I picked up my Model 3 yesterday at the Indianapolis, IN service center. My delivery experience was exceptional. I was greeted very warmly by the receptionist who knew my name before I even said it and escorted me to a nice waiting room. A few minutes later, two very charming young ladies, who were my delivery specialists also greeted me warmly with a smile and a "welcome to the Tesla family" and escorted me to my car. One delivery specialist walked me through the paperwork which took a couple of minutes and when that was done, the other delivery specialist walked me through a few basics about my car, namely, setting up my Tesla app as a phone key, showing me how to open/close the trunk and frunk, showed me the charging cords and adapters and explained how they work. She made sure I understood the gear shift and explained to me that autopilot would take a few miles to calibrate. She also showed me the driving settings on the screen. She asked me if I had any questions and I said no, so she opened the front door to let me drive out. That probably took about 15 minutes. She also was very nice to take my picture with me and the car. Overall, the delivery specialist were very professional and very friendly. It was a perfect experience.
The car itself has exceeded all my expectations! It is a fantastic car! It is stylish and sleek, but fun and easy to drive. It drives really smooth and quiet. I love how effortless it is to drive. Just walk up and open the door and everything starts. Put it in park and get out and everything shuts down. The regen is powerful but just right.
The build quality is perfect. I have a car in the 30k VIN range.
The front view is very spacious. You can see so much out of the front windshield. You don't see the hood at all so there is a sense of openness. It's almost feels like you are not in a car but it's just you hovering over the road.
The acceleration is great! Very quick and sporty without being ludicrous (HAHA).
The screen was not a problem at all. It was not awkward at all to do a quick glance to see my speed or other info. Having the speed and autopilot info on the left side of the screen is easy for the driver to see. I did find the little arc lines around your car to show close objects pretty useful for checking my blind spot in addition to checking my the side mirrors.
If I had to nitpick, I would say the screen is so gorgeous that there is a temptation at least for me to want to touch it. The right side with the navigation seems not really meant for the driver, at least not while you are driving. It would be be bad driving to be touching the screen while driving. Don't do it! But the left side is easy for the driver while driving. Luckily, the scroll wheels allow the driver to do everything they really need without touching the screen.
I am on the latest software update, 2018.24.7
Autopilot calibrated pretty quickly. TACC performed extremely well. It braked and accelerated flawlessly in stop and go traffic. I can see how some might think that TACC is not quick enough to start again or to brake but I did not mind. It felt like the driving of a safe driver. You don't know if the car in front of you is really accelerating again or if it's a false start so a TACC that takes a second before accelerating again is a safe thing IMO. I had a situation at an intersection where a car was moving perpendicular in front of me and TACC reacted perfectly, braking strongly when it sensed the car suddenly in front of me but then accelerating when the vehicle had passed. I did not get a chance to experience Auto Lane Change yet but I did do a manual auto lane change with TACC only and I really liked how it was quickly accelerated for me again when it sensed no car in front of me anymore in the new lane. TACC did update the speed limit but was clearly not reading traffic signs (we already knew that). So I made sure to manually adjust the speed limit with my scroll wheel which worked really well to adjust my speed. But I can definitely empathize with the very first Model 3 drivers who got the car before the update that added the scroll wheel functionality. Having to tap the screen while driving would not be the best. But the scroll wheel works perfectly.
Overall, I find TACC extremely useful as it makes driving a lot more relaxing. I can see why Tesla bundles TACC into Autopilot though, because I could see a lot of drivers just getting TACC and skipping the rest of AP if they could, not that AP is bad (it's great too) but I think a lot of drivers would find TACC more than enough for their driver assistant needs, especially since TACC works so well on all roads including city streets.
Auto Steer handled lane keeping flawlessly. I could feel the car making micro adjustments to the steering but the car stayed perfectly in the lane. Granted, I only encountered straight and mild curves on my road and the lane markings were very clear. But in those instances, auto steer was perfect.
I tried to test auto lane but it did not let me. I was on a road with two lanes going one way and two lanes going the other way with a grassy area between the two. Even though the road is divided, technically, it is not considered an interstate highway, which is probably why the Auto Lane change did not work.
Granted my experience with AP is very limited but I feel pretty optimistic about the future of AP. Putting aside the whole FSD debate, the 8 cameras hold a lot of potential for things you could use them for IMO. So I could definitely see Tesla releasing some really good stuff in the future.
I did have one strong phantom braking (60 mph to 40 mph in a couple seconds) when I passed under the large branches of a large tree next to the road. Don't know if it was the shadow of the tree on the road that caused the braking or the branches that the car thought was in front of me when really they were above me. The road was a bit hilly so maybe the radar just happened to reflect off of the branches and therefore think that there was an object in my path? But overall, autopilot worked really well and made my driving much easier and more relaxing.
The "hold the steering wheel" were a little frequent at times but I did not mind because they helped me stay focused and also because they were very easy to dismiss. I did try resting my elbow on the door and resting my left hand on steering wheel at the 9am position. That worked well to avoid the alerts. I also tried giving the steering wheel a slight back and forth tug like a quick "jerking off" motion. That worked extremely well to dismiss the alerts. I was able to drive hands free for 45 seconds or so and just give the tug when the alert came on. Overall, I think Autopilot is a big help for long highway driving. Hopefully, Tesla will get to the point where they can do away with the alerts completely at least on divided highways so that we can enjoy highway cruising truly hands free.
I got great energy efficiency too, about 215-220. Having the long range battery is perfect. I have no range anxiety at all.
I have not had any issues with my phone key or connecting my phone so far. I have a Galaxy S8+.
The entertainment system is fantastic. The sound quality in the premium interior is incredible. I also love the voice command feature. I was able to just say "play mozart" and it found a mozart station in a couple seconds and started playing it. Having radio, internet stations and streaming from your phone is more than adequate for me.
Summon is very cool. I have not had the chance to test auto park yet.
Overall, the car is a dream. Fantastic!!
I feel like Tesla is definitely changing the world with this car.
The car itself has exceeded all my expectations! It is a fantastic car! It is stylish and sleek, but fun and easy to drive. It drives really smooth and quiet. I love how effortless it is to drive. Just walk up and open the door and everything starts. Put it in park and get out and everything shuts down. The regen is powerful but just right.
The build quality is perfect. I have a car in the 30k VIN range.
The front view is very spacious. You can see so much out of the front windshield. You don't see the hood at all so there is a sense of openness. It's almost feels like you are not in a car but it's just you hovering over the road.
The acceleration is great! Very quick and sporty without being ludicrous (HAHA).
The screen was not a problem at all. It was not awkward at all to do a quick glance to see my speed or other info. Having the speed and autopilot info on the left side of the screen is easy for the driver to see. I did find the little arc lines around your car to show close objects pretty useful for checking my blind spot in addition to checking my the side mirrors.
If I had to nitpick, I would say the screen is so gorgeous that there is a temptation at least for me to want to touch it. The right side with the navigation seems not really meant for the driver, at least not while you are driving. It would be be bad driving to be touching the screen while driving. Don't do it! But the left side is easy for the driver while driving. Luckily, the scroll wheels allow the driver to do everything they really need without touching the screen.
I am on the latest software update, 2018.24.7
Autopilot calibrated pretty quickly. TACC performed extremely well. It braked and accelerated flawlessly in stop and go traffic. I can see how some might think that TACC is not quick enough to start again or to brake but I did not mind. It felt like the driving of a safe driver. You don't know if the car in front of you is really accelerating again or if it's a false start so a TACC that takes a second before accelerating again is a safe thing IMO. I had a situation at an intersection where a car was moving perpendicular in front of me and TACC reacted perfectly, braking strongly when it sensed the car suddenly in front of me but then accelerating when the vehicle had passed. I did not get a chance to experience Auto Lane Change yet but I did do a manual auto lane change with TACC only and I really liked how it was quickly accelerated for me again when it sensed no car in front of me anymore in the new lane. TACC did update the speed limit but was clearly not reading traffic signs (we already knew that). So I made sure to manually adjust the speed limit with my scroll wheel which worked really well to adjust my speed. But I can definitely empathize with the very first Model 3 drivers who got the car before the update that added the scroll wheel functionality. Having to tap the screen while driving would not be the best. But the scroll wheel works perfectly.
Overall, I find TACC extremely useful as it makes driving a lot more relaxing. I can see why Tesla bundles TACC into Autopilot though, because I could see a lot of drivers just getting TACC and skipping the rest of AP if they could, not that AP is bad (it's great too) but I think a lot of drivers would find TACC more than enough for their driver assistant needs, especially since TACC works so well on all roads including city streets.
Auto Steer handled lane keeping flawlessly. I could feel the car making micro adjustments to the steering but the car stayed perfectly in the lane. Granted, I only encountered straight and mild curves on my road and the lane markings were very clear. But in those instances, auto steer was perfect.
I tried to test auto lane but it did not let me. I was on a road with two lanes going one way and two lanes going the other way with a grassy area between the two. Even though the road is divided, technically, it is not considered an interstate highway, which is probably why the Auto Lane change did not work.
Granted my experience with AP is very limited but I feel pretty optimistic about the future of AP. Putting aside the whole FSD debate, the 8 cameras hold a lot of potential for things you could use them for IMO. So I could definitely see Tesla releasing some really good stuff in the future.
I did have one strong phantom braking (60 mph to 40 mph in a couple seconds) when I passed under the large branches of a large tree next to the road. Don't know if it was the shadow of the tree on the road that caused the braking or the branches that the car thought was in front of me when really they were above me. The road was a bit hilly so maybe the radar just happened to reflect off of the branches and therefore think that there was an object in my path? But overall, autopilot worked really well and made my driving much easier and more relaxing.
The "hold the steering wheel" were a little frequent at times but I did not mind because they helped me stay focused and also because they were very easy to dismiss. I did try resting my elbow on the door and resting my left hand on steering wheel at the 9am position. That worked well to avoid the alerts. I also tried giving the steering wheel a slight back and forth tug like a quick "jerking off" motion. That worked extremely well to dismiss the alerts. I was able to drive hands free for 45 seconds or so and just give the tug when the alert came on. Overall, I think Autopilot is a big help for long highway driving. Hopefully, Tesla will get to the point where they can do away with the alerts completely at least on divided highways so that we can enjoy highway cruising truly hands free.
I got great energy efficiency too, about 215-220. Having the long range battery is perfect. I have no range anxiety at all.
I have not had any issues with my phone key or connecting my phone so far. I have a Galaxy S8+.
The entertainment system is fantastic. The sound quality in the premium interior is incredible. I also love the voice command feature. I was able to just say "play mozart" and it found a mozart station in a couple seconds and started playing it. Having radio, internet stations and streaming from your phone is more than adequate for me.
Summon is very cool. I have not had the chance to test auto park yet.
Overall, the car is a dream. Fantastic!!
I feel like Tesla is definitely changing the world with this car.
