Background:
Last fall, the possibility of buying a Tesla wasn’t even on my radar. I’ve owned only manual transmission, forced induction performance oriented cars for the past two plus decades. I’m a gear head and a serious auto enthusiast. I like to work on and modify my cars and take them to HPDEs, 1/2 mile air strip events and the 1/4 mile drag strip. My impression of Tesla last year was that it was start up “beta-ish” car company with lots of bugs to work out that had cars that accelerated quickly, but didn’t do much else well. Had god awful interiors, and were boring and soul-less. This seems to be the general consensus in the enthusiast community among those who have never even been in a Tesla, let alone driven one.
As of last fall, my daily driver was a modified 2011 Audi S4 with a 6-speed manual trans, and my weekend car is a modified 2003 911 Turbo with a 6-speed as well. I was very happy with the Audi, had owned it since new, and it had been extremely reliable even though I had added over 100hp and changed some drivetrain and suspension components. I really had no intention of buying a new car. Then I test drove a Model 3 Performance...
It all started sometime last fall when reviews of the Model 3P started popping up in my YouTube feed. I started watching more videos about the Model 3 and eventually started lurking on here to research the car. What really intrigued me is what gear heads that loved high performance ICE cars had to say about it. I decided I needed to test drive one.
I set up a test drive online and headed out to my local Tesla store. The SA that helped me was super knowledgeable and was able to answer all my questions. I was immediately impressed by the interior of the Model 3. I know it’s simple, but coming from an Audi, I thought it would feel cheap and cobbled together based on what the “internet” says. It’s anything but. Everything was well put together, and the only cheap hard plastic is low down and mostly out of sight and touch range. The tech is obviously fantastic and better than any other vehicle I’ve experienced. I don’t love everything about operating almost all car functions through the touch screen, but overall it’s fantastic. Driving it, I was impressed by the quick ratio steering, and how nimble it was for how heavy it is. The acceleration was what really got me though. We stopped on an empty frontage road, temp was 29F outside and the road was dry but had road salt all over it. The car was on 20s with the Pilot 4S tires. The launch dead hooked. Not a hint of wheel spin. Amazing for a car with this much power. I was sold. I just had to convince myself that this was the right thing to do even though I still loved my S4. That didn’t take long, and the price drop on the Model 3s didn’t hurt either.
Buying/owning experience:
I placed my order about a week later (Nov 25) and the estimate was 3-5 weeks. I got an update via text to setup delivery a little over 2 weeks later (Dec 9th). Ordered up a winter setup, mats and some other accessories. Picked up the car on Dec. 23rd. It took less than an hour start to finish and the car was near perfect even though the store was busy at the end of the year. It had one very small paint chip on the driver’s rear quarter panel that was easily fixed with a little touch up paint (They offered to have the panel re-painted, but I declined). It was the easiest and smoothest car buying experience I’ve ever had by far.
Through two months and almost 2K miles the car has been fantastic. I work some late nights and overnights and love being able to warm the car up super quickly before I head home. It’s done as well or better than my S4 in the snow we’ve had and the tech and performance continue to impress me.
Service:
After the first month plus I decided I really wanted Homelink. I ordered it online and set up an install appointment through the app. I was worried about what service would be a nightmare based on things I’d read online. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I dropped the car off late last Friday and the service advisor was super helpful with getting me checked in and setting me up with a Model S loaner. She updated me via text regularly and the car was done yesterday afternoon. I worked until late last night, so I wasn’t able to pick it up during business hours. No worry, she said. She left my key card in the center console, parked the car on one of their outdoor chargers and locked the doors. I simply swapped the loaner for my car last night and dropped the loaner key in the drop box. Super easy, and fantastic communication. Plus I LOVE the homelink integration. It’s the best implementation I’ve had in a car yet with the auto open/close setup.
I know people have had issues, but my experience so far with owning a Tesla has been nothing short of fantastic. I don’t miss my S4 and I don’t even miss driving manual like I thought I would (plus I have the Porsche once it warms up again to get manual trans turbo ICE fix).
Sorry if this is a little long, but I know people are more likely to post about problems/issues vs good experiences. I took a chance on a Tesla and I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
