Model 3 ground clearance - should I be worried?

[Avendit]

This is mine. At least I’ve got a bit of pavement before I hit the uphill, rather than what looks like a rather nasty double kerb!

That looks fine? Take it slow and creep forward first time, but doesn't look too bad? It it the front hangover you are worried about?

 

[UrbanSplash]

Are you sure it’s not your mudflaps catching (if you have them)?

no mudflaps. I’ve had a look under and can’t see where is scrapes. Nothing hanging down

 

[Mr K O’Watt]

That looks fine? Take it slow and creep forward first time, but doesn't look too bad? It it the front hangover you are worried about?

I’m hoping so, but like I said in my original post, I don’t want to find out that it’s not fine after I’ve bought the car!!! Both ground clearance and any hangovers were concerns, as the Model 3 is longer than my current car.

 

[mwigan]

After seeing a couple of alarming looking videos on YouTube of folks in the US nervously trying to get their Model 3s either into or out of garages that have ramps or slopes down to the roadway, with very little ground clearance to play with, it got me to thinking about my driveway, which is a little higher than the street level, so has a bit of a hump that needs to be negotiated before getting on to the level.

Over the 15 years I've lived here I've never had any problems with any previous cars I've had, but I note the M3's ground clearance is 5.5 inches, whereas my current car is about 7 inches, and my wife's car is nearer 9 inches. Just wondered if anyone on here with a similar driveway off-road parking set up had experienced any issues with the Model 3. Most of the threads I've seen about ground clearance here on TMC seem to relate to concerns over grounding the car on speed humps.

I did rather cheekily ask my nearest SC whether there was any chance of a longer test drive so that I could bring the car home and very carefully put it to the test rather than discover there was a problem only after I'd paid £40k+ for it, but as I'm over 50 miles away, even the fearsome acceleration of a Tesla wouldn't have allowed me to do the return journey in the 40 minutes or so allowed!

Maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily. I keep thinking, if the car can't cope with my driveway, there'd be no chance of it negotiating the ramps in some of the multi-storey car parks I've had the misfortune to use. And then I remember the tradesman who came to do some work at my house a few years ago who attempted to reverse his Ford Transit van down my driveway as he was leaving, only for the towbar on it to gouge a great chunk out of the tarmac in the road outside my house - thankfully long since resurfaced by the council!

Absolutely we tested the 3 entering our car port and not only did it ground but the electronics went nuts. We had to take it back and cancel the order at once

Maybe the Y might get in without the same disaster! We were very upset at not having been warned in advance

 

[RSpanner]

House I used to live at had a steep driveway and a sharp angle where it met the street. At the time, I had a Audi TTs, 4"+g.c. I only got up the drivway if I backed it up..Was fine on exit. It was one of the steepest driveways in the county..maybe.

 

[Alistairuk]

I am hoping I am not going to have the same problem, previously I had an MX5 which bottomed out when it was put into/out of my garage (there's a steep ramp leading up to the garage and it used to scrape halfway along the bottom when it was going in due to the angles).

I solved it with my MX5 by putting two rows of paving slabs inside the garage to drive on (it lifts it high enough to clear) - it has a similar height to the M3, but the M3 has much further between the wheels so here's hoping it's ok when it gets delivered.

Forgot about this thread - but to update - no my Model 3 SR+ does not go up the ramp and into my garage - it doesn't even get close to getting over the top of the ramp - I tried various configurations of slabs to try and lift it but couldn't get it high enough to clear. My car now sits on the drive - reversed up to the garage if I need to charge it at home which is luckily very rare.

 

[M3noob]

Forgot about this thread - but to update - no my Model 3 SR+ does not go up the ramp and into my garage - it doesn't even get close to getting over the top of the ramp - I tried various configurations of slabs to try and lift it but couldn't get it high enough to clear. My car now sits on the drive - reversed up to the garage if I need to charge it at home which is luckily very rare.

MPP Lift Kit. I use mine on the unpaved cami to my mountain top house in Spain. Got their smash plate too. Better aerodynamics