FYI: This review is coming from the perspective of a 2018 LR RWD owner who has never test drove any other Model 3, much less been inside a newer model.
Tesla emailed me last Thursday (15th) evening to schedule a test drive of the Highland 3 from the 16th (Fri) to 18th (Sun). Had several locations to choose from so I selected Sunnyvale (over Santana Row, Fremont and Palo Alto). Arrived about 1/2 hour early as the email indicated that a waiver needed signing before the drive. The sales rep looked at my driver's license, confirmed my appointment, talked about some of the differences between my car and the 2024 and then handed a key card to me and said "have fun and be back in 15-20 minutes". I think I took 25 minutes. No photocopying of my insurance card (or even asking to see it; I suppose there was something in the waiver I signed that said I was insured - TL;DR), no inspection of the car (I did a quick glance around the outside and saw nothing out of sorts). Nothing like renting a car from any of the major corporations or even test driving a vehicle from a traditional dealership.
I chose the Sunnyvale location, figuring it didn't have too much traffic on a Sunday (not like Santana Row and the surrounding area), fairly quick access to a highway and I am familiar with the area. My loop was east on El Camino, right on Wolfe then north on 280. I initially thought that I would take De Anza back towards the showroom but decided at the last minute to continue on 280 to 85 and then come back on El Camino. That would give me more time on the highway. Maximum speed I hit I believe was 80. The car was limited to 85. It had FSD but I did not use it.
Initial impressions are that the car "feels" heavier and is a bit quieter. Steering is about the same; maybe a little bit more effort is needed when turning. That could be from a low tire pressure; I didn't check it. I repeated the same route in my own car after returning the demo. BTW, my demo was a LR AWD with 470 miles (photos below). Battery charge was about 72% at the beginning of the drive; miles was 240 or so.
I purposely muted the stereo during the drive so that I could concentrate on the road/wind noise so no evaluation of the sound system. The road and wind noise on the highway seemed a little bit lower than my car. But, tire brand/model can make a major difference. I'm currently running a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS+ which are supposed to be nosier than the stock MXM4s. From looking at the photo I've included, the demo car had Hankooks.
Lack of turn signal stalks was immediately felt as the first several times I flipped my left hand up and down but nothing was there. When I did sorta get used to the turn signal buttons, I ended up one time signalling a left turn when going right. Guy behind me probably thought I was an idiot. Plus points for the signal auto cancelling after the lane change/turn. I did not try any of the new buttons on the steering wheel. From the looks of it they controlled voice command, windshield wiper, cruise speed and something else which I didn't recognize.
The "transmission" stalk deletion and replacement by the thin vertical strip on the screen also took a bit to get used to. I did not try the buttons above the mirror. Easy to figure out which "gear" to select given that the strip automatically shows up on the screen when the car thinks you might need it.
Acceleration didn't really feel any different than my old Model 3. Like I said, I think I hit 80 when merging onto the highway. I believe that the 2024 is supposed to be a second faster to 60MPH than my '18 RWD. As my own car is plenty fast, good enough to get a speeding ticket a few months after getting it, I don't
think I need anything faster.
What I did appreciate on the new model was the ventilated seats. Nice to have hot or cold air blowing on your back. For me, that would be enough of a reason to buy one of these cars.
No inspection of the trunk, frunk or overall panel fitment, sorry if you were curious about these items. I did notice that it took a bit more effort in order to close the driver side doors than my car. I did not open either passenger side door. Center console changes were neutral (IMO), although I like the way that the covers slid open and closed. I wasn't aware of the relocation of the key card sensor from under the front of the armrest (i.e., behind the cupholders) to the phone tray, but an on-screen prompt helped my confusion.
My demo drive was from 12:30 to 1pm and the sun was out so no notice of the interior lights or the performance of the windshield wipers or headlights. Everything else felt the same to me.