Mirrors will position themselves upon reverse, but won't return to driving position when shifting to drive.
10. Charge port still can't be opened by handle button press when the car is asleep.
11. Still can't set TACC speed below the speed limit + offset.

By the way, none of these items have anything to do with the hardware in my car. I have two Model 3's, these issues appear identically on both of them.

Just about every time I drive the car, one or more of these items reminds me that the car software is still full of bugs. And Elon thinks he's going to do FSD soon. The man literally has to be drunker than Cooter Brown to think that.

But what about Beach Buggy 2 and now Chess! Kidding aside, I agree the AP stuff is way over-hyped and should be strictly referred to as Traffic Aware Cruise Control. After the honeymoon wore off the two things that I enjoy about this car is the instant torque and the audio system is pretty darn good for a factory setup. It should keep me entertained until something more fun comes along.

The robo-taxi thing is just ludicrous farts. I appreciate the vision but the execution is silly. You are not going to get a large portion of the population to spend $40k+ on a robo-taxi. We are not going to drive to work and then say, go to work Tessie, see you at 5pm. What if the passenger wants a ride to the airport and Tessie can't make it back to work without charging? What of it does make it back and then don't have enough charge to get home? The whole thing is just silly.

If robo-taxis become a reality then investors will buy a whole darn fleet of them in bulk and send them to work. Until then humans will drive cheap reliable Toyota Corollas for ride sharing and make a few bucks doing so.

 

[jebinc]

Bump for more input to help recent new comers to TMC looking to buy a Tesla.

 

[AdamMacDon]

I've honestly liked the car more since I got it. It's spoiled gas cars for me, even the Mercedes C63 AMG feels... outdated and slow now. The delivery however was NOT up to Mercedes snuff, or even Toyota snuff, I imagine. I had several minor (although very glaring issues). Not to mention communication was near non-existent leading up to delivery. None of this was a surprise, but still annoying to be ghosted by your so called "delivery expert". Now that I've fought tesla for the privilege of getting the car, I'm very happy with it!

 

[Need]

I put better because of the new features like dashcam, sentry mode, etc... it has over 20,000 miles in one year and I have not have to do any service yet. With any other ice car I would already have 2 oil changes even if it is synthetic.