Model 3 AWD Long Range experiences

[Maggy78]

Hi All,

I've ordered Model 3 AWD Long Range and waiting for delivery, but sometimes i keep thinking if i had made a good decision in going for Tesla ,as for the same price i could get a good SUV from major car manufacturers i.e Jaguar,BMW etc. Also reading about some of the reliability and build issues keeps me awake.This is the first car i am paying £53,000 as the other car i had until now is a fifteen year old car which i bought it for £3,000

For the Model 3 owners out there,could you please clarify the below points so i can have some peace of mind with regards to my decision

1) Pros & Cons
2) Any reliability issues
3) Share your good and bad experiences you are having with Model 3
4) At any point after you bought the car did you thought you should have bought another ICE car from other manufacturer rather than Tesla?

 

[zayn]

1) pros - dual motors, cons: not as fast as p+ , aero wheels look crap
2) too early to say. give it 6 months
3) good and bad , keep reading this forum
4) too early to say

let us know when you get your LR it will be good to hear your thoughts

 

[mrobins64495]

Hi All,

I've ordered Model 3 AWD Long Range and waiting for delivery, but sometimes i keep thinking if i had made a good decision in going for Tesla ,as for the same price i could get a good SUV from major car manufacturers i.e Jaguar,BMW etc. Also reading about some of the reliability and build issues keeps me awake.This is the first car i am paying £53,000 as the other car i had until now is a fifteen year old car which i bought it for £3,000

For the Model 3 owners out there,could you please clarify the below points so i can have some peace of mind with regards to my decision

1) Pros & Cons
2) Any reliability issues
3) Share your good and bad experiences you are having with Model 3
4) At any point after you bought the car did you thought you should have bought another ICE car from other manufacturer rather than Tesla?

Interesting question....I wouldn’t mind seeing the responses to this.

My only comment would be that actually when you factor in the fuel saving etc, that £53k is actually less, although you’d still be able to buy most decent SUVs

 

[Tam]

...1) Pros & Cons...

1) Pros:

I don't need to smell gasoline coming from my car any more.
I sleep better because I know that I don't buy gasoline to support war, violence and destructions to keep gasoline alive.
Convenience of skipping gas station.
High tech. I hate the clutter of conventional buttons and knobs. I love the automation system of Autopilot/FSD
My driving is much safer since Autopilot/FSD
Great and responsive acceleration
Minimal on-going maintenance cost.

Cons:
Expensive to buy
Expensive for repairs out of warranty
Charging stations are not as numerous as gas stations

...Any reliability issues...

I've bought 3 Tesla cars so far and the only repairs I got were 3 pre-emptive ones during the old age of 2012 Model S which were covered by ESA (extended warranty).

Trouble-free for my 2017 Model X and 2018 Model 3. Maybe because they are still young.

In contrast, I was stranded multiple times in the middle of the road when I used gasoline cars: out of gas, flooded carburetor, broken timing belt, transmission failure, alternator failure, 12V battery failure...

...3) Share your good and bad experiences you are having with Model 3...

Good: Nice and small and nimble
Bad: not a hatchback. 15" display is not big enough to let user-configurable multiple windows.

...At any point after you bought the car did you thought you should have bought another ICE car from other manufacturer rather than Tesla?

None.

I used to drive very little and I flew instead.

I thought my practice would be the same but since 2012 that I started to drive Tesla, I've been driving much more and I drive instead of flying.

 

[MrBadger]

I've bought 3 Tesla cars so far and the only repairs I got were 3 pre-emptive ones during the old age of 2012 Model S which were covered by ESA (extended warranty).

My concern is that people think that a 7 year old Tesla is old and use that to justify its reliability. A 30 year old car is beginning to get old, 7 years is a mere youngster. Plus fixing a 30 year old car is dead easy. I don't think people will be saying the same for a Tesla* and its many tightly integrated and potentially parts locked systems.

* any many other modern car.

 

[Fullerene]

I think a model 3 compared to an ICE SUV is comparing apples with oranges. Is there much off-roading in London’s ULEZ?

Putting my green hat on for this post:

If you want to avoid polluting the environment & avoid maintaining the opec cartel, M3 is a great option.

Voting with my wallet and don’t want to support the incumbent liars that have supported the petroleum stupidity and delayed the future.

I think anyone wanting to go back to ICE would be rarer than a LR-AWD with Tow Bar, 19” wheels and a white interior.. haven’t seen a sniff of that here. A few people cancelled due to the purchase process but yet to see anyone with the car want to go back to the Stone Age.

Your 15 year old car:

My concern is that people think that a 7 year old Tesla is old and use that to justify its reliability.

No cam belts, exhaust, clutch, limited friction parts, less wear on brakes, etc my money is on it being mechanically hardier than my ICE, the previous owner spent a fortune on it...

 

[Tam]

...My concern is that people think that 7 year old Tesla is old...

Very true!

I sold my 2012 Model S after 5 years because it was approaching 100,000 miles and I didn't want to deal with potentially costly repairs as the ESA (extended warranty) would expire in 100,000 miles or 8 years whichever first.

So, my definition of "old" here is dependent on Tesla's duration for ESA.

Prior to 2012, I kept my gasoline cars for about a decade each with multiple repairs, left me stranded on the roads, and none of them did ever nearly approaching 100,000 miles at all!

We are now in the cell phone era.

And I consider Tesla is just like a cell phone that I just have to trade in if I want to keep up with technology.

I define reliability in terms that it doesn't get me stranded on the roads. Tesla has sensors so it can tell what it needs pre-emptively so I don't have to be towed at the last minute.

 

[What The Frunk]

All manufactures have issues. Many have recalls. Tesla can fix most of them with OTA software. Or mobile service.
Tesla drivers will tell you that once you drive one, you will have driving anything else. That should summarize it.

 

[Jason71]

Hi All,

I've ordered Model 3 AWD Long Range and waiting for delivery, but sometimes i keep thinking if i had made a good decision in going for Tesla ,as for the same price i could get a good SUV from major car manufacturers i.e Jaguar,BMW etc. Also reading about some of the reliability and build issues keeps me awake.This is the first car i am paying £53,000 as the other car i had until now is a fifteen year old car which i bought it for £3,000

For the Model 3 owners out there,could you please clarify the below points so i can have some peace of mind with regards to my decision

1) Pros & Cons
2) Any reliability issues
3) Share your good and bad experiences you are having with Model 3
4) At any point after you bought the car did you thought you should have bought another ICE car from other manufacturer rather than Tesla?

How are you managing to pay £53K for an LR AWD? Even with every option available its still only 50K after the grant?

 

[Rooster6655]

1) Pros & Cons
2) Any reliability issues
3) Share your good and bad experiences you are having with Model 3
4) At any point after you bought the car did you thought you should have bought another ICE car from other manufacturer rather than Tesla?

1. Versus an ICE car you will save money over your ownership and the ease of driving is very good
2. It's too early to tell about reliability but I suspect the cars produced to be more and more reliable over time, apart from paint and any initial delivery issues as far as I know seem to be pretty good.
People worry a lot about cars being out of warranty ICE or EV but the key is with an EV there are less moving parts and the battery/motors are meant to go a lot further than the 'warranty period', I see it more like an Apple warranty where the phones will go for a lot longer than a year because they are of good quality but unlike a phone a Tesla will last a lot longer.
3. Slow delivery

 

[tess19]

The M3 should be fine but would be worried about the falcon wing doors and automatic doors of the MX

 

[MrBadger]

No cam belts, exhaust, clutch, limited friction parts, less wear on brakes, etc my money is on it being mechanically hardier than my ICE, the previous owner spent a fortune on it...

Really such a big deal? We got 150k on our car, FSH. A cam belt/water pump every 40k (maybe £1.5k during its life), no exhaust, no clutch, a CV joint (would also apply to an EV), couple of springs (around £120 each and again equally, if not more to an EV) a set of brake pads all round (£200), couple of gearbox oil changes (£300 ish each - liquid gold), tyres every 25-30k (again, more expensive on Model 3 - wife straddles speed humps) and a £100-£200 service every 9k miles. I really do not think that is a significant cost over 12 years/150k miles. 2 breakdown, fuel lift pump (stranded vehicle, £800 repair including cam belt replaced at same time) and thermostat failure - car was drivable but replaced (£35) I would love it if the Model 3 would equal that, let alone beat it and would be absolutely delighted to be proven wrong. Tales of some Model S' being scrap for relatively minor faults and not very old. Its my biggest concern (along with sills rotting out) for our Model 3.

 

[Tam]

...Its my biggest concern (along with sills rotting out) for our Model 3.

Minimal Model 3 on-going cost after 17 months, 69,165 miles or 111,000 km:

https://electrek.co/2019/08/15/tesla-model-3-owners-high-mileage-maintenance-gas-savings/

Lots of cost-saving for this Model S:

Here's how a Tesla Model S holds up after 400,000 miles in 3 years - Electrek

 

[DirtyT3sla]

1) Pros & Cons
2) Any reliability issues
3) Share your good and bad experiences you are having with Model 3
4) At any point after you bought the car did you thought you should have bought another ICE car from other manufacturer rather than Tesla?

1) pros: Cheap fuel, fun to drive, full every morning, super safe, autopilot...a lot more cons: Expensive

2) Nothing. I'm at 6 months and 19k miles

3) You can check out www.youtube.com/c/dirtytesla for all of my good and bad experiences, but I totally love the car and even if I find several bad experiences, I can't imagine much would have me switching besides the battery exploding

4) Absolutely not. Before I bought the car, I thought electric was a compromise I was making for a cool, self driving car. But I love electric now and I never want a gas car again. Smooth, quiet, fast, regen, fill at home...so many advantages.

While I'd love a pickup truck or suv, when you include the cost of gas, they are so much more stupidly expensive than this car. And now that I've gone electric, I can never go back.

I just hope the Tesla pickup is somewhat affordable...I'd trade my 3 for that in an instant.

 

[Fullerene]

Really such a big deal?

For the last owner yes; one of my ICEs is a new style mini, 140k miles, the bundle of receipts that came from the previous owner was eye watering. Honest John dropped the rating of the car due to upkeep costs MINI Cooper (2001)

Here's how a Tesla Model S holds up after 400,000 miles in 3 years - Electrek

Tesla Model S 90D & Model X 90D Maintenance Record

Thanks @Tam really interesting reading, printing this off and handing to my Mrs, it's fairly rock 'n' roll in our household... to me that's awesome for the mileage.

As for the battery pack - Lithium Ion doesn't like lots of very high and low SoC with rapid charging, no wonder the battery didn't hold out. I'm planning on keeping to 20%-80% SoC & 7kW charging at home.

An old video from LII guru Jeff Dahn, who later partnered with Tesla -

Things have progressed a lot since then and will continue to develop Tesla Battery Guru Jeff Dahn Claims New Lithium-Ion Cell Outperforms Solid-State Batteries | CleanTechnica

The more I read, watch and listen the more I'm not suffering from range anxiety or battery pack degradation worries etc.. @Maggy78 you'll be fine

 

[MrBadger]

How are you managing to pay £53K for an LR AWD? Even with every option available its still only 50K after the grant?

Quite easy. Ours is £57k before the grant and we could have spec'd higher - paint and interior

 

[LEE3]

It’s easy to ignore the rapid and relentless depreciation of Ice car values once the introduction of EV’s in global markets really begins to ramp up. Congestion zones popping up in every major city and spiralling fuel costs as the oil majors react to plummeting demand.

Running ice cars will not be how it is now for much longer.

It’s easy to compare now but maybe take a look at resale values in Norway for how quickly things will change.

 

[MrBadger]

Age and mileage are completely different things. Obvs. Mileage and age brings their own different types of fault. So a high mileage but young car may not yet be in the window whereby electrics and 'rubbers' fail. To make matters worse, there are external services needed by some technologies which will need to be maintained long term, so not just items in/on car, but maintained by Tesla or potentially third parties.

We are all in this together. I'm just putting a balanced view on this. I have an order and am a Tesla shareholder so want Tesla to succeed as much, if not more as the next person. When someone says that an EV saves on brakes so is a reason to go for EV, when the reality is that brakes are no big deal. Likewise, ICE engines are pretty reliable when properly maintained nd should be good for many tens thousands of miles over many years. Tesla do not have the history to know what the situation may be with their cars, let alone with Model 3.

But some manufacturers are better at reliability than others - I would not use Mini as an example of good reliability and there is no evidence that Tesla should be used as one either. When something goes wrong out of warranty, its very likely going to get expensive. I just hope that Tesla has learned their lessons from earlier weakness' in their products - many manufacturers have years of experience and should they wish, can build a very reliable car. Tesla don't have that experience yet and it shows in many aspects. Its a young company and some may say a victim of their success when delivering a larger volume of cars than they have done in the past. But its no excuse in the way that they are handling some situations and as a shareholder, I am disapointed with this.

imho.

 

[Jason71]

Quite easy. Ours is £57k before the grant and we could have spec'd higher - paint and interior

I forgot about FSD. I guess its quite easy if you add that

 

[pdk42]

I'm in the waiting period too; and the M3 will be my first EV. There are a lot of concerns buzzing round my head, any one of which might push me over the edge to cancel:

- Lots of reports of poor build quality (paint and panel alignment in particular)
- Uninspiring interior quality for the price
- Poor Tesla customer service
- Lack of service centres
- Lack of proven supply chain for spare parts (= hard to get spares and probably expensive)
- Horror stories of excessive time & cost to repair accident damage (several months even for minor stuff)
- Shortage of public charging as EV sales ramp up (both Tesla and CCS 3rd party)
- Usage "edge cases" which might cause serious compromises (e.g. holiday in remote location)
- Tesla's long term future
- Uncertain vehicle depreciation
- Whether there really is a "Tesla killer" round the corner from BMW, Audi, VW, ...
- ...

I can probably think of a few more given another ten minutes. If I were buying a product that was "just another car" then I'd be long gone. However, the M3 is such a revolutionary car that I'm still hanging in there. I think a lot of the anxiety is being stoked by the truly appalling state of Model 3 deliveries and associated customer service. Maybe it'll all calm down by early next year and by then there will be a lot more UK owners to tell their tales.

At the moment though, I think buying a Model 3 is, to a large degree, an act of faith !