I managed to hit about 1000 miles in my first two weeks of M3LR ownership, so I thought I would share some of my experiences from test drive through now. For some context, I live in Orlando, Florida and my car before this was a 2013 Camry.
Test Drive: Not a great first impression unfortunately. I had made an appointment, showed up on time and everyone seemed very confused. I guess somehow it had assigned me to the (very busy) manager for my test drive. While he was very nice and knowledgeable he basically dropped me off at the car and walked away and clearly didn’t have time to talk. When I came back there was more confusion and they put me with someone who told me that he usually just porters cars to the chargers and hasn’t really talked to someone about buying one before. Sigh. Ok. Unfortunately he couldn’t answer any of my (even basic questions) - things like what are the differences in sound systems between the SR+ and the LR and even though he promised follow up I never heard from him again.
A few months later I decided to place my order when I saw delivery dates starting to extend out to November. Then by late August it was clear that I would get delivery by Mid September. I was assigned a sales advisor who for the first day was great about responding to emails and texts then completely dropped off the map. My buddy who purchased one in Orlando about a month prior had a similar situation with the exact same person and had to get a manager involved to get any answers to questions, etc. I almost would rather they work on commission because then at least I would know I would have someone trying to help me purchase this car. My credit union would only pay by check and that seems to be the last thing Tesla wants to accept. I kept getting conflicting information on how they wanted the check made out, the sales agreement kept getting rejected by the credit union since Tesla kept putting the wrong info on it, etc. I’ve never had an issue like this purchasing a car before.
Delivery date started off with an hour wait from our appointment time since they were “so behind” and then being told that we would have to wait longer if we wanted the car to have more than 45% power since they didn’t have a working supercharger. Then our sales guy was once again completely confused by the check, didn’t know what to do with it, had to go ask someone, etc. Is it that unusual to pay by certified bank check? Then the real fun started - I had read on this forum, Reddit, etc the importance of taking your time to do a full check before taking delivery. He wanted me to sign for delivery before even seeing the car - I politely explained I wanted to do a quick 15 minute check before signing off. He told me that wasn’t possible and I was required to sign for delivery before he could show me the car. I politely pushed back, he huffed, said fine and walked me out. He then held out the tablet again and said before I could check anything I needed to sign for delivery. I explained once again that everything I had read said to not do that because if there is an issue I’m now stuck with the car. He huffed once again - literally said “whatever” rolled his eyes and turned around and walked away without saying another word.
We spent a quick 15 minutes checking everything and found a couple of small things we wanted to ask about. We went back inside and our guy was no where to be found. One of the other advisors said he would help us, was super nice and got us out of there in 10 minutes and answered all of our questions! Why couldn’t that be the experience all the way through!
Car Thoughts!
Positives: extremely fun to drive and I didn’t notice any of the “fit and finish” or QC issues that I’ve seen mentioned on here. I love the tech (for the most part) and it’s actually more comfortable for long distances than I thought it would be based on my test drive.
Things I wish I had listened to from the forum:
Range anxiety when you can’t charge at home is a real thing! I’m very glad I can charge at work usually (although it’s expensive) but I also really wish I could charge exclusively at superchargers without worrying about the battery. It’s a tough transition to “think differently” with this - like there is a slow charger I could use for free about 2 miles away from my house - but then I would have to figure out how to get back and forth from it since it would need to be there 4-6 hours. It doesn’t change my opinion of the importance of going electric, it just makes it more difficult.
The lack of satellite radio! I really underestimated how big of a deal this is for me. I’ve had XM since it came out in every vehicle I’ve owned. I’m doing the Alexa car and streaming thing - but it’s just not the same. This and a lack of other Apple car play features might have been a deal breaker for me in hindsight.
How much more expensive insurance would be. Holy cow! I had read this but once I started pricing it I already had my loan set and was a bit locked in. I should have dug into this first.
Sentry mode if you park in an area where you will have lots of “events” will suck your batter more than I expected. I’m not sure I like having to choose between having sentry on and having range anxiety.
Nitpicky things!
The mapping isn’t good. Why on earth can’t we use Google maps? It really takes away from the overall integrated experience of the car. If you don’t want to let us choose our mapping software at least incorporate some features like alternate route choices, etc.
The AC is not great for Florida. I might just be used to analogue controls but I want an easy way to max out my ac instantly besides multiple touch screen presses. Manual vents seem to work better for aiming even though the screen controls seem flashy, etc.
I really like the cruise control, but autopilot seems to make driving more stressful to me. It feels like a novelty in its current form, I’m sure FSD feels much more natural with lane changes, etc.
The lack of a handle above the doors has been pointed out by every single person I’ve given a ride to!
The bad-
The automatic wipers are pretty much useless. How this passed any type of approval is nuts. Every other car manages to make this work. If you live in a climate with a lot of variable rain, be prepared to go back to adjusting your wipers manually.
I guess I missed this during my research - but no spare tire and no run flats? I have the spare kit on order but having to spend $400 for something every other car I’ve owned has had seems kinda nuts.
Personal preference issues -
I didn’t realize how stressful having a “nice”
car would be. I’m not a “car guy” - I don’t want to spend time detailing it, worrying about where I’m parking, etc. I like that when I get into my Camry that I don’t care if it gets dented. Driving the Tesla has me on edge the entire time. I hope that changes over time.
Hope this makes sense and wasn’t too much of a text wall! To be honest, I do have a little bit of buyers remorse - mostly related to the stress of having a “nice car” and having to worry about it all the time. I likely would have returned it based on that alone if they still had a return policy. That being said, it is a great car - but it is a different experience and you should really make sure you are ready for that experience before buying.
Test Drive: Not a great first impression unfortunately. I had made an appointment, showed up on time and everyone seemed very confused. I guess somehow it had assigned me to the (very busy) manager for my test drive. While he was very nice and knowledgeable he basically dropped me off at the car and walked away and clearly didn’t have time to talk. When I came back there was more confusion and they put me with someone who told me that he usually just porters cars to the chargers and hasn’t really talked to someone about buying one before. Sigh. Ok. Unfortunately he couldn’t answer any of my (even basic questions) - things like what are the differences in sound systems between the SR+ and the LR and even though he promised follow up I never heard from him again.
A few months later I decided to place my order when I saw delivery dates starting to extend out to November. Then by late August it was clear that I would get delivery by Mid September. I was assigned a sales advisor who for the first day was great about responding to emails and texts then completely dropped off the map. My buddy who purchased one in Orlando about a month prior had a similar situation with the exact same person and had to get a manager involved to get any answers to questions, etc. I almost would rather they work on commission because then at least I would know I would have someone trying to help me purchase this car. My credit union would only pay by check and that seems to be the last thing Tesla wants to accept. I kept getting conflicting information on how they wanted the check made out, the sales agreement kept getting rejected by the credit union since Tesla kept putting the wrong info on it, etc. I’ve never had an issue like this purchasing a car before.
Delivery date started off with an hour wait from our appointment time since they were “so behind” and then being told that we would have to wait longer if we wanted the car to have more than 45% power since they didn’t have a working supercharger. Then our sales guy was once again completely confused by the check, didn’t know what to do with it, had to go ask someone, etc. Is it that unusual to pay by certified bank check? Then the real fun started - I had read on this forum, Reddit, etc the importance of taking your time to do a full check before taking delivery. He wanted me to sign for delivery before even seeing the car - I politely explained I wanted to do a quick 15 minute check before signing off. He told me that wasn’t possible and I was required to sign for delivery before he could show me the car. I politely pushed back, he huffed, said fine and walked me out. He then held out the tablet again and said before I could check anything I needed to sign for delivery. I explained once again that everything I had read said to not do that because if there is an issue I’m now stuck with the car. He huffed once again - literally said “whatever” rolled his eyes and turned around and walked away without saying another word.
We spent a quick 15 minutes checking everything and found a couple of small things we wanted to ask about. We went back inside and our guy was no where to be found. One of the other advisors said he would help us, was super nice and got us out of there in 10 minutes and answered all of our questions! Why couldn’t that be the experience all the way through!
Car Thoughts!
Positives: extremely fun to drive and I didn’t notice any of the “fit and finish” or QC issues that I’ve seen mentioned on here. I love the tech (for the most part) and it’s actually more comfortable for long distances than I thought it would be based on my test drive.
Things I wish I had listened to from the forum:
Range anxiety when you can’t charge at home is a real thing! I’m very glad I can charge at work usually (although it’s expensive) but I also really wish I could charge exclusively at superchargers without worrying about the battery. It’s a tough transition to “think differently” with this - like there is a slow charger I could use for free about 2 miles away from my house - but then I would have to figure out how to get back and forth from it since it would need to be there 4-6 hours. It doesn’t change my opinion of the importance of going electric, it just makes it more difficult.
The lack of satellite radio! I really underestimated how big of a deal this is for me. I’ve had XM since it came out in every vehicle I’ve owned. I’m doing the Alexa car and streaming thing - but it’s just not the same. This and a lack of other Apple car play features might have been a deal breaker for me in hindsight.
How much more expensive insurance would be. Holy cow! I had read this but once I started pricing it I already had my loan set and was a bit locked in. I should have dug into this first.
Sentry mode if you park in an area where you will have lots of “events” will suck your batter more than I expected. I’m not sure I like having to choose between having sentry on and having range anxiety.
Nitpicky things!
The mapping isn’t good. Why on earth can’t we use Google maps? It really takes away from the overall integrated experience of the car. If you don’t want to let us choose our mapping software at least incorporate some features like alternate route choices, etc.
The AC is not great for Florida. I might just be used to analogue controls but I want an easy way to max out my ac instantly besides multiple touch screen presses. Manual vents seem to work better for aiming even though the screen controls seem flashy, etc.
I really like the cruise control, but autopilot seems to make driving more stressful to me. It feels like a novelty in its current form, I’m sure FSD feels much more natural with lane changes, etc.
The lack of a handle above the doors has been pointed out by every single person I’ve given a ride to!
The bad-
The automatic wipers are pretty much useless. How this passed any type of approval is nuts. Every other car manages to make this work. If you live in a climate with a lot of variable rain, be prepared to go back to adjusting your wipers manually.
I guess I missed this during my research - but no spare tire and no run flats? I have the spare kit on order but having to spend $400 for something every other car I’ve owned has had seems kinda nuts.
Personal preference issues -
I didn’t realize how stressful having a “nice”
car would be. I’m not a “car guy” - I don’t want to spend time detailing it, worrying about where I’m parking, etc. I like that when I get into my Camry that I don’t care if it gets dented. Driving the Tesla has me on edge the entire time. I hope that changes over time.
Hope this makes sense and wasn’t too much of a text wall! To be honest, I do have a little bit of buyers remorse - mostly related to the stress of having a “nice car” and having to worry about it all the time. I likely would have returned it based on that alone if they still had a return policy. That being said, it is a great car - but it is a different experience and you should really make sure you are ready for that experience before buying.