First impressions after first drive

[Russinating]

Collected my M3 SR+ on Monday, but as I don't commute today was my first proper drive from Bristol to Cardiff and back, all-in an 87 mile round trip.

First up, I'm not a car person, never have been. My back-catalogue is a Mini Mayfair (hand-me-down), Clio and Sportage. I've never 'got' the fascination with cars... until now. Probably because Teslas tap into the tech part of me as opposed to the petrol head side.

The drive was awesome. A really an enjoyable and dare I say it exciting experience. I thought I'd jot down some of the takeaway positives and negatives below.

Positives

• One Pedal: I used hold mode/one pedal driving the whole way and only touched the brake twice, probably unnecessarily whilst still getting used to it. So amazing and really smooth once you get used to it.
• Acceleration: Man is the car rapid. Even for the SR+. I know my frame of reference is a 1.7 diesel but I love it. I actively wanted lights to turn red so I could be at the front; was just gutted the severn toll is gone! And 50-70 (say from behind an overtaking lorry back up to speed) feels almost instant.
• Wipers/climate: The weather was absolutely atroscious today, some of the worst spray I've ever seen, especially on the two-lane stretches on the M4. The wipers didn't miss a beat and the whole climate and ride generally felt safe and comfortable.
• Free Charging: I parked at St David's Centre for my event that was 5 minute's walk away. Free charging! There were 4 Tesla Destination Chargers, weirdly the first I tried didn't seem to work but when I returned to my car a Model S was using it so maybe a temp fault? 3 were free anyway so I swapped and had no issues. Liked the notifications and ability to start/stop/change the max remotely.
• TeslaFi: Wasn't actually sure if I'd stick with this beyond the trial but as above it taps into my tech side. I like the logging, history, etc, though it does feel like something the Tesla app/website should just have anyway if all the data is there to be looked at.
• Preconditioning: Nice to have the car ready and toasty for both trips. See below for a negative though...

Negatives

• UI: Some of the UI is poorly designed which is a shame as it's such an easy fix. For example when listening to the radio the three icons (back, skip and favourite) take up the same amount of width (half) as the radio info so you can't see full artist/track names. They could be condensed hugely... plus who even skips the radio forward and backward?!
• Spotify: I had problems with Spotify where it simply wouldn't play the next track in the queue, I had to manually press skip. It just had an infinite loading ring where play/pause is. Tried on 3 playlists and an album.
• Apps: I hate it when non-proprietary apps are altered to make them less functional. For example Google Maps; why does the map show traffic everywhere rather than just on my route, why isn't my route colour-coded, nor my ETA, and why can't you login to link places/history. Google have designed an excellent product so why use it but then change it. Similarly with Spotify, the default/only playlist order is oldest track first; I don't want to start listening to my playlists with songs I added 10 years ago, I want it ordered by newest first like you can on all their own apps.
• Preconditioning (again): Why can't you schedule a start time? I set my alarm 30 mins early just so I could turn climate on and then doze off again. I know you can schedule it with Teslafi but as I don't commute my usage isn't regular, and my OH works shifts as well.
• Range: Not sure on this yet, need some more drives. I know the WLTP range of 254 isn't real-world but I used 55% battery to do 87 miles. That equates to 158 miles for 100%, or 126 for 80%, which is WAY below that. Granted the weather was bad... but this is the UK. Not sure if this as expected in the real world? I wasn't putting my foot down really and otherwise was driving quite slowly (stuck in traffic, 50 for lots of the motorway etc).

Following on from the above this is the trip from Telsafi. I decided to top up from 80-90% whilst in my meeting since the charging was free.

 

[Mr H]

You can schedule a start time but you have to be plugged in, just set a scheduled departure and your cabin will be warmed along with the battery to get decent regen

 

[bhav]

Ugh the app issues you describe is exactly what I was dreading by having to leave Android Auto behind. I totally agree - why botch apps that have so many great features already. I believe the maps don't have the speed cameras either, which Google Maps added a while ago and is so useful (I know it's not allowed in some countries... But it is in the UK)

This is what worries me a bit about Tesla... They are or will be the Apple of cars with irritating proprietary limitations which hobble things unnecessarily.

 

[davidmc]

55% for that many miles sounds about right in that type of weather

I do 40mile and use about 25% at the moment or around 270-300 wh per mile.

Wait until summer then that will improve to around 245whm or on a full tank about 220 miles

I was getting around that at the end of August last year

 

[Mr Speirs]

Wow!

Those range figures are worrying! For someone who is awaiting an SR+ also.

Considering I’d keep the charge to 80% as recommended and would generally never want to go too far past 20% that would not give me all that many miles range anxiety free. Roughly 94 miles by the OP’s figures.

Would’ve been hoping closer to 180 in winter rising to 220 in summer based on 100%.

Anybody with an SR+ have more anecdotal evidence to share?

 

[davidmc]

Wow!

Those range figures are worrying! For someone who is awaiting an SR+ also.

Considering I’d keep the charge to 80% as recommended and would generally never want to go too far past 20% that would not give me all that many miles range anxiety free. Roughly 94 miles by the OP’s figures.

Would’ve been hoping closer to 180 in winter rising to 220 in summer based on 100%.

Anybody with an SR+ have more anecdotal evidence to share?

I charge mine to 90% daily and if you drive slowly and with heating to a minimum you may get better range in the colder months. I can get 250-260 wh/mile if I do.

I don't worry about the range anymore. Just drive it and enjoy it I'm 13k mile in and having fun.

One thing to note regards the SR+ is that it can charge from 20% to 90% on a 7kw charger in around 5hrs and 40mins on a 50kw charger so it's very fast as it's a smaller battery than the LR and P

 

[AmPiste]

Re google maps

map aerial photography + roads data source is google
Front end, navigation, etc ‘something else’ - I forget

Whilst it’s not possible to log in (it’s not google maps) it’s possible to find a location using google maps on your phone and send this to the car

 

[mtndrew1]

Tesla does not use google maps for anything beyond the imagery you see on the screen. The actual app and mapping data is home grown Tesla stuff and you can see the nav version in the software tab.

 

[AmPiste]

Tesla does not use google maps for anything beyond the imagery you see on the screen. The actual app and mapping data is home grown Tesla stuff and you can see the nav version in the software tab.

Ah there you go. Yea I forgot wether the mapping data source was google or other. This is the right answer but yea, it’s not google maps

 

[Adopado]

Would’ve been hoping closer to 180 in winter rising to 220 in summer based on 100%.

Anybody with an SR+ have more anecdotal evidence to share?

You can indeed get your 180 winter and 220 summer but everybody's journey profile is different. If you do a long drive with your car pre-warmed in unchallenging conditions you would do the equivalent of 180 even in winter. Why do I say "the equivalent of"? Well, you are not going to drive from 100% to 0% so you are not going to drive 180 or 200 miles! Nobody ever does in an SR+ .. it's just a calculation equivalent. So in practice you are probably driving between 90% and 20% battery before a planned charge.

There is no "standard" consumption ... if you do several 3 mile journeys over the course of a day you can often use more battery than doing a much longer trip in one go ... but then you've maybe only gone 20 miles and though the consumption is high you've still got loads of battery in hand. Some journeys are uphill, cold wet and windy ... some are not!

I've had an SR+ for 6 months and only once needed to go as low as 10%. The lowest I seem to end up at is mid 20s% but it goes back on charge every night no matter how little we have used ... so on any given morning we frequently have more range than the guy with a Long Range who chooses to only charge twice a week.

Today our SR+ was used for 3 local journeys of a few miles each and then later on was needed to pick up a friend from the airport (which itself was a 100 mile round trip). It started off at 80% and finished the day at 25% which if I was to work it out would probably be quite high consumption, but it has done its job very nicely and has a good cushion for an additional unexpected use if needed. I could have chosen to start the day with 90%+ but it wasn't necessary.

In our location it could be a challenge without home charging... but with home charging it's a breeze. Arrive home and plug in. The charge is planned to take place on cheap rate but if it's already plugged in and if we need to use the car we can warm it up on "shore power" for a few minutes so saving a bit of range, improving winter regen and adding comfort.

If you have a regular commute of 100 miles each way and no easy charging at work then the SR+ isn't for you! If you are a more "average" user then it's a superb option.

 

[Bobly]

Tesla does not use google maps for anything beyond the imagery you see on the screen. The actual app and mapping data is home grown Tesla stuff and you can see the nav version in the software tab.

Pretty sure it's valhalla that they use, no sense in re-inventing the wheel for maps and navigation - Valhalla multi-purpose routing engine - help, consulting, instant download of Tilepacks - Interline Technologies

 

[sixela]

For more realistic ranges than WLTP:

Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus

That says 140 miles on highway in winter (and that's going from 100% down to 0%).

87*100/55=158, so you're doing a bit better than that -- but then the temperatures are rather mild for "winter".

Note: in winter the AC and heating makes a very large difference. Better set the temperature a bit lower and turn on the seat heating, as it consumes a lot less (turning off AC is also good, but that is not always possible in wet conditions).

 

[Russinating]

One other thing I forgot is the car can't see my home WiFi. As you can see below it can see ~3 networks, two of which match what my phone can see sat in the driver's seat (side away from house). Any ideas? I wouldn't say 4 bars on my phone is a weak signal, and it can't see the SKY one either which my phone sees as the stongest (nor can my phone see the BTHub one).

 

[metropolis]

Would it have anything to do with 2.4 GHz and 5GHz wireless frequencies, an option in settings? My SR+ on the Morning Cara very close now

 

[Mrklaw]

Good point about running 90-20% so your real range is more based on 70-80% of capacity

I normally commute small distances but my parents are 100miles away as is my son at uni. In worst case (winter/rain/wind/fasting driving) you may be looking at doing 100 miles one way but then needing to top up before arrival or after starting back?

but then the LR might still struggle on a high consumption 200mile round trip?

 

[Adopado]

For more realistic ranges than WLTP:

Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus

That says 140 miles on highway in winter (and that's going from 100% down to 0%).

87*100/55=158, so you're doing a bit better than that -- but then the temperatures are rather mild for "winter".

Note: in winter the AC and heating makes a very large difference. Better set the temperature a bit lower and turn on the seat heating, as it consumes a lot less (turning off AC is also good, but that is not always possible in wet conditions).

Their cold weather stats are based on -10c ... the people on this forum are referring to our usual UK winter temperatures which are more likely to be between 5 and 10c so I would say they are pessimistic. (Mind you, high winds and rain are range killers every bit as much as temperature ...)

 

[Soua]

Still waiting for my M3LR, but from experience in a 24kW Leaf it's the heating that kills the range. Heated seats in that run from the 12v supply not the motor battery. A/C with a lowish temp draws very little. Looking forward to not having to slipstream HGVs to get home!

 

[arg]

Those range figures are worrying!

One thing to bear in mind is that on a long run you will see much better figures than on a series of short runs, especially in cold weather - there's a huge "departure tax" while the car warms up.

So actual long journeys are not as bad as these figures make out. The problem cases are where you have a day with lots of stops where you let the car cool down each time and never get it really warm, or where you have to stop overnight in winter somewhere you can't charge. Not really a huge problem, but needs managing.

 

[Rustybkts]

@Russinating my car couldn't see my WiFi when I first tried to connect but has seen it every day afterwards.
What my moby finds a strong signal is reported in the car as very weak even though the antenna is said to be in the RH door mirror which is on the same side as my hub.

 

[Rustybkts]

Heated seats in that run from the 12v supply not the motor battery. A/C with a lowish temp draws very little. Looking forward to not having to slipstream HGVs to get home!

Any 12v power is eventually taken from the main traction pack. I have noted with mine and comparing to my Ampera is that the traction pack heating is far lower than in the Ampera or seems to be as regen is severely constrained in the 3 until a good few miles are driven in one go.
My guess is that the pack is heated when charging but in normal driving, only enough heat is put in to protect the cells when cold and unless you select a Supercharger destination, the traction pack gains heat from normal use from the internal resistance of the cells.

Another way the car tends to be the most frugal compared to others.