Losing enthusiasm for Model 3

[daniel]

Umm... To those of you who think the phone-as-key is a bad or stupid idea....

You *do* understand that you get two RFID cards to unlock the car, yes? And they're a hell of a lot cheaper to replace than $200 fobs!

The rfid card won't open the frunk. Today I used the card to lock the car at the grocery store so I wouldn't have to stand in the parking lot waiting to see that it locked. But when I tried that again later at another stop, the card would not lock the car. Fortunately it did lock when I walked away, then stood and watched for a while. Those key cards are less reliable than a fob. I feel better when I know that the car is locked.

If you don't like the phone as a key model, fine, that's your preference. Go buy something other than the Model 3. There's 500,000 people who will get to move up one place in line.

The Model 3 is the coolest car available right now. But it could be better. Having a fob is one of the ways it could be better.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

The Model 3 is the coolest car available right now. But it could be better. Having a fob is one of the ways it could be better.

Since the protocol for the phone is Bluetooth, I think Telsa could do a keyfob for the Model 3. The Model X's keyfob is Bluetooth (unlike the Model S), so I think that a modified Model X keyfob could possibly work.

It would be nice if Tesla would offer a standard keyfob for the Model 3 for those people who really want one. Obviously, it's going to cost some money, but that might be worth it to some.

For me, I'm happy to get rid of it -- it just made my keyring a whole lot larger and it's big enough as it is.

 

[daniel]

On the subject of losing enthusiasm for the Model 3, every time I drive the car farther than just to the grocery store I become more and more enthusiastic about it. Today I just needed to get out of the house for a bit, so I drove 40 miles round trip, to the farthest grocery store from me, and the car is just such a delight to drive. Of course, I've never had a really comfortable car before. The Jeep was horridly uncomfortable. The Civic was fine, but nothing to brag about. The Prius was okay around town but painful on really ling trips. And the Roadster is okay for anything under a couple of hours, but was never designed for comfort. The Xebra was about as comfortable as a folding metal chair.

And except for the Roadster, I've never had such a sporty car. The Civic actually had very sharp, sporty handling, but I think it did zero to sixty mph in about 15 seconds.

So, comfort, handling, and torque, and here in the pacific northwest where my electricity is from hydro, this car is zero carbon and zero pollution.

I've complained elsewhere about a few of the stupid design decisions, and I will continue to pester Tesla about those because I think they can do better. But even with its flaws, this is definitely a car to be enthusiastic about. I do hope they introduce the SR version soon, for the benefit of people who can't afford or don't need the LR.

 

[drawfour]

Back in the day when I had a Nissan 350Z, when it was a nice day or night, I used to take the extended drive home, which was an extra 20 miles. Just to get to use the handling and acceleration. Just crank some tunes and enjoy the ride. While now I have two kids, so taking that extra amount of time on the way home won't happen often, I hope that maybe I can just take the kids out with me on the weekends to drive around and enjoy it. I'm sure the kids will enjoy the pano roof.