First day with the car! First day with a loaner.

[Lertulo]

Picked up my new model 3 this morning, about 3 hours ago. And yet, at the moment I'm driving a model S.

See, my (beautiful) model 3 lost its *sugar* before I had driven it 10 miles. I'm in a parking lot going about 15mph when I release the accel, and the car has a fit: says the front motor is disabled, all assist services disabled, regen braking disabled, blah blah. Took me 20 minutes to limp back to the dealership, who have put me in a loaner.

So, welcome to the Tesla family, I guess.

 

[gilscales]

Picked up my new model 3 this morning, about 3 hours ago. And yet, at the moment I'm driving a model S.

See, my (beautiful) model 3 lost its *sugar* before I had driven it 10 miles. I'm in a parking lot going about 15mph when I release the accel, and the car has a fit: says the front motor is disabled, all assist services disabled, regen braking disabled, blah blah. Took me 20 minutes to limp back to the dealership, who have put me in a loaner.

So, welcome to the Tesla family, I guess.

Yeah but how's the S ? haha

I have a 2018 RWD LR and first time in service was 33k miles so for us this has been the most trouble car we have owned, they loaned me an X, it was nice to have a Tesla loaner and I only needed to have the car in for one day.

I recently put my 3 in the bodyshop for 9 days (young driver scrapped my fender in a parking lot while I was in a restaurant) and AAA insurance provided me a loaner through enterprise, it was a VW atlas and I can say that after that short time without my 3 that I am more convinced than ever I will always drive a BEV.

The damage to the car looked like maybe $500 to me, body shop charged $4,100 to AAA so watch those aluminum doors!

 

[Rockster]

Yikes! Sorry. They'll definitely take care of you. These things sometimes happen, even with brand new cars. I had something similar with a factory new BMW M Roadster I bought. They made it right by the next day.

 

[Lertulo]

Yeah but how's the S ?

Honestly not enamored with the S. Still fun to drive, no worries there. But the interior is dark--like a cave--and feels like a regression from the clean, open design of the 3. The steering wheel blocks my view of the front-of-driver display, the windows have an on-door adjustment (barbarians) and the seats feel weird and lumpy.

Probably mostly sour grapes. Was busy falling in love with my new, bright model 3 and now it's already gone.

 

[Lertulo]

Yikes! Sorry. They'll definitely take care of you. These things sometimes happen, even with brand new cars. I had something similar with a factory new BMW M Roadster I bought. They made it right by the next day.

Thanks. Here's hoping. Doctor Google says the symptom usually means the whole front motor is blown and needs to be replaced. Sigh...

 

[Probllama]

Thanks. Here's hoping. Doctor Google says the symptom usually means the whole front motor is blown and needs to be replaced. Sigh...

Do you know your car's build date? I am taking delivery this Saturday and my car's build date is October 4th. Just hoping there wasn't a bad batch of front motors that I might be getting too...

 

[OCR1]

Sorry to hear. Were there any fit and finish issues you had them write up?

 

[dandrewk]

That’s got to be disheartening and very bad luck. Hopefully you won’t be without your Model 3 for long.

At least we know the Model 3 does indeed still work if one of the motors fail.

 

[gilscales]

Honestly not enamored with the S. Still fun to drive, no worries there. But the interior is dark--like a cave--and feels like a regression from the clean, open design of the 3. The steering wheel blocks my view of the front-of-driver display, the windows have an on-door adjustment (barbarians) and the seats feel weird and lumpy.

Probably mostly sour grapes. Was busy falling in love with my new, bright model 3 and now it's already gone.

I felt the same way, the 3 is more comfortable to me even though the ride is a bit stiffer, I also prefer the 3's simple layout and open feeling to the S, looking forward to possibly getting the Y on the next one, I hope they sort you out asap, hate to see anyone have problems because it is such a great car, you will definitely enjoy it in the long run.

 

[Phlier]

@Lertulo Man, that just truly sucks. I can't even imagine how disappointed you must be at this point, especially since the buying process itself really isn't any fun to work through. But then to have this happen on the drive home from delivery.... wow.

I'm honestly at a loss to even find any words of encouragement for you. I guess about the only thing I can say is that when the car is working correctly (as mine has so far), it is by far the best car I've ever driven. I hope you're able to experience that for yourself, very soon.

Keep the faith, man. Let us know how this works out for you?

 

[Lertulo]

Appreciate the replies. My car's build date was approx 8 Aug 2019, and it's running the v10 software. No fit or finish issues caught my eye in the 3h that I had it.

Frustrating and maybe a little foreboding. But the feeling of loss definitely underscores how much I've been looking forward to the vehicle, and how much I enjoyed it for that brief time. Will post here when the SC has something to say.

 

[SMAlset]

Honestly not enamored with the S. Still fun to drive, no worries there. But the interior is dark--like a cave--and feels like a regression from the clean, open design of the 3. The steering wheel blocks my view of the front-of-driver display, the windows have an on-door adjustment (barbarians) and the seats feel weird and lumpy.

Probably mostly sour grapes. Was busy falling in love with my new, bright model 3 and now it's already gone.

Sorry you only got to sip the wine for a short period. I'm glad you didn't get stranded however and that you're being taken care of. Hopefully your baby will be back soon.

Had to laugh at the dark cave like feel of the Model S. Our MS has black interior and headliner and honestly I love it. Very relaxing to the eyes on especially bright sunlit days, less squinting and hopefully less crows feet down the road! It's still our preferred road trip car for a lot of reasons. I do also love my Model 3 (with black interior but light colored headliner) and appreciate the openness of it. Lots of other great features that are different from the MS. Just different cars, but equally fun to drive.

 

[Phlier]

Had to laugh at the dark cave like feel of the Model S. Our MS has black interior and headliner and honestly I love it. Very relaxing to the eyes on especially bright sunlit days

I love the feeling of a dark car interior, too. It's a nice change from the so-bright-it's-actually-unbelievable environment of my work office (737 cockpit). I was worried that the Model 3's glass roof would make it way too bright inside for me, but was very pleasantly surprised that it doesn't make it uncomfortably bright.

I'm very much looking forward to my future Model S, just for its dark cave like qualities, but I'm waiting for the Plaid power train.

@Lertulo Thanks for keeping us updated! Tesla's customer service has, to put it mildly, a long way to go. There are a lot of people stating that they are short on loaner cars, so people are being given Uber credits while their cars are in for service. If Tesla would've given you Uber credits instead of a loaner Model S, I'd be on the phone with Elon right now.

 

[Lertulo]

Just heard from the SC: my car is fixed and ready for pickup. They explain that it was a wiring harness that was loose and needed to be reseated and secured.

Frustration aside, my experience here has actually been pretty good. Everyone has been extremely polite and prompt, they've taken the time to explain the process and even walk me through the model s peculiarities for the loaner, and the service manager even said he'd be willing to wait even to midnight if that's when I was ready to pick it up.

 

[dandrewk]

Awesome news! Now forget about this nonsense and enjoy your beautiful new car.... for real this time!

 

[JesusQuintana]

Just heard from the SC: my car is fixed and ready for pickup. They explain that it was a wiring harness that was loose and needed to be reseated and secured.

Frustration aside, my experience here has actually been pretty good. Everyone has been extremely polite and prompt, they've taken the time to explain the process and even walk me through the model s peculiarities for the loaner, and the service manager even said he'd be willing to wait even to midnight if that's when I was ready to pick it up.

Please give a full review of your level of enjoyment here so us waiters can get even more excited. Thanks in advance!

 

[destructure00]

Similar thing happened to me. Took delivery of the car, noticed before I left that there were all kinds of errors for regen disabled, autopilot disabled, abs disabled, blah blah. They kept the car overnight (also put me in a S loaner....not a big fan but was happy to come home in a Tesla). Did something to it, not sure what, and got it back next day. Been fine ever since.

 

[Lertulo]

I've now driven my NEW TESLA MODEL 3 (stoked stoked stoked) for all of 50 miles. And indeed the problem I encountered earlier appears to be fully resolved. Whew!

I'm pushing 50yo at this point, and have lost count of the number of cars that I've owned. Had a beetle, several saturns, Hyundai, Toyota, Chevy, Fiat, even a beloved Mini Cooper; you name it, I've owned it. But I've never driven anything like this little model 3.

In some ways it does feel like s lightweight. The interior is simply captivating (got the white int) in its austere, spartan purity...but it's not sumptuous. Its seats are phenomenal, but my last car had AC looped through them too. The trunk is spacious, but the opening is small and there's no power lift gate. You see my point? I love *love* the design, but some of the pointless-but-pleasant luxuries are still on the drawing board.

Otoh, I'd forgive way more than that for the driving. Oh. My. God.

I got the AWD LR (FSD+18"), not the performance trim. I expected the acceleration off the line to be amazing--and even so, I'm still stunned. It pushes so hard I have to use the head rest, and it leaves butterflies in my stomach.

What I didn't expect is that it can do the same trick, starting at 50mph. Snap!, and again with the butterflies.

I also didn't expect the handling. It feels so solid in cornering: like it's firmly in control (even with me enjoying heavy foot weight), smoothly sliding into traffic at speed with no real effort on my part and crazy little body roll. In short, it's acting more like a ~$90k sports car, than the ~$50k low-end sedan I expected.

Just loving this thing.

 

[jjrandorin]

I've now driven my NEW TESLA MODEL 3 (stoked stoked stoked) for all of 50 miles. And indeed the problem I encountered earlier appears to be fully resolved. Whew!

I'm pushing 50yo at this point, and have lost count of the number of cars that I've owned. Had a beetle, several saturns, Hyundai, Toyota, Chevy, Fiat, even a beloved Mini Cooper; you name it, I've owned it. But I've never driven anything like this little model 3.

In some ways it does feel like s lightweight. The interior is simply captivating (got the white int) in its austere, spartan purity...but it's not sumptuous. Its seats are phenomenal, but my last car had AC looped through them too. The trunk is spacious, but the opening is small and there's no power lift gate. You see my point? I love *love* the design, but some of the pointless-but-pleasant luxuries are still on the drawing board.

Otoh, I'd forgive way more than that for the driving. Oh. My. God.

I got the AWD LR (FSD+18"), not the performance trim. I expected the acceleration off the line to be amazing--and even so, I'm still stunned. It pushes so hard I have to use the head rest, and it leaves butterflies in my stomach.

What I didn't expect is that it can do the same trick, starting at 50mph. Snap!, and again with the butterflies.

I also didn't expect the handling. It feels so solid in cornering: like it's firmly in control (even with me enjoying heavy foot weight), smoothly sliding into traffic at speed with no real effort on my part and crazy little body roll. In short, it's acting more like a ~$90k sports car, than the ~$50k low-end sedan I expected.

Just loving this thing.

Thats the thing, isnt it? Many of us forgive tesla a ton of things because the car drives so....@$%#!$%.... good. My experience has been mostly positive, with the exception of the fact that tesla can not seem to make my spoiler actually stay on my car in any appreciable fashion (after waiting 6+ months for it after purchase with my model 3P).

The battery weight being on the bottom of the car makes the heavy model 3 feel surprisingly light and nimble, even though its heavy. Even people who are supremely annoyed with tesla's actions or lack thereof related to service, etc, tend to really appreciate how this darn thing actually drives.

Really glad to read that tesla took care of you. Getting a new car and having an issue with it right off the bat sucks. if thats your local SC, it sounds like you have a winner. If it were me, I would likely mail the manager a thank you card for taking care of you so fast on the issue with a hand written note. That is super old school, but I guarentee if thats your home service center, and you thank them like that, you would be remembered favorably, and likely enjoy exceptional service from that SC as long as that crew is there.

Anyway, glad it worked out and you are enjoying it