Hi from Central AZ

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Hi. Name is Randy. Am retired, in the 49th year of our marriage. Wife and I are Lifetime car people and also motorcycles until family and too many dangerous drivers changed that. Wife's last MC was a V-Max, Mine an FJ-1200.

Planning to buy a new Tesla very soon. Will be an addition to stable, not a replacement. Either 3 Performance or S Plaid. May seem like a strange choice but we don't care for the size/bulk of the S. We might tolerate that if Plaid provides enough extra giggles. We love Gs but don't race or speed (more than ambient traffic), so much of the Plaid performance would be wasted.

 

[Discount Tire]

Hello from Surprise, AZ! Welcome to the site

 

[kpanda17]

Welcome not from AZ
Def test drive each for they are different
MS is big, fast, high end
M3 is smaller, fast, mid end
Btw the Highland Performance does not exist, yet TBD?
2023 M3P you might have to pull the trigger fast

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Hello from Surprise, AZ! Welcome to the site

Surprise? Years ago Headquarters were in or near Scottsdale AirPark. Did DT move, or some other facility in Surprise?

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Welcome not from AZ
Def test drive each for they are different
MS is big, fast, high end
M3 is smaller, fast, mid end
Btw the Highland Performance does not exist, yet TBD?
2023 M3P you might have to pull the trigger fast

I did a test of an S after telling them I was interested in a Plaid but they put us in a Long Range. Which was fine for making sure everything else about the S was good. And it was other than did not like the size/bulk.

Any advice for getting a 5 min drive in a Plaid? Some magic word? Try other Tesla locations; there are numerous in the Phoenix area? ???

Maybe I'm old school but buying a car without test driving would be like proposing to a blind date before you met.

 

[kpanda17]

I did a test of an S after telling them I was interested in a Plaid but they put us in a Long Range. Which was fine for making sure everything else about the S was good. And it was other than did not like the size/bulk.

Any advice for getting a 5 min drive in a Plaid? Some magic word? Try other Tesla locations; there are numerous in the Phoenix area? ???

Maybe I'm old school but buying a car without test driving would be like proposing to a blind date before you met.

Def want to test drive
The way to a Plaid test drive is get the name of the local Tesla sales service center and then email them with your request
The Plaid will still be bulk bit quick
The M3 is pure go cart feel, light and quick
Love it

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Def want to test drive
The way to a Plaid test drive is get the name of the local Tesla sales service center and then email them with your request
The Plaid will still be bulk bit quick
The M3 is pure go cart feel, light and quick
Love it

That's what it comes down to. I somehow was not aware of a Performance model 3 until after the S Long Range test drive. I did not expect the Long Range to feel as quick as it was, which meant I had not done enough research on any non-Plaids.

I love the hardware simplicity of an EV and love the tech in Teslas but would not be buying any EV if it did not also get us back into a 2-3 second 0-60 we loved with the hyperbikes of our past. Love Gs! An S Plaid averages only 1.4Gs to 60 MPH. Racing carts do 3+ in corners, Aerobatic sailpanes do 4 (with no engine) but can't do those every day! Anyway... back to the research and saw the 3 Performance was as quick or better to 60 than S long Range we drove. I see it falls significantly behind in the quarter but we don't race and don't drive above freeway speeds. Am still curious why a 3P matches a SLR to 60 but lags so far behind later but probably doesn't matter. Does the 3 get "throttled back" for some reason between 60 and 1/4 mile?

So, a 3 Performance might be best for us UNLESS an S Plaid generates enough additional giggles to put up with the size. People are different and there are no 0-60 to giggles conversion, so need to feel it. I realize would be paying for performance beyond 60 MPH we won't be using, but might still be worth it.

 

[Discount Tire]

Surprise? Years ago Headquarters were in or near Scottsdale AirPark. Did DT move, or some other facility in Surprise?

Our main headquarters is still in Scottsdale. We are actually moving just south of Desert Ridge within the next few years.

Discount Tire to build new corporate headquarters in Phoenix

Discount Tire is building new headquarters on 35 acres of Phoenix land.

www.azfamily.com

I'm personally in Surprise today, my apologies for the confusion

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Finally got to test S Plaid and 3 Performance back to back. Since we didn't like the size/weight of an S, came down to if the 3 P was quick enough.

Ordered a 3 P from local stock this afternoon. Or might have ordered one.

After going thru the entire process including payment information, a screen pops up saying:

Order Updates

Tesla Vision​

Your Model 3 will not include ultrasonic sensors and instead will fully rely on camera vision to measure distance to nearby objects, deliver active safety features, and provide Autopilot and Full-Self Driving capability. This new approach will enable improved visibility, better object detection, and greater abilities for Autopilot in the future. During this transition, some features will be temporarily limited or inactive at delivery including Autopark, Summon, Smart Summon, and Full Self-Driving capability (if applicable). In the future, your vehicle will receive access to these features via over-the-air software updates. Learn more

Proceed With Delivery?

Not going to click proceed until I find out what that means and when it gets fixed. At this point I don't even know if the one I test drove was like this or the test was meaningful. Apparently, model 3s built up to a certain date had the ultrasonic sensors.

I don't care what sensors I have but am not buying a pig in a poke regarding published capabilities.

 

[kpanda17]

Finally got to test S Plaid and 3 Performance back to back. Since we didn't like the size/weight of an S, came down to if the 3 P was quick enough.

Ordered a 3 P from local stock this afternoon. Or might have ordered one.

After going thru the entire process including payment information, a screen pops up saying:

Order Updates

Tesla Vision​

Your Model 3 will not include ultrasonic sensors and instead will fully rely on camera vision to measure distance to nearby objects, deliver active safety features, and provide Autopilot and Full-Self Driving capability. This new approach will enable improved visibility, better object detection, and greater abilities for Autopilot in the future. During this transition, some features will be temporarily limited or inactive at delivery including Autopark, Summon, Smart Summon, and Full Self-Driving capability (if applicable). In the future, your vehicle will receive access to these features via over-the-air software updates. Learn more

Proceed With Delivery?

Not going to click proceed until I find out what that means and when it gets fixed. At this point I don't even know if the one I test drove was like this or the test was meaningful. Apparently, model 3s built up to a certain date had the ultrasonic sensors.

I don't care what sensors I have but am not buying a pig in a poke regarding published capabilities.

Tesla Vision is where we are and the future of Tesla FSD
Tesla believes USS are unnecessary as vision is best
I run FSD on both of our Ts and we don’t miss rhe USSes and in fact they are disabled on the MYP
I would proceed
The M3P is amazing
Btw the next gen code of FSD, v12 was just demoed by Elon and it looks great
We all expect to be able to use V12 in Dec

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Tesla Vision is where we are and the future of Tesla FSD
Tesla believes USS are unnecessary as vision is best
I run FSD on both of our Ts and we don’t miss rhe USSes and in fact they are disabled on the MYP
I would proceed
The M3P is amazing
Btw the next gen code of FSD, v12 was just demoed by Elon and it looks great
We all expect to be able to use V12 in Dec

Absolutely prefer cameras over ultrasonic.

But waiting until AFTER an order is placed to say: oh, by the way remember these features you were told the car has literally on the prior page of the order process? Well now that we have your money, it really doesn't. But it will soon, just like we've apparently been saying since last November!

Said order page prominently touts 3 months of FSD for free (a $600 value!).

So, buyers still get $600 worth of FSD BUT only when its disabled?

Further research indicates only FSD, Autopark, and summons are MIA. So, could be worse. Hmmm. "Could be worse" might be a good marketing theme.

Still deciding if the FSD trial is a line in the sand for me. I would accept delaying the FSD trial until the software is available but not if I've had the car 3 or more months by then (note: previous customers are apparently still waiting after ~10 months!) and hear: so sorry; your $600 FSD trial ran out while FSD was not available.

Maybe their act will improve and they will say: Don't worry; 3 months of FSD doesn't start until its available. Can live with that since I have no idea if I might want to keep it after trying.

 

[kpanda17]

Email Tesla with the question for they might be slow but always respond