FYI: My opinion is Model 3 > Model S

Hopefully this might be helpful to anyone who has a Model 3 and is considering moving to a Model S after the price cuts.

When Tesla did the price cuts they also dropped Model S prices like $20k or so. I was in the area and figured I hadn't driven a new S, much less any S, in six years or so. A Plaid S is like half the price of the Roadster and worse in some ways but better in some ways. Roadster seems like it may still be a while, let me check this thing out. Hopefully I love it. I think the refresh did a lot for the look, I think it's by far the best looking Tesla you can get right now. As soon as I got in I was like hell no. It's still so big and some things are still like the original S. In fact, the items you can see in the photo with the yoke is all the new good stuff but the center console, doors, etc all were very old school. I put the suspension in the most aggressive settings and went out for a 20 minute drive. The yoke was a zero issue. I'm not sure if I like it more, but I had no negatives about it. I immediately did some U turns and 3 point turns and it was a zero problem. One thing I didn't like was how big and wide the yoke is, which is how the S steering wheel is as well. The three has a smaller wheel which is far sportier. Now this S, the long range, is about the same acceleration specs as my performance 3. I nailed it and it felt much slower, but at the same time gave me a fuzzy head feeling, something I experienced in the P100D S I drove years ago but not in my model 3. The acceleration was far less enjoyable somehow. Looking at the speedo you could see it was getting up to speed quickly but just didn't feel like it. This is in line with some people who have upgraded from a Model 3 P to a Model S Plaid and say the car, while being far quicker, doesn't feel much quicker if at all. The screen above the wheel I thought would be nice but it's kind of lame. It's just redundant information and felt very old school. I was very surprised by my impression that the single center screen is superior. The new center screen on the S is larger and able to tilt in different directions...that screen was absolutely awesome...especially being able to play Steam games on it. The haptic buttons on the yoke were ok. I probably prefer old school stalks but I expected to hate the buttons but didn't. It was fine. The visibility wasn't nearly as good as the 3 and I had to get the seat very high up to get a good sporting view of the road. Also, the brakes stopped fine but didn't have nice feel to it. This is a great car [the best?] for someone who doesn't care about how a car drives. It's a shame. It looks hot, has Steam, 400 range, all the goods, but just drives like a big old man car. Not for me. I'll keep waiting on that Roadster. Until then, IMHO the best car they make is the Model 3 P which can be had for $47k and that's insane because, seriously, I think it's the best car on the market today at any price.

 

[heavyD]

I like that 1/3 of real estate on the center screen is not wasted on the speedometer and traffic. It's role is of a traditional infotainment display. IMO there's nothing old school about having important information displayed directly in the line of sight of the driver as it's simply the most optimal way to pilot any sort of vehicle. Everyone that owns a Model 3/Y gets used to having to glance right for speedometer, turn signal, lane change camera, etc but that doesn't mean it's the most optimal way to display pertinent information to the driver.

 

[AsharpV]

Good summation. My M3 RWD is the best car I've ever driven. Although I haven't drove any other Tesla and will keep it that way lol!
I totally get not needing the center screen particularly. Any reduction in distractions is typically a good thing

 

[Maaz]

I have owned every model of Tesla since 2013. Sold my Model 3 Performance for a Model S Plaid and the Plaid is AMAZING, best car out of all of them right under it was my 2016 Model X. The Model 3 however was the most fun Tesla I’ve owned in terms of cornering, drifting, and messing around.

 

[Plaid650]

Having come from a 3P into a Plaid, I agree that the 3 is a smaller more engaging car to drive. The S is very big by comparison and definitely feels more the grand tourer than a sports car. I think the fit and finish are head and shoulders above the 3 (although still not at the level of its competition). Things like cooled seats, heated steering wheel, much more comfortable seat, rear screen for kids, quieter, etc. make it much more enjoyable on a daily basis. I will also say that the screen behind the wheel comes in handy more than you would think. Since it displays the navigation when routing you can still see routing info when a passenger is playing with the radio etc.

If you are looking for a canyon carver, the 3 is the move, but the S is superior in most other categories.

 

[tivoboy]

I’d love to have an AWD M3 with the ~ 100 kWH pack from the S inside.. I’d even give up some floor depth in the boot and possibly allow a drive shaft tunnel to re-appear to make space. Having an M3 that could be rated at ~ 450 miles and comfortably do 375-400 between most highway charging would be sweet.

 

[uscbucsfan]

The M3P (even the MYP) feel much faster off the line. The M3P is actually slightly faster 0-60 in real world tests, but the MSLR is pretty significantly faster after that (about a full second faster in the 1/4 mile in real world testing). The Model 3 is just too small for me and I really feel like the interior quality of the 3/Y (I've owned 2 MYs) is the level of a Civic while I really love the interior of my 22 MSLR.

I love the screen behind the yoke, especially for FSD Beta, suspension cooled seats, Large front screen and screen in the back, which is even better with the new update defaults the rear screen videos only plays on the back speakers, interior size, yoke (and turn signals), no stalks, center console, rear armrest/charger....but I do hate how low it is and the horn...I'll never be ok with the horn.

The frunk is also less usable than the MY in the MS.

Owning 2 MYs, having a M3 for a while (loaner), and the MS...I feel that the MS is twice as nice as a daily driver.

 

[Sambub]

Haven't driven new S yet, but have been planning to just to try the new seats. Tesla store is about 2 miles away, unfortunately....they know me by name.. I've read the new seats are pretty nice.

Even so, I would probably never actually want to pull the trigger on a car that is still twice the price of the 3P.

 

[memo=[]]

Great post, I feel the same about sportiness about S and 3. But my experience was a bit in the reverse, I have a 2022 S P and once got a 3 P as a loaner for about a week. As the driver, I quite liked the 3 if I could ignore the interior for a bit, while my wife wanted to throw up in the passenger seat.

Perhaps the throttle response in the S is a bit more forgiven for raw input than a 3, and is smoothing it out a little, which made a huge difference in the ride quality.

 

[turns2stone]

I'm on my second M3P, but I drove a new Model S LR before I bought my second M3P.

To me, the Model S LR felt just as fast as my M3P. The interior was a noticeable step up, as well as the sound system.

But ultimately the Model S just felt like too big a car for me. Even though I think it's the best looking sedan on the road today, I ordered a second M3P and have been enjoying the better handling and sportiness.

 

[Stew-2]

Interesting posts. I have a M3P and have been seriously thinking about going to a MS Plaid with the price drops.

Question: I was behind a MX Plaid the other day and saw it had separate yellow turn signals in the rear, sort of how the MY is. Does the S Plaid also have these separate yellow turn signals in the rear or is it like the 3 where they’re all red?

 

[NeuroRad]

Id seriously question anyone claiming the plaid doesnt feel significantly faster than the m3p. 115 vs 150 traps. That’s different galaxies of speed.

 

[Riceball777]

i’m not sure how you can say a model 3 is faster than a base refreshed models s. A model 3 performance on traps about 113-115 mph in the 1/4 mile and the base models s traps 129-130mph. That’s quite a huge difference in terms of straight line acceleration. That’s like a base model Porsche boxer vs a 911 turbo s Huge difference in terms of acceleration. The refreshed base model s is in fact quite a lot faster than all of the previous performance model s like the raven and the p100d. The model 3 performance is a great car and fun to drive and handles great. But once at normal freeways speed of 70mph or more the acceleration is pretty gutless.

 

[JthePilot]

We recently bought a '22 S Plaid, coming from two earlier Model S'. In the past year, we've rented a Model 3 and Model 3 Performance. While we were pleasantly surprised by the roominess of the interior in the 3 (thought it was going to bed too small for our family of four), we still prefer the S. Specifically on the Plaid, this car is leaps and bounds the best vehicle we've ever driven. We weren't specifically looking for a Plaid, but we came across a very slightly used (only 900 miles) for a $30K discount, so we chose to go with that instead of the '22 S Base model. Plus, everybody has a 3 or Y, it seems. But I can't blame them, as they're both great values. Never going back to an ICE, that's for sure!

 

[JthePilot]

Was only trying to edit my previous post, but I guess there's no way to do that.

 

[BigNick]

I had two used Models S before buying a new M3P in late 2021. So I sort of downgraded and upgraded at the same time with the M3P (7 model years newer, but lower model of car.) When I got my first used S 85 about 5 years ago, it was actually a couple inches shorter than the car it replaced (2015 Chevy Impala) so I'm not sure why so many drivers complain the S is "big" but I suppose it's what you're used to that makes the difference. I could jump right out of my M3P into an S and sure, I'd be aware it is a bit larger, but it wouldn't be like stepping out of a Smart car into a '59 Caddy.

Having had both a (used) P85D (w/Ludicrous, but not the + suspension) and a M3P, the P85D was the more comfortable long-distance cruiser and the M3P felt more "tossable" but that might come down to air suspension on the P85D versus the springs on the M3P. They both felt about the same off the line - the P85D was four years old when I bought it so it had probably lost a bit off its "full power."

I'd like a middle-ground between "Chill" and "Sport" on the M3P - just enough to knock the violence out of its acceleration (or make Sport the middle-ground and bring back "Insane" mode. I usually wind up using Chill with my wife in the car to avoid making her uncomfortable but that's too slow sometimes.

A multi-speed diff in each motor would improve freeway acceleration power but introduce a lot of complexity and points of failure so that's never going to happen. I think some of the Roadsters had two-speed boxes and durability problems?

A tri-motor M3Plaid would probably be doable from existing parts, maybe slot it at 2.5 0-60 to keep it from outperforming the S Plaid. Problem is, the bigger S battery pack won't fit in the 3 from what I can tell. Maybe the 4680 cells will allow 90 to 100 kWh in the 3 pack.

Or another energy density breakthrough like solid state batteries. Just look at what happened between 1908 and 1932, how much more advanced the first Ford V8 (the whole car, not just the flathead engine) was than the Model T. EV developments are just getting warmed up here.

Edit: One more thing I'd like to see on the M3P is the "max battery power" option. Not sure how (or even if) that would work on a M3P that doesn't have a PTC heater, but it should work at least as well as the "navigate to a Supercharger before hitting the dragstrip" hack.

 

[Electric700]

I really like the hatchback design on the Model S. It's a bigger car too, if you need the space as some people do. Plus the air suspension and the other features that you get are really nice!

 

[tm1v2]

Model 3 is way more fun and satisfying to drive around turns than any Model S I've driven, and I've driven quite a few over the years (though not a Palladium yet). Especially with the suspension upgrades I've put on our M3P.

Model 3 is also notably easier to park thanks to its smaller size (relatively speaking). Model S feels big on the road and big when parking to me, even after all these years.

But our M3P can't touch the huge cargo swallowing hatch of our S P85. Not to mention the P85's big frunk (much bigger than on dual motor Model S). Model 3 is an excellent second car for us but it couldn't replace our Model S.

There's also the history and memories of the Model S, both personally to my family, and how groundbreaking it was as an automobile. It's one of the absolute most significant cars in history, no exaggeration. Model 3 is very significant too...but not to the level of the Model S.

 

[Snirpo]

Totally agree. Somehow the Plaid makes me drive like a granddad. It's super fast, crazy fast but it doesn't invite you to drive fast somehow. The Models 3 feels like a go kart, it hides it's weight very well. I drove way more aggressive in the M3P than the Plaid.
However, it definitely has nicer (cooled) seats, the interior is nicer, the full hatch is nice. In my opinion it looks better as well.
It this all worth more than twice the money of a Model 3? In my opinion not, however if you have the money to spare, yes it's a nicer car.

 

[popgodazipa]

I have owned every model of Tesla since 2013. Sold my Model 3 Performance for a Model S Plaid and the Plaid is AMAZING, best car out of all of them right under it was my 2016 Model X. The Model 3 however was the most fun Tesla I’ve owned in terms of cornering, drifting, and messing around.

Nailed it….but if the OP titled the thread model 3 is more fun to drive than S we probably wouldn’t be here. It’s probably the least practical for a family though.