New Here. Have ?'s

[M109Rider]

The noise that you hear, is it road noise? The cabin just noiser than your previouse vehicle minus engine noise?
My car is quiet at 64db you get a little wind noise but nothing like my wifes Elantra which is like being in a tin can on wheels.

If I recall, the model 3 is about 69-74db from low to high speed. (Based on others research).
Louder than what you have perhaps.
Still worth it though !

 

[srs5694]

My questions are: What brought you to the Tesla? Would you do it again? Ownership experience, good, bad, indifferent? What were you driving before? Regrets?

I've been a long-time fan of EVs, but mostly from afar -- three years ago, the only EVs that met my needs (with a sporadic, but roughly once-a-week, commute of 100 miles round-trip, at least until about a year ago; it's now 70 miles round trip) were the Tesla Model S and Model X, and they were too pricey for me. So my previous car was a Chevy Volt, which gave me a lot of EV-like experience but still had the range I needed. I like the quietness and smoothness of EVs' drivetrains, and the fact that they provide lots of low-end torque, which is great for urban maneuvering on busy streets. I'm also interested in cutting my ties to fossil fuels. This go round, I was looking at all the EVs with ~200+ miles of range and price tags up to $50K or so (I ended up paying $51K for my Model 3, but I'll get a $3750 Federal tax credit early next year). These were the Nissan Leaf e-Plus, Chevy Bolt, Kia eNiro, and Hyundai Kona EV. The biggest pluses for the Tesla were:

• Supercharging -- Teslas still win hands-down when it comes to DC fast charging. Superchargers max out at 150kW of charge rate (with 250kW models in the wings), and they're located optimally for inter-city travel through most of the United States. The CCS and CHAdeMO networks, by contrast, are more hit-or-miss in location and speed, and most current EVs max out at 50-75kW, with some chargers further limiting the speed to about 25kW. In theory, the best non-Tesla EVs could work as well as a Model 3 for a long road trip, but the margin for anything going wrong would be very slim, and the odds of something going wrong (like a line at a charger, slow charge speed because of low temperatures, etc.) is quite high.
• Superior software -- Tesla's software and advanced features (like Autopilot) have a modest edge compared to the competition, in my view. Of course, this is somewhat subjective, but it bleeds into the next point....
  
• Software updates -- Tesla pushes software updates quite frequently, which is virtually certain to grow the lead of the Model 3 over the competition over the life of the car. Elon Musk is promising huge things, but he has a history of optimism when it comes to delivery schedule, so I'm not counting on being able to take a nap in my car as it drives me to work any time soon; but it's virtually certain that my car will be able to do things that are at least significantly closer to true self-driving in a year or two than it can do now. (I paid for the FSD package, mainly on the strength of this point.)

Of course, Teslas aren't perfect. Some of the drawbacks compared to most or all of the competing vehicles, at least for me, include:

• Price -- Most of the competition could be had for $5,000 to $20,000 less than I paid, after factoring in their bigger tax credits. (I bought my Tesla just before the Bolt's tax credit was cut in half, to the same amount as the Model 3.) OTOH, there are reports of price gouging by Hyundai dealers on the Kona Electric, so I'm not sure it would really have been much less expensive than the Model 3. (The Kia eNiro wasn't yet available when I ordered my Model 3, but I could have waited a few months.)
  
• Body style and size -- I prefer hatchbacks, and the Model 3 is on the large side for my taste. This is of course entirely subjective; but all of the competing models would have been better for me on this score.
  
• Concerns about Tesla as a company -- Tesla produces innovative products, but they have a lot of problems as a company, including a reputation for poor quality control and poor service; greater uncertainty about whether they'll survive for, say, ten years; and reports that they treat their employees poorly. Of course, some of these issues apply to their competition to one degree or another, but Tesla is a bigger risk in my mind than GM, Nissan, or Kia/Hyundai would be.

This is, of course, just a summary of the biggest few issues in my mind, both pro and con. Other people would produce other lists. I'm not big into performance, for instance -- I don't care about 0-60 times, beyond their being good enough to merge safely. My second "con" (body style and size) could be a "pro" for some others. Also, "price" is by far the biggest "con" for me; the other two combined don't match it in importance. I could go down the list to get into the weeds on things like the feel of the seats, the quality of the in-car navigation, etc., but those are minutiae compared to the big points.

 

[dmurphy]

So your experience with Paramus was good. I am doing the Model 3 test drive on Saturday. We were in the dealer (store) last Saturday and they were helpful. They called me this morning to confirm and said they had some incentives going on, so we will see.

So you had an XT5, my buddy couldn't wait to get out of his. The transmission thinking to much in city traffic drove him nuts. I told him to put it in sport.

I had a GREAT experience in Paramus! If you are with either Sean or Chris, tell them I (Dennis Murphy)said you should seek them out because they rock.

As for the XT5.... I had extremely few complaints; really enjoyed that ride a lot, actually. But the transmission would hold a high gear too long, no question. But it was an order of magnitude better than the SRX it replaced.l - that thing had the GM/Ford jointly developed 6-speed and it was a DOG.