Model Y Perf or BMW X3M?

[Midnightsun]

I simply got to have Waze. By far the best solution for me was a dedicated mini ipad with a couple of velcro strips mounted to the flip up console door. I have it set up to hotspot off of my phone which works extremely well. it can obviously serve as a full fledged iPad with mail/internet/apps and all the other good stuff. Have it hooked into the rear USB C port with a charge cable and a couple of rubber cable organizers. Always fully without intervention.

 

[E McSquared]

We've owned six BMWs, most recently two M5s, a V10 and a twin turbo V8. Sold the last one and bought a Model S P100D and will NEVER regret the decision or go back. MUCH quicker, quieter, more reliable, more intelligently designed. Be aware that as a Tesla owner you are part of an evolving experiment, but the key word is evolving (improving), with no practical end in sight. There have been minor quality issues but these are offset by mobile service showing up in my own driveway and fixing the issue for free. Periodic software updates are somewhere between nice and miraculous. FSD takes me THROUGH Houston traffic to Dallas, with infrequent intervention on my part, and it's not even finished yet. Dodge Hellcat drivers are easily humiliated. What's not to love?

 

[keith7465]

Big BMW fan, we have an X5M and a Model S (not performance). I've had 3 series for 15 years and sold about 18 months ago when we got the S.

Build quality on BMW is in a different league than Tesla. Actually, Tesla is likely in a league of it's own in luxury cars at this price point in terms of quality. It's a much poorer build standard, hopefully improving.

Customer Service and response on Tesla is not excellent. But im my experience it's been adequate, and comparing with the price of our BMW dealer, much better value, and of course needed very seldom (warranty issues mainly).

Bottom line - you cannot describe a Tesla as The Ultimate Driving Machine! BUT, that's not why you buy it .

 

[donniccolo]

Previous BMW owner of X5s and 5 series for multiple generations. Switched to Tesla with a couple Model Xs. The Model Xs were nice. Very good acceleration, but the handling and ride left a lot to be desired. The interior finish of the Model X was not as luxurious in my opinion as the recent X5 and 5 series. The material quality of the BMWs felt much more robust and durable, and there’s a certain refinement. The Model Y handles much better than the MX. The performance MY acceleration is insane. The MY interior is the simple with clean lines and more of a tech feel than luxury. The big advantage over BMW is Auto Pilot. The OTA updates IMHO are really to add functionality that was already there for BMW or fix problems that BMW never had or gimmicks, with exception of AP improvements. Tesla’s supercharging network, range, efficiency and acceleration make it the no brainer brand for EVs at this point.

Quick note on service. BMW is a true luxury auto maker with a long heritage. BMW service centers and advisors are in another class compared to Tesla.

Well said - previous X5 owner here and current LRMY owner. I had awful experiences with my local BMW dealership - must have been the exception, not the rule. Good to know as I still like the brand and hope they make the jump to electric and never look back! An all electric M3 with the old body style one time?!

 

[keith7465]

Big BMW fan, we have an X5M and a Model S (not performance). I've had 3 series for 15 years and sold about 18 months ago when we got the S.

Build quality on BMW is in a different league than Tesla. Actually, Tesla is likely in a league of it's own in luxury cars at this price point in terms of quality. It's a much poorer build standard, hopefully improving.

Customer Service and response on Tesla is not excellent. But im my experience it's been adequate, and comparing with the price of our BMW dealer, much better value, and of course needed very seldom (warranty issues mainly).

Bottom line - you cannot describe a Tesla as The Ultimate Driving Machine! BUT, that's not why you buy it .

 

[donniccolo]

We bought a Tesla Model Y Performance as our first Tesla, and we continue to own BMW's as well. A few thoughts:

First, the speed of the Tesla is incomparable. You need to spend some time driving one. You'll be hooked. The Tesla M3 and MY are a pleasure to drive. The MYP firm ride will not be firm compared to BMW's M cars and Mercedes' AMG cars, which are very firm. I think you'll like the ride/handling balance.

Second, you'll hear comments on Tesla quality vs BMW quality, but we've owned BMW's since 1994 and have had plenty of BMW quality problems. I've even had BMW dealers damage our cars trying to fix quality problems. One had to be repainted! Mercedes has less quality problems than BMW in our experience.

Third, in pursuit of volume/growth BMW has (sadly) lost its way. The M2 is still a good driver's car and there are debatebly some others, but most of BMW's lineup is no longer worthy of the ultimate driving machine moniker, and as such I've been losing interest in BMW for some time. Among EV's Tesla is the closest thing to the BMW of EV's in terms of how they tune the driving dynamics.

If your driving application is 200 miles or less per day and you have a garage where you can install a level 2 240V charger, I think you should be seriously test-driving a Tesla. Rent one on Turo if you have to.

Well said! I'm also in Ohio and had issues with my BMX X5 and the dealer in Columbus!

 

[Hugh-SG]

@Koolio46 sounds like you're ahead in the neighborhood of $10-14 combined on those visits! How do they stay in business?!?

I will give the Tesla service folks two thumbs up on this. Nothing, not even spare change has ever been taken from my MX the few times I've had it in for warranty service.

 

[polyphonic54]

X3M is nicer in a lot of ways, but nothing beats an electric drivetrain. They both have a stiff ride anyway. Test drive back to back!

 

[RolfB]

Hi everyone - going through somewhat of a dilemma right now. I'm a serial BMW M3 owner whose F80 lease is coming end of term. I despise the looks of the new generation M3, so that has turned my attention to other models. I've basically narrowed things down to either the BMW X3M Competition or the Model Y Performance. I know it will be tough to get an objective view here, but any thoughts/leans on which way to go? I'd love to hear from some others that may have been in a similar boat.

I believe everybody who has one or has driven a T is biased - totally normal. (Best car I ever bought!!!) You are right. Soooo - See whether you can get an overnight demo / test ride from Tesla. (Oh - and one more thing: any 2021 car that still has one of these shark fin antennas...so 2010!). Hope to see you in a T soon.

 

[AVL_3]

Hi everyone - going through somewhat of a dilemma right now. I'm a serial BMW M3 owner whose F80 lease is coming end of term. I despise the looks of the new generation M3, so that has turned my attention to other models. I've basically narrowed things down to either the BMW X3M Competition or the Model Y Performance. I know it will be tough to get an objective view here, but any thoughts/leans on which way to go? I'd love to hear from some others that may have been in a similar boat.

Just test drive a Model Y - you will either love it or hate it. Really simple. I had a BMW Series 3 now own a Telsa M3. I would never go back to an ice car, the acceleration in the Tesla is just too much fun to drive.

 

[BillS12]

Hi everyone - going through somewhat of a dilemma right now. I'm a serial BMW M3 owner whose F80 lease is coming end of term. I despise the looks of the new generation M3, so that has turned my attention to other models. I've basically narrowed things down to either the BMW X3M Competition or the Model Y Performance. I know it will be tough to get an objective view here, but any thoughts/leans on which way to go? I'd love to hear from some others that may have been in a similar boat.

6 months ago I heard a tick in the engine of my BMW X3(out of warranty) . Took it to the shop and it was diagnosed with a bad bearing. About a ten dollar part. They quoted $18k to fix it. Why? Because BMW no longer fixes engines. They only replace them. I took a serious loss and got rid of it. I was torn between the same two cars as you are. Drove the BMW X3M at a different dealer. What a great car. Then I asked them if there was a problem with the engine did they have mechanics to fix it. The answer was no they no longer have the talent to open an engine. I bought a Tesla Y performance the next day. Best car I have ever owned. Including the Porsche GT 4 which I track.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[Kwfschnell]

Hi everyone - going through somewhat of a dilemma right now. I'm a serial BMW M3 owner whose F80 lease is coming end of term. I despise the looks of the new generation M3, so that has turned my attention to other models. I've basically narrowed things down to either the BMW X3M Competition or the Model Y Performance. I know it will be tough to get an objective view here, but any thoughts/leans on which way to go? I'd love to hear from some others that may have been in a similar boat.

For the record, my Model Y Performance is almost as fun to drive at my Porsche Cayman S!

 

[sleepydoc]

6 months ago I heard a tick in the engine of my BMW X3(out of warranty) . Took it to the shop and it was diagnosed with a bad bearing. About a ten dollar part. They quoted $18k to fix it. Why? Because BMW no longer fixes engines. They only replace them. I took a serious loss and got rid of it. I was torn between the same two cars as you are. Drove the BMW X3M at a different dealer. What a great car. Then I asked them if there was a problem with the engine did they have mechanics to fix it. The answer was no they no longer have the talent to open an engine. I bought a Tesla Y performance the next day. Best car I have ever owned. Including the Porsche GT 4 which I track.
Good luck with your decision.

their mechanics “no longer have the talent to open an engine????!!!!” Sorry, they’re not mechanics, then. They’re over-paid jiffy-lube techs. You should have taken your X3 to a private mechanic and gotten another estimate. A coworker had a 3 series that the dealer quoted $5000 to repair. He got the repairs done at a local import shop for $1200.

 

[pkitch]

Former 740 owner, how long do you keep cars? Even factoring in computer screens and computers dying I can’t see a Tesla approaching the maintenance cost of an out of warranty BMW or Mercedes. I could hear that car chewing through parts in the driveway. Still loved the car but yikes... for me the Y wins even over the 7 series for its instant response and not having to deal with gas stations. A lot of gas stations in the case of the 7.... You don’t realize how awful that is until you get back in your ICE and see the empty fuel gauge creeping to empty. If you lease, drive them and get the car you want. I’m never commuting in anything but electric again.

Former 650ix owner here, you are not kidding on how much I do not miss those frequent, frequent gas stops!

 

[pkitch]

Hi everyone - going through somewhat of a dilemma right now. I'm a serial BMW M3 owner whose F80 lease is coming end of term. I despise the looks of the new generation M3, so that has turned my attention to other models. I've basically narrowed things down to either the BMW X3M Competition or the Model Y Performance. I know it will be tough to get an objective view here, but any thoughts/leans on which way to go? I'd love to hear from some others that may have been in a similar boat.

Something not covered here is the excitement/emotional factor.
I have had 7 BMWs before converting to electric with a MYP and love it. I had an E90 M3 and that was more exciting - approaching limits, the power didn't kick in until like 5500 or something at which point you're already into license loss territory. My 650 had tremendous Torque which I is far, far more useful but even with this engine was not exciting...
My epiphany was with this car, unless you have something really exotic then even new performance engines are not very exciting. Audio is at least partially artificial and the (forced induction) power comes much lower negating any screaming revs.
My MYP is not very exciting in the traditional terms, but the INSTANT power that dominates 99% of other cars is very intoxicating I find.

I don't think you would have any issues unless you find you really dislike the interior as it is a polarizing design, but in terms or materials is not far off a 3 series or even 5 series - just doesn't look as aesthetically please to most.

 

[Red Falcon]

Hi everyone - going through somewhat of a dilemma right now. I'm a serial BMW M3 owner whose F80 lease is coming end of term. I despise the looks of the new generation M3, so that has turned my attention to other models. I've basically narrowed things down to either the BMW X3M Competition or the Model Y Performance. I know it will be tough to get an objective view here, but any thoughts/leans on which way to go? I'd love to hear from some others that may have been in a similar boat.

If you like road trips, Tesla is your only choice - at least for the time being.

 

[Schmidlack]

I've been suffering, er, driving a Leaf every day for almost 10 years and it is time for a replacement. After all that time, the last thing I would consider as a replacement is an EV that is based on an ICE platform like the BMW i4 and iX3.. I want an EV that fully leverages the packaging advantages an EV driveline offers. Right now, the final two competitors are the Audi Q4 which just entered production and a MY.

 

[pkitch]

I've been suffering, er, driving a Leaf every day for almost 10 years and it is time for a replacement. After all that time, the last thing I would consider as a replacement is an EV that is based on an ICE platform like the BMW i4 and iX3.. I want an EV that fully leverages the packaging advantages an EV driveline offers. Right now, the final two competitors are the Audi Q4 which just entered production and a MY.

The new I4 and INext(?) are ground up EVs but are already projecting much lower EPA than Tesla. This said, I suspect that they'll understand range just as they do with power, but they are also (typically German) on the premium side of premium pricing. For sure I'll be keeping a close eye on BMW but will be surprised if they can complete in efficiency and power of Tesla, but also look forward to the pressure all new comers will likely place on Tesla to improve their QA.

 

[pkitch]

For the record, my Model Y Performance is almost as fun to drive at my Porsche Cayman S!

Nice, but I bet you don't challenge any MYP at the stop lights ;-)

 

[SQLDevDBA]

Got my Wife a Model Y performance last year. We like it so much we sold my X4 M40i for our second Model Y Performance, picking up tomorrow.

The X3MComp and X4MComp were very tempting, but to me not worth it compared to the Model Y.