Model Y RWD review after a 3000 km road trip from Netherlands

[mr_nederland]

Happy new year everyone! I am just back from my 3000 km road trip to south of France in a brand new RWD MY from Netherlands. Here is my review and impressions from the road trip. Although some of the things are Netherlands specific, in general i hope it will still be useful for UK audience as I saw many UK Tesla’s in France. Feel free to add your valuable comments.

1. As a first time EV driver, I found range anxiety to be non-existent. Drove around 1200 kms in a single day on my way back and Tesla navigation neatly guided me through all 5 charging stops. Three of them were quite busy but always got a place to charge.
2. Maximum I was able to drive between the two superchargers was about 225 kms. On one hand its not too much, but then on the other hand I arrived back in NL quite fresh! I also noted that the time of arrival that I was suggested when I started my journey in France closely matched (within 10 minutes) of my arrival in NL! This is much better than google or tomtom which only takes driving time into account. I used the supercharging time to eat and relax, so there was no extra time spent. Nice!
3. I saw this weird behaviour by Tesla Navigation on one section of A7 in France where it took us away from highway for around 20 - 25 kms, through villages and then made us join the same highway back. This was same section both on onward and return journeys. Not sure if it was due to traffic or due to that part of A7 going through higher elevations and thus car wanting to save battery. Any ideas? I suspect the latter as the traffic was quite light and I have set the navigation only to re-route me if it saves me more than 5 minutes.
4. Charging infrastructure in France is not so good as here in NL. I found an 11 KW charger around 0.5 kms from my hotel where I used to charge for 2-3 hours every evening, which was enough for my day trips. Although I had ordered an IZIVIA charge pass to use in France, it was not needed as Shell (Newmotion) card worked like a charm. I had to pay on a per minute basis to charge in France, but at 6 cents per minute, or 3.6 euros per hour for 11 KWs of charging, it was quite cheap.
5. Overall efficiency during the whole trip was 18.8 KW per 100 kms. This was with full luggage and 2 adults + 2 kids. In France I drove at 130 - 132 kmph on the toll roads and at the speed limits on other roads. Weather was around 15 degrees during the day but cooler in the mornings and evenings. Inside temperature was set to 18.5 degrees with seat heating on occasionally. Hopefully it will be Moree efficient in the summers.
6. I had installed the Tesla mud flaps for the front tires before the trip and they worked beautifully! I would say its a must have. Before installing them, I got my car sides dirty even during a short drive in rains, but with them the sides of the car are clean even after 3000 kms!.
7. Flat spots on the tires are completely gone now.
8. Some of the roads, especially within the cities and towns are quite bad in France and in Belgium. Car was really bumpy and uncomfortable driving over those broken surfaces. I think I have the improved suspension (not sure how to check it?), but it was not very pleasant driving over them.
9. No issue with auto high beam. Worked beautifully. I am on the latest software version 2022.44.25.3
10. Some times I lost mobile connectivity even on the toll roads. Music (Spotify/apple music/tidal) stopped working then and navigation was without traffic information at those places. It came back after few minutes.
11. With EAP, navigate on autopilot was a mixed bag. It worked nice many times, to suggest lane changes and actually doing them automatically, but sometimes lane changes were suggested too late for my liking. I think it works best on a follow distance of 3-4. I also saw that many times it suggested a lane change for like one second, but then took it back and then after couple of seconds, suggested the same lane change again. It was like it was unable to make its mind the first time. Strange. Then while driving in the rains, it just turned off with only auto lane keeping working, which worked awesome even when it was hard for me to see the lane makings in Belgium, where so much spray was coming from the water on the roads, which we do not have here in NL.
12. Auto turn signals are awesome. They work really well as even with half the push on the turn signal knob, they will keep blinking until the lane change is complete, which sometimes can take 4-5 blinks when changing lanes at higher speeds and in the rain! However as France is a rotonde country, I had issues while say taking the third exit. While entering the rotonde I would give left indicator, but then between exits 2 and 3, I have to push the turn signal up twice, once to cancel the left turn signal and then again to engage the right turn signal. Does anyone know if there is a way around this?
13. I dearly missed not having USS while parking and navigating through tight underground parking garages in France. Hope we get the functionality back in some shape or form soon!
14. Sentry mode worked sometimes and at other times it just showed me that a sentry event occurred, but then didn’t show me the actual footage. Any ideas what could be going wrong here? I have only 3-4 clips on my OEM thumb drive, so it can’t be full right?
15. AC worked awesome. No need to keep the mist off my windscreen by turning on front defroster even in pouring rain and poor weather.
16. Also good to know, the ANWB toll badge was great! For superchargers I had to leave and re-enter the toll road a few times and with toll badge that was a breeze!

Sorry it became quite a long review. Do feel free to comment and share your experiences. Eager to see if some of you also had a similar experience and if we can learn from each other to make every journey better. Happy new year once again!

 

[spdpsba]

I had issues while say taking the third exit. While entering the rotonde I would give left indicator, but then between exits 2 and 3, I have to push the turn signal up twice, once to cancel the left turn signal and then again to engage the right turn signal. Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

You don’t have to cancel but just gently move the steering the other direction it will cancel and then engage the right turn signal (left in UK)

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Great write up. A few conversions for us as we use miles etc :
225km is about 140 miles
18.8kwh per 100km equates to about 300wh/m
130km/h is about 80mph. (Corrected)

On 3. The satnav uses a different traffic information feed to that shown on the map. It’s better than it used to be but you can occasionally get the car thinking there is an issue/closure which has long since gone, and then divert you around it.

On 8. Our LR is the same. On some roads it’s absolutely fine, but you do get some conditions where it feels really bad.

On 12. The English word is Roundabout but we all know what you meant (and your English is certainly better than my Dutch!). I have given up on the auto cancel, I wish the half press still only flashed 3 times, I can then decide whether I want it to cancel for me or not. I’m still not in tune with how Tesla wipers work at all since they’ve started making changes to them, so it could be just me.

On 14: Sentry can be a little inconsistent but by e recent updates have also meant it doesn’t trigger on the cameras by default. You can turn it on. You say it’s saying it’s been triggered but maybe it’s just triggered on the inferior sensor and there’s nothing to see?

 

[Cantonalegod]

Great write up. A few conversions for us as we use miles etc :
225km is about 140 miles
18.8kwh per 100km equates to about 300wh/m
140km/h is about 80mph

Just a quick mention

130kph is about 81mph

140kph is about 87mph

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Just a quick mention

130kph is about 81mph

140kph is about 87mph

My bad, I actually converted it more or less correctly, then wrote down the wrong kn/h speed from the thread.

 

[CWT3LR]

My bad, I actually converted it more or less correctly, then wrote down the wrong kn/h speed from the thread.

Now using nautical units George?

 

[mr_nederland]

twice,

Great write up. A few conversions for us as we use miles etc :
225km is about 140 miles
18.8kwh per 100km equates to about 300wh/m
130km/h is about 80mph. (Corrected)

On 3. The satnav uses a different traffic information feed to that shown on the map. It’s better than it used to be but you can occasionally get the car thinking there is an issue/closure which has long since gone, and then divert you around it.

On 8. Our LR is the same. On some roads it’s absolutely fine, but you do get some conditions where it feels really bad.

On 12. The English word is Roundabout but we all know what you meant (and your English is certainly better than my Dutch!). I have given up on the auto cancel, I wish the half press still only flashed 3 times, I can then decide whether I want it to cancel for me or not. I’m still not in tune with how Tesla wipers work at all since they’ve started making changes to them, so it could be just me.

On 14: Sentry can be a little inconsistent but by e recent updates have also meant it doesn’t trigger on the cameras by default. You can turn it on. You say it’s saying it’s been triggered but maybe it’s just triggered on the inferior sensor and there’s nothing to see?

On 14, the sentry mode was triggered due to events in the vicinity of the car outside as I was parked on a bust street, however when I went on to watch those events, there were no recordings available! Although sometimes it does show me the recordings.. That bit is puzzling to me.

Thanks for your compliments on the writeup btw!

 

[Aeonis]

Happy new year everyone! I am just back from my 3000 km road trip to south of France in a brand new RWD MY from Netherlands. Here is my review and impressions from the road trip. Although some of the things are Netherlands specific, in general i hope it will still be useful for UK audience as I saw many UK Tesla’s in France. Feel free to add your valuable comments.

1. As a first time EV driver, I found range anxiety to be non-existent. Drove around 1200 kms in a single day on my way back and Tesla navigation neatly guided me through all 5 charging stops. Three of them were quite busy but always got a place to charge.
2. Maximum I was able to drive between the two superchargers was about 225 kms. On one hand its not too much, but then on the other hand I arrived back in NL quite fresh! I also noted that the time of arrival that I was suggested when I started my journey in France closely matched (within 10 minutes) of my arrival in NL! This is much better than google or tomtom which only takes driving time into account. I used the supercharging time to eat and relax, so there was no extra time spent. Nice!
3. I saw this weird behaviour by Tesla Navigation on one section of A7 in France where it took us away from highway for around 20 - 25 kms, through villages and then made us join the same highway back. This was same section both on onward and return journeys. Not sure if it was due to traffic or due to that part of A7 going through higher elevations and thus car wanting to save battery. Any ideas? I suspect the latter as the traffic was quite light and I have set the navigation only to re-route me if it saves me more than 5 minutes.
4. Charging infrastructure in France is not so good as here in NL. I found an 11 KW charger around 0.5 kms from my hotel where I used to charge for 2-3 hours every evening, which was enough for my day trips. Although I had ordered an IZIVIA charge pass to use in France, it was not needed as Shell (Newmotion) card worked like a charm. I had to pay on a per minute basis to charge in France, but at 6 cents per minute, or 3.6 euros per hour for 11 KWs of charging, it was quite cheap.
5. Overall efficiency during the whole trip was 18.8 KW per 100 kms. This was with full luggage and 2 adults + 2 kids. In France I drove at 130 - 132 kmph on the toll roads and at the speed limits on other roads. Weather was around 15 degrees during the day but cooler in the mornings and evenings. Inside temperature was set to 18.5 degrees with seat heating on occasionally. Hopefully it will be Moree efficient in the summers.
6. I had installed the Tesla mud flaps for the front tires before the trip and they worked beautifully! I would say its a must have. Before installing them, I got my car sides dirty even during a short drive in rains, but with them the sides of the car are clean even after 3000 kms!.
7. Flat spots on the tires are completely gone now.
8. Some of the roads, especially within the cities and towns are quite bad in France and in Belgium. Car was really bumpy and uncomfortable driving over those broken surfaces. I think I have the improved suspension (not sure how to check it?), but it was not very pleasant driving over them.
9. No issue with auto high beam. Worked beautifully. I am on the latest software version 2022.44.25.3
10. Some times I lost mobile connectivity even on the toll roads. Music (Spotify/apple music/tidal) stopped working then and navigation was without traffic information at those places. It came back after few minutes.
11. With EAP, navigate on autopilot was a mixed bag. It worked nice many times, to suggest lane changes and actually doing them automatically, but sometimes lane changes were suggested too late for my liking. I think it works best on a follow distance of 3-4. I also saw that many times it suggested a lane change for like one second, but then took it back and then after couple of seconds, suggested the same lane change again. It was like it was unable to make its mind the first time. Strange. Then while driving in the rains, it just turned off with only auto lane keeping working, which worked awesome even when it was hard for me to see the lane makings in Belgium, where so much spray was coming from the water on the roads, which we do not have here in NL.
12. Auto turn signals are awesome. They work really well as even with half the push on the turn signal knob, they will keep blinking until the lane change is complete, which sometimes can take 4-5 blinks when changing lanes at higher speeds and in the rain! However as France is a rotonde country, I had issues while say taking the third exit. While entering the rotonde I would give left indicator, but then between exits 2 and 3, I have to push the turn signal up twice, once to cancel the left turn signal and then again to engage the right turn signal. Does anyone know if there is a way around this?
13. I dearly missed not having USS while parking and navigating through tight underground parking garages in France. Hope we get the functionality back in some shape or form soon!
14. Sentry mode worked sometimes and at other times it just showed me that a sentry event occurred, but then didn’t show me the actual footage. Any ideas what could be going wrong here? I have only 3-4 clips on my OEM thumb drive, so it can’t be full right?
15. AC worked awesome. No need to keep the mist off my windscreen by turning on front defroster even in pouring rain and poor weather.
16. Also good to know, the ANWB toll badge was great! For superchargers I had to leave and re-enter the toll road a few times and with toll badge that was a breeze!

Sorry it became quite a long review. Do feel free to comment and share your experiences. Eager to see if some of you also had a similar experience and if we can learn from each other to make every journey better. Happy new year once again!

Thanks for this! I'm thinking about trading in my 2019 M3 LR for a MY RWD, because the extra space is very welcome since I've become a father. Only thing I'm worried about is range anxiety, because of the smaller battery.

I was wondering:

• The 225km between superchargers; howmuch percent was this approximately? Like, did you arrive at the supercharger with 20% and left with 80%, or was it almost completely empty and did you charge to a 100%? With my Model 3 it takes a long long time to go from 85-90% to 100%, so I never supercharge more than 90%, losing out on 10% battery charge.
• Do you have the Gemini caps (19"), or the 20 inch wheels? Because you said some of the roads were bumpy/uncomfortable.

 

[mr_nederland]

Thanks for this! I'm thinking about trading in my 2019 M3 LR for a MY RWD, because the extra space is very welcome since I've become a father. Only thing I'm worried about is range anxiety, because of the smaller battery.

I was wondering:

• The 225km between superchargers; howmuch percent was this approximately? Like, did you arrive at the supercharger with 20% and left with 80%, or was it almost completely empty and did you charge to a 100%? With my Model 3 it takes a long long time to go from 85-90% to 100%, so I never supercharge more than 90%, losing out on 10% battery charge.
• Do you have the Gemini caps (19"), or the 20 inch wheels? Because you said some of the roads were bumpy/uncomfortable.

1. I generally arrived somewhere between 15 and 30 percent and left around 80 - 90%. I just followed Tesla navigations recommendations on this. Probably using ABRP I could have optimized the charging stops.
2. I have Gemini wheels 19”. These were really the roads with broken surfaces in serious need of repair.

Hope this helps.