First roadtrip with M3 LR

[BMWM3Man]

Took my first 780 mile road trip with the M3 LR and a couple observations.

First we've had a M3 SRP that my wife drives as her car to "commute" and it charges at home 100% so it was my first real experience with SuperCharging. It was obviously a lot cheaper than gas but it was a bit of a sticker shock "for me" compared to charging at home. The app shows .31 cents Average Cost for SuperCharing and in Georgia we have been paying .05 per kWh +/- overnight/off-peak. It cost me $54.55 for SuperCharging again clearly much much cheaper than the Premium Unleaded by BMW would have cost so not complaining just stating the facts. Ultimately it was a work trip so being paid milage means I also "made out" way better in the Tesla. On my charge on the way up I did charge it more than "required" to continue trip as I wanted 50% battery when I arrived so I didn't have to charge for the 2 days there driving and parking at hotel with Sentry on etc.

The cruse control was great. I had zero issues with "phantom breaking". I will say that is that unless if are on wide highway with nothing "out of the ordinary" on the road. On the way back from Raleigh there was a lot of construction with lanes reduced and concrete barriers on the left side...these seem to reek havoc which is completely understandable to me. Also in these areas semi trucks would be a lot closer and the car once or twice "thought about" breaking but never really did...if that makes any sense. I learned that you just can't or should I say shouldn't even try to use "cruise control" in this case in a Tesla or any car really. It made me wonder how many people have "unrealistic" expectations on its capability thus the complaints.

Autopilot...same as above but for me even on completely clear wide roads I find it useless. The amount of time and effort it took to make sure the car knew my hand was on the wheel made me not even want to use it....and my hand was always on the wheel!!! I'd much rather just drive the car and not even use Autopilot. In a 10 hour drive I used it maybe 20 minutes until I got fed up...

The ride was perfect and I didn't notice any more road noise than my BWM...maybe less. Obviously no reason to mention "acceleration" etc because we all know that was amazing but I will say that it almost made me feel "safer" knowing that if I "had to get out the way" of a semi or something....well I was GONE!

I am sure there are lots of people who will want to argue and/or disagree with some of what I said....but these are my feelings and as always YMMV.

 

[lawmangr]

Thank you for your honest review. I will say that I struggled with the steering wheel and autopilot when I first got my Model 3. But I found that if I just rested my hand slightly up from the bottom of the wheel, that was enough weight that I never get the nag when I'm using autopilot. That may not be a comfortable position for you or others. Just thought I'd throw it out there in case it helps. Happy driving!

 

[BMWM3Man]

Thank you for your honest review. I will say that I struggled with the steering wheel and autopilot when I first got my Model 3. But I found that if I just rested my hand slightly up from the bottom of the wheel, that was enough weight that I never get the nag when I'm using autopilot. That may not be a comfortable position for you or others. Just thought I'd throw it out there in case it helps. Happy driving!

Thanks for your reply! Yes that is where I "ended up" but I felt like I was constantly "fighting" the wheel even if ever so slightly...it just wasn't for me.
I have the steering wheel on Sport so it is already very firm. I changed it (Comfort & Standard) to see but then there was more "play" which I found worse.

Guess its not for me and I'm ok with that.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks for your reply! Yes that is where I "ended up" but I felt like I was constantly "fighting" the wheel even if ever so slightly...it just wasn't for me.
I have the steering wheel on Sport so it is already very firm. I changed it (Comfort & Standard) to see but then there was more "play" which I found worse.

Guess its not for me and I'm ok with that.

I also find my touch is too light on the wheel when using autopilot / FSD. I am assuming your delineation here is, you are using "cruise control" to mean "Autopilot without autosteer enabled", and you are using "Autopilot" to mean "Autopilot with autosteer enabled".

Since I enjoy actually driving the car myself, I tend to use neither, unless in traffic. In traffic I use autopilot without autosteer, just like you mentioned. This is even though I have FSD on my own Model 3. It works fine when I use it (FSD), just, my touch on the wheel is too light when I use it, and im constantly tugging etc on the wheel.

I dont want to make this all about autopilot / FSD though, because then I will feel compelled to move the post to the autopilot FSD / subforum where that discussion goes (lol).

My own experience mirrors yours, with the exception that, in CA right now, supercharging is similar pricing to what you mentioned, but premium unleaded gas (which is what I would have used in the BMW we just sold) is $5.90 to $6.30 a gallon right now (03/18, as I type this).

(edit - removed comment about avatar as it has been changed, making this feedback not accurate. FWIW, I really like this one, lol)

 

[BMWM3Man]

I also find my touch is too light on the wheel when using autopilot / FSD. I am assuming your delineation here is, you are using "cruise control" to mean "Autopilot without autosteer enabled", and you are using "Autopilot" to mean "Autopilot with autosteer enabled".

Since I enjoy actually driving the car myself, I tend to use neither, unless in traffic. In traffic I use autopilot without autosteer, just like you mentioned. This is even though I have FSD on my own Model 3. It works fine when I use it (FSD), just, my touch on the wheel is too light when I use it, and im constantly tugging etc on the wheel.

I dont want to make this all about autopilot / FSD though, because then I will feel compelled to move the post to the autopilot FSD / subforum where that discussion goes (lol).

My own experience mirrors yours, with the exception that, in CA right now, supercharging is similar pricing to what you mentioned, but premium unleaded gas (which is what I would have used in the BMW we just sold) is $5.90 to $6.30 a gallon right now (03/18, as I type this).

100% correct...I call it cruise control b/c to me that is what it is to me. Tesla calls it Autopilot but lots of cars have adaptive cruise control which is how I use it. Although I realize/agree the car does more like crash avoidance etc.

 

[Birdsfan]

.05c per kw is DIRT cheap! I agree the hand nudge on the wheel is kind of a pain in the ass. I find myself not using AP not that often because of it.

 

[BMWM3Man]

.05c per kw is DIRT cheap! I agree the hand nudge on the wheel is kind of a pain in the ass. I find myself not using AP not that often because of it.

I felt like I was going to wear out my tires...LOL
Off topic...Originally from Wilkes-Barre spend a lot of time in your area/NewHope love it down there.

 

[RayK]

For those of you that are having a hard time telling the car that you have your hand(s) on the steering wheel while in AP, you can simply roll the left scroll wheel (volume control) up and down quickly. That is good enough to let AP know at least one of your hands is where it's supposed to be.

 

[BMWM3Man]

For those of you that are having a hard time telling the car that you have your hand(s) on the steering wheel while in AP, you can simply roll the left scroll wheel (volume control) up and down quickly. That is good enough to let AP know at least one of your hands is where it's supposed to be.

That's a good tip! Although my luck it will cause my scroll button to break the day after warranty ends!

 

[Sarge72]

Nice write up. I am awaiting delivery of my 3 LR. I know many high end ICE cars BMW/MB/Audi are using some sort of capacitive touch on the steering wheel to let the car know you're still there. The BMW I drove I barely had to touch the wheel and it registered as me 'being there' of course the Bimmer "autosteer' only works under 45mph I believe and has some other limitations

I see myself just using Adaptive Cruise without autosteer for most trips - they just need to get rid of the 80mph limit

 

[BMWM3Man]

I also find my touch is too light on the wheel when using autopilot / FSD. I am assuming your delineation here is, you are using "cruise control" to mean "Autopilot without autosteer enabled", and you are using "Autopilot" to mean "Autopilot with autosteer enabled".

Since I enjoy actually driving the car myself, I tend to use neither, unless in traffic. In traffic I use autopilot without autosteer, just like you mentioned. This is even though I have FSD on my own Model 3. It works fine when I use it (FSD), just, my touch on the wheel is too light when I use it, and im constantly tugging etc on the wheel.

I dont want to make this all about autopilot / FSD though, because then I will feel compelled to move the post to the autopilot FSD / subforum where that discussion goes (lol).

My own experience mirrors yours, with the exception that, in CA right now, supercharging is similar pricing to what you mentioned, but premium unleaded gas (which is what I would have used in the BMW we just sold) is $5.90 to $6.30 a gallon right now (03/18, as I type this).

(edit - removed comment about avatar as it has been changed, making this feedback not accurate. FWIW, I really like this one, lol)

I tried to get back to you to answer...LOL
The avatar was a female skateboarder from the Red Hot Chili Peppers video Dark Necessities...she had the inside of her bottom lip tattooed. Don't ask me...LOL