M3 - Issues/Complains (what I wish I had known before buying thread)

[Dolemite]

Rainbow road/cowbell. When you press the right stick down 4 times the road turns rainbow and the old SNL cowbell skit plays.

Infuriating low-rent dweeb humor. Like those people who repost the punchline of a 10-second YouTube video in the comments. Brought back PTSD of the least-funniest guys in high school. One time it activated 2x in a row. I seriously considered planting the car into an upcoming telephone pole to make it stop. Very well could've ended my life + my wife's, but might've been worth it.

 

[afadeev]

[*]Horrible blind spot checking/visualization system. Tesla will give you a beep or warning if you are entering into a lane and there is a car in your blindspot. What I am talking about here is the ability to easily check if someone is in your blindspot.

I agree with most observation, but this one we can fix.
Rear visibility is highly sub-optimal in Model 3, but side mirrors can be adjusted to eliminate the blind spot. My dad walked me though this process when I was learning to drive, yet it still remains a bit of a dark art for many:

How Do I Adjust My Car's Mirrors for Maximum Visibility?

It might seem elementary, but adjusting your car's side and rearview mirrors properly is important for driving safety. Here's how to do it.

www.motorbiscuit.com

[*]No floor mats. I would rather just pay an extra $750 at the start to have the M3 include decent floor mats plus garage door control/homelink.

I also didn't get floor mats, and bought these on my own. 2+ years in, they've been great and containing the dirt, have remained non-slippery, and fit perfectly:

Model 3 All-Weather Interior Liners

Model 3 All-Weather Interior Liners are made from thermoplastic elastomer material for ultimate protection and spatial coverage. Unlike traditional floor mats, liners are comprised of vertical walls that ensure maximum protection to the foot-well carpet and easy cleanup. Exclusive grid pattern...

shop.tesla.com

The other challenges don't have as simple of a solution.

HTH,
a

 

[rpiotro]

$325 isn’t “paltry” to everyone, but good for you!

For the owners of a $40K to $65K car I don't think $325 will break the bank.

I had HomeLink in my last three cars. In two of those the HomeLink would work with the ignition off. All one would have to do is break into your car and now they have access to your garage and possibly your home. Assuming they have access to your car in the first place.

I think the Tesla would be immune to that but...

 

[laceyboy]

1. If it's like MS and MX garage door opener, they can't open garage since there is no stand alone remote if someone break in
2. I don't have M3 but tesla doesn't have BSM indicators on their mirrors which I like. I'm also using small convex mirrors for my teslas.tesla.
3. Road noise is loud even with MY and MX.
4. I guess you already tried Easy Entry profile.
5. Probably happened when you trying to activate AP. Double tap down would activate it, no need to pull all way down as you shift to drive.
6. I use mud flaps. It helps a lot. Many cars have it.
7. All cars came standard with carpet mats I believe

 

[iwannam3]

So.... how do you stop rainbow road? I just press both steering wheel buttons for a re-boot.

 

[cougar1968]

For the owners of a $40K to $65K car I don't think $325 will break the bank.

I had HomeLink in my last three cars. In two of those the HomeLink would work with the ignition off. All one would have to do is break into your car and now they have access to your garage and possibly your home. Assuming they have access to your car in the first place.

I think the Tesla would be immune to that but...

It’s not about breaking the bank it’s about the $325 homelink working. You just said it didn’t so that answers the question!

 

[laceyboy]

So.... how do you stop rainbow road? I just press both steering wheel buttons for a re-boot.

Just tested, deactivate AP will also turn off rainbow road but loop music will continue to play for a while then stop.
Turn down volume or mute won't stop the music

 

[focher]

Infuriating low-rent dweeb humor. Like those people who repost the punchline of a 10-second YouTube video in the comments. Brought back PTSD of the least-funniest guys in high school. One time it activated 2x in a row. I seriously considered planting the car into an upcoming telephone pole to make it stop. Very well could've ended my life + my wife's, but might've been worth it.

It's actually 5 minutes!

 

[JackLuminous]

$325 isn’t “paltry” to everyone, but good for you!

True true. But, if you think about it tho', if people are dropping $45-55K for a car, what's $325? I still fumed at Tesla nickel and diming for the homelink but the integration (as imperfect as homelink tech is) was worth the $325.

 

[afadeev]

$325 isn’t “paltry” to everyone, but good for you!

True true. But, if you think about it tho', if people are dropping $45-55K for a car, what's $325?

By that logic, neither is $1K, or $10K, or $55K.
That doesn't mean I want to piss any of those sums away on reinstalling the features that were miser-ed from Model 3's in later production runs!

I still fumed at Tesla nickel and diming for the homelink but the integration (as imperfect as homelink tech is) was worth the $325.

For those of us who bought Model 3's in 2018-19 time frame, the feature was included for free.
It is also included, as a standard feature, on most cards in the $25-35K range.

I had HomeLink in my last three cars. In two of those the HomeLink would work with the ignition off. All one would have to do is break into your car and now they have access to your garage and possibly your home. Assuming they have access to your car in the first place.

Lets not make lame excuses for Tesla stripping Model 3 features. We all know that they did not do this to improve your personal safety!


Tesla auto-locks upon exit. If that's what you desire. Those of us who purposely disabled that feature did it with the knowledge that their cars are safe unlocked near the (also unlocked) house. We auto-lock them everywhere else.
People braking car windows to break into the Tesla (risk alarms and alerts) to open the garage? You think breaking a window to get into the house directly is somehow harder?

Man, the length some folks go to invent excuses for Tesla ... and what for?

a

 

[cougar1968]

True true. But, if you think about it tho', if people are dropping $45-55K for a car, what's $325? I still fumed at Tesla nickel and diming for the homelink but the integration (as imperfect as homelink tech is) was worth the $325

$325 isn’t a lot of money for an upgrade that works, but like you said it’s imperfect which is lame for an upgrade at that price point IMO

 

[CoastieM3]

I love my M3 and would not trade it for the world. However, like anything there are things I wish I had known before buying. Here is my short list. Hope it helps someone and feel free to add to this.

1. No garage door opener or homelink by default. If you want to control your garage doors or gates you have to pay an extra $325 for Tesla Homelink. This seems crazy as all of my "cheap" cars have come with this feature for at least the past 10 years. Its Tesla though so if they can make an extra buck from it they will.
2. Horrible blind spot checking/visualization system. Tesla will give you a beep or warning if you are entering into a lane and there is a car in your blindspot. What I am talking about here is the ability to easily check if someone is in your blindspot. In my wife's Honda Odyssey when you turn the blinker on it will show the side camera on the screen with a nice visual marker to see cars in your blindspot. In other cars they have a nice visual clue that lights up in the side mirror. None of this on the M3. I find myself going back 10 years in time to really having to check the mirrors and turn my head to check blind spots which is probbaly not a bad thing but annoying in car that is supposed to be very high tech. In the M3 the best I have found is tapping the screen once to zoom out a bit and looking at that in combination with mirrors in order to check blind spots.
3. Its loud. Highway noises seem very loud for an electric vehicle and even while parking the fan noises and air flows are very loud (at least compared to my last car which was a Prius and very quiet).
4. Seats are hard to get in and out of and low to the ground. This is more of a personal preference thing but I find the seats to be low and hard to get in and out of without a handle or reaching onto the roof. In hindsight I may have been better off with the MY because I like to sit a bit higher off the ground.
5. Rainbow road/cowbell. When you press the right stick down 4 times the road turns rainbow and the old SNL cowbell skit plays. This was hilarious the first time I did it, somewhat funny the next few times, and then annoying after about the 5th time. I cannot seem to figure out how to turn this off and I always accidently start it at the worst possible time
6. Dirty road water/mud seems to get kicked up from the rear tires onto the trunk. Every time is rains the white car looks awful and has to be cleaned. Someone suggest mud flaps but that seems odd.
7. No floor mats. I would rather just pay an extra $750 at the start to have the M3 include decent floor mats plus garage door control/homelink.

Again, love my M3 and these are just my personal things I have noticed so far that I wish would be changed. Even with these I would buy it again.

Abstract Ocean’s mud flaps cost like $40, look good, and are easy to install. Not sure what’s “odd” about mud flaps protecting your paint

I upgraded the crappy carpet floor mats in my M3LR to 3D maxpiders and they’re great.

I live in the city and park outside in a designated parking spot. No for Homelink; guess I’m one of the data points to get rid of it.

I also wonder how you inadvertently trigger rainbow road lol.

 

[ODWms]

Opening a door stopped the rain low road from playing the other day. If course, you have to be stopped for that.

 

[FrankTheTank]

Thanks for the tip. Cowbell was even playing when I had to take a work call and I could not get it to stop LOL

 

[Taxvictim]

The car I just traded in had 74k miles on it and it was washed with water fewer than 5 times. It was always waterless wash, unless I was stripping the sealant. Zero scratches anywhere on that car. Use the right towels, the right chemicals, and you don't need water to clean a vehicle 9 out of 10 times.

I would like to hear more about this. I have Optimum No Rinse, but that is water.

 

[dc121gw]

The novelty features don't offend me, same for the games, but it makes me feel disappointed when Tesla fails in critical things like service and delivery but is still putting effort into these things, even if it is minimal.

Homelink is just another example of Elon deciding he doesn't use something, so nobody else should either. He wants people to use smart home gadgets connected to phones, instead of putting that task on the car. Every other car I've owned since 1999 has it, and I prefer it to smart home solutions. I know that Tesla's cost to license Homelink is high for what it does, and yet ever other automaker manages it just fine.

 

[Taxvictim]

Re: Blindspots

I have my mirrors set the same as in that Youtube vid posted above, which works. But if you also activate FSD Preview in the Auto-Pilot menu, the screen will show you cars around you, including those just off your rear quarters.

 

[Sam1]

I would like to hear more about this. I have Optimum No Rinse, but that is water.

SImple. start with a properly sealed car (I don't use ceramics, just compounds and sealants). Get some waffle towels and waterless wash. spray on, wipe off. don't use detail spray or wax because that attracts dust. standard stuff.

 

[focher]

The novelty features don't offend me, same for the games, but it makes me feel disappointed when Tesla fails in critical things like service and delivery but is still putting effort into these things, even if it is minimal.

Homelink is just another example of Elon deciding he doesn't use something, so nobody else should either. He wants people to use smart home gadgets connected to phones, instead of putting that task on the car. Every other car I've owned since 1999 has it, and I prefer it to smart home solutions. I know that Tesla's cost to license Homelink is high for what it does, and yet ever other automaker manages it just fine.

Isn't it better for Tesla to remove that cost from the car for the people who don't want / need it or who don't want to pay for it? The $325 is obviously to cover the parts and labor, and only those who really want HomeLink pay it instead of just bumping up the price of the car for everyone else. Plus, it's mobile service for installation so not a huge inconvenience to have it installed.

 

[afadeev]

Isn't it better for Tesla to remove that cost from the car for the people who don't want / need it or who don't want to pay for it?

Not really.
Think about it:

1. Post-delivery installation work clogs already over-stretched and under-scaled Tesla techs.
2. The install labor is 100% wasted. It would have taken the same amount of time to install a group of sensors on the windshield/mirror with or without HomeLink. Re-configuring it post delivery is a waste of time and effort.
3. The cost Tesla saves is a tiny fraction of what we (customers) get charged later.

The $325 is obviously to cover the parts and labor,

Obviously, you didn't do your homework.

HomeLink universal garage door openers can be freely sourced for $50-120 (price depends on the form factor: key fob vs. big box vs. imbedded into rear view mirror). The same items without HomeLink (some other proprietary wireless system) are $18-95.
So figure, ~$30 for the HomeLink hardware and licensing costs.

That's about 10% of what Tesla charges customers post-delivery.
That's rip-off pricing.

and only those who really want HomeLink pay it instead of just bumping up the price of the car for everyone else. Plus, it's mobile service for installation so not a huge inconvenience to have it installed.

The de-contenting of Model 3 is a waste of time, and is not in the interest of the owners. Pricing is also a rip-off.

Nice try brown-nosing to Tesla's interests, over those of the Tesla owners!

a