First “long” trip in my Long range…

[OliLondon]

Hi

So today had my first longer trip in my 21 LR M3 and very impressed! So the journey consisted of a drive from south Croydon area to Epsom in Surrey to pick up my brother in law and then on to Colchester for him to pick up a new car (a round trip of roughly 210 miles) - my other trips have all been pretty local so it’s the first time I suffered any “range anxiety” but no issues atall and the car impressed my 2 passengers.

motorway was a blast to drive on, used autopilot 80% of the way and drove at a pretty steady speed of 75ish, found a long private road …..to have a quick blast and took it up to 135mph with the car still feeling pretty solid and stable. No rattles or issues (apart from my sons empty car seat which was shaking around). Altogether a really sure footed car that just felt pretty relaxing and safe to drive!

batterywise I have it showing miles rather than % and left with 300, finishing the first leg of the journey (105 miles) showing 190…so almost spot on. I didn’t need to use it but decided to have my first supercharging experience at Colchester, after seeing charge points full up at a service station down the road it was nice to pull up and have plenty of free bays, plugged in for 20 mins and had a quick picnic then headed off again.

all in all super happy with the first longer drive and my 2 passengers have already started researching Tesla’s after doubting my range claims and saying “the infrastructure just wasn’t there to consider electric yet”

 

[M3noob]

Hi

So today had my first longer trip in my 21 LR M3 and very impressed! So the journey consisted of a drive from south Croydon area to Epsom in Surrey to pick up my brother in law and then on to Colchester for him to pick up a new car (a round trip of roughly 210 miles) - my other trips have all been pretty local so it’s the first time I suffered any “range anxiety” but no issues atall and the car impressed my 2 passengers.

motorway was a blast to drive on, used autopilot 80% of the way and drove at a pretty steady speed of 75ish, found a long private road …..to have a quick blast and took it up to 135mph with the car still feeling pretty solid and stable. No rattles or issues (apart from my sons empty car seat which was shaking around). Altogether a really sure footed car that just felt pretty relaxing and safe to drive!

batterywise I have it showing miles rather than % and left with 300, finishing the first leg of the journey (105 miles) showing 190…so almost spot on. I didn’t need to use it but decided to have my first supercharging experience at Colchester, after seeing charge points full up at a service station down the road it was nice to pull up and have plenty of free bays, plugged in for 20 mins and had a quick picnic then headed off again.

all in all super happy with the first longer drive and my 2 passengers have already started researching Tesla’s after doubting my range claims and saying “the infrastructure just wasn’t there to consider electric yet”

That's pretty much my assessment. We've been to Spain and back five times. AWD LR is the perfect tourer. FSD a big help. SC coverage coupled with Destination Chargers are hard to beat.

 

[Nick77]

How did you find the wind noise in yours?

I find after about 60 it starts to get a bit louder and is very noticeable at 80.

I imagine at 135 you can hear it

 

[Mr H]

How did you find the wind noise in yours?

I find after about 60 it starts to get a bit louder and is very noticeable at 80.

I imagine at 135 you can hear it

I had my Merc SL in Germany a couple of years back, 155 on the autobahn with the roof down has a tad of wind noise ;-)

 

[OliLondon]

How did you find the wind noise in yours?

I find after about 60 it starts to get a bit louder and is very noticeable at 80.

I imagine at 135 you can hear it

I would certainly agree at it being noticeable above 80, but certainly not noticeable to the point of being a distraction or annoying me, and I didn’t have the radio on too loud - & yeah north of 100 (on that long private road again ha) it’s definitely noticeable but I would not say significantly more so than past ice cars I have owned - honestly the car continues to impress me, even the fact I had the condensation issue with the light wasn’t a problem seeming as it was replaced on my driveway Friday afternoon in 10 mins

 

[OliLondon]

I had my Merc SL in Germany a couple of years back, 155 on the autobahn with the roof down has a tad of wind noise ;-)

Hehe but bet you weren’t too bothered about the noise, I imagine your focus was elsewhere ha - reminds me of when I drove from Vegas up to the Grand Canyon with a mate many years ago, we rented a Chevy Camarro super sport (I believe it was a 6.2L), had the roof down and took it up to about 170mph for a few mins….pulled over to refuel and there was a plaque on the inside of the door saying “do not exceed 105mph with roof down due to risk of car over turning” - in hindsight we should have probably read the manual a bit or listened to the guy at the rental place

 

[Peter 224]

Hi

So today had my first longer trip in my 21 LR M3 and very impressed! So the journey consisted of a drive from south Croydon area to Epsom in Surrey to pick up my brother in law and then on to Colchester for him to pick up a new car (a round trip of roughly 210 miles) - my other trips have all been pretty local so it’s the first time I suffered any “range anxiety” but no issues atall and the car impressed my 2 passengers.

motorway was a blast to drive on, used autopilot 80% of the way and drove at a pretty steady speed of 75ish, found a long private road …..to have a quick blast and took it up to 135mph with the car still feeling pretty solid and stable. No rattles or issues (apart from my sons empty car seat which was shaking around). Altogether a really sure footed car that just felt pretty relaxing and safe to drive!

batterywise I have it showing miles rather than % and left with 300, finishing the first leg of the journey (105 miles) showing 190…so almost spot on. I didn’t need to use it but decided to have my first supercharging experience at Colchester, after seeing charge points full up at a service station down the road it was nice to pull up and have plenty of free bays, plugged in for 20 mins and had a quick picnic then headed off again.

all in all super happy with the first longer drive and my 2 passengers have already started researching Tesla’s after doubting my range claims and saying “the infrastructure just wasn’t there to consider electric yet”

Sums up my experiences over the first 1100 miles.
I fear I'm becoming a bit of a Tesla enthusiast...
My position is that there is no. viable EV infrastructure, unless it is a Tesla...

 

[Talllbloke]

What car was the in-law picking up? Not electric?

 

[Sparkeur]

That's pretty much my assessment. We've been to Spain and back five times. AWD LR is the perfect tourer. FSD a big help. SC coverage coupled with Destination Chargers are hard to beat.

Couldn't agree more - we'll be doing the run from Bordeaux to Murcia every few months as things open up and after a round trip to Malaga last year, I have every confidence in range and the SC network. Looking forward to being able to drive back to the UK as well in a couple of months.

 

[SR-Plus]

Nice write, thanks for sharing. So you could have got away with a Standard Range Plus if you charged after doing 105 miles .

 

[RazorCH3]

Couldn't agree more - we'll be doing the run from Bordeaux to Murcia every few months as things open up and after a round trip to Malaga last year, I have every confidence in range and the SC network. Looking forward to being able to drive back to the UK as well in a couple of months.

How do you find the charging network in France and Spain? Are they on par or ahead/behind the UK? We are looking to visit friends near Cannes early next year and have driven with an ICE, but I was wondering how it would be in the M3LR that hopefully arrives next month.

 

[M3noob]

How do you find the charging network in France and Spain? Are they on par or ahead/behind the UK? We are looking to visit friends near Cannes early next year and have driven with an ICE, but I was wondering how it would be in the M3LR that hopefully arrives next month.

In France, even during the worst of "the Chinese virus", everything was working fine with the Superchargers with one exception. The car's nav wouldn't display the chargers at Brive. ABRP also.

Having been there before, we pressed on regardless. Whoops. Construction closed the essential junction. Stretched it to Limoge, arrived with 10pc which is in our anxiety zone.

Believe the car nav and ABRP!

BTW the Accor chain (Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel, etc) are often co-sited with SCs and offer decent accommodation and really good room service if the restaurants are closed.

 

[RazorCH3]

In France, even during the worst of "the Chinese virus", everything was working fine with the Superchargers with one exception. The car's nav wouldn't display the chargers at Brive. ABRP also.

Having been there before, we pressed on regardless. Whoops. Construction closed the essential junction. Stretched it to Limoge, arrived with 10pc which is in our anxiety zone.

Believe the car nav and ABRP!

BTW the Accor chain (Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel, etc) are often co-sited with SCs and offer decent accommodation and really good room service if the restaurants are closed.

Great to know, thanks. I’ve looked at ABRP but didn’t see many chargers. Zap-Map didn’t seem to work abroad, hopefully there’s a euro version.

 

[M3noob]

In France, even during the worst of "the Chinese virus", everything was working fine with the Superchargers with one exception. The car's nav wouldn't display the chargers at Brive. ABRP also.

Having been there before, we pressed on regardless. Whoops. Construction closed the essential junction. Stretched it to Limoge, arrived with 10pc which is in our anxiety zone.

Believe the car nav and ABRP!

BTW the Accor chain (Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel, etc) are often co-sited with SCs and offer decent accommodation and really good room service if the restaurants are closed.

Mea culpa. My naviatrix has refreshed my recollection. It was the Baie de Somme SC that was hors d' construction. Diverted to Amiens.

Moral of the story remains the same: believe the car nav and ABRP en route.

 

[Sparkeur]

How do you find the charging network in France and Spain? Are they on par or ahead/behind the UK? We are looking to visit friends near Cannes early next year and have driven with an ICE, but I was wondering how it would be in the M3LR that hopefully arrives next month.

Actually, I haven't used the UK network so I don't know if there is a difference. However, I have had no trouble at all with French or Spanish SC's...although, some of them are quite tucked away in hotel car parks and the like! My closest one is In Saintes (just off the A10) and an the three or four times I've used it, no issues at all. I'm heading down to Murcia next Saturday and really not expecting any problems.
For your planned trip, if you're heading down from Calais, you're looking at four Autoroute stops - about 1200km. Each stop from 25 to 40 mins depending.
If you haven't seen it already, this might help: Voyager sans limite | Tesla

 

[OliLondon]

What car was the in-law picking up? Not electric?

Ah no not electric, although this was a weekend car for him, a GR Yaris, really cool little car actually! - think he is sold on a Tesla after the drive though and seemed pretty impressed with the Infastructure but will probs wait for the Y

 

[OliLondon]

Nice write, thanks for sharing. So you could have got away with a Standard Range Plus if you charged after doing 105 miles .

Happy I changed my order to a LR for the occasional trip like this and the fun factor of the dual motor…but honestly the SR+ would be more than adequate for 99% of mine and my wife’s driving - the M3 is a cracking car whatever model you have….although must say I had a tiny bit of regret not going for a M3P after seeing a lovely black one parked up at the supercharger…..those uberturbine wheels look amazing!

 

[RazorCH3]

If you haven't seen it already, this might help: Voyager sans limite | Tesla

Ah great, hadn’t seen the Tesla version, only ABRP. I love the drive and can only imagine it’s sweeter in the M3LR

 

[M3noob]

Actually, I haven't used the UK network so I don't know if there is a difference. However, I have had no trouble at all with French or Spanish SC's...although, some of them are quite tucked away in hotel car parks and the like! My closest one is In Saintes (just off the A10) and an the three or four times I've used it, no issues at all. I'm heading down to Murcia next Saturday and really not expecting any problems.
For your planned trip, if you're heading down from Calais, you're looking at four Autoroute stops - about 1200km. Each stop from 25 to 40 mins depending.
If you haven't seen it already, this might help: Voyager sans limite | Tesla

Don't neglect the small but useful SC site at the Inter Hotel, variously found as Calais or Coquelles. It is the safest place in Picardie as the rendezvous site of all the cops in the Haute de France.

 

[Mrklaw]

whats French for ‘please register at the hotel reception to avoid a penalty charge’?