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Motortrend Exclusive: Tesla Model 3 Long Range First Test

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So I don't read a lot of Motor Trend car review articles. This one is focused on the performance: acceleration, braking, figure 8 turns, etc. They compare it to a BMW 330i, and the Model 3 is the clear winner. Nice bar chart showing the comparison points. So I kind of see where they are coming from, kind of...

Here is what I don't get: The only mention of driving range is when they mention that their tested mpg-e was 103.7 versus 126 estimated. They did not do any testing of how far the car can go on a full charge under various conditions. And all this while having their hands on an EV that has a 310 mile EPA estimated range that no car at that price point has ever achieved! o_O

Maybe the Motor Trend readers don't care about anything but performance, but unless I'm living on a different planet the VAST majority of people who are buying the Model 3 are focused on the range. It's the first affordable EV you can drive for long distances. 500,000 people didn't reserve the car because the 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds beat the BMW 330i by 0.2 seconds. They reserved it cause it's a complete game changer. The performance aspect is obviously there due to Tesla EV heritage, but that is just the icing on the cake.

When other reviewers get the car, the absolute first test they are going to run is how far does the car go at a steady 65 on the highway till it stops. There is a guy in Orange County who does *exactly* that test on every EV.

I was hoping to see if there was any truth to the 340 mile rumored actual range versus the stated 310. No discussion of that.

Which is it:

1) The Model 3 really only gets 310 mile range, and all the EPA documents hinting at much better actual mileage are just wishful thinking by the Kool aid drinkers.

2) The Model 3 kills the 310 EPA range, but everyone who has access to the vehicle is sworn to secrecy. Even motor trend.

3) Tesla is software limiting the range of the Model 3 so as to not Osborne model S and X sales until they announce an upgraded range option.

RT
 
One thing’s correct in the article - Musk is awkward as f*ck public speaking.

Oh I agree 100%. But it depends on the setting, if it's a dialogue he's pretty normal/decent. When he has to get up on stage by himself and present, a Steve Jobs he is not, like not even close (I realize Jobs was pretty amazing a public speaking just a person I think of off the top of my head for comparison).
 
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So I don't read a lot of Motor Trend car review articles. This one is focused on the performance: acceleration, braking, figure 8 turns, etc. They compare it to a BMW 330i, and the Model 3 is the clear winner. Nice bar chart showing the comparison points. So I kind of see where they are coming from, kind of...

Here is what I don't get: The only mention of driving range is when they mention that their tested mpg-e was 103.7 versus 126 estimated. They did not do any testing of how far the car can go on a full charge under various conditions. And all this while having their hands on an EV that has a 310 mile EPA estimated range that no car at that price point has ever achieved! o_O

Maybe the Motor Trend readers don't care about anything but performance, but unless I'm living on a different planet the VAST majority of people who are buying the Model 3 are focused on the range. It's the first affordable EV you can drive for long distances. 500,000 people didn't reserve the car because the 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds beat the BMW 330i by 0.2 seconds. They reserved it cause it's a complete game changer. The performance aspect is obviously there due to Tesla EV heritage, but that is just the icing on the cake.

When other reviewers get the car, the absolute first test they are going to run is how far does the car go at a steady 65 on the highway till it stops. There is a guy in Orange County who does *exactly* that test on every EV.

I was hoping to see if there was any truth to the 340 mile rumored actual range versus the stated 310. No discussion of that.

Which is it:

1) The Model 3 really only gets 310 mile range, and all the EPA documents hinting at much better actual mileage are just wishful thinking by the Kool aid drinkers.

2) The Model 3 kills the 310 EPA range, but everyone who has access to the vehicle is sworn to secrecy. Even motor trend.

3) Tesla is software limiting the range of the Model 3 so as to not Osborne model S and X sales until they announce an upgraded range option.

RT

So you don't read Car magazines but are extremely upset that this review didn't cater to your wants and needs. Guess what? They don't make money off of you and have a different audience in mind. Also keep in mind that Tesla isn't hading out these cars on long term loans, so it seems unreasonable to expect them to experiment under all conditions. A real world figure is good enough in my books. I have no plans to hyper-mile in the car anyways.
 
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So I don't read a lot of Motor Trend car review articles. This one is focused on the performance: acceleration, braking, figure 8 turns, etc. They compare it to a BMW 330i, and the Model 3 is the clear winner. Nice bar chart showing the comparison points. So I kind of see where they are coming from, kind of...

[...]
I was hoping to see if there was any truth to the 340 mile rumored actual range versus the stated 310. No discussion of that.

So... Motortrend's results are really puzzling. They exceeded on the highway MPGe dramatically, and underperformed on the city MPGe dramatically. Now, when range really matters, its is typically going on the highway. So 7% higher highway MPGe is a very good result. In the city, I suspect, given lots of Tesla butt time, if they didn't use regen correctly, or turned it down, the city MPGe would suffer dramatically. Unlike cars with regen on braking, a Tesla requires a modification to driving habits to leverage one pedal driving to achieve terrific economy. Slam on the brakes as usual and the MPGe city numbers look much worse.

Also, another way to see how a publication does reviews is to compare against other reviews of similar cars (ie. not economy cars, but sports cars). A car enthusiast magazine is unlikely to drive the Model 3 in a gentle manner. For example, the Audi A4 finalist article:

http://www.motortrend.com/news/audi-a4-2017-car-of-the-year-finalist/

Real MPG: 21.3/32.6/25.2 mpg
EPA: 24/31/27 mpg

11%, 5%, 7% lower.

So.. it is easy to modify driving habits to get much better economy in the city. On the highway, stretching miles, it looks like the Model 3 does quite well.
 
So... Motortrend's results are really puzzling. They exceeded on the highway MPGe dramatically, and underperformed on the city MPGe dramatically. Now, when range really matters, its is typically going on the highway. So 7% higher highway MPGe is a very good result...

Also nice to see they exceeded the highway MPGe while using the 19" (non aero) wheels.
 
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Re: the efficiency figures, I really would love to see some details about their test procedure and vehicle settings.

As pointed out above, the low city efficiency might mean regen was turned down(?). And exceeding the EPA highway efficiency on non-aero 19's is encouraging. But there are so many unknowns here, it's hard to know what to make of any of it.

Anyone know if MT did similar testing in the past with other BEVs and went into more detail about their test procedures?
 
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It's one of the big car magazines... for car enthusiasts. They tested it like they tested any other car. The gold standard for years and years has been the BMW 3 series when it comes to sedans. It's why they always rate the Honda Accord a lot higher than the Toyota Camry, even though they sell in similar numbers or the Camry outsells the Accord in some years. They skew towards the sports sedan as the "goal". So, the Camry always gets ranked really low because it's more on the "luxury" scale than "sporty".

Economy takes a back seat. They account for it, but it's a tiny fraction of the total and generally isn't big enough to affect a rating in any way. If a car has bad gas economy or range, at best it'll get a brief mention, but usually it's immediately ignored if the vehicle is sporty enough.

All the mainstream magazines are like this. They're all reviewed through the eye of a guy who has a track car in his garage as a hobby. It doesn't match up with the "regular" public, but the "regular" public normally doesn't care enough about cars to subscribe to a car magazine. The car nut does.

They won't go out of their way to test every possible efficiency metric of an electric car because that's not what their subscribers care about. You see the Model S a lot, but that's simply because of the acceleration. They never use it for anything else. When the new Roadster comes, it's going to be in a ton of issues, but again, just for the performance. They're not going to care about the range beyond maybe a few words on it being super long, but nothing really more descriptive than that.
 
It's one of the big car magazines... for car enthusiasts. They tested it like they tested any other car. The gold standard for years and years has been the BMW 3 series when it comes to sedans. It's why they always rate the Honda Accord a lot higher than the Toyota Camry, even though they sell in similar numbers or the Camry outsells the Accord in some years. They skew towards the sports sedan as the "goal". So, the Camry always gets ranked really low because it's more on the "luxury" scale than "sporty".

Economy takes a back seat. They account for it, but it's a tiny fraction of the total and generally isn't big enough to affect a rating in any way. If a car has bad gas economy or range, at best it'll get a brief mention, but usually it's immediately ignored if the vehicle is sporty enough.

All the mainstream magazines are like this. They're all reviewed through the eye of a guy who has a track car in his garage as a hobby. It doesn't match up with the "regular" public, but the "regular" public normally doesn't care enough about cars to subscribe to a car magazine. The car nut does.

They won't go out of their way to test every possible efficiency metric of an electric car because that's not what their subscribers care about. You see the Model S a lot, but that's simply because of the acceleration. They never use it for anything else. When the new Roadster comes, it's going to be in a ton of issues, but again, just for the performance. They're not going to care about the range beyond maybe a few words on it being super long, but nothing really more descriptive than that.

Economy didn't take a back seat last year when the Bolt won MT's COTY award?

Chevrolet Bolt EV is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year - Motor Trend
 
Economy didn't take a back seat last year when the Bolt won MT's COTY award?

Chevrolet Bolt EV is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year - Motor Trend

RubberToe was complaining about them not testing range in a variety of driving conditions. That's so specific that only an electric centered site (like Elektrek.co) would go that far. Motor Trend does run fuel economy tests along with the battery of performance tests. They just don't go into the degree that electric fans would demand. Obviously, when the whole selling point of a car is a 200+ mile range, they're going to test that. And the fact that it exists when all the other competitors are well under that is a huge milestone (when regular ICE cars haven't had any significant technological leaps in a long while) so it's easy to give the COY to the Bolt. The Model 3 is almost assured the same win for 2018 if it does come out to the public as expected. Doesn't mean they still won't care about performance the most over other factors such as mileage or practicality. The easiest example is their comparison of minivans. They'll touch on a few things, but it's clearly a young single male who likes to race cars on the side trying to do a comparison test of something he's not very familiar with. He's got half a brain so he can figure out some obvious things to test, but the real nitty, gritty stuff a person looking in that category would care about (compatibility with car seats for example) isn't going to be imagined.
 
Unlike cars with regen on braking, a Tesla requires a modification to driving habits to leverage one pedal driving to achieve terrific economy. Slam on the brakes as usual and the MPGe city numbers look much worse....................................A car enthusiast magazine is unlikely to drive the Model 3 in a gentle manner.
I agree, achieving the range ratings for the TM3 is going to require modification of driving habits. Many owners won't care. They will drive it like a hot rod during the day, maybe 100 miles, and recharge during the night, so it doesn't matter. Where range is really going to matter is on the trips greater than 200/300 miles. those kind of trips will require a different driving technique. Driving on HWY 5 between San Fran and LA at 80 mph will not achieve the range advertised by Tesla. Tesla advertises the MS range on the basis of 65 mph on the highway. As an example, we sometimes loan our Prius PHEV to our daughter when we go on vacation. They only achieve about 70% of the range we do, because they drive it like an ICE car - floorboard it at the green light and mash the brake two car lengths from the red light. An EV requires different driving skills if you want to get the most out of an EV.

MT is a magazine for ICE diehards. If they drive the TM3 like an ICE, they will not get the advertised results.

It's one of the big car magazines... for car enthusiasts. They tested it like they tested any other car.
MT doesn't get it. An EV is not "any other car," you have to learn to drive an EV differently. Someday, MT will understand what the rEVolution is all about.

All the mainstream magazines are like this. They're all reviewed through the eye of a guy who has a track car in his garage as a hobby. It doesn't match up with the "regular" public, but the "regular" public normally doesn't care enough about cars to subscribe to a car magazine. The car nut does.
Yup, that's right, car magazines cater to the ICE car nut. What is puzzling is that the Bolt got COTY and the TM3 beats the pants off the Bolt by any metric.. Also the first MT review of Franz' TM3 said the TM3 significantly outperformed the AR Giulia, yet Giulia gets this year COTY. Just goes to show the nonsense in these awards. The car nut is easily deceived. I worked in the yacht building business for a while and the yachting magazines gave their most glowing reports to the builders who spent the most money on advertising in their mag and we took advantage of that. Let's see , how much does Tesla spend on magazine advertising?
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Let's fast forward 3 years and see where the Giulia compares to the TM3 when there are > 500K TM3s on the road and there are a couple thousand Giulias.................a G what?
 
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