Great write up. Out of interest what colour?I had the chance to test drive the RWD Model 3 Highland in Canberra today for an entire hour!
These are my thoughts/impressions/feedback.
Drive:
I was blown away at how quickly it accelerates on highways. I was trying to overtake a truck and put my foot down and was launched into my seat.... and this is just the RWD model. It's smooth around corners, takes bumps with ease and driving doesn't feel like a chore. The regen braking was also pretty cool! I felt pretty confident and sturdy on the road, even cheekily jumping into roundabouts sooner than I usually would have knowing how quickly it could accelerate.
I also was doing shoulder checks as usual but found these weren't necessary as the side camera is displayed on your screen from the side you are indicating. Might take a bit to undo this muscle memory.
No Stalks:
Felt relatively easy to get used to. There is a small raised ridge between the L and R indicators on the steering wheel. Resting your thumb on this I found it very easy to figure out which button to press when, although I did catch myself looking down to double check I was pressing the right button in the beginning.
On that note, a cool feature that happened 9/10 times when changing lanes - You would indicate to change and the car would realise you've finished changing lanes and turn the indicator off automatically, similar to how it would coming out of a roundabout or turning a corner.
Gear Selection:
Was very simple to get used to and by the end of my trip, I actually prefer it. I parked the car, grabbed a coffee and jumped back in and it knew there was a wall in front of me and chose Reverse. It also chose Drive automatically when taking it out of the Tesla delivery centre.
Tesla Vision:
I would say this is possibly the biggest downfall of the vehicle, but obviously will get better with time/software updates. There was random times I was stationary at traffic lights and it would blare at me to 'STOP' as I was too close to the car in front. I would say there was quite enough room in front to park a car sideways.. Sometimes there was also little glitches in object detection IE. when I was stationary at lights, it took moving grass next to the vehicle as the highway lanes moving.
Cool feature: If this is already on the current models, apologies - but when stopped at traffic lights, it would show you what colour they were on your screen. If they went Green and you didn't start accelerating, it would chime very briefly and subtly to let you know the traffic lights have changed and you could start driving again. I liked this!
Audio:
Was great, even when on very loud. I drive an upgraded Golf with the sound/vision package fitted ($2k extra at the time I bought it) and I would say it's on par if not better than my Golf's audio system.
Screen:
Bright, snappy, with a bit going on and took a bit to find things in the menu (First time Tesla user here). I will miss Apple CarPlay - I like its minimalistic and simple menu UI. I'm sure I'll get used to the Tesla UI in no time, but jumping back in my car and using CarPlay again was nice. I also found the voice control terrible, with it taking 5 attempts to route me somewhere after spelling out the destination articulately and slowly. I don't have this issue with Siri/Apple CarPlay. I'm sure this can also be improved in future updates.
Seats:
Comfortable, felt plush and the ventilation was great with today's hot weather! I found the ventilation even at the top setting was unobtrusive and subtle, going a long way to help cool you down on a hot day.
Car accessories/Delivery timelines:
I spoke with the Tesla rep after the test drive to confirm a few things. He mentioned that all cars come with carpet floor mats as standard. No charging cables, no frunk/trunk mats or tyre inflation kits however for Australian models. I asked about NSW/ACT deliveries and he mentioned that Jan-Mar is accurate, also adding in that there was a potential shipping delay for us and that we wouldn't get them before Christmas. He didn't elaborate on the shipping delay he spoke of when I pressed him for more info.
Overall:
Very happy with my test drive and purchase of this vehicle. Today just further cemented my decision and I am now more than ever eagerly awaiting for a VIN to be assigned.
Was it from the city store or the other one?
Also for the voice stuff, the trick I found is to change it in the settings to British English works really well under that setting.
