Model 3 : Anyone Driven the RWD on Snow or Ice yet?

[svp6]

Got our model 3 on Saturday - we had the winter tire and wheel package installed before delivery. The drive from Minneapolis was shortly after minor snowfall - but plenty of roads with some patchy snow and ice. The ride was excellent - including the dreaded "hard suspension" being actually very good.

This morning it was a different story - we had light drizzle with a temp around freezing, and the city did not get to our neighborhood by the time my wife left for work. It is slightly uphill, and it was completely covered with ice; she had great difficulty getting out to the main road despite enabling slip start. Once she got on the main roads, it was OK. I had a similar experience with my BMW 650 XDrive few years ago - and also on winter tires.

My take is
1. For all RWD vehicles. snow tires are a must in Minnesota; with those on, you are mostly ok - including in model 3.
2. RWD will not be as good as an AWD on snow. That being said, I would take a RWD with winter tires over an AWD with all season tires any time
3. When it is pure ice, it does not really matter if you have winter tires, AWD, RWD, FWD or whatever. The only things that may work then are chains and studded tires.

So if you are anxious to drive the 3 and don't mind splurging for winter tires, get your 3. If you want the extra safety of AWD, probably longer range, and probably more performance, you can wait for another ~6 months or so. We decided not to wait, and I am very happy with our decision.

 

[Tdave]

Here in Virginia the only snow we’ve ever had the last few years has been in side roads and then only for a few days. A RWD 3 with all weathers should be more than fine.

If I still lived in New England where I grew up, I’d probably put the money into a set of wheels/tires.

Maryland resident here, similar weather to you. I went with separate wheels/tires with winter/summer setup. The big reason I did that is not so much to get the winter tires for the winter, but to get the performance summer tires for the 9 months the rest of the year. I loathe all-weather tires. They’re not great at anything. I’m a fan of the best connection with the earth. I invest in good tires, good speakers, good shoes, and a good mattress.

 

[pfmahoney]

I'm using the factory low-rolling resistance all season Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires. I drove home last night through ~4" of fresh show and then I drove to work this morning in about 5-6". So to be blunt, it's not great in the snow, but I can live this with this Some of it is just that I need to learn to drive a rear-wheel drive car - this is my first ever. It has a tendancy to fish-tail/dish out on turns if I'm not careful with the accelerator pedal, and I found myself sliding a bit on turns but it was mostly ok when going in a straight line. I think some of it is just me as a driver getting used to the characteristics of the car. At no point did I get stuck, or have any real problems... but I found it sliding a bit in ways that I wasn't used to.

Given the fairly rare amount of snow/ice that we get here in northern Colorado, I can live with the performance as it is and I might consider swapping in snow tires in the future.

 

[svp6]

And couple more things about driving in winter
1. I cannot believe how low is the consumption. In similar weather I used to get ~450 Wh/mi with my P85D. Now I am down to 350 Wh/mi - and that is with a lead foot wherever pavement was dry, cabin temp at 72F.
2. I supercharged at ~30F - starting at about third of the range (100 mi). Supercharging started at ~65 kW, after 21 minutes it was down to 48 kW. I added 83 miles of range in this interval - Tesla charged me $1. This is pretty good. I will try in the week-end to supercharge from really low SOC.

 

[TTMDLX]

My M3 was delivered in January, RWD in Chicago. Left the MX in the garage and drove the M3 for the 2 weeks of constant snow in February and had no problem with the RWD. Was pleasantly surprised.

 

[svp6]

And couple more things about driving in winter
1. I cannot believe how low is the consumption. In similar weather I used to get ~450 Wh/mi with my P85D. Now I am down to 350 Wh/mi - and that is with a lead foot wherever pavement was dry, cabin temp at 72F.

An update on the range. I did yesterday a trip with my M3 that was on nearly identical route and weather with a previous trip with my P85D. I averaged 310 Wh/mi, interior temp set at 72F. Trip was 184 miles which translated a decrease of 245 mi of the rated range (300 down to 55). I used 57.2 kWh. That means the rated range is attained with at ~233.3 Wh/mi for the model 3 (

57.2 kWh / ​

245 rated range miles; estimated total available energy is 310 rated miles x 233.3 Wh/mi = 72.3 KWh).

Overall, much better winter experience than with my P85D - I no longer have to set the temp lower (used to keep it at 67F in model S so I have no range problems in winter). Of course, the P100D would have no problem on a similar trip.