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From ‘20 M3 to ‘22 M3P: 1st impressions

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Just took delivery on a ‘22 M3P after turning in my ‘20 M3 LR lease early (out of miles). I was worried it wouldn’t feel like much of an upgrade but it does! First impressions:

- No glaring build quality issues. If anything, it’s better than the previous car which had some annoying panel gaps.

- Love the interior updates.

- Sound system seems better to my ears

- This might be partly due to the cabin being much quieter. Previous car had A LOT of wind noise. Especially above 70mph. The car has double glazed windows in the front. But there must be other improvements? It is as quiet and solid feeling as my 2018 BMW 3 was.

- Even with 20 inch Ubers, the ride quality seems as good if not better. Is this a different suspension setup? It is however still a bit mushy in corners at speed.

- Turn in is definitely faster. I credit this to the wheels.

- Launch is thrilling. It is a beast. Literally leaping off the line. Acceleration above 40 mph feels pretty much the same as my long range, which is a bit disappointing. I guess testament to how quick these are in any configuration.

- Brakes feel great. MUCH better and they inspire confidence, as brakes should. I never sweated the brakes on my ‘20, but these stop NOW.

- The headlights are blowing my mind. Especially the matrix high-beams. They project a huge rectangle of light, like a screen. Horizontal and vertical coverage is massive. They are fierce.

So that’s after the first 100 miles. Looking forward to more.

Scott
 
i had a 3/2020 m3p/pup and fsd. sold it and got a 2/2022 m3p with fsd. have had this new car for 2 weeks.

--the major difference in the sound system is the sub. the sub in the new m3p is much better vs the 3/2020 m3p. overall sound stage and sound quality is the same. i mostly play music through Bluetooth and the same music sounds the same.

--quieter due to the double pane windows --were not present on the old car. this really a welcome thing! it does make the car feel more premium.

--launch is the same

--brakes do feel better on the newer 3p vs my old 3p. stopping distance is much shorter on those rare times i need to use the brakes.

--headlights -- dont see much of a difference.

--did not have any gaps or build quality issues on my 3/2020 m3p that was one of the last cars made on the day the plant was going to shut down for the pandemic. the new car also has no issues with gaps or build quality.

--tires -- i read on here the pzeros are sub par. the old m3p had ps4s so i promptly took off the zeros and put on the ps4s because i know how they feel and am comfy with them.

--interior refreshes are WORTH the upgrade alone !!! the charging area is much more refined, the wood trim on the doors and the speaker grilles are nice.

--honorable mention -- i di not think i would notice, bit the ryzen chip vs the atom chip -- there is a noticeable difference. i did the two thumb salute on the screen because i tried to clear out a stuck firmware download, and the screen booted back up in under a minute. on the atom chip on the 3/2020 build, it would take over a minute. i dont game in the car so cant speak on that aspect.
 
Hello guys,

Happy 2020 M3P owner here but happen to have a M3P reservation with last years price (About 6k less) that cancels at the end of this month.

Only difference with mine is that it has a white interior vs black of my current one.

Is it worth it to upgrade given my situation?

Thanks!
JC
 
Hello guys,

Happy 2020 M3P owner here but happen to have a M3P reservation with last years price (About 6k less) that cancels at the end of this month.

Only difference with mine is that it has a white interior vs black of my current one.

Is it worth it to upgrade given my situation?

Thanks!
JC

Take a look at this thread I moved your new thread into where a couple people talk about 2020 vs 2022 differences.
 
.

- Even with 20 inch Ubers, the ride quality seems as good if not better. Is this a different suspension setup? It is however still a bit mushy in corners at speed.
Dampers are valved for less compression damping starting in 2021 to give it a more compliant ride. Not much changed in the rebound valving so it still doesn't inspire confidence in the corners.
 
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Hello guys,

Happy 2020 M3P owner here but happen to have a M3P reservation with last years price (About 6k less) that cancels at the end of this month.

Only difference with mine is that it has a white interior vs black of my current one.

Is it worth it to upgrade given my situation?

Thanks!
JC
not aw fan of white interior but thats personal pref. look in this thread as i had a 3/2020 m3p with pup/fsd and i sold my for 4k more than paid for it two years ago. the refreshes are worth the upgrade! i too was and still am a happy m3 owner and the main reason i got a new car and sold my old one is the used car market.

do it nowwww get to da choppaaaaaa !!!!!
 
not aw fan of white interior but thats personal pref. look in this thread as i had a 3/2020 m3p with pup/fsd and i sold my for 4k more than paid for it two years ago. the refreshes are worth the upgrade! i too was and still am a happy m3 owner and the main reason i got a new car and sold my old one is the used car market.

do it nowwww get to da choppaaaaaa !!!!!

(only marking this funny for the "govenator" reference 🤣 . I agree with your position, and have been considering swapping from my 2018 Model 3P to a new one. Every time I check value, the cost of that upgrade to me would be like 20k.

I only owe like 10k on the existing loan, even if I sold it for 50k (which I havent been quoted), thats 40k and a new one would cost over 70k once you add taxes and FSD (which I currently have). That resets my loan to owning 30k on it, which is 20k more than I owe now, (thus "20k difference).

Sure, I could drop FSD, I dont use it much actually, but I have it now, so apples to apples, 20k difference for me. I dont think there is yet 20k worth of difference in the 2018 and the 2022 model 3P.
 
Got it. Are there aftermarket setups that have similar ride quality and better cornering? Or is it a trade off given the weight of these cars?
I haven't experienced them yet, but my guess would be Ohlins would do the trick. What I plan to do for my car if Tesla doesn't end up making a model 3 plaid or something in the near future
 
Got it. Are there aftermarket setups that have similar ride quality and better cornering? Or is it a trade off given the weight of these cars?
Just dampers? Haven't really seen any offerings from Koni or Bilstein. You do have coilovers from KW, MPP(private labeled KW), Redwood(using Ohlins dampers), BC and others. Ohlins will have their Road and Track product landing in the US around May. That would be my personal choice when available. I am currently on MCS 2WNR with Swift springs with ride quality to match factory if not better and way better on handling, but at $5200 it's not for everyone.

Heavy cars just need more spring and more damping.
 
i had a 3/2020 m3p/pup and fsd. sold it and got a 2/2022 m3p with fsd. have had this new car for 2 weeks.

--the major difference in the sound system is the sub. the sub in the new m3p is much better vs the 3/2020 m3p.

This is confusing to me since the sub is the same in both cars.


As you can see, there's only a single PN for sub, covering all years and trim of Model 3 (though of course the SR simply doesn't have a sub at all)

Here's one from a 2018 for sale- same PN as the current one in the catalog going into new cars today


--quieter due to the double pane windows --were not present on the old car. this really a welcome thing! it does make the car feel more premium.

Now THIS could be why you think the stereo is different :)


--brakes do feel better on the newer 3p vs my old 3p. stopping distance is much shorter on those rare times i need to use the brakes.

Assuming the same tires, the stopping distance is the same.

It's the tires, not the brakes, that stop the car.

Put P tires on an LR with the smaller brakes and it stops in the same distance as the P will.


The only place the bigger brakes help at all is on the track (or the chase scene in a Bourne film- basically situations where you're repeatedly braking from high speed back to back without ever letting them cool down)-- and even then they can't ever stop the car any shorter... they just stop it in the SAME distance the 10th time as the 1st time.
 
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thats so cool you took the time to break down my post. im honored.

brakes -- you never drove my old car. so you dont know what i experienced. maybe the brake system was faulty? maybe something was updated/adjusted over 2 years? what i know is the brakes feel differently (in a good way) in the new car and ive got the same ps4s (bought new of course)


dbl pane windows dont change the sound of the sub in the way I am describing.

i was in my old car for 2 years and i play the same playlist and the sub in the new car is tuned differently and/or there is a better amp. parts are often upgraded so its possible this speaker and/or the build /acoustic treatment in the car was updated. i know what i hear and feel and there IS a difference.
 
thats so cool you took the time to break down my post. im honored.

brakes -- you never drove my old car. so you dont know what i experienced. maybe the brake system was faulty? maybe something was updated/adjusted over 2 years? what i know is the brakes feel differently (in a good way) in the new car and ive got the same ps4s (bought new of course)

It's 100% possible there was a defect in your old brakes of course... and there's lots of things that can change the feel of the brakes.

I'm just saying from a physics standpoint the actual stopping distance you cited would be exactly the same on both cars, assuming neither set of brakes is massively defective (I mean like can't even engage ABS when you floor the brakes defective) and they have the same tires- because the tires is what determines the stopping distance.



dbl pane windows dont change the sound of the sub in the way I am describing.

Neither will imagining they have different subs when the parts catalog is pretty clear they're exactly the same part. So is the amp BTW.

Humans are notoriously bad measuring devices.


THAT said... I did think of something that could make a difference without the sub changing.


The battery.

If you got the Ryzen MCU, you should also have the new 16v Lithium battery. I know anecdotally folks who previously changed from the 12v to 3rd party lithium batteries reported better stereo sound-the sub in particular....So I suppose that could possibly explain it without need for any actual stereo parts to be different.
 
brakes -- you never drove my old car. so you dont know what i experienced. maybe the brake system was faulty? maybe something was updated/adjusted over 2 years? what i know is the brakes feel differently (in a good way) in the new car and ive got the same ps4s (bought new of course)
Brake feel is very different from brake performance. Your braking distance won’t change as long as your brakes are powerful enough to lock up your wheels. The feel can be profoundly impacted by many things. Tesla very well could have changed vendors for the brake pads.