First Road Trip Thoughts

[Tinca]

I'm just back from my first long haul drive in my M3LR and thought I'd share my thoughts and observations as well as try to pick up some advice from the more experienced M3 drivers out there.

I travelled from Lincolnshire to Kent for a day of meetings and then across to Newport, South Wales for an overnight stay. A day in Newport and then home to Lincolnshire last night. A total of around 550 miles in 2 days. My thoughts (in no particular order) are:

• Love the Model 3. It made the long drives just as comfortable as my previous ICE car (Infiniti Q50)
• TACC is good, but be aware of some quirks: It starts to slow a long way off a car that you're approaching. Make lane changes in plenty of time to avoid slowing down. The manual talks about 'TACC acceleration' where the car will speed up when you indicate to overtake a slower moving vehicle. Unless I'm doing something wrong, there is no sign of this. Overtaking once you've slowed is laborious if TACC is left to itself. Anyone have any suggestions?
• TACC will automatically reduce the set speed to 45mph on exit ramps - even if these are long sweeping bends onto another motorway that you could easily take at 70mph. Once back on the main carriageway, it will change back to the previously pre-set speed. This can get interesting if you don't know as the car will slow down significantly when it doesn't need to
• AutoPilot is not worth using (only my opinion). Until there is a feature to change lane by indicating and still leave AP engaged, I'm not using it.
• Autowipers still need some work as they keep wiping well after the screen is dry and no rain is falling. That judder!!
• Superchargers are amazing! Quick and fairly good distribution on the main motorway networks. Just remember to reverse all the way back otherwise the cable won't reach. I'm sure the two Tesla drivers at Membury late on Wednesday are still rolling their eyes at this noob taking two attempts to get it right! At least I hope it gave them a laugh.
• I have a lease car and the 1,000 referral miles were not showing on my account. As soon as I used a supercharger, they appeared on my Tesla Account, but not the Tesla app.
• Sound system is great. Good DAB reception and I'm starting to like TuneIn for finding podcasts etc. Boombox is ideal for listening to the football whilst eating a takeaway outside your car (obviously to avoid the smell in the new car)
• No indicator for the strength of the mobile phone signal that I can see. This is a small annoyance as when a call drops due to no signal, you can't tell when it's OK to redial. By the way, the hands-free and wireless charging all work as they should.
• Watch out for large van and lorries changing into your lane that are within the 'cruise space' zone. Even with plenty of time and space to move over to the right lane, the car started to apply emergency braking and steering. Once you know, you're aware and ready if it happens.
• Love the regenerative braking - especially when driving the country roads near me. It takes some getting used to going into sharp bends but with practice it makes 'spirited' driving good fun. It also makes slowing for the next 30mph speed limit easy.
• You never get bored of pushing the fast pedal - not great for range, but I'll take the hit for the buzz it gives!
• Lots of waves from other Tesla drivers. I'm definitely in favour of making it a condition of ownership that we have to acknowledge each other

The trip was more pleasurable than I was expecting. No range anxiety (I run on percentage not miles too), no personal frustrations at having to stop and charge, A few aches and pains from sitting, but I'm new to the car and this is normal for the first few weeks whilst your body adjusts to the seating position. A great community too with a few discussions about our experiences whilst Supercharging. Looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks.

 

[doats1]

I just came back from a 1000+ road trip and I agree with pretty much all your points especially supercharging. They were much quicker than expected. Barely had time to unload everyone before having to jump back in!

Though I did it in a SR+ so probably had to stop more often than you. I managed 190 miles before really having to stop on one stretch, which isn’t actually a problem for me because I have a baby and a toddler so they can’t really sit in the car for much longer than that anyway. The rest of our drives were between 130-150 miles so no concerns there even on 90% charges.

Also my wife has a bladder the size of a golf ball but chugs water like she’s just done a marathon so she can’t sit in one place for long either, but I digress…

One thing I would add though is that the cabin is quite loud. It’s not too bad but it’s noticeable. I couldn’t really listen to podcasts without turning it up quite a bit, which isn’t great if you have sleeping kids in the back. I got around this by turning off the rear speakers though.

All in all, happy with the way the car coped and no range anxiety at all.

Out of interest, what was the average wh/mi on your trip? I managed 251.

 

[Adopado]

TACC is good, but be aware of some quirks: It starts to slow a long way off a car that you're approaching.

I don't find mine acts in that way (I wish it would!). When driving in a lane (without TACC) I "speed match" well in advance so that by the time I arrive at an appropriate following distance of the vehicle in front we are at the same speed. There's no sense of light braking or noticeable slowing as it's a seamless process in most instances. When I use TACC I can see the car in my lane ahead and my car just carries on driving at its set speed regardless until it has to start slowing quite noticeably ... then if the car ahead speeds up a bit my car gives a little push ... then the car ahead slows slightly and I feel noticeable decelleration ... so it's much more of an "on-off" motion than if I am driving without TACC. I'm not saying it's throwing me back and forth in my seat by any means but it's like being driven by a poor human driver. (I haven't had a car with TACC before so maybe it's par for the course but for me it doesn't make for a as relaxing experience as it's supposed to be.)

 

[browellm]

What distance setting are we all using on TACC. I tend to use 4-5 as I prefer more relaxed distances.

 

[Tinca]

What distance setting are we all using on TACC. I tend to use 4-5 as I prefer more relaxed distances.

I've settled on 5 as being right for me.

 

[Adopado]

What distance setting are we all using on TACC. I tend to use 4-5 as I prefer more relaxed distances.

at least ...

 

[Tinca]

I just came back from a 1000+ road trip and I agree with pretty much all your points especially supercharging. They were much quicker than expected. Barely had time to unload everyone before having to jump back in!

Though I did it in a SR+ so probably had to stop more often than you. I managed 190 miles before really having to stop on one stretch, which isn’t actually a problem for me because I have a baby and a toddler so they can’t really sit in the car for much longer than that anyway. The rest of our drives were between 130-150 miles so no concerns there even on 90% charges.

Also my wife has a bladder the size of a golf ball but chugs water like she’s just done a marathon so she can’t sit in one place for long either, but I digress…

One thing I would add though is that the cabin is quite loud. It’s not too bad but it’s noticeable. I couldn’t really listen to podcasts without turning it up quite a bit, which isn’t great if you have sleeping kids in the back. I got around this by turning off the rear speakers though.

All in all, happy with the way the car coped and no range anxiety at all.

Out of interest, what was the average wh/mi on your trip? I managed 251.

There is a reasonable amount of road noise, but it didn't seem better or worse than my previous ICE car. I tend to travel alone and usually turn up the volume fairly loud anyway!

I didn't measure the wh/mi for the whole trip, but did check the energy graph at regular intervals. It was usually running at between 245 and 260 as an average. Must remember to set it for the next trip as it is all interesting information.

 

[Tinca]

I don't find mine acts in that way (I wish it would!). When driving in a lane (without TACC) I "speed match" well in advance so that by the time I arrive at an appropriate following distance of the vehicle in front we are at the same speed. There's no sense of light braking or noticeable slowing as it's a seamless process in most instances. When I use TACC I can see the car in my lane ahead and my car just carries on driving at its set speed regardless until it has to start slowing quite noticeably ... then if the car ahead speeds up a bit my car gives a little push ... then the car ahead slows slightly and I feel noticeable decelleration ... so it's much more of an "on-off" motion than if I am driving without TACC. I'm not saying it's throwing me back and forth in my seat by any means but it's like being driven by a poor human driver. (I haven't had a car with TACC before so maybe it's par for the course but for me it doesn't make for a as relaxing experience as it's supposed to be.)

I didn't really notice the deceleration greatly. It tended to be gradual if the car you're approaching is only slightly slower than your set speed. It does like to bang on the brakes if you're approaching it more rapidly. I agree that off TACC, you would make it much more smoothly.
I adapted by overtaking sooner if I was approaching a slower moving vehicle. That way I avoided the 'on/off' feeling that TACC certainly has.
Following a car that was ranging in speed (say by around 10mph), it dealt with it well and wasn't too stop/go.

 

[Yev000]

Both TACC and AP function the same way for breaking. TACC is basically AP without steering.

The "distance" setting is seconds I believe.

I find both break quite badly - too early and too late - Too early when in no traffic for overtake and too late if the lane stops due to traffic. Same with acceleration, too slow in zero traffic and too fast in stop/start.

 

[Adopado]

I didn't measure the wh/mi for the whole trip, but did check the energy graph at regular intervals. It was usually running at between 245 and 260 as an average. Must remember to set it for the next trip as it is all interesting information.

If you don't set a trip you can still get your average from one of the odometers using either "since last charge" or "since xx:xx time". I usually keep the odometer on the screen and can watch how the average Wh/mile alters over the course of a drive, depending on gradients, traffic, road types. It goes up and down quite a bit before you have your final figure at arrival at destination. Of course ideally if you set a trip on nav you can see progress on the energy graph (which you can call to the screen with voice from time to time ... "show energy graph" "hide energy graph").

 

[GRiLLA]

AutoPilot is not worth using (only my opinion). Until there is a feature to change lane by indicating and still leave AP engaged, I'm not using it

There is a feature, just needs you to buy Enhanced AP or FSD. I live 5 mins for the M40 and most journeys involve travelling on it, I use AP with FSD every time.

 

[Jason71]

There is a feature, just needs you to buy Enhanced AP or FSD. I live 5 mins for the M40 and most journeys involve travelling on it, I use AP with FSD every time.

and a bargain at only £3400/6800

 

[Yev000]

and a bargain at only £3400/6800

Lets not FSD the thread...

 

[JupiterMan]

There is a feature, just needs you to buy Enhanced AP or FSD. I live 5 mins for the M40 and most journeys involve travelling on it, I use AP with FSD every time.

same here, all motorway driving I use FSD.. love it.

TACC will automatically reduce the set speed to 45mph on exit ramps - even if these are long sweeping bends onto another motorway that you could easily take at 70mph. Once back on the main carriageway, it will change back to the previously pre-set speed. This can get interesting if you don't know as the car will slow down significantly when it doesn't need to

The software keeps changing here..

For me, FSD was able to handle the M25 -> M23 interchange properly yesterday (it hasn't before), as it slowed down sufficiently to take the corner, but that slow down did happen much too soon for the corner.

Like you, coming the other way back home it tried also to slow down on the straight(ish) slip road, where keeping at 70mph would have been no problem, its easy to override with your right foot, but annoying (especially to drivers behind!) nonetheless.

 

[Jason71]

Lets not FSD the thread...

Fair point I felt that the cost was important need to know info in context. the attitude was thrown in for free

 

[Alistairuk]

No indicator for the strength of the mobile phone signal that I can see. This is a small annoyance as when a call drops due to no signal, you can't tell when it's OK to redial. By the way, the hands-free and wireless charging all work as they should.

This should be at the top of the screen at the end of all the other little icons.... The "tesla" mobile strength is the one that's furthest left, but your own phones should be the furthest right one - can't remember if it's there all the time or only when you totally lose signal (it definitely comes up "SOS Only" with a little phone symbol with a line through it when you lose the network on iPhone).

TACC has started (a few months ago for me) adjusting the speed to what it thinks the roads speed is... this can catch you by surprise sometimes. As for slowing down too early, this could be your follow distance setting being set too high, and indicating to change lane etc. is a "FSD / Enhanced Autopilot" feature so will cost yah

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

When backing into a supercharger bay (and worth noting not all of them are ones you back into) a lot have a wheel bump stop you back up to which you can use as a guide, just check the parking bay has one before youi rely on one thats not there!

 

[Tinca]

This should be at the top of the screen at the end of all the other little icons.... The "tesla" mobile strength is the one that's furthest left, but your own phones should be the furthest right one - can't remember if it's there all the time or only when you totally lose signal (it definitely comes up "SOS Only" with a little phone symbol with a line through it when you lose the network on iPhone).

TACC has started (a few months ago for me) adjusting the speed to what it thinks the roads speed is... this can catch you by surprise sometimes. As for slowing down too early, this could be your follow distance setting being set too high, and indicating to change lane etc. is a "FSD / Enhanced Autopilot" feature so will cost yah

I'll have a look for that. I have noticed the 'SOS' and a phone symbol, but just thought it was the SOS button.

As the risk of reigniting the FSD debate, I think I'll give it a miss at the moment based on the cost alone. I guess it may be worth a trial to see if I change my mind. The lane change inclusion seems so basic for a car that is so technologically advanced and my old car had Lane Guidance that you could change lanes in and keep it on. But that said, I never used that either!

 

[Adopado]

When backing into a supercharger bay (and worth noting not all of them are ones you back into) a lot have a wheel bump stop you back up to which you can use as a guide, just check the parking bay has one before youi rely on one thats not there!

And here's another Supercharger tip that hasn't been mentioned for a while and will be relevant to newer users: If charging at a site which has "original" Supercharger units that have been converted to CCS that therefore have 2 cables you are going to want to choose the upper cable for CCS. But here's the important tip ... watch out for that lower cable ... in fact I now rest my hand on it whilst I unlatch the CCS cable. The reason is that you can unintentionally dislodge the lower cable which then drops out and (because you have to park so close) clonks against the boot of your car ... in fact it can hit it hard enough to cause a dent. There's a reason I know this to be the case ... hmm. I don't use Superchargers very often but the ones I have used usually come into one of 3 categories 1) cables are massively reluctant to unlatch 2) cables fall out when you just look at them 3) cables slot in and out just as you would expect. So far for me it's a 1 in 3 chance of getting one in catergory 3 !!

 

[Tinca]

The reason is that you can unintentionally dislodge the lower cable which then drops out and (because you have to park so close) clonks against the boot of your car ..

Good tip! I'll watch out for that one.