I wrote this about a year ago:
My dream car as a kid was a Lotus, and in 2008 I was able to achieve that dream when I purchased a used 2006 Lotus Elise. The Elise is a great car, a ton of fun to drive, affordable for a Lotus (I paid $36k), and very affordable to maintain due to its Toyota motor. At the time I bought the Elise, I did look at the Tesla Roadster. I avoided it though for a few reasons. First, although it had some Elise DNA, it took all of the things that were great about the Elise and in my opinion diluted them. It did not have the light weight that defines the Lotus marque, in fact it was a beast weight-wise. It took the Elise’s fantastic styling and made it angular, modernish, and ugly. And worst of all, the battery-rear design made the handling of the Roadster far inferior to the Elise. It was a great start for Tesla but it did not really come close to my definition of a fun car. Also it was much more money than I wanted to spend. I bought the Elise but decided that when Tesla made a car I wanted, I would buy one. Right around that time we put in a large solar array so that was a factor as well — we could re-fuel for free if we had an EV.
Between now and then I have watched Tesla closely. The model S did not appeal to me, mainly due to its size but also it just was not as fun to drive as the Elise. I drove a P85D the first week it was at the Tesla showroom, and while the power was something I had never experienced, it still felt big and heavy. I loved it as a technological achievement but did not feel compelled to buy one. When the Model 3 was announced, it looked like a possible match to my wants. I knew there would eventually be a P variant, so I did not line up to purchase on day one. Instead I waited for the P announcement and then placed my order as soon as ordering opened. I went for the P-, mainly because I had learned from watching the S forums that larger wheels were not a benefit, and I wanted the best range possible. I expected that I would upgrade the brakes at some point. When I purchased my P the details of the P+ were not really fully known, specifically the improved brakes and of course the much later announced Track Mode. I’m not going to say much about the +/- issue or the further twists that are going on now, but I will say that it is unfortunate that it has served to balkanize the P community. I had some doubt about my purchase when Track Mode was announced, but Elon’s tweet about making Track Mode available to all seemed to address that. I should mention, I have never tracked my Lotus, but I have autocrossed it several times. The jump to tracking is too much for me — both the cost and the risk to the vehicle. Auto-x allows for fun driving and a chance to find the absolute cornering limits of your car, and I recommend it to everyone. Here in San Diego we have an auto-x Novice School that is cheap and will get you going quickly.
My P3D- was the first Model 3 I drove. The local Tesla store offered to let me drive a P before delivery, but I wanted to wait and be surprised. I know for some that will sound crazy, the opposite of how buying a car should be, but for me it worked. The first thing I had to try with the new car was an all-out acceleration. As expected, it was very intense. The power is like no other car I have driven, and I have driven recent model Lamborghinis and Jaguars (F Type) as well as my Lotus and a number of other sports cars. Speaking of the Lotus, the power comparison is pretty crazy — the Tesla is much quicker than the Lotus. A standard Elise like mine has a 0-60 time of around 5 seconds. It feels very fast, due to the twin-cam design and the low to the ground driving position, but in fact it is slower than most mid-range sports cars. The P3D does not have that limitation. I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about the massive power though, as many have covered that and really there is not much opportunity to use it on the road. I am a fairly conservative driver on public roads. I rarely drive over about 6/10 and I insist on staying totally in control. I like to have plenty of room for the unknown, and excessive speeding does not allow for that. I will just say that power is not a problem with this car.
The real beauty of the P3D, and I suspect this is common to all Model 3 variants, is just how great it is at road handling. It corners fantastically well. I don’t like the overused expression “on rails”, but the Model 3 really does track very precisely through corners. It does have a little more body roll than the Elise — and that is what I wanted to learn more about at the auto-x — but in general it is very flat and feels graceful, precise, and highly-engineered through turns. Like the Elise, it conveys a feeling of speed and control through turns even when it is not going that fast. To me that is one of the trademarks of a fun car — a feeling of speed even when driving at normal speeds. After years of driving an Elise it is unusual for me to be impressed by the handling of another model of car, but the 3 really is that good. The instant torque adds to the cornering, in that if you want to push the exit a little bit, you can do so very easily. The on-tap power and the perfect balance of the car make this feel completely natural. A turn in the mountains, taken just at the speed limit, feels totally rewarding — smooth and efficient, vectored as though the car knows right where you want it to go. These are things the Elise shares with the Model 3, but what is amazing to me is that the Elise is purpose-built — the only thing it has going for it is that it is fun to drive, while the Model 3 is also just a great all-around vehicle.
A few other minor things I like about the Model 3. The steering wheel is just right! The Elise has what I consider to be a perfect steering wheel — a leather-wrapped Momo that is 12” in diameter and fairly thin. The Model 3 is just over 13.5” and a little thicker, but it feels great in the hand. I like to think that some elements of the old Elise have influenced Tesla’s design through the Roadster to the 3, and maybe the steering wheel is one of them. It’s a hugely important element of a driver’s car and Tesla got it just right. In contrast, I drove another exotic recently that had a very thick, ugly steering wheel, covered with buttons and paddles and even a display. It was horrible and disqualified that car completely for me (as did the price). And while we are on the topic of steering, one concern I had with the Model 3 was the steering feel. The Elise has a basic rack-and-pinion, unassisted steering and I love it, so the nearly drive-by-wire design of the Tesla had me worried. It turns out it is really good. Super precise, and just overall a very good feeling of connection to the car and the road — critical for a fun-to-drive car. I use the highest setting for steering (Sport), mainly because I am used to a heavier feel. I do not miss the Lotus steering at all, despite it having what may be the most positively reviewed steering of any car (see Top Gear).
Also, the concept of regenerative braking is new to me, and I will never buy a car again without it. It is so much more natural than braking, so intuitive and functional. I did San Diego’s test piece — Palomar Mountain — using no braking the entire way. I am really looking forward to what the further application of regen might be via Track Mode, and of course I want to see how useful it is in an auto-x setting. For regular, spirited, fun driving though, it is a new essential.
For car guys who have read this far, I want to mention engine sound. The Elise is plenty loud, even with the stock muffler. The motor is just inches from the driver’s ears, and it is not a particularly quiet ride. Hitting the second cam, especially under an overpass, is a delicious moment for sure. I also appreciate the tones of other cars — Maserati and Ferrari in particular both have very sweet notes. All that said, driving without engine noise is a great experience, and for me it is even more engaging for the driver than having a nice engine tone. Being able to hear the wind noise (I drive with the windows open usually), hear the sounds of the surroundings, even hear the sound of the tires going over the road surface — these all serve to pull you further into the driving experience. The engine noise was, for me, a component of the driving experience, but unfortunately it was so loud that it was the only audible component. With it largely gone all these other elements of the audible environment come to the front. It’s a different experience for sure, but for me it was a huge step forward.
Finally I want to mention one more comparison between the Lotus and the Tesla. The Lotus is beautifully simple. There are few gauges, few buttons, almost no knobs. It’s easy to drive and easy to work on. The Tesla — while packed with behind-the-scenes technology — is almost equally simple, and equally beautiful. Drivers — people who love to drive — should not focus on the silliness of autopilot or self-driving, or the size of the touchscreen or the AC vent origami, or even the lack of a button for the glovebox. Instead, focus on the road, the land, the weather, the other drivers around you. The Tesla is perfectly optimized for this.
