Model 3 early NZ adopters feedback

[m3lol]

Hey folks, those of you who got your cars in Sept 2019, coming up to over 2 years of ownership.

How has your cars held up in NZ conditions, particularly are pretty crap roads?

In terms of issues, wear and tear, etc what have been the sort of items you’ve had to sort out and how good has Tesla warranties and service been?

My car rattles like crazy in the dash and centre console area after a year and i’m not sure how receptive the service department will be after a year. A few weeks after delivery they sorted a rattly rear door card and the wood panel up front though.

keen to hear experiences, thanks!

 

[CAM3RON]

Had mine 2 years now. Getting my first "service" on October 8th. The Tesla Mobile service is coming to me. The whole process of communicating through the app has been pretty easy. The part I am getting looked at is considered under warranty so will be fixed for free (it is a rubber part at the top of the bonnet connecting to the windscreen that has broken off). Everything else holding together nicely.

 

[RobDickinson]

Mine fell apart then burst into flames.



only kidding its fine. Love it.

 

[Audietron]

Mine fell apart then burst into flames.



only kidding its fine. Love it.

That's encouraging

 

[Ecoli]

Mines still going, no flames, the only bursts are bursts of acceler...(cough) I mean sloooowness ... yeh that's right sloooow,
sloth like, captain slow, so slow I'm not even sure I'm moving. 0 to 100km in some time next week

 

[RobDickinson]

I mean relativly its slow acceleration if you compare to say a photon.

 

[Ecoli]

ahh yes perfect
Yes your Honour may I direct your attention to slide 134
Compared to a photon relatively speaking ....
Case dismissed!

 

[Audietron]

ahh yes perfect
Yes your Honour may I direct your attention to slide 134
Compared to a photon relatively speaking ....
Case dismissed!

But still your Tesla is wayyy slower than Roadster I bumped into my way to Mars... It zoomed at speed of light without using any electricity

 

[jeffnz]

We've had ours for 2 years too and still look for reasons to go for a drive. Lockdown has only been a problem because I can't drive my car. And I still grin every time I do drive it. Last summer we did a 6k km 5 week road trip that was fantastic. Can't wait to do it again. No significant issues. A couple minor things and service has been great.

 

[Audietron]

We've had ours for 2 years too and still look for reasons to go for a drive. Lockdown has only been a problem because I can't drive my car. And I still grin every time I do drive it. Last summer we did a 6k km 5 week road trip that was fantastic. Can't wait to do it again. No significant issues. A couple minor things and service has been great.

good to see you are getting proper use out of your Tesla.
Out of curiosity, any colour related issues? I am booked in for wrapping my car in PPF and add Ceramic coat... but still slightly double mind on do it or don't do it (pointless)

 

[jeffnz]

good to see you are getting proper use out of your Tesla.
Out of curiosity, any colour related issues? I am booked in for wrapping my car in PPF and add Ceramic coat... but still slightly double mind on do it or don't do it (pointless)

I didn't do either when we got it because I figured it's just a car and I never did any of that before. After we got back from the road trip (car was about a 18 mos old) I took it to get it's first, and only so far, professional detail. After all the rough roads, zillions of squished bugs, etc it really needed a good clean in and out. They talked me into getting it ceramic coated with the notion that it would much easier to take care of. I thought it was snake oil but reluctantly did it. Boy am I happy with the result. The car looks awesome and is super easy to keep that way. I paid about $1k including all the prep, etc.

We've got a few small rock chips (again mostly from the road trip) but nothing different really than any other car I've owned. As somebody mentioned, I think in another thread, just in front of the rear tyres it shows some wear but you really have to be up close and looking for it like when I'm washing the car. I doubt anybody but me notices. So, maybe if I were starting over I might consider PPF in just that area. You could also get mud flaps and I expect they would help a lot but I'm not fond of the look.

 

[Ecoli]

I still look for reasons to go for a drive
and marvel at what the car can do

Strange how a small decision can bring about so much change
I never thought I would or could own a car that would come to me
That sort of thing was only for James Bond movies or some distant SiFi future
and yet here it is sitting in my garage.

That same car has gotten better over time without me lifting a finger....
Well that's strictly not 100% true if you include taping on install software update

 

[Audietron]

I didn't do either when we got it because I figured it's just a car and I never did any of that before. After we got back from the road trip (car was about a 18 mos old) I took it to get it's first, and only so far, professional detail. After all the rough roads, zillions of squished bugs, etc it really needed a good clean in and out. They talked me into getting it ceramic coated with the notion that it would much easier to take care of. I thought it was snake oil but reluctantly did it. Boy am I happy with the result. The car looks awesome and is super easy to keep that way. I paid about $1k including all the prep, etc.

We've got a few small rock chips (again mostly from the road trip) but nothing different really than any other car I've owned. As somebody mentioned, I think in another thread, just in front of the rear tyres it shows some wear but you really have to be up close and looking for it like when I'm washing the car. I doubt anybody but me notices. So, maybe if I were starting over I might consider PPF in just that area. You could also get mud flaps and I expect they would help a lot but I'm not fond of the look.

I ended up dropping car for PPF and ceramic... Tesla delivered car with scratches and I saw more popping after only 18 KM drive home...

I already got mud flaps, despite I hate them, as backup option... just in case.

For me, key is to be able to enjoy car without worrying about hard work to maintain it... only hard work I do in life is to make money, rest should be fun, unless I am doing something wrong.

 

[Audietron]

I still look for reasons to go for a drive
and marvel at what the car can do

Strange how a small decision can bring about so much change
I never thought I would or could own a car that would come to me
That sort of thing was only for James Bond movies or some distant SiFi future
and yet here it is sitting in my garage.

That same car has gotten better over time without me lifting a finger....
Well that's strictly not 100% true if you include taping on install software update

You sold it on James Bond idea... hope Summon works as it should. once I can drive car after detailing done.

I would call Sci-fi if I can get car to come back to home after work is done at garage... instead of me catching Uber to pick it up

 

[Ecoli]

Smart Summon
it's not 100% perfect
I would not use it without having the car in sight
it's pretty cool summoning the car from car park when it's raining
It can be a bit temperamental usually when your trying to show someone how it works - it doesn't
and then it works when no one is around
it's a bit of a party trick, more often than not it's quicker to just walk to the car and get in
it's still impressive that the car can do this by itself, it's a lot better than it was

There was talk about how you were going to be able to get out of the car and it would go off and park itself
but I think smart summon development work has shifted to FSD now

 

[Audietron]

Smart Summon
it's not 100% perfect
I would not use it without having the car in sight
it's pretty cool summoning the car from car park when it's raining
It can be a bit temperamental usually when your trying to show someone how it works - it doesn't
and then it works when no one is around
it's a bit of a party trick, more often than not it's quicker to just walk to the car and get in
it's still impressive that the car can do this by itself, it's a lot better than it was

There was talk about how you were going to be able to get out of the car and it would go off and park itself
but I think smart summon development work has shifted to FSD now

You just explained Audi's Park assist... they had it mastered in 2017 but major roadblock for all car manufacturer is legislative change required to allow it.

Can't wait to check out smart summon.

 

[RobDickinson]

They are merging all the feature code stacks with fsd at the moment so smart summon should improve.

It's funny, doing this they'll be throwing out the old autopilot highway code, which is still significantly better than anyone elses..

 

[Audietron]

They are merging all the feature code stacks with fsd at the moment so smart summon should improve.

It's funny, doing this they'll be throwing out the old autopilot highway code, which is still significantly better than anyone elses..

well, as long as outcome is fluid auto driving when summoned, it will pave a path for full auto driving over time...

 

[RobDickinson]

Yep the AP code is very good at a much smaller set of problems, it seems a lot of people think self driving will happen in a lab somewhere and be put into consumer hands complete, like a fair chunk of our existing tech has.

This just isnt the way you solve a big complicated problem.

 

[Audietron]

Yep the AP code is very good at a much smaller set of problems, it seems a lot of people think self driving will happen in a lab somewhere and be put into consumer hands complete, like a fair chunk of our existing tech has.

This just isnt the way you solve a big complicated problem.

might be the reason Elon musk started thinking out of the box, and literally outsource auto drive test of roadster to