One week of ownership, opinion. M3LR

[andylaight]

Hi all, so I am one week into ownership and 680 miles covered. (Mine is a company lease vehicle.) If any one is interested to read I have summarised what I think so far.

Good
Excellent seat comfort, my previous BMW3 series would benefit from these seats.
Performance is brilliant, gods know what the Performance must be like to drive !
Minimalist interior is nice, and I particularly like the dark view ahead of the driver at night.
Supercharger (Northampton) I used brilliantly quick
Amazing sound quality for a standard fit audio system
Climate control is very accurate and the preheat function very good, and quick.
Nice bright head lights with good spread.
Regenerative braking excellent, I hardly use the brake pedal at all.
Boot a great size, probably will only fill it once a year though !
Interior storage nice, the wireless charging phone pad is great, and works with my 12 ProMax in a case.
Charging is painless and the scheduled departure setting is good to use.
Using a phone as a key, so effectively a completely keyless experience.
Tesla supercharger routing on the sat nav really good, especially the calculation of charge required to get home.


Not So Good
Car delivered with faulty washer jets, I can get enough water onto the screen to wash, just.
Standard left camera fault.
Range is nowhere near as close to the published rates as I was expecting.( Early days obviously)
Infotainment screen is not great to use on the move, in my opinion. Swiping the screen to get to radio channels/phone is distracting.
Sat Nav, almost no POI, will not save my home address, and when I select a food/drink from the menu, it tells me the closest place is in Dublin (I live in the Midlands of the UK)
Paint peeling of NS sill already.
Auto main beam is completely useless, does not recognise brake lights, and mostly ignores oncoming traffic, and switches on when driving under street lights.
Cruise control, I know this is BETA but it is extremely nervy, braking even if a vehicle on an inside lane nears the dividing white line.
Panel gaps and alignment !

Summary
Great car with flaws, but I almost feel that the flaws are part of what TESLA is about. The performance is bonkers and a long drive is extremely comfortable, possible one of if not the most comfortable cars I have driven.

Thanks for reading, if you did

 

[david1701]

Picked up my three month old MSLR yesterday, I’ve had a few left pillar camera errors, noticed condensation on both sides, rand dealer back, who said it’s a common fault, when is just been cleaned as they steam clean their cars, I’ll see how That goes ? Messing about with the touch screen, it gave me a food n drink place in Dublin as well ? (from east mids ??) touch screen dangerous to use whilst driving, needs more selectable options on r/h steering wheel menu, and more n better voice command options, software update completed overnight, ill see if that has any improvements ?
In spite of having a moan, fabulous car, so easy to drive, I’m still getting used to the car, just got to train my left hand n foot to stop trying to do things while driving now
! lol
(Sorry, I put model 3 instead of model s LR)

 

[sonix]

Thanks for the write-ups both. Mine is arriving next week and will aim to post my thoughts here.

 

[Yachtsman]

Picked my M3LR up back in late September and now with 2100 miles under my belt. In the first couple of weeks my thoughts re using the screen while driving were similar to yours. However now I hardly ever touch the screen except to set up the satnav & select my music playlist which are both done before I set off. Almost everything I need is available as a voice command or via the two scroll buttons on the steering wheel.
So I love the car more & more each day!

 

[david1701]

Picked my M3LR up back in late September and now with 2100 miles under my belt. In the first couple of weeks my thoughts re using the screen while driving were similar to yours. However now I hardly ever touch the screen except to set up the satnav & select my music playlist which are both done before I set off. Almost everything I need is available as a voice command or via the two scroll buttons on the steering wheel.
So I love the car more & more each day!

2100 miles in three months ?

 

[andylaight]

Picked my M3LR up back in late September and now with 2100 miles under my belt. In the first couple of weeks my thoughts re using the screen while driving were similar to yours. However now I hardly ever touch the screen except to set up the satnav & select my music playlist which are both done before I set off. Almost everything I need is available as a voice command or via the two scroll buttons on the steering wheel.
So I love the car more & more each day!

actually i forgot to add about the voice control, how for example can you ask for “5 live” to be selected? I tried it yesterday and it played Dreams by Fleetwood Mac on Spotify!

 

[Glan gluaisne]

My experience has been that voice control tends to be pretty hopeless. The only command that consistently works for me is "open glovebox". Any attempt to select stations, tracks or even dial a number usually end up not working.

 

[15Peter20]

Hi all, so I am one week into ownership and 680 miles covered. (Mine is a company lease vehicle.) If any one is interested to read I have summarised what I think so far.

Good
Excellent seat comfort, my previous BMW3 series would benefit from these seats.
Performance is brilliant, gods know what the Performance must be like to drive !
Minimalist interior is nice, and I particularly like the dark view ahead of the driver at night.
Supercharger (Northampton) I used brilliantly quick
Amazing sound quality for a standard fit audio system
Climate control is very accurate and the preheat function very good, and quick.
Nice bright head lights with good spread.
Regenerative braking excellent, I hardly use the brake pedal at all.
Boot a great size, probably will only fill it once a year though !
Interior storage nice, the wireless charging phone pad is great, and works with my 12 ProMax in a case.
Charging is painless and the scheduled departure setting is good to use.
Using a phone as a key, so effectively a completely keyless experience.
Tesla supercharger routing on the sat nav really good, especially the calculation of charge required to get home.


Not So Good
Car delivered with faulty washer jets, I can get enough water onto the screen to wash, just.
Standard left camera fault.
Range is nowhere near as close to the published rates as I was expecting.( Early days obviously)
Infotainment screen is not great to use on the move, in my opinion. Swiping the screen to get to radio channels/phone is distracting.
Sat Nav, almost no POI, will not save my home address, and when I select a food/drink from the menu, it tells me the closest place is in Dublin (I live in the Midlands of the UK)
Paint peeling of NS sill already.
Auto main beam is completely useless, does not recognise brake lights, and mostly ignores oncoming traffic, and switches on when driving under street lights.
Cruise control, I know this is BETA but it is extremely nervy, braking even if a vehicle on an inside lane nears the dividing white line.
Panel gaps and alignment !

Summary
Great car with flaws, but I almost feel that the flaws are part of what TESLA is about. The performance is bonkers and a long drive is extremely comfortable, possible one of if not the most comfortable cars I have driven.

Thanks for reading, if you did

Nice summary. I’m five days into ownership and fully agree on all the good points.
I think I’ve been lucky re the bad points, ie no faults (that I’ve spotted!) so far. Also agree about auto main beam being hopeless and TACC being a bit nervous.
Setting my home in the nav was easy. I just used the postcode. The car can get me close enough that I can work the last bit out.
Range is interesting. I think 340 miles is doable but at 90+ initial SOC: I was around 250Wh/mile on a long run but starting at 90% SOC, so 324 miles theoretically available. I was on course to achieve roughly this but the right foot decided otherwise. Cold weather kills the economy for the first 20 miles or so (is my perception. I need to take a detailed look at home my journeys have gone)
Add in the fact this thing is an overtaking monster, add in that I’ve taken a few colleagues for a brisk lunchtime spin (incidentally convincing at least one of them that this is the car he’s gonna buy next . ) and for sure the range can suffer.
Working in the midlands range anxiety is a total non issue. At home in Norfolk more so: my home charger isn’t yet installed and the one public charger within 10 miles (Elektromotive/CYC/BP) is a piece of junk so I’m a bit more wary. I think I’m overthinking it and am fully aware that Teslas will do almost anything to keep you from running out of juice, but it’s my first long trip and I’m still getting a feel for this newfangled EV lark.
Je ne regrette nuffink as the song says. Or I’m luvvin’ it as another song says.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Cold weather kills the range of all cars, whatever the fuel they use. In this post today: My first winter I just plotted out the data I collected for my first couple of years of Prius ownership, back in 2005 - 2007, when I was a bit obsessed with economy. The closest that car got to reaching it's official range was about a 50 mile shortfall, most of the time the range shortfall was around 150 miles less than the official range.

 

[andylaight]

.Setting my home in the nav was easy. I just used the postcode. The car can get me close enough that I can work the last bit out.
.

LOL yes i agree, just the OCD in me just wants it to take me to my exact address, on the correct side of the street

 

[pgkevet]

LOL yes i agree, just the OCD in me just wants it to take me to my exact address, on the correct side of the street

There is a way 'cos I had the same problem but enlarged the map and moved the home marker to just outside the barn I park in. But a long time ago and I can't remember how I did it! Perhaps as simple as deleting the point, marking a new one and labelling it..

 

[andylaight]

There is a way 'cos I had the same problem but enlarged the map and moved the home marker to just outside the barn I park in. But a long time ago and I can't remember how I did it! Perhaps as simple as deleting the point, marking a new one and labelling it..

I did manually add a point and it still refuses to navigate to it.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

There is a way 'cos I had the same problem but enlarged the map and moved the home marker to just outside the barn I park in. But a long time ago and I can't remember how I did it! Perhaps as simple as deleting the point, marking a new one and labelling it..

I did the same, set the home position to where the car was parked, just after I got the car. Sadly, I also can't recall how I did it, but it does now have the home position exactly at the end of our drive, where I usually park. I may have sent the point to the car from an app, perhaps, as that seems to send fairly accurate locations.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I did manually add a point and it still refuses to navigate to it.

I think you may need to first delete any existing home location - long press on "Home" pulls up that option, IIRC.

 

[Dilly]

actually i forgot to add about the voice control, how for example can you ask for “5 live” to be selected? I tried it yesterday and it played Dreams by Fleetwood Mac on Spotify!

Every media command defaults to Spotify! Agree entirely on “radio’ commands. Closest I get is Radio Gaga by Queen

 

[pgkevet]

I think you may need to first delete any existing home location - long press on "Home" pulls up that option, IIRC.

..something like that or swiping it right or left and then marking the new point and labelling it 'home'. All I remember is playing in the car for half an hour to get it to do it. Or maybe I highlighted the point moved it and re-pinned it???
Absent-mindedness is wonderful when you forget you have it...

 

[M3noob]

Picked up my three month old MSLR yesterday, I’ve had a few left pillar camera errors, noticed condensation on both sides, rand dealer back, who said it’s a common fault, when is just been cleaned as they steam clean their cars, I’ll see how That goes ? Messing about with the touch screen, it gave me a food n drink place in Dublin as well ? (from east mids ??) touch screen dangerous to use whilst driving, needs more selectable options on r/h steering wheel menu, and more n better voice command options, software update completed overnight, ill see if that has any improvements ?
In spite of having a moan, fabulous car, so easy to drive, I’m still getting used to the car, just got to train my left hand n foot to stop trying to do things while driving now
! lol
(Sorry, I put model 3 instead of model s LR)

Dublin for a snack? When mine doesn't understand a voice command (like "wipers off") it suggests "Drive to Palo Alto". That's in California FFS

 

[ParHunter]

Regarding the range - the remaining miles display is called GoM for Guess-O-meter. It depends on so many variables like temperature, driving style, wind, hills etc. In the summer you will get a lot more than in the winter.

A very good tool is the ABRP (A Better Route Planner) navigator app. You can tell it what EV you have and what starting SoC (and other stuff like degradation, min arrival SoC etc) and it will calculate where you have to stop for charging (to minimise journey time). I was planning the trip to Thorpe Park with my Leaf to pick up my M3SR+. Depending on what temperature I specify, the max speed or whether it is raining etc I either manage the return trip with 12% to spare (20 degrees) or will have to charge up (12 degrees and rain with 7 mph wind).

So in summary, the range depends on the day and in the Winter you will get considerately less range than in the summer.

 

[MrBadger]

Regarding the range - the remaining miles display is called GoM for Guess-O-meter. It depends on so many variables like temperature, driving style, wind, hills etc. In the summer you will get a lot more than in the winter.

I beg to differ. The only guessing that it does is to determine the usable battery capacity of the battery. It then uses a ratio based upon the EPA rating (on our LR AWD, the ratio use to equate to approximately 225Wh/mile) of the car to determine the range. The guessing of the usable battery capacity of the car, as well as determining the kWh of the battery it also takes into account the temperature, much in the same way that max indicated SoC % of of a cold battery will be less that when at normal working range, ie max charge may show as 99% rather than 100%. Certainly nothing to do with driving style, wind, hills etc.

The figure that takes driving style etc into account, is the estimated range, but this is not visible in the app or main battery display (you can see it in TeslaFi etc), but is taken into account in the trip graphs. Range in app?

 

[Yachtsman]

Dublin for a snack? When mine doesn't understand a voice command (like "wipers off") it suggests "Drive to Palo Alto". That's in California FFS

It must your accent, mines a stoke accent due to working there for +30 yrs, & nothing like american but most voice commands work for me. I rarely listen to the radio so I've not tried switching from spotify. There are a couple of songs i can't get spotify to find though I'm sure it will have. Oh and I've not asked it to find somewhere to eat but I sure will do next time I'm out.
On the subject of issues, I've also been lucky, no paint issues, everything worked from day 1 and has continued to do. I did have water in a rear light cluster & passenger door that needs adjusting otherwise fine. I dont seem to get as many phantom brake events as some others, more hesitation & mild braking.